Burned by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #1)(32)

“Still,” Comenius mused. “He could have simply ordered any one of his mages to do it. This is very interesting.”

“What it is, is concerning,” Noria said, leaning forward. “Naya, you aren’t like, becoming friends with these people, are you? Just because the Chief Mage wiggled his fingers and did some magic mumbo jumbo on you doesn’t mean that he’s your best bud now. If anything, it’s his fault this happened to you in the first place.”

“You think I don’t know that?” I scoffed, leaning back against the cushions and crossing my legs as if my pulse hadn’t suddenly kicked up a notch at Noria’s accusation. “No one knows better than me I’m like a mouse under his paw. He’s a cold, calculating bastard who doesn’t give a flying f*ck about me, and I plan on putting as much distance between myself and this place as I can, as soon as possible. We are not friends.”

“Good.” Apparently satisfied with my declaration, Noria sat back. “Now we can get on with the rest of our visit.”

I arched a brow. “And that is?”

“The silver murders.” Comenius pulled a new issue of the Shifter Courier from the inside of his tunic.

I took it from his outstretched hand, my eyes narrowing as I read the front-page article, which was about another shifter death.

“Surely this should spark some kind of investigation, no?” I asked after I’d read the article. The victim was the daughter of a wealthy shifter merchant – surely that had to merit some attention.

Comenius pressed his lips together. “I’m not so sure. I disguised myself as a reporter and attempted to interview the family, but I was ambushed by several thugs not far from the house. I suspect they had been following me.”

“By Magorah.” I reached for Comenius’s hand, but stopped myself. “Are you alright, Com?”

“I have a few tricks up my sleeves.” A small smirk played across his lips, but his expression quickly grew serious again. “I managed to palm this from them.” He drew a tiny cloth pouch from the inside of his sleeve and handed it to me. “Strange, that human drug dealers would be hanging around Shiftertown.”

I opened up the pouch and took a sniff. “This is cerebust. It only works on humans.” Scowling, I sniffed again to see if it was cut with anything, and a few grains of the drug flew up my nostrils. A strange, giddy feeling flew through me, and I dropped the bag, stunned.

Thankfully Comenius snatched it out of the air before it spilled all over the carpet. “Naya? Are you alright?” He peered into my eyes. “Your pupils are dilating.”

“I… I think I’m a little high.” Panic overtook the strange euphoria, and sweat broke out across the line of my brow. “That’s not possible. Shifters don’t get high.” Cerebust was a recreational drug used by humans, but like most drugs it didn’t work on shifters. Our metabolisms run too high – we might get a slight buzz from an actual hit, but a few flecks of cerebust in my nostrils should not have had any effect on me.

“As I thought.” Comenius’s eyes blazed triumphantly as he returned the little pouch to its hiding place up his sleeve. “Someone has treated this drug with a chemical or process that makes shifters susceptible to it.” He folded his arms as he sat back.

My mind reeled at the implications. “But that doesn’t make any sense,” I protested. “Surely I would have heard if there were drug dealers running around Shiftertown? That kind of thing can’t be kept a secret for long.” But my heart sank as I realized that for the last couple of months I’d spent most of my time between tending bar in Rowanville and taking on what few Enforcer jobs I could. It had been many moons since I’d spent any length of time in Shiftertown.

Comenius shrugged. “It could be a relatively new thing,” he said. “Something that’s still being tested on the market. But it is interesting that this is being peddled by humans.”

“Sure,” I said, waving my hand impatiently. “But I don’t see what this has to do with the silver murders.”

“Think about it, Naya.” Noria leaned forward, excitement gleaming in her dark eyes. “You said that when you examined Roanas’s glass, you didn’t detect any silver in it. And yet he died of silver poisoning.”

My jaw dropped as the implications of that dawned on me. “Are… are you saying that you think the cerebust is being laced with silver?”

“That would certainly explain why you were affected by it,” Comenius pointed out. “If it was a small enough dose, the silver would weaken you just enough to allow the drug to affect your system. And since you’d be high, you wouldn’t even notice.”

“So whoever’s manufacturing the drug, could also be behind these poisonings.” My mind was racing now. “That rhino shifter –”

“Could have been overdosing on a silver-laced drug,” Noria finished for me. “Unfortunately we’ll never know since you incinerated him, but Comenius and I have been looking through the papers and have found evidence that Rhino-boy wasn’t the only shifter who’s had a psychotic break like that in the last few months.”

Antsy now, I jumped up and started pacing in front of the fireplace. “I have to get out of here,” I said, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to solve these murders if I’m stuck behind these walls.”