Southwest Truths (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 3)

War, but as long as I can take down people and monsters with them, that’s enough for me. It’d be great if we didn’t have to go through this agonizing, lengthy process to make them.”
“Agreed,” Serafina replied in a singsong voice. “I’ve thought a lot about sorcerous energy and how it’s passed through my dolls. I was thinking it might give me some insight into how we can prepare things more efficiently.”
“Did you come up with anything?”
“Oh. Well. Yes. It’d work, but with a few side effects.” Serafina furrowed her brow and nodded at the cleaning doll. “Like, it’d probably shred your soul. Probably?” She laughed. “Of course, it’s far more likely that it’d just kill you, but at least your soul wouldn’t be toast. Maybe.”
The cleaning doll finished its sweeping. It hung its tiny broom around its neck before charging off the table and jumping to the floor with a soft plink.
Lyssa scrubbed a hand down her face. “I’d rather not die in the process of making my ammo. It kind of defeats the whole purpose.”
“Exactly.” Serafina shook a finger. “That’s what I was thinking, too. So, work in progress. I’m trying, Lys. I’m trying, I am.”
Lyssa sighed. “It’s fine, Serafina. If I keep getting into these kinds of situations, I’ll just have to figure something out. It’d be nice to have an ultimate attack that doesn’t drain the hell out of me and doesn’t risk my life when I use it, but life’s not always fair. If it were, I wouldn’t have a job, and the Shadows wouldn’t have cops or soldiers.”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “I should have come here and done this a while back, but I’ve been so busy with minor jobs on and off lately. November flew by in no time, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaving a mess behind when Samuel finishes convincing them to let me go to Last Remnant.”
Serafina shivered. “That place gives me the creeps. I’ve only been there when I bonded the Imperfect Smith. I think the Illuminated are better off away from it.”
“Probably,” Lyssa replied. “It’s too detached from the rest of the world. After a while, they’re going to end up forgetting Earth doesn’t revolve around Last Remnant, if they haven’t already. Honestly, I’d rather not go there, but I need to check on my brother’s regalia.”
She had shared her evidence about Chris surviving past his reported death with Serafina, along with her suspicions about the timing of the message informing her of the return of his regalia to the Vault of Dreams. Serafina had been polite about it and didn’t deny something strange might have happened, but she also didn’t seem to believe Chris was alive any more than Tricia and Samuel did.
Serafina’s gaze dipped, and she sighed. “Lys, what are you going to do if you find the regalia there?”
“I don’t know, but I’m trying to be open-minded about it.” Lyssa shrugged. “If I accept it, at least then I’ll know. I’ve been telling myself it’s all a conspiracy. Maybe it is. I honestly can’t be sure after some of these recent jobs. Maybe he was alive all these years, only to die recently. I think, though, the only way I’m going to get any closure is by going to Last Remnant.”
“What’ll you do if you were wrong the entire time?” Serafina asked.
“I don’t know that either.” Lyssa frowned. “But if I accept his death as being recent, that means someone killed him for some reason that’s also recent. I need to figure out what the hell happened and get some revenge.”
Serafina sighed. “That doesn’t sound like closure to me, Lys. It sounds like more of the same. You can’t spend your whole life chasing ghosts.”
“It’s a start to finding closure.” Lyssa’s pocket vibrated, but it wasn’t the one with her phone. She reached into the offending enclosure, pulled out her shard compact, and opened it. Rattling off the activation incantation, she steeled herself for her latest job.
There was no way she could complain about Samuel giving her work after all her complaints in October. Her eyes darted back and forth as she read the yellow Lemurian script that appeared on the cloudy surface.
“Huh.” Lyssa closed the mirror.
“What is it?” Serafina asked.
“Not sure, but this could be very good or very bad.”

Chapter Two
The mirror message had been clear, but the implications weren’t. Samuel wanted Lyssa at the Traveling Club the next day, but he didn’t specify why. “Mysterious Samuel” was the most annoying version of the man.
Lyssa hadn’t visited the place since her trip to Utah. This time the club was in eastern Washington, forcing her to go on an exhausting three-and-a-half-hour sorcery-enhanced trip through the western United States on her bike.
The message ordered her to come the next day at a precise time and stand in a specific location while facing east. She did so in front of an abandoned warehouse, facing a wall and a padlocked door that kept her from proceeding and occasionally glanced at her phone to check the time.
“Like it’d kill him to just come to my house,” she muttered.
Her phone beeped as her alarm went off, marking the specified time. The padlock unlocked itself and fell to the ground with a clunk, then the metal sizzled and flowed into the air as thick smoke.
Lyssa glanced around before opening the door. A dusty and empty warehouse floor was on the other side, but the pressure of sorcery was almost overwhelming. She took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway.
The warehouse floor vanished, and a sprawling ballroom replaced it. Four couples danced on the floor. All wore elaborate costumes.
While Lyssa recognized some as regalia, the background sorcery of the club made it hard to determine if everyone was Illuminated. She wasn’t sure Shadows were allowed in the club.
Glowing chandeliers floated overhead, slowly changing colors. Light classical music was played by a translucent ghostly string quartet sitting in real wooden chairs. An array of black