I’ve spent some time researching Luna’s curse, trying to find a way to break it, but haven’t gotten anywhere. I might be able to get somewhere if I studied her intensively, but Luna’s life is hard enough without being treated like some kind of science project. Still … ‘Luna?’
‘Hm?’
‘There’s something I was …’ Something brushed against my senses, and I stopped. I looked into the future and my stomach suddenly went cold.
Luna was watching in puzzlement. She could tell from my expression that something was going on, but she didn’t know what. ‘Alex?’
I jumped to my feet. ‘Get away!’
Luna started to rise, confused. ‘What’s going on?’
‘There’s no time!’ I was desperate; we had only seconds. ‘Behind the tree, hide! Hurry!’
Luna hesitated an instant longer, then moved quickly behind the beech. ‘Stay there,’ I said, my voice low and urgent. ‘Don’t make a sound.’ I turned back just as a man stepped from the trees in front of me.
He was powerfully built, with a thick neck and wide hands, and muscles that bulged through the lines of his black coat. He might have looked like a bouncer or a bodyguard, maybe even a friendly one, if you didn’t look too closely at his eyes. ‘Verus, right?’ the Dark mage said, regarding me steadily. ‘Don’t think we’ve met.’
2
The two of us stood facing each other across the grass. The wind had dropped, and the birds around had gone silent, sensing danger. I stood still, keeping my face blank and not letting myself show any sign of the sickening sensation you get when you’ve made a really bad mistake. I’d left my house without weapons or defences. Once upon a time I never would have dreamt of stepping outside without them, but months of safety had lulled me into dropping my guard.
Now I was paying for it. I was standing in front of a Dark mage, and if he decided to come at me, I was toast — literally. The silence stretched out while I looked frantically into the future, trying to see what would happen. ‘I guess we haven’t been introduced,’ I said at last, keeping my voice steady.
‘You can call me Cinder.’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘Subtle.’
‘Trying to be funny?’
‘I don’t know, are you laughing?’
He grinned then. ‘Smart mouth.’
I didn’t answer, but as I looked at the futures branching out from ahead of us, I felt a chill. This conversation could unfold in a thousand ways, and most of them led to Cinder attacking me, brutally and without warning. And the cause of the fight was …
I stopped, trying to keep the confusion off my face. It was the red cube, the same one that had been left on the blanket just two feet behind where I was standing. The instant Cinder saw it he would do his absolute best to kill me, and I had no idea why.
Right now Cinder was focused on me, but in only a few seconds he would notice. I made a snap decision and deliberately turned my back on Cinder, crouching down to fold up the blanket. ‘I reckon …’ Cinder began to say, then stopped. ‘Hey.’
I didn’t turn around. ‘What?’
‘I’m talking to you.’
I wrapped the blanket around the cube, keeping the thick cloth around the thing. ‘And?’ I took out my bag and started packing the blanket inside. From behind, I could feel Cinder’s confusion. No one turns his back on a Dark mage unless he’s crazy or planning something. I felt a surge of magic starting to build up behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder, feeling an itch in my back. ‘Stop that,’ I said, keeping my voice cool.
A trace of anger was showing on Cinder’s face. ‘I think maybe you don’t know who I am.’
I slung the pack over my shoulder, and turned to face Cinder. I’d learnt to hide my fear while still young, and it served me well now. Instead of slowing me down the fear sharpened me, focusing my senses. I could feel the slight tension in Cinder’s body as he squinted at me, angry and puzzled. Turning my back on him had been an insult, and now he was focused on me, trying to decide if I was powerful or just stupid. Behind, I could sense Luna pressed flat against the beech tree, a mouse menaced by a hawk. ‘I don’t much care,’ I said. ‘You’re here because you want something. Get to the point.’
Cinder looked at me through narrowed eyes, his anger simmering before coming under control. ‘You met Lyle,’ he said at last.
‘And?’
‘He try to hire you?’ Cinder’s tone made it clear that he already knew the answer.
‘What if he did?’
‘You helping him?’
I hesitated. Looking into the future wasn’t helping now — too many branches. I didn’t want to answer, but if I didn’t, Cinder would assume the answer was yes. That could be bad. ‘I don’t work for Lyle,’ I said finally.
Cinder grunted and suddenly looked less threatening. ‘Smart.’ He paused. ‘We pay better.’
It took me a second to take that in. When I did, I blinked. ‘You’re offering me a job?’
‘Need a seer. Could get others. Better we get you.’
‘What’s in it for me?’
‘Same as the rest. Share of the value.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Huh?’
‘What’s the value? How are you going to share it?’
Cinder smirked. ‘You’re the seer. Find out.’
‘Funny.’
Cinder’s smirk faded. He looked steadily at me. ‘Wasn’t joking.’
If I agreed, Cinder would expect me to go with him, and if I stalled, he’d take it as weakness. ‘No thanks. I don’t work on credit.’
‘There’ll be a share.’
‘You think there’ll be a share.’ I shook my head. ‘Come back when you’ve got something more solid.’
Cinder’s face darkened, and I felt the futures shift. Suddenly, the possibilities were looking a lot worse. ‘That your last word?’
I kept my voice very calm. ‘Don’t try and threaten me, Cinder.’
Cinder looked me up and down, slowly and deliberately. He wasn’t calling his magic up but I could sense he was ready to. ‘Seems to me,’ he said, ‘I could take you any time I want.’
‘You could try,’ I said lightly. Inside, I was panicking. I had no weapons, the cube was in the backpack over my shoulder, and Luna was hiding not fifteen feet away. If a fight started, it would be a disaster. I could see the futures forking ahead of me, depending on whether Cinder decided I was bluffing or not.
For a moment Cinder hesitated, then he grinned again and the futures shifted decisively. ‘I reckon you got nothing.’
Shit, shit, shit. Every future I could see now led to an all-out battle. I searched through them frantically, trying not to let it show in my voice. ‘Bad idea.’
‘Oh yeah?’ He spread his arms invitingly. ‘Take your best shot.’
Twenty seconds. Suddenly I found a cluster of futures free and clear of danger. I scanned them desperately. What was the difference, what did I have to do? Ten seconds. The air started to darken around Cinder, the sunlight going from yellow to blood-red.
A name. I rehearsed it, spoke. ‘Morden.’
Cinder stopped dead. His magic faded away and the evening sunlight flooded back. ‘What?’
I stood there, not answering. ‘You working for him?’ Cinder asked at last.
I raised my eyebrows. ‘What do you think?’
Cinder hesitated, and the seconds stretched out. It looked almost as if he were afraid. ‘Why didn’t you-?’
‘You didn’t ask.’
Cinder’s expression firmed up again. ‘You tell the old man we meant it. He’s not our master.’ Cinder was still trying to sound threatening, but he wasn’t going to attack, not any more. ‘He’s smart, he’ll stay out of this. You too.’