Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

and a good recovery time. She’s willing. Hell, she’s waited this long, so she’s patient. I hope the two of you have a really wild night and wake up with sore heads. And other sore parts. But you don’t need to worry. Just do what comes naturally.’

Rochester regarded her for a second or two and then nodded. ‘You’re right, of course. I shouldn’t be nervous. Thank you, Mel. Thank you very much for that.’

Nodding in return, Melissa turned and set off again after Nava and Mitsuko. That had been a lot easier than she had expected. Giving your first boyfriend away to another woman. Encouraging him to go to someone else. That seemed like it should have been harder. Maybe it would have been before Nava and Mitsuko, and now Naomi’s interest. She was, she realised, over the failure of her first love affair. That was a revelation she could live with.

236/5/35.

It was not long after seven p.m. and Nava was sitting in on one of Takuma’s lectures on policing when her ketcom buzzed at her. The message was from Booker, asking her to go to the library building immediately. Booker had volunteered to run patrols, saying he would watch the vid of the lecture and, to be honest, someone had to. Apparently, however, there was something going on out there that needed her attention.

When she got there, she could see the point. There were various students sitting around on the ground looking shocked. Booker seemed to be fine, but his partner was blinking watery eyes and did not notice Nava approaching. There was a medic from the infirmary already there, checking people over with a relatively unconcerned expression on his face.

‘Booker? What happened?’ Nava asked.

‘Someone used a Flash spell in the middle of this lot just as we were walking past,’ Booker replied. ‘I was lucky, I guess. I was looking the other way when it happened. Theo… wasn’t so lucky.’

‘Is that you, Captain?’ Theodore said. Theodore Garver Morgan, one of Courtney’s recruits but apparently happy with the change of leadership.

‘How are you doing, Theo?’ Nava asked.

‘I can see light now. I think it’s wearing off. I think I’m going to have a bad headache though. Feels like I got hit with a hammer, not a bright light.’

‘When you’re good to go, take off for your apartment. I’ll finish this with Booker.’ Nava turned to Booker before her blinded subordinate could argue. ‘I take it no one saw who used the spell?’

‘No one’s saying if they did. Doing it right when we were nearby though. Seems like they’re testing us.’

Nava nodded slowly. ‘That’s a possibility.’

‘Permission to give my unfiltered opinion, Captain?’

‘Granted.’

‘The disreputable element have heard our captain isn’t patrolling and they’re trying their luck.’

‘Then they’ll be in for a shock when I walk around with you then, won’t they?’

‘Huh, yeah. Good point.’

‘And Flash needs a permit. I’ll be checking the databases later for people who have one. We’ll see if we can put any of them near here within the last thirty minutes.’

‘That was going to be my next suggestion.’

Nava nodded again, looking around at the slowly recovering students. ‘I’m glad to hear your education hasn’t gone to waste, Booker.’

236/6/1.

There had been no more incidents after that, but Nava had no luck tracking down anyone with a Flash permit whose ketcom placed them near the library at the right time. It was annoying.

Particularly annoying was the possibility that Booker was right. Someone, person or persons unknown, was playing tricks to see what they could get away with under the new regime. Maybe not specifically because Nava was only patrolling as a last resort, but they might just be trying their luck now that Courtney was no longer in charge. It did not entirely make sense, given the reputation Nava had… Then again, Nava was not out there. Maybe Booker was right about that, which would put her in an uncomfortable position.

Nava was somewhat confident she could compartmentalise any threat the other students posed into the ‘I don’t need them dead’ category. There were relatively few students in the school who were a threat to her. Unless they decided on sniping with something like Magic Bullet. Even then, if she could survive the initial attack, she could be back on her feet in seconds. Active Recovery was useful for that.

There were probably students who could make real nuisances of themselves, however. People who might be able to push her over the edge might be out there. She preferred to avoid a confrontation like that for as long as possible, hence she was there as backup for the other members rather than regularly patrolling.

She was, in fact, at SSF HQ, waiting for anyone to report a problem when the call came in about another Flash attack.

‘This,’ she said as she headed for the door, ‘needs to end.’

236/6/2.

‘Okay, everyone,’ Nava said, calling the meeting to order. The room fell into silence fairly quickly. That was good. ‘As you’ll all be aware, someone out there is playing dirty tricks. I’ve sent a spell schema to your ketcoms. It’s for Sense Protection, which provides some assistance in resisting light and sound attacks aimed at damaging your senses. Unfortunately, it’s not a cantrip, unless some of you are holding out on me regarding your capacities, but you should all be able to cast it from the schema.’

‘What, even you can’t do it, Captain?’ The speaker was Skylar Keyes, a girl from Mitsuko’s class who Nava had met on a field trip. She had seemed competent at the time and Nava had asked her to join up. Skylar was a tall, powerfully built woman with shoulder-length, auburn hair and dark-green eyes. Attractive, but not remarkably so. She hated her rather masculine name and insisted on being called Sky.

‘No, Sky. I can’t manage a twenty-eight Tammy spell as a cantrip.’ Nava’s gaze swept the room. ‘If you’re out patrolling, make sure you’ve got this cast on yourself. It lasts for thirty minutes, so it shouldn’t be too