I coughed and squinted, trying to see a way through. Selene appeared beside me, and she worked some kind of spell that helped to clear the air. It was enough we could see a small side door leading outside. We raced to it, Eli and Paul managing to keep up as the danger of being crushed by the falling debris spurred them on.
Although the entryway had been deserted, the outside lawn of Senate Hall was a mass of people in various states of panic. Most of them seemed to be trying to flee the giant fissure that had split across the lawn in the place where the first pyres had been in Eli’s dream. Fire, pieces of earth, and even water were bursting out from it all at once. I gulped, wondering how many people had been standing there when the ground split. As it was, there were far too many people lying unmoving in the grass, either unconscious or dead.
Guilt pressed down on me as I wondered if we could’ve prevented this if we’d turned in the cell phone. But right away I understood that if we’d tried, Titus would’ve stopped us sooner. We’d been trapped from the very beginning. And the scale of his plan was so large and Titus so determined, it seemed impossible that anything could’ve stood in his way. Even still, the understanding brought no relief.
The stone pavilion, so beautiful inside Eli’s dream, had been reduced to rubble, and the four of us had to climb our way through. As I reached the top of a large boulder, I froze, stunned by the sight of a body lying on the other side of it. The man was clearly dead, although I couldn’t tell how. There was no blood or sign of trauma. But I knew who he was—Consul Vanholt. It seemed this part of Titus’s plan had worked successfully.
Gritting my teeth, I moved on, ignoring the shocked comments from the others. There would be time to process the consul’s death later. For now we had to do what we could to stop the rest of Titus’s plan from coming to fruition.
Selene turned right when we reached the lawn, heading in the direction most of the people seemed to be running. I moved to follow her, but Eli shouted from behind me.
“That’s the wrong way!”
I turned around. “How do you know?”
“The Terra Tribe’s practice. They lit the pyres clockwise. There’ll be more fissures that way already.” As if his words had been a portent of doom, the ground trembled again followed by the distant sound of an explosion and then the groan of a foundation shifting.
That was all it took to get us moving in the opposite direction. Eli continued to help Paul along, but Paul seemed to be doing better now that we were out in the open. We reached the twelfth pyre moments later after two more explosions. There was panic and chaos here, too, but it was more contained. We could see two of the pyres and both of them were still burning. A group of people surrounded each one, working some kind of collective spell—one intended to stop the Telluric Rods from ripping the final holes through the island, I hoped.
I spotted Lady Elaine among the nearest group and dashed toward her. Her presence bought a rush of relief. She would know what to do to stop this thing.
But then I spotted a couple of men in the familiar red and black tunics of the Will Guard. What were they doing here? Didn’t they know that their captain was planning to sink the island? Or maybe they did, and they were here to ensure it happened. They might be working against the spell to stop the rods, even now.
Lady Elaine turned and saw me coming. “What are you doing here, Dusty? You’re supposed to be at Arkwell. Go now. That way. They’re moving people off the island.” She pointed to somewhere off toward the sea in the distance.
I shook my head. “You’ve got to listen to me right now!” I leaned into her, lowering my voice for fear one of the nearby Will Guards would hear me. “Magistrate Kirkwood is behind this. Captain Gargrave and his men are working for him. They killed Consul Vanholt, and now they’re trying to help sink the island.”
Disbelief flashed in her eyes.
“It’s true. Kirkwood cursed Eli’s wand to block our dream-seeing. But we found out anyway and he captured us and brought us here to let the island kill us. How else would we even be on the island?”
The appeal to her logic seemed to work, and she grabbed my arm. “Run that way and find Sheriff Brackenberry. Tell him what you told me.” She pointed to the other pyre in the distance. To Selene, Eli, and Paul she said, “You three stay here. We’ll need your help.” Without a word, I took off at a run, leaving my friends behind. By the time I reached Brackenberry, I was panting so hard I could barely breathe. He gaped at me, completely taken by surprise, but that didn’t prevent him from listening as I relayed the story once more, whispering low. I kept glancing at the Will Guard as I spoke, afraid they would know what I was doing and attack.
Brackenberry’s expression hardened. He didn’t ask me any questions or express any doubt. His faith stunned me as he immediately turned to the deputies next to him and spoke some low instructions to them. The message slid down the line among his men.
“You want to get back,” Brackenberry told me. I did, walking backward, too afraid to turn around. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Will Guards starting to retreat as well. At first I thought it was in response to Brackenberry’s men closing in on them, but then I realized the truth.
“It’s going to blow!” I screamed.
I turned and started running. A second later a deafening noise rent the air as the ground split in half. The force of it flung me forward. I landed a dozen feet away, arms and face first. I blinked away the stars clouding my vision and struggled to my feet, afraid to turn around and see what was left and what wasn’t.
Brackenberry and the nearest of his men had made it, but everyone on the other side of the bonfire had not. All that remained where they’d been was a deep fissure in the earth, like some kind of portal opening up into hell.
The Will Guard had made it as well, but Brackenberry and his men regained their focus quickly. A barrage of spells soared through the air at the three guards, taking them out in seconds. Then Brackenberry shouted at his men to stop the other Will Guard at the last bonfire—the last fail-safe that would keep the island afloat.
I ran with them, wanting to help. But by the time we arrived, the remaining Will Guard had been captured. I slowed down, hope returning at last. Surely, the destruction could be turned back and the damage undone.
As soon as she saw me, Lady Elaine waved me toward her. “Dusty!” Selene, Eli, and Paul were still with her.
I jogged over to her.
Lady Elaine grabbed me by the arms and gave me a shake. “You’ve got to go back to Senate Hall and climb to the top of the watchtower.”
I didn’t know what to say, certain for a moment that the pressure of the situation had addled her mind.
She scowled, understanding the look on my face perfectly. “We won’t be able to stop the Telluric Rods from sinking the island. The best we can do is delay them long enough for most of us to evacuate.”
I gulped. Most of us. How many wouldn’t make it? I glanced at the pyre and the people surrounding it, holding the explosion at bay with their magic. The moment they stopped fighting it, the last rod would engage and the entire island would go down.
“But you can stop it, Dusty,” Lady Elaine said. “You can save all of us and the island itself.”
I rocked back on my heels. “What? How?”
Lady Elaine leaned toward me, piercing me with her gaze. “The sword. The Will sword is on top of the tower, and only you can use it.”
“That can’t be true,” Selene said from my right. “It was supposed to be destroyed.”
“It can’t be destroyed.” Lady Elaine shook her head. “But you can use it to absorb the power of the Telluric Rod and deflect it.”
If The Will sword, Excalibur of legend, was still around, it could definitely do what she was saying. But … “Why me?”
“Your dream,” Lady Elaine said through clenched teeth. “The one with the plinth and the tower.”
My head spun so hard at this news I almost lost my balance. I turned my gaze toward Senat
e Hall and the watchtower perched so high above it. The plinth. The tower.
The name.
“It’s known as Excalibur, although that’s not its true name,” my mom had told me once.
True name.
B E L L A N A
It wasn’t the ghost of Marrow or Rosemary or Nimue. It was the true name of The Will sword. The name that would give me command over it.
But I didn’t know the last letter.
And now, it really was too late.
33
The Naming
“Let’s go.” Selene grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward the hall. I didn’t protest. I was too afraid to admit that I didn’t know the sword’s name, that I wouldn’t be able to command it the way that Marrow had. But I had to try. This was our only chance.
“I’m coming, too,” Eli said, falling in step beside us.
I glanced back at Paul, expecting him to say the same, but he looked ready to collapse.
“I won’t be any help to you, Dusty.”
I turned and touched his hand. “I understand. Do what you can here.”
He nodded, swallowing. “I guess it’s your turn to promise to stay alive.”
I exhaled, my emotions threatening to choke me. “I will.”
Then I turned away from him, hoping with all my heart that it was a promise I could keep.
I broke into a run, Eli and Selene keeping pace beside me. The going was hard as the ground continued to tremble beneath our feet, almost rocking back and forth as if the island were nothing but a massive ship in a turbulent sea.
But we made it eventually, at last climbing our way back through the rubble of the pavilion.
“Does anybody know how to get to the tower?” I said, scaling a huge boulder and jumping down on the other side.
Eli blasted a massive chunk of rock away from the nearest door. “There’s a main staircase. That’s our best bet as long as we can get through.”
“We’ll manage,” Selene said as she squeezed through the door.
I followed after her with Eli coming behind me. Then he led the way to the staircase off to the left of the main doors into the meeting hall. A pile of debris obscured the entrance. I raised my hand, ready to blast it, but Eli stopped me.
“We can’t do that in here. You might bring the whole place down.”
“Then how do we get past?”
He pointed the talking stick, which already I was beginning to think of as his wand and he as a master magician. “Ana-acro.” The top layer of debris rose into the air and then out of the entrance at Eli’s command. In seconds, he’d cleared enough for us to crawl through.
“I’ve got to admit,” Selene said as she watched Eli slide through the rubble and mount the stairs. “I’m impressed.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been practicing a long time.”
Despite all the destruction around us, I could sense Eli’s underlying happiness at finally coming into his power. I just hoped we lived long enough for him to enjoy it.
The journey up the stairs became something close to mountain climbing. We used the hoist spell to clear a path where there was room, but too often we had to claw and scrape and shimmy our way through the wreckage.
By the time we reached the top, my knuckles were bleeding from dozens of nicks, and a thick layer of dust was plastered to every inch of me, outside and in, it seemed. I couldn’t draw a full breath without coughing.
The door leading onto the lower roof of the hall wouldn’t budge when we pushed against it, forcing us to blast it open with magic. A frightening rumble rose up the stairwell when we did, and we dashed out onto the roof. Right away, I slid to a stop before I tumbled through a hole.
“Everybody walk really easy up here,” Eli said.
“No kidding.” Selene brushed hair out of her face. It wasn’t black anymore but gray with dust.
I bit my lip, my gaze fixed on the watchtower standing more than fifty feet away. An open staircase wrapped around the edge of it, but it looked intact. If I could just reach it.
I glanced at Selene and Eli. “You two stay here. There’s no reason for all of us to risk walking over this floor.”
Eli shook his head. “No way.”
“Yeah, I’m with him.” Selene pointed a thumb at Eli.
“But Lady Elaine said only I could use the sword. So I don’t need you up there.”
Eli scoffed. “You don’t know that, Dusty. You have no idea what you might find. We’re staying with you and that’s final. Now stop wasting time.”
He turned and started forward, leaving me no choice. We made it a few steps, but then a part of the roof dropped out right in between Eli and me. He jumped forward while I clambered back, both of us just barely avoiding a fall.
Selene grabbed my arm to steady me. “We need to spread out as much as we can to lighten the strain.”
“Good idea,” Eli said, and he moved off to the right. I stayed in the middle while Selene went left.
Crossing the floor soon became like a trip through the Gauntlet in gym class.
The next hole that opened up in front of me appeared faster than the first, but it was small enough so I jumped over it. Two steps later another hole appeared, this one four times the size of the last. I jumped it anyway, and halfway through the arc, I cast the gliding spell. Magic slid beneath my heels like ice, propelling me forward.
As I landed, a tremor went through the entire island itself, turning the tower into a giant funhouse floor. I staggered forward, fighting to stay upright.
To my left Selene cried out as her entire leg fell through a hole. Eli turned, pointed his wand, and shouted, “Ana-acro.”
“Don’t!” I screamed, but it was too late.
The spell reached Selene and hoisted her into the air, but only for a second before breaking. It didn’t work properly on living flesh.
Selene tumbled, landing hard. I held back a scream as the roof beneath her began to collapse. I reached out with my mind-magic to hold the surface together long enough for her to roll forward, out of danger.
“I’m sorry, Selene,” Eli shouted. “Are you okay?”
She made an indistinguishable noise that might’ve been relief or pain. But then she got to her feet. “I’m okay. Just … just don’t do that again.”
“Right. Never again.” Eli wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his shirtsleeve.
We moved on, finally reaching the foot of the steps a short while later. This time I led. All three of us understood that was the way it should be. As I climbed the first step, my heart thudded against my chest, not quickening, just beating harder as if to steady me for what lay ahead.
The going was easier than it had been on the roof, but far scarier. Every time the ground shook, I had to stop walking and press my back against the side of the tower, praying I didn’t tumble over the edge or that the stairs didn’t crumble away. It seemed we’d been at this for hours, but I knew it had only been minutes. We were high enough that I could see the entire inner island. Most of the bridges had been destroyed, and the fissures marked the island like giant pockmarks in the earth, still spewing forth rock and fire and water.
As we rounded the other side, climbing higher, I spotted the first hole in the stairs. It wasn’t large, only about two feet. I jumped it easily, but the next one was larger by at least a foot. I reared back ready to go for it, but lost my nerve at the last second.
“I’ll go first,” Eli said. “Then I can help you from the other side.” He squeezed past Selene and then me, his hand lingering on my arm for a moment. Then he leaped across, making it look effortless. Selene went next without needing help. Then I went, falling an inch short. My knees struck the edge, and I started to slide. Eli grabbed my wrists, catching me. Then he reared back and hauled me up. For a second as I regained my feet I thought I might pass out from the terror of it. But I shook it off, and we pressed on.
We didn’t come across any more gaps as bad as that until we were almost at the very top.
I came to a stop and stared out at the open space between me and the last of the staircase. It had to be fifteen feet at least—impossible to jump across. And none of us knew any spells that would get us over it.
I slumped against the wall, defeat overtaking me at last. I was too exhausted to cry. We’d come so close but could go no farther.
Behind me, I heard Eli swearing under his breath, but Selene moved past me, all the way to the edge. She stared at the gap, an odd expression on her face.
“Don’t bother,” I said, trying to keep the bitterness from my voice. “There’s no way any of us can jump that.”
“Dusty’s right,” Eli said. “The best we can do now is head down and try to get off the island before it sinks.”
Selene didn’t seem to have heard either of us. She stared at the gap a little longer and then tilted her head up, examining the sky.
I touched her shoulder. “What are you doing?”
Selene slowly turned around and faced me, her eyes ablaze with something like excitement. “I can do it.”
I exhaled. “No you can’t. That would be suicide.”
She shook her head. “I can fly us across.”
It slowly dawned on me—Selene was a siren, and sirens had wings. “But how?” I said. “You’ve never flown before. It was restricted by The Will.” No magickind was permitted to fly. It was too easy for ordinaries to spot, too risky.
She nodded. “It was restricted by The Will, but not anymore. And I’ve been practicing, building up strength.”
“You’ve been wh—” I broke off as the answer came to me.
“That’s why I’ve been sneaking out at night,” Selene said, knowing my thoughts. “Me and a couple of the other sirens have been teaching ourselves how to fly. It’s been hard, and I can’t do it for more than a couple of minutes, but I’m a lot better than I was.”
It was incredible, and yet it all made sense—her need to be out at night, to wear dark clothes, even her inexplicable fall into the bushes at Coleville. She hadn’t been walking and stumbled at all.
The Nightmare Dilemma (Arkwell Academy) Page 29