Lainey and the Magicians (First Draft)

Chapter 23

 Codebreaker woke up! Emerald was gone. "Lainey, what are you doing in my room? Hmm, are you trying to get that Memory Erasing device?" Codebreaker inquired.

 "How would you know what I am aiming for?" Lainey asked. Her question was dumb. Codebreaker was a master of math and science. He wasn't dumb. He was one of the smartest men on Earth besides Emerald. It gave Lainey certain suspicions sometimes. She was realizing some of those suspicions now. She didn't know if they were true or not. She couldn't always assume her theories were true without evidence. He was smart. He must have been asking a rhetorical question.

 Codebreaker walked closer to her in his armor and eyed the panel. "I see your shadowy hands have slipped into the panels and are looking for wires underneath the Memory Erasing device. What are you aiming to accomplish here?" Codebreaker poked a gloved finger covered by metal and anti-Gic armor into her shoulder. It wasn't meant to be jolting, but Codebreaker had dealt with her on his missions many times before. He had adjusted his armor many times to combat her powers, but the sting setting wasn't turned on inside his armor for this.

 One time, he'd even lined all of his armor with salt and Lainey hadn't dealt with him. This was when she had been on a mission to protect a Jewlain shipment into North Korea one time, and the shipment ended up being exposed. The Emperor of North Korea's men took them into jail and shut down all the ports afterward. The Emperor of North Korea, Kijoin Jones, was a valued member of the United Nations, and he ruled North Korea with a rod of iron when it came to the Magicians. If anyone had magic, they were locked up in jail unless they could prove their intentions were righteous. Lainey couldn't believe she had screwed up that mission in North Korea, but now she was relieved to know that millions of people wouldn't be suffering as a result of this failed mission. Codebreaker had been her greatest enemy many times and had arrested her, but she had managed to escape jail. Sometimes, other magicians like Emerald would break her out of jail. He was smart. Codebreaker's mind was smarter than hers and he could think of crazy possibilities most humans would never grasp or think of. "It's none of your business," Lainey muttered.

 "When you break into my room at 4 in the morning when I have frazzled hair underneath my helmet and you are sifting through my stuff, it is officially my business. Private property rights to the enclave I built, you know. The actions you took earlier proves to me that you might not be a spy and how the Magicians have been chasing after you for months. However, they choose about this time now to send the new Shadow Rider to attack you in Jopiline a few hours ago. It's strange to me," Codebreaker muttered. It was as if he was preventing himself from saying more.

 "I had a dream tonight. It said it was a test from the Magicians of my time scrounging about in Salt. I did walk into a few Loves and gas stations when I was on the road, but I had a Haz hoodie covering my head and my piercings when I was driving to Jopiline. Also, I hadn't used my magic in a long time and I cut off all contact with all these other people that I knew except for my music people. I cut off my social media accounts and I had precautions on my computers. Also, I had to use my magic today. I got thrown back in time and I came back to the future where Nathan took me to this house, and I don't really want to be here," Lainey answered.

 Codebreaker walked closer to the memory-erasing device.

 "That does make sense. Using your magic can connect you to magical dream realms. Why do you need this device? I'm not going to just hand it over!" Codebreaker yelled.

 "I need it to erase my magic related memories. Don't tell anyone. I don't want to look like a coward or a weakling," Lainey was frozen in her steps. It might have been her pajamas not being warm enough and some of the older clothes she had taken with her when she had run away from the Magicians. No. It was the chill in admitting one of the biggest things she'd admitted in her entire life of cowardice. Codebreaker didn't budge. Lainey couldn't move inside her mind. Her hands were still inside the panel. Just then, Codebreaker briefly moved closer to the front of the panel next to the orange memory-erasing device.

 "That does make you look like one. I'm not giving it to you. You know why I can't give you the memory-erasing device and I can see it in your eyes," Codebreaker said.