Columbine

The wind howled as the ship glided smoothly through the air, magically uninterrupted by the violent wind currents. Alice shivered and did a cold little dance on the ship’s deck, blowing warm air into her cupped hands.

“Ridiculous.” She muttered as her teeth chattered.

That was definitely the last time she was signing up for a trip halfway across the world while drunk. It had been an hour since the ship had taken off and it was nowhere near the Equator yet. Hopefully Egypt would be nice and hot, like they’d been warned it would be. She could hardly wait.

“Chilly?” Damien’s smug voice asked over her shoulder. Alice whipped around and socked him in the gut. She knew he could hardly feel the cold – another advantage that demons seemed to have.

Damien was one of the few demons that had managed to take a form on Earth while still a weakling. That sort of achievement had given him the advantage of a human way of life. It was all back to the argument of nature versus nurture. True no one had ever compared it to a demon raised among humans, but it just went to show that nurture pretty much won.

“Shut up.” Alice managed to say through her viciously chattering teeth.

“Hey, what’s with the negativity?” Damien gave her a nudge. “You’d usually be getting assigned your cases right about now. Instead you’re out here, getting some fresh air.”

And it didn’t get much fresher than this. They were hardly much lower than airplane level. Clouds loomed not ten feet above their heads, occasionally dipping down and getting Alice’s hair wet. She could feel the water in her hair crystallizing into tiny shards of ice.

“At least we’re getting closer to finding out what the fuss is all about.” Alice reminded herself.

Now that she was sober, it occurred to her exactly how hard it would be to not only weasel her way into the investigation, but also to keep Jack from finding the criminal before she did. There was also the small matter of finding the criminal at all. If the agents that had no doubt patrolled the entire country hadn’t found her, how was her army of two going to find the hideout?

“Damn.” She sighed. “We need Liz here.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Damien said. “But her vacation doesn’t expire for another week.”

Alice smirked. Some vacation. The only reason the Demataxt had allowed its most valuable asset three months to study up on the fine arts of samurai swords was because Elizabeth Durham was one of the few people powerful enough to take out an entire room of mages without getting so much as scratched.

“I haven’t been able to contact her in forever!” Alice whined. “How do I know she didn’t get her head lopped off?”

Damien shrugged.

“Because she’s smarter than that.” He finally said. Like Alice, he had total confidence in Liz’s skills. Unlike her, he wasn’t paranoid to the point of insanity.

“How about we go downstairs for a nice sit by the fire?” Damien suggested. Alice nodded, rushing to the stairs that led to the living quarters.

It wasn’t much warmer below deck, but at least the icicles in her hair could thaw properly. There were twenty other passengers on the airborne ship, all in various poses of rest. Some had sneaked rolled-up paperback novels past inspection and were discreetly reading them. Some were sleeping. Some were engaged in quiet conversation.

Alice and Damien huddled closer to the magically-induced flame that danced from an urn that stood in the center of the room. The scene reminded Alice too much of homeless people during the wintertime. Luckily it was still October, but in the upper troposphere it might as well have been January.

She’d heard people on the streets talking about how mages were living the good life, getting special treatment, and getting pardoned for all kinds of serious crimes. That was only true for the more powerful members of the Demataxt. Alice was merely a class-five and Damien was only a foot soldier. She hardly got paid enough to feed a cat.

“So, any ideas?” Alice asked Damien. She didn’t have to clarify, because he knew what she meant. If there was nothing to do for five more hours, at least they could brainstorm for how to track the girl that had somehow avoided detection for more than a few hours.

“We can volunteer for the search party.” Damien opted. “From what I hear it’s still going strong.”

Alice nodded. That was definitely a start. But what could she do? She wasn’t qualified enough to help with the unraveling of the mummies’ curse, and she couldn’t very well pretend to be sightseeing while she looked for some elusive hideaway.

“Okay, people, listen up!” A voice suddenly proclaimed. Alice looked up to see that the captain of the ship had walked into the room with a file locked firmly under his arm.

“As long as we’re up here, I will be filling you in on what awaits you when we get to Egypt.” He said, clearing his throat. Alice and Damien looked at each other for a moment, and then turned their glances back to the captain.

“Some things you will be dealing with include…” He cleared his throat again, like he was constantly attempting to rid himself of imaginary phlegm.

“A rapid decrease in your energy,” He finally continued, “And upon close proximity to any pyramids, a total loss of power.”

Worried whispers echoed throughout the room. Alice suddenly didn’t feel too good. A shiver crawled up her spine, and it had nothing to do with the cold.

The last time she had lost all of her power had been when a demon had burrowed into her back and attempted to gain control of her body. Not only had she been without any sort of magical powers, but also unable to move without experiencing excruciating pain. Her hands went instinctively to the enormous scar that covered her back. Damien saw this and flinched. He still blamed himself for Alice’s injury, despite the many times she’d told him that it wasn’t his fault.

The captain continued, “Some of you will be assigned a specific crime unit. The only active one at the moment is targeting a witch by the name of Sarah Crow, who assaulted two agents with the help of an anonymous human girl.”

Alice was all ears at this. Of course, now it made sense. The criminal had to be a person with powers beyond the physical. They wouldn’t have been able to pull off a disappearing act otherwise.

“Anybody here who would like to sign up for the crime squad can do so now.” The captain proclaimed. Alice and Damien quietly signed the sheet that had been offered to any willing participants, along with Jack and two other mages.

“I guess we’re a part of the team now.” Alice shrugged. Damien nodded, and the two of them resumed their attempt to warm themselves.

The ship suddenly began to gain speed, bursting through the air so fast that Alice stumbled.
She grabbed hold of Damien’s arm to balance herself.

“Wow.” She exclaimed. “I guess the holdup’s over.”

“The captain probably had a headache.” Damien elaborated.

Unlike how ships had been operated before, now a specific person was assigned to power the ship with their own energy. It was a job that most mages couldn’t handle – especially for long voyages like this.

“I still can’t believe we’re going to Egypt.” Alice said out loud. “It’s practically the last place on earth that isn’t completely Demataxt-controlled yet.”

“Shame to waste a gem like that, don’t you think?” Damien gave Alice a rueful smile.

The unsettling truth that the human race was about halfway overthrown scared Alice more than anything. There used to be a balance, but now that balance was gone. The scales had permanently tipped in the direction of magic and supernatural powers.

The larger portion of the magical community had embraced this change, but Alice still couldn’t believe it. Maybe that was why she and Damien had decided to go on this trip – to attempt to change things back to the way they were. Alice doubted that they would ever succeed at that. Even if electricity miraculously returned, people would still know that mages, demons, witches, and all sorts of other beings existed. It wouldn’t – couldn’t – be the same ever again.

“So, Alice,” Jack’s unexpected voice said into Alice’s ear. She flinched, disgusted by the snake-like whisper of her despicable co-worker. “You certainly seem excited.” He smiled.

Alice bared her teeth, keeping her willful fists firmly at her sides.

“Yeah,” She said with a forced smile, “It’s a real dream come true.”

“I always liked girls with initiative.” Jack laughed, giving her an unwelcome pat on the back.
For once, she was grateful that she could barely feel it.

“So, I guess we’ll all be fighting crime together.” He said, this time to both Alice and Damien.

“Indeed.” Damien said, the perfect picture of civility. For a demon hybrid, he could be awfully polite – too polite, even.

“I can just see the three of us…” Jack smiled. “We’ll be a legend.”

The last thing Alice wanted was to be associated with Jack in any way, let alone tied to him in a legend. A few years ago, before the New Era had begun, she would have had total permission to at least attempt to kill him. Nowadays, such behavior had serious repercussions.

“Well,” Jack said. “I’ll be seeing more of you kids later.” And on that note, he exited the room and went to the bottom floor, where the bunk beds were.

Alice exhaled and finally allowed herself to grimace.

“I take it he’s going to be a problem.” Damien sighed.

Alice paused for a moment.

Technically Damien was more powerful than Jack, and could beat him if he had to. She swallowed. The fact that that power ratio might actually be a good thing was even more unnerving than Jack’s presence at all.

She turned back to the fire and stared at the restless flames.