Shattered Illusions (Terra Chronicles Book 2) Read online

“Sparky?”

  “Yeah, I can never seem to pronounce his actual name. He…” Savanas trailed off when she heard the door beep and unlock.

  The door opened and Brad stuck his head in. “Ready?”

  “That was quick. Yeah, send them in,” Savanas said and patted my shoulder before walking over to the control station.

  “Oh, what’s this? Playing favorites now?” an older male Dwarf asked as he came in and spotted me. He took a seat next to me, grinning. His hair was striped dark gray and white.

  “No, Stoney. This is Ketayl’s first time and I asked her here early to go over a few things,” Savanas said. She sounded as if she had gone through this conversation a number of times before. She reached over to the control station and punched a few buttons.

  The lights dimmed as the others filtered in.

  A Human woman commented, “Don’t you mind Old Stoney, honey.”

  “Wait,” Old Stoney said. “Are you Ketayl from the main office?”

  I nodded shyly and prepared for someone else to have a problem with me.

  “Oh Gods be good. Girl, you have my undying gratitude for handling my lab work until I can get a replacement.” Old Stoney patted me on the back. “Anything you need, I’ve got you covered.”

  I grit my teeth against the unexpected movement. I forced a smile, still confused. For so long I dealt with other lab techs who only saw the label of the Arcane College. Even after I stopped wearing my pin many would still lace their requests with insults.

  “Ket also handles my tougher cases. Not to mention how many other branches send work to you?” Savanas asked as she watched everyone else settle.

  I shrugged - I did not keep track of the number. “It fluctuates,” I offered as a response. Some needed to because they did not have the equipment or personnel on hand to process the evidence, but others did it simply because they thought me undeserving of the position.

  “Looks like everyone is here,” Savanas said, taking in those of us seated.

  “Only 10 of us? Small group this time, eh?” Old Stoney commented as Savanas wheeled a cart in from the closet.

  Savanas leveled a look at him. “More like you’re all getting multiple recruits.” She picked up a handful of the packets. “Ketayl is new with us for this ceremony so I’m going to cover more than I normally would. Also, as thanks, Trevyn Lavabasher has offered us the use of his establishment. Directions to the Waking Dawn will be in your packets.”

  “Can we drink this time?” a male voice from the back asked.

  “Within reason, Dustin,” Savanas warned. “He’s promised us samples for after the ceremony, but after that you have to pay for your own drinks. Just because we’re not considered on-duty doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still set a good example.”

  A female voice from behind me commented, “Well, it will make this one more entertaining.”

  “I’ve already got the orders and badges packed up in my car to bring over.” Savanas handed packets out as she spoke. She only paused to see where someone was seated.

  I stared at mine, not sure how I was going to read anything in here. Or how she was able to tell which one belonged to who. I was glad I got to go over the two profiles ahead of time on the flight here.

  “The ceremony is simple. I’ll be reading off the recruit’s name and they’ll come up from the left side of the stage, then you guys will have to remember who you have so you can come up from the right,” Savanas continued. The other agents sat quietly.

  I wished I only had to deal with one. I sat nervously while I heard pages flipping from the others.

  Savanas continued, “Put the badge on them, then hand them the packet. Got the order, Stoney?”

  “A guy tries to mix things up once…” Old Stoney said, making the rest of the room laugh.

  Savanas shook her head, picking up a remote. “Shake their hand and head off the right side of the stage. They’ll know to filter back to center front and with any luck, Faring will direct them from there. We’re going to swear all of them in at once.”

  “Thank the Gods,” another male voice from the back said.

  Savanas smirked and pushed a button on the remote, checking the screen behind her as it lit up with the TIO logo. She commented, “Yeah, I’m not going through it 25 times.”

  “What’s the order?” the woman from before asked.

  “Whichever one I grab first,” Savanas tossed out tentatively. “No? Okay, just because I want to piss Faring off, we’re going by scores. Lowest first. Also, it won’t put poor Ketayl up right off the bat.”

  I sank further into my seat at having been singled out.

  Old Stoney inquired, “I take it your training coordinator didn’t work out well this round.”

  “I still can’t find a use for her,” Savanas said offhand. “As soon as they finish their testing this morning, Faring is supposed to be doing a run through of the ceremony with them.”

  Murmurs started amongst the agents. “Can we get to the recruits?” A female voice asked this time. I regretted my decision to sit in the front - I could not see who spoke.

  Savanas clicked a button and the screen changed to a profile. A Human woman with curly dirty-blond hair and blue eyes stared out of the corner of the profile. “I’ve put this in the order they’ll be called. First up is Holly Campbell.”

  Old Stoney groaned, “Did you have to give me the bottom of the barrel?”

  The others laughed. I stayed still and silent, wondering where my two fell. Silver boasted at being in the top of his class, but I did not know if his words were true or not. If I understood correctly, this was a general training - the specialization training would happen with the teams they went to. It dawned on me the task now fell to me. I bit my lower lip nervously.

  Over the next couple of hours, Savanas went through each profile and answered any questions the agents had. So far she had not called either profile I held.

  Then the Halfling man who hesitated as he walked past the video call yesterday appeared on the screen. Looking at the jumble of letters, I mentally tripped over the name again. I hoped he liked being called Sparky.

  “This is…” Savanas paused. “I still can’t pronounce his name even after hearing it a few times. He’s earned the nickname Sparky though, which should make things a little easier.”

  “How’d the kid get that?” Old Stoney asked. Admittedly I was curious, but I did not want to ask and I had not thought anyone would ask a question on my profiles.

  Savanas held up a finger while she took a drink from a bottle of water she pulled out of the cart earlier. “Now this is going to make Ketayl worry as he’s being assigned to the lab in the main office. The first day in the lab here, he managed to short out one of the machines. Don’t ask me which one because I don’t remember. Apparently it was a spectacular display. He hasn’t lived it down since.”

  The other agents laughed and Old Stoney elbowed me lightly. I forced a smile, but Savanas was right about me being concerned.

  She continued her story, “Despite a rough start, Sparky has shown great aptitude and interest in the area. He was approved by Lockonis.” Savanas directed the last part at me.

  I understood the reminder, but I still feared the security of my job despite the badge hanging around my neck. It would not take much to send me back to the Arcane College.

  “Which leads us to the top of the class: Silver Blaise.”

  I found some comfort in the familiar photo staring back at me.

  “Okay, which of you lucky bastards got him?” Old Stoney asked. I clutched my closed packet tightly.

  There were murmurs around and worry about their reaction held my tongue.

  “Silver is assigned to Ketayl,” Savanas said.

  “How come she gets the top two?” Old Stoney whined.

  “It’s an odd set of circumstances. Ketayl was assigned Silver before he started training due to his specialization in the divine. He had been a consultant on a case with her roughly six months ago,” S
avanas said and stopped any further commentary. She pushed a button on the remote again and it returned to the TIO logo. “This briefing is over. I’ll see all of you at 1400 in the Waking Dawn.”

  Her cutting off any further questions surprised me.

  I waited for the others to leave before getting up. Savanas caught me before I got far, “Sorry to put you on the spot there, Ket. Anyone getting the top two would have that lot whining. They’ll be over it by the time the ceremony takes place.”

  I nodded and bowed. I had not taken more than a step before she spoke again.

  “What’s wrong? Is it getting Sparky?”

  I stopped, but did not turn to look at her. There were a lot of things wrong lately. “I didn’t know Lockonis found a replacement until yesterday.”

  “I warned her about this,” Savanas said softly before speaking normally again, “Ket, you’re being transitioned to form a brand new team. You’ve been needing the help in the lab as it is. How do you expect to juggle even more work?”

  Savanas had a point and I realized she echoed Lockonis’ words. I said, “Lockonis didn’t tell me she approved a time-off request from my sister either.” I felt betrayed for some reason. It did not make sense and I tried to push it away.

  “That, I don’t know anything about,” Savanas admitted. “I’ll put in a call to her to get some answers. If I know her as well as I think I do, she meant nothing harmful.”

  I looked at Savanas. “You don’t have to do that.” No need to get the second of the TIO involved.

  “Yes, I do. Lockonis can completely forget to mention things,” Savanas said, “I may not contact you like the others do, but I consider you a friend and you can call me if you ever need anything. Now why don’t we go see if your sister has survived those three downstairs.”

  “I’d be more concerned about if they survived her,” I said flatly.

  Savanas laughed as she directed me out the door.

  “Hey, Savanas, mind if I take our guests to lunch?” Rathal called up as soon as I could see them. “I was thinking of heading out soon to avoid the chaos.”

  It looked like the other agents from the briefing had already left. I looked at the folder in my hands. I could not hold any sort of grudge toward Sparky - he had been picked by Lockonis and she demanded the best.

  Kitteren looked down at her phone, as if her messages were more pressing. What was so important she had become attached to the device?

  Savanas made a face before relenting, “Yes, go. Better to let you have the rest of the day off than to have Faring screaming about you borrowing her recruit without authorization again.” Under her breath as she passed, I heard her say, “I’m still going to have to deal with her.”

  “Great, let’s go you two,” Rathal said gesturing at both of us to follow as he strode by with his gear bag over his shoulder.

  Savanas pulled me aside out of view of the floor below. She formed her mouth into a thin line and looked at the stairs leading down quickly before she said, “Just watch yourself, okay?” Then she waved me off. She called out to Rathal as I was halfway down the stairs, “You better make sure Ketayl is at the Waking Dawn on-time for the ceremony.”

  Rathal threw back some half-hearted acknowledgment.

  I waved at the others as I followed Rathal and Kitteren. Why would Savanas give me that kind of warning?

  Chapter 3

  Rathal drove us to a restaurant near where we attended the memorial service for those who fell to the necromancer six months ago. Kitteren took my badge from me and put in my pocket, but left it on its chain as I would need to be wearing it again soon.

  Once we were inside and seated, I tore my eyes away from what I considered an impressive view of the harbor to ask, “What was that yesterday about borrowing a recruit?” I tried to deflect the conversation from their ribbing about my being classified as an agent now since ignoring them was not working.

  I did not think it possible for Rathal to look embarrassed. He took a sip of water before answering. “Well, it’s not what you think. Yesterday when I called Silver over was a different situation. See, there’s this one woman in the class and she keeps coming over and hanging around me whenever she gets a chance. And if it’s not me, then it’s Silver. I think she has a thing for male Elves and this class was mostly devoid of us.”

  A flash of an unexpected emotion shot through me upon hearing about Silver, but I did not know what it was. I pondered it for a moment. It had been too fast to really catch it. I knew for certain it could not be jealousy.

  Jealousy was when I lived on the streets and saw a child throwing a temper-tantrum at their parents over not getting some sweet while I starved - my own biological parents dead. Seeing how well the ranked mages at the Arcane College were treated for enlisting a Researcher to do their work for them. Never getting recognition myself.

  The last one, I had long become numb to, but for some reason it bothered me today. Perhaps I had grown too used to hearing praise for my work within the TIO.

  Kitteren smirked, “And here Ket said you knew how to charm a lady.”

  “Wait, I never said…” I tried to correct and looked down at my hands to cover my embarrassment.

  Rathal laughed, “I know how to be a professional. Besides, like I told Ket, I have my standards. Though, I do enjoy the company of small, power-packed ladies such as yourselves.”

  I put my face in my hands and groaned. This had been a bad idea. I should have just gone back to the hotel and tried to get some rest.

  “Just so you know, I don’t have my sister’s arcane talents,” Kitteren said.

  I looked up in time to see Rathal give Kitteren a sly grin. “Power comes in different flavors.”

  I gave up. Really I did. Trapped in the booth between my sister and the window I did not have many options. I turned my attention back to the menu. I let them flirt and forget I was there.

  Finally settling on something by the time our server returned, I then turned my gaze back out the window and watched the nearby sailboats gently bobbing in the water where they were moored.

  “It may almost be summer, but the water is still far too cold for most people to be out swimming or participating in other activities,” Rathal said. “It was a pretty bad winter and most people didn’t start putting their boats back in until a few weeks ago. Brad wanted to go fishing so badly he went early and nearly froze himself.”

  I did not understand why someone would take a boat out of the water except for repair, but I said, “It makes for a pretty view.” Well that sounded boring. I glanced over to the other two at the table.

  “It really does.” Rathal did not look at either of us, but out over the water. Turning back to us, he asked, “I know what Ket is doing here, but what was your business with the boss lady?”

  “Classified,” Kitteren said. What on Terra could she be hiding? “It’s for an ongoing assignment. We’re in a bit of a lull - I’m just setting things up for the next run. Perfect time to grab her and get away.”

  Lunch continued with the two of them flirting. I felt like the odd person out. I started thinking about how much work I still had at the main office to keep from getting overwhelmed about the ceremony coming up and then the trip to Mystic Port.

  I would be working very long days to try to catch up when I got back. And I needed to make sure Sparky settled in and understood how the main office’s lab ran. Or was it learning to deal with me?

  The Arcane College pins still bothered me. What would something divine be doing in a pin for a group dedicated to the arcane? Silver said something about it being for control. I could not recall any other time I felt as if something held my tongue and made it hard to breathe as when my pin activated. I had also not seen the thread until within Silver’s aura, suggesting something divine about it.

  I started tapping the tip of my fork lightly on my plate while I thought about it.

  It would make sense if they wanted to have control without anyone knowing about the secre
ts hidden in the pins - divine would not be noticed. But then how many within the Arcane College dabbled in necromancy? Or could it be something which had always been done and they continued the practice out of habit with only a few recognizing the truth?

  Kitteren lightly smacked the back of my bun. “You’re supposed to be on vacation - stop thinking about work. Don’t make me steal your hair pins.” Kitteren pulled one out. “You wear your hair in a bun all the time - you really need to change things up and relax.”

  “I’m here on official business so I’m not on vacation yet,” I shot back quickly, glaring at her and reached out to snatch my hair pin back. The server coming to check on our table held my tongue and further attempts to reclaim it.

  “I don’t know - the last time I saw her let her hair down she ended up in the hospital. Does she really work that much?” Rathal asked, looking at Kitteren who cringed at the reminder. “I know when I call she’s usually still in the lab, but I figured it was my luck.”

  Cutting my sister off, I commented, “I just don’t quite have enough hands or hours in the day to get everything done. I haven’t had much time to actually work on trying to track down the group.” I felt like I failed in my job which would be one more reason to replace me. Hopefully things would work out with this Sparky and I could get more accomplished.

  “You could have asked Silver for help you know. Just because he’s in training doesn’t mean he’s unavailable,” Rathal advised. “He’s probably the only recruit ever to be assigned before starting.”

  Kitteren made a face of disgust at the mention of Silver.

  Rathal raised an eyebrow at my sister’s reaction before continuing, “Don’t feel like you can’t ask for help from the rest of us either. We know this case as well as you do.”

  But they were not the ones tasked with finding that group. If I could not find them, how do I find out what they might be planning?

  The server delivered the check while I thought. Rathal took it before I could reach for it.

  “I said I was treating you ladies, remember?” Rathal chided.

  Sighing, I pulled the folder off of my lap and glanced at Sparky’s profile again. I had no idea what this person was like. Though, I did not even have a short profile to look at before I got stuck working with Silver. Surely it could not be bad. At least I could try to get a feel for his personality after the ceremony.