by Heloise Hull
“Do Council members have offices?” I asked, feeling slightly stupid. “Or office hours?”
Aurick shook his head. “I’ve only been to the Arch when I’m summoned for a job, and I go directly to the meeting chambers.”
“Okay, let’s go there. It’s the only place I’ve been, too. Maybe we can do some sort of surveillance,” I suggested, pretending like I wasn’t grasping at straws.
Everyone reluctantly agreed, but the self-righteous air had started to leak from our sanctimonious balloon.
We crept through the darkened interior. Unlike my first trip, there weren’t a lot of supernatural creatures roaming about. It was mostly quiet. “Where do all of these doors go, Aurick?”
“Depends on the day and the entrant. Don’t touch anything that has those markings.” He pointed to a door with runes over the lintel that looked like they’d been scratched into the metal by fingernails trying to escape a coffin, so of course I was immediately interested.
“Why not?”
“I have no idea. It’s what they tell us on orientation day.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You have orientation at the Council? What is this, summer camp?”
“Ava,” Aurick said with warnings in his voice as I veered toward the door. On closer inspection, the markings felt off, like a void or an empty blackness. These carvings repelled rather than invoked. All around us, the magic pulsed and flowed. Except here.
“If they don’t want you in there, I want to know why.”
“Would you rather satisfy that itch or find Mestjet?”
Aurick waited for me to decide.
“I hate when you’re so reasonable,” I said, staring at the door with longing.
We continued down the corridor, and I recognized the door made of grass. It had blackberry brambles for lintels, spiky with thorns, but glistening with juicy fruit. If I plucked one, I knew it would stick me and I would bleed. I stared for a few seconds longer, the pulse of magic beckoning me inside.
With some hesitancy, I pulled away. I felt as if I’d been a blossom throughout my many lives. Something beautiful to be looked at and plucked at will. Every once in a while, I wrapped myself in thorny brambles and made those who tried to pluck me bleed first. Other lives, I was left to wither on the vine.
But not this life. Not anymore. I would grow roots, so no one could take me at their will.
Thessaly, Coronis, and Rosemary’s presence behind me strengthened my resolve. This was it. If I could stop the curse, I could stop the lives from happening. I could live this one, fully. I could protect my sons.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I bumped into Aurick.
“We’re here,” he said softly. Without having to reach, he bumped a fist to the top of the lintel like Manu had and ushered us in. “Only members and those employed can enter,” he explained.
“So it’s a magic lock screen,” I said.
“Sure.”
It was dark inside, and the chairs, still arrayed in a semicircle, were empty. I told everyone to spread out and look for clues.
“Do you plan to stay here until they come back?” Coronis asked.
“If that’s what it takes,” I shrugged nonchalantly, and then I almost peed my pants as a sharp voice cut through our conversation like a glass shard.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” it boomed. “This area is restricted.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
It was a guard, but due to the black hood, I couldn’t tell if it was the same one who had held me down during Bruno’s attack. The sight alone sent the same cold terror coursing through my body. I searched for the roiling heat of my magic to counter it, but even without the Gordian Knot, I couldn’t feel it in this room. There was some kind of ward or protection. Not that it mattered. The guard looked just as deadly with or without magic.
He shouted again and Aurick held up his hands, spitting out a neat lie to buy us time. “I was summoned by Mestjet for Council business. Is she here?”
The guard looked shocked. “Aurick? You’re with these… creatures?”
“Yes, on official business.”
“I don’t recall anyone authorizing you to be on site today. If you are lying and have let them in without permission, it will cost you everything.”
“I doubt she had time to put it on official records,” Aurick continued smoothly. The rest of us bunched together like a pack of scared herd animals, attempting to look innocent. I think Coronis even batted her eyelashes.
“Impossible,” the guard growled, a finger reaching for something in his cloak. Reinforcements if I were to guess.
Even if his voice wasn’t familiar, his movements were, and I’d never forget those glittering, inhumane eyes. I stiffened. It was him, the one who held me down. The certainty of that truth gave me a singular focus. It started as a tingle across my shoulder blades, hot and insistent, until my whole back became pins and needles.
Rosemary must have felt the change. She jumped and stared. “Ava?” Her voice trembled, but the rage continued to boil.
The tingling sensation was a full-blown burn, threatening to consume me. “You,” I pointed, my voice terrifying even to myself.
The guard flinched. Good. So he remembered me.
“You think it’s okay to violate someone? To take their blood and expose their body without their permission?” I yanked down the left side of my top to reveal the Eye of Ra. “Is this what you wanted everyone to see?”
When he spoke again, he was less sure, his voice strangled. “No trespassing. Don’t try to resist—”
Without thinking, without even knowing what I was doing, I threw my hands forward and felt the burn travel down my arms and into the guard. He let out a shriek, and the scent of burning hair filled the air.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rosemary clap a hand to her mouth, but no one said a word. No one moved. I think they were too stunned.
Not me. I stalked up and cleared the smoke with a wave. Something small and black twitched on the ground, its tiny legs waving in the air. Crouching down, I saw a scrabbling beetle lying on its back, unable to flip over. His desperation was palpable.
Where before the guard was menacing and mean, taking up more space than anyone around with his spear and bulk, he was now helpless. I could crush him without a thought. Accidentally even, if I wasn’t careful.
I put my tennis shoe over him. Imagining the crunch was rousing, almost erotically so. I could hear it, feel it. The bliss it would bring!
I wanted it.
Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “Ava.” His voice was low and persistent. “Ava, look at me.”
It would be so satisfying. Crunch.
“Ava!”
Finally, I tore my gaze away. It was Luca. His eyes were sad.
“I know that feeling. The one coursing through your veins.”
I stiffened. “We are not the same, Luca.”
“No, we’re not. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t start somewhere.”
“You weren’t there. You didn’t see what he did to me. Killing him would be doing a service to the world,” I snarled, a little surprised at my own viciousness.
The beetle managed to grab onto my shoelace and right itself. It scuttled toward a darkened corner of the chamber, screeching the entire way.
I considered chasing it, but Luca didn’t let go. “Once you kill, it becomes easier and easier. Soon, you’ll search it out. The desire will consume you. You’ll think of nothing else until it’s all you think about. Let him go, Ava. Not for his sake, but for yours.”
I wrenched my arm out of his grip and took a deep breath.
“Ava?” Tentative arms wrapped around me. One cold. One warm. One strong. I looked into the eyes of Thessaly, Coronis, and Rosemary. She really got into her workouts kneading that dough. They squeezed tight.
“We’re sorry that happened to you, darling,” Rosemary said. “I know it was traumatic, but I’m also glad you didn’t let it control you.”
Aurick was last. He came cautiously, as if he had questions he didn’t want to ask, but felt obligated to by the stupid Council. “Ava, magic is dampened in this chamber. How did you…?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t know. Or I didn’t want to know. “What will happen to him?” I asked. Now that my rage had passed, I didn’t necessarily want to be responsible for permanently turning someone into a bug.
“There are people here who can help change him back.”
“Good,” I said. “But I hope he comes back a few inches shorter.”
Aurick gave me a tight smile. I could still feel the magic coursing through my body, and I was sure I still looked terrifying.
A thrum passed through me, reverberating like leather stretched over a drum when beaten. Something… I looked around. There. Just like in the Library, I saw a tendril leading me deeper into the compound.
I shot off toward the door in its pursuit, determined to find the source. Behind me, my friends sped to keep up, their footfalls echoing against the walls in our mad dash to make sense of what was happening.
I could hear them calling my name, but this was my fight. I needed to be the leader, the first into battle. If that’s what this was. “Ouch!” My hand shot up to my neck where the fang marks pulsed. Aurick skidded around the corner and pried my fingers off to look.
“It’s red,” he peered closer. “Like it’s recent.”
“It’s reacting,” I said. “Reacting to whatever they’re doing with my blood.”
“That’s quite the assumption,” he said.
“It’s not. It’s a gut feeling, which I’m learning to trust. This way,” I pointed. The hallway was dark except for certain doors. A blue one made of ice illuminated our section, but for every bright door, there was an ink black one or metal one or even one made of pine needles that smelled eternally fresh.
My heart raced, matching the drumbeat stroke for stroke. It hammered against my ribcage until I thought it would burst. Here. Right here.
“It’s behind this door.”
Everyone gathered behind me, and I strode in, unsure of what I would find. Ancient dark rituals with Bruno at the helm? Plausible.
The room had an eerily familiar feel. I couldn’t explain it since I hadn’t seen it in any of my visions. If I had to guess, there were other lives of mine that I hadn’t yet seen. Frankly, I didn’t want to see them. I wanted to live this life, freely and fully.
There were low hisses, like machinery at work. The hum of a generator. The smell of science. It was a lab.
At the sudden creak of the door, two hunched figures in the corner straightened. One was tall and stark, the other short and plump. Bruno was the only one I had eyes for.
Already, sparks were crawling up my arms as this magic, accidentally gifted to me by a god, was preparing to break through whatever dampening the Council had erected.
The vampire darted over on legs that seemed to glide on air, but this time, I was ready for him. I wouldn’t cower and let him take what he wanted. My tattoo thrilled at the thought. It simmered and burned, so I let its energy twist around my arms as I brought them up in defense.
Before Bruno could reach me, he smacked hard into an invisible wall, his nose and fangs leaving a comical impression in the air, like an insect splattered on a windshield.
“You will never touch me again.”
“How did you get in?” he asked, brushing himself off. His red-tinged eyes glowed on all of us. “Ah. Aurick. I see.”
“We didn’t come to harm anyone,” Aurick replied. “There are suspicious attacks on my family and friends, and we came for help.” My heart warmed at his description of the events. Of me.
“Help.” Bruno laughed, a wet sound rattling in his lungs. “You will certainly need it for this breach of trust.”
I finally got a good look at the other figure. It was Mestjet. She still wore the vulture pectoral from my trial and kohl-lined eyes. “What are you doing here?” I asked, stuttering a little.
“Experimenting,” she replied, not even trying to hide the truth. “Your blood defies all logic.”
“Experimenting like a scientist?”
“Magic and science are merely different dialects of the same language.”
Bruno snapped. “You don’t get to ask the questions. You are something dangerous. I should have had you locked up the moment you set foot in these hallowed halls.”
I gave a thin smile. “Maybe you didn’t notice, but you’re outnumbered. And my magic isn’t affected by your ‘hallowed halls’.”
Bruno’s teeth lengthened, scraping the sores on his mouth as he snarled. “So this is insurrection?”
“This is a conversation. Someone is attacking my boys. You’re doing illegal experiments on my blood, and you’re keeping dangerous secrets. Like how you have an archon prisoner in the bathroom.”
Both of the Council members’ heads swiveled toward me like deranged dolls. “Why do you say that?” Mestjet queried.
She was the clever one, I realized. Bruno used brute force and the natural fear of his species, but Mestjet used her brain. No wonder she wrote the Coffin Texts. Instead of confirming or denying, she merely asked why I thought there was an archon.
Yes, why do you think that?
I started, catching myself on a wooden table full of beakers and petri dishes. “Did you hear that?”
Mestjet looked over my head while Bruno watched me closely. Mestjet’s eyebrows went up into her curled, tripartite, black wig.
I heard a cruel, high laughter. The archon knew I was here.
I swallowed hard. This creature was infinitely more terrifying than the ancient blood bag in front of me. My voice was low, although I had a feeling that didn’t matter. The archon could hear my whispers.
“He’s talking. I can hear him laugh. You’re keeping him underneath the women’s bathroom.”
Bruno yanked back, appalled. Like his delicate moral sensibilities would explode at the word “bathroom.” If I wasn’t reeling from hearing that voice again, I would have rolled my eyes.
“Prove it,” Bruno commanded. I think he thought he was in control of the situation.
“Not until you tell me what is going on. Is that mine?” I pointed to the vial.
“We don’t owe you any explanations,” Bruno sneered.
Why did he always have to make it so hard? With a smirk, I pointed a finger at the pile of petri dishes. Cultures and spores that had been invisible to the naked eye exploded into life. Like the yeast in Rosemary’s kitchen, they quadrupled continuously until they curled into something that looked like a coral reef under the ocean. They spiked forward, the spines of bacteria and other once-microscopic organisms now backing Mestjet and Bruno into a corner. I felt bad about that, but I needed to know. Why had they taken my blood? What had it revealed to them?
“We think there may be an archon on Aradia that triggered your magic and is feeding you god magic from the astral realm,” Mestjet said calmly.
I did not feel calm, though. I felt a madness swirling inside of me. “The only archon is the one you’re keeping prisoner in this basement. The one laughing at all of us now.” It was true; the archon was enjoying this.
For a second, Mestjet appeared unnerved, her face uncertain. But it soon went back to calm. “You’re right. There is an archon. We wanted to see if he had made contact with anyone. Or convinced others to do his bidding.”
“You shouldn’t be keeping him here at all!” Coronis said indignantly, and the rest voiced their agreement behind me.
“It’s dangerous, but it’s our only safeguard against a possible return of the gods,” Mestjet fired back.
I snorted derisively. “Unless someone lets him go free. I heard him talking. I could have accidentally opened the gates and let him loose myself.”
Mestjet looked troubled. “Even so, there are more than enough safeguards in place.”
“Rules and cages were meant to be broken,” I countered. “J
ust because you’ve succeeded this long, does not mean it will last forever. Nothing does. Not the gods, not your cells, not even your peace.”
“Strife is for humans,” Bruno interjected. “We have succeeded for over a thousand years where humans have only failed.”
“Yeah, well, someone on the Council is rogue because my boys are under attack, and all the signs are pointing here. How’s that for a thousand year success?” I continued, drowning out his outrage. “My money is on someone with just enough power to be dangerous, but not nearly as much as they want. Ring any bells?”
There was a pregnant pause.
“You really are intuitive,” Mestjet said.
It was then that I’d noticed she’d burned a hole in my barrier and was stepping out, her linen dress flying around her in some unspoken magic.
I cocked my head, computation taking a second. Then, “Shit.”
I rolled behind a lab table, sucking in air to calm myself. Holy mother of mayhem it was Mestjet.
In a flurry of sparks, I used the precious seconds before Mestjet reached me to weave a barrier around my friends with the reef. Aurick tried to protect me, but it pushed him back. I barely had time to mouth “I’m sorry” before Mestjet shot a roll of her wrappings at me that smelled like embalming fluid. They corroded my own, weak shield, and instantly, Mestjet was there, grabbing me by the elbow.
A bone dagger ripped the air, and she transported the two of us into the hallway. Behind me, I saw my friends banging on the creation I’d made to keep them safe. Their eyes told me enough. They were mad at me. They were scared for me. And I was in trouble.
Mestjet’s long, black fingernails looked like they might harbor a staph infection as they dug into my arm, but dying in the next few seconds seemed more of a concern at the moment. I was too shocked to even call up more magic. Somehow, it was always easier when others were in trouble.
Mestjet shoved me through a doorway, and I realized too late that it was the one we weren’t supposed to touch. The black abyss.