Chapter 6: Chapter 5

Class passed in the blink of an eye and the next thing I knew, Liz and I were walking home. Walking with Liz was just as calming as always, her presence ever reliable. We arrived at her house in no time and started playing games. 

It had been a while since we had a chance to hang out like this. Most of the time we just sat on call with each other on our computers while fucking around. I missed this.

While we were playing, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I received a text:

What the fuck are you doing over there??? Trying to take down the whole fucking building???? I’m reporting you this time, this is too fucking far you shithead. I knew you were trouble

It was my neighbor Samantha, an older chick who lived right next to me. I texted back:

What are you talking about? I haven’t been home.

 The explosion? What the hells did you do?

Explosion? I realized something was wrong and that I needed to head home now.

“Liz, emergency. I’m running home for a bit.”

“Fat fucking chance you’re doing that without me in you're condition. Come on, let's go.”

    I prepared to argue but I could tell from the look on Liz’s face that this debate was settled in her mind. 

We headed out and made our way back to my house. When we arrived we found my house in ruins.

It looked like someone took an explosive and blew my house off the map. I was stunned. The houses connected to mine were utterly unaffected. It was just mine that was blown to bits. I could see the cops inspecting the scene from here, with the entire zone already a crime scene when we arrived. 

The next few hours were a blur as Liz convinced me to come back to her place. She talked to her parents about me staying long-term and luckily, both of her parents loved me and said I could stay as long as I needed.

I spent the next few days processing the fact my house was in shambles. Luckily, most of my necessities were on me at the time of the bombing. That’s what it was officially declared. Even though there were no scorch marks, no signs of fire. And the fact it was neatly contained to only my townhouse. I ended up having to interview with the police about possible suspects but told them that there wasn’t anyone I know who would bomb my house. That was a lie, but there were only two groups I could think of. Either the thief or Leo did this, those were the only people I knew who would have the inclination and possible capabilities. I couldn’t explain why either would without drawing suspicion on myself for not reporting “rogue elements” sooner. Whoever it was made sure to clear out my workshop beforehand too, otherwise I would still be at the police station right about now.

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I set up in Liz’s guest room. I had my phone, my gun, some clothes, some smaller tools, a couple of mana-gems, and some of my notes from school. This was really bad. Really, really bad. It took me months to get all the stuff in my workshop together.

When I moved into Liz’s house, I went to grab my bag from underneath the dumpster where I had hidden it. Luckily the mana gem was still there. But without my workshop, I wasn’t very confident that I could make a project good enough to get me into Northridge.

Northridge had a unique admittance policy. They admitted the top one hundred scoring students every year. Most schools had a test depending on what you were planning on studying. You’d take an exam related to that subject and it would be the major deciding factor— outside of nepotism— in whether or not a student would be accepted. At Northridge, nepotism was still a factor, but for the rest of us, there were multiple tests that would be provided. You could take up to three tests. I was planning on killing the artifice test, doing decent on warding, and taking the law and regulations exam. This was a usual strategy for someone coming in on a non-combat track. You show complementary skills than something more civic that may also play into your future career. I would need to change my game plan. 

With my artifice score suddenly gutted, the only way I could see myself getting by is doing at least a decent job in three high-ranking subjects. Artifice would still be my primary track, but law wasn’t going to be getting me into Northridge.

What were my options? I was shit at gemcraft— no shot. I was okay in a fight. I didn’t like them, but I had some training. Problem is, only someone outstanding like Liz would stand a chance. Unless… 

I stared at my bag, remembering what else there was that night. A dangerous idea started clawing at my mind, begging to be acknowledged. I almost dismissed it as too stupid of an idea to pursue, but isn’t this what I always do? All of my best ideas tended to have a hint of danger to them. 

I sent a text to someone who I was reminded of recently, hoping to rekindle an old connection. I got a response immediately; An appointment arranged for the very next day. 

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It was the start of the weekend so we scheduled early in the day. Around noon at a cafe in the middle of uptown. I threw on a hoodie and headed out. 

I arrived at the meetup place: Frolian Cafe. I was half an hour early, so I ordered an overpriced mocha and waited. 

Ten minutes later she finally showed up. 

“Long time no see Martha,” I said as she took the seat across from me. “By the way, your kid is a dickwad.” 

“I heard an abridged version of what happened from a friend, I apologize for his behavior. Though I know that isn’t what you requested to meet with me for; you offered to start running jobs for me again. You aren’t in desperate need of money, so what do you want?”

I lowered my voice, “I need someone to walk me through an inscription.” Martha stopped drinking and looked at me in disbelief. 

“I’m not giving a kid a binding gem. Have you lost your damn mind? Wait till the ceremony like most people”

“I don’t need a gem, I just need someone for the ceremony. I can handle the gem.” 

Martha stared hard at me. She knows I’m not stupid. A bit reckless, yes, but I’m not dumb. She would trust me on this.

“How?” was all she asked.

“A stroke of luck, followed by a really shitty day, no thanks to your son. You get to make that up to me and I’ll owe you big. I need this Martha. Shit happened and my Northridge plan is holding on by a thread.”

Martha sat there rubbing the bridge of her nose. 

“Three hundred thousand,” was all she said.

“... Huh?”

“I’ll treat it as if you borrowed three hundred thousand yul.”

Holy shit. It took me three years to pay off the fifty thousand yul I had borrowed when I met her. This was six times that. I would be in her pocket well into my adult life if she got her way. I’d have to take bigger jobs or bring her rarer goods. Mana gems won’t cut it.

“Cut it to one hundred thousand and I’ll give you the binding gem after I’m done with it.” 

“No deal. Demons can be finicky and we don’t even know if it will work for you. Do you even know if this is a linked gem or general gem?” 

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I… didn’t know there was a difference. I could recognize a binding gem as could most people; a crimson red coloring for demons, and a yellow hue for angelic, though if it was an angelic stone, I’d have tossed it into the river. You don’t fuck with the church.

“What’s the difference?” 

Martha let out a long sigh. She explained that linked gems only connect to a specific demon as opposed to general gems that would basically link the person to whatever demon both responded and resonated best with them.

I didn’t know and honestly? I didn’t care. It’d be a surer bet than to try learning gemcraft from scratch in the five months before my exam. I could fight well enough, now I just needed an edge. Any edge would do.

“Fine, three hundred thousand, and I need it as soon as possible,” I settled.

“Three-fifty then.” You have got to be kidding me.

“Oh come on, this is extortion and you know it!” My voice cracked in frustration as I forced my voice quieter, hoping to not draw undue attention towards our conversation.

“No, this is me taking a lot of risks for a kid because he’s promising and ultimately reliable. Most would be overstepping just by calling me out to have this conversation.”

“Fine. Deal.” I said frustrated. Honestly, these terms weren’t actually unfair. I just hated the fact that less than a year after I got out of Martha’s thumb, I was back under. I was more trapped than before. 

I bid Martha farewell as she told me she’d get in contact when it was ready. She also made it clear my first job for her would be before the ritual. I’d need to get some tools together. I was older now and Martha wouldn’t give me everything I needed like before.

I went back to Liz’s house feeling drained. I crashed onto my bed and passed out for a few hours before I woke up to a text. 

Mana gem, mid-sized, 1000 yuls. Address is 142 Redmorn Street. Get it before the end of the week.

As always, she worked fast. I checked the time, six forty-five. Late enough to scout but not so late I’d run into unsavory elements on my way back if I worked fast. I put the address in my phone and began walking.

Redmorn Street was a shithole. Just outside the slums, it was a dilapidated house building with plenty of folk sleeping right outside of it. Looked like it had suffered from a fire recently. I’d have questioned if there was a gem here but Martha had a way of knowing these things. Maybe it was the same way that the guy who broke into my place knew?

It seemed like even more people were inside, I could see several people moving past the window. I sat nearby on the corner as if I had nothing better to do. Listening in, it sounded like this was a trap house. That made things a bit difficult. 

A constant flow of people in a place where most of them would be recognized was everything I hated about a job. Made it hard to sneak in and harder to blend in.

I saw why Martha gave me a week for this, she was challenging me. We both knew this was stretching the limits of what I could accomplish without incident when I was still doing this sort of work. She expected me to outperform myself from a few years ago without practice. I would have to, I didn’t have much of a choice at this point.

I spent some time forming a plan. I wasn’t just walking in there; most dealers dealt with regular clientele, if you weren’t recognized you could be a cop or worse, some idiot from uptown in over their head. If I was able to sneak in, everything would go smoothly.

A few days passed before I was ready. I spent them continuously checking out the building as I figured out how I’d approach this. I woke up early to get the rest of my stuff together. I headed out in sweats, a hoodie, and a mask with my uniform in my duffle bag. I dropped the duffle bag off at the pawn shop after checking in. It was closer than Liz’s place and I could run here and hopefully make it in time for school.

I headed back to the house and saw there was less activity than normal. When you arrive early enough in the morning, the early risers aren’t often up yet. If you hit the beautiful twilight zone, you’ll also be late enough for the overnight crowd to be getting ready to go to sleep.

 I walked around the back of the building and tried several of the windows. They were locked. I tried the backdoor. It was locked too, but there was a keyhole. I took out my lockpicking kit and unlocked the door, my recent practice having refreshed the rusty skill. Slowly, I opened the door, then slid the door’s curtains just enough to see inside.

I stared into the kitchen, empty. I pulled up my mask and slithered my way in, leaving the door slightly open behind me. I crept through the kitchen into the hall, as I considered where the gem would be.

From what I could make out, most of the people occupied the first floor; I rarely saw movement on the second floor through the windows. That’d probably be my best bet.

As I headed for the staircase at the end of the hall, I spared a peak into a room I walked past. Seeing several people naked and passed out I pulled my head out and beelined for the stairs. I was careful in placing my weight as I walked up, afraid of the stairs squeaking and alerting whoever might be up. I got to the top of the staircase and started searching the rooms.

I checked the first. It was a kid’s room with a child sleeping inside. The next was a bathroom. As I hit the third, I peeked inside and saw a man smoking in bed. This looked like the master bedroom. 

I really hoped no one would be awake, but was honestly lucky up until this point. I took a slow deep breath as I pulled out my gun and turned off the safety as I stepped into the room.

“Holy fuck!” The man exclaimed as he noticed my presence. 

I deepened my voice into an unnatural gruff register as I said, “Stay quiet or die. Mana gem. Where is it?”

“Who the fuck are you?” He said, his tone much quieter, calmer too. “How did you know about that anyway? Did someone fucking tell you? You hired by the fucker who gave it to me?” I stared at him silently.

Something was up. He was angry. Very angry, which was to be expected. But he wasn’t scared. I was aiming a gun at his head. Why wasn’t he scared?

“I’ll give you one warning,” he started, ”Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. House.” An unnerving chill shrouded my body as my brain screamed incoherent warnings at me. 

I lost my moment. His cigarette embers flared and flashed brilliantly, flashbanging me. I unloaded several bullets from my gun causing my hearing to be temporarily shot too.

I felt a searing pain hit me straight in my chest. The next thing I knew, I could smell the rank stench of burnt hair and smoldering flesh. I recoiled, dropping my gun. 

My ears stopped ringing, but my vision was still spotty. I tried blinking the spots out but the next thing I knew, I was tackled. I groped around until I could feel my arms wrap around the person on top of me. Something smashed into my lip and I started tasting iron. I tucked my face into their chest protecting it. I planted my left foot as my left hand let go of my right. My right wrapped around their shoulder as I drove my hip upward, flipping us over. I mounted him as I opened my eyes to see the vague figure of the man reaching out for something.

Panic seized me as I realized he was reaching for my gun. I drove my elbow straight down, smashing his face in. He reflexively tried to protect his face and I shifted my weight, grabbing one of his arms, I locked my hands around it, then swung my leg over his head as I laid my body flat. Forcing his arm flat, I heard the sickening crack of a joint before I finally let go and scrambled for my gun.

My vision was clearing up, with small spots as I reached it. I looked over to see one of my bullets connected, the man was bleeding from his side.

“Tell me where the fucking gem is or you die,” I shouted. I didn’t have much time, those gunshots definitely woke someone up. 

I was rattled, not expecting someone with a pyrokinetic inscription here. How a degenerate like this got one is a mystery.

He let out several strained sounds before sputtering out, “closet.” I rushed towards his closet and dug through it to find a duffle bag underneath a bunch of dirty clothes. I quickly unzipped it, finding the gem, cash, and some drugs inside. I closed it up and swung it over my good arm. The left side of my chest was burned badly, skin charred. I felt sick looking at the melted and charred skin. The pain was creeping up on me as I tried forcing it out of my mind. I rushed down the stairs only to run into a girl who promptly moved out of my way as I waved my gun at her. 

I rushed out of the front door, stumbling down the street.

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