Free Alex Verus 5: Hidden by Benedict Jacka Page B

theory, your rank in the Light Council is a reflection of your skill as a mage, but in practice good connections count for a lot more than ability, which I suppose isn’t very different from most jobs.)
    Sonder and I used to get on pretty well, at least until last year. Anne wasn’t the only mage who’d had a problem with what I’d done to the Nightstalkers; Sonder really isn’t comfortable with violence, and his finding out how I’d dealt with the adepts last summer had pretty much killed our friendship. I’d made a few attempts to get back in touch with him and we’d met once or twice, but there had been a distance in his manner which hadn’t been there before. I wasn’t expecting this conversation to go well.
    Sonder entered Anne’s flat and stopped as he saw me. “Why are
you
here?”
    I sighed. When you’re dealing with people who aren’t going to be happy to see you, being able to see the future isn’t as much fun as you’d think. “Is everyone going to say that?”
    Sonder turned to Caldera. “What’s he doing here?”
    Caldera finished her call and started typing into her phone instead, giving Sonder a shrug. “He says same reason as you.”
    Luna stuck her head in around the door. “Something wrong?”
    Sonder turned distractedly from her to Caldera. “Can’t you get rid of him?”
    “It’s your investigation,” Caldera told Sonder without looking up.
    I blinked.
Sonder’s
investigation?
    “I don’t think you should be here,” Sonder told me.
    “Not this again,” I said. “Look, I’ve just spent half an hour telling the story to Caldera. Are you here because of Anne or not?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “Then you need to check the bedroom. I think something’s happened to her and whatever it is, it’s a lot more important than arguing with me. If you look back and there’s nothing to see, then great, you can interrogate me afterwards. But if something
has
happened, then we’re wasting time we probably don’t have.”
    “Sonder?” Luna said. “What’s the problem?”
    Sonder hesitated. It was obvious he didn’t want me around, but he was rational enough to realise that what I was saying made sense. And there was another factor, which had been behind my reason to send Luna after him; Sonder’s had a not-very-subtle crush on Luna for years, and he had to be aware that starting a fight with me in front of her wouldn’t end well.
    “All right,” Sonder said at last with poor grace. He started past me.
    “The bedroom’s—” I began as Sonder passed.
    “I know where it is.”
    I watched Sonder go, then turned to Caldera, who’d been observing the whole thing with undisguised amusement. “Why is it that whenever I actually try to help someone I never get any credit for it?”
    “Now you know what every day of my job’s like,” Caldera said. “Quit whining, you’ve got it easy.”
    “What’s the problem?” Luna asked.
    “Don’t ask. Did Sonder tell you why he was here?”
    “Yeah, he said there was an alarm triggered last night.” Luna looked worried. “Some kind of passive sensor. Where’s Anne?”
    “Sonder’ll know what happened soon enough.” I knew that if I walked into the bedroom right now I’d see him staring into space, lost in the trance of his timesight. I looked at Caldera. “How did you get involved?”
    “How do you think?”
    “Look, it’s not that I’m not grateful for having you around,” I said. “But given that Anne isn’t covered by the Concord, why
are
you here?”
    Caldera paused for a moment. “Why are
you
here?”
    “Because I’m worried about Anne,” I said. “Luna thinks something might have happened, and I think she’s right.” Not to mention that I was looking into the future to see what Sonder was going to tell us, and the signs were looking worse and worse.
    “That’s the only reason?” Caldera said. “No vigilantes chasing you this time? You doing this just to save your own neck?”
    “No.”
    Caldera studied