My magic wasn't illegal anymore. I wouldn't pass out after a few fireworks.
"I can fight if I need to. I want to fight if I need to." I said, looking in the general direction of the Eternal.
"Perfect. Then you take the lead. I'll stay hidden. Alexander," she addressed the driver, the man jerking at his name. "You start unloading. Once we've established that everyone here is safe and why whoever attacked them retreated, we will leave."
"What if they are not safe?" I asked, Eddy's shoulders falling.
"We will do what we can," Patrice said before she popped back behind her super-powered Eternal shield, leaving me and Eddy to exit the van with a look we hadn't shared in months.
Raw, eager, battle-worn fear.
"You ready to set the world on fire?" he asked in a whisper as our feet splashed through puddles, the red hue ominous against the light that bled through the open grates high above us.
"I'm always ready," I grinned, pushing my hand before me and sending the door on its hinges, the massive slab opening without so much of the creak it had always had.
Ice dripped down my spine as we burst through the door, down the stairs and into the massive sea of blankets and huts and smiling faces and the people that were my people. That were my family.
Except, there was nothing there. Nothing but a few forgotten wads of blankets and belongings that used to be someone’s home.
"What the hell?" I sputtered as my heart did. “Where is everyone?”
"Through here," Patrice whispered from behind us, a bit of a breeze tugging at my hair before the door that led to one of the tunnels opened, the big red X painted on the door.
No.
Oh god, no.
My father and I had put that X on the door years ago, only days before the CCC had carted him away. The X was the usual sign for a cave-in or dangerous walkways, your basic every day stay the fuck away warning. Except that one was a lie.
"What are they doing in there?" Eddy asked, rushing to the door, oblivious to what was going on. "That's caved in. They must be in trouble if they went that way."
"Let's hope that's all it is," I mumbled to myself as I chased after him, the door opening further before we could get there, Adrian and about twenty others filing through the door, only to freeze at the sight of me.
"Gem," Adrian gasped, his expression fluttering between shock, fear, awe and everything in between.
He was already rushing me, his arms open, the awe settled in his eyes. Adrian swept me up in his arms, crushing me against him. He was mumbling about how long it had been, how he missed me. Every other pleasantry that I had no interest in.
I couldn't fight him. I kept watching the door, waiting for everyone else to appear. To burst through in waves of the people I loved and surround us.
No one else came through.
"Where is everyone?" I asked, wiggling out of his arms to race to the door and peek through, that same breeze rustling by me as Patrice whispered 'I'm going to go check'. The breeze rippled over the standing water in the long-forgotten tunnel as Patrice raced down it, away from us.
Away from everything I needed to say. I closed the door behind her. Not enough to lock her out, but enough I would know when she got back.
"Where is everyone, Adrian?" I asked again, turning back to them all.
"They are all gone," Adrian whispered, his big brown eyes wide, although there wasn't a hint of a tear there. "You were gone for so long, and the CCC kept coming and coming. We couldn't fight back."
His voice cracked, his eyes growing red as his hands pounded against his thighs, everyone around him just as tense, just as forlorn. I could see the pain, the loss, the horrors looking back at me. I had seen them enough. I had lived through them enough that they didn't need to tell me anymore.
"They wouldn't let me come back, Adrian. You knew they were going to lock me in that school--"
"You left us all to die, Gemma." He snapped, all of the emotion evaporating into the anger that had fueled me for so long. The anger that was trying to boil its way to the surface now. To ignite the fire that had extinguished without me knowing.
"I'm here now," I said, as powerfully as I could, straightening my back as I faced him, his lip twitching.
"Yes, you are here now." His voice was kind, soft; nothing near the guy that I knew. He was so fake he might as well have been molded from all the rat shit that was shoved in the corners of this place.
He closed the gap between us again, holding me close to him, his nose buried in my hair as he whispered, "Too late to do any good."
"No," I snapped, pulling myself away from him, he didn't even fight me. "It's not too late. We brought supplies, but more than that, we brought news." I paused, glancing at Eddy who gave me a nod of confidence, and then at the partially opened door. It hadn't moved.
"Is it news of the death of the king?" Adrian asked, looking to the few men who were around him, all of the arms folded over their chests as they shook their heads. This was even worse than the Bitchicade. I had a feeling that one wrong move and they would try to pummel me to death. "Or have you found a way into the caves of Imdalind? I would gladly take that, you've been locked up there so long I had given up on you."
"No, but we are getting closer to an attack, the food is the start. The Undermortal Chosen are delivering food to all of the communities. Once we organize, we can fight.”
He raised an eyebrow, "You are sending people to empty tunnels. The CCC has done nothing but attack. You are too late.”
"We will never be too late to take on the Eternals--”
"You expect us to take out the entire royal family?" He interrupted a wave of laughter moving from him to the guys around him.
"It will be all of us, together," Eddy said, raising his voice until it rattled against the broken CandleEars that hung from the ceiling. Or what was left of them. Most of them had been burned and pulled to the ground. "We are ready for this, Adrian. They won't be able to stop us."
"What? A hundred or so baby chosen, bowing to the king to rise up against him?" Adrian laughed a few of the men behind him chuckling as well. Men. They were all men. Where was everyone else? "You are too late. The Eternals have already made their move. I’ve heard the whispers about them in the tunnels. Right alongside the CCC, that black-eyed bitch telling them where to attack.”
“What are you saying?” I asked, my chest tight, checking to see if the door had moved. If Patrice had returned.
"Are they killing our people?" Eddy asked with a snarl, stepping between me and the door as though he was expecting a fight.
"No," Adrian shook his head, a wicked smile spreading over his lips, "they are the ones taking them away. We are going to fight back in other ways."
“What are you suggesting?” It didn't miss my notice that Eddy was moving closer to me. So many years protecting me after a fight that he had clearly forgotten he had magic himself.
"You got bit, Gem,” Adrian said with a glance to the door. “There was one Vilỳ left behind. There might be others."
"We killed the one that bit me," I snapped, a rock forming at the base of my spine and quickly migrating to my throat, bouncing against my bones the whole way up. "My dad smashed his head with a rock."
"Did he? I’m not so sure," Adrian said, shrugging and glancing toward the door, the heavy metal open more than it was before.
Shit.
She was stealthy.
"You won’t find anything," I lied, working to keep my face still. "You’re wasting your time.”
“Better than sitting at school doing nothing.”
I flinched as if I had been punched. It felt like it, but I still stepped forward, more aware than ever how small I was against him.
“Adrian, don’t be like that,” he didn’t even respond, I guess those days were gone. Fine by me. “We brought food, we don't have much time, but we have plenty of food. Some new blankets too."
I gave Eddy a look as I passed him, trying to wag my eyebrows or somet
hing in an attempt to tell him that Patrice was right there. I'm not sure it worked, but he didn't say anything more as we walked to the van, Adrian and his posse whispering behind us.
"We need to get out of here," I whispered when I thought we were far enough ahead of them. I wasn't even sure any of them heard me. Eddy was still looking behind him and gesturing to them to hurry up.
Thankfully Alexander hadn't been idle. The entire van was unpacked, piles of boxes and bags littered around the tailgate. Without a word, they all grabbed their fair share and turned back toward the main room.
Toward the door with the bright red X.
"We will be back next week," I whispered to Adrian as I pulled him to a stop, tightening my hand around his forearm. He looked at my olive hand against his dark arm before attempting to pull away, but was pulled closer until all I could see was his, the chocolate orbs bloodshot and angry.
"Don't bother. We don't need you anymore. Your prince, however..." He smiled and my jaw dropped, pulling his arm away with a jerk as I stood.
I didn't even know how to fight him. How could I? I didn't even know how he knew.
"Adrian, what-?"
"Bye Gem. Thanks for the fuck." He waved behind him, everyone laughing as they carried the boxes away, no one looking back as they stomped through the door and away from us. I stood, stomach-churning as I watched them go, listening to Alexander pack the van back up, Patrice whispering to someone from inside the darkened interior.
"Do you really think that Vilỳ’s alive?" Eddy whispered, looking from me to Patrice.
I didn’t answer. I watched Adrian dip through the door, shutting it behind him, knowing that it was. Knowing that he had already found it.
We drove home in silence, even Patrice was quiet, although visible, in the back seat. By the time we returned the sun was already setting, the biting cold of early winter already moving over the ground and making everything sparkle with frost.
"Every community is reporting the same. Fast Fire, New Hearth, even the Ghostlanders came back with the same report. They say that the Eternals are there, carting people away while the Tarn armies lay waste to our homes." I whispered to Patrice, the two of us standing on the front steps of the school, the icy air moving up my arms as I recited what I had learned after arriving back, the whispered reports following me through the halls.
Each one feeling like a dead weight against my heart. Even my magic felt sluggish again, like being back in the school had closed that Štít back up.
"What are they saying of us?" She asked in nearly a whisper, although the line of muscle in her shoulders exposed her fear.
“It’s no secret that the plan has always been to rise up against you,” I said, hating the way my stomach was knotting together. “But it seems the communities have another plan. There are whispers of an uprising, but we are no longer involved.”
I hesitated, looking into the last line of light as the silver moon replaced the sun. The air was heavy as she waited, as if she knew what I was going to ask next. As though she knew all the answers and was waiting for me to continue on.
“What did you find in the tunnel?”
“I think you know, Gemma.”
The rock in my heart had moved into my throat, I could barely form words.
“My father had kept it to do the same thing Adrian is doing now. But when he was taken, I couldn’t pull myself back into that cave. Their deaths were my fault. Because I had been bitten, because they were trying to protect me. I didn’t want anyone to have this curse, to feel the pain of loss. I thought I could fix it on my own. Plus, I might have liked the attention.” I rubbed my nose, trying to smooth the guilty wrinkles there.
What was wrong with me? Spilling my heart out to this woman, an Eternal. The bastard had been my sworn enemy my whole life. Now they were everywhere, acting like normal people.
I pulled my face into a scowl, “It was fun blowing up your shit.”
“Indeed.” I could have slugged her with the laugh in the single word, but I had a feeling I would end up plastered to the wall. “Unfortunately, those days are over.”
“You say that like we’ve already won. That this world isn’t going to keep shitting on us. It will.”
"Not if we can help it. There is one thing about the King and Queen that I always respected. They learn from their mistakes. They know of what is to come, and that this is how it always should have been," Patrice said turning back toward the now brightly lit school behind us. "I am beginning to think that boy was right from the beginning."
"Who was right?" I asked, boots slamming against the frozen asphalt as I ran after her, nearly sprinting into the building and the radiant heat it offered.
"Next week, same time," she said simply, purposefully avoiding my question. I would have pestered her more, but I had a feeling she wasn't going to answer me either way.
"I'll have my husband with me, remember," she continued, heading through the sleepy students that were starting to moving through the halls toward their dorms, every head turning after us in awe. Crap, guys, it was an Eternal, not a woman with twenty boobs sticking out. "Clothes would be preferable when we arrive, although I do really like your tattoos."
She turned right as we reached the door, holding her hand out to me in what I had assumed was an offer to shake. But the second I reached for her she turned her arm, rolling up her sleeve and displaying her bare wrist, the skin that was usually branded with the mark of a Vilỳ void of the mark. Her forearms were another story, the tattoo of a flaming rabbit was clearly visible near the crook of her elbow.
Although the design had changed since she had been inked, I recognized the brand immediately.
"Fast Fire?" I gasped, recognizing the tattoo at once. “But no mark?”
“A story for another time, perhaps,” she smiled, true joy peering out at me. "Thank you for helping me to remember my people, Gemma. For helping all of us to remember our people."
There was no smile on her face because her eyes had devoured the emotion, it beamed from her like the fire was inside of her, the tenacious determination of an Undermortal pushing through.
She leaned forward, pressing her lips against my forehead before she was gone, out the front door and into a waiting car. Leaving me standing, staring, and in complete awe.
23
Rowan
A laughing man clogged my sight. I could see his head thrown back, his shoulders heaving. But I couldn’t make him out beyond the dark hair that swayed in his cackle, I couldn’t look at him long enough to see. My sight kept pulling me past him, the thousands of people who screamed, who ran away from the man. Away from the hundreds that chased them. The tunnel swelled with blood as children cried, tattooed masses flowing down the darkened tunnel like waves. Haunted eyes stared at me from people who were little more than skin and bones. And through it all, burned fingers. Burned fingers pressing against glass, against skin, against the tears of a child. Against Gemma's lips as she whispered something I couldn’t hear.
The sight kept twisting, kept changing, kept torturing me with image after image of things I never wanted to see.
I woke with a start, blankets falling away as I sat upright, heaving in minty air as the dark room twisted in and out of focus. Mint, pine, and a heady aroma of the Drego, a bark from a tree long since extinct that buzzes with old magic. That combination was usually only used for life-threatening injuries. Unless I had fallen into a metal spear when I collapsed, the Drego being burned in my room was not a good sign. Nor was the magic that was pulling through the darkness toward me.
"How long was I out?" I asked, to the darkness, not even flinching when the bright screen of a cell phone burst into view, the screen illuminating the face of a woman who had been covered by a shield until a second ago.
Wyn sat in a chair, legs folded, foot tapping to some music she was listening to in her lone earbud as she clicked her pink polka dot nails against the screen of her phone.
"Figures you would wake up
on my shift," she signed dramatically, pausing briefly from tapping on her phone to smile at me. "Now I've gotta be the one to ask you the tough questions."
"You can start by answering mine," I mumbled throwing my hands over my head to block the light of the phone, the dim was pounding over my skull like a broken drum. I could feel every electrical current as though it was a live wire.
"About five days." She finally answered, clicking the phone off and shoving it back in her pocket, plunging us back into thankful darkness. "Your parents will be here as soon as they can."
I half expected the room to ignite in the snap and smell of a stutter, but everything remained quiet and dark, Wyn's breathing and the slow chirp of a cricket outside my window the only sign that time hadn't completely frozen.
"I take it they are busy."
"Yes."
I sighed, the memory of Dramin on that desk rattling my breath, the reality freezing me to the bed as images from my dream mixed with it.
No. Not a dream. A sight. A sight so strong that I hadn’t been able to stop it. It didn't feel like the dreams that pushed their way into my unconscious, the magic that had taken me was power, filled with the magic that was always rumbling under the surface.
It felt the same as it had the first time. I hated it just the same.
"Did I say anything?" My voice was deadpanned, the tension that was holding me in place as I waited for the answer. To know how much my magic had reacted. How much of the Drak came to life inside of me and if there was any chance of pushing it back down to the dark pit that I kept hoping it would die in.
"Yes." She inhaled, as I ground my teeth together with an audible hiss as the truth slammed into my gut. As much as I had tried. As much as I had worked, the power was still there. Stronger than ever.
"Is Dramin okay?" I asked before she could expand on that answer, twisting in my bed to look at her, or rather her outline as she leaned closer to me.
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