Origin (Scales 'n' Spells 1)

Lisette took in a breath and then gave Melissande a nod. “Begin.”

Melissande lifted her hands and spoke in tandem with Elissa beside her. “Umba fela gev adi.”

Lisette gave a pat to both women’s shoulders. “Good. Gisa, Carla, go.”

“Dene zold gev adi,” they intoned in unison.

The cat’s ‘senses’ connected with the mirror in a sudden splash of sound and color. The cat had appeared in the alley between two businesses, standing perfectly still. Under Melissande’s direction, it turned its head and surveyed the street.

It looked like every other small German town Cameron had seen. The buildings were built in snug together, the streets themselves of cobblestone. A charming sort of tourist trap, all of it clean and well-tended. Some of the stores were more modern, looking only thirty years old instead of a hundred, with glass fronts and brick structures. Cameron’s nerves jittered as he read the signs, what he could of them. He didn’t always know the words, but he could see the Jaeggi name crop up often in different store front windows—places that looked like pharmacies, dry cleaning, hardware stores.

Oh wow. Gunter was right to be freaked out. They really had survived and even thrived as a clan.

“Cameron, Cassie, start.”

“Memen apud hic gev adi,” he and Cassie managed more or less in unison. He felt the crystal in their joined hands light up with faint heat, a sign the spell had taken hold and worked. Good. All he had to do was maintain the energy flow and not drop the crystal and they were golden. But it also meant they had to stand right next to the mirror, which semi-blocked the view for everyone else.

Alric came to stand right at his back, hand resting on Cameron’s hip. He didn’t say a word, just stood there silently and watched through narrowed eyes.

Melissande navigated the cat about, walking casually along the streets. She’d added a cloaking spell onto the cat’s design, not wanting to catch the attention of any mage nearby. The cat was the easiest form to use as a drone, as it was versatile enough to climb under and over things. But no one wanted it to be seen or detected—not in that town.

The cat went up and down several streets before Melissande stopped it, right at the edge of a larger building with a security gate in front of it. It was the only building without a sign in front of it. Just the black, iron-wrought gates and two security guards standing on either side of it. The building beyond it was a depressing, unrelieved grey. Blocky, nearly windowless, it looked like a prison but didn’t have enough security around it for that.

“That looks suspicious,” Lisette murmured. “Hoheit?”

“Yes, investigate.”

Melissande turned the cat in, slipping through the gate, and took it around the outer grounds for a while. Nothing from the outside looked unduly suspicious, but it was odd. Aside from a parking lot, there was nothing out here. Not even an outdoor space for people to eat lunch in. Just grass and walls.

“Go inside,” Alric directed. He sounded calm, on the surface. Cameron could clearly feel his tension, though, pressed up against his back.

That turned out easier said than done. Melissande took the cat around the building three times, looking for any opening—an open window, a door cracked open, something. Anything. No luck. Cameron frowned at the building, not sure how to get past this. Should they even exhaust their magic trying? Or look through the rest of the town and come back here if they came up empty?

“We can’t see anything from here,” Ravi complained to them. “What’s happening?”

Alric turned his head slightly to answer. “The building is very secure, and we can’t find a ready opening. Lisette, how much time do we have left before we have to retreat?”

“An hour, two at most. Otherwise we exhaust ourselves.”

“An hour, then,” Alric directed her. “We can’t afford our mages to be magically depleted, nor do I want to abuse you so. Melissande, do one more circuit around the building. We’ll mark it as suspicious if we can’t get in, and look at the rest of the town.”

“Understood, Hoheit,” Melissande responded in her low contralto.

“Oh!” Elissa suddenly piped up, pointing. “Hurry, Melissande, there’s someone coming out a door.”

Melissande hurried the cat along and it sped through, slipping past someone’s ankles and through a side door at the last second. It shut with a hard clang and an electronic beep as the security system on the door reengaged.

Lisette leaned around Cassie to get a firmer look. “Melissande, turn the cat’s head to look at the door. Now that is odd. Why do they have electronic security up? Where are their wards?”

Cassie canted her head in question. “Sorry, why can’t they use both?”

“It’s not that they can’t, it’s just usually more trouble than its worth,” Lisette explained, still frowning at the door. “Electronic devices and magic don’t usually marry well together.”