Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats 2)

Chapter One

“In 1953, the first-born children of Feiru (FEY-roo) mothers were deemed dangerous by the Feiru High Council. Because these first-born children have the ability to control fire, earth, water, or wind, the council passed a law requiring them to be imprisoned at the age of magical maturity. The council’s aim was to keep the Feiru secret of elemental magic from humans…One of DEFEND’s primary goals is to dismantle the Asylums for Magical Threats’ prison system and to integrate elemental magic users back into our society.”

After what had happened four years ago, Camilla Melini had never expected to be back in Merida, Mexico.

But DEFEND had sent her here to find one of the Four Talents—legendary elemental magic users who could both heal and destroy—and she wasn’t about to let memories of that day from four years ago ruin her chances of success. As long as she kept her eyes open, and was careful, she should be able to get in and out of Merida before anyone from her old life could find her.

And if they did, well, she had a few extra tricks up her sleeves these days that she could use to try to defeat them.

Cam looked over at Zalika, one of two people that made up her team, and asked, “Are we finally on the right street?”

Zalika offered Cam the map in her hands. “You try reading a map in Spanish and see how far you get.”

“All I care about is reaching our contact’s shop. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can take off this stupid straw thing on my head.”

Zalika smiled. “But since the real Cam would never be caught dead in that hat, it’s a good disguise.”

“I’d rather take my chances if it means I can see properly.”

Zalika laughed as they turned the corner. “Jacek is watching our backs, and he’ll let us know if he sees anything suspicious.”

Jacek was the other half of Cam’s team. “He’s a good enough lookout, but that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“You haven’t seen your asshole ex or any of the other psychos from your past, have you?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean they’re not here.”

Zalika nodded to the right. “Well, there’s the stall. If everything goes to plan, then we should be out of Merida by this evening, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about.”

She only hoped it would be that easy. “Let’s try to be out of here by this afternoon.”

Doing the best she could with the brim of her hat hanging partially in front of her face, Cam did a sweep of the area. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary—just street vendors selling food, salespeople trying to entice tourists into their shops, and friends chatting on the street.

Confident that no one was following them, she nodded the all clear to Zalika, and they approached the vendor stall filled with Mexican handicrafts.

Cam glanced over the brightly colored tablecloths, place mats, and purses until she found the section of hand-painted ceramics. Most of the cups and plates featured some kind of flower, but she kept looking until she found a plate with DEFEND’s secret symbol subtly worked into the design.

The middle-aged man running the stall matched the picture she’d been given in her assignment file, but to keep up appearances, she asked, “Do you speak English?”

The man smiled. “Yes. Is there something I can help you with?”

Time to use the secret pass-phrase. Cam held up the plate with DEFEND’s symbol on it. “My aunt has one just like this in her house, and since she loves it, I’d like to add another one to her collection. Do you have any plates with the same design, but painted in different colors?”

The man replied, “Yes, but my wife tries to hide them away in the back of the store, hoping that I’ll forget about them so she can keep them. But if you have time, I can take you to the inside portion of my shop and find the others for you.”

The man had used the correct response to the pass-phrase. But in the interest of looking authentic, she looked over to Zalika and said, “What do you think? Can we take a few minutes to look at the other designs?”

Zalika shrugged. “Sure, you’ve waited for me enough times. Let’s check out the other plates.”

The man put up a hand. “Give me a second.” He disappeared into the door behind him and soon reappeared with a teenage boy that Cam assumed was his son. The man said something in Spanish to the boy and then waved for them to follow him. “Come inside.”

Cam took the lead, but right before she reached the door, her instinct told her that she was being watched. She glanced over her shoulder and listened intently with her supersensitive hearing—one of the many bonuses that came with her latent abilities—but came up with nothing. As much as she wanted to find the source of her unease, she and Zalika should be safe enough inside the shop. If someone tried to barge their way in, she had a gun and a knife strapped to her leg under her flowing skirt.

She needed the information this man could provide to get the hell out of Merida and complete her assignment. If she left now, she’d have to linger in Merida long enough to arrange another meeting.

She decided that the possible threat wasn’t grave enough to abort her mission. She ducked inside the door, and Zalika followed.

Marco Alvarez watched Cam enter the shop and breathed a sigh of relief. When she’d turned around, he’d barely had time to hide in the crowd inside the eatery, the one he was using to stake out the vendor stall across the street.

His orders were clear—he was to watch over Camilla Melini and make sure her mission succeeded. The longer he could do it from the shadows, the less of a chance someone would connect them, giving him the advantage of surprise if things turned sour.

Since he’d seen her knock out a shadow-shifter back in the States, he knew firsthand that Cam could take care of herself. But Jaxton Ward—a high-ranking member of DEFEND and his old boss—was either being cautious or knew something that he didn’t. Cam was here to explore some Mayan ruins and hopefully find a clue left by a Talent, but he had a feeling that something else was going on. Maybe anoth

er group was also searching for the Four Talents.