by Halie Fewkes
“Can you see Prince Avalask?” Jalia asked her. “Is he alright?”
“What happened?” Mir asked. Sparing no gruesome details, Jalia began to explain what Ratuan and Sir Avery had done to Vack, and Ebby reached to find Prince Avalask so she wouldn’t throw up.
“I can’t... I can’t find him,” Ebby said, trying not to pass out from overwhelming guilt.
“You think he’s dead?” Jalia asked.
“I don’t know,” Ebby said. “I can see the Dincaran kids still coming out of the tunnels, and there are mages, but… he’s gone.”
“That’s better than finding his body,” Jalia said. “The Dragona is probably using mages to shade him, which means he’s alive.”
Ebby felt her shoulders sink with a tiny bit of relief. What would she do without Jalia?
“When will Vack wake up?” Ebby asked.
“He’s awake,” Jalia said, rubbing a hand across Vack’s shoulders in an unexpected gesture of affection. “He can hear you.”
Vack opened his eyes, but he didn’t look at anybody and didn’t move. He’d never been shy about how much he loved his father, and he’d never looked so broken or weak.
Ebby didn’t want him to face this kind of hurt. “We can trade me for your father,” Ebby said. Vack shifted his gaze up to her and blinked slowly.
“Don’t do that,” Mir said, his eyes narrowed with worry. “It’s not a good trade.”
“He’s right,” Jalia said, flicking her attention from Mir to Ebby. “Strategically, they’d be taking three steps backward if they traded Prince Avalask for you.” Ebby knew she wasn’t extremely loved or wanted, but it hurt to hear how much she wasn’t worth. Jalia said, “Don’t misunderstand me. Your father will try to convince Vack to make a trade, but he won’t let Prince Avalask go once he has you. That’s when they’ll kill him.”
Mir nodded and said, “It’s their dream to have Sir Avery unopposed. They’ll never give that up.”
“They’ll kill my father if we give her back,” Vack muttered to the glass floor. “And they’ll kill him if we don’t give her back. Sir Avery’s going to kill me the second he finds me. He’s going to kill you guys if he finds you. Without my father, we all end up dead.” He finally moved the hand that wasn’t holding Jalia’s, but it was just so he could put his thumbnail between his teeth.
Vack closed his eyes again, and Jalia said, “Sir Avery will kill you if you keep moping like this.” She still had a comforting hand on his shoulders as she said it, as though simply stating a fact. “Yes, we’re at a disadvantage, but we still have leverage. We have Ebby, for one.”
Ebby hugged her stomach. “You’d be surprised how little I can do.”
“You’re eleven. There’s time to get better,” Jalia said. “But you do matter. With you here, we can make our own threats to keep Vack’s father alive. With you here, we have two Epics. Those are advantages.” Jalia looked down at Vack, who seemed a little more alert now. “We can probably convince everybody that Vack is dead, and Vack’s Uncle Savaul is about to become king. He’ll help us with whatever we need.”
Ebby released something between a laugh and a sob, and shook her head. “You have got to be kidding. Savaul?”
“I’m not,” Jalia said. “Savaul hates Humans, Ebby, I mean really hates them, but he cares what happens to his own people. He is going to make a great leader, and he’ll help us. We have more leverage here than we need.”
Mir nodded in agreement with Jalia, then added, “You both have to get strong enough to fight.”
“Wait,” Ebby said as her heart began to race again. “Who decided I was going to fight for you? I’m still Human. I never did join your side.”
“We’re not asking you to,” Jalia said. “We’re just asking that you not let Sir Avery burn our entire race to the ground.”
Vack finally pushed himself up to sit, and then he, Mir, and Jalia fixed their eyes on Ebby, as though their lives might actually be in her hands.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked, feeling a hope in their thoughts that was hard to resist. Nobody was trying to manipulate her — they really just needed her.
Jalia glanced around the group and said, “We need you and Vack to get stronger so you can’t be brought down by a few mages, or one angry Epic. We could get you there with enough hard work, but it means you can’t see your father, and you probably won’t be able to see Ratuan. Not for a while.”
“I’m alright with that,” Ebby whispered, unable to look anywhere but at her hands. She felt so embarrassed for how long she had spent pining for Ratuan and hoping Sir Avery could rescue them all. Now thinking about them brought heartbreak instead of hope. Sir Avery’s name had become the image of an Epic holding Vack off the ground, strangling him in front of his own father.
Ratuan’s name was the sight of her best friend running toward Vack even though Ebby was screaming for help. She had no doubt Ratuan loved her, but there was something else he loved more. Maybe it was vengeance, or maybe it was the fame and power that would come with killing an Epic, but it would be a massive mistake to pretend it wasn’t there. More tears gathered in her eyes because she couldn’t bear to live without him.
Vack grabbed Ebby’s hand, startling her because she rarely saw his hands without gloves, and had never actually touched one. His thoughts were a jumble of confusion like her own, needing to be sorted and confronted. Vack was nearly paralyzed with fear, but he was somehow sharing in her worries too, taking just a bit of the burden from her. He felt broken beyond repair, but also sorry for Ebby and all she had seen in her own father and best friend.
I know how much it will hurt to give them up, he said in one coherent thought meant for her. The rest of his mind was a wordless question, begging to know if she would help them. He desperately hoped she’d say yes, but reserved a certain amount of terror in case she wanted to return home. Vack’s fears all ran together like mixing paint colors, painting a panicked mess of how much it would hurt to die, worrying that he might not be able to hide, and the terror that he might have to watch his friends and father die before him.
And for once, he didn’t try to hide it behind a brave face and a snarl.
If I stay with you, my own family will get hurt, Ebby thought, glancing at his hazy green eyes. Vack felt too awkward to meet her gaze, but his thoughts said he understood perfectly.
I promise, he thought back to her, I won’t let anything bad happen to them. You and I can call our own truce. I will owe you more than I can ever repay.
Ebby couldn’t possibly say no when Vack was so desperate.
Where would we even go? she asked.
Jalia wants to go north. She doesn’t think anyone will find us up there, and she’s read enough books about magic that she thinks she can train us.
Ebby laughed softly and thought back, If anyone could, it would be her.
And she notices things that neither of us see. I think we’ll be safer if she’s with us.
What about Mir? Ebby wondered.
Vack looked up at his dark haired friend and asked, “If we leave, do you want to come?”
Mir glanced behind himself as though to make sure nobody was listening, and he hesitated. “I’ll go wherever you want me,” Mir said, radiating guilt for not immediately choosing to stay at Vack’s side, “but... I don’t want to leave my birds.”
“You could be just as useful to us here,” Jalia said, flicking her gaze from Mir to Vack to make sure he approved. “We’ll need somebody to pass messages to Vack’s uncle, and we’ll need somebody to relay news to us so we can stay low.”
“So, we’re really going to do this?” Vack asked. “We’re really going to run and hide?”
“Yes,” Jalia said fearlessly. “But first we need to make sure all your remaining family members are safe. And then we’re going to convince the world you’re dead.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
Allie
Something about the smell of cedar trees has always made
me think of warmth and safety, even on the worst of days. I lay on my back, looking at the freckles of blue sky shining through needles and mosses overhead, my dripping hair beginning to dry in the soft breeze with a hint of curl in the ends. The ancient trunks reached skyward all around me like towering monuments, and I was just a small thing among them, my life almost meaningless.
It had taken me ages to crawl out of the cave below, and I hadn’t made it far.
My limbs lay sprawled out to every side of me, never wanting to move again. My stomach had constricted so tightly, I probably never needed to eat again. Two hundred shards of my heart were still plastered throughout my chest, all independently trying to beat and keep me alive, and all independently causing pain.
As much as I was tempted to play dead, I kept a small trickle of dialogue running through my head, recounting every horrific thing the day had thrust upon me. I wanted to feel every ache, and every stab of fear and sadness. Not because I wanted to punish myself, but because I had earned these bruises. I deserved to lie here and feel miserable, pouring alcohol on my wounds until the pain was blinding, but knowing they’d heal better later.
I smiled inwardly because I doubted anyone else did this to themselves. I was one of a kind, and probably a shanking lunatic. But these feelings of sadness weren’t going anywhere. If I pushed them into the recesses of my mind, they would just come back later, so why not face them now?
And in facing them, there were other things I could think about. When I thought of Liz’s face, I could feel threads of hope and plans coming together, like promises I would be able to see her again. The thought of Archie became a prayer that he wasn’t being blamed for my actions. I felt another great stab of fear concerning Prince Avalask. At best, I could hope they’d keep him as a hostage to lure Vack out. I didn’t want to fathom the worst.
Vack found me hours later, lying on my side with my head tucked toward my knees in anguish. At least one good thing had come from my sacrifice. He’d lived.
“Ebby hasn’t gone back to her father yet, has she?” I asked, my voice scratchy, but flat.
“No,” Vack replied. “Not yet.” Vack watched me with a look that might just be pity as I lay unmoving. “What… are you doing?” he asked.
I just shrugged in response, the movement causing twigs and needles to scratch the side of my face.
Vack glanced around the trees where the mosses dangled nearly to the ground and bit through a few fingernails, tearing them mindlessly away. “You look like you prefer to be left alone.”
“Stay a second,” I finally said, my voice sounding worn and weak as I pushed myself up, brushing off the dirt that clung to my arms. “Can you tell me where the other Tallies are? And just, that they made it out alright?”
Vack narrowed his eyes and my heart sank as he said, “I can’t just look through every soul on the continent, searching for half-Human and half-Escali blood. I can only track people I know.”
“You know Archie,” I said. “Your cousin?”
Vack nodded, his face void of emotion. “He’s… alive. He’s back at the Dragona…”
“And Ebby spent a little time with Karissa and Robbiel, reading through a book they gave her,” I said, clenching my fists to keep my fingers from shaking. “She could help you find them.”
“She and I will look.”
I nodded silent thanks and then rubbed at my sore back where my skin had already knit itself together, the blood already washed away in the lake. I wanted to ask about Vack’s father, but he must still be with the Zhauri.
I glanced up at his empty expression and asked, “Vack… are you going to be alright?”
Vack said nothing, but tilted his head and stared shamelessly at me.
And that was the moment I noticed a shift in the way he looked at me, like we were on the same team, facing the same nightmare.
“Ebby told me how you helped her,” Vack said. “I want to know why.”
The question took me by surprise. “Why what? Why I helped her save you?”
“You don’t even know me,” Vack said. “I wouldn’t have done the same for you.”
“Comforting,” I replied, letting a smile through my misery. “I don’t know you, but... I know this sounds dumb, but I believe in you.” Vack kept his face impassively still, which is the only reason I was able to continue. “You couldn’t have died today, not with how much influence you have. You might be the key to everything ending well. And... even if you weren’t, you didn’t deserve to be murdered.”
I could recognize guilt from a mile away, and Vack was suffering a serious case of it. “I don’t regret it,” I said. “I’ll never regret doing a thing I think was right.”
“Even when this is the consequence?” he asked, waving a hand around to the forest. I wasn’t sure if he was worried for me, or worried his life might end up in equivalent disaster.
“It’s better to live by the callings that define you than a comfortable lie. And it could be worse,” I said. “I could be dead.”
I sort of meant it as a joke, but the words sounded profoundly serious.
Ebby appeared in a stumble beside him, grabbing his arm to keep from crashing entirely, and Vack took an uncomfortable step back from her as she gained her footing.
“Hi, Allie,” Ebby said softly, as though afraid I may crumble. She looked up at Vack. “It’s done. It looks just like you, and Jalia’s on her way to tell your uncles.”
“What’s done?” I asked.
“Vack’s… body. We’re convincing everybody he’s dead,” Ebby said.
“And then I’m going to take the Humans by surprise to get my father back,” Vack said. He glanced back at Ebby and said, “You know the Tallies better than I do. Can you find any of them?”
Ebby opened her mouth without words and Vack said, “If you know them, I can find them.”
I watched them lock eyes with each other, and it occurred to me just how much they must trust each other. They were willingly sharing thoughts, one of the most vulnerable things anyone can do. And they were working together. If Prince Avalask could be here to see this, I suspect he might have cried.
Vack was the first to glance at the ground. “They’re nowhere,” he said.
I laughed a scoffing, furious laugh, then said, “Look harder.”
“Ebby remembers your friends clearly. There’s nothing left of them to find.”
“Wait,” Ebby said, glancing at Vack again. “There’s the one who threw you on the ground.”
Vack didn’t look particularly pleased to recall the moment, but said, “Ok. I see him. He’s running.”
“He’s being chased?” I asked.
“Not by anyone I can see,” Vack said, frowning at the trees.
“Jump me out there,” I said quickly, knowing Vack wouldn’t be able to see the Zhauri if Zeen accompanied them. “One of you, I don’t care who. Get me out there.”
Vack held out a hand to me and muttered, “Don’t ever let Ebby jump you anywhere.”
Ebby shot Vack a reproachful look before I grabbed his hand, and we leapt and reappeared on a grassy hillside dotted with piles of sparkling white stones like the ruins of an ancient city.
“Shanking life!” Emery shouted, skidding to a stop in front of us as flames jumped into his palms. “All darkness is only shadow!”
I scrambled for the right words before repeating in a fumble, “For… unless light has ceased to exist, it is merely an obstacle away.”
He squinted hard at me before finally looking convinced. “Are you alright? Are any of our other friends with you?”
I shook my head and asked, “Are you being chased?”
“Chased? No. This is our emergency meetup. I’d hoped to find everyone else already here.”
He snapped his head to look at the trees, and I heard the same whistling that had grabbed his attention. It was the duskflyer song, and Archie’s favorite stanza.
The tone was warm like Archie’s, but too warm. And the timing... So
me of the notes were too quick, making them feel like jovial embellishments. It was the same song, and beautifully whistled, but it just didn’t capture the beauty of sadness.
Silently as I could, I pulled my short swords from my side. “It’s not Archie,” I whispered.
“No,” Emery said slowly. “It’s Corliss.”
“You’re sure?”
He nodded and shouted, “Corliss! All darkness is only shadow!”
Vack watched silently as she dashed out of the trees, grabbing me and Emery in a tight embrace.
Corliss turned wide eyes to Emery. “Celesta’s already here. Where’s everyone else?”
Emery threw his hands up. “No one knows!” He kicked at the closest white stone with nearly enough force to break his foot. “We didn’t know we were being blamed for Izfazara’s death until a couple Escalis tried to murder Robbiel right in the hallway. We grabbed a few things and slipped out through the back crevices, and we had everybody together at that point except Nessava.”
“Where was she?” I whispered.
Emery shook his head violently. “We’d hoped to find her outside, but we didn’t. Karissa panicked and vanished on us to run back inside, and Robbiel, being the lovesick idiot he is, ran back in after Karissa.”
I wanted to ask if he knew anything further, but he’d clearly come straight here. “Have either of you heard anything?” Emery asked.
Corliss shook her head, and my voice cracked as I said, “Vack and Ebby looked for Robbiel and Karissa. They… can’t find them.”
Emery balled his hands into fists and his face turned a furious shade of red as Corliss’ jaw fell open. “And Nessava?” she asked, looking at Vack in desperation.
Vack shook his head uncomfortably. “I don’t think she made it either. It’s possible we’re just missing her, since we only saw her once with the rest of you…” Vack trailed off and I looked straight at Corliss.
“Have you seen Archie?” I asked breathlessly.
Corliss took a moment to collect herself. “He’s alright. He wanted to come, but he’s under lock and key right now and can’t get out of the Dragona.”