“Hey, she’s good. You should keep her.” Again, she talked like I wasn’t there. Casting a harm spell crossed my mind, but that would lower me to her level—and she was human.
“Where are you based?” I asked.
“Ha, no. That’s privileged info. Members only and all that.”
Time to bring out the not-so nice spells. I grimaced and dug into my kit for the rose petals. Crushing them between my fingers, I tipped bee pollen into the rose petals. Leaning on the wall, I mumbled into my shoulder, “Tell us true.” Pulling on the house energy, the spell washed power from me and through the floorboards. Weakness buzzed through my muscles.
Fabra’s face twisted as if I’d stabbed her, and she spilled juice down the front of her. “Now look what you made me do,” she said, brushing droplets off her black tank top.
“Where are the Marahk located?” I pushed. The wall was holding me up, but I couldn’t let Fabra notice. We only had a fewminutes. I didn’t dare look at Ranth. I dug out a chocolate square and popped it into my mouth.
“Alexandria is the base, but here in Northern Cali, the official mailing is in South Pen, but the org is in Bayview.”
“Org?”
“The chapter’s main meeting house.”
“How many are in this chapter?”
“A handful in the Bay Area. Maybe a hundred globally. I don’t have those records. We’re a secret society, right? They keep secrets. You get that part, honey?”
“What’s the address?” I seethed, trying to throw off the diminutive barb. The roses were losing their hold, but she should be answering. Something was wrong.
“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.” She cocked her head.
“I don’t think you’re kidding. Do that much? Kill people?”
“You’re not a member. I can’t tell you, but I can tell him.” She nodded at Ranth.
“Good. Tell him.”
“Then you’d hear.”
I rolled my eyes. “Write it down, he’ll put it in his pocket, and we can deal with it later.”
“It’ll be on his head then.”
“Whatever.” I dug into my pouches and tossed a notebook and a pen at her. “While you are at it, tell us about your elders.”
I was pretty sure the spell was fading, but I felt like the floor was melding with my feet. She flipped her shoulder-length hair back. “Not much to tell. He’s big—like bigger than him,” she said, nodding at Ranth while she wrote something on the pad. Ranth raised an eyebrow at me.
“He’s the head of the order here in San Francisco?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Does he have power? Skills?”
“Mad skills. I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as he can. It’s like he’s a wizard or something.”
I stared at her until I figured it out. Nothing she had done here had been magical, but she’d recognized it. It hadn’t hit me at first because of the traces in my ward, but she had no magic skill of her own. The earth power wasn’t in her. It was on her. The silver chain around her neck glinted. It disappeared under her shirt.
“What’s on the end of your chain?” I asked.
She looked down at her chest. “An order symbol. We get them when we pass the test.”
“Like an initiation?”
“Kinda. Can’t really talk about it.” She fiddled with the necklace.
