Devon Monk - Stone Cold

Stone’s ears pricked up at the sound of his name and he trotted over to sit on the floor between Allie’s and Zay’s chairs.

“We broke it,” Terric said. “Killed the drones who were too far gone to be saved. Killed Eli and Krogher. Then Shame tried to put dark and light magic back together. Idiot.”

“Well, if you’d managed to take a couple bullets like a man and not go whining to heaven about it, I wouldn’t have had to mend magic.”

“His attempt,” Terric went on, “gave Life magic a hold in me. It healed me, then pulled him back from the brink of death. Which reminds me, I did the math. I’ve saved your life more than you’ve saved mine.”

“Bullshit.”

“Holy hells, Shame,” Allie said. “Language.”

“When we finally worked the fucking Transference spell,” I said.

Allie threw her hands in the air and rolled her eyes.

“Shame,” Mum warned, but she was trying not to smile.

“All the damn magic flooded into Cody, and he shitting fixed it. So you can blame that son of a bitch, not us.”

“Okay,” Zay said. “Allie and I used Cody to mend magic too, three years ago. Magic still worked afterward.”

“Yes, but it was softer and gentler.” I shrugged.

“Maybe it gets weaker each time it’s broken and healed?” Davy suggested.

“Could be,” Sunny said.

I took a drink of my beer and Terric glanced at me over his glass of tea, one eyebrow twitching upward. The thing we hadn’t told them was we each could still use magic. He could use Life magic and I could use Death.

Magic wasn’t gone from the world, far from it. We’d just made sure it was just a lot harder to get to now. Nigh impossible to reach. Well, except for us.

“Just because glyphs, spells, and blood can’t hold magic,” Hayden said, “doesn’t mean people won’t try other things.”

“Sure,” Terric said. “If magic can be accessed, humankind will find a way to do so.”

“Are there any back doors into magic that you two know about?” Zay asked. “Any loopholes?”

“Nope,” I lied.

“Terric,” Mum asked. “Is that true?”

I made an offended sound. “Right here.”

Terric just gave me a told-you-so look. “You have my word on it,” he said. “No back doors.”

Okay, seriously. Terric was turning into a first-class liar. Warmed my little black heart.

Zay just made a hmm sound.

He and Zay had the kind of friendship that didn’t allow for a lot of lies. For all that we had grown up shoulder to shoulder, he and Zay had been up for the same position in the Authority. They had trained together, worked together, and had both been Victor’s star pupils. They knew each other better than brothers.

Of course Zay and I knew each other better than brothers too. Which is why he was right to be suspicious of my answer, at least.

“If that answer ever changes,” Zay said, “you’ll come to me, right? Both of you will.” It wasn’t so much a question as a command. As if he could call the shots.

Well, I guess old habits die hard.

“Of course we will, Daddy Jones,” I said. “The day that the truth we are telling you suddenly turns into a lie, we’ll be sure to give you a call.”

“Good,” he said. “Don’t forget it.”

Rami Jo made a cute little cooing sound and Allie and Zay exchanged a look that was more than love. Stone’s wings shivered in delight and he hummed softly back to her. I had a feeling baby Rami Jo was going to be Stone’s favorite little buddy ever.

“We’re glad you’re both okay,” Mum said. “You are okay, aren’t you?”

“Breathing all day every day,” I said.

“And the Soul Complement stuff,” Hayden asked, “is that finally good between you two boys?”

“Oh yeah,” Terric said. “All good.” He made a kissy face at me, so I flipped him off.

Like he said: all good.

SHAME

The door of the diner behind Terric opened, letting in the warm June wind, a little sunlight, and a man I’d invited to lunch.

The man was Dashiell Spade. He caught sight of us and headed our way.

“What?” Terric asked me from over the slice of pie he was eating.

I tugged down my sunglasses just enough to gaze over the top of them. “I thought a movie might be fun tonight. You like movies, right, Terric?”

“Some movies. Sure.”

“Good. I got tickets.” I slid them across the table to him, pushed my sunglasses back into place.

“You and me?” He didn’t touch the tickets but took another bite of pie and gave me a wary look. “What do you want, Shame? And don’t make me come in there”—he waved his fork toward my head—“to find out.”

It had been a couple of months since we’d broken magic and changed the world.

We’d figured out a few tricks of being Soul Complements, the first of which was how to block what we were thinking from each other. Some other tricks too, like how to use Life magic and Death magic so no one noticed we were doing so.

Worked best if we did it together, but wasn’t so bad if we did it alone.

Life and Death didn’t eat away at us like before. Terric had found a very old joining spell. It looked a lot like an infinity sign. We’d both had it tattooed, his on his left arm, mine on my right. Whenever we were around each other, magic sort of . . . balanced between us.

Eleanor had been right all along. Using magic together did make it better for both of us.

And we’d gotten good enough at blocking our thoughts that we didn’t even have to concentrate on it much anymore.

Which meant I could plan something, like a movie, and he wouldn’t know.

“Hey,” Dash said, stopping by the table. “How’s it going?”

“Dash,” Terric said, throwing a look my way. “Nice to see you.”

I took a bite of my pie and ignored Terric. “Pull up a seat,” I said. “Terric was just telling me there’s a movie he’s excited to see. He has two tickets, but I have to bail on him. You two should go.”

“Uh, okay.” Dash snagged a chair from the other table to set next to us. “If you want me to?”

“Of course he does,” I said. “Go on, Ter. You deserve a little downtime. I know how much you’ve been looking forward to this.”

Just let go, mate, I thought. And maybe let a good thing happen for once. The man likes you. It wouldn’t kill you to let him know you like him back.

Terric leaned back and studied me as if he were seeing new words in a book he’d been reading all his life.

Because suddenly you’ve decided I should date him?

Because you want to, I thought. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. No worries. I just . . . I want you to be happy.

I am happy.

And behind those words was so much more. He was happy to be alive, happy I was alive, happy we weren’t being hunted, hurt, killed. Happy we had finally accepted that, like it or not, we would always be together. Soul Complements, brothers, friends. Not such a bad thing.

“Terric? Everything okay?” Dash asked.

“Yes, yes. Sorry. Yes. If you’re game, I have two tickets,” Terric said. He picked up the tickets, read them. “And it looks like it starts in half an hour. How convenient.” He tapped the table with a fingertip. “Let me settle our bill. I’ll be right back.”

He got up and walked over to the register. I ate pie.

“You put him up to this, didn’t you?” Dash asked.

“Naw, not really. He’s wanted to do this for years.”

“But the movie and the second ticket for me was your idea.”

I put my fork down and picked up my coffee. “Maybe.”

“Shame,” he started.