Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952)

by Jacka, Benedict

“How long have you known that it was something to do with Anne?”

  “It’s not! She’s not doing anything, none of us are! It’s just . . . I thought it was just a coincidence. I mean, there aren’t that many apprentices. But when every one of them seemed to . . . I knew what they’d think. Everyone always thinks we’re some kind of monsters. I knew they wouldn’t listen to us.”

  “So you tried to push everyone away.” I shook my head. “If you’d told me earlier I could have gone looking for an explanation. Now she’s already been arrested and we’re up against the clock. You’ve made this a hell of a lot more difficult.”

  “I’m sorry,” Variam said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

  I sighed and put a hand to my head, tapping my fingers against my forehead. “All right,” I said. “All right. The Council can be assholes, but they’re not incompetent. If those Keepers have arrested Anne it probably means there’s real evidence against her. Do you think Anne’s been helping kidnap these apprentices?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Neither do I. That means someone must be using Anne as an information source. We need to talk to her and find out all the people she’s been speaking to. Then we can narrow down who it might be.”

  Variam perked up. “Yeah. Okay.”

  I started for the door and paused. “Oh, and it’s about time you dropped the rebellious teenager act. We’re about to talk to Keepers. Be polite.”

  Variam looked indignant. “But they—”

  “I know what they did and I know how you feel about it. But all it’ll do is make them more likely to say no. You’re an adult; time to start acting like it.”

  Variam gave a reluctant nod.

  * * *

  I was rehearsing speeches in my head as we came back around the corner, but as we came out into the corridor I frowned. The door that had been blocked by the Keeper was hanging open. Variam and I exchanged glances and walked in.

  The guest room was small, with a single faded bed, and had no windows or doors except for the one we’d just come through. One of the Council Keepers was standing in a corner with his back to us talking into his mobile phone: “. . . hair black, eyes red-brown, early twenties, wearing a green skirt and jumper. Last seen fifteen minutes ago and . . .”

  The other Keeper, the hard-looking one who’d been blocking the door, turned towards us with a frown. “Where’s Anne?” I asked before he could get a word out.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for Anne. Where is she?”

  “This is a restricted area,” the Keeper began.

  “I’m looking for the apprentice you were holding here,” I said, keeping my voice even. “Given that she was in your custody, that makes you responsible for her under Council law. I am making a formal request to speak with her. Please.”

  The Keeper looked from me to Variam and hesitated. “You’re going to have to come back—”

  The second Keeper snapped his phone shut and turned towards us. “Verus,” he said. He was older than his partner, with greying hair and sharp eyes. “What do you know about this?”

  “At the moment, nothing,” I said. I had to force myself to stay calm. “Would you happen to know where Anne Walker is?”

  The Keeper studied me. “She appears to have fled.”

  I looked at him, then around at the bare room with its complete absence of other exits. Then I looked back at him. “You left her alone?”

  “She used a gate spell,” the older Keeper said.

  “That’s impossible.”

  “Apparently not.”

  “Anne can’t use gate magic!” Variam burst out.

  “What about the wards?” I said.

  The Keeper looked at me with raised eyebrows. “That is an extremely good question.”

  “This doesn’t make sense,” I said. It took all I had to keep my voice level. “I couldn’t get through these gate wards, and neither could you. Are you seriously telling me that you believe an apprentice found a way through a gate ward when two Council Keepers couldn’t?”

  “I know what a gate spell feels like, all right?” the younger Keeper said irritably. “And that’s what I felt through that door. Crystal and her ‘impenetrable’ wards, my—”

  “Look, Verus,” the older Keeper said. “We’re a little busy. Can you tell us where Anne Walker is?”

  I was silent. “I don’t know,” I said at last.

  “Then I’m sorry but we’ve got work to do.” The Keeper walked past, taking out his phone again as he vanished into the corridor. The other followed, shooting me a suspicious look.

  “Where is she?” Variam demanded. He was looking around the room as if he expected Anne to pop out of hiding.

  “Give me a second,” I said quietly. My head was whirling.

  “She couldn’t have gated out of here,” Variam said. “She can’t even use gate magic!”

  “I know,” I said. I felt as though I were on the verge of getting it. I just needed one more piece . . .

  “Those Keepers must have taken her,” Variam said.

  “They didn’t,” I said absently.

  “There couldn’t have been a gate spell.”

  “That Keeper said there was.”

  “Then he was lying!”

  “Maybe—” I began, and stopped.

  “You can’t get a gate spell through these wards,” Variam repeated. “If she’s not here it means—”

  “Variam?” I said. “Why are these wards still working?”

  “Huh?”

  “Remember what Sonder said last night?” I said. “Wards like this take a lot of maintenance. Why haven’t they run down?”

  “Who cares?” Variam said. “I guess Crystal’s fixing them.”

  “But Sonder said Vitus Aubuchon attuned them to himself,” I said. “It would have been almost impossible for someone else to take control of Fountain Reach.”

  “Well, Crystal figured it out.”

  “Maybe she didn’t,” I said quietly.

  Variam looked at me in confusion. “What?”

  I didn’t answer. A dozen images and thoughts were spinning through my head. A portrait on a wall. Notes on longevity magic, failed experiments on yellowing paper. Vitus Aubuchon, who had been sickly and aging and obsessed with his health. Sonder’s words: Basically all of Fountain Reach is one giant focus. As long as you’re within it, you can use it to power spells . . . Luna insisting that it couldn’t be a coincidence, two victims of the same age at the same place. Crystal’s scorn at working for the Council until she was “old and grey.” Anne’s last words: Now I feel like someone’s watching me . . .

  I pulled out my phone and dialled Talisid’s number. It took Talisid a while to answer and when he did he sounded harassed. “Verus, I’ve got two other people—”

  “One quick question,” I said. “The Aubuchon family used to own Fountain Reach.”

  “Yes—”

  “The last mage of the dynasty, Vitus Aubuchon,” I said. “Do you know what type of mage he was?”

  “He was a space mage. Spatial manipulation, gate magic, that sort of thing. Is this—?”

  Something clicked. “That’s all,” I said, and hung up and turned back to Variam. “We need to get back to Luna.”

  “Do you know where Anne is?”

  “No. But I think I know who took her.”

  * * *

  Luna was sitting up in bed by the time we got back to her room. She’d eaten everything I’d brought from the kitchens and was looking a lot healthier. I thanked Celia and sent her away, closing the door behind her before turning to Variam and Luna. I hadn’t answered any of Variam’s questions and both of them were watching me. “We don’t have much time,” I began, “so we’re going to have t
o make this fast.”

  “Who took Anne?” Variam said.

  “The same man who took that girl thirty years ago,” I said. “And God only knows how many others. Vitus Aubuchon.”

  Variam frowned. “I thought he was—”

  “Not dead,” I said. “Disappeared, yes, but not dead. He was doing longevity research, looking for a way to prolong his life. I think he found one.” I looked at Luna. “Remember what I told you about vampires? How they could live off humans by drinking their blood? There have always been rumours that before they were wiped out, some mages got vampires to teach them the trick.”

  Luna’s eyes widened a little. “Wait, you mean . . . ?”

  “Here’s what I think happened,” I said. “Vitus Aubuchon wanted to live forever. He couldn’t use life magic, so he designed this house as a giant focus for a longevity spell. But it needed fuel. Human fuel, young people in the prime of their youth and strength. It worked for a long time but then something went wrong. For whatever reason normal children weren’t enough anymore. So Vitus decided to start feeding off apprentices instead.

  “And then Crystal came. I don’t know how they met, but they made some sort of deal. Crystal would find apprentices, ones who were vulnerable and alone, and bring them here to Fountain Reach for Vitus to feed on . . .” I trailed off, remembering Crystal’s words from two nights ago. The entire point of this whole plan was so we didn’t have to keep picking at random . . . “Shit,” I said quietly to myself.

  “What?”

  “That’s why Crystal held the tournament here,” I said. “They’re not looking for just any apprentice. They’re looking for the right apprentice. The point of the tournament was so that they could get a close-up view of all the apprentices using their magic. Anne hasn’t healed anyone since getting here, has she?”

  “No . . .” Variam said.

  I nodded. “Not until now. Vitus saw her and that was it. As soon as she was alone he snatched her and unless we stop him he’s going to do the same thing to her that he’s done to everyone else.”

  “How do we get her back?” Variam said.

  “I don’t know.”

  “What?”

  “I’m still working on that part.”

  “You just said we didn’t have much time!”

  “Vitus is a space mage. He could have taken Anne anywhere and I don’t know where.”

  “Wait,” Luna broke in. “Didn’t Sonder say Vitus would have to stay inside the house?”

  I nodded. “I don’t think she’s far, but—”

  “So let’s burn the house down,” Variam said.

  Luna looked at Variam in disbelief. “Are you nuts?”

  “It’ll flush him out, won’t it?”

  “It’s not going to—”

  “Actually,” I said slowly, “I think that’s not a bad idea.” I turned towards the door. “Get ready for a fight. I’ll explain along the way.”

  * * *

  I got my gear, Luna got her whip, and I led her and Variam upstairs through Fountain Reach. “The first time I came here, Onyx shredded a wall,” I said. “When he did there was a scream. It was like some kind of defence system, but now I don’t think it was. I think Vitus is linked to this house. Hurting it hurts him.”

  “So how does that help us find Anne?” Variam asked.

  We turned down an old crooked corridor with animal heads lining the walls. “Wherever Vitus takes his victims, it’s somewhere hidden,” I said. “We won’t find it, not in time. But if Vitus could bring Anne there, he could bring us there too.”

  The bedroom within looked just as it had the last two times I’d seen Crystal in it: old and dusty with a moth-eaten bed. The portrait on the wall stared down at us, sunken eyes looking out of a thin face. “What about everyone else?” Luna asked.

  “You remember Anne’s story from last night?” I said. “Someone tried to burn Fountain Reach before and something stopped them. I don’t think Vitus can do anything in this part of the house, not directly. He has to take them somewhere else first.”

  Luna looked from me to Variam. I could tell she wasn’t sure about the plan but didn’t want to go back either. “Now?” Variam asked.

  I nodded. “Do it.”

  Orange-red light flared up around Variam’s hands and heat poured into the back of the room. The wallpaper blackened then ignited, flames licking up from the floor. Luna and I backed away towards the door.

  I felt a pulse of magic and a mental chime: an alarm spell. “Keep going,” I said, but Variam didn’t need to be told. More heat went in. The old bedroom was dry as dust and the flames were spreading quickly, the carpet at the end catching fire and the bed smouldering as well. The temperature in the room was rising but Variam did something and it levelled out, the heat staying in the far end of the room. Smoke was starting to spread and I coughed.

  In the distance I could hear shouts and running footsteps. “Is it working?” Luna called.

  “No!” I tried to think about the last time I’d seen the house react violently. Onyx had ripped a hole through the corridor. “Go for the walls!”

  Variam raised his hand and an orange-red beam sprang out. It carved into the walls as though they were butter and cut sideways, burning a gash through the bones and structure of Fountain Reach.

  This time the response was instant. A scream knifed through my head, pain and fury and discord. I’d been ready and only flinched, but Luna and Variam both doubled over. Variam lost his grip on his spells; the beam winked out and the heat rushed in, scorching me. “Variam!” I shouted.

  Variam recovered, forcing the temperature down. The whole far end of the room was a sheet of flame now, the bed blackening and crumbling in the inferno as the fire reached eagerly towards us. Flames were licking up around the edge of the painting, the man inside seeming to glare out at us. I could sense people coming down the corridor and I recognised Lyle and Crystal. Variam struck again, that beam of fire slicing into the walls, and this time I felt the wards around us waver as Variam’s attack cut through one of the weblike strands that supported the spell around Fountain Reach.

  The scream was louder, and this time there was only pain. The wards shifted, turned, and I felt the pull of a gate spell, space seeming to ripple and twist just as Lyle appeared in the doorway. The spell was centred around me and Variam and Luna but Lyle was caught too, dragged in from the edge. I caught one glimpse of Lyle’s startled face, Luna and Variam turning towards me, the flames guttering and dying as their fuel was sucked away from them, then the four of us were drawn elsewhere and everything was gone.

  chapter 13

  . . . And silence.

  I was in a small windowless room that smelt of dust. I spun, checking for danger, but the futures ahead of me were silent and still. I was alone.

  There were no lights but somehow I could still see. The place was lit with a weird kind of shadowy illumination that wasn’t light or darkness but something in between. I scanned but couldn’t sense the presence of Luna and Variam or anyone else. I opened the door and stepped out into a corridor. Like the room it was lit up in the same strange half-light, and looking down the hall I could see old darkened tables and animal heads mounted on the walls.

  I was in Fountain Reach . . . except I wasn’t. The air was too still, the corridors too quiet. I’d never been comfortable in Fountain Reach, but this place felt utterly dead; it was hard to imagine anything living here. And yet at the same time it felt oddly familiar, as though I’d seen it before.

  As I stood in the corridor I felt a weird shivering sensation. Just for an instant it felt as though there were someone else in the corridor walking straight through me—and then it was gone. I drew back, focusing my senses, and to my surprise found I could sense the presence of other people, very faintly. As I watched their shadowy outl
ines flitted through a wall and were gone.

  I remembered the sense I’d had in Fountain Reach of something watching me, and realised that now I was doing the same thing. I was invisible to these people, as though I were hidden in the walls, peeking out through the cracks into the world of light and life.

  This was where Vitus Aubuchon had gone. He’d created another place within Fountain Reach, a shadow reality where nobody else could go but from where he could look out . . . and draw people in. As I realised that, I noticed something else: My divination magic wasn’t damped and fuzzy anymore. Experimentally I tried looking a few minutes into the future and found that I could. The wards only blocked the other Fountain Reach, not this one. Vitus had designed Fountain Reach to cloud the senses of anyone coming here, but he’d left it so that he could see clearly himself.

  I scanned ahead through the futures, searching for movement. I found Luna first, some distance away but on the same floor. Variam was next, moving towards Luna, and Lyle was nearby too. The spell had scattered us, splitting us up around this other Fountain Reach. But as I looked further, something else caught my attention. There was someone who wasn’t here yet . . . but she’d be arriving in the next couple of minutes and she was someone I did not want near Luna or Variam.

  I turned away from Luna and began walking quickly down the corridor, searching through the futures in my head to narrow down the entry point. My footsteps echoed in the empty hallway, loud in the silence. The colours looked odd in this place, washed out and grey, and the air tasted dead and stale. I noticed my route would pass near a window and took a moment to look outside.

  The view outside was . . . strange. Just like inside, everything was illuminated in a weird half-light, but there wasn’t any ground. Where the grounds of Fountain Reach should have been was a greyish mist and the sky above was covered in dark cloud. Looking farther into the distance, both mist and cloud faded away within a few hundred feet, meeting in blackness. Somehow I had the feeling that getting out of here on foot wasn’t an option.

  Our new visitor would be arriving in only a couple of minutes, and I hurried down a narrow disused corridor towards the small door at the end. I reached the door, opened it, and paused. Behind the door was only a blank wall.