by Kate Martin
“What for?”
“He needs to get out.”
By the way she checked the state of her nails, Alec suspected something was up. “Anywhere in particular?”
“No. Just go.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me? No. Nevermind. Don’t bother trying to come up with a clever way of not lying about it. I already know the answer.”
“Then why ask the question?” She reached over and took what was left of his coffee.
“Because I’m stupid,” he said with a smile.
“So are you going then? I’d like it if you went now.”
“You know what I’d like?” Alec said. “Just once, give me a straight answer. See what happens.”
“To what question?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Yes.”
“Fine then.” Alec stood and headed towards the stairs.
He heard Carma follow. “That’s it? No arguments? No defiant orders for more information?”
“Nope. Bri!” He called up the stairs, then turned to face the demon. “You, Picadilly, and Dorothea going out into the woods to scribe? I want no part of that.” With no response from upstairs, he called again.
Carma studied him, hands on her hips. “And so you’re just going to take Bri into town as I asked?”
Alec leaned against the banister. “How long would you like us to be gone? I could spend a considerable amount of your ill-begotten fortune on some lovely rooms in the best hotel.”
“Nightfall will be fine. Are you playing some sort of game with me?”
“No game. Just tired. I think we will stay overnight. We’ll return tomorrow. Take your time.”
“Alexander—”
“I’ve asked you not to call me that.”
She growled, the tips of her hair turning red.
Bri chose that moment to lean over the second floor rail, his hair a mess and his clothes disheveled. The sight of him did little to dispel Picadilly’s hypothesis. “Alec? Did you call me?”
“Yes, I did. Pack a bag. We’re going into town overnight. Be quick about it.”
Bri ran a hand through his hair, opened his mouth like he was about to say something, then settled on something else. “What for?”
“To get the hell away from all these damned women,” Alec said with a smile.
Carma hissed.
Bri looked back and forth between the two of them, then he shook his head and turned to go. “All right.”
As soon as the boy was out of sight, Carma grabbed Alec by the ear and pulled him down until they were face-to-face. “Don’t turn this around.”
Alec slapped her hand away, smarting, and rubbing his abused ear, but didn’t retreat. “Why not? I had to give him some reason. It will be so nice to sleep tonight.”
“Ungrateful wretch.”
“You’ll be the death of me.”
“Your choice.”
“Have fun working whatever nonsense you’ve cooked up for today. I hope it doesn’t explode in your face too violently. Bri and I will be in town, safe and sound.”
She grabbed his shirt, growling as she pulled him closer. Alec got a lovely view of her chest heaving over her bodice. The ends of her silver hair were no longer red. When she kissed him, he was neither surprised, nor unprepared. She let slip that tantalizing essence of his soul, and despite his exhaustion, he began to stir and could barely breathe when she finally pulled away, tugging on his lower lip. “Come home tonight,” she said, her lips still pressed against his.
He breathed in the essence of his soul one more time, but his answer was so much more satisfying. “No.”
The best rooms at the best hotel in Callay didn’t put nearly as much of a dent in Carma’s fortune as Alec would have liked, but it was a start. The suites were connected by a single door, giving them both some privacy while ensuring that Bri was never really alone. Since it had become apparent that the seraph of the First File still searched for him, Alec had barely let Bri out of his sight. He had also insisted that Bri limit his trips to the myst and that he keep it at bay whenever possible. Given the discomfort the myst caused, Alec had been surprised when Bri hesitated before agreeing to those conditions.
They had cleaned up and dressed for town. It was early autumn so Bri covered up as much as he could, but Alec decided to forgo gloves. Crowds were still an issue, and Bri hadn’t been near so many people since that disaster at the ball. The streets were busy, flooded with people in and out of carriages and shops. All the temples and churches were alive and pulsing with people. Hymns and bells danced on the air, swirling and mingling around each corner. Alec had done his best to keep up with the changing religions and the holy days that went with them, but after two thousand years, he found he still remembered best the calendar of his childhood and often had little clue as to what the mortals were celebrating.
Bri dodged a family of five, the children skipping down the walk ahead of two smiling parents. He held his breath in fear as they passed, but then looked over his shoulder longingly as he and Alec moved on. “Why are we here? It’s Empyreal Night, everyone is out today.” Knocking against Alec, Bri avoided contact with an older couple as they passed by. “The myst is everywhere. I thought you wanted me to stay out of it.”
“I do.” A crowd of people swarmed outwards as one temple’s worship ended. As they walked through them, Alec shielded Bri from all the bodies. “But Carma is up to something and we definitely don’t want to be there, so we’re here. What’s Empyreal Night?”
“You don’t know?”
“Long life. Makes for lots of different holidays, always changing.”
“It’s the night everyone celebrates the coming of The One. They say The One will soon come to walk among us and bring prosperity to the whole world.”
Alec snorted before he could stop himself.
Bri peered up at him. “You don’t think so?”
“I don’t know what I think. But I know the better part of a thousand years ago people thought the very same thing, and The One never showed.” And I know that even in Haven, The One hasn’t been seen or heard from in some time. Carma and the other demons never fail to point that out. “But, who knows,” he said, not wanting to crush any faith Bri might have, “maybe this time things will be different.”
“Do you believe The One exists? I know you used to pray to one of the gods, Cel-Eza, but he’s gone now. Do you think the same thing happened to The One?”
“I’m certain the same thing didn’t happen to The One. We would have heard about it.” Cel-Eza had been beheaded by Inaseri and his head tossed into the Burning Sea, which had been called just The Northern Sea at the time.
“The One must have existed at one point. He created the myst, and I certainly know that exists.”
“Very true.”
“Do you think the myst would disappear if The One did? Or would it stay anyway?”
“I’m not an expert in theology, Bri.”
“I was just wondering.”
They side-stepped a rather large man who lumbered down the street with no regard for others. “I know. Hey, why don’t we go to the bakery and order a cake?”
“What do we need a cake for?”
“For eating.”
“All by ourselves?”
Two years in and surprising Bri was one of Alec’s favorite things. The kid needed more fun in his life. “Sure. Why not? It is a holiday, isn’t it?”
“People fast today. They eat huge meals and sweets tomorrow,” Bri said it like he learned it from a book.
“Fine, then it’s just a day. A good day for cake.” And for talking, and forgetting about demons, and spending a certain demon’s money.
Bri thought about it a moment, then smiled and nodded. “All right.”
Then Bri stumbled, his eyes went wide and glazed over. He paled and sagged. Alec caught him just before his knees smacked the pavement.
“Bri?” Alec hefted him up, ignoring the stares of the pe
ople passing them on the street. Bri was dead weight in his arms, twitching every so often, his hands reaching towards something that couldn’t be seen. With a gentle shake that gained him no response, Alec shifted the boy and touched his face with his bare hand.
Bri gasped and blinked, life returning to his eyes as he looked straight at Alec.
“What happened? Are you all right?”
Struggling to stand, Bri gripped Alec’s arms hard enough to bruise—a strength Bri didn’t possess. “I didn’t see it. Why didn’t I see it?”
“See what?” Alec tried to move him out of the way of the many Callayians walking the streets and staring, but Bri wouldn’t budge.
“The temple. Where’s the temple with the seraph carved into the steeple?”
“Bri, you’re not making sense.”
“Where is it?”
Bri’s raised voice raised Alec’s anxiety. He could count on one hand the number of times the boy had done so in the past two years.
Alec did his best to answer the question. “The temple…it’s on the other side of the city, I think. Or it could be the one by the bridge. I don’t know exactly, Bri, I’ve never paid attention to them.”
Bri slapped his hand away, freeing himself from the quiet, and staggered back, his eyes glazing over once again. People protested as he got in their way, some using unnecessary obscenities. Bri headed for the wall of the nearest building, but Alec grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him to safety. He was just about to touch Bri again, to drag him out of the myst, when Bri breathed and emerged on his own.
“It’s the one by the bridge. Come on!” He disappeared into the crowds before Alec could stop him.
Though worry clouded his mind, Alec wondered at how quickly and deftly Bri was able to move about. Chasing down a fifteen-year-old boy who spent most of his time sheltered with a book shouldn’t have been so hard. Yet Bri kept one step ahead of him, all down the main street and across Baker’s Way. Ladies gasped and men protested as Bri surged by, pushing them out of his way. Alec didn’t make things better when he followed. The streets were thicker with people as they neared the bridge and the great temple came into view, one of the oldest in the city. Its stonework and marble guardians carved along the roof edge were relics of the past. Alec remembered a time when everything had been so intricate and artistic. Even the simplest of buildings had at least one little extravagance to honor a god or The One. Now, everything was efficient and cost effective.
The huge wooden doors of the temple were wide open, welcoming worshipers as they flocked to its candlelit offerings. Children clambered about their mothers’ legs, while groups of men tipped their hats and made small talk as they entered. Each one carried a bright white rose and set it at the feet of a faceless stone entity that stood at the top of the stairs. Bri ran full tilt at those stairs. Carma’s mark on Alec’s wrist, which had faded into nothing more than a reminding scar, began to burn with each step closer.
Alec grabbed Bri by the shirt and hauled him back just before his foot touched the first step.
“Are you crazy?” He did his best to keep his voice low and to remain as inconspicuous as possible, but with his heart pounding he barely succeeded. “You can’t go in there.”
Bri struggled against his hold, but turned when Alec added an arm across his shoulders. “I have to!”
Alec leaned in. “You sold your soul to a demon. You cannot set foot inside one of The One’s blessed sites.”
“You don’t understand!”
“What? What don’t I understand?”
“They’re all going to die!”
— CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX —
The knowledge sat in his mind like a heavy weight that would drown him. Pushing against Alec’s superior strength, Bri tried to break free. He was so close. The temple was only steps away. He could save them. But Alec refused to let go, his expression a jumble of emotions.
Alec glanced around, as though checking that no one had heard Bri’s outburst. He leaned in, putting them face-to-face. “What are you talking about?”
“In the temple. It’s going to burst into flames. Explode. People are going to die. I have to warn them, tell them to get out.”
“You saw this in the myst?”
“Yes! Please, Alec, just let go.” He pulled against Alec’s tight grip.
“You can’t. The whole site is blessed. You’ll burn. Don’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“In your mark.” Alec extended his right wrist where Bri could see. The lines of his bargain with Carma were old scars that no longer pulsed with life the way Bri’s did, but they were bright red as if on fire. “I can barely stand being this close. We need to go.”
Bri’s wrist was cold. Just flesh beneath gloves. “I don’t feel anything. I’m fine, Alec. It doesn’t hurt me. I can go in.”
Alec pulled him back. “You can’t.”
Bri dug his heels in. “I still have my soul. Maybe I can. Let me try.”
“And risk you bursting into flames? No.”
“Please, Alec.”
“What are you going to do if I do let you? Huh? Run in there and shout ‘fire’?”
“Do you think that would work?”
“If you change the future, you will have seraph breathing down your neck faster than you can blink. Is that what you want?”
“I can’t do nothing. I have to try.”
“No. Absolutely not.” Alec pulled Bri even farther from the temple.
The memory of what he had seen in the myst still swirled in Bri’s mind. The debris, the smoke, the fire. The scent of blood and death. It was a smell that had become too common in his life. He couldn’t let it happen.
He took two steps in the direction Alec wanted him to go, appearing as if he had given in and loosening the tension in the man’s hold. Guilt warred with the terrible sense of duty and doom the myst had bestowed on him. Guilt never had a chance.
I’m sorry. Bri wrenched himself from Alec’s grip and charged towards the temple. He heard Alec shouting and pleading as he landed one foot on the first step of the holy place. There was no change in his mark, so knew he had been right. He could go in.
Three steps within the heavy temple doors and he saw the magnificence meant to honor The One. The great stone floor, polished to shine like a mirror. The carved pews made of dark wood finished with renderings and interpretations of seraph, the myst, and Haven. Above the dais, the sun shone through a huge round window made with pieces of colored glass. Bri had read about such things, but had never seen one before. It was more brilliant than words had described. In that filtered light, more people than Bri had ever seen in one place sat in pews without an inch to spare between them. Hundreds, their heads bowed and their hands clasped or pressed to their hearts.
Alec’s words echoed through his mind. What are you going to do? Shout fire?
I have no plan. Another step and then two more brought Bri further into the temple, until he stood beside a small bowl on a pedestal at the end of the aisle, filled with white rose petals and a sweet-smelling water. He took one more tentative step and wincing when his shoes rang through the near silence of the temple. Beyond the bowl of roses and water, it became harder to breathe. The mark on his wrist tingled and the air seemed thicker, as if the holiness of the place wished to deny him passage. The overwhelming instinct to turn and run emerged. He took a single step back, then remembered the myst, and held fast to his position.
The air beat against him, like a gust of wind. Bri gasped for breath and reached for something to help him regain his balance. The bowl of petals sloshed and teetered, then fell off the pedestal, breaking the solemnity of the temple.
Everyone turned. Everyone stared.
Suddenly it wasn’t just the power of The One’s blessing that made him want to turn and run.
“Ple—please. You all have to leave. This place isn’t safe.”
Murmurs rumbled and whispers hummed. There was more than one laugh.
; Bri straightened his back and fisted his hands in an attempt to get them to stop shaking. “I know it sounds crazy, but please, you have to listen to me. This whole temple is about to come down. To burn. You must leave.”
The whispers turned into words. Heresy. Blasphemy. Insanity. Nonsense. Poor simpleton. Out of his head. A threat? Call the authorities.
One old man stood. “What are you talking about, boy? How dare you come in here on this of all days with such foolishness. Is this some kind of trick?”
“No. No trick, sir. I swear.”
“Bah. Take your games elsewhere.”
“It’s not a game, sir! Please.” He appealed to them all, to anyone who dared make eye contact. Most of the women looked away, others shook their heads in disapproval. The children peeked over the backs of the pews, curious, but consoled by their parents.
A few men stood and began to make their way to the ends of the pews into the aisles.
Bri fought his panic. “No. Really. I’m not making it up.” He stammered over his next few words, making little sense even to himself. “There’s a fire!” It was a foolish, last ditch effort.
A holy man appeared at the dais. “Get him out of here.”
“Please! You have to listen to me! I’m not lying. You’ll die if you stay here.” The men were coming closer, and Bri backed away, hands extended to keep them at bay even though he knew it was a feeble defense. If they touched him…his gloves would do little to keep their future from his mind.
He made one more desperate appeal to the crowd, and found familiar green eyes staring back at him, with no judgment. Her blonde hair was as golden in the light of day as it had been at night, that night when she had found him in the garden, sick. There had been no judgment then, either. Ella.
Please. He begged her silently. Please listen to me. Leave.
The whispering grew louder. “Isn’t that Lady Dusombré’s boy?”
“Her cousin, yes. Sick, I hear. Poor thing.”
“Shouldn’t someone be with him?”
Bri barely heard them, but their words hurt nonetheless. Unfortunately, he could do nothing to refute them. The men who had taken it upon themselves to remove him on the priest’s orders had come too close. Dodging their hands took more strength than Bri had. He continued to plead with them, but no one listened. Like the two women he could hear from the back of the pews, most of the church had taken to similar conversations. Ella watched him from her spot, standing now, a woman at her side asking her to sit. The men approaching spoke to Bri in calm, yet firm voices, like he was a skittish creature that could potentially bite.