Read Online A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly - Free Book Online Page A

the deep folds of the night.
    I lie back down. But the quiet is loaded. I wait a little while, then whisper to Grace’s back, “Thanks. But you didn’t have to do that. I can take care of myself.”
    Grace turns slowly to face me. Thanks to the moon and the prisonlike windows at the top of the warehouse, I can make out her face just fine. Nice straight features, dark hair. Not young, but not old—somewhere around Mama’s age—maybe late thirties, early forties. “That was as much for Stock as it was for you,” Grace whispers. “For a boy who has a chronic fear of snakes, he’s awful quick to conjure pests in the night. Living on top ofeach other, there’s got to be rules, or we’re all going to kill each other.”
    Her comment just brings my simmering panic to an all-out boil. I am in over my head. Drowning-water depths over my head. But I force myself to say, “Absolutely.”
    Grace studies me. “You’re as young as Stock, aren’t you? Now I understand his power play.” She gives me a little lopsided smile. “Where’d Gunn bring you in from?”
    â€œNorfolk County. Little town called Parsonage,” I say. “What about you?”
    â€œOutskirts of Alexandria. Came in with Gunn and one of his associates a couple nights back, along with a few others,” Grace says. “Fifteen of us total, though I’m sure you know that only seven of us are expected to stay.” Grace’s smile thins out. “With those kinds of odds, you don’t want to pick the wrong enemies, or the wrong allies.”
    I assume she’s talking about me and the rat-boy. “I’m not afraid of Stock.”
    Grace rolls onto her back, looks at the ceiling. “Maybe you should be,” she says. “Lots of sorcerers here are from families that have never shared their gifts or special strengths with the world, before now. Lots of powerful magic previously kept behind closed doors.”
    And of course I’m afraid—the fear is like a living thing, breathing and humming inside me. But I can’t let it paralyze me. I need to focus on what I’m here for, why I can’t fail. Immediately the image of Ruby, standing at our door, calling “Joan! JOAN!” as Gunn’s car drove me away—it flashes like a bright, clear burst of fireworks onto my mind. “I just don’t have the luxury of being scared.”
    â€œAnd what’s her name?”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œThe little girl in your mind,” Grace says. Wait, can Grace hear my thoughts or something? So was her earlier warningabout Stock, or about her ? “You were thinking about her so clearly, I almost couldn’t ignore it.”
    Finally I concede, “Ruby.” I roll over, suddenly feeling exhausted and exposed. “Thanks again for your help, Grace, but it’s been a long night.”
    It’s quiet for a while, and I assume she’s dozed off, same as the rest of them. But then I hear, “Sorry, I—I didn’t mean to get you upset. I just . . . I know what it’s like, to be against the odds. It’s been tough for me, too, past couple days. Some of the sorcerers are small-minded, expected an all-out boys’ club. They’ve been giving me and the other girl, Rose, a lot of heat—but Rose has her brother to stick up for her,” she says. “Plus, my family’s got a bit of a . . . strange reputation around northern Virginia, which doesn’t help.” Grace’s cot squeals and squeaks as she gets comfortable. She waits a moment, then adds, “Was just trying to say this place isn’t an easy corner of the world, to try and navigate alone.”
    There’s no sound but the soft chorus of snores and wheezes as her words settle around me. Maybe I’m dreaming, but it almost sounds like Grace is offering some form of friendship, or a pact. Not completely