Page 99 of Awry
I can’t see through the windshield, but I can feel two people within.A mage and a shifter.So even as they attempt to be all sorts of creepy and stalkerish, they can’t negate my senses or the impressions the property has been feeding me since I woke for the second time today.
Those continued impressions are annoying when my head already aches.Despite having trained my whole life to surf the threads of essence when I choose to do so— and only when I choose — I’ve had to practice intense mindfulness three times since I woke up, just to focus.
The Authority really shouldn’t be wasting their time staking me out.My aunt will have an open file somewhere, deep in their archives.Therefore, whether or not they know I’ve taken on the Conduit mantle, they should already know they have no jurisdiction over me or anyone on the property.
Though I would have to double-check the fine print with one of the Gage uncles or aunts who handle those sorts of legalities, the entire property is actually ceded land.As in, technically its own country.Hence me having to negotiate new treaties with the local club.And the Coterie.And the government.
Ugh.I’m not looking forward to any of it.But there must be another uncle or two I can fob most of it off on.
Neither of the Authority goons’ essence signatures feels familiar.I ignore them.
Grinning, Cayley closes the space between us as I near the end of the drive, setting her elbows on the top of the still-closed gate.She’s wearing jeans and her jealousy-inducing custom-patched leather jacket.Her dark hair is clipped back into a high ponytail, which somehow brings her cheekbones into even sharper relief than normal.I imagine she’s intentionally giving the Authority goons something pretty to obsess over.
I hope she’s got some sort of water-repelling spell or charm on her jacket.
Still grinning at me, Cayley takes a long sip from her coffee.As I draw near, the steam coming off the insulated cup and the scent both confirm the contents.But she wags the second mug in my direction.It has a straw.
Smiling back at her — because she already knows me well enough to know that I don’t drink coffee or tea unless necessary — I take the mug.Then I take a long, chilly slurp of a vanilla milkshake.Despite the insulated cup, it’s mostly melted, but I don’t mind one bit.
Cayley tilts her head, smirking at me.“Tastes like your essence.”
I’m not particularly skilled at flirting, but even I know a come-on when I hear one.I smirk back, and with my lips still partially around the straw, I say, “It’s too sweet for that.”
She throws her head back and laughs.Then the doors opening on the SUV draw her attention.And a deep frown.
The two Authority agents step out, booted feet crunching in the loose gravel that collects at the edges of the road.The shifter is male, bulky and red haired with ruddy skin.The female mage wears her blond hair swept back in a smooth twist.What I can see of her skin is lightly tanned.
Both are outfitted in dark-colored suits with lighter shirts, underneath layers of essence-wrought protections.
I don’t have to look at them with my other senses to know that the mage is the more powerful of the two.Combat grade, perhaps.Or she has a rare affinity that aids her team in capturing powerful essence-wielders.
Cayley casually leans her hip against the gatepost, half facing the approaching agents.“Way to ruin the moment, assholes,” she says, her tone almost playful.
She knows them, but doesn’t like them either?
The mage ignores the kitsune shifter, removing her sunglasses to get a better look at me.The other shifter curls his lip.
They manage another two steps in my general direction before Muta suddenly appears, curled around the top of the opposite gatepost.
“What the fuck!”Cayley almost drops her mug.
The two agents stop midstep.
Muta has some sort of short-jump teleportation ability.As far as I’ve been able to figure out, he can only move toward me, not away.Though it’s always possible he hides the full extent of his power.Even a cantankerous death god trapped in the body of a snake has to have his amusements.
He stretches the first three feet of his body upward, then begins bobbing and weaving his head.Slowly.As if trying to mesmerize the Authority interlopers.
Cayley relaxes with a slight smirk.She’s figured out Muta’s game before the agents.
The shifter bares his teeth — likely a wolf, then — at the death god incarnate taunting him.Though it’s unlikely he’s figured out the taunting or the death god part.
The mage doesn’t flinch, nor does she react to Muta at all.I expected as much.Even the hints of essence — and of life force — I feel from her are darkly tainted.She’s either become numb to what she does for the Authority, or was emotionally and mentally dampened to begin with.
“If you bite them,” I say casually to Muta, “it’s your responsibility to clean up the mess.”
If he were capable of feeling anything as mundane as joy, I would say that Muta’s bobbing takes on a playful bounce.Dancing for his targets.
Cayley represses a laugh.
