Page 89 of Wicked Enemy
All of those doubts were so loud, so insistent, that I could barely concentrate on what I was supposed to do. Shaking my head, I tried to force the thoughts aside and focus on looking alert as I approached a building along with Frank. I already knew that Levi wouldn’t be here, so it was taking some effort to pretend to care.
Frank signaled for me to draw my sword while he summoned wind. Our whole department had been split into pairs. One person to block an attack, and one person to rush forward and force the dark mages into close combat.
I gave him a nod in reply and slid out my sword. It sang faintly into the silence. Across the street, Jamila and her partner were approaching another house. Sunlight shone down from the pale blue sky, glinting in her sword as she drew hers as well.
Shifting my attention back to our building, I slowly pushed down the handle and then moved inside.
It was some kind of textile factory. I glanced over the piles of cloth and the massive wooden machines as I made my way across the room. Frank followed on my heels, wind magic whooshing around his hands.
We swept the ground floor, which was of course empty, before sneaking up the stairs and towards the upper floor. I tried my best to act tense, but I knew that we wouldn’t get attacked, so my mind began to wander again.
I wondered what exactly Levi’s deals had entailed. And more importantly, if they had worked out. If I was doing all of this, only for it not to even matter, then I would—
“Eve.”
Raising my sword, I whipped around.
Only to realize that it was Frank who had spoken. He held up a hand and grimaced while flashing me a sheepish smile.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” His wind magic was gone when he waved his hands to indicate the deserted factory around us. “It’s just, we’ve swept the building now, so we don’t have to stay quiet anymore.”
“Oh,” I replied, because it was the only thing I could think of to say.
He jerked his chin towards the stairs, motioning for us to start walking back out again, before he continued speaking. “I just wanted to say… I know that we haven’t been… Well, I mean… I know that we’ve been a bit distant lately.”
Distant, huh?Well, that was certainly one word for how he and the rest of our colleagues had behaved towards me these past couple of weeks.
Our boots thudded against the wooden steps as we started downwards.
“It’s just,” he continued. “You’ve made our department look incompetent a couple of times lately, and I guess we all just felt kind of frustrated. You know?”
Stifling a snort, I instead shrugged and said, “Sure.”
“But we heard about you losing your shit in Captain Wright’s office.”
I winced.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” He flashed me a tentative smile as we reached the ground floor and started towards the door. “I meant, we all heard about it and we support you. We miss Ulric like crazy too, but none of us have really dared to say anything. So when we heard how you backed him up and told Wright that it wasn’t Ulric’s fault and how Wright would never fill his shoes, we were relieved. And proud of you.”
Since I was pretty sure that it was supposed to be a compliment, I smiled back and replied, “Thanks.”
We reached the door, but instead of opening it straight away, Frank paused with his hand on the handle and turned to meet my gaze head on. “Look, Eve. We all know that you’re loyal to a fault. To Ulric. And to our department.”
Guilt sliced through me.
“There has never been a question about that.” He shot me a look that seemed an awful lot like pity. “But just… try not to screw up again in the next few months. We need to show Captain Wright that we’re a good team, otherwise all of us will be held back from promotions and stuff.”
The guilt was instantly burned away by a flash of rage. Keeping it firmly off my features, I forced another smile onto my mouth and nodded. “I’ll try my best.”
“Good.”
At last, he pushed down the handle and stepped out onto the street. On the other side, Jamila was making her way out the door as well. As I followed Frank across the threshold, she met his gaze and shook her head. She hadn’t found Levi either. Obviously.
I slid my sword back into its sheath and smoothened down a few loose curls that had escaped my ponytail. Sunlight warmed my face as I stopped and drew in a deep breath of cool air while we waited for the rest of our pairs to finish searching their buildings.
Once everyone was done, Captain Wright signaled for us all to move on to the next street.
I tried not to let Frank’s words get to me as we rounded the corner and started towards the next set of buildings. It didn’t really work. But before I could think too much about it, an impossible sound echoed between the stone buildings around us.