I had already known, from what Draven had told me once upon a time, that our Aevian race had split into four Houses after the Principality—the Aevian kingdom—fractured and started fighting each other for dominance. At first, one Aevian didn’t look much different from another, but over time, the Houses started to look different from each other. Where Aevians from the House of Day had huge, arching swan’s wings so white they were hard to look at, the children of the House of Night had black wings, sleek and quiet.
But the differences didn’t stop with the wings, or even with the eyes; the cultures changed, too. Day Aevians became proud, boisterous warriors, while Night had a reputation for being cunning manipulators. Aevians from the House of Dusk were underhanded tricksters and criminals, while those from the House of Dawn—my house—were renowned scientists and protectors.
I hadn’t resisted any of this information when Aaryn had given it to me because it made had made sense. Every scrap I’d gotten out of, I’d gotten out of it because I’d used my head, and my history with Fate spoke for itself.
“What about you?” she asked.
“What about me?” I said.
“I know you’ve been dreaming, too. Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
“I don’t know… it’s nothing, really. Just pieces.”
“Don’t make me get it out of you. You know I can.”
I sighed. “Alright, fine. I think I’ve been dreaming about my mom… The first time I ever saw her, I was awake. Aisling and Sila were in front of me, they were basically about to kill me, and my brain decided to take me for a walk down memory lane.”
“Inconvenient.”
“Right? Anyway, that was the first time. There’ve been a few others, I don’t always see her face, and sometimes I forget it after I’ve seen it, but I know it’s her. I have brothers, too. Two of them. And a sister. We all have this same white hair; that much I know, even if the details of their faces swim and change sometimes. I kinda wish I knew that they were okay on the other side… sometimes I wonder if they miss me, if they’re thinking about me. It’s frustrating knowing you have people on the other side that care for you but can’t reach you.”
She shook her head and took a drink. “That sucks. I don’t know if my family’s okay on the other side, but I also don’t care.”
“Maybe if the Order had more ways of helping us figure out who we were than having us run potentially deadly trials, we’d have those answers.”
“You mean like have us talk it out? Like, to a shrink?”
“I don’t know. Hypnosis might help? But no one’s ever thought to do that around here.”
“You know why that is, right?”
“I have a feeling you’re gonna tell me.”
Felice paused and leaned in to whisper, conspiratorially. “I have a theory they don’t want us to remember everything… I have a feeling they only want us to remember enough so that we can become strong swords in their war, but nothing more.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, what happens if one of us was actually, like, a crazy powerful sorcerer with enough power to level this whole fortress? If I were Draven, I wouldn’t want that person figuring out they could do that, otherwise I may just be out of a job.”
“That… that actually sounds like sense to me.”
She tapped her nose and screwed up her face. “I’m wise when I wanna be.”
The hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end. A charge filled the air. An instant later, a bright flash of light exploded into existence, sending a shockwave that saw me tumbling back and almost into the fountain. I had to toss the bottle I’d been holding aside to grab hold of the statue. I righted myself, staring at the massive vortex that had appeared in front of me; a dark iris surrounded by arcs of flashing blue lightning.
“Oh… shit,” I yelled.
“What the hell are you doing still standing there?” Felice called out, “Get behind something!”
“No, wait! Someone’s coming.”
“All the better reason to get behind something!”
The vortex pulsated and throbbed, whips of lightning lashing out in all directions, then a shape emerged. It was Aaryn, and she was wounded. She limped through the vortex, then quickly fell to her knees, pressing her hands into the earth to keep from going into it face first. I rushed over to her, trying my best to keep a steady course and not empty the contents of my stomach all over the courtyard. I wasn’t drunk, but I wasn’t nearly sober, either.
“Aaryn, are you alright?” I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder.
She turned her piercing blue eyes up at me. There were cuts on her face, deep lesions that were bleeding way too much. “The stone…” she said, her eyes darting from side to side, like she wasn’t sure which of my eyes to focus on. “The stones… they want to kill us.”
“What stones? What happened to you?”
Aaryn shut her eyes hard and shook her head. “Where… are we?”
“We need to get her to a doctor!” I yelled over at Felice, who was standing in front of the fountain now.
The vortex started pulsing and flashing again, and I had to shield my eyes from the intensity of the light as it roiled and churned and spat someone else out of its dark mouth. Crag was there, standing tall and strong, and in his arms—Draven. He was unconscious, there were gashes all over his clothes, and he was bleeding. Crag, unlike the other two, didn’t seem hurt at all, though his clothes were looking a bit cut up and tattered.
“Damn right we need a doctor,” Crag said. “The two of you, help her up and follow me.”
Crag started walking with Draven in his arms, moving along the courtyard and in the direction of the infirmary. I slid my hand under one of Aaryn’s arms and helped her up just as the portal collapsed and became a small, round sphere of crackling light that fell to the grass. Felice picked it up, its blue light caressing her face…
“Help me,” I called out.
“Right,” she said, hurrying over to me and taking Aaryn’s other arm.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
Sobered up by what had just happened, I helped Aaryn get to her feet. Then, with Felice’s help, I followed Crag all the way to the infirmary. Crag, thankfully, had enough foresight to summon Siren along the way, and she had alerted the doctor that we would be coming.
By the time I arrived, the doctor—a tall, thin man with slightly wide-set eyes, long, pointed ears and two very slight horns protruding from his forehead—was sliding into his white coat and preparing one of the beds. Lias, a gold prospect and nurse, was helping him get the room ready to receive his patients.
“The stones,” Aaryn kept saying, “He shouldn’t have tried to touch it. I warned him not to get close.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, “Draven? Did he touch a stone?”
“They don’t want to send us back. They want to keep us here, and they will. They will.”
Lias rushed over to me. “Here, set her down on this bed,” he said, guiding Felice and me through the infirmary. I helped Aaryn settle down on one of the beds and watched as Crag did the same for Draven. Boy if he looked like he was in bad shape. I could see the side of his face from here, covered in blood like Aaryn’s.
Whatever had happened to them, it had been big.
“Okay, we’ve got you,” Lias said to Aaryn, “Just relax, I’m going to help you get to sleep so that we can heal you.”
Aaryn grabbed him by the collar of his jumpsuit and growled at him like she’d suddenly gone feral. I rushed over to her side, took hold of her hands, and peeled her away from him. Lias, then, touched her collarbone with his right hand and sent a short pulse of green light into her skin. All of the aggression I had seen on her face a second ago melted away, she tilted her head back, and then let herself rest against the pillow. A moment later, she was asleep.
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Lias said, “I’l
l wait for the doctor to give his diagnosis. This is way out of my league.”
“Because you’re a nurse,” Felice put in.
“Yeah, so?”
“A male nurse.”
Lias frowned at her. “That’s right.”
“Ha.”
“Dude!” I snapped at Felice, elbowing her in the gut, “Not the time.”
Scowling, Lias ushered us both away from the bed. “You two should get out of here,” he said.
“What? Why?”
“Because I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s not for you and you’re just gonna get in the way.”
“That’s not fair,” Felice said, “I can be totally helpful. Give me a scalpel, I’ll show you.”
“Look, I’m asking you nicely, but the doctor won’t be so chill. Just leave and try not to tell anyone about this. I don’t know what this is about but I’m sure as shit they’re gonna want to keep this quiet… don’t make me zap you to sleep.”
It looked like Felice was about to say something, but I slapped my hand around her mouth and dragged her out of the infirmary. Lias was right, we had no place being in there, no matter how badly I wanted to know what was happening. We were more likely to make things worse than get a clue, especially considering the two of us were intoxicated.
A little soberer now thanks to the adrenaline, but we weren’t passing any breathalyzers.
I helped Felice find her room, then I walked over to mine. Nights like these, I kinda missed having a roommate. There was one consolation, though. Rey. I found him snuggled up on my bed, resting peacefully. Smiling at him, I slid into the bed and let myself relax.
Breathing softly, I waited for the room to stop spinning and shut my eyes. I was asleep in minutes.
A cloud of anxiety had descended on the Black Fortress the next morning. The sky was grey, a thick mist filled the courtyard, and everyone walked around wearing warm, black robes tossed over their jumpsuits giving the whole place a weird monastery kind of vibe. It was too cold to walk around wearing only the jumpsuit, though, so I threw my own black robe on and headed to breakfast.
Walking past an open door on my way to the dining hall, I spotted a group of children sitting cross legged on the floor of a room covered wall-to-wall in pictures. The children were arranged in a semi-circle around a woman who had a book in her hand. Most of them listened intently as she read something Dickensian to them. Others, instead, drew the pictures that would later be hung on the walls.
These were some of the people we’d rescued that night. They’d integrated with the community inside of the fortress easily enough. Some of the kids were orphans, unfortunate souls who slipped through rifts and wound up here, alone. Others were mothers with their children. I had to admit, they added a comforting presence to this place.
Made it seem a little more like a home than a boot-camp, or a prison.
The dining hall wasn’t as full as I thought it’d be for this time of the morning. Inside, a weird, solemn vibe existed. No one was talking. Though the fire at the back of the grand hall crackled and popped, all of the prospects were wearing their robes, and many of them had their hoods over their heads and were hunched over their plates like they were in prayer.
That wasn’t enough to turn me off breakfast, though; not after last night. My head was pounding, and my muscles were sluggish. I needed to eat something—I needed to eat a lot of somethings—it was that or go to the infirmary and ask for a hangover cure.
Yes, the hangover cure was magic and instant, but it also hurt like all hell to receive it. The Order didn’t like its prospects getting hammered while they were going through their trials, but they also needed prospects to be at their best to stand a chance of survival at the very least. So, while a hangover cure was available, you never wanted to have to take it.
Get drunk at your peril.
I walked over to the buffet line and started stacking a plate with eggs, bacon, and sausages, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone I knew. I’d hoped for a Fate or a Felice. Instead I’d gotten a Ferrum, a Marv, and Dirk, and a Nesbeth. Of the four, Nesbeth was the only person not part of Ferrum’s goon squad.
Marv was a stout guy, with thick, curly black hair, a nose that had probably been broken a hundred times, and an epic, braided beard. He always walked around with a cracked, round, wooden shield strapped to his back; a relic from the other world. As far as I knew, Marv was something called a Fenrii, an ancient race of fierce hunters I knew little else more about.
Dirk, on the other hand, wasn’t difficult to look at. He had straight chestnut hair that slipped down the sides of his hood, and sharp green eyes that were always scanning, always watching, like he was waiting for someone to stab him at a moment’s notice. Dirk was one of the Risi, a darkling; shifty and quiet, but lethal with a blade.
Ferrum rarely went anywhere without them. That had been one of the things I had found strange about last night. He was alone when he’d shown up after I’d escaped from the Smother. Maybe the other two were having a party and they hadn’t invited him. A girl can dream.
I caught Nesbeth’s eyes lingering on me, so I decided to go over to her. Not because she was a girl, or even because she was alone. But because I guessed by the fact that she’d isolated herself by sitting alone, that she was a little bit like me and generally didn’t like people.
She started to shuffle uncomfortably in her seat as I approached, maybe regretting the fact that she’d let me spot her. “This seat taken?” I asked, pointing at the bench opposite hers.
“N-no, not at all,” she said, straightening her back and running her fingers through her curly, auburn hair; like leaves falling off trees in autumn.
I took a seat and set my plate down on the table, then I angled my head to look at her. She had round features and soft, amber eyes, but she was trying very hard not to make eye contact again. I knew little about her, save for the fact that she, like the children, was one of the people we’d rescued that day. “You’re Nesbeth, right?” I asked.
“That’s me,” she said, her voice bright and bubbly, “Though some people call me Ness, and others call me Beth. You can call me whatever you want, just not Nessy because that’s what my grandma used to call me, and I always hated it… I’m rambling, aren’t I?”
I picked a piece of overcooked bacon up and snapped it in half between my teeth. Chewing, I smiled at her. “A little, but it’s okay.”
“Sorry. I do that.”
Still no eye contact. “So, your grandma? You can remember that much?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember a lot. I think I hit my head when I fell through and it must’ve knocked the amnesia loose.” She laughed, but it was an awkward laugh that quickly died off. “Joke… it’s a joke.”
“I get it… you don’t have to be so nervous all the time.”
“I get that a lot, but it’s really hard not to be nervous around you.”
My stomach went cold. “Around me?”
“Oh, it’s just, you know… never mind.”
“No, tell me.”
Finally, she looked at me, though only for a fleeting instant. “It’s just, you hear things around here, and I’ve heard about you and your… condition. And it’s totally wrong what everyone says.”
“What does everyone say?”
She paused. “Please don’t make me repeat it…”
I waved my hand. “It’s fine. I know what they say, and I don’t care.” Okay, that was a lie. I cared a little, if the incident with Ferrum last night hadn’t already proved that.
“You shouldn’t. I’ve seen you around, I’ve heard about your scores—you’re one of the best around here despite… y’know.”
“Right… well, thanks. I appreciate that.”
A pause. “So, what’s it like being silver?” she asked, “I mean, I’ve heard you get access to perks, and there’s like a money system where the more hours you spend training and practicing, the more stuff you can get?”
“You’re not wrong.” The
bottle of whiskey Felice and I had almost finished yesterday had been partly paid for by the points I’d earned after I beat the Smother. “But it’s mostly for little luxuries around the fortress. It’s not like you can get a new car.”
“Why would you want a car?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
“Well, I mean, because you can’t drive one here, right? And it’s not like they let us leave…”
“You’ve got a point there.”
Another pause. “I think I’d probably ask for more clothes, because I get the whole point of these uniforms, but I really don’t think they’re flattering. Like, at all. I mean, it looks great on you, I just meant—”
Nesbeth trailed off, smiling, though it looked a little forced, making me feel like maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. I’d decided to finish eating breakfast quietly and leave, when the door to the dining hall opened and Crag stepped through, bringing a blast of cold air with him.
I turned away from him, pulled my hood up, grabbed a sausage, and stuffed it into my mouth, hoping he hadn’t seen me. By the increasing look of dread on Nesbeth’s face, though, he was coming right for us. I was almost done with a second piece of bacon when his hand fell on my shoulder. “I need you to come with me,” he said.
“I’d really love to finish my breakfast first,” I said.
“It’s important.”
Shutting my eyes, I sighed and got up, but before I left, I grabbed another sausage and ate it along the way. Nesbeth waved at me, awkwardly, as I went to leave, and I nodded at her. She was nice enough, but she was nervous, too nervous, and that energy was starting to rub off on me because I was feeling my very own brand of jitters as I followed Crag out of the dining hall.
“Wanna tell me what this is about?” I asked, “Pretty sure no one interrupts your breakfast.”
“That’s because I’m seven-foot-tall and I can bench press an elephant,” he said, “Can you bench press an elephant?”
Scowling. “No. Can you really do that?”
“Find me an elephant and I’ll show you.”
The Obsidian Order Boxed Set Page 22