“Oh good,” he said, “You’re done moping.”
“Moping?” I asked, “Screw you—”
“And the little pony I rode in on, I know. I’d love to keep this repartee going, but I have something serious to tell you and I don’t have a lot of time to do it in.”
I frowned and sat up straight. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you and the rest of your black-suited friends being in a whole heap of shit, is what I’m talking about.”
“Can you be a bit more specific?”
“You’re all going to get killed if you go back into the labyrinth tomorrow.”
“Oh, phew. For a moment there I thought you were going to tell me I was going to die. What the hell do you mean?”
“Gods, how I love your wit. But you need to shut up and listen. Draven isn’t telling you the whole story, maybe because he’s an idiot and he doesn’t know the whole story or maybe because he’s choosing to lie to you. I’m going to believe the former because I’m pretty sure if he knew what I knew he’d keep you and the rest of the prospects well away from what he has planned for tomorrow’s trial.”
I planted my hands on the floor and stood. In all the time I’d known him, Rey was never far from his default setting of indifference. Right now, though, Rey was starting to set alarm bells going off in my brain. “Rey… what do you know?”
“Listen to me very, very carefully… you cannot go through with that trial tomorrow. None of you can. You will not make it out alive, and it won’t be your fault, and it won’t be Draven’s fault either. It’ll be an accident for which no one can be held accountable.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand… what’s the trial? What’s going to happen to us?”
“I’m not looking into the future, kid; I don’t know any specifics. But down in the labyrinth I started sensing something was off, so after you were done with your trial, I did a little digging and… you ever bitten into an apple and found a worm inside?”
“I saw a guy bite into a sandwich and watched a roach slide out of the other side once.”
“Okay, that’s not exactly the same, so let’s go with my thing. I found a worm at the heart of the labyrinth. Something that shouldn’t be there, a foreign agent that was making the labyrinth act crazy. I strongly believe that very same foreign agent is infecting other parts of the fortress. Draven is going to try and keep things running business as usual while he tries to contain whatever this thing is, but it’s not going to work, it’s going to get into your next trial, and you’re all going to be mincemeat.”
A magic infection? I’d never heard anything like this before, but I shuddered at the thought. “I still don’t get it… when I first got here, this place was all about weeding out the weak and making sure only the strong made it to become members of the Order. Why would tomorrow’s trial be any different to any of the other potentially deadly trials I’ve already faced?”
“Because everything’s different now. The safeties are on, Seline. The Order doesn’t want its prospects to die anymore, and I feel like you had something to do with that.”
“… me?”
“Draven listens to you. It may not look like he does, but that grumpy son-of-a-bitch has had his mind changed on a bunch of policy issues; some he’s had to stick his neck out in front of the council for. Anyway, we’re going around the issue here. There’s only one thing you need to know, and one thing you need to do. Tomorrow’s trial is going to kill you if it goes ahead as planned.”
Sighing. “Rey, what the hell am I supposed to do about that?”
“I don’t know, but you have to do something. Talk to them, change their minds, organize a protest. It doesn’t matter. Trust me, I’d much prefer doing just about anything else right now than taking such a serious tone with you. I wasn’t built for this. It drains me. But I don’t want to see you die. You’re fun to watch, and you let me sleep in your bed and walk inside of your dreams.”
I pointed at him. “I never agreed to that.”
“So you keep saying, and so I keep correcting you. Promise me, Seline. Promise me you’ll stop that trial from happening.”
“I can’t do what you’re asking. I don’t have any power here, that’s why I’m doing the trials in the first place; so I can be the best and get a say around here. Anyway, if this is so dire why not just tell Draven directly? Or even Aaryn?”
“You can’t, Seline. They can’t know you I’ve said anything to you, understood? Promise me you won’t tell them. I don’t care how you do it, just figure it out.” Rey started bounding away at top speed. “We’re counting on you!” he yelled.
My eyebrows met in the middle. We? “Who’s we?” I called out, but he was already gone.
My bedroom door opened, and Nesbeth—Ness—poked her head out. “Hey,” she said, smiling awkwardly. “I, uh, I heard you talking so I figured I’d leave you alone, but then you started, yelling and I thought maybe you needed help or something… do you? Need help, I mean?”
I sighed deeply again. “Yeah,” I said, “Mental help, and maybe a stiff drink. You drink, Ness?”
“I… no, I haven’t gone near any alcohol.”
“Ever?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Okay, then I’m gonna have a drink, and then you’re gonna let me see some more of those sketches.”
Drinking helped me deal with the news Rey had laid on my lap as well as what I’d just been through down in the labyrinth. Nothing helped me unwind better, though, than the thought that crossed my mind as I looked around my bedroom. Fate was sitting on the bed with me. Across from us were Ness and Felice. We were all holding up different sheets of paper from Ness’ collection and trying to see if any hidden details or memories would jump out at us.
I have friends.
The entire time Fate and I had spent on Earth, it had only been the two of us. The first few hours following our fall through the rift had been the worst. Neither of us knew who we were, or who the other was. We were cold, it was raining, and New York loomed vast and imposing all around us. Somehow, we’d landed in a backstreet the middle of downtown Manhattan, where the noise from the cars on the road and the people hustling by on the street was enough to overwhelm.
Had it not been for the fact that Fate and I were holding hands when we came to, we probably would’ve separated from each other and I never would’ve seen her again. We became dependent on each other to survive those first few nights, and that dependency then blossomed into a sacred sisterhood.
Now we were here, sharing a bottle of booze and a giggle with two other people from the old world as peers and equals. Ness and Fate laughed at each other’s lame jokes, Felice scowled as she turned page after page over on its head, trying to identify something she’d recognize. I mostly just watched, trying my hardest to keep my own emotions in check. I hadn’t told Felice what Rey had told me, but I wanted to. Keeping a secret from them sucked.
I took another swig of the bottle, enjoying the way the alcohol burned my throat on its way down.
“So, you just dream these?” Fate asked. She was staring at a gorgeous landscape drawing of a lake flanked by trees so tall they cast huge shadows on the water. In the distance Ness had sketched a hazy mountain range.
Ness nodded. “Yeah, and I… uh, I sketch them in my sleep sometimes, too.”
“In your what?”
“I thought it was a condition at first, like maybe something not quite right in my head—that’s totally possible—but now I’m wondering if I have a little onieromancy in my blood.”
“Dream magic…” I said, as I absentmindedly stared at the picture in my hand. It was the same one with the floating castle in the clouds.
“That’s right,” Ness said, “Do you know much about it?”
“Not much. I definitely can’t do any. I’ve heard it’s powerful, though. Like, the people who know it tend to be stronger than the rest of us because they remember more about their lives, their magic. There
’s more to it than just that, though… Rey told me.”
“Rey?”
“Her talking pet cat,” Felice said.
“Seriously, don’t call Rey a pet,” I said, “Not if you don’t want to get an earful, or wake up with your bed smelling like cat piss. That guy’s vindictive.”
“Wait a second,” Ness said, closing her eyes, “You’re telling me there’s a talking cat in the fortress?”
“A silver tabby, yeah. I probably owe him my life, too, but I’d never tell him that.”
Ness’ eyes widened. “That’s… you’ve just said a lot of words for me to process there.”
“I actually thought this one had gone batshit when she first told me about him,” Fate said, gesturing toward me with her thumb. “I’ve also never physically seen him… with my own two eyes.”
“Me either,” Felice said, “I’m still on the fence about him.”
“He’s totally real,” I said, “Bastet knows him, ask her.”
“Who’s Bastet?” Ness asked.
“Crazy cat lady… she’s also a witch, a native witch.”
Fate and Felice exchanged unbelieving glances. “The city’s almost a two hour drive away,” Felice said, “No way he can run that fast.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know how he travels, but that little guy’s powerful. I wouldn’t underestimate him.”
All this talk of Rey was starting to make me nervous. One slip of my already inebriated tongue and I’d let loose some detail that’d put me on the path to confessing before I was ready to. I wanted to tell Felice, I knew I had to, but I couldn’t do it in front of Ness and Fate, and neither of us could just get up and leave without it being suspicious.
Sighing, I turned my eyes on the picture in front of me again and focused my attention on the impression of a castle in the clouds. I didn’t even know what it was called, or how many people lived there, or what it looked like on the inside. I only knew it was no more, a casualty of a war on the other side of the rifts.
I could feel the sting of tears begin to press again as thoughts of my mother and siblings—siblings I didn’t know—started to build. I shut my eyes and turned my head to the side, hoping they’d go away before someone noticed. A knock at the door shut the conversation in the room down and pulled everyone’s attention toward it, and away from me.
“We expecting boys?” Felice asked.
I shook my head. “I’ll get it,” I said, already rising to my feet.
I walked over to the door, took a second to compose myself, and opened it. A man stood on the other side of it. He stood a little taller than me, his features were angular and pointed, and he had a smile about him that could’ve melted even the most frozen of hearts; playful dimples at each corner of his mouth.
Though he was a little thin, he had a big frame that was at one point—and probably still was—home to taut, toned muscles resting underneath the black shirt he was wearing. He regarded me from behind black eyes, the House of Night’s defining characteristic, his magic aura radiating from him like heat from a distant, dead star.
“Seline?” he asked with a half-smile cocked.
In my periphery I caught sight of the three women in the room shifting slightly toward the door. Thirsty bitches. I turned my head, put one finger up, then slid outside, shutting the door as quickly and inconspicuously as I could.
“That’s me,” I said, “I don’t think we’ve met.”
“We haven’t. My name is Valoel,” he said, extending his hand. “I am told you were instrumental in the rescue mission… I thought it was time I came by to offer you my sincerest thanks.”
I had seen him before, but only from a distance, and only once. He’d been walking with Draven across the courtyard. That was how I knew the man we had rescued was okay, not because anyone had introduced us. I was starting to get used to being kept in the dark.
I took his hand and shook it, then I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “You’re… welcome,” I said, “We didn’t know it was a rescue mission until we got there.”
“So I’m told. Either way, I’m grateful that you were there. I surely would be dead by now if you hadn’t intervened.”
I angled my head to the side. “You’re an Aevian.”
Another winning smile. “So they tell me. I do apologize, though—it looked like you had company in there.”
“Just friends gabbing away about boys, the usual deal.” About boys? What the hell?
“Quite… well, I’m sure this is an improper request under the circumstances, but I was wondering if you’d like to take a little stroll with me around the grounds. Draven has talked about you so much I have to insist on finding out why.”
I laughed, probably a little too loudly. “Draven?” I asked, pointing at my chest, “Talks about me?”
“Maybe I’m exaggerating, but I’d like to get to know you all the same. I’d like to get to know all the Aevians, in fact. That may help jog my memories just enough to shake some loose.”
“Oh, well, I mean… I guess I could.”
I thought back to the people in the room behind me, my friends, and wondered what they’d do in my situation. Ness would talk too much, though I didn’t think Valoel would be bothered by that. Felice would hardly talk at all. She’d probably find him a little annoying, now that I thought about it. She wasn’t keen on the thinking type, and this guy looked like a thinker. Fate? She’d try to climb him like a tree.
I was probably going to fall somewhere inside of that spectrum, though given that I’d been drinking, I’d be closer to Ness than either of the other two. I put one finger up to him, opened the bedroom door, and I was about to speak when Felice waved me away. “Just go,” she said, “It’s fine.”
“Don’t you dare sleep with him,” Fate snarled, “And you tell him where my dorm is when you’re done.”
“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” I asked.
“It’s casual.”
“Does he know that?” Felice asked.
“He will if this works out.”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head, shut the door, and joined Valoel in the hallway. He gestured with his hand, and I fell in line beside him. Together we moved out of the dormitory wing on this floor and headed down to the fortress green, where we’d be able to walk around the Aevian fountain and the grassy courtyard.
The moon was high tonight, the stars bright and full, twinkling in the heavens. Valoel was difficult to read, a lot like Draven. It was difficult to pin a person’s emotions down when you couldn’t see their eyes. He was the third Aevian from the House of Night I’d ever met, though there were others at the Black Fortress that I hadn’t bothered to get to know. Unlike him, I wasn’t on a quest to get to know every single member of my race, though I could see the merit in that.
“Thank you for choosing to walk with me,” Valoel said, “It’s a beautiful night tonight.”
“Yeah,” I said, “I’m not really used to seeing so many stars in the sky. Back in New York, the ambient light and low clouds pretty much kill them.”
“Sounds a lot like where I’m from.”
“I want to say New York, but there’s something weird about your accent.”
“I landed around New York when I first fell, yes, but I’ve spent many years travelling the world. My accent never fully developed. Of course, we both know where I’m really from.”
“Right…” I pointed at the stars, “Up there, somewhere.”
Valoel smiled, flashing his pearly whites. “You know, there are some that believe our world is in fact up there—another planet in this same universe, maybe even in our galaxy. They think even if we never make it back through the rifts, we may be able to get home using spaceships.”
I shrugged. “Anything’s possible, right?”
“Yes, although we’ll probably all be dead well before we’re able to do that anyway, so it’s a fool’s errand to even consider it. Better spending our time trying to figure out how to use the rifts to get us home
.”
“I’m not sure about that. I don’t know how much Draven’s told you, but there was this one guy…”
“Abvat, yes, Draven filled me in. He may have been onto something, but whatever magic he was using died with him.”
“Abvat was a moron. He was way more likely to kill everyone in that room and take a chunk out of New York city than he was to get back home using that stone. He didn’t need to die, though. If only he’d listened, or tried reasoning with us.”
“It’s a shame when people die needlessly, especially those who die as a direct result of clinging to ridiculous ideals. When you have ten voices telling you what you’re doing is wrong, is it braver to hold onto your own convictions like your life depends on it or to admit that perhaps you could be wrong?”
“What if you know you’re right?”
“How does one know anything except through facts? If you have none, only belief and opinion, how can you be right?”
I looked over at him, watched the breeze take his grey hair and whip it around. “I’m gonna take a stab in the dark here and say you’re some kind of philosopher…”
“You wouldn’t be wrong. I’ve made it a point to sneak into as many of Colombia and NYU’s ethics, philosophy, and anthropology lectures as I could. Since I had forgotten my own perspective, I wanted to learn as much as I could about the way humans viewed the universe. There, I thought, I’d find some measure of protection against the shambles my mind was in after my fall.”
“When was that?”
“Oh, may years ago… I gather you haven’t spoken to Draven about me?”
I shook my head. “Nope. That’s where you’ve got the upper hand. You know about me, but I know nothing about you.”
“Ah, yes… well, Draven has been busy with the trials and… everything else.”
“Right.” There was a little sting in my voice, a bitterness I’d hoped Valoel hadn’t noticed. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the weight of what Rey had left on my shoulders, but Draven hadn’t seemed to have much time for me since the bathtub incident. No, it wasn’t right of me to get into a twist about it. Draven had an Order to run. But Valoel had arrived at the fortress days ago, I had been there, helping to rescue him, and Draven hadn’t told me a single thing about him.
The Obsidian Order Boxed Set Page 32