by LJ Swallow
“Are you sure about this, Maeve?”
I pat his cheek. “Yes. I’m safer with Jamie, and with you here I’ll be fine.”
Andrei withdraws, but he’s doubtful as he sits in the velvet cushioned chair to the side of us. “What will you see?”
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t need a vision,” I tease. “Hopefully a hint what to do next.”
My chest is tight from the shallow breathing, a squirming in my stomach from nerves. I wish Tobias were here to calm me, but his presence might interfere. Jamie’s terse responses to Andrei tell me he’s worried too, but what point are my skills if I don’t use them?
Jamie takes my hands and we hold them either side of the crystal.
“I’m going to focus on finding the heartbeat in my mind,” I say.
He squeezes my fingers tighter. “As long as you don’t freak out and run to Petrescu.”
“I’ll be fine.”
I hope.
“I’m telling you now, I’ll interrupt if I don’t like how things are going,” adds Andrei resting his arms on the table.
“That’s why you’re here,” I say with a smile.
Jamie glares at Andrei. “Only if I ask you.”
“And what if you lose your shit too?” he asks.
“I—"
“Guys, stop it,” I interrupt. “I understand how stressful this is, but tension won't help Jamie focus.”
Andrei huffs and stands. “I’ll wait over here.”
He wanders to a corner and picks up a white candle, sniffing it. I take hold of Jamie’s face and turn his gaze from Andrei to me before they exchange any more words.
“Let’s go.”
We link hands again and the room quiets as I focus on the colours in the crystal—shades of blue that begin to move as if I’m looking at the ocean. The soft warmth from Jamie’s hands becomes more as a familiar magic travels between us. I sense his worry and squeeze his hand in reassurance again.
I’m aware of the smell of cloves and cedar from a recent spell and I close this out—I need to move away from where I am, not stay anchored. Concentrating on Jamie’s energy, I push away the physical feeling from our touch.
The heartbeat sneaks into my mind, slow and steady. Until now, I’ve fought against the sounds taking over and failed last night. This time, I risk opening my mind. Will I see whose heart this is? Concentrating on the sound, I disconnect from the room.
I shiver at the sensation somebody has their hands on my shoulders, the touch becoming so strong that I snap my eyes open and jump to my feet. “Andrei! I’m fine.”
Andrei isn’t here.
Nor is Jamie.
I’m in pitch black, unable to make out my surroundings, and my skin is clammy. I shuffle to one side and reach out; my hand comes into contact with cold, rough rock. The ground beneath my feet is even and flat, so I place both hands on the wall and edge forward.
The heart beats slowly in the distance—or in my head?
My chest pounds as I continue to feel my way along the space.
Witch light.
Conjuring the light in my hand takes several attempts; I’ve only performed the spell half a dozen times and usually with Jamie’s guidance. I lift my hand upwards and the gentle white glow in my palm illuminates my immediate surroundings.
Grey rock creates a narrow tunnel, the ceiling a couple of metres above the ground. I study the rough wall for runes, but the only marks come from natural chips in the stone. Am I in another dream, where I run from the walls closing in? Adrenaline spikes as I prepare to sprint forward, but something tells me to creep.
I cup my palms together to soften the light and take slow steps, hugging to the left wall as I make my way forward. The walls don’t move and the ceiling stays high, but the heartbeat continues.
The tunnels may be cold and empty, but the lack of air isn't the only thing suffocating. A darker energy fills the air, thick with corruption that adds an extra chill to the surroundings.
The tunnel stretches into the silent dark and I follow the sound until I reach a fork in my path. Which way? Shining my light in either direction doesn’t help; they’re identical passages.
I cock my head and listen for the beat.
Left.
Nothing happens. Nobody is here. How can this be a vision? Usually they’re snippets, or over in minutes, but always significant. Right now, things feel as real as the day I envisioned walking across campus and Andrei kissing me.
Is this the same day?
The tunnel ends abruptly as the hewn stone curves around to form a natural barrier. Dust and rock chips cover the ground and I kick around with my toes before squatting to investigate. No runes. No signs of spells.
I jerk as a loud bang interrupts the heartbeat, the echo reverberating along the tunnel. Spinning around, I’m hit by the realisation I’ve no way out.
But I’m not here.
How would anybody see me?
Edging along the wall again, back flattened to the cold stone, I move towards the fork in the tunnel. A figure appears from the right-hand tunnel and pauses, the way I did.
April.
She’s red-cheeked, twisting her head from side to side as she hesitates. The witch has dressed in dark clothes and a black cotton jacket, blonde hair poking from beneath the hood. She carries a small bag in one hand—I’ve seen them in classrooms used for holding runestones and scrying materials. In the other, she holds a pocket-sized torch.
I almost call her name, but she looks through me.
As I watch her take the direction I did, the heartbeat thrums louder in my ears.
What and when am I seeing? How far into the future?
I step after April, who boldly strides along the tunnel until she reaches the impassable rock at the end. Instead of turning, she kneels in the dirt, sets the torch down, and empties the contents of her bag onto the ground.
Standing at her shoulder, I watch as she draws a circle with blue chalk on top of the stone floor. Her phone lies beside her, and she studies the screen before copying square runic images around the circle, like numbers on a clock face.
Blackwood runes.
What the hell is she doing?
I look back along the hallway towards the direction she came from, terrified somebody might follow her, but the place is silent. April remains kneeling on the floor, and sets small black stones on top of each rune she drew.
Matching runestones.
Jamie said April intended to investigate alone. Am I looking at events today?
The dark energy surges and I’m knocked forward like wind rushed through the tunnel and hit me, my hair fanning in front of my face.
April’s phone rings, the sound magnified by the emptiness, and she grabs hold.
“Jamie?” she whispers. “I didn’t think you— “
She’s cut off by his reply.
“I told you, I’m investigating myself if you won’t let me help.” She pauses. “Of course, this isn't dangerous.”
I hear a female voice on the phone, louder, and she glances back, lips pursed. “Nothing. No, I’m not casting spells.” Her mouth slackens. “What runes? How do you— “
The angry voice continues.
“I found the tunnels but there’s nobody here. Listen, I’ll show you later. No, not now.” Her expression sours. “Don’t be ridiculous. Is this because you want to find what’s here first? I’m as good as any of you!”
She ends the call and shoves the phone in her jacket pocket. “Nothing is happening anyway,” she mutters and stands.
As she reaches down to gather her stones and chalk, air rushes through again and I stagger forward, almost losing my footing.
A figure appears by her side, blurring through the darkness and into her torchlight.
He’s tall and unkempt, a once-white tunic-style shirt torn across the chest, with loose black trousers half-hanging off his emaciated hips. Lank, dark hair hangs into his face and April screams at him as he snatches her arm.
> “Who are you?” she asks in a tiny voice.
The man grunts and holds her arm to his mouth, and she screams again as his teeth rip into her skin. My whole body fills with horror but I can’t look away.
Take me out of this vision; I can’t watch her die.
Please let Jamie sense this.
But everything remains crystal clear. April staggers back and the man shoves her onto her knees, her hands landing palm down in the circle. Blood runs onto the ground as she pleads with him to let her go, and the man mumbles unintelligibly, chewing on ragged fingernails. The heartbeat grows louder, and I place my hands over my ears, but the sound won’t go.
A now familiar metallic taste covers my tongue as my mouth seems to fill with liquid.
Get me out.
The man slams his palms against the barrier and calls out, “She came. Let me in. Let me join you.”
Please let me go. Help me out of this vision. This could happen soon. I need to stop April from coming here.
April scrambles to her feet and edges away, hand wrapped around her bleeding arm.
She knocks into another man who moves from the shadows behind her, stealthier than I’ve ever seen a Petrescu student move.
No. This isn’t a man—he’s a creature, a macabre version of the skinnier Petrescu kids, and so pale that his face is almost luminescent. His black eyes are pits in his face, and lips grey and thin. The hand he lifts to grab April ends with fingernails the length of claws.
He yanks her backwards by the hood and pulls the material down before spinning her around. His triumphant expression drops away. “Wrong one,” he snarls. “We need the new witch.”
April shakes, staring at him, trapped in place by fear.
“But she has a use, yes?” says the man desperately. “She can feed him.”
The runes on the floor glow dimly and the heartbeat reaches a crescendo in my head that deafens the creature’s reply. A rumble below my feet shakes the ground and I press myself against the wall, palms hard against the stone, terrified I’ll fall.
With a grunt, the creature lifts his hand and his claw-like nails rip across April’s throat.
The deathly terror on her face petrifies me, but something else horrifies me.
The witch blood fills my mouth.
Jamie, get me out of here.
But there’s nothing. No sign of him of him in my mind.
Out.
How do I get out?
The heartbeat grows faster as I spin around and run, the taste of blood strong enough that I rub my mouth to look at my hand. Taking the fork in the tunnel that April appeared from, I run as if I’m in my nightmares. Is this what Tobias means? That heartbeats, the Blackwoods, and old stories have corrupted my mind?
Light shimmers ahead, higher than the direction I’m running, and as I approach, I look up to where moonlight filters through a small opening above me. I squint and look around but can’t see obvious footholds.
“Where am I?” I shout out. “Hello?”
But who will hear me in a vision?
I claw at the rock, attempting to climb the tiny indents in the stone, finally hauling myself up to grip the edge and pull my head above the opening. I’ve barely seconds to see anything before I fall into the darkness below me.
A building. And the pungent scent from the cows kept at the academy.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
ANDREI
“I told you this was a fucking bad idea,” I shout at Jamie as Maeve crashes through the sanctum door.
Moments ago, she’d sat so still I worried a spell had frozen her in time again; seconds later she ripped her hands from Jamie’s and ran from the room, screaming for April.
Jamie slumps back in his chair. “Go after her. I don't have the energy.”
I hesitate at how ill he looks—if I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s drained from a vampire bite.
“Find her before she runs through the academy shouting.” His voice is weak but eyes darken in anger.
“She won’t. Tobias and Ash are in the library.”
Jamie rests his head on his arms and closes his eyes.
“Who locked the door?” Maeve’s scream pulls me from the room, and I run up the steps behind her. She hammers on the door like a madwoman “Tobias! Let me out.”
“Maeve,” she turns to me and I stumble back down a step.
Blood covers the top of her cheeks and her eyes brim red.
Shit.
Her pulse races too, engulfing me with the scent from her perspiring skin and I take another step back. She left the room too quickly, hair in her face—if I’d known she bled, I wouldn't have followed.
My eyesight sharpens and the blood appears luminescent the longer I look. I can’t tear my eyes away and moisten my lips.
“Your eyes.”
She frowns and wipes at her cheek. “Oh.”
Oh?
I step further back as my ears begin to ring and something gnaws at my chest. Clenching my fists, I hold my breath. Jamie’s blood didn't affect me as much as this tiny smear on Maeve’s face.
Maeve pauses and shoves past me, back into the room, and I let out the breath, dizzied by the lack of oxygen.
“Jamie! Call April. Now,” she calls.
I follow and find Maeve standing over him, his head still resting on the desk, and he twists his head to look at her, dazed. “You're bleeding.”
“April is going to die. Call her!”
“What the fuck?” He lifts his head and the poor guy can barely move, as if he’s been trampled or hit. As he pushes into his jacket pocket for the phone, his arms tremble. “Why me? You call her.”
“I need to know.” She grabs at her hair. “We need to go.”
I’m reminded of the crazy Maeve who chased the heartbeat across campus, but Maeve is also the person who predicted Jamie’s death and saved him. “Listen to her, Jamie.” I take her arm. “We’ll find the others and sort this.”
Her eyes hold the same confused distance as the other night too. “I saw something. I’m not sure what, but I’m right. There’s something beneath the academy. If we don't stop April, whatever lives there will kill her.”
The certainty in her tone spurs me into action, but Jamie stays dumbstruck. “Jamie!” she urges. “You have to be the one to call. Ask her where she is.”
He purses his lips and dials, fingers still shaking as Tobias walks into the room, with Ash shoving past him. “What’s happening? Maeve?”
She chews on her nails and shakes her head, staring at Jamie. “April? Where are you?” he asks.
Tobias halts and runs a hand through his hair as he sees Maeve’s face. “Maeve? What did you see?”
“Shush!” She steps closer to Jamie. “What is she saying?”
Jamie shakes his head at her. “Get out of the tunnel. Now. You’re in danger.”
Ash grabs Maeve’s small black bag from the floor and rummages around before finding a pocket pack of tissues. She swats him away as he wipes at her eyes. As he scrunches the tissue and shoves it in his pocket, his eyes meet mine. I nod in thanks.
Maeve snatches the phone from Jamie. “April. I saw you. I know you have runes. I don't know what the hell you're doing but if you don't leave now, you’ll die!”
I hear April reply and then silence.
“Hello? April?” Maeve pulls the phone from her ear and swears. “She hung up!”
As Maeve makes a break for the door, Tobias seizes her arms. “Look at me. Tell me what you saw.”
“I don't have time! I know where the tunnel is. Go. Now.”
Tobias stumbles and we all stare after her as she rushes through the door.
“Do as she says, Tobias,” I urge and follow her.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
ANDREI
The half-empty library prevents Maeve drawing too much attention to herself and once we’re outside, she charges into the dark evening and away from the building. I don't have a problem keeping up as our footsteps t
hud across the lawns, none of us do, although Jamie trails further behind.
“Ash, hang back with Jamie,” says Tobias as they reach us.
I wait for Ash to protest, but he does as Tobias asks.
Breathlessly, Maeve recounts what she saw and heard, and Tobias speeds up. “Where did you leave the tunnel?”
“I didn't climb out,” she says. “Behind the building near the cows.”
Doubt seeps in. If there were a tunnel entrance near a frequently used building, somebody would know. “Are you sure?”
Maeve stops abruptly and I almost knock into her. “Yes!”
Tobias’s figure blurs again as the single-storey building comes into sight, and I can’t see him until we catch up. I’ve spent time here myself—this old workshop is a popular place for students who want privacy but aren’t lucky enough to have keys to a cottage.
I remember the night I met Matt here, finding him secretly casting a spell from the Blackwood grimoire. I warned him about the mistake he was making, and the idiot never listened.
Maeve shoves by again as she moves along the weed-covered path to the back of the building.
“Here.” Tobias stands by a row of large, square, concrete pavers. There’s a gap in the middle and the paver that belongs there is half a metre away. I step next to him and dirt slides from beneath my feet into a black hole.
“How the hell did she move that?” asks Ash as he catches up.
“Elemental witch. Earth spirits,” pants Jamie as he slumps on the floor, back against the building.
“She’s at that skill level?” asks Tobias in shock.
“I never knew, but I’m not surprised,” he replies.
“Maeve!” calls Ash. I catch sight of her blonde hair as she slips down the hole into the dark.
“Stop!” I call and jump into the void. The space between the ground and the opening is around three metres and I effortlessly land on my feet before reaching up and catching Maeve as she falls.
“I could manage,” she mutters and pulls away from my heroic action.
Tobias appears beside Maeve and seizes her around the waist before she can charge into the dim. “Nice try, Tobias,” she says through clenched teeth. “That won't work this time.”