Read Online Adamant by Emma L. Adams - Free Book Online Page B

like Earth, where knowledge of magic was next to none. It was like time-travelling back to the Stone Age and handing out grenades.
    “Most Academy graduates who come in here haven’t a clue how to deal with the reality of non-Earth negotiations,” said Markos.
    “The Academy did cover offworld law, believe it or not,” I said, pacing again.
    “Thought it was more about chasing monsters,” said the centaur.
    “That too,” I said, and Ellen laughed.
    “Sounds exciting.”
    “Sounds mental,” said Lenny, shuddering.
    “Not the first time I’ve heard that,” I said.
    “Wow,” said Ellen. “I think I’m glad I went through an apprenticeship instead, but I always wondered.” She was still looking at me. “Did you get to go offworld?”
    “Aside from the Passages? No. Guess they didn’t want a bunch of teenagers running amok with hover cars in Valeria.”
    Ellen grinned. “Fair point.”
    “Never been offworld?” Markos inquired, giving me an assessing look.
    “Not yet.” I could have, since I’d turned twenty-one, but the permit application process was so long-winded and tedious that ultimately I’d decided to hold off until I’d graduated and had full access to the Passages and the main allied worlds as an Alliance employee. Now I was regretting that decision.
    I paused by the filing cabinets at the office’s end, checking my communicator again. “Law Division’s coming down here this afternoon, by the look of it.”
    “Crap,” said Lenny, paling. “They’re not going to arrest me, are they? I didn’t murder anyone. None of us did.”
    Ellen sighed. “I think we should do something.” She indicated the walled-off section of the corridor outside, which led to Mr Clark’s office.
    “Leave it to the Law Division,” said Lenny. “Can they use magic to track who killed him? Or weren’t there DNA traces or anything?”
    “Apparently, the killer hid their tracks,” said Ellen. “Didn’t you hear them?”
    “He was being questioned,” Markos reminded her. We’d all eavesdropped on one of the discussions that had taken place among the guards and law enforcement, in which it seemed apparent that the killer had somehow removed their own DNA traces from the victim.
    Magic, was my immediate thought. Surely they’d have taken it into consideration. Though I had no idea how many magic-wielders there were at Central. I’d never met another. You couldn’t tell by glancing at someone. That was what made magic so damned unpredictable. I’d expected the question to come up when I’d been interviewed for the job here, but it hadn’t, so I’d played it safe. For all I knew, being a magic-wielder might work to my advantage later on, but I’d also discovered it while breaking the law. Not exactly something I wanted to mention on the job application.
    “The Law Division. Christ.” Lenny shuddered.
    “I wouldn’t have thought they’d get involved just yet,” said Ellen. “I know it’s murder, but there’s nothing offworld about it, is there?”
    “Don’t be so sure,” said Markos. “Clark was strangled, but it could have been done with magic. If they’d had a source. A stunner wouldn’t do it. They should have magic experts on the case soon, I’d assume. In a place like this, sad to say, it’s always a possibility.”
    Of course. It had slipped my mind that on Aglaia, Markos’s homeworld, magic was second nature, at least to humans. Centaurs, not so much. But there were bound to be more offworlders here.
    “Interesting,” said Ellen, switching off her communicator. “I’ve always been intrigued how it works. Magic, I mean.”
    Don’t be, I thought. If I never had anything to do with magic again, it’d be too soon. “Useful interest for a secretary,” said Markos.
    “Everyone needs a hobby.”
    “Looks like Clark’s cost him his life,” Lenny said, and I glanced in his direction. “He was poking into weird things when he died. So the officers said.”
    Weird things.