My heart thumped. Rhys’s powers were problematic, but Dad had made blades of the school windows as if it were nothing. I had no idea what he was capable of, not anymore.
“So. Why am I telling you all this?” Gabriel asked the man, his voice turning cold. “What is the point of giving your enemy any information at all?” He gave a little smirk. “Because you care too damn much. Oh, wait ‘til you see what Meredith and I have been up to. You’re going to love it.”
The green-haired man’s lip curled into a snarl.
Gabriel and Meredith? Working together? What was he saying? And his tone had become so cruel, so devoid of empathy. My head swirled with information. Had I made a horrible mistake?
“She’s still around, of course. Back to murdering people left and right when the mood hits her. No one really knows how to stop her, after all.” Gabriel faked a realization. “Oh wait, you do. Well I should let you out, shouldn’t I, so you can stop her from terrorizing the villagers? Just like old times.” He lifted a long cord from around his neck - from it hung an ancient skeleton key.
The man backed up slowly, unsteadily. He eyed Gabriel with deep distrust as the key went into the cage’s padlock.
“I’m letting you out, hunter, aren’t you grateful?” Gabriel taunted.
“What’s the benefit to you?” the other man spoke at last, his voice creaky with disuse as the lock clicked open.
“You say that like I think only of myself,” Gabriel said, opening the cage door. “Can’t I just offer you a helping hand?”
He reached out and grasped the other man’s hand tightly, a rune on his palm suddenly flaring to brightness.
Swirls of energy arced between the two men - bright, stabbing bursts of acid green flowing from Gabriel to the green-haired man, and pinwheeling, icy blue whorls moving the opposite direction, almost like the energies were combating each other even as they barreled past to a new destination.
Or, if what Gabriel had said was true, an old destination.
As the energies balanced, both men collapsed. Gabriel was the first to snap awake, reaching up for the padlock, key in hand. Was he going to lock the other man back inside after all?
Then I remembered - that wasn’t Gabriel. Not anymore.
Gabriel - in his pale, starved, green-haired body, leapt at the other man, tackling him to the floor. He curled a hand around the other man’s throat. “Who am I kidding?” he said, grinning wickedly. “You know me too well.” A sickly green light pulsed under his fingers.
“No!” the man shouted, but then made choking noises even though Gabriel took his hand away. A spiky, acid green design covered the man’s entire throat like a tattoo, except it seemed to glow slightly.
Gabriel sat back, panting, pine-green hair sticking to his unfamiliar face, narrow with high cheekbones and a wide, cruel mouth. His hand held aloft a ball of whorling frost, that seemed to do war with the green arcs twining from his fingers. His other hand reached into a pocket of his rotting, dated clothing and lifted up a bell, no larger than an acorn. The frost seeped into the little item, disappearing, and with a burst of green light it was gone. Then the bell was still, looking not the least bit out of the ordinary. “How fortunate that was still there,” Gabriel laughed, and it sounded strange with this unfamiliar form. “Thanks for hanging onto my stuff for me, pal-o’-mine. Though I can’t say I appreciate what you’ve done to my hair.” He plucked at the tangled mess that cascaded over his shoulders.
The man’s hand was over the seal at his throat. Hatred burned in his narrow, dark eyes, eyes that I had thought were Gabriel’s.
“Oh, fume all you want,” Gabriel grinned, pushing his unruly hair out of his face. “We both know you’re nearly useless unless you can speak. So welcome back to the world, Katsura. You still can’t lay a finger on me.” That twisted half-smile. Those glittering green eyes. It was the same face, the exact same expression I’d seen on the painting in the lab.
The Thief. Hemlock, the one who’d been missing for a century. The immortal who was counted among the greatest villains of history. Gabriel was Hemlock. What had I done?
He tucked the bell into an interior pocket. “I’m sure your voice will come in handy some time. It can be marvelously persuasive.”
Expression furious, the man dove at him; Hemlock caught his wrists and snapped, “Haurio.” The man immediately began to weaken, even as the hollows in Hemlock’s cheeks filled out, his posture becoming steadier. Finally Hemlock let go, and the man hit the floor with a metallic smack. It looked like that had hurt, but he couldn’t even groan - not with his voice missing.
“That should be familiar to you.” Hemlock said conversationally, nudging him in the side with his foot. The man was breathing, but he seemed too exhausted to move. Hemlock knelt and retrieved the hand mirror from the interior of the other man’s jacket, where he’d stowed it when he’d taken it from Dad. “I was worried I’d have trouble getting back into the swing of things, it having been so long.” He tucked the mirror into his belt, flexed his fingers, and cracked his knuckles. “Where we’re going, I’d rather you not follow. Come on, Juliet, love, we’ve wasted enough time here as it is.”
He reached out to me; I shrank back. “I don’t bite, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m here to help you, remember?”
“You’re the Thief!” I shouted, backing up toward the door. “You were the Thief the whole time!”
He sighed. “Not ‘til just now, love. I can’t very well be the Thief without my powers, can I? I needed to get my body back.” He smirked. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
My heart hammered in my chest. This was all my fault. I had done it. I had opened the door, given him everything he needed. If I’d only done what Bea had asked -
“We’re short on time, but I suppose I owe you a small explanation. My name is Hemlock, but you can go on calling me Gabriel if you like. This fellow here is Gohei Katsura. Gohei and I have had a bit of an ongoing misunderstanding for the last...how long, would you say, pal?” he asked the mute man, who was still struggling to sit up. “Let’s just say we’re into centuries now. It’s all very complicated and tedious.”
“You lied!” I insisted.
“I may have lied about my identity,” he said, “but I wasn’t lying about helping you. There are no limits to what you and I can do together. Simon is on his way, girl, and while I may not be the most upstanding citizen on either side of the mirror, you will fare far better with me than with him. He’ll use your powers to take over the world.”
“And what will you use them for?” I demanded.
His grin was unsettling. “To free it, of course.”
“I wasn’t aware that anything needed freeing.”
“You’re woefully misinformed.” He raised his head and called out, “Imp, to me.”
The spindly little monster materialized as if falling through the iron ceiling, to land atop the cage. It blinked its large, yellow eyes at us, clinging to the rim.
“All the hard work you’ve put in taming the thing and now it’s mine,” Hemlock smirked at Gohei. “Come here,” he beckoned the creature.
The imp’s head cocked, birdlike, a sort of trilling sound in the back of its throat.
“You know me,” Hemlock said smoothly. “You know this voice. Now come here and port me out.”
The imp fidgeted, lamp-like eyes wide. Gohei snorted something like a laugh on the floor, and the creature took notice of him. It dropped, landing on his shoulder, tail curling protectively around his neck.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Hemlock said, incredulous. “There’s no way it can tell the difference - ”
He took a step towards them, and the lanky little monster hissed at Hemlock, bat-like ears slicked back, showing a mouth full of slender, needle-sharp teeth.
Hemlock recoiled, expression sour. “Live this long and you can still learn something new every day,” he muttered to himself. He suddenly looked up, as if hearing something I couldn’t. “Oh that�
��s not good,” he said. He grabbed my hand and began to pull me towards the hallway. “We need to get to the sanctuary, now.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you!” I shouted. “I want to go home!”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Hemlock said, distracted, eyes on the ceiling.
The imp clinging to Gohei screamed at us as Hemlock pulled me up the stairwell. I struggled in his grip, reaching for the mirror’s opening and the forest beyond.
Hemlock gave me a yank up the stone stairwell instead. “I said the sanctuary. Control yourself, girl, because I can get you out of here just as easily if you’re unconscious,” he snapped.
I stilled, heart hammering. What had happened to the kind man who gave out hot chocolate and looked at Camille like she was the most important thing in the world?
We passed a silent, blank-faced Porter in the foyer. Throwing an anxious glance at the library curtain, Hemlock swept us through the opposite one to the sanctuary.
“All that remains,” Hemlock said, his green eyes glittering, “is the Hearthstone.” He knelt by the base of a pillar, pulling the edge of a tile free.
He was so much stronger than me - I couldn’t overpower him. But my power was to negate power, and almost everything inside this mirror was conjured of magic. I looked up. A row of Rhys’s glass lanterns hung overhead. I focused all my thoughts on them, willing the magic tying them to dissolve. After all, they weren’t real, right?
Hemlock’s fingers curled around something small, with a short laugh, just as a lantern crashed over him. He sat back hard, a trickle of blood running from his hairline.
“Juliet!” he roared.
I ran back through the curtain and nearly collided with Rhys coming out of the library.
“Jul!” he exclaimed. “What - ”
I had no time to feel relief to see him. My heart dropped into my stomach as I beheld the man I’d called father ascending the stairs, eyes on me and clutching the iron sword in a gloved hand. Where on earth had he gotten that?
Instinctively, Rhys and I backed onto the terrace, even as I knew there was no outlet. The high walls were insurmountable. Rhys’s hands were on my shoulders as Simon came through the arch, sword leveled at us.
“You’re too dangerous,” Simon said. “You’ll break everything. You’re just not worth the risk. I should have known when she left,” he said angrily, “that it was because of you.”
Vines curled out from the wall and Simon leapt aside, slashing them away. They withered where the sword sheared them. Hemlock stepped onto the terrace as well, a bright green ring now sparkling on his finger.
“This is becoming vastly overcrowded,” he said. “Goodness, Simon, you’ve seen better days.”
“Who are you?” Simon snapped.
“But then I suppose it’s been a rough night for many of us.” Hemlock went on, ignoring him. “Myself, I’m doing quite well, actually. Best I’ve felt in a hundred years.” With a wicked grin, his hand wearing the ring clenched, and the entire wall seemed to come alive, vines whipping to lash Simon against it, sword and all. He groaned as his back hit the stone, hard.
“Jul, I need you to turn it off,” Rhys said in my ear. “Whatever it is that you do, that Tailor thing - I need you to turn it off!”
But I didn’t know how. I had tried the focus, the concentration, nothing had ever come of it. Our backs were literally to the wall, and Rhys was counting on me.
Hemlock let out a long breath. “Now, where was I...?” His gaze slid to me, and Rhys pushed me behind him. “You do inspire the most loyal friends,” Hemlock commented. “Boyfriends, I should say. You know they only like you because you’re pretty, right? If you had any personality, you’d have garnered some female friends.”
As if he’d forgotten Camille. Anger burned. “Bea and Tailor were right about you,” I snapped. “All you do is lie and steal.”
Hemlock spread his arms, quirking an eyebrow. “Uh, Thief? It’s my nature. I have no more control over it than you do your little...void thingie.” He held up his hand, showing the ring. “Which this counteracts, by the way. Now are you going to come along, or am I going to have to harm the young prince’s pretty face?”
“Jul...” Rhys said, under his breath.
I scrambled for focus. Behind Hemlock, the vines around the Tailor’s sword in Simon’s grip were withering.
“There’s no way out,” I said. “No other way out of the mirror.” I came out from behind Rhys, and Hemlock smirked, pleased.
My hand slid into Rhys’s, and the warmth was steadying. “Not unless you make one,” I say, looking into his eyes. The pale blue is almost clear as they widen. I imagine a switch in my mind, like I’d done with the door downstairs. I don’t feel the barrier fall, but he does.
Hemlock barely has time to look confused before we rise into the air, hoisted aloft by a pillar of glass. He screams in fury, vines twisting up after us. As I look down at him, I see no trace of the man I’d thought he was, and I can’t help wondering: what will happen to Camille now?
Chapter 20
Camille
He had to be here. He just had to be. Everything he’d warned me about was coming true - Gabriel would know what to do. He always did, even if he didn’t explain, even if he wouldn’t share his reasons, he always knew how to fix whatever had gone wrong.
We were well past wrong.
“Gabriel!” I shouted, pushing through the front doors of the cafe. “Gabriel, where are you?” The place was empty, the lights out. I streaked up the stairs, taking them two at a time, could have done three if my legs weren’t so damned short. My blood ran hot and I’d never been this fast in my life. “Gabriel!” I cried, throwing open the door to his room. It was his usual mess - bed unmade, clothes in heaps on the floor, stacks of books half-read. His laptop’s screensaver cycled through images of dense forests, throwing a sickly green light around the dark room. But no sign of the man himself.
I cursed loudly, and tore into his closet. There had to be something here, something I could use, something he’d kept hidden for emergencies. I threw aside shoes, boxes of photographs, stacks of magazines. I needed a weapon. He wouldn’t leave me with nothing, not at a time like this. I thought of the bracer - the sword - lost so carelessly.
I should have listened more closely, I berated myself. All his stories I’d thought were fiction, the bracer I’d resented him for. And then lost. My fingers curled in the fallen magazines. I should have trusted him more. I’d take it all back, everything I’d said, I’d ignore everything Bea and Tailor had ever told me - trade everything to have Gabriel here now. I punched the frame of the closet and the wood split.
I heard the latch on the door downstairs click open as if it were right next to me. My hearing had never been sharper. I jumped to my feet, heart in my throat. “Gabriel, I need you!” I shouted, vaulting over the stairs as I’d done against Hyde -
And skidded to a halt.
Meredith stood in the doorway. “Such abject desperation in your voice,” she commented, letting the door gently shut on its own behind her. “Not terribly attractive, kiddo.”
I almost cringed, hearing Gabriel’s pet name come out of her mouth.
“You’re fast,” she said. “Not all of them are, you know. Every Wolf is different. But every Wolf is also the same - agents of destruction, all.” She grinned at me. “You’re not 16 yet, so I can stop you before it gets out of hand. Pre-emptive strike,” she hit the ‘k’ sound hard, almost biting it off.
“I don’t hurt people,” I shot back.
“You will. I’m doing you a favor, kiddo - ”
“Don’t call me that!” I roared, slamming my hand down on the counter. It shattered, spraying bits of glass across the stone floor.
Meredith quirked an eyebrow. “There’s that famous temper. Answer me this riddle before I dispatch you, though - what makes a man hunt six Wolves and hide the seventh?”
“What?” I snapped.
“I don’t know what Gabr
iel did before he started helping me with this endeavor,” Meredith said, sauntering closer. “In fact, I don’t remember the others at all. I don’t really care about them. Past is past. What I don’t understand is why he hid you. Why lie now? You’re not even his real child, that’s clear.” She tilted her head, regarding me. “You’re not doing him, are you?”
I stared at her, aghast. “Gross!”
“I never can tell with kids these days,” Meredith shrugged. “All these rubbish vampire stories in the cinema. But I’m with you, I think it’s creepy for a teenager to date a bloke who’s older than the London Bridge. Now,” she said, holding up a hand. A fireball smoldered in her palm, throwing grisly shadows around the tables and chairs. “Before I start to like you, let’s put you out of your misery.”
She hurled it and I dove behind the busted counter. Flames bloomed through the display case, and I shied away from the sudden heat. My fingers curled around a large, jagged shard of glass from the floor. Meredith advanced on me and I struck out, slicing her cheek. A spray of glowing blood arced out, splattering burning holes in the wall. I pushed past her, back into the dining room. An enormous fireball barely missed my shoulder and collided with the front door, transforming it into a wall of flame. I skidded to a halt, turning to see Meredith advance on me. My blood pounded through my veins. I hefted up a table, barely registering the weight, and hurled it at her, snarling. She fell, and I dashed up the stairs. Fire was swirling around her like a storm, melting the debris as she rose from it. The flames from the display case were eating their way through the kitchen, and it was only a matter of time before they found the gas line.
I froze at the top of the stairs, out of escape paths.
The Thief Page 26