Page 22 of Snag
The tech actually turns from their monitors to eye me. Then they smirk. “Might be a good show.”
“Can you tell me if this is the only meeting between the Authority agents and Devlin?”
“Not yet.”
“Can you make any other connections between them? Any payoffs or … indication that he was one of their informants? Was he a former agent and they’re just keeping tabs on him?”
“No, Zaya,” Coda says quietly. “If he’s betraying your aunt here, I don’t have any evidence of it. Or any evidence that he’s an undercover agent or anything else you might be thinking.”
My stomach sours. Could the Authority have embedded someone into my aunt’s life? But if so, wouldn’t the essence-based connection between my aunt and her chosen mean they couldn’t have kept such secrets from each other? Wouldn’t the universe have stepped in if Devlin wished Disa ill intent?
But the universe hadn’t saved her from whatever death had been her final death either.
Coda is watching me, not the monitors. Actually facing away from the information still flashing across those screens. It’s somewhat disconcerting. Coda would normallyprefer to never look away, to be even minutely disconnected from their current traces and information gathering. It’s like breathing for the tech. Essential.
“Devlin could be meeting with the agents by Disa’s request,” Coda says. A note of caution still threads through the tech’s supposition.
“I don’t see why,” I say, feeling just a little helpless. Adrift. Again. This is why I don’t like mucking around in thewhy. Plus, I can feel Rought pacing around outside the trailer, as if his concern is seeping through to me from the intersection point. Even without me purposefully reaching for it. “The Conduit doesn’t answer to the Authority.”
“A collaboration, maybe?”
I shake my head. “Again, why? Disa is the most powerful being in the world. Why would she need them?”
“You could go ask them,” Coda says. “Since they’re sitting on you right now.”
Silence settles between us. Coda watches me for a moment. Then, seemingly satisfied that I’m not going to implode, or maybe even explode all over their precious tech, they turn back to their keyboards.
The light tapping of Coda’s fingers — working on tracking the dire mage, I assume — fills the strange void swamping my mind. It’s oddly comforting to be tucked away with Coda, and knowing that even if I’m taking this moment to process things, the investigation is still ongoing.
I feel the moment Rought shifts outside as he heads down the driveway. Presumably to confront the agents.
Perhaps I should be the one to interrogate them.
Perhaps I don’t always have to do everything on my own.
Coda still has the live vid of the agents parked in theSUV displayed on the upper right monitor. I could watch for Rought, see how he handles the situation.
“You should eat something, Coda,” I say, turning away from the monitors. “Have a shower, a nap, maybe.”
“In a few minutes. I just want to get this all set up and running. It’ll drop a pin on any hint of the dire mage’s movements to and from the salon and notify me. I’ll have the rest of the feeds from Newport integrated within the hour. And I’ve got the border crossings all covered as well.”
Nodding, still comfortably empty-headed, but with an almost aching awareness of Rought’s movements, I decide to head to the house for some more food. Or a nap. Though maybe a thick vanilla milkshake —
“You …” Coda says quietly, not looking at me. “You’re the most powerful awry in the world. It’s not Disa, not now.”
“Yes,” I say, speaking by rote but not belief.
I’ve been taught my entire life that the Conduit is the most powerful being in the world. That even living as a lesser Gage is the ultimate privilege, as well as a terrible burden. And not that Disa ever appreciated even the mere mention of my father, I’ve technically got the power of the slumbering gods running through both my primary bloodlines.
Unless my ancestors are seriously full of shit.
But I don’t feel powerful at all.
I feel the power of the intersection point. I understand that the power of the universe flows through me — as it flowed through my Aunt Disa. But every other powerful awry I know controls the essence they wield. Even my aunt seemed so focused and formidable.
Maybe it’s just the transition period and a lingering sense of all the conversations I never had with my aunt. Ishould have had decades, even a century, to have those conversations. Maybe I actually needed those decades to be mentally and physically ready to hold this much power.
Maybe it’s everything I’ve unknowingly lost.
