Илона Эндрюс - Emerald Blaze (Hidden Legacy)

Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four . . .

Fifty-five . . .

The green glow around Runa dimmed. “Mrs. Afram,” Runa said, her voice chiding. “You should tell him to stop.”

Grandma Frida opened her eyes and looked at Alessandro.

Alive. All the strength went out of me. I crouched and clamped my hands together into a single fist.

Alessandro raised his hands in the air.

“Everybody is mean to him,” Grandma croaked. “I wanted him to feel he was helping.”

Mom cursed and slumped forward. Arabella buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook. Nevada turned white as a sheet. Leon stared at Grandma, then at Runa, wild-eyed.

Runa landed on her butt and hung her head back. Bern crouched by her, his hands around her shoulders, murmuring something.

Runa nodded. “No, no, I’m okay. I just need a minute. Nasty stuff.”

Grandma Frida squinted at Runa, then at me. “Somebody help me up.”

Alessandro gently sat her up.

“What happened?” Mom growled.

“A spider bit me.” Grandma shook her head.

“What spider?” Arabella asked.

“A metal spider.”

“Where did it go?” Mom demanded.

“I don’t know, Penelope. I hit it with the wrench, it bit my wrist, and I passed out.”

There was a chance it was still here. I spun around scanning the floor. “How big was it?”

“Three inches across,” Grandma said. “A fat little bugger.”

Bern picked Runa up off the floor and looked around. All of us stared in different directions.

Nevada’s gaze locked on something to the right and above us. “Got you, you fucker.”

A toolbox streaked off the side table and smashed into the wall near the ceiling. An eight-legged shape skittered across the wall. The toolbox had missed it by a hair.

What the hell?

The metal spider dashed along the wall toward the exit.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Nevada snarled, punching her palm.

The toolbox chased the metal bug, thudding into the wall in rhythm with Nevada’s fist.

“Intact!” I yelled. “We need it—”

The toolbox crushed the spider.

“—in one piece.” Too late.

A tall man strode up and loomed in the open bay. He was huge, dark haired, and built like he snapped people in half every day. Nevada pivoted to him. The toolbox and what was left of the spider slid off the wall, hurtled through the air in the direction of her gaze, and froze a foot from the man’s face.

Connor Rogan regarded us with his blue eyes.

Nobody spoke.

Silence stretched.

Connor looked at Nevada and pointed to the toolbox, still suspended in midair.

Nevada straightened. “Hi, honey. You know how we were worried about our son not having magic? Good news, we don’t have to worry anymore.”

The whole family piled into the kitchen, except for Leon and Alessandro, who joined Patricia and the security team to sweep the grounds. She’d asked for Leon, and Alessandro volunteered. Regina came in to examine the spider, and the metal and electronic wreckage now lay on the table, under the bright light. Bern sat opposite her, engrossed in his laptop and the plethora of security cameras and sensor readings. Connor had levitated three padded chairs out of the great room. Nevada took one, Grandma Frida the other, and the third stayed empty, because Mom couldn’t sit still and kept making circles around the island. I couldn’t sit still either.

Arabella brought two pairs of Nike shorts for Runa and me.

“Clearly, I’m the only one around here who cares about modesty.”

That was too much. “You wear shorts with half of your butt hanging out.”

Arabella wrinkled her nose. “The operative word here is shorts . You two don’t have any. Don’t blame me for being emotionally compromised. Hussies.”

“Oh grow up.” Grandma Frida raised her head from her puke bucket. Runa had purged the poison by breaking it down and the byproducts induced nausea.

“Why don’t you lie down?” Mom said.

Grandma Frida retched and gave Mom the evil eye. “I don’t want to lie down. I want to be where the action is.”

Mom’s left eye twitched. She slapped her hand over it.

I leaned to look over Bern’s shoulder at the table. Across from us Regina peered at the mechanical spider leg, the only recognizable remnant of the spider.

“Anything?” I asked.

Regina plucked the leg from the table and held it up between her thumb and forefinger. “It could be a construct made by an animator. It could be made by a metallofactor. A Hephaestus mage. Or a technomancer.”

“Do you think this might be the thing you felt earlier?”

“I don’t know. The smashing makes things difficult.”

“I am sorry,” Nevada called out. “I was emotionally compromised.”

Connor kneaded her back and shoulders. “Your smashing was fantastic.”

“How does that work anyway?” Arabella asked. “Are you borrowing the baby’s powers? Like, is this normal?”

“Yes. I think. It happens if I am really upset.” Nevada spread her arms. “I don’t know if it’s normal. It’s my first time being pregnant with a telekinetic.”

“It’s called prenatal transference,” Connor said. “It means the child is a very powerful Prime.”

Nevada turned to him. “Are you sure?”

Connor looked smug. “I’m sure. Ask my mother.”

“Will it go away after she gives birth?” Mom asked.

“Yes,” Connor said.

Grandma Frida winked at them. “I hate to see what his first temper tantrum will be like.” She cackled and broke into coughs.

Nevada gave Connor a slightly freaked-out look.

“It will be fine.” He rubbed her back. “My power stopped spiking after I was born, and I didn’t really manifest that strong again until I was about five.”

I looked back to Regina. “So there is nothing at all you can tell us?”

“It’s dead.” Regina knocked the metal leg on the table. “I don’t understand how it got past Cinder.”

Runa raised her hand. “Question. How many of you knew that Bern and I are dating?”

“Dating?” Arabella raised her eyebrows.

“If you could raise your hands,” Runa said.

Everyone raised their hands.

Runa looked around, her face stunned. “How? I was so careful . . .”

Connor smiled at her. “They’re private investigators.”

“Oh.” She looked around again. “How long have you known?”

“Since the beginning,” Arabella told her.

Runa heaved a sigh.

I had to fix this before she came to the wrong conclusion. “Bern didn’t tell us.”

Arabella nodded. “We’re just nosy.”

Nevada shrugged. “I asked him.”

“What did he say?” Runa asked.

Nevada grinned. “He lied.”

Mom laughed. Bern shrugged his massive shoulders.

The front door clanged open. Cinder ran into the room, jumped on the table, and spat out the mangled corpse of a metal spider. Regina raised her hand and magic poured out of her fingers. The battered metal construct floated off the table and turned slowly.

“Nice,” Regina murmured. “To answer your question, yes, this is what I felt before. They rode in on Rhino.”

Alessandro walked into the kitchen, followed by Leon and Patricia. He made a beeline for me.

“None of the perimeter sensors were tripped,” Patricia reported.

“It’s well-made,” Regina said. “A sophisticated design, refined. The level of teaching is quite high.”

“Cheryl?” I asked.

“Mhm. I had a look at some of her designs after our chat. This is a modified miniature version of Climber VII.”

“A fail-safe,” Alessandro said.

I turned to him.

“Arkan’s people failed to frame Leon for murder, then the telekinetic couldn’t kill you in the swamp. You keep surviving and asking uncomfortable questions. Cheryl is losing confidence in Arkan’s ability to neutralize you, so she added a fail-safe in case the illusion mage didn’t succeed.”