Elemental Thief

Chapter 19

Archer hauled himself to his feet and banged on the door, which was covered in arxium on this side. "Tell Christa to come quickly!" He coughed several more times before sucking in a deep breath. "It's urgent!" When no one responded, he thumped his fist against the door one last time before moving away from it. Ridley pulled herself up and leaned against the wall, waiting for her pounding heart to slow. Archer, his breathing still heavy, slid down the wall opposite her and sat. She didn't say a word, and neither did he, but she knew they couldn't ignore what she'd done. At some point, she'd have to confront the fact that her secret was no longer secret.

She mustered enough energy to pull her commscreen from her soaking wet pocket. As she suspected, the screen remained blank instead of lighting up when she tried to switch it on. She pushed it back into her pocket. Her eyelids slid shut, blocking out the dull light of the single bulb hanging from the center of the ceiling. He doesn't know the biggest secret of all, she reminded herself as a dull pain began to throb behind her eyes. He doesn't know the magic came from inside you. She swallowed, opened her eyes, and dared a glance at Archer. It seemed he'd just about caught his breath by now. Slowly, his eyes rose to meet hers. "You sure waited long enough to use your magic," he said.

A beat of confused silence passed before Ridley said, "What?"

"Your magic. You could have used it the moment they attacked us. Or at any other point while we were being pursued. I assume the reason you didn't was because you didn't want anyone to see?"

She breathed once, twice, a third time, but Archer's words—and the fact that he wasn't the least bit surprised at what she'd done—still didn't make sense. "W-what?"

He wiped one hand over his face, pushing his wet hair off his forehead. When he repeated the words "Your magic," it seemed there was a slight emphasis on the word 'your,' as if he knew she hadn't pulled it from the environment.

Her heart thudded several painful times before she could speak. "You were expecting me to—but how did you—" He couldn't have seen anything when she snuck into his bedroom to share the video. She'd definitely been on the other side of the door when using magic. Her mind flashed further back to the night she stole the figurine. But he couldn't have seen any magic then either. She'd turned her body away from the cameras as she transformed one side of the glass box into air so she could stick her hand inside and remove the figurine. "You shouldn't know," she said. "I didn't let any camera in your home see my magic."

He shook his head. "No. Long ago, before the Cataclysm. You were at the apartment visiting Lilah. You used magic. Magic that come from ... inside you. You were alone in a room, but I saw you. I saw the magic glowing under your skin."

Again, Ridley had to wait several moments for her brain to make sense of the words before she could answer. "You've known all these years that I'm some kind of unnatural freak?"

Archer leaned his head back against the wall and draped one arm over his knees. "I'm not sure about the freak part, but yes, I've known about your magic for years."

"And did ... did you ..." Ridley was too scared to ask.

"No," he answered. "I didn't tell anyone."

"And you won't tell anyone now? I know we're in this secret part of the city where people use magic freely, but it's still nothing like my magic. No one else has this stuff inside them. I don't need other people knowing about this."

"Look, I've kept your secret long enough, haven't I? There's no reason for me to give it away now."

"Okay. But ... he might know," she said quietly, the realization chilling her. "The bald guy. He might suspect I'm different. He said he'd never seen anyone pull so much magic that quickly. He might guess that it came from inside me."