A memory echoed through her head. There is a gaping emptiness at the heart of Whitehall...
“Emily!” Aiden was running towards her. “Emily! What...?”
“There is a gaping emptiness at the heart of Whitehall,” Emily said. She felt numb, too numb to think clearly. “What do we call a gaping emptiness?”
Aiden caught her arm and shook her. “What happened?”
“What do we call a gaping emptiness?” Emily understood now, too late. She thought she heard the demon laughing as the darkness teetered in front of her, threatening to swallow her whole. She needed to stop and think, but there was no time. “A void!”
Chapter Thirty-Five
EMILY RAN.
She was barely aware of Aiden following her, of the guns growing ever louder as rebels and royalists fought to the last. Dater was raining makeshift shells and catapult projectiles onto the city, trying to defeat the rebellion even as his own forces were riven with mutiny. It was a nightmare and yet... the real nightmare lay in front of her. She’d known Void was up to something, that he’d had an agenda of his own, but...
In hindsight, she wondered if he’d used subtle magic to keep her from suspecting the truth. The mystery enemy had used her techniques. Master Lucknow had put that on his list of charges. And who knew her techniques almost as well as she did? Who had the experience to take her ideas and innovations and improve upon them? There weren’t many possible suspects and only one of them had spent the last eighteen months in her company, listening to everything she said and assisting her to devise newer and better ways to use magic. The sheer scale of the betrayal was terrifying. She wanted to believe it was a particularly insane test, like the others he’d tossed at her, but she knew it had to be real. No one, not even Void, would put so many lives in deadly danger for a test.
She ran past a pair of bodies lying on the cobblestones as she turned into the street. The spies, she guessed. Killed by Hedrick, or Silent herself. It didn’t matter. She reached out with her mind, feeling her head starting to ache as she pressed her awareness against the wards. Silent had done well, she noted sourly. Lady Barb had woven a gap into the wards for her - the maid had had to purchase food, after all - and Silent had widened it to the point she could simply take control of the wards at any moment. Emily had thought Hedrick couldn’t leave the house, but she’d been wrong. Silent had opened the door for him.
The wards crackled against her fingertips as she stopped in front of the house. She half-expected them to resist her, to have to smash her way through the wards herself, but they parted at her touch. Emily tensed, bracing herself for the trap as she kicked open the door and peered inside. The hallway was dark and silent, the lanterns dead and cold. She glanced at Aiden, motioning for her to stay well back, and inched down the corridor. The wards had been designed to make it impossible for someone to spy on them, as long as they remained within the walls. They were making it impossible for her to sense Silent, too.
She heard a moan as she stepped into the dining room. Silent sat on a chair, hands tied behind her back. Emily blinked, wondering - for a moment - if she’d made a terrible mistake. Silent looked so weak and harmless that Emily felt almost ashamed of herself for suspecting Silent of anything. She bit her lip, remembering all the weird little coincidences surrounding the maid. Someone had to have recruited Simon, someone had to have...
Silent’s eyes narrowed. Emily sensed the surge of magic and threw herself to the side, just in time to escape an overpowered force punch. The building shook - she heard something crashing above - as the magic slammed into the foundations. Silent’s hands came free - she’d used a trick knot, Emily noted numbly - and wove into a pattern that spelt doom. Emily darted to one side, an instant before the curse blasted through the air. Silent was trying to kill her.
No, not Silent, Emily thought. The girl had used a skillful combination of glamors and makeup, but she couldn’t hide now. Nanette.
She threw back a spell of her own, all too aware she’d drained her power fighting Hedrick. Nanette had always been skilled as well as powerful, even when they’d first met six years ago. She’d sneaked into Whitehall in the guise of a transfer student and spied on her, unsuspected, until it had almost been too late. And then she’d been Head Girl at Mountaintop, trained by the Administrator himself. And... Emily gritted her teeth. Lady Barb had told her Void had a habit of recruiting useful people. It had never occurred to her that Nanette had been one of them.
Nanette caught the spell on her wards, then deflected it. She looked taller now as the last of the magic faded away. They stared at each other, their eyes meeting as they prepared their magic and tested their wards. Emily braced herself, knowing Nanette had to be taken alive and presented to the White Council. If she could convince them to intervene, if... the booming of the guns grew louder, much louder. It was already too late.
She played for time, all too aware Nanette would know she was stalling. “Why?”
Nanette’s face twisted with hatred. “You killed him.”
Emily blinked. “Killed whom?”
“Aurelius,” Nanette said. “You killed him.”
She lashed out before Emily could reply, throwing a tidal wave of magic into Emily’s wards. The sheets of fire danced around her, warded off by her protections... covering, she noted grimly, a set of more subtle attacks designed to sneak through the cracks in her wards and tear her to pieces. She blocked them as best as she could, then darted forward to slam her magic into Nanette’s. The ceiling started to collapse as their magics collided, each trying to break through the other’s defenses. Emily held up her wrist, revealing the snake-bracelet; Nanette jumped back, her eyes suddenly wide with fear. Emily shoved forward...
And Nanette shoved her back.
The floor started to shatter under their feet. Pieces of debris crashed from above. Emily darted back as a chunk of flooring - or something - smashed in front of her. The magic storm shook the house - she heard the windows shattering, fragments of glass crashing to the cobblestones outside - as it burned holes in the wards. Emily suspected Nanette was doing it deliberately. She might have hoped she could continue the pretense , she might have intended to claim Hedrick had tied her up before heading to the palace, but she knew her cover was thoroughly blown. It would be unlike her not to have a way out.
I didn’t kill him, Emily thought. She didn’t know who’d killed the Administrator of Mountaintop, but it hadn’t been her. Aurelius had been alive when she’d fled the underground school. It had only been later, much later, that she’d heard his body had been pulled from the wreckage. She’d always assumed he’d allowed himself to die. And she blames me...
A hot flash of anger ran through her. She didn’t have time to worry about Aurelius’s death, not now. She had too many other problems. If Nanette had been beside her for eighteen months, watching and waiting... what else had she done? If Void had recruited her and...
It was hard, so hard, to speak. “You... you put the book in Laughter?”
“Yes.” A shadow crossed Nanette’s face. “I did.”
Emily gritted her teeth. If she could keep Nanette talking... “ Why?”
Nanette held up her hand. “I needed help,” she said. “Your pet” - a flash of hatred was clearly visible, just for a second - “nearly killed me. I needed help.”
“And Void recruited you shortly afterwards,” Emily said. “Why?”
Nanette shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“Yes!” Emily stepped forward, picking her way across the broken floor. “What did you do for him?”
“This and that.” Nanette smirked. “I provided help and support to the rebels in Zangaria, to assist them in their bid to assassinate the king and his courtiers. Later, I tipped off that same king to your friend’s involvement in the plot against him. Later on... I arranged for you to be tested, to confirm you’d recovered your powers. And quite a few other tasks I’m sure you’ll learn about in due time.”
Her eyes darkene
d. “He wouldn’t let me kill you,” she added. “But otherwise... he wanted me to turn the revolution into a full-blown civil war.”
Emily touched her chest, where the bullet had entered her. “You came very close to killing me.”
“You have an awkward habit of surviving things that really should kill you,” Nanette told her. “I left it up to luck.”
“Luck.” Emily heard the guns booming, again. “How many people are about to die?”
Nanette shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“Yes,” Emily said.
“Yes,” Aiden echoed. “You... you triggered the revolution?”
Emily cursed under her breath. She hadn’t heard or sensed Aiden behind her. When had she come inside? The entire house was on the verge of crashing down, threatening to bury the three of them under the rubble. Aiden should have stayed outside, where she’d be safe... safer. Dater was throwing shells and projectiles into the city. There was no real safety anywhere. God alone knew who was in charge of the rebel forces now, but... Emily had a feeling they were hardliners. Jair had survived, hadn’t he? Hedrick hadn’t had a chance to kill him.
“Oh, look,” Nanette said. “You’ve made another friend.”
She jabbed her finger at Aiden. The girl threw up her hands in shock, an instant before she melted into a frog. Nanette laughed, unpleasantly. Emily didn’t hesitate. She gathered all the power she could and threw it at Nanette, slamming her back against the wall even as she mustered more subtle attacks and tried to break through Nanette’s defenses. Nanette fought back, her spells smashing into Emily’s protections in a dozen different places. Emily pushed her way through, intent on wrapping her hands around Nanette’s neck and squeezing as hard as she could. She didn’t know what was driving Nanette - she knew she hadn’t killed Aurelius - but she didn’t have time to worry about it. Nanette had to be stopped.
The house started to crumble as they smashed through the walls and fell into the kitchen, a whirlwind of magic tearing through the cabinets and shelves. Emily sensed sparks of magic as potion jars shattered, jars that shouldn’t have been there... Nanette had clearly been very busy, all the time she’d been cooking. Emily remembered the poisoned wells and shuddered. Nanette was certainly capable of brewing poison - it wasn’t that hard, even without magic - and sneaking past the guards. Perhaps she’d posed as a serving girl or a rebel soldier or... she could be anything. She’d fooled Emily over and over again...
Nanette glowered at her as her magic crackled around her. Void hadn’t spent quite as long on teaching her to fight, Emily thought, but she was good. Less power, perhaps, yet she knew how to use it. And she wasn’t already drained from the earlier fights. Emily sensed a new string of attacks, trying to render her harmless... perhaps even put her to sleep. Low trickery, part of her mind thought, but effective if it caught her by surprise. Her lips twitched in grim amusement. Nanette would never win a dueling contest like that.
“You...” Nanette tumbled back, magic spiraling through the floor. “You think...”
The roof caved in. Emily raised a shield, instinctively covering herself as piles of rubble crashed to the floor. She saw a bed and a bathtub, the latter tipping over and dumping a ton of water on their heads. Steam filled the air as Nanette launched a fireball at her, followed by what felt like most of the floor. A hail of stones and pieces of wood crashed against Emily’s defenses. She had to admit it would have worked against almost anyone else. But she’d tightened her defenses since she’d been shot.
She punched through the debris, crashing down on top of Nanette and pressing the snake-bracelet against her neck. The girl’s eyes widened. Emily grunted in pain as a force punch detonated under her chest, blowing her up and away. She thought she heard her ribs crack as she crashed to the ground, briefly stunned. That was her trick, one she reserved for desperate moments. It had to have hurt Nanette just as badly, if not more, than it had hurt her.
Emily rolled over and stood. “Give up,” she said. Blood dripped from her mouth, staining her dress. It hurt to talk. “Give up and I’ll let you live.”
Nanette snorted. “If he hadn’t insisted you remain alive...”
Her hand dug into her shirt and came out carrying the amulet. Emily blinked in shock, then stumbled forward. Too late. She felt the wards scream in agony as Nanette triggered the spell, teleporting through protections that should have cancelled the spell or scattered her atoms over the entire continent. There was a brilliant flash of light, followed by a thunderclap as air rushed in to fill the empty space. Emily stared, shaking her head in numb disbelief. Her body hurt, aching so badly she wanted to collapse until the pain faded. She heard the remainder of the house creaking and knew she couldn’t stay. It was just a matter of time until the entire house collapsed.
Aiden, she thought, numbly. Nanette had turned the other girl into a frog. Petty spite? A distraction? Or something else? Emily didn’t have the time to worry about it. Where is she?
The house shook, again, as she half-climbed, half-crawled into the living room. She sensed a flare of magic, followed by a wave of heat. The house was burning... Emily wondered, just for a second, if Nanette had planned to destroy all evidence of her presence before she realized the truth. She’d left her chat parchments, as well as her potion supplies, in her bedroom. The flames were already burning through them. She cursed Nanette - the bitch had clearly been one step ahead of her all along - as she looked around, trying to find Aiden. Emily hoped she hadn’t hopped off to hide somewhere. There was no guarantee the spell would wear off, not if it had been cast by someone who’d been declared outlaw long ago. Aiden might remain a frog for the rest of her life, which might be quite short. The city had been running out of food well before the bombardment began. Someone might see her and...
Emily felt sick as she called for her friend, trying to ignore the creaking overhead. The flames were spreading rapidly, the air growing thick with smoke. She saw something moving and breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted the frog, then cast a summoning spell and yanked Aiden into her hands. The frog looked panicked - Aiden probably wasn’t used to finding herself in another body - and tried to escape, but Emily held on tightly as she wrapped wards around herself and ran for the front door. Pieces of flaming wreckage crashed down around her as she fled, Councilor Triune’s expensive house coming apart at the seams. She wondered if Aiden had grown up there as she threw herself through the door and out onto the streets. A moment later, the house caved into a pile of flaming rubble. The flames were already spreading to the rest of the street.
Shit, Emily thought. The other houses were empty, she’d been told, but the flames would continue to spread until they were stopped. The rebels had too many other problems to allow them to concentrate on putting the fire out. What spell did she use to start the fire?
She heard a croak and put the frog down, then knelt beside her and muttered a counterspell. The frog’s form shimmered, then grew back into Aiden. Her clothes were all skewed, as if she’d put them on while drunk. She was lucky Nanette hadn’t used one of the spells that left its victim naked when it wore off. Emily wondered if that was a good sign. Nanette, mistress of disguise, might well have seen through Aiden’s male guise. She’d probably pretended to be a man herself, on missions for Aurelius and Void. She...
“That...” Aiden shuddered. “That was unpleasant.”
“Yeah.” Emily forced herself to stand, despite the pain. Her ribs felt sore... she ran her hand over them, trying to determine if any were broken. They didn’t feel broken - and she might be dead if one of them had punctured a lung - but it was hard to be sure. “Believe me, I know.”
She leaned against Aiden, trying to recover herself. Her chat parchments were gone. There was no way to contact Lady Barb or anyone and... Void was at Whitehall. She clenched her teeth, all too aware that Nanette might already be with him. The amulets were supposed to teleport them to Dragon’s Den, but who knew where they really went? Not, she supposed, that it mattered. Na
nette could teleport. She could have jumped to Dragon’s Den, then teleported straight to Whitehall. Void already knew what had happened in Freedom City. He knew she knew about...
Aiden caught her arm. “We have to move!”
Emily looked up. The flames were spreading, the guns were booming - she could see more flames rising in the distance, towards the edge of the city - and a row of troops were running towards them, shouting orders to remain where they were. Emily fumbled for her amulet, hands suddenly unsteady. She was in no condition to run, she didn’t have the energy to teleport and, somehow, she doubted the rebels wanted her alive any longer. Jair might even blame her for Althorn’s death. If she hadn’t brought Prince Hedrick into the city...
“Yeah.” Emily wrapped her arms around Aiden, ignoring her gasp of surprise, then touched the amulet. The troopers were growing closer. “Close your eyes. Quickly.”
She triggered the amulet. The world went away in a blinding flash of light.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“I...” AIDEN GASPED IN PAIN. “EMILY!”
Emily hit the ground, landing on her backside. The jarring shock ran up and down her ribs, the pain so intense she almost fainted. The world was dark... the pain was so staggering that it took her several seconds to realize she hadn’t opened her eyes. She forced herself to look around, unsure where they were. Void had programmed the amulet. He could have sent them anywhere, from the White City to the Dark Ziggurat itself. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized they’d materialized in the residential section of Dragon’s Den. They weren’t that far from her house.
“Help me to stand,” she muttered. Dragon’s Den had a curfew and a well-funded City Guard. Lady Barb had told her the guardsmen had been even more alert than usual, given the torrent of refugees flooding into the town. She had every right to be in the city, but... the last thing she needed was the guardsmen trying to check her credentials. “We have to move.”
The Right Side of History (Schooled In Magic Book 22) Page 34