"How was your day?" Will asked, glancing up from his laptop.

  "I think Julian's trying to take over the town," Rachel answered, exhausted.

  She took her shoes off and laid them carefully by the entryway, in contrast to Will's lazily tossed sneakers. It was a habit she'd picked up from Rika, and in her modern mindset the organization and cleanliness appealed to her far more. She wished Will would do the same, but knew it was completely at odds with his laid-back personality. That same relaxed—but still quite aware—mindset was what had originally attracted her in the first place. Rachel was always so stressed and anxious in life, both before she'd enhanced her mind and after, that having someone she could rely on to bring her down to earth was a godsend.

  She took off her jacket as well, hanging it on the post, and took up her favorite blanket draped over the back of the couch. Will picked up the laptop and set it on the table, making space for her. Rachel stretched out her legs across the couch, letting her head rest in his lap warmed from the heat of the computer.

  "What did Viper want?"

  Will shuddered. "Apparently someone is interfering with his stuff, stealing his materials. Says someone's trying to kill him."

  "And he came to you?" Rachel asked, confused. As far as most knew, Will was aware, but not awakened.

  "Nah, he wanted you. Still, I looked into it after Mason got me down. Couldn't see a thing connecting to Viper's usual hideaways."

  "Hm," Rachel murmured. "Who's crazy enough to go after Viper, and skilled enough to hide it?"

  "No idea, but I'm scared of them."

  "Keep an eye out, honey?"

  "Of course."

  Rachel smiled and closed her eyes to concentrate. This was normally one of the best ways for her to puzzle out problems. Will's presence surrounding her gave her peace of mind she simply didn't know otherwise. She felt safe and secure here, and her mind was freed from local concerns, letting her focus on the big picture. Will had one hand running through her hair gently while he continued to work, and she simply rested there. They enjoyed the silence together.

  Today, however, Rachel's brain could not reach out to consider plans for expanding the council, or the various eventualities she had considered for contact with the outside world. Her last conversation with Kendra was stuck at the forefront of her mind, nagging Rachel to respond to the accusations that had been thrown at her.

  "Will, am I prejudiced against awakened people?" Rachel asked, her eyes still closed.

  "I think we're gonna need a word for that eventually. Magic-ist? Gray-ist?"

  "Gray-ist?"

  "Because every last one of them are always wearing that same plain black or gray hoodie and dark jeans."

  "Why are people still doing that anyway? Didn't we already prove that clothing doesn't even affect rituals?"

  "Maybe it's just a cool fashion trend now. Hey, remember when you were into fashion?"

  Rachel laughed. "I spent so many days with Hailey Winscombe in Seattle scoping out new clothes."

  "I'm just glad she got you out of that 'dresses are sexist' phase."

  "But seriously, honey," Rachel asked again, opening her eyes to look up at the face she loved. "Kendra said something today. Well, I said something, and she pointed it out. That I think we're all unnatural. Is that wrong of me?"

  Will saved whatever he was working on and closed the laptop, then set a hand to her face gently. "You know I'm horribly biased right?"

  "As honest as you can get, please."

  "I think you're the best thing to ever happen to our little gathering of witchery. I wish you'd invited me in sooner…" he said pointedly.

  Rachel grimaced. She'd neglected to tell Will about magic until the incident with the ritual in her room, long after she'd awakened herself.

  "...but the work you're doing to organize people, to set up a society and a government, it's good work. We're all tribal people at heart, right? And if we don't organize, we end up competing king-of-the-hill style til everyone else gets knocked down. You're making sure that doesn't happen."

  "But couldn't I do that and still think of them all as beneath me?"

  "Rachel, you're their elected leader. They voted you in. Clearly you've doing something right."

  "Like being voted in means anything about the quality of a leader," Rachel grumbled.

  Will grinned. "So maybe you're doing a terrible job and no one can tell because we're all too stupid to know the difference."

  "I don't think you're stupid."

  "Honey, you don't need to be nice. I've seen you work. Compared to you, I'm about as smart as a caterpillar. You're light years ahead. Way better than Julian."

  "Thanks… wait, what about Julian?"

  "...You didn't know?" Will asked, taken aback.

  Rachel shook her head, which had a surprisingly pleasant sensation against the fabric of Will's pants.

  "He's been putting out feelers about trying to get himself elected to the council. Building up trust and connections, you know how it goes."

  "Julian Black on the council?" Rachel wondered aloud, with a bitter taste in her mouth.

  "Problem?"

  "He's a selfish, power-hungry bastard."

  "Wow. No mincing words on this one."

  "Who did you hear about this from?"

  Will shook his head. "No one told me. I happened to overhear him campaigning while I was at Hector's store. He was talking to a couple of those Grey-eye weirdos."

  Rachel sighed. "If he got their votes, he might have a shot. Enough people between his friends, the cult and the floaters that he could probably knock Josh off if he wanted to."

  "What does that mean for you?"

  "I don't know yet," Rachel frowned. "It's not like Josh does much anyway, but he's predictable. That's way more useful to me. Do you know what Julian proposed today?"

  "You literally just got home, Rachel."

  "...Right. He's up to something big in the neighborhoods. Says he's just trying to make deliveries more efficient."

  "But you don't believe him," Will prompted.

  "Do you?"

  "I've only met the guy once."

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  "What did you think of him?"

  "Of the guy that delivered my graphics card?"

  "Yeah, what did he seem like to you?"

  He shrugged. "Like a delivery guy? I just took the box and shut the door again."

  "Nothing at all?"

  "Sorry, honey, I don't go around trying to read every single person I meet," Will said irritably.

  "It's okay," Rachel sighed. "I'm sorry. That'd be ridiculous."

  "So what's he up to?"

  "I… don't know yet. Kendra and I talked it over, and we're sure he wants the space to do some serious ritual work."

  "At that scale?" Will asked, his eyebrows creased in worry.

  "Now you know why I'm concerned."

  "No kidding."

  "Between this and the people that have been disappearing, I wonder how long we can keep everything under control." She sighed, pausing to take a sip of the glass of water Will had set out for her. "If we can just do this properly, think of everything we could solve. The energy problem would be a piece of cake, for one. Global hunger and food distribution could be improved. If I'm right, we could wipe out so many diseases and viruses without any effort at all. So many problems could be solved with magic."

  Will took hold of her hand and gripped it firmly. "You've got this. I trust you."

  Rachel smiled, but she wasn't reassured. For all Will's support did for her emotionally, mentally she was a trainwreck of concern and doubt. She'd given him that speech many times before, of course, but every time it seemed even further away than before, as she seemed to lose control bit by bit over the hundred-plus Awakened currently running around Rallsburg.

  What if Julian Black wasn't the type to research thoroughly ahead of time? What if he ended up destroying half the town?

  That's insane, Rachel reminded herself. It's not like he can even pull together that much power. The rules of energy still applied, even if no one quite understood how they worked anymore. He couldn't just create power from nothing; so long as his body was the conduit for whatever forces he tried to muster, Rachel felt reasonably assured Julian wouldn't be able to do too much damage.

  She relaxed and settled back into Will's lap more comfortably, ready to let her mind rest for a few minutes—but as Rika would say, fate wasn't having any of that crap tonight.

  A sharp rapping on their apartment door. Stiff knuckles wrapped in gloves.

  "It's the sheriff," Rachel said abruptly, springing to life once more.

  "How do you do that?"

  "Knocking patterns."

  Will raised an eyebrow. "Do I have a knocking pattern?"

  "Yes, it's called 'walking right in because you own the place.'" Rachel clambered to her feet, brushing dust off her skirt and straightening out her hair as best she could. "Do I look okay?"

  "Honey, I don't think our sheriff cares what you look like."

  "Just tell me."

  "You look like an upstanding, responsible member of society." Will brushed a hand through her hair and plucked out a small green leaf that had gotten stuck.

  "You didn't mention that until now?" Rachel asked, annoyed.

  "I thought it looked nice."

  She rolled her eyes at his grin, but gave him a quick peck on the lips all the same. She hurried to answer the door before the sheriff got impatient. The rain had started to pick up again, and their apartment's walkway wasn't particularly well protected from the wind and cold. As such, Sheriff Jackie Nossinger was looking a bit worse for wear as Rachel opened the door to greet her.

  "Good evening, sheriff."

  "Hi, Rachel." Jackie was a large, robust woman, frequently impatient and loud-mouthed, but always fair-minded. Rachel had warmed up to her as the perfect sort of no-nonsense law enforcement she'd always desired, and Jackie Nossinger fit the bill perfectly for the future she envisioned. Over time, Rachel had been sure to involve herself in ride-alongs, help settle disputes, and generally make herself a useful asset to the sheriff both through her own abilities and Will's magically-obtained tips.

  That said, the sheriff was woefully uninformed of the real goings-on in her town, and Rachel suspected tonight had something to do with that secret half of her jurisdiction—the half that was currently responsible for importing significant quantities of precious gemstones into the town.

  "I take it this isn't a social visit?" Rachel prompted gently. Jackie seemed to find her voice, though her eyes were still wide with something like fear.

  "Look, I know you kids mess around with some weird shit." Rachel shot a look over her shoulder to Will, who seemed equally surprised. Maybe their good sheriff wasn't as ignorant as she thought. "I don't bring it up and I don't ask questions because it's never been a problem."

  "And now it's a problem," Rachel concluded. "What happened?" Her heart sank into her stomach. If the sheriff was coming to her in person, it couldn't possibly be anything good.

  "Get in the car and I'll show you."

  Rachel picked up the small leather pouch containing her more useful possessions from its hook near the door and fastened it around her waist. Will gave her a significant look. She felt somewhat reassured. No matter what she might be walking into, she'd have her lover's eyes keeping watch for any danger.

  A quick nod and she was out the door.

----------------------------------------

  "Isn't this outside of town?" Rachel asked as they bounced through a poorly-maintained forest road.

  "Barely, yeah, but staties ain't coming out this far more than once every two weeks at best. Just aren't enough of them. So I come check in when I can."

  The car lurched off the road and into the RV park, which looked mostly deserted. A few lights were on, and Rachel could see smoke from a small fire in the distance, but otherwise the park was forebodingly empty. They bounced along the rough ground between sad, empty encampments until finally grinding to a halt at a particularly forlorn spot on the edge of the park.

  Rachel got out of the car, her hand firmly grasping a pair of rubies tucked in her bag. She expected to run if anything happened; Rachel had never been in a fight, and didn't plan to start now. Still, Rika had taught her a few things to defend herself if it ever came to it, and she practiced them often.

  Rachel crept toward the door on the side, which was slightly ajar. The sheriff followed a few steps behind, her pistol drawn and ready. She'd never seen Jackie this afraid, and that fear began to double down on her own.

  "What should I be expecting in here?" Rachel whispered.

  "A whole lotta blood and death," Jackie hissed. "And I'm not goin' back in there unless I have to. You shout if you need somethin'." She nodded at the door.

  Rachel steeled herself. "Fine. Be right back I guess."

  She hesitated, her hand on the door, and let her mind slip into the altered state as Will had taught her. It wouldn't tell her if someone was inside; Rachel could only see the connections drawn from whatever she was focusing on, and she couldn't focus on something she didn't know was there. In this case, it was herself, and the faint but pure white line that flew out into the distance, representing Will watching her from afar.

  Rachel held onto that line as her strength and pulled the door open.

  She saw bodies. The men scorched, electrocuted and burned alive, the little girl with the flesh cleanly scooped away from her body. The clean spheres cut out of the chair and the college kid who sat in it, no longer possessing anything above his chest.

  Rachel took it all in, and it was too much for her. Her stomach churned, and that was before the smell struck her, weakening her knees and sending her head spinning.

  Moments later she was vomiting in the grass next to the RV, the door slammed shut once more. Jackie was patting her on the back, handing her a cloth to clean her face.

  "What was that?" Rachel gasped.

  "I used to work homicide in Seattle, and I've never seen shit like that," Jackie said, leaning against the RV heavily. "The wounds make no sense, it's too clean. No way someone is cut like that so cleanly without being dead already, but with all the blood pumped out everywhere and the struggle, they were clearly alive at the time. Even the little girl." Jackie paused, her eyes grim. "Who the fuck does that to a little girl?"

  Rachel shook her head. "I don't know."

  "You'd better find out," Jackie said. "Lord knows I've turned a blind eye to whatever you're doing in this town, but I can't do that for long if bodies start dropping. Find out what happened and fix it, or I can't cover your side up."

  Rachel looked at her with curiosity. "Why help us? You know I've been lying to you for a year now, so why?"

  "Because whatever you're lying about, you've done nothing but help," Jackie answered matter-of-factly. "Crime rate in this town is basically nothin'. I actually get to enjoy my job and the people living here. You a damn superhero?"

  "No. Nothing like that."

  "Whatever. Point is, you're doing good. 'bout time I returned the favor." Jackie nodded at the door again. "I'll be back for them tomorrow morning. Jenny's parents are already lookin' for her. I can stall them, but not for long. I'll keep the college occupied for you on the other two. Don't fuck this up, kid."

  Rachel sat down on the wet grass, trying to catch her breath as her carefully constructed world was slowly unwinding around her. In her mind's eye, the memory of the sight inside—which was permanently burned into her brain, as with all memories she ever formed—was slowly beginning to clear up. On one of the bodies, she saw the telltale signs of electrical burns, though they were coupled with other types of burns and chunks of flesh missing as with the other two victims.

  Rika's in trouble, she realized with a heavy sinking in her stomach.

  This would change everything. Rachel couldn't let word of the details here get out. Rika was already on thin ice in the town as it was. The Awakened population was still reeling from the conflict between Alpha and Omega, still paranoid and ready to lash out at any perceived threat.

  If they got wind of a body with electrical burns all over it, it would be a short leap to a witch hunt for Rika's head. Rachel had to protect her friend, and more importantly she had to find the true culprit. It couldn't be a coincidence that she'd discovered this the same day Rika had returned to town.

  She gave the sheriff a heavy nod, still digesting the images in her mind and trying not to gag again.

  "Good luck," Jackie replied dryly, without a trace of optimism.

  With that grim blessing, Rachel braced herself for the world's first murder by magic.