Page 35 of All Out of Flux
Okay, I definitely didn’t expect to drag that out of him with our bullying. Good to get any kind of confirmation, knowing how this Masque in particular had used trickery against us in the past. The way he began or ended our meetings, for example, being all flashy by turning invisible, leaving only his mask as a taunting Cheshire smile.
But he’d said that last part with a semblance of a sneer in his voice. He wasn’t just talking about teleportation and theatrical tricks. Max placed his hand defensively on my chest, physically covering me. He could sense that something was coming, too.
“Tío Gustavo denied ever sending any of his goons after us at the parking lot in Habibi. The Quartz Spider denied killing anyone there. And Justice — you were at the club, too. As Just, and then as a Masque.”
My jaw fell. “That was all an illusion? All three of those goons, them freezing in a time spell, them disintegrating? We ran and panicked for nothing. That’s fucked up, Just. You’re sick. Why even go to those lengths?”
“To mess with your heads, of course. To cast the blame on the Quartz Spider, to infect you with fear and keep you on your toes. Is this doing it for you, gentlemen? Is it satisfying as finders to be spoon-fed all this information you couldn’t manage to figure out yourselves?”
All this elaborate bullshit just to put us in danger, just to coax me into using the dragons and fall into his trap. And here we were, two against one. No backup from any other Masques, as if Just knew he could take us on his own. Or maybe he wanted all the glory to himself. The arrogance, the audacity. It made my insides itch. I clenched my fists, gritted my teeth. The last thing I wanted — the thing Justice wanted the most — was to let the dragons out.
“This isn’t worth it,” I told Max. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“I agree. All this trouble just to get my hair wet.” We started back toward Max’s car. “See you around, Just. The next time we see you, I’m putting a fist through your mouth.”
Justice chuckled. “I do so hate to repeat myself, but I so enjoy all the entertainment you two bring me. Such an amusing claim to make, because you’re not going anywhere.”
Thunder clapped, or perhaps it was just the magic emanating from his hands. Fromtheirhands. With the explosion of sound came a sudden flash of light, and instead of just Justice, there were twelve copies of him arranged in a ring around us. Each wore the same smug expression, and each held a copy of the stolen statuette.
We were surrounded. Trapped. Only — were we actually stuck there? Eleven of these figures were only illusions, weren’tthey? Then again, the false time anomaly back at the parking lot, the dying Brillante goons — it had all seemed so real. Their skin and flesh flaying in ribbons, their skeletons crumbling to dust. There was no denying the power of the mind, both its ability to create magical manipulation as well as its susceptibility to those same tricks.
Crystal daggers flashed and zinged, launched from Max’s hands. I whirled to follow their flight, watching as the crystalline slivers passed through two of the illusory Masques, harmlessly piercing their faces and shattering on the asphalt as they fell. Two down, or at least identified, ten more to go.
And then the Masque laughed, this time louder, another burst of magic erupting from his fingers as he clapped his hands. The entire ring of twelve men spun around us, a dizzying ride at a carnival, a nauseating trip through a hall of mirrors.
“You’re a clown,” I shouted at the closest projection, its wavering body quickly replaced by the next. “That’s all you are, you know that? You’re a fool.”
“Watch out,” said a voice by my ear — Just’s voice. Two strong hands shoved me hard in the back. I stumbled forward, winded, finding myself closer to the center of the circle. Max toppled toward me himself, the victim of a similar attack. My head ached as the visions spun faster and faster, the ring tightening into a smaller circle. A zoetrope, the heart of a kaleidoscope.
I clutched my chest, my insides churning. “Why are you even still holding that stupid statuette? You said so yourself. It’s worth nothing.”
All twelve copies of Justice laughed. “Because it makes you so angry. Haven’t you figured it out yet? Give it up, Alcantara. Unleash the dragons. Show me your true nature.” He leered as he lifted the statuette, its many copies blurring into a beige-brown streak. “Look at this thing that’s tormented youthis whole while. It’s barely even magical. Whatever power it contained was spent long ago. It’s worthless.”
“Not quite,” said a fourth voice.
The spinning stopped. The twelve images of Justice were grinning, but all stood perfectly still, as if the ride had come to an abrupt stop. Paused. Frozen in time.
“Max,” I muttered, only just recovering from the effects of the illusion, already fearful of what was coming next. He reached for my hand, the two of us leaning against each other for support.
And there he was. The Quartz Spider stepped out of the darkness and into the ring of Masques. This time Brendan Shum had made no effort to conceal his face, perhaps for the same reason that Justice was so eager to reveal his own.
This was where it ended.
“I’ll take that,” Brendan said, approaching one of the Justices, selecting correctly as he plucked the statuette from his grasp.
This thing was supposed to be worthless, wasn’t it? An old artifact with long dormant magic, only as good as a mundane piece of decorative art.
A wreath of white fire bathed Brendan’s hand, spreading across the statuette. He finished muttering the words of a swift, quiet spell, then clenched his fingers to the sound of shattering stone. With a single crushing motion, he’d pulverized the relic.
Dust streamed in opposite directions, the destroyed statuette as fine as powder. As sand. Oh, God. We’d delivered the quickening sand right into his grasp. Two glass bottles floated out of his pockets, the emptied phials that once contained the Aqueous Elixirs.
Sand streamed in through their mouths, just in time for the necks to join together with a glassy click. The completed shape spun in the air above his hand, a familiar and horrifying sight.
It was an hourglass.
16
MAX
