by Alex Mae
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Raegan muttered. ‘I get it. My arse is huge. I need to cut down on the custard creams.’
By now they had reached Jasper’s station at the end of the Armoury. Stomping ahead, Raegan flopped down onto a chair and turned away from her friend. She started flipping through a magazine crossly.
A few minutes passed in silence as Jasper checked the temperature on various furnaces, studying the molten metal within. Then he looked over at Raegan, who was doing a good impression of a black storm cloud.
‘Raegan?’
‘Yes?’ she said huffily.
‘You hungry? Thirsty?’
She shrugged.
‘I’ve got some cracking new treats for us to try. Special delivery from my mate Ed. He travels all over the place. This lot are from China. Don’t have the faintest idea what they are. Kind of exciting, really, like extreme eating. A new thrill sport.’
That did it; her lips were curving up at the edges now. ‘Oh, go on then.’
She could never stay grumpy for long.
‘I’ll even throw in some custard creams…’
The magazine just missed his head.
***
The Armoury, where Jasper slept and worked, was an imposing sight. Looming out of the darkness, halfway between the main cluster of Unit Prime buildings and the wilds of the Labyrinth, the warehouse was a huge, slanting beast made out of corrugated metal.
It was a little friendlier on the inside, but only by a small margin. It was vast. And well-stocked. There were blades hanging neatly in rows, kept secure within glass cases; there were axes, crossbows and scythes on separate pegs, their sharp edges/arrows sheathed; there were blocks of wood and hunks of metal standing stoutly on the floor; and there were various table tops, metal counters, and freestanding vices with mallets and hammers meticulously kept within their holders. The workshop was open plan, surrounded by crate after crate of materials and half-finished implements.
And above the central workstation was steel plaque, with letters engraved in a plain, functional script: Custos Jasper Horatius Fettes.
Jasper was in fact Jasper Fettes. Tristan Fettes’ son. On their first meeting Raegan had found that piece of information almost more amazing than the fact that this shy, sci-fi fanatic from Yorkshire was the ace steelsmith, welder, and general craftsman in charge of the Unit’s weaponry.
To Raegan the connection to Ramsey had been as instantly comforting as the chess-set she spied on Jasper’s desk; like a doormat spelling out ‘Welcome’. And there was just something about Jasper. He seemed… familiar. Like a friend already, though she barely knew him. Maybe it was because he reminded her of Tristan and, by proxy, Bridey and Con. She missed her grandparents very much.
And so the Armoury soon became a little slice of home. At first she visited under the guise of ‘chess practice’; Jasper was a pro and required regular practice, and she was the only one in the Unit interested in playing, so why not? But the chessboard soon became a formality. They would stay up late, chatting about anything and everything and sometimes nothing at all. Jasper was a little older than her at 18, but it didn’t matter. It was a different friendship to any she had ever had before and it was also one of the most fun. The most easy.
It was amazing to have a friend she could really count on. For, as she now confided in Jasper, she was seeing less and less of Bree these days.
‘When I do see her, she seems so preoccupied,’ Raegan complained. ‘I keep trying to catch up with her but she’s never in her room. Even late at night! Who knows what’s she up to.’
Jasper cleared his throat. ‘I can imagine.’
Jasper had a huge crush on Bree, and he wasn’t the only one. According to Jasper, Bree could have anyone she wanted – and she did. Frequently. Her complicated lovelife was legendary. Though it was news to Raegan, she was not really surprised; it was impossible not to notice Bree’s effect on the opposite sex.
She just wished Bree could still find time for her.
He took her cup. ‘Another brew?’
‘Thanks. I don’t know what to do,’ she said glumly. ‘And I barely even see Sam, let alone talk to him.’
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
‘What’s what?’ Raegan bristled.
‘That’s the real reason for you being such a misery-guts.’ Jasper nudged a packet of biscuits her way. ‘Here, have a digestive.’
‘Don’t try and get round me with a cruddy old digestive,’ she said grumpily. ‘It doesn’t even have any chocolate.’
‘Garibaldi?’
‘No.’
‘Hob Nob?’
Eventually she took the packet. ‘That’s more like it,’ she conceded, grudgingly. ‘But I’m not letting it go. What did you mean about Sam?’
‘Oh, come on, Gunner.’ Jasper had quickly turned ‘Raegan’ into ‘Ray-Gun’, then ‘Gun’ and now ‘Gunner’. ‘You fancy him.’
‘I do not!’ Two spots of rosy indignation appeared on her cheeks. ‘I thought he was a mate, that’s all.’
‘Sure.’
She glared at him.
‘Okay! Chill out, I’m just having a laugh. So where is Sam, then?’
‘Don’t know.’ She took a big, sulky bite of her Hob Nob. ‘He didn’t even visit me in hospital. But then he appeared out of nowhere when I was leaving, offered to carry my bag.’
‘And then...?’ He prompted gently.
‘Then, nothing. He hasn’t been in any of my classes for a week. I wonder why? Surely he has duties – I know he isn’t a tesserarius, but-‘
‘He used to be. I wonder if that has something to do with it.’
‘What?’ Raegan squeaked. ‘I didn’t know that! He was tesserarius? Of what? Why isn’t he one now?’
Jasper shrank in his chair under the weight of her high-pitched questioning. ‘Look, I don’t know much about it.’
‘Oh, shut it,’ she scoffed, leaning forward. ‘You were massively keen to focus on Sam when it was me doing the talking. Your turn now. Spill.’
‘I just don’t want to misinform you-‘
‘Jasper.’
‘Okay, okay!’ He pretended to fan himself. ‘You can be a bit scary sometimes, you know that? Look, I really don’t know that much. What I heard was that he was tesserarius of Heart for a while, but he had to be demoted after some family tragedy – I think his brother died. He was really close to whoever it was, and I guess he couldn’t take it, went off the rails or something. They didn’t think he was stable enough to assist the teachers anymore, forced him to take a break.’
Raegan let out a long, surprised breath. ‘Gosh.’
‘Yeah. Brutal.’
‘Poor, poor Sam. I wonder why they put him with us? To ease him back in, maybe?’
‘Could be.’ Jasper dunked a garibaldi into his tea, which was nearly devoid of milk. ‘They work in mysterious ways, those centurions.’
‘And Max Savage,’ she muttered. ‘I bet he didn’t give a stuff about Sam’s situation. Probably annoyed him that he had to give Sam time off.’
‘Max isn’t all bad, you know,’ Jasper reproached gently. ‘He was decent, taking me on. I really needed this job – but he didn’t know me from Adam, ‘cept I was Tristan Fettes’ son.’
Raegan didn’t think Max Savage was kind – anything but. If he took Jasper on for no apparent reason he probably had some ulterior motive. But she didn’t say anything. Instead, she mused, ‘It’s weird, though, Sam missing so many classes... I hope there’s nothing else wrong with him. Nothing new.’
‘I’m sure he’s fine.’ Jasper went over to check the temperature of his blades. ‘Why wouldn’t he be?’
The image of Marie, never far from her thoughts, swam in front of her eyes. ‘No reason.’
Chapter Eleven: Locked Out
Raegan might have downplayed her interest in the elusive ex-Tesserarius to Jasper but she found herself thinking about him more and more. Days of absence had now stretched into weeks. Where was he? She told hersel
f that she only wanted to chat about what had happened in the Labyrinth. She still couldn’t remember much that had happened immediately before she fell – or why she did. Sam had been monitoring the race. Perhaps he had seen something.
This was her excuse. The truth was that she didn’t really care if he’d seen anything.
She just wanted to see him.
She used to look forward to the moment the curfew bell sounded and training was done for the day. Now she was leaping out of bed in the mornings, eager to get going. Before each class she got butterflies: maybe he would be there.
But Raegan was still surprised at just how excited she felt tonight. She was getting ready for Heart class, brushing her hair a million times like always (she’d given up pretending to herself that she did it for anyone but Sam). Yet… was that all it was? She looked more closely at her reflection. The sparkle in her eyes was hard to recognise: it seemed to come from a different, older place.
And then it hit her. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing her crush. She was looking forward to training. More than looking forward to it: she couldn’t wait. Her abilities were now increasing too quickly to keep track of and she loved it. She had moved from manipulating time with water to solid objects in movement – slowing down first a vase in flight so that she could catch it, and then a series of tiny, glass baubles – to a living creature – a butterfly – with relative ease.
Commanding her heart to slow, waiting patiently as it did, and then watching as the delicate creature, its wings beating frantically, appeared to decrease in speed; the purple wings edged with gold eventually flapping so slowly that she could pick out the silvery veins on each plane... it was magical. Moments like this, when her body was thrumming with the rightness of it all, convinced her to trust. In what, she wasn’t sure. But it was enough for now.
And a whole week had gone by without any nasty surprises. Seven glorious days with no faulty equipment, no lost possessions, no doors shutting on their own. Things were looking up.
Tonight her feet flew down the via principalis to Liana’s studio. She hardly even noticed the crispness of the dusky air. But on pushing open the door the bubbles of her happiness popped loudly in her ears. There, lounging against the studio wall, was Declan.
‘Hey,’ she said flatly. ‘Haven’t you finished yet?’
‘Liana asked me to come at the same time as you tonight.’ He didn’t even look up from his book as he replied. ‘I don’t know why.’
She didn’t bother responding, though inside she hurled a few of her favourite four-letter words at him. Typical. Just as she was beginning to enjoy herself, he had to turn up and ruin everything. Marching over to the opposite side of the room, she dumped her bag on a chair. Keeping her back to him, she removed her jacket, earrings and necklace and zipped them inside the roomy front pocket. She tried to make this process last for as long as possible, only turning round to sit down when she absolutely had to.
‘Having fun?’
Raegan started violently. Declan nearly fell into the wall. Both pairs of eyes swivelled upwards.
Liana was balanced on the uppermost beam of the high-ceilinged room. Dressed as usual in a brightly coloured boubou with matching unitard, she was like a glorious, yellow bird. From this dizzying height, she comprehended them calmly, regally – as if this was incredibly normal.
Raegan’s mouth fell open.
‘Liana! Hi. Um. I didn’t, uh, see you there.’
‘That was intentional.’ Her voice was serene. Raegan wondered if she should pinch herself. This was too surreal not to be a dream.
‘I wanted to see if the rumours were true.’
‘What rumours?’ Declan asked, his voice equally hesitant.
‘That the two of you couldn’t even have a civil conversation.’ Barely pausing for breath, with the agility of a circus acrobat, Liana flipped off the beam. Despite the long distance from floor to ceiling, she landed perfectly. Her robes settled colourfully around her. From her position in the centre of the room, she continued to speak in the same smooth tone. ‘This is not good enough. And I am concerned it is our fault.’
‘Your fault?’ Raegan felt a nervous giggle bubble in her chest. ‘No way.’
‘You may be wrong.’ Liana began to pace up and down, covering the space between the pair in a few powerful strides. She eyeballed them fiercely.
‘Clearly, we have been focusing hard on honing your individual powers. And of course, we have been teaching individually – yes, note this display of skill, how impressive it was!’ She gestured towards the beams.
‘It was awesome,’ Declan enthused. Raegan agreed, but not out loud. Liana was going somewhere with this, and Raegan was sure the lesson would turn out to be something more important than ‘how to climb up the beams and flip off like a badass’ - though she was sure this was what Declan the dumbo was hoping. He was such a show off.
‘But how much more I could have achieved if Yali was here, too!’ Liana cut him off quickly, eyes blazing. ‘You would not have been able to take your eyes off us! It occurs to me that we have not taught you the importance of teamwork. How dangerous it can be to separate from your peers.’ She folded her arms. ‘You two have little idea of what the Fay can do to Regents who isolate themselves. In fact, you have little idea of what the Fay can do, full stop. This was our mistake.’
‘I’ve seen firsthand what the Fay can do,’ Raegan said quietly. The force of the memory sent the blood rushing to her head. Her hands began to shake. She stuffed them in her pockets before Declan could see.
‘This is true.’ Liana inclined her head. ‘But forgive me when I say that you were easy prey, then.’ Raegan opened her mouth to protest, but Liana held up a hand to silence her. ‘Please, let me finish. I do not doubt that you put up a fight, do not misunderstand me. But the manner of this encounter... this was something else. To you, it may have appeared the biggest challenge you could ever face. The playing field was uneven. You faced the Fay as a novice, completely without tutelage. You were unable to truly interact.’
There was a gleam of triumph in Liana’s eyes as she regarded the two bewildered faces staring back at her. ‘Yes: I picked that word deliberately: to interact, not fight. You see, the Fay are unusual, wild creatures – and their hunger for the hunt might seem very peculiar. For would you not think that those who steal time as a matter of habit, to prolong their own existence, would desire nothing more than an easy victory? Not so. They are a proud race, and consider themselves warriors. They also enjoy the thrill of battle, of overcoming a difficult challenge. This is why certain Fay have been known to stalk Regents for months, selecting the Regent felt to be the most skilled, and then carefully plotting the time and place in which to pick him or her off.’
Raegan couldn’t help but sneak a look at Declan, sure that he was rolling his eyes at this – he always thought he knew better than the teachers. To her surprise, he was listening intently. In fact, his profile was drawn with tension.
Liana must have noticed this, too, because she focused sharply on him. Her eyes were serious but not unkind. ‘I’m not trying to scare you. But it is important for you to know what it is you must face. Alone, you cannot win. You must look outside of yourself.’
At that moment the door opened, startling the cadets. But it was only Sam. He entered, unsmiling, with the briefest nod to Raegan. In the cold light of the studio, Liana’s words hanging in the air, the reunion was a bit of an anti-climax.
Sam immediately crossed the room to take up position behind their mentor. He waited patiently. Liana did not look at him, but tilted her head in acknowledgment.
‘Words do little. You must feel for yourself.’
Like the calm before a storm, Liana’s stillness evaporated into a blur of movement. Out came the salt from the pouch around her waist, and she darted in and out of them, sprinkling it in a large figure of eight. Whirling, she pointed to Raegan, and then to one of the circles.
‘There!’
Raegan
tried to move with a confidence she did not feel but her wobbly legs gave her away. As she reached her place, she forced herself to think of Bree, to coil her muscles into readiness, commanding them into steely obedience as Bree had shown her. The taut energy of the room filled her with adrenaline. That was the unpredictability of training. Though she was nervous, she became aware of an unfurling excitement, a sense of grim relish: she was eager to begin.
‘Drink.’ Liana was in front of her with a silver cup; it smelled odd, like burnt sugar mixed with pungent herbs, but not wholly unpleasant. She didn’t allow herself to question or hesitate. It scalded her throat as she knocked it back, enveloping her with a peculiar sensation: like a scented, tingling wind had rushed up her body.
Carefully she put her cup on the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Sam and Declan doing the same thing.
When she stood up the world had changed.
The air shimmered. There was no other way to describe it. It looked tangible, like a fine muslin wafting through the room, shot through with silver threads and crystals. Wrapped within the gauzy air, objects were dark, like tiny black holes; in fact, the room as a whole was dimmer, lit only by the glowing forms of Liana, Declan, and Sam. That wasn’t all. Trying to see more closely, making useless movements with her hands to brush the sparkling film out of her way, Raegan peered at the other Regents. They were surrounded by a golden halo of light; but there was also a glow coming from inside each of their chests, pulsing balls of illumination. These sun-like orbs were wonderful colours. Sam’s was purple, deep and rich; Liana’s was brilliant white, and Declan’s was bright blue.
Drunkenly, she put her chin on her chest and looked down, trying to see if she had one, too. ‘Wow,’ she breathed, dabbing at it with one finger. Hers really was a like a sun; yellow, calm, pulsating steadily.
Liana’s voice filled her. She wasn’t sure if the sound echoed in her ears or within her mind. Everything was a little fuzzy.