Catching Stars

by Cayla Keenan

  She couldn’t sleep until she knew what happened to Maddix. Jayin couldn’t afford to send up a psychic flare this close to Ayrie, but she’d been looking as quietly as she could. All energy lingered, especially from an aura as strong as Maddix’s, but there was nothing, not so much as a trace of him. Some sahir must have scrubbed the area clean, leaving no residual signature behind, which meant they knew she’d be looking. Jayin didn’t know what scared her the most, the fact that Maddix had been taken or that Ayrie knew she’d come back to Pavaal.

  “Here,” Ravi said, handing her a mug of something. “Drink that. You’re going to have a bad taste in your mouth for a few days but it’ll keep you up.” Jayin took a cautious sip, grimacing as the acrid liquid burned down her throat.

  “That is awful,” she complained.

  "Yes, it is," Ravi agreed. "But it does the job. I stayed awake for almost a week one time drinking that stuff."

  She knew he didn’t mean anything by it, but she hated the idea of Ravi forcing himself to stay awake. Jittery and tense, with no one to lean on for support. Guilt tasted worse than the horrible drink. She’d left him alone when she slipped away from the Gull, and he turned around and saved over a dozen kids from joining up with the carrions. He was every bit the hero the witchlings thought that she was, and he’d done it all on his own.

  “That sounds like a good story,” Jayin said, forcing herself to choke down more of the disgusting swill. Already she could feel her heart starting to pick up.

  “Not really,” Ravi said. “I was so sleep deprived that I almost walked into carrion territory.” He paused, thinking. “I wonder what they’re calling themselves now. I mean, the old gangs are all gone and everyone who’s left banded together.”

  “That must be a tense arrangement,” Jayin said, sticking out her tongue as she took another sip. “How’d you decide to let carrions in?” she asked, trying to come up with anything to keep her mind off of Maddix.

  “They were scared,” Ravi said, raising a shoulder and dropping it. He settled himself next to her on the floor, his legs splayed out in front of him. He’d grow taller than her soon. “It was mad, Jay. You wouldn’t believe how bad things got. Carrions started killing people if they so much as sneezed, so a few of them started jumping ship. By then we were organized and there were enough of us to make a difference.” Ravi smiled. “Besides, you’re the scariest thing to come out of the Gull in a hundred years. Even when you were gone, you were still keeping us safe.”

  There he went again, giving her credit she didn’t deserve. If Maddix hadn’t left her in Kaddah, Jayin wouldn’t have ever come back here.

  “You’re doing that thing again.”

  “What thing?” Jayin asked, blinking.

  “That thing you do when you start feeling guilty. Your nose gets all scrunchy.”

  Almost unconsciously, Jayin pressed her hand to her nose. “I do not.”

  “Yes you do,” Ravi said, laughing. “You can’t try to take all the blame for yourself. There’s plenty to go around and if you try to take it all on, it’ll crush you. You didn’t let anyone down, least of all me.”

  “When did you get so smart?” Jayin managed after a moment of stunned silence.

  “Well one time, this grumpy shopkeeper let me hang around her place so I wouldn’t get jumped into the gangs,” Ravi said with a grin that reminded her of the easygoing kid she’d left behind.

  “Sounds a little far-fetched to me,” Jayin said, but she was smiling.

  They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, punctuated only by Jayin’s noises of disgust as she choked down the concoction. Then there was a flash of energy and a groan as Maia woke, shifting restlessly on her cot.

  “Hey,” Jayin said, trying to smile as warmly as she could. Maia’s breathing was labored and her eyes took a long time to focus. Jayin didn’t bother asking how she was feeling.

  “Maddix?” Maia stuttered. Her lips moved but no more sound escaped. Jayin understood and shook her head.

  “I don’t know where he is,” she said, hating how Maia’s face fell. “I’m looking, I promise.” Jayin knew that her words weren’t worth much.

  “I’ll give you a second,” Ravi said, standing. “Drink the rest of that.”

  Jayin didn’t watch him walk out, all of her attention trained on Maia.

  “You’re safe here,” she said softly, taking the girl’s hand in hers. “We’re doing everything we can to make you better.”

  Jayin wished that Maddix were around more than ever, if only for the strange effect he had on her magic. If she could somehow manipulate Maia’s aura, maybe Jayin could dislodge the darkness that had taken root inside the healer’s body.

  “Don’t think like that,” Jayin admonished gently, responding to Maia’s unspoken feeling. She was dying and she knew it. Jayin’s assurances didn’t mean a thing. “You’re going to be okay.”

  The hair on the back of her neck stood up as a horribly familiar aura strode into her second sight. Into the warehouse.

  “No,” Jayin breathed, her heart tripping. No, no, no. She turned her attention back to Maia, but she was already asleep again. Jayin tucked the blanket under her chin and left one of her knives behind, just in case.

  Her heart beat like a caged beast as she walked to the warehouse and in those minutes, the distance felt like it stretched for miles.

  “Jayin!” a sickeningly smug voice greeted her as she stepped through the doors. Maerta stood in the center of the warehouse, gleaming in all of her Ayrie finery. Her arm looped casually around Ravi’s shoulders, the tips of her fingers stroking his collarbone.

  “Step away from him,” Jayin said, hissing the words through clenched teeth. She knew the damage Maerta could do with the barest flick of her wrist.

  “Oh, but your friend and I were just getting acquainted,” Maerta said. Jayin wanted to kill her. She wanted to rip Maerta’s throat out and watch her bleed to death. See if she was still so smug when she was drowning in her own blood. “I’m sure he’s got so many wonderful stories to tell about you. It would be a shame if something were to happen.”

  She trailed her long, sharp nails over Ravi’s neck and Jayin clenched her fists to keep from flying across the room. Ravi winced, his face going tight with pain.

  “Stop,” Jayin spit. “Let him go.”

  “You know, I think I will,” Maerta said, releasing Ravi and pushing him towards her. Ravi staggered to her side and Jayin pulled him behind her. His hands shook and fear rolled off him in waves.

  “Jayin, Jayin, Jayin,” Maerta said, her heels clicking as she paced across the warehouse floor. “You have caused us so much grief. Personally, I want you dead.” Ravi twitched and Jayin tightened her grip on his arm.

  “Well if the sahirla couldn’t do it, I don’t like your chances,” she said. Jayin would die before she let Maerta hurt any of the kids, and they both knew it.

  “However, the Kingswitch,” Maerta continued as if she hadn’t spoken, “the man who raised you and gave you everything you ever could have wanted, would rather have you back and in one piece. It would be best if you came willingly.”

  “And if I don’t?” Jayin said but she already knew how this was going to end. Maerta smiled, a mean quirk of her lips.

  “Well, then I kill every one of your precious little witchlings and make you watch. And then I drag you back to Ayrie, and I start on your convict friend. Surely you still remember Maddix.”

  Maerta raised a hand, a familiar necklace dangling from her fingertips. Maddix’s energy still clung to it, rising off of the stone like smoke. Jayin closed her eyes, feeling the trap snapping into place all around her. It was over. She didn’t have any more tricks to pull or places to run.

  “Jayin, don’t,” Ravi whispered but his voice trembled. Maerta snapped her fingers and Ravi cried out, his legs crumpling beneath him.

  “Stop it!” Jayin shouted, falling to her knees beside him. Ravi shuddered, shaking and convulsing. Blood trickled out
of his nose.

  “Tick tock,” Maerta said, walking up behind her. “Give me an answer, or we’re both going to watch as his heart stops.”

  “Enough,” Jayin said. Ravi’s eyes rolled back in his skull, and he twitched once more before lying still. Only the rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was still alive. “I’ll go with you.”

  “What a good answer. Come now, Jayin, the Palace awaits.”

  Jayin stood on unsteady legs, hating her more than she’d ever hated anyone. Maerta strode away and she had no choice but to follow. Jayin laid her hand on the door, sparing one last glance behind her. The witchlings gathered around Ravi and helped him sit up, all of them watching her with wide, solemn eyes. As she watched, each of them pressed two fingers to their hearts and held them out to her. Watch the skies.

  Catch the stars, Jayin thought, stretching her hand out to them.

  She would need all the luck the sky could offer now.

  Chapter Forty:

  Jayin

  Maerta spoke as the carriage took them further and further from the Gull, but Jayin didn’t answer. Every time the Ayrie witch breathed Jayin choked on the cloying scent of her perfume.

  “Your time away really has changed you,” Maerta commented as they rode through the golden gates outside of the Palace. “You were never so brooding. And your hair is a disaster. It’s a wonder anyone recognized you at all.” Jayin swore as Maerta gripped her chin with sharp fingernails. “But there’s no disguising those eyes.”

  “Don’t touch me,” Jayin snarled, wincing as Maerta’s sour energy rolled over her. She pressed down the trigger of her forearm sheath, bringing the blade to the pale column of Maerta’s throat.

  “Careful now. If I don’t come back whole and with you by my side, there’s no telling what will happen to your dayri.” Her eyes flashed. “Maybe they’ll give him to the Hounds.”

  Jayin’s blood curdled, and she quickly took the blade away, swearing.

  “None of that,” Maerta tsked as they rolled through the Palace gates. “We wouldn’t want the Kingswitch thinking your little vacation spoiled your temperament now, would we?”

  Jayin bit her lip so hard she tasted copper on her tongue.

  Maerta rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Oh, this is going to be such fun.”

  One foot in front of another, Jayin forced herself out of the carriage and through the yawning mouth of the doorway. Chandeliers shimmered in the midday light and endless decorative hallways greeted them, along with half a dozen Palace guards. They shouldn’t have bothered. As long as they had Maddix, Jayin would play nice. The sentries were just a show of force, reminding her where she was and who was in control.

  “Where are we going?” Jayin demanded as Maerta began to lead her towards the dormitories.

  “You don’t honestly think I’m presenting you to the court looking like that, do you?” Maerta sniffed, affronted.

  “And you don’t honestly think I’m putting up with this charade unless you prove that you have Maddix, do you?” she shot back. Maerta tapped an overlong fingernail to her lip before sighing, shaking her head.

  “Fine then, if you insist on looking like a dockrat,” Maerta said. Her eyes gleamed. She loved every moment of this. To her, looking out of place here was the worst kind of embarrassment.

  I will not show weakness in front of these people, Jayin swore to herself as Maerta marched her towards the viewing hall.

  The King and the Kingswitch presided over separate sections of the Palace so sahir and dayri rarely saw one another. The hall was empty when they entered, save for the Kingswitch’s personal guards. The Hounds leered at her, every bit as brutish as she remembered. They’d been with the Kingswitch for as long as Jayin could remember, their terrible magic making them perfect guards and interrogators. Jayin had never suffered at their hands, but that could soon change. Amon and Aema were twins, mindwitches with the ability to pluck out a person’s worst nightmare and force them to live it. Not many lasted long under their ministrations.

  Jayin supposed she should be honored they thought she was such a threat, but it was all she could do not to be sick right there on the gleaming stone floors.

  It was the same. The Palace was exactly the same. Pavaal was unrecognizable, but Ayrie hadn’t changed at all, right down to the pulsing energy that made her gag.

  “You’re looking a little green dear,” Maerta whispered. “Feeling anxious?” Jayin didn’t answer, forcing herself to swallow the acidic comments that stacked up behind her teeth.

  “Where’s Maddix?” she demanded, trying to pretend like she had even a little control left. Her skin tingled and itched, magic clinging to her skin and sinking through her pores. Once, it had made her feel safe, at home. Now she just felt nauseous.

  “Oh yes, I almost forgot,” Maerta said. Jayin imagined slicing the smile off of her face. Maerta gestured to Amon and a hunched figure was dragged into the hall.

  “Maddix,” Jayin breathed, unable to keep silent.

  “Hello again, convict,” Maerta said cheerfully. Maddix flinched at the sound of her voice.

  “What did you do?” Jayin snarled, whirling on Maerta with murder in her eyes. Jayin would kill her. She was going to gut her like a carp, and then Jayin and Maddix were getting out of here. Jayin had barely touched her knives when Maddix started screaming.

  “Come now Jayin,” Maerta said, shaking her head like a disappointed parent. “I thought you knew how this was going to go.”

  “Stop,” she said. Jayin didn’t know where to go or what to do. She was frozen. “Stop or I swear to the stars I’ll kill you.”

  “And if you don’t play nice, I’ll kill him,” Maerta said. She twisted her hand and Maddix’s voice gave out. His screams died in his chest, replaced by a hollow choking sound. “What’s it going to be Jayin?”

  “Stop,” she repeated. Her voice splintered, ripping something inside of her. “Please.”

  “I’m glad we understand one another,” Maerta said primly. All Jayin could hear was the broken sound of Maddix’s breathing. “Go, if you must,” Maerta said, waving her forward.

  Jayin’s footsteps echoed off of the polished floors as she ran to Maddix’s side.

  “Bleeding, bloody, falling skies,” Jayin swore under her breath. Maddix was on his knees, his arms wrapped around his middle like he could somehow hold himself together. “I’m sorry,” she said, whispering the words over and over again. Her hands fluttered around his face, shaking and useless. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  All this time trying not to think of him, all of those wasted hopes that maybe she would find him again, and this is what came of them. She didn’t want this; she’d never wanted this.

  “Don’t,” he said hollowly when she tried to brush his hair away from where it hung in his eyes. “Maia?”

  "She found us," Jayin whispered. He exhaled, some of the tension draining away. He shifted and underneath his hair, she could see that his face was covered in bruises.

  "Jayin, you need to go," Maddix breathed.

  "No way in hell," Jayin hissed back. "We’ve been in worse scrapes than this."

  It was a lie, but she prayed he couldn’t tell. She had no real confidence that either of them would make it out alive. Maddix’s wrists were shackled in front of him—a power play more than an actual attempt to restrain him. Maerta was more than capable of controlling both of them.

  She didn’t plan on giving her the chance.

  Almost imperceptibly, Jayin slid off a glove and extended her hand to him, flipping her palm up. She could get them out of here. She could stop this before it started, but she needed his help—and his permission. It was her fault that he was here, her fault that they were holding him as bait.

  "Are you sure?" he whispered, something like hope shining in his eyes. Jayin bared her teeth in a savage grin. Maddix grabbed her hand with both of his and pain ripped through her shields, making way for the strange magic to rise up in their place.
<
br />   "What a lovely display," Maerta said, smirking. "And holding hands. How sweet."

  So arrogant, Jayin thought. Maerta’s arrogance was going to get them out of here. She tried to gather her magic but Jayin already had a stranglehold on her aura. The smile slid off Maerta’s face as she reached for them and they remained standing.

  "What’s the matter?" Jayin mocked. "You’re looking a little green."

  "What did you do to me?" Maerta hissed. Her hands were thrown wide, angled towards them but with Jayin containing her magic, her power couldn’t touch them. "Stop this or I’ll—”

  "You’ll what?" Jayin cut her off. "You can’t do a thing." How does it feel?

  "Jayin!" Maddix’s voice snapped her out of her gloating, and she turned to see the Hounds lunging for them.

  She reached for her knives with one hand but she wasn’t fast enough. It didn’t matter anyway. Silver sprang into existence around them, more solid than it had ever been. Somehow, while they were behind it, the Hounds couldn’t touch them.

  "How are you doing that?" Maddix asked, awestruck. Jayin handed him one of her knives and he held it awkwardly in his bound hands.

  "I’m not," Jayin replied. "I think…I think you are." She’d had a suspicion since his fall from the top of the wall, but there was never enough proof. Maddix’s mouth all but fell open, his eyes flying wide as he moved his arms experimentally. The silver glow responded, stretching at he did.

  "That’s impossible," he said. Jayin would’ve said the same if the proof wasn’t right in front of her. His aura was the strongest she’d ever felt but magical abilities never manifested this late. Maddix was nearly nineteen. If he were sahir, he should’ve exhibited the signs years ago.

  You are two creatures without equal. Old Aya’s words echoed in the back of her mind. Jayin hadn’t thought anything of them then, but now she couldn’t help but think that there was some truth there. There was nothing like either of them in this world.

  "Maddix. We’ll figure it out later, but now we have to go." Before they lost the chance. Slowly Maddix nodded, squeezing her hand.