After all, she’d faked her own death two years earlier to protect Will. Petra wasn’t about to waste that heartbreak by allowing Will to die now.
Narrowing her eyes at Millie, Petra finally replied, “Whether I like you or not is irrelevant. Complete this mission and I’ll be in your debt. Fuck up and I’ll deliver you to Larsen myself. Hell, I might even take you to his boss, Giovanni Sinclair.”
At the mention of Giovanni, Millie’s face turned expressionless. “I’ll do my part, but you really need to learn to lighten up, Petra. Your level of seriousness is bound to bring on a heart attack by the time you’re forty.”
Petra checked her watch and motioned for Millie to go. “You’re on.”
Tossing her dark blonde hair over her shoulder, Millie fluttered her eyes. “I’ll try my best.”
“Just remember the scientific jargon I gave you and you’ll do fine. He needs to believe you work in the AMT research facility.”
AMT stood for the Asylums for Magical Threats, which was essentially a prison system for first-born magic users. Humans didn’t know of the existence of the Feiru, and the AMT Oversight Committee did everything in its power to keep it that way, including taking away twelve and thirteen-year-old children from their parents right before their magic matured and became dangerous.
Millie inched toward the closest bush. “I’ve pretended to be a genetic researcher for a previous assignment. This is similar. I’ll be fine.”
Petra’s curiosity wondered what job had required Millie Ward to play that part. But there wasn’t time to ask. “Just go. If you don’t leave now, he’ll jog out of your reach and we’ll have to wait until tomorrow. By then, who knows if someone will have noticed our presence.”
“Fine, fine.” Millie stood up behind the bush and tapped her ear. “Just let me know the second you spot trouble.”
“Just don’t go inside the mountain or your earpiece will stop working.”
Millie muttered something Petra only picked up through the two-way radio earpiece. “I’m not a rookie.”
Before Petra could say anything, Millie made her way down the hill to the exercise path used by the researchers and guards from the AMT facility. There was only a small section of the trail that wasn’t monitored by security cameras thanks to various trees and bushes blocking the shot.
Raising her binoculars again, Petra willed for everything to go perfectly. They had one chance and one chance only to get this operation right. She refused to think about what would happen if they failed.
~~~
William Evans jogged at a steady rhythm. The soft falls of his feet, combined with his breathing, helped his brain to focus.
His own volunteer research subjects would be arriving shortly. The three Feiru had developed magical abilities in the last few weeks. Unlike first-born Feiru, whom controlled either wind, water, earth, or fire magic, the late developers had a mishmash of powers that he’d never heard of before. One man could sometimes change the weather with words; a woman had the ability to shift into a fiery bird and direct other animals; and the second woman could control others with song.
He couldn’t wait to start his research and find a way to eradicate the mysterious latent abilities. Doing so would help protect the Feiru from the humans, of whom only a few knew of their existence.
Of course, Will’s motives weren’t entirely altruistic. He stared down at his hand and imagined holding someone else’s, one with a red slash across the palm. The second he changed the image to one of skin free of injury, his hand glowed a faint green.
Clenching his fingers, he banished the image and pumped his legs harder. I’m sorry, Leyna. I will still find a way to eradicate elemental magic so that no one else can kill unnecessarily again. But to do that, I need to banish my own power. Otherwise, they’ll lock me up and I can’t help anyone.
As always, silence was his answer.
Mentally speaking with his dead fiancée helped Will more than he would like to admit. Nothing he did would ever bring her back, but he would ensure that no one else would be burned alive simply because a rogue first-born elemental fire user had been careless.
Every day for the last two years he had wondered what his life would be like if he’d only agreed to meet Leyna for dinner that night. Instead, he’d been so focused on the research for his doctoral thesis that he’d missed all of her calls and text messages. Leyna had gone out alone and been accosted by a drunk fire user in a small park in London.
As he always did when he thought of Leyna’s death, Will’s drive to succeed pumped harder. He would find a way to rid the world of magic if it was the last thing he did. Leyna’s death would have a purpose. He’d make sure of it.
He focused on reviewing his current research and hypothesis and ran on autopilot. So much so, that when he turned a corner, he nearly ran chest first into a young woman with dark blonde hair and green eyes.
While he didn’t collide with her, the woman did grab onto his arm to keep from falling over. She cried out in pain and raised one of her feet off the ground. Will lowered his head and met the woman’s eye. “Are you okay? I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone else used the path at this time of day.”
The woman inhaled deeply and gave a weak smile. “This is my first attempt at jogging and I think the universe is telling me to give it up.”
The woman’s accent was from the North of England. “If you let one mishap derail you from your task, then you aren’t going to get very far.”
She bobbed her head. “You’re right, of course. It’s just that I’m new here and everything is strange. I’ve never been to China before this and it’s been a bit of a shock. You sound as if you’re from somewhere near London, so you probably understand what I mean.”
The woman hopped on one foot and he mentally cursed. At this rate, he wasn’t going to finish his run before his subjects arrived. “May I help you back inside, Miss...?”