Songs and Fury

By Mary Kit Caelsto

The truth is coming to light and the faction which had left Olivia for dead still has infiltrated the Akron Auxiliary. She's determined to root out the dangerous forces before they can damage her agency even more. With her unicorns still under threat, Olivia wants nothing more than to end this—for good. But a moment of anger does more harm than she expected and now she’s dealing with a corrupted node and magical storms that threaten to disrupt everything she holds dear. How can she protect her agency when she can’t even protect herself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Kit Caelsto
• Release date: Feb 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005630874

Book preview

Songs & Fury

Wings & Horns Book 3

A Musimagium Story

Mary Kit Caelsto

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Newsletter CTA

Also by

Songs and Fury

Preview: Songs and Horns

Preview: Hidden

Preview: Tonic Chords

About The Author

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Permission is granted to make ONE backup copy for archival purposes.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SONGS & FURY

Copyright © Mary Kit Caelsto, 2021

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Cover Art © 2021

Cover art by Epona Author Solutions

Book formatting by Epona Author Solutions (http://www.eponaauthorsolutions.com)

Electronic Publication Date: February 2021

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

Would you like more by Mary Kit Caelsto? Visit https://www.marykitcaelsto.com/newsletter to sign up.

Subscribers receive free stories. First news about giveaways and promotions…and more.

Also by the Author

Fantasy/Magic Realism

World of the Musimagium

Hidden

Tonic Chords

Songs & Wings

Discovery of Songs

Of Songs & Horns

Songs & Paperwork

Songs & Fury

The Pegasus Enchantment

The Pegasus Project

Pegasus In Flight

Pegasus Gathered (coming soon)

Chasing Neptune’s Cat

Tempus Magic

Draco Magus

Women’s Fiction

Noble Dreams Series

Steady on Course

Standing on Course

Correction on Course

Walking on Course

Course Perfect

Shadbelly Faults

Husband On Board

Double Clear

Riding Double

Rosettes & Rompers

Crossed Rails

International Obstacles

Baby Green

Mare Stare

Future Courses

Western Star Series

Spins Are Wild

Turn & Burn

In the Chute

Back In The Saddle

Winning It All

Romance & Racehorses

Racing Home

Claiming His Irish Trainer

His Irish Proposal

Chapter One

If fighting to protect the node and coming back not just to my old job at Armis, but to lead the whole damn Akron Auxiliary, it was that people fell into two camps. Either you trusted them and they had your back, or they used you for their own ends. There seemed to be no middle ground here, and I still tried to unravel the knots Dawes and Ironsgate had left in the culture of the Auxiliary to see if it was an artifact of these people or the Musimagium itself, or both. I refused to believe that they’d always stay the same. Not when every dive into personnel records or incident reports took me deeper and deeper down rabbit holes I never wanted to find.

I glanced through the open door to my office at Mark, who currently worked at pulling up some archived reports to see if my hunches were true. Ironsgate might have acted all nicey-nicey after the battle, even giving me the warding charm for when I had to protect the node, but I still didn’t trust her. My searches turned up quite a bit of information, mostly things that she ought to have known about and acted upon and hadn’t. Seems to me that if she’d done so we wouldn’t be in this position.

I’d been back in Akron for two weeks, coming in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, spending the rest of the days at home. I often took large stacks of paper files, things I didn’t want relegated to someone and Mark had enough on his plate, to go through them. I groomed Lady and rode her, Shadow close beside us. On the weekends Mark brought Audrey out and watching her with Shadow made all this worthwhile. I’d connected with Sonia in New Mexico, talked with Rose, and even met Evan, the newly appointed Head of Socius Education. Despite all the things that had happened here, the Musimagium really was trying to make things right regarding magical equines and all socius. So why then was I faced with this sinking feeling in my gut that the next shoe had yet to drop.

I called Mark into my office and pointed out some personnel movements Ironsgate had approved about a month before everything had happened. Her electronic signature was on the file, and while it could have been forged enough safeguards were in place that it wouldn’t happen easily. What do you think about this? Two Armis agents, seemingly low in the hierarchy, had been sent to Lexington suddenly and without the other station calling for backup or assistance. I think I want to talk to them.

I remember those guys. They were startled at the reassignment. One of them, I think it was Smith, had a son Audrey’s age who had just started school and I know the agency tries to minimize disruption in agents’ lives. The other was kinda a ghost. Didn’t do too much. Kept to himself.

Both names had shown up on Voltang’s information I’d received, though not as the bad guys. Do you think someone was getting them out of the way?

Could be. We’d had a lot of reassignments lately, and I don’t think all of them were routine. But also, I knew better than to say anything. Mark grinned.

Don’t blame you. I paused, not quite sure how much to disclose. Voltang had asked me to keep the information on the down low, so I hadn’t told Mark about the package. If it ended up that several people at the Auxiliary were involved…I’d have to bring him in eventually. Right now, I figured the less he knew the less trouble he could get into. Can you get me a workup of all of those. Let’s go back three years. That’d take the timeline to before my attack and Dawes leaving me for dead. My heart hammered thinking about what that might entail and what I’d discover. I had no choice. Removing the rot, roots and all, required such a deep dive and I was ready.

Sure. If Mark questioned the length of time, he didn’t say anything. I suspect he knew more than he was letting on, and that was fine by me. If I didn’t have to relive my trauma, all the better as far as I was concerned. This far away from Lady I couldn’t rely on her for strength. I had to stand on my own, and god I hated it. After being with a team, having people who covered my back while we fought Aquarii Testimonii, being alone like this sucked. I’d get used to it. I’d been here before. I’d be here again, I was sure. Is there anything else? Mark asked.

I pulled my attention back to the situation at hand. Sorry, got lost in my own thoughts. I think that’s it for now. Once we have the list, I’ll know who we can reach out too, but I think Smith and Watley are on the list.

Would you like me to reach out to Lexington and see if they’re available?

I shook my head. I’ll check my calendar and then do it. If Mollie is still working out of Lexington it’d be good to go down, there and catch up. I miss her little smart-ass chicken. I chuckled to myself. I returned to my office and checked my schedule. Other than my twice-weekly drives here to Akron I didn’t have anything on it. Then again, it could be that Mollie might want to come visit. Certainly, I had enough room on my property and a guest room. I sent the message to her, not sure what her schedule was or if she’d even receive it. Then, I messaged Smith and Watley individually asking if they had time to meet with me about a few things. I didn’t mention who I was, but if they checked the roster they’d find out.

I wasn’t worried about that. Not right now. Either they weren’t involved in things as I thought, or they