"It'll only feel better if he's dead," said Bethany grimly. "What did you do to him? He didn't seem quite right."
"Made him hate magic, and sex," said Pi. "But it looks like he's gotten some of that fixed. He didn't remember me, which is good. That was part of the enchantment."
"That was terrible," said Jade, wiping the dried blood from her jaw.
"Sorry, Jade," said Bethany. "I kinda lost my head."
"Not that. The spell work. We got our asses kicked. There was only one mage that got us in the alleyway, and that sentinel drone was probably an auto-defense for the bar. Those should have been trivial. If it hadn't been for me and Pi, the rest of you would be dead or in jail," said Jade.
Pi eyed Jade for signs that the aftereffects of her spell work were gone. She didn't know what had caused Jade's eyes to turn black.
"I think we need to do some training before we venture above ground again," said Pi. "Right now, we're a bunch of misfits."
Sasha coughed into her hand, then held it up to show blood. "It's like my own Rorschach test," she said, chuckling at her own gallows' humor. "And I think it says, at least this bunch of misfits isn't dead."
"You almost look like you enjoyed that," said Pi.
Sasha shrugged. "It was good to do something. I'm sick of hiding in the undercity. I felt like a real mage for once."
The others nodded their agreement. Jade gave her a secret smile.
"You're still a bunch of misfits," said Pi.
"Damn straight," said Jade. "We're the Misfits."
The name passed between them like a virus, bringing smiles to everyone's tired lips. A shiver of pleasure went down Pi's spine.
"Come on, Misfits," said Pi. "Time to go home. I've got homework to assign."
They left the portal for the Garden Network behind, marching into the darkness of the undercity. Pi pulled her cell phone out and checked to see if she'd gotten any messages from Aurie, but there were none. She turned it off, shoved the phone into her pocket, and hurried to catch up with the others.
Bree had mentioned a secret way into Arcanium. When Pi returned to Big Dave's Town she planned to climb the spiral staircase to the Goblin's Romp and send another message to Aurie to warn her. She thought about trying to talk with her sister in person, but after interrogating Bree Bishop, they'd be on the lookout for her.
At the present moment, Pi was more concerned about Jade. How did she know passwords to the Garden Network, and what happened to Jade after she made that mini-tornado?
"Hey, Jade," she said as she caught up.
Jade winked, a promise for later. "Hey, you." She raised an eyebrow. "What's on your mind?"
Pi pushed her thoughts away. "Nothing. Just thinking about what happened back there, and how we should have done it differently."
Jade nodded as if she understood, but there was something else in her dark gaze.
"I'm really glad you're with us," said Jade.
"Me too," said Pi.
But what wasn't Jade telling her?
Chapter Sixteen
Aurie knew the summons would come even before Tristen had arrived at her door. The vibration from the Engine could be felt throughout Arcanium. It'd started a few days ago, and rose quickly, until Aurie worried that it was going to explode. She'd tried to see Semyon, but Professor Mali had restricted access.
This had been for two reasons. The first was that she'd passed the information to the professor that there was a secret way into Arcanium that nobody knew about, and the second was the concern about the Engine. Aurie wasn't sure how credible the secret passage theory was, but if it was true, the Cabal could cause all sorts of havoc.
"Thanks for getting me," Aurie told Tristen as they walked down the hallway.
"I had a choice?" he asked. "Not like I have anything better to do."
"Are you, uhm, doing okay?" she asked, eyeing him for signs of faez madness or that he might be compromised by Cabal treachery.
"No, not really," he said, glumly. "But I'm doing better than most. Xi attacked Deshawn last night. Someone got him sedatives to calm him, but we can't keep him drugged until Semyon is fixed, can we?"
"We have to do what we must." She paused at the top of the staircase that went down to the waterfall. "This is my stop. Be safe."
"You too."
Tristen disappeared down the other way. Was he too calm? Aurie didn't know what might indicate if the Cabal had snuck in and charmed someone, but she felt like Pi would be way better at figuring it out.
When she reached Semyon's chamber it was radically different from before. The room looked like it was a massive science experiment, or a Rube Goldberg machine. Antennas and beeping black boxes were set up everywhere. Professor Longakers, in his tweed jacket, was typing at a computer while Professor Mali sat with the unconscious Semyon, who had little round pads attached to his forehead that connected to a host of machines. The runed brass cylinder rested on his chest.
The Engine whined for a moment, setting off a reaction in the sensors. Professor Longakers looked worried for a moment, then shook his head.
"I have a feeling I'm not going to like this," said Aurie.
"You have to go back in," said Mali.
The Engine felt like it was tugging on her. Invisible strings pulled her towards the bed, but she resisted.
"What am I going back to?"
Mali shared a glance with Longakers. "That's what we mean to find out. Is this a memory, or a trip to the astral plane? Or maybe an alternate reality. Whatever it is, we'll know."
Aurie stared at the brass cylinder.
"You knew you were going to have to go back."
"I know," said Aurie. "I started this, and I'm going to finish it."
But I really want Pi to be with me.
"Can I take someone else?" asked Aurie.
Both professors' heads bobbed up like gophers. "I suppose it's possible."
The whine increased in frequency, causing them to squint.
"Maybe next time. Seems like I should start."
Aurie reached towards the cylinder. Mali said, "Wait! We got you some period clothing and a few other items. They're in the bathroom."
"What if it's not the same time? Never mind. Better than these. I can always claim I'm a historical actor."
Aurie was relieved when she saw they'd given her pants. As much as she enjoyed a fancy dress, gallivanting in the past in a skirt that might get tangled up in a fight was less than appealing.
She felt like Paul Revere when she looked at herself in the mirror with the ponytail sticking out of the back, her jacket over top a billowing white shirt, and dark trousers.
"One last thing," said Professor Mali. "Whatever you do, don't tell anyone the truth about where you come from. If this place is a projection in Semyon's memory, then disturbing it might be dangerous. For all we know, this time and place has special meaning to him, so he's retreated back to it. Upsetting it might cause a reaction."
"A reaction. That's a nice way of describing death in a dreamland."
The professor gave her a sardonic look. "Good luck."
Aurie nodded and touched the cylinder.
She landed in a freshly tilled field, digging her fingers into the moist soil as she rode the waves of nausea that followed the translocation. After she got her bearings, Aurie checked her surroundings.
It was midafternoon, a cool spring day judging by the state of the field. A man was leading a plow horse on the other side, facing away, so he hadn't seen her appear suddenly. A light haze of smoke on the horizon indicated the direction of a larger town.
Before the farmer could notice that a brown girl wearing a coat and trousers had suddenly appeared in his field, she scurried into the woods. A group of biting flies attacked her as she struggled through the dense foliage. It took about twenty minutes, but she found her way to a dirt road.
The wheel tracks were deep. A pile of steaming horse manure attracted flies on the far side of the road. Aurie picked the direction that we
nt towards the haze of smoke.
The sun was warm, bringing beads of sweat to her neck and forehead. Aurie wished they'd given her one of those tricorn hats she'd seen in the history books, but knew that they probably weren't as common as the pictures led people to believe.
After a couple of miles, she came upon a small town with stone buildings and an air of bustle to it. It wasn't the source of the smoke as that town was further away.
No one gave her a second glance as she tramped down the uneven dirt road towards the Blue Buckle Inn, which either was a result of her disguise or the nature of whatever reality she was participating in. She didn't quite know what the point of the place was, except as an outlet for the Engine's temporal energy.
As she pushed through the front door, wondering what the purpose of this place might be, she saw two familiar faces seated at a table.
A young, pock-faced Celesse D'Agastine with dirty blonde hair, wearing a peasant dress, sat across from a stern-faced Priyanka Sai in a rich silken gown the color of the pale sky.
Aurie tried to check her reaction, but the young patrons caught it, snapping their heads in her direction. A frisson of faez hit the air. Aurie readied a spell, but did not unleash it, staring back at Celesse and Priyanka, until the innkeeper returned to the counter.
"Greetings, sir," he said. "May I help you?"
Aurie lowered her voice and nodded towards the table. "Looking for some friends."
"Wonderful. Ring the silver bell if you need attention."
Aurie approached the table. Celesse was a younger, more homely version of herself, though the fierceness of her gaze had not changed. Priyanka looked almost exactly the same. She appeared, at first glance, to be the older of the two, though it was hard to tell with magic.
"Who are you?" asked Priyanka, low and level, the threat carried between her clenched teeth.
"I know who you are," said Aurie, hearing the surprise in her own voice.
Aurie realized that Celesse had her hands beneath the table. She sensed they were working furiously in a spell, so she held her hands out. "Wait, don't do that. I'm here to talk." Then she added, hoping she had not guessed wrong about the nature of his friends, "I know B.C. He sent me."
Celesse's arms stopped twitching. Priyanka narrowed her gaze.
"You know us," said Priyanka in a thick Indian accent. "And that might be your undoing."
Voices approached from the stairwell. A man and woman in their twenties, wearing upper-class attire, strolled into the common area and stopped speaking when they saw the standoff. Their frowns stopped their conversation cold.
Priyanka's lips curled into a smile as she said, "Sit, friend. It's been a while."
Aurie nodded towards the couple, putting on a fake smile, and took the seat opposite the two women, careful to keep her hands above the table. The couple resumed their conversation as they left the inn.
"Speak now, speak fast," said Priyanka in a low voice, the richness of her accent disappearing in the threat.
"Mayhap we shouldn't let her speak at all," said Celesse, glowering.
The country accent startled Aurie into staring. She blinked it away, turning her attention to Priyanka.
"Like I said, I'm a friend of B.C.'s. I fought the Rider with him."
Mention of the Rider brought the whites to their eyes.
"How do we know you're not the Rider?" asked Celesse. "Our friend is three days late, and you show up claiming to know him."
"Do you know what happened?" asked Priyanka.
Aurie felt the severity of their inspection, and knew that at any moment, the conversation could turn to action.
"I...I am like you," she said, pausing for effect. Both women nodded to acknowledge their hidden natures. "I met him by chance on the road. We traveled for a while together. He told me he was traveling to meet friends, and described you both."
"How long ago was this?" asked Celesse.
Aurie tried to estimate a plausible time that might have passed. The only gauge she had was the state of the fields. They'd been harvesting their crops in the village that had been attacked.
"Last fall."
As soon as the words left her lips, she knew she'd spoken wrong. A sudden seizure hit Aurie, freezing her in place. She tried to move her jaw, or fingers, or anything, but the spell had made her completely immobile. She hadn't even noticed that Priyanka had been casting a spell.
Priyanka looked to Celesse. "Let's bring her back to my room, it's on the end of the house. Carry her up to the room. You can do the thing, right?"
Celesse nodded, though she appeared to be holding back her frustration at the command. She pushed away from the table and made a few gestures at her waist. The spell was primitive, but Aurie recognized its lineage. The rounded knuckle-curl that one used to connect the spell to an individual was well known for being difficult because the finger didn't bend that way. Modern mages had adapted a less painful gesture.
After the first failed attempt, Priyanka glared at the younger woman, the muscles between her eyes knitting to a "V." The second try was punctuated with a few mumbled curses about goats and cocks. Upon the third, and successful, attempt, Celesse apologized to Priyanka. If there hadn't been an audience, Aurie was sure Priyanka would have backhanded Celesse for her mistakes.
Aurie was as rigid as a statue, but Celesse lifted her with ease, cradling her like a baby. When they reached the room, they tied Aurie to a chair. Priyanka pulled a small locked box from beneath her feather bed and opened it up, revealing a few glittering rocks, some vials of plant material, and a silver hook. Aurie's stomach did back flips when Priyanka pulled the hook from the box.
"What's that for?" asked Celesse, who looked uncomfortable.
"To make her talk."
Priyanka pried Aurie's mouth open, pulled out her tongue, and shoved the silver hook through the meat. The pain wasn't as terrible as she'd expected. It probably wasn't much different than having her tongue pierced, but there was a good reason why she'd never done that, since it interfered with enunciating spells.
Then Priyanka set the silver hook on the table and touched Aurie's mouth, whispering a releasing spell. Aurie really wished she could massage her jaw, as the locking spell had exhausted her muscles.
"You may talk, and nothing else. If you try any spells, I'll put my knife through your heart," she said. "Tell me you understand."
"I understand."
"Good," said Priyanka, sitting across from Aurie on a reversed chair. "Now, tell me. Who are you?"
"Aurelia Silverthorne."
"And how do you know B.C.?"
"I told you. I met him on the road."
Priyanka stood up quickly and grabbed the silvery hook, looking at it incredulously. "You're lying."
"I'm not, I swear."
"I know when people lie. Always. You didn't meet him on the road. But what I don't understand is how you were able to lie after this." She held up the hook. "It's always worked before. Let me try a different question. How do you know us?"
"It's complicated."
Priyanka yanked out her knife and slipped it under Aurie's jaw. The blade nicked her skin, bringing a bead of blood. Aurie held still, hoping not to incite her.
"Is she the Rider?" asked Celesse, holding herself still.
"I don't know. This whole game is too subtle for it, unless it was surprised when it entered the inn, and tried to talk its way out."
"What about the accent?" asked Celesse. "I've never heard such a thing before."
"Nor I," said Priyanka.
Aurie wagged her eyebrows, trying to get Priyanka's attention so she could speak. The young patron frowned.
"You may talk, but I slice you open like a pig at the first wrong word."
Aurie swallowed. If Priyanka gutted her, she'd be dead back in her world. She tried to think of something that might convince them she wasn't dangerous, without explaining the truth, since the professor had told her not to upset the illusion.
"I'm a mage,"
said Aurie, "but I trained far from here. I know of you all because, well, reasons I cannot explain. But I came here to help. I swear. That's all I've got."
"Cuddy wallows," said Priyanka, slapping her hand on the table.
"I swear."
Priyanka nodded to Celesse. "Grab the chamber pot. I don't want the blood to get everywhere."
"No. Wait. Please," said Aurie, her mouth as dry as the summer wind. "I swear. Please don't."
The irony that she was begging a patron of the Cabal to save her, and thus, in turn, thwart the Cabal in their quest for the Halls, did not escape her.
Priyanka grabbed Aurie by the hair, pulling her head up to expose her neck. Celesse approached with the chamber pot, currently empty though reeking of old urine, not that it would matter to Aurie much longer.
"I know the others too," Aurie blurted out. "All five." And then when she remembered what Professor Mali had said, she added, "And who you're coming to see."
The knife moved closer to Aurie's neck. "Speak quickly."
"B.C. That's Bannon Creed. And Semyon Gray. Malden Anterist. You're Priyanka Sai. She's Celesse D'Agastine. And you're going to meet Invictus."
The two women shared glances. Priyanka tightened her grip on the knife but didn't pull it away.
"That's not my surname, but I like it," said Celesse. "Shame you'll have to die."
The knife hung in the air. Uncertainty roosted on Priyanka like a carrion bird.
"You know some interesting names, yet you've gotten some of the details incorrect. This makes me think you're a spy, or a Rider. Where did you learn those names?"
Aurie chewed her words before speaking, worried that the repetition of her excuse might get her killed. "It's complicated."
"Your life is about to become less complicated," replied Priyanka.
Heat and indecision rose through Aurie. What could she say that wouldn't earn the blade? It had to be truthful, yet vague enough not to cause a reaction.
When Priyanka moved the blade closer, Aurie blurted out, "I work for Invictus."
She meant to say Semyon, but changed her mind at the last moment in case he was nearby and could dispel her half-truth. Aurie figured that since everyone was connected to Invictus, that in a sense, everyone worked for him.
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