Dangerous Magic

16. Chadwick Montgomery

Naturally, after Clarie told me to stop asking questions, I had several follow-ups.

Rune Lore was the last place I wanted to be. I exited the empty classroom into an equally empty hall and headed in the opposite of my next class.

When I got to the library, the same work-study student was behind the desk, reading a book with a shirtless man on the cover. We ignored each other and I headed to the row of ancient school computers at the back of the main floor.

The internet didn't have a lot to teach me about magic, but I wasn't looking for a lesson. I was on the hunt for dirt.

I logged into the public computer and pulled up a browser. I tried searching for 'Montgomery' and 'teleport'; no interesting results. How rich do you have to be to keep all records of your family's magic a secret?

The articles that appeared in the search featured Montgomery gardens and estates and stories on how they built their business from nothing. One website listed all the prestigious things the next generation of Montgomerys were up to. Claire was featured as the youngest of the Montgomery cousins, but almost as an afterthought.

She wasn't even in the picture at the top of the page with the rest of her family.

I opened a new tab for a new search. The way Claire's voice had shaken told me that there was something to find. Her fear confirmed it.

By telling me to stay away, she pretty much guaranteed that I would continue looking into it. Besides, the Montgomery name was my only lead.

Searching for 'Montgomery' and 'accident', I found a whole side of the family. Funny how they buried any mention of teleportation and not the rest of their dirty secrets.

I scrolled to one site to read a news article on an arrest from three years ago. Chadwick Montgomery had been arrested in North Carolina for drug trafficking. The article did not detail his process or list his accomplices, but what it did say struck me:

Montgomery had been suspected of using rare magic to help the gang avoid detection. The arresting officer said it was only a matter of time before he slipped up and got caught. Montgomery's misuse of magic resulted in the death of at least one man. Montgomery is now serving thirty years in a North Carolina prison for manslaughter, reckless endangerment, irresponsible use of magic, aiding and abetting, and drug trafficking.

Chadwick Montgomery had been helping criminals get away from crime scenes without detection. The Montgomerys were known to have the ability to teleport. Three years ago, an unnamed man died as a result of this criminal activity. The math added up.

Chadwick Montgomery killed my father.

I shook my head to myself, still staring at the screen. That was a stretch, of course. Montgomery could have killed anybody; the article didn't describe the victim or any surviving relatives.

Besides, I was counting on my dad being alive when I found him.

I flipped back to the first article, the one about the Montgomery children. Chadwick was pictured but not mentioned in the article.

Now that I knew what he looked like, and relatively where to find him, I just needed an excuse to go visit.

Feeling lighter than I had in years, I went to close the browser. Something stopped me though, and I opened another new tab instead. This time I searched for 'Camille Lenoir'.

The first hit on the search page was a series of photos of Cami exactly the way I remembered her. She had the best smile, and sandy blonde hair that matched Jackson's. It was like stepping into the past; I could hear her laughing in my memory. Jackson was featured in several of them, as were his parents, but most were photos that people had posted after she died.