Frenetic by T. S. Snow
Theo
“Let me see if I’ve got this right,” said the Director of the Arcane Mage Intelligence Agency, rubbing his eyes as he stood before me outside the interrogation room. I forced myself to stand still, not fidget, and to keep my head up.
I knew I’d skipped all kinds of steps when I contacted the Director of AMIA after my meeting with Jess, but I honestly had no idea what else I was supposed to do. I would’ve called Char, but even though I knew she was an agent, I doubted there would’ve been much she could do.
Christian, on the other hand, was in charge.
And he owed me a favor for spotting the bindings someone had put on Michael Manteis’s soul, preventing him from talking about the resistance. That, and I’d managed to get around them enough that he provided some useful information to the agency, or so Christian had told me.
I just fucking wished people would stop messing up with such a high-level taboo spell. Soul bindings should never be placed on anyone, for any reason.
“You followed up a lead by yourself that you won’t tell me about into one of the shadiest parts of town, and you met up with a member of the resistance who agreed to come here and tell us everything she knows, so long as Carter is the one interrogating her?” Christian’s face was becoming redder as he spoke, and there was a vein on his temple that seemed to be pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
I had to swallow twice before I was able to actually speak.
“Yes, sir. I trust my source. She wouldn’t have led me astray. She also confirmed Jess was a member of the resistance who’s high up enough to have useful intel, sir.”
“And who’s this mysterious source who knows so much and yet chose a Battle Mage to do an agent’s work?” he asked, his booming voice almost echoing inside the tight space.
I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened again to speak, but no sound came out.
Instinct and training had me wanting to just tell him Annie was my source, but loyalty to my sister kept me quiet.
“It’s me, boss. I’m the source,” Annie said cheerfully, materializing right in front of Christian.
The director jumped in surprise before schooling his features into an impassive mask. Well, mostly impassive. That tick on his forehead was a major tell of just how stressed he was. Thank fuck he was a Spirit Mage, or else Annie would never have been able to make herself seen for him, and this whole thing would’ve been pointless.
“Soulbinder,” Christian murmured, as if in prayer, before he shook his head slightly like he had to reboot his own brain.
“Hey, boss. Sorry to scare you, but as you can see, my options were very limited. I knew Theo would listen to me and actually go meet up with her, rather than lose the opportunity.” She shrugged. “Anyway, he also didn’t go in alone. I was totally there as backup.”
Both Christian and I stared at her.
“You…you do realize you couldn’t actually join a magic battle, right?” I finally asked when it seemed the silence would drag on forever.
Annie rolled her eyes at me. “Well, of course not, Weasley, don’t be stupid. I would’ve possessed the bartender and thrown some of those liquor bottles so they’d break over people’s heads.”
I…had no argument against that.
Christian raised both hands and rubbed at his eyes again before turning to Annie.
“Agent Soulbinder, can we trust her?”
Annie nodded. “Yeah. She’s… Well, it’s better if she tells you the story herself. But she knows Char, and the whole blowing up Charisma’s apartment thing didn’t really sit right with Jess at all. Not that Char knows Jess is a member of the resistance. I’m pretty sure she thinks Jess is human. But anyway, yeah. She’s ready to talk, and I’ll be around to add whatever I do know. Becoming a ghost made spying so convenient!”
While Annie was acting all cheerful, the epitome of the whole glass half full thing, I couldn’t help but feel like every single word was a dagger piercing my heart. I’d failed her. It didn’t matter what she said or thought, I should’ve prevented it. Somehow. Some way.
But I’d be damned if I’d lose my Char the same way.
“But why Carter?” Christian asked, and Annie shrugged.
“If I had to guess, she probably wants to come clean to Char rather than have her find out another way. I mean, it’s what I’d do in her shoes. I have no idea how close they even are, but don’t you think it says a lot about her that she wants to come clean?”
“She’s a Divinator, though. How do we know she isn’t just coming clean because that was the best possible future for her? How do we know she’s not just doing that for a reward?” I asked, and Annie frowned at me.
“Does everyone need to have a secret agenda?”
“Yes,” both Christian and I replied at the same time, and Annie frowned harder.
“Whatever, you two. I’m not going to stay here explaining all that’s wrong with that. Soooo, you gonna call Char here, or what?”
Christian just raised an eyebrow. “No need. She’s on her way. But I’m not letting an agent in there without getting some information first. I’m going in.”
Looked like I was no longer needed here, then.
“Well then, I better, uh, get going. Before she gets here,” I said, turning on my heels and heading towards the door.
Annie materialized in front of me. “Wait, you’re not staying behind to see her? Don’t you want her to know you helped?”
Did I? Yes. But would I? No.
I’d made up my mind to win Char over fair and square, and to do that, I needed to actually get my shit together and find a way to apologize.
But I wouldn’t take credit for something Annie did in order to win her back. No, I’d work from the shadows a little more if I had to, but this time, I’d do good with it.
Or so I hoped.
I shook my head. “No, I…I don’t want her to see me like this. Besides, I’m not an agent.” I turned and nodded to Christian when I reached the door. “Thanks for helping me, Director. I truly hope she has useful information and is able to help you guys catch who’s behind the resistance. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.”
“Thank you, Theodore. Stay safe out there, and please don’t go off on your own to do dangerous shit again. You might have years of battle training, but you’re not an agent. And I’d appreciate it if you could keep this conversation a secret from your grandmother.”
I winced. “Yeah, no way am I telling the matriarch about this shit.” Then I turned to Annie. “You coming?”
“No, I think I’ll stay here and see what Jess has to say. Besides, I did say I’d help in the interrogation, and since the director can see me, I might actually be useful. Go. Pretty sure if you stay away for much longer, the matriarch is gonna send the dogs after you. I’m honestly surprised you don’t have a whole security team tailing you at all times already. You know, after…”
After her death. Yeah. The matriarch had tried to convince me to have extra security, but I’d refused. No fucking way did I want people following me and reporting to my grandmother “for my own safety.” I knew damn well she was grooming me to be the next head of the family. It was why I was the heir and not my mother. She’d always believed my parents were too soft. Aunt Kate was too deep under her control for the matriarch to trust she’d stay that way after her death. And Uncle John was just…not trustworthy, but he was the youngest child and nobody had really expected much from him.
“Yeah. I’ll go check-in. You’ll come find me if you need me for anything, right?” I asked her.
I’d lost her once, and I wasn’t ready to lose her again. Even if she could be annoying at times, even if she asked all the difficult questions and forced me to talk about shit I’d rather not, she was my sister.
It might’ve actually been the first time in my life I was glad to be a Soulbinder because it meant so long as Annie chose to stay on this side, I’d never truly lose her. Even if I now had to deal with a different version of her, she was still my sister. She was still the same where it mattered.
The resistance hadn’t managed to take that away from me.