Embers (Scales 'N' Spells 4)

Decided, Nikki turned, listened hard, but it seemed like the commotion out front kept people there. No one was coming this way. Nikki eased an eyeball around the corner, saw nothing except a moving truck, and decided to risk it. They sprinted to the next building and didn’t stop there, but kept going at a healthy jog until they reached the next corner.

It was definitely busier now than when Nikki had first come through. Why people were unloading this time of night, they had no idea, but it was troublesome. Nikki wasn’t sure if they could even get across this narrow alleyway and to the shadow of the next building without being spotted.

They peeked again. Yeah, no, that was a lot of people. And they were stacking things in the alleyway to offload the truck, so Nikki would be in plain sight if they tried to run now.

Damn, universe. How about cutting a mage some slack, yeah?

And seriously, people, it was bedtime. Go home. Bunch of workaholics.

The sound of a gun cocking froze Nikki in their tracks. That sounded like it was right behind them. Oh, please let that not be right behind them.

“Hello, Nikki.”

Shit. Oh fucking shit. Universe, you betrayer. Nikki turned, heart in their throat, and came face to face with their worst nightmare.

Thomas stood not ten feet away, gun pointed at them, a wild sort of glee written all over his face.

“Thomas,” Nikki greeted levelly. Their mind raced with possibilities. Maybe they could talk their way out of this? Even just a little bit? Because all Nikki needed was time. Time for the timer to go off, time for the calvary to ride to the rescue.

“Imagine my surprise when the alert went off that someone we knew had skittered back through the ward,” Thomas said, gleeful smile turning manic around the edges. Two lackeys, Emerson and Otto, stood with him but didn’t seem to notice, as their own expressions were a near match for it.

“Alert?” Nikki asked. Partially to keep him talking—which wasn’t hard; Thomas loved to talk—but partially because they were really curious.

“Sure. You didn’t think we’d not change the wards after you and the others left us, did you? Of course, we left your permissions in place, but we wanted to know if you returned, so we had an alert put on you. It would be stupid to do otherwise.”

“Very stupid,” Nikki agreed even while kicking themself. Alright, so maybe Nikki should have considered the possibility this had been something of a trap.

“What are you doing here, Nikki?”

“What, I can’t return to the clan who raised me?” Nikki tried bullshitting, even if it wasn’t likely to succeed. “You adopted me after my parents died, after all; this is the only home I’ve ever known.”

“He’s so full of it,” Emerson said to the other two.

Nikki immediately shot him the bird. “You know, Emmy, one of the reasons why I dislike you is that you never use the correct pronouns.”

“I don’t owe you any fucking respect, you weirdo.”

Maybe Gunter would do Nikki the favor of squashing Emerson. Emmy was just one of those people who would do better in life if they were a bug on a windshield.

“Now, now.” Thomas didn’t seem fazed by their banter. “It’s cute you’re trying to sell us on this lie, Nikki. But it is a lie, isn’t it?”

“Why would you think so?” It obviously was, but again, Nikki was quite keen on keeping them all talking. The timer was set to twenty minutes.

And twenty minutes was quite a lot of time when the bad guys had you.

Adrenaline raced through Nikki’s body, their heartbeat loud enough to sound like a war drum in their ears. Nikki had no idea what to say, how to buy them time, mind racing and reaching for words. They were really hoping Thomas wasn’t going to shoot. The fact he hadn’t already fired was a good sign. Thomas wanted to know why they were here. He was more interested in information than shooting Nikki for betraying the clan and escaping.

How long did Nikki have left on the bomb timer, that was the question. In all that had happened, time had become skewed, and Nikki couldn’t even begin to guess. It felt like a decade had passed since Thomas had shown up with that gun. But it couldn’t be that long, so maybe five minutes?

Ten?

Oh, ten minutes would be great. Please let it be ten minutes.

Thomas laughed, as if the question amused him.

“No, seriously, why would you think that?” Nikki pressed.

“Please. The device in Otto’s hand, don’t you recognize it?”

Nikki hadn’t paid any attention to Otto, standing in Thomas’s shadow and focused almost exclusively on a ray-gun looking device in his hand. Otto normally didn’t say a word to anyone; he was a grim-faced man who looked like no one had ever loved him.