Twice Dead

by Caitlin Seal

  The beginning of a plan tickled the back of her mind.

  “I’ll make sure Lucia’s ready when the guards come. You should go,” Naya said to Corten.

  Corten shook his head. “Believe me, you’ll need help if you’re going to convince her to destroy her diagrams. Lucia might be a genius, but she’s an idiot when it comes to stuff like this.”

  “No. I don’t want you to get in more trouble. I can handle Lucia. We’ll be fine.” Naya smiled, hoping she looked confident. Corten’s eyebrows scrunched up with doubt, so she continued. “Please. You’ve already done more than enough by warning me. I don’t want you getting into trouble if anyone finds you here.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Lucia’s accusations echoed in her mind. “Certain.”

  Corten tugged at his curls again. “Fine. But come get me if anything happens. What about that girl downstairs?”

  “I’ll make sure she gets home. Her bond seems stable and I know where her parents live.”

  She could tell by the look in his eyes that he still didn’t like it, but at least he let her pull him down the stairs and back out onto the street. He paused in the doorway, his gold-flecked eyes very close to hers. “Blue, promise me you’ll be careful.”

  The concern in his voice was almost enough to break her, but Naya braced herself against the pain. She could feel the thing that had been building between them, like aether drawn toward a rune. It was more than friendship that fueled his worry. But whatever he thought he felt for her couldn’t be true. The girl he saw was made of lies.

  “I will.” She pressed one hand against Corten’s chest. No heartbeat, but she did feel a steady warmth through his shirt. She closed her eyes, trying to hold on to the feeling. “Go. I’ll send you a message this evening,” she said. Then she pushed him gently out the door and shut it fast.

  Naya found Jesla in the workshop, passing her hand back and forth through a table leg with a look of baffled concentration. Naya ran upstairs and retrieved her soiled clothes. The bloodstains were barely visible, but the front of the jacket and pants were still smeared with muck from her fall. Besides, the outfit was different enough from the rest of her clothes that it would draw suspicion even if she managed to get it clean. She balled up the black fabric and tucked the bundle under one arm.

  Jesla looked up when Naya rushed into the workroom. “What’s that?”

  “Just something left over from Miss Lucia’s work. Don’t worry.” The girl’s eyes fixed on the bundle as Naya shoved it into the furnace and wrenched the dial on the side. The runes glowed and little flames licked at the edges of the cloth. Remembering what she’d done to the signal rune, Naya pushed a little of her own aether into the stove. She felt the runes straining as the plates glowed brighter with heat and aether, and eased back before they could break. The flames licked higher, consuming the bloody clothes. Good enough.

  She found Jesla standing behind her, peering at the stove. “Will you tell me the rest of the story now?” Jesla asked.

  Naya shook her head. “We’ll have to save it for later. Are you still feeling all right?”

  “Yes, but that thing feels all suckey. I don’t like it.” Jesla pointed at the little furnace, which still tugged at the room’s aether.

  “Well, how about I take you back to your parents?”

  “But what about Miss Lucia?”

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll be happy to have you back with them. And she can come check on you herself when she wakes up. Don’t you want to see your family?”

  Jesla’s lips puckered into a pout and she looked down at her toes. “I don’t want to go back.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “They’ll be mad at me.” Jesla kicked at the floor with one bare toe.

  It took Naya a second to guess what she meant. “You mean your parents? They won’t be mad. They’ll be happy to see you.”

  “Nuh uh.”

  “Why would they be mad at you?”

  “Because I fell. Papa said I wasn’t allowed to climb the tree outside my window. But the other night the stars were so bright, and I couldn’t sleep.” She was picking at her dress, not looking at Naya. “See, I’m really good at climbing. But the bark was kind of slippery, and it was dark, and I think one of the branches must have broke, because it wasn’t there when I reached for it. And then I fell.”

  It must have been a tall tree to have broken her body so badly. Naya crouched down so her eyes met Jesla’s. “I met your parents when they brought you here, and I’m certain they won’t be mad at you. I think they’ll be very happy to have you back.”

  Jesla looked skeptical but didn’t argue as Naya prepared to leave. She scrawled a hasty note and left it on the table where Lucia would find it. Gone to buy groceries. Back soon. She intentionally misspelled a couple of words, crossing them out and rewriting them. If the guards came while Lucia was still asleep, the note would explain her absence. She considered going upstairs to warn Lucia, but she didn’t want to risk the necromancer trying to stop her. She needed to get to the embassy and figure out what was going on. Besides, Lucia had never struck her as stupid. Any evidence of her illegal work would surely be hidden in a safe place.

  While her clothes burned down to ash, Naya retrieved Jesla’s address and led her to the door. Jesla dragged her feet and tried at every opportunity to distract her and pull away. Naya’s nerves were frayed nearly to breaking when they finally reached Jesla’s house. The building was tall and narrow, scrunched between its neighbor on the right and a plaza on the left with a huge oak tree. The branches of the tree grew out to brush against the side of the house. Naya felt Jesla shy away from it as they mounted the steps to knock on the door.

  Jesla’s mother answered after the third knock. Dark bags shadowed her eyes, making her look as if she hadn’t gotten much more sleep than Lucia. But her exhaustion vanished under a brilliant smile when she saw Jesla. “Oh, Oslyn, come here. It’s Jesla. She’s back.”

  Footsteps pounded down the stairs and the big man Naya had met before appeared in the doorway. His curly brown sideburns were wet. Dark stubble covered half his jaw, with bits of soap still clinging to his chin. “Jesla, my girl.” He grinned.

  Jesla tensed, probably still waiting for her parents to scold her. But in an instant her father swept her up in an embrace. Naya saw the split second when his face twisted as he registered his daughter’s nearly weightless body. Then his smile returned. Naya took a step back, feeling strangely hollow as she watched the reunion. Jesla was laughing now, and tears dampened her mother’s cheeks.

  Jesla’s mother turned to Naya. “Where is Madame Laroke? We haven’t had the chance to thank her.”

  “Sleeping.” Naya struggled to keep her tone light. She needed to leave before her own troubles disrupted the family’s happiness.

  “Is everything all right, dear?” Jesla’s mother asked.

  “Of course. There shouldn’t be any problems. But if something doesn’t seem right, you should take her back to Lucia. She’ll come in a bit, after she wakes, to make sure everything is well.”

  “Would you like to come inside?”

  “Yeah,” Jesla said from her perch in her father’s arms. “You haven’t finished the story yet.”

  Naya blinked her burning eyes. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I have to get back to my work.” She turned, pretending she didn’t hear Jesla calling out as she rounded the corner. The family’s smiles cut more sharply than any knife. Had her father ever smiled at her like that? No, of course not. But theirs had never been that sort of family. Naya wiped reflexively at her dry, stinging eyes. Then she turned her steps and her thoughts toward the Talmiran Embassy.

  Lucia would be furious at her for leaving, and for taking Jesla back without her permission. But she could deal with that later. Naya stopped in an alley not far from Jesla’s house. Once she was certain no one w
as watching, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath of aether. She pressed the tips of her fingers lightly to her face. She’d never tried changing her features without a mirror before, but it couldn’t be that different. After a moment the skin under her fingertips went uncomfortably soft. She tried to imagine Blue’s face, the sharp features and green eyes that she’d chosen for herself. Her skin shifted, then grew firm again. She ran her fingers over her nose and lips, and then through her now-black hair. Close enough. At least she was pretty sure nobody would recognize her. On the way to the embassy, she stopped at Selleno’s house. But the old couple who stayed there to maintain the facade hadn’t seen any of the other spies since the previous day.

  As Naya left the house, she tried to figure out what had triggered the feeling of dread now lurking in the place where her stomach should have been. Maybe it was that it should have been Celia, or Valn, who had sent her a warning about the guards. Maybe it was hearing that the man she’d helped kidnap was Delence. He’d publicly supported the Treaty of Lith Lor for years. If anything, he should have been an ally in the upcoming talks. The only thing she knew for certain was that she couldn’t sit in Lucia’s shop waiting. She needed to figure out if Celia had gotten away. She needed to know they hadn’t failed, and what it was exactly they hadn’t failed at.

  Even with her face changed, she couldn’t banish the tingling feeling on the back of her neck, as though someone were watching her. The streets were alive with talk of the attack on Delence’s house, and the wraith the guards hunted. By the time Naya stepped off the tram and onto Market Street, her unease was growing with every passing minute. She’d never imagined word would spread so fast. Every casual glance from a stranger held an accusation. Spy. Liar. Kidnapper.

  Within sight of the embassy’s white-pillared front, Naya started to relax—until she saw a familiar figure walking toward the gate. Broad shoulders covered by a fine black coat, he strode down the street as though he owned it.

  Her father.

  In her shock Naya tripped, almost crashing into a wealthy-looking woman in a purple silk dress. She barely heard the woman’s curse. All her attention was focused on the Gallant’s captain as he crossed the street. The crowd seemed to part around him, deferring to the aura of command that hung about him like a cloak. Naya could only stand with her mouth hanging open as a servant ushered her father into the Talmiran Embassy.

  It couldn’t be coincidence that her father had returned today of all days. Why hadn’t anyone told her he was coming? Naya ran across the street, stopping a few feet from the embassy’s front steps. Her heart screamed for her to follow him inside. She wanted to tell him she’d done everything he’d asked. She wanted to see him nod, maybe even smile, and say he understood. But even if it weren’t for the guards out searching for wraiths, she couldn’t risk drawing attention to herself by waltzing through the embassy’s front entrance. Instead she followed along the side of the big white house until she found a servant’s door near the back. A boy, maybe the one she’d seen in the kitchens the day she met Celia, was hauling burlap sacks from a delivery cart parked near the door.

  “Excuse me.” Naya grabbed the boy’s sleeve before he could reach for another sack. A man stood a few paces away, next to a pair of sleepy-looking donkeys hitched to the front of the cart.

  “What?” The boy pulled his sleeve away and looked her up and down nervously.

  “Is Celia here?”

  The boy’s eyes darted to the man minding the cart, then back to the door. “What’s it to you?”

  “Could you give her a message for me?”

  “What’s the message?”

  “Tell her Seamstress Talla has some questions about the embroidery on the new tablecloths,” Naya said, using one of the many codes Celia had taught her. Celia would recognize it and know Naya needed information.

  The boy pulled his arm away, looking down at his feet. “All right. Maybe I’ll tell her in a bit.”

  Naya saw the cart man watching them more closely now over his donkey’s flicking ears. He’d probably make a fuss if the boy tried to leave before he’d finished unloading the delivery. “Do you need any help with those sacks?” she asked the boy.

  Between the two of them, they had the last of the bundles unloaded in just a few minutes. With the cart rattling away, the boy disappeared inside. Naya waited by the door, trying not to look impatient. After what felt like hours, the door cracked open and Celia peered out cautiously. An ugly bruise darkened her forehead, just above her left temple. “What are you doing here?” Celia demanded.

  Naya tried to remember the words she’d rehearsed silently on the walk over. But all that came out was “I need to speak with my father.”

  Celia glanced over her shoulder. “You can’t. You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Why not? King Allence has guards out questioning wraiths. If they find me—”

  Celia made a cutting motion with one hand. “It will be a thousand times worse if they find you here.”

  “Then what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to say if the guards question me? Please, just let me speak to him.” She wondered what would happen if she tried to force her way past the older spy. Celia had always bested her when they’d sparred. But as her anger built, Naya felt the potential of the illegal runes like a hum in her bones.

  “Go back to the shop and wait for orders. I’m sorry, but nothing good will come from it if Captain Garth finds you here now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Celia met Naya’s eyes. “Go.”

  “No! Wait—” Naya lunged forward, her body slamming into the door a half second after it closed. She jerked the knob, but of course it was locked. When she focused, she saw a faint shimmer of runes around the frame. Could she break them? She took a step back, glancing down the narrow street to check if anyone was watching. No one yet, but there were enough people around that someone was bound to notice if she tried to smash her way inside. Naya reluctantly uncurled her fingers from the doorknob.

  Celia’s warning wasn’t without merit. If the Ceramoran guard realized she was here, it would only draw more suspicion. Except…Naya wasn’t wearing her old face. Nothing about her appearance would connect her to the Talmiran wraith who worked at Lucia’s shop. And unless she did anything unusual, no one who looked at her should be able to tell what she was. No one living anyway. And once she was inside the embassy, the risk of discovery would be even less. The embassy grounds were protected. If the city guard tried to force their way in, the Congress of Powers could declare it an attack on Talmiran soil.

  Naya turned away from the door. What had Celia meant by claiming nothing good would come from Naya meeting her father? Fear wound tight around her middle. Did Valn mean to blame her for the chaos during last night’s job? Or was something else going on in the embassy that Celia wanted to keep her away from? Either way, Naya couldn’t leave knowing a measly wall was all that separated her from her father. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine the layout of the embassy from her last visit. Valn’s office was on the other side of the building, near the back. Her father would almost certainly go there.

  Naya skirted the hedge surrounding the back garden, and stopped outside the corner where she thought Valn’s office was. The narrow alley between the embassy and its nearest neighbor was empty for the moment. Naya pressed her back to the wall. She could wait for her father to leave, follow him back to the Gallant, and speak to him there. But there was so much he hadn’t told her, and Valn had kept his secrets as well. She wanted to know what they had to say to each other.

  Naya closed her eyes and leaned against the building. She focused on the aether, trying to ignore the wall. The pulse of the city grew louder. The rough wood against her back became a distant thing as the chaotic energy pressed against her. Naya sifted through it, searching for her father’s energy as she’d searched for Lucia’s in the café all those weeks ago.


  When she found him, she almost recoiled from the rage rolling off him like black smoke. Valn was near him, his own energy a mix of anger and impatience. A moment later she caught the strange echo of their voices through the wall.

  “—and how was your journey?” Valn asked.

  “Don’t waste my time with that act. I want to know what the hell you were thinking,” her father answered, each word snapping like the lash of a whip.

  “I assume you’re speaking about our friend Delence? I can assure you I have it under control. His son was an unfortunate casualty. We can’t stop his resurrection. But—”

  “Not that,” her father said. “That I can understand. Though it sounds like you nearly botched the mission all the same. I’m talking about what you did to my daughter.”

  Silence for a moment, then Valn spoke again. “Well, I’m not sure what else you expect me to say on the matter. You’ve read my report. The point was for her to disappear as all the rest did. I’ve arranged all the necessary documentation to prove our story.”

  “You’re telling me that after all your talk of recruiting a wraith, she just conveniently dies?”

  “You were the one who insisted on involving her. Her death was unfortunate, but I can assure you I haven’t done anything that wasn’t necessary to our success.” After a moment Valn added, “As I recall, you didn’t have any problem with what happened to the others.”

  “They were expendable. She was never supposed to die. You were supposed to keep her safe, hide her, and train her so she would be ready to support our plans when the time came.”

  In the silence that followed, Naya had to fight to keep from shrinking away. She sensed grief in her father, but it was crushed under a flood of rage and disgust. Naya couldn’t block those emotions without drawing her focus back to the physical world. She felt them in her chest as though they were her own. They scraped and oozed across her skin. She tasted them in the air, an acrid, salty mix that made her want to retch.