Read Online Capitol Magic by Mindy Klasky - Free Book Online Page A

beyond the reach of Law and Order or CSI.
    I caught Jane staring at a marble stepping stone, set firmly in front of the door. She traced her hands along the rocky edge, nodding solemnly. “There are protective spells here. Strong ones.”
    Neko edged up beside her. I could not tell if he was giving comfort or requesting it. Or maybe their witchy magic just required that sort of proximity.
    In any case, the familiar took care not to step on the marble. Instead, he reached out a hand toward the door, palm flat, as if he were smoothing a rough surface. He nodded solemnly, coursing over the entire oaken surface. He moved so slowly, so methodically, that he caught me by surprise when he reached out for the brass latch.
    â€œWait!” I called, even as he drew back, hissing as if his fingers had been burned.
    â€œHecate’s Breath!” he swore.
    Jane was quick to catch his hand, to roll her tiger’s eye bracelet over his flesh.
    Neko hissed between clenched teeth, “Your Maurice Richardson isn’t expecting any visitors.”
    I frowned. “Not Richardson,” I said. “The Eastern Empire. Chris, my mentor. They’ve sealed the premises until Richardson’s trial.”
    Jane took a step away. “Wait a minute. We’re not just breaking into the bad guy’s home? We’re going against the entire Eastern Empire?”
    I winced. When she phrased it that way… “I represent the Eastern Empire,” I said, trying to sound confident. “I’m an officer of the court, here to retrieve property that rightly belongs to the Empire.”
    Neko whined a little in the back of his throat. Jane rubbed one hand down his arm, whispering something that she clearly meant to be soothing. I needed to regain control over the situation, or I was going to be stranded here, alone, in no time.
    Throwing my shoulders back with a nonchalance I did not feel, I reached into my tote bag. My fingers were drawn to the hilt of my Sekhmet’s Key. The magical implement seemed to shift when I touched it, to melt beneath my hand.
    When I pulled out the Key, we all caught our breath. The blade seemed to have expanded, its leaf shape much wider at the base. The silver surface was thicker than it had been in Jane’s kitchen, and the metal was smoother. It caught the light of the full moon and threw it back, brilliant as a spotlight.
    I took a deep breath, centering my awareness as I had when James trained me in the Old Library gymnasium. I forced myself to feel the stillness, the power, the strength that coursed inside my veins.
    I had worked at James’s lessons for six months now. I knew how to fight, how to defend myself, how to attack. But I had no physical enemy here—no one I could catch in an armlock, could tumble to the ground with a single well-aimed kick.
    And Chris had withheld my sphinx training, the intellectual background that I had hoped would balance the physical lessons from James. Over the past several months, Chris had parceled out only a handful of lessons, the vaguest of historical notions. He had moved so slowly that I had been crazed by the pressure inside me, by my need to order things, to control the chaos in the world around me.
    And so I had learned more than Chris knew. I had prowled through texts in his private library when I knew his job as a reporter would keep him away from his home. I had read a handful of books in their entirety, histories of our obscure people, of sphinxes. And I had learned a few words of power.
    I filled my lungs again, and I centered both my palms on the Key’s hilt. “ Inoixa ,” I said, thinking each syllable separately, clearly, like a bell ringing inside my skull. A tart wash of lemon exploded inside my mouth. I gulped at the citrus, surprised, even though I had hoped for it.
    I brought the Key forward so that the very tip of the blade kissed the door.
    A crash shattered through me. My feet started to slip away,