Midnight Law

by Geanna Culbertson

  Blue blinked. “Uh, yeah. I brought it so we could get the Shadow—”

  The shots against the exterior redoubled. Crisa’s eyes were serious and focused as she held out a hand toward Blue.

  Blue dug through her backpack and passed Crisa the wand. As soon as it was in her grip, the exorcism started. Crisa’s body shook—writhing in sharp, jagged movements that made me cringe. Her eyeballs turned black and a dark spectral essence began to rise out of her. My friends and I stepped away as the creature grew. It stemmed from her shoulders and expanded above us, growing like it intended to fill the whole cabin. I couldn’t believe so much darkness could fit inside one person.

  Blood red, slit eyes and a matching crooked mouth sprouted over the form of the evil creature, big enough to swallow us whole. For a second I thought it might.

  Crisa dropped to her hands and knees—clutching the wand so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The Shadow continued to cling to her shoulders even as it expanded toward the high ceiling. It widened its terrible mouth and bore over us. Then, suddenly, it released an enormous screech that shook everything and caused my brain to rattle. Even the shots outside stopped from the earthquake that ensued.

  We all covered our ears as the Shadow struggled and thrashed and grew and grew like a balloon about to pop until finally . . . it released Crisa. The creature hung in the air above us for another moment, contorting madly, before a bright white light punched a hole through its center, spun outward, and obliterated the Shadow entirely.

  Crisa gasped. We hurried to her aid, but she held up a hand to stop us, then lifted her head. The black in her eyes had been replaced by pure gold. She shoved her wand in her boot and stood. Then she turned and marched toward the door. The shooting had stopped, but I was sure it would start back up if we showed our faces.

  “Crisa? What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Something I haven’t done in a while,” she said. She paused to look at us. “I resisted Arian all this time because I never wanted to use my power to take life while that Shadow was inside of me. I knew, deep down, that if I did, its darkness would seep in and corrupt me beyond repair. Now that it’s out, I can save you guys without being afraid of what this will do to me. I can use my magic the way I’ve been aching to . . .”

  SJ reached out for her. “Crisa, wa—”

  Crisa touched the door and it was instantly consumed in golden light. It tore itself off the hinges and shot outward like a rampant boomerang. Some shooting started up, but was swiftly replaced by shouts of panic. Crisa stepped onto the porch and moved toward the snow. We hesitantly followed, staying in the doorway in case we needed to duck back inside for cover. We weren’t regeneration factories like her.

  There were no fewer than twelve guards out there. Crisa didn’t waver. As the door darted around threatening to decapitate the men, her body became engulfed in a cocoon of energy three times bigger than what had coated Chance and Daniel. Shining waves of gold, gray, and black magic wove around her and then—BOOM!

  A tidal wave of energy burst from her skin and rushed in every direction like an amplified version of Blue’s fog. The second it passed through the guards’ bodies, a shimmering dark cloud ejected from each of them like a gasp of air. Then they collapsed to the ground and didn’t move again.

  They were dead. In one crazy powerful swell of completely controlled magic, Crisa had used her powers to take the life out of every single remaining guard. I was super impressed, relieved, and also kind of freaked out. Arian’s words whispered in my mind.

  “If I’m afraid of what she’s capable of now, then you definitely should be.”

  The magic around Crisa disappeared and she turned to face us. She looked both stunning and scary—a mosaic of gold, gray, and black glimmering cracks on her skin.

  We approached her slowly, Daniel and Chance leading the group. She cleared her throat as she held our gazes, then she looked directly at Daniel and Chance.

  “So . . .” She gulped. “This is embarrassing, but, um, can one of you guys please hold out your arms. I’m feeling a little—”

  Her eyes closed and she fainted. Both guys rushed in, but Daniel caught her before Chance could. He lowered her carefully to the ground as snow began to fall.

  couldn’t believe I was so nervous. I’d been waiting for the day when Knight would be back and yet now that she was, getting up the nerve to talk to her one-on-one was difficult. I paced outside Lady Agnue’s infirmary trying to think of the right thing to say.

  We’d gotten back to school yesterday afternoon and Knight slept for most of the day. In the evening we’d all hung out as a group and shared the general highlights of what had happened. Now we were taking turns visiting her at our discretion. I worried I didn’t have much time to connect with her before things got crazy again. It was midmorning, so half my friends were already at the peace talks, but it was Friday and they usually got off early. I knew most of them were planning on spending the night hanging in the infirmary again. Then tomorrow students would start arriving at Lady Agnue’s and Lord Channing’s in anticipation of the new semester set to begin Monday.

  “Daniel.”

  I turned as Pietro came down the hall. He carried a powder pink box in his hands.

  “Hey,” I said. “So you decided not to go to the peace talks after all?”

  He shrugged. “Jason and SJ got to miss a day for Midnight Law. Now that they’re back, I think I’m owed the same. I wanted to spend as much time as I can with Crisa today. Once the other female students arrive, Lady Agnue will show me the door.”

  “Oh, okay.” I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. “I’ll come back later.”

  “Uh, no. You know what, I brought these donuts for Crisa, but she’ll be ticked off that I didn’t get milk. You take them in. I’ll find my way to the kitchen again. This place is really confusing, which means you probably have about twenty minutes before I get back. So, if you want to say something to her . . . now’s your chance.” He handed me the box.

  “Um, thanks, Pietro.”

  He put his hand on my shoulder for a second. “Thank you, Daniel.”

  Pietro returned up the hall. I breathed with some extra relief. He said everything without saying very much. That was my favorite kind of forgiveness. I was glad he’d let go of the resentment he held toward me. I already had enough relationship strife to worry about.

  With conviction I pushed open the infirmary doors.

  “I was wondering when you would show up,” Knight said to me. She was sitting up in her cot while Mauvrey sat in a chair beside her.

  The latter princess was good as new; SJ having healed up the arm that Arian had damaged in our last fight. Knight, meanwhile, wore one of the black, silk robes the infirmary reserved for patients still in the midst of healing. The garment had magic silkworm properties or something? I didn’t know the details. She looked comfortable. Though I was uncomfortable looking at her.

  Many of the glowing cracks on her skin had faded since yesterday thanks to SJ’s healing potions and rest, but I could still faintly see them on her face and neck. Her hands were a different story. Though the marks no longer shined, those remained very visible. Their deep, dark gold color had sunk into her skin like tattoos. I wondered if they were going to stay that way forever. It made me upset to look at. Not because they were ugly or anything like that; seeing them filled me with a lot of emotion. Those marks symbolized all of Knight’s pain and suffering—every time she’d been killed or forced to use her magic as a prisoner. It hurt to be reminded of how much she’d been through. As I drew near her cot, I found myself wishing I knew where Arian was. I swore to myself that if I ever had the chance, I would make him pay for every crack my friend had to endure.

  “You can have my chair, Daniel,” Mauvrey said, standing. “I have a meeting with Lady Agnue and then I need to go pack. SJ and I are headed to Mark’s castle after she gets back from the peace talks. With any luck, if we leave right away we will make it there by
midnight.”

  I cringed and sort of laughed. “Is it weird that that’s my least favorite word now?”

  “Absolutely not,” Mauvrey replied. “I have added it to my own list of words that make me shudder, right behind sleeping curse, Shadow, and mushrooms.” We exchanged a smile at the inside joke. Mauvrey pivoted. “Crisa, I am glad you are doing better. Thank you so much again for everything you have done for me. I am sorry for what saving me has cost you and I—”

  “Mauvrey,” Knight raised her hand and smiled. “I told you, you don’t have to keep apologizing. I am glad that you are okay and to have a second chance to get to know you. Now go save someone else. Mark needs that Magic Mite cure.”

  “Mark also needs to hire a lot of new governesses for the plethora of new additions to his castle, and a team of well-trained interrogators to find out who gave him his Magic Mite.” She shot a quick glance at me. “Obviously it was not the same person who delivered mine.”

  I nodded.

  “Anyway,” Mauvrey continued, “I will come by again before I leave for Mark’s. Bye, Crisa. Bye, Daniel.”

  She headed out of the infirmary, her golden blonde ponytail bouncing around her. I sat down in the chair and put the pink box of donuts on the bedside table.

  “Did you bring milk?” Knight asked as she picked up a notepad from the table.

  “Pietro is working on it.”

  “I should hope so. He knows me better than that.” She made a tally mark with a quill.

  “What’s that for?” I asked.

  “I’m keeping track of how many times the people who risked their lives to save me feel the needless urge to apologize.”

  “Your sarcasm needs props now?”

  “I’m mixing it up.” She set the notepad and quill down. “Anyway, it helps get the point across. Please don’t make me add any tallies for you. I don’t need another I’m sorry.”

  “You can’t blame us for trying,” I responded. “We all feel guilty that you had to wait so long for us.”

  “You did what you could. Everyone did everything they could. Well, except for Alex.”

  I grimaced. “We didn’t tell you about him yesterday because we didn’t want to upset you. I take it someone explained since then?”

  “SJ did this morning.” Crisa sighed. “I’m not surprised, but I’m still disappointed. I don’t know, even after everything we’ve been through and all that he’s done, I guess a more naive part of me expected better from him. It’s hard to shake faith entirely in someone you used to love.”

  “Yeah. I know.” I gulped. “But, uh, I’m here for you if you need to talk about it.”

  She looked at me carefully. “Thanks. Maybe. It’s not the most shocking betrayal I’ve ever experienced. What you’ve gone through on the other hand . . .” Knight’s eyes held compassion and understanding. She voiced what she was thinking without a single word.

  “Who told you?”

  “Also SJ. I honestly can’t believe that . . . I mean, I shared a room with her. You shared a heart with her. For no one to realize that Kai—”

  “Don’t say her name,” I interrupted.

  It took a lot of my soul to explain to Jason and Blue what had happened to my manipulative former girlfriend. And truthfully, I’d let SJ and Mauvrey tell a lot of the story when I did. I even charged them with passing word on to the others so they wouldn’t ask me questions. The pain of reliving the situation was still hard for me; it was too raw. On par with that, I was glad SJ had told Knight as well. Now in the aftermath of the betrayal and heartbreak, I was still trying to sort my feelings and make sense of something so ridiculously sad and messed up. Reliving the play-by-play was at the bottom of the list of things I wanted to do.

  Knight nodded. “I understand. I know it’s a different kind of love, but I once loved Alex with all my heart too. When he betrayed me the first time and helped the antagonists attack our home and our family, it took a while to accept and even longer to get over. It will happen though. One day you will wake up and that scar on your heart will have faded and you can breathe fully again.”

  I stared at her. Figment-of-my-imagination Crisa had said those very words in my Heart House. I guess the idealized version of her in my head was identical to the real version in front of me. That was something special. I knew her completely. I trusted her completely.

  My eyes wandered to my sword sheath. I’d gotten used to carrying it around and it rarely left my side anymore. I glanced at her. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything.”

  I drew the sword and put it on the bedsheet over her lap. “When the Midnight Law quest took me to Camelot, the Lady of the Lake told me that when we went to Avalon she warned you to leave me behind, but you chose not to and doing that led to me finding this sword. Which apparently is cursed. I don’t hold your choice against you, and I made a similar call on this quest in Wonderland. You owe the Red Queen a magical favor by the way. I’ll explain later.”

  “Um . . . okay,” Knight said warily.

  “The point is the Lady of the Lake told me this sword is cursed in some way but refused to give me more information. All she said was that I wasn’t in immediate peril and the situation was in flux. So I was wondering if you know what the curse is.”

  Knight didn’t say anything for a long moment. She stared at the sword then met my eyes. “I’m sorry, Daniel. Getting you into this position has caused me a lot of sleepless nights and guilt-ridden days. But . . . although I know the sword is cursed, I can’t help you.”

  I sighed. “Okay, I just thought I’d ask. Anyway, the Lady of the Lake said I’d find out in time, so there’s that to look forward to.”

  Knight’s face had darkened, and I felt bad for that. Maybe it was selfish of me to bring this up now. She had enough to deal with. I removed my sword from her lap and put it back in my sheath.

  “Enough about me,” I said. “How are you feeling? You startled a lot of people when you killed all those guards at once.”

  “I know,” she said. “But it was our only way to escape. And I felt safe using my powers that way without the Shadow lurking inside, waiting for me to mess up and let its corruption in. Blanket bad guy killing is not something I plan on doing regularly, but just like when I hunted rebels for Lenore, in this case I trusted my judgment and made a controlled call.”

  “It was still crazy though,” I said. “I’ve seen you take life before, but considering Earth’s strong magic rejection—I mean, the amount of strength it would take to overcome that . . . You’re much more powerful than you were before. What does that mean for you?”

  Now it was her turn to sigh. “I honestly don’t know, Daniel. Arian forced me to develop my powers past what I think any Pure Magic person has ever experienced. Now that I’m in our dimension again, without the restraint of Earth, I’m almost afraid to know the extent of what I can do. And I’m a little afraid of what testing that will do to me. It’s a miracle I haven’t been corrupted already. I have a strong sense of will and fight, and I’d like to think a pretty reliable moral compass, but I don’t believe Arian would have left me getting away to chance if he didn’t have faith that the damage is already done.” She gazed out the window at the serene blue sky. “Maybe there is too much magic inside of me now and I won’t be able to control it.”

  “Knight . . .”

  She shook her head and gulped. “It’s pretty unnerving and I’m scared, Daniel. This infirmary is a hideout. What happens when I go back to the real world? What’s our realm’s Godmother overlord going to think about this whole situation?” She lifted one of her wrists, still encircled in its genie cuff. “There are supposed to be things that counteract Pure Magic. Stiltdegarth cuffs and Earth’s magic rejection are at the top of that list, and I’ve crushed both. I am above most of the rules now, and I have a feeling Lena Lenore is not going to be happy when she realizes that.”

  I shrugged. “We’ll deal with Lenore later. If it helps, I’ve always thought you
r character put you above the rules; now that your magic does too, it kind of fits.”

  Knight smirked, but turned her gaze away a moment later. Her eyes drifted to the window again. Her anxiety was too real to be alleviated so easily.

  “You know,” I said, calling her attention back. “Midnight Law almost killed me, but I appreciate a lot more about life from having faced it. And I appreciate more about us.”

  Knight cocked her head at me curiously.

  “The four relationship aspects that tied our mission together were patience, respect, forgiveness, and perseverance. SJ, Mauvrey, and I learned a lot about those concepts on a personal level and in relation to each other. I see now that the test of patience, which I passed when I realized how Eva worked as a villain, was meant to help me understand how . . . Kai”—ugh it hurt to say her name—“could get away with her double life for so long. SJ and Mauvrey mastered respect for themselves while I learned about showing respect for them and others. Forgiveness was a much bigger test, but the important part for me was forgiving myself for the broken way I used to live. And perseverance taught me about fighting on in spite of heartbreak. These were all great lessons, but even though absorbing them came down to our team, the whole reason I was able to enact Midnight Law was because our relationship is so strong.” I gestured between the two of us.

  “Those four attributes are a huge part of why we’ve become such good friends. You and I work because of patience, respect, forgiveness, and perseverance. And I am grateful to be fully aware of how special it is for two people to share those things with each other. I don’t know where we’d be without them.”

  “I do,” Crisa replied. “You’d be dating a sociopath, and I’d be dead.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Morbid much?”

  “Sorry, joking. Even though not really.”

  “Anyway, what I’m trying to say . . .” I huffed and shook my head. I had been attempting to communicate something meaningful, but Knight distracted me with her comment. I was already distracted enough by her big green eyes. I hadn’t seen her face for so long. Every time I looked at it now, I lingered a bit too long, as if my memory were endeavoring to etch every line of her face into my mind anew.