Midnight

by Christi J. Whitney

  ‘Ezzie found me first,’ said Hugo. He pressed his ear to the door for a few seconds. When he was satisfied, he continued. ‘Augustine left me in some church basement with a couple of guards. Don’t know where he got off to.’

  ‘Wait, what do you mean, left you?’

  Hugo joined Ezzie, looking over the male guard. He retrieved a pair of wickedly long knives from the Marksman’s belt. ‘I got a nice, friendly escort from the inn to Augustine’s little hiding place. He needed me to tattoo him.’ Hugo looked up at me. ‘That’s how he’s been controlling shadowen. He came up with some special mixture using the contents of the urn. I guess he’d figured it out using all those books he’s stolen. Anyway, he made me tattoo an image of Sebastian on his arm, and then they shot my brother with the last of the prah.’

  I remembered Sebastian’s new arrow wounds. ‘All of it?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Hugo stood, depositing the knives on the bed. ‘Sebastian started screaming and clawing at the stuff like it was acid or something.’ He clenched his hands into fists. ‘By the time I fought my way to him, it was too late. His eyes were … well, it wasn’t him anymore. Augustine was on the floor, grabbing at his own arm like it was burning up. Then, it just stopped. Sebastian went so still I thought … I thought he was dead.’ Hugo jaw tightened. ‘But then, he just stood up, all blank-faced. I yelled at him, but he didn’t even look my way. Augustine told him to go with Donani and wait for instructions. They walked out, just like that. I don’t know where they took him.’

  ‘The dungeons,’ I replied. ‘I just saw him.’

  Ezzie rose quickly. ‘You what?’

  I crossed my arms to my chest, as though I could hold the ache inside. ‘He’s locked up there. Hugo, everything you said about Sebastian, about how he’s acting, I saw it for myself. The Queen let me into the dungeon, but Sebastian didn’t even recognize me.’

  Ezzie frowned. ‘The Queen?’

  I hastily explained everything my aunt had told me, as well as what had happened with Quentin. As soon as I was finished, Hugo immediately began stripping the long black coat off the male guard’s body.

  ‘Well, that answers everything for me.’ He shrugged on the coat, and buttoned it up. It was on the small side, but it fit well enough. ‘So the first order of business is breaking Sebastian out of there.’

  ‘What about his current condition?’ asked Ezzie, as she took the other guard’s coat and adjusted the long sleeves. ‘It doesn’t sound as though he will come willingly.’

  ‘And I don’t have any Vitamin D on me,’ said Hugo. ‘Though I have a pretty bad feeling it wouldn’t matter if I did.’

  ‘Hugo,’ I said. ‘Was the only thing different about Sebastian his eyes?’

  ‘Isn’t that enough?’

  My stomach turned unpleasantly. ‘Your parents were concerned about what might happen if the prah from the urn of Keveco and the head of La Gargouille were to mix.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he replied, his forehead creasing. ‘They were.’

  ‘I think it’s already happening,’ I replied.

  ‘So you’re telling me, this isn’t the worst of it.’

  ‘You need to see him for yourself.’ I took the smallest knife from the bed and tucked it into my boot. It wasn’t the most intimidating weapon from the Marksmen’s stash, but I felt better, just having a blade within easy reach. ‘We’ve got to get to the dungeon, but we don’t have long. They’ll be coming to get me soon, and if I’m not here—’

  ‘Got it,’ Hugo replied, glancing at the guards. ‘But we should probably take care of these guys first.’

  I hurried over the dresser and pulled out several thick ribbons from the drawer where I’d taken mine. I tossed some to Ezzie, and we tied up the guards. Ezzie fished a set of keys out of her stolen Marksman coat.

  ‘Okay, let’s go,’ I said, heading for the door.

  Hugo and Esmeralda pulled up the hoods of their cloaks. From a short distance, they looked convincingly enough like Marksmen. We stepped into the hall and locked the door behind us. They took up positions on either side of me, acting like an escort in case we passed anyone.

  When we reached the dungeon, I hesitated at the doorway. I didn’t want to see him like that again, but we had to help him. We had to figure out a way to fix the damage Augustine had done. My hand trailed to my necklace. I couldn’t feel Sebastian’s presence anymore. The sensation made me cold all over, like I’d stepped into a freezer.

  Hugo raised his brows at us in silent question. I shook myself off and nodded back at him. Ezzie took out the Marksmen’s keys and pressed one to the lock, but the door swung open. We eased cautiously into the rectangular room, Ezzie in the lead. I listened as hard as I could. The room was uncannily quiet.

  Ezzie made a tense noise in the back of her throat. ‘Shadowen.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I whispered, peering into the alcoves. ‘Quentin said this is where they hold shadow creatures to use for Marksmen training.’ I shuddered. ‘They keep them drugged up, apparently.’

  As we neared the enclosure where I’d seen Sebastian, I got a sickly, slithering feeling in the pit of my stomach – worse even than when I’d looked at him for the first time. I blinked my eyes, refusing to believe what I saw.

  The barred door had been ripped from its hinges.

  ‘This isn’t good,’ said Hugo.

  It felt like something heavy had been dropped on my chest. I rushed inside the empty cell, pushing down a churning feeling of panic. Something caught my eye on the floor, and I bent to pick it up. It was a metal cuff.

  ‘The Marksmen put these on Sebastian at the Circe.’

  Ezzie knelt beside me and picked up the matching one. ‘I know these,’ she said, turning it into the light so we could see the short rows of diamond spikes lining the inside of the cuff. ‘They prevent gargoyles and chimeras from shadowing. The constant pressure drains a shadowen’s energy, as the diamonds do not allow them to fully heal.’ She looked up at Hugo. ‘I hadn’t realized that the Marksmen still possessed such devices.’

  I rotated the cuff in my fingers. The locking mechanism was wrenched, like it had been pried off with a lot of force. I threw the band across the cell, and it smacked against the wall. ‘Sebastian did this.’

  Hugo ran his hand along a severed hinge. ‘And this door was destroyed from the inside, which means, he broke himself out.’

  I dashed outside, the others right on my heels. ‘He could be anywhere,’ I said over my shoulder we went back through the corridor. ‘He’s hurt and he’s not himself. We have to find him before something terrible happens.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Hugo. ‘To somebody else.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You saw what I saw, Josephine. I don’t think we’re dealing with Sebastian anymore. I don’t know if it’s Augustine fault or if it’s this La Gargouille my parents say he is, but if he’s running around loose down here—’

  ‘Just a moment,’ said Ezzie.

  The urgency in her voice pulled me up short, and I whirled. Hugo and I watched as Ezzie closed her eyes. Her brow furrowed, and her face turned rigid with concentration. I bit my lip, anxious. We couldn’t afford to waste any more precious minutes.

  ‘Can you track him?’ Hugo asked.

  ‘I can’t tell. There’s something else.’ She took a deep breath through her nose, and Ezzie’s eyes suddenly glittered silver under the tunnel lanterns. ‘Sebastian isn’t the only gargoyle here.’

  ‘Well, that’s just great,’ said Hugo.

  I ignored him. ‘Ezzie, can you find them?’

  ‘I think so,’ she replied, glancing at Hugo.

  ‘And you’re sure they’re gargoyles?’ I asked. ‘Not the other things?’

  ‘I’m sure.’

  I stared down the long corridor. Time was ticking away. Soon, the Queen would come to fetch me. If I wasn’t there, she’d send her guard to find me. I would not be forced back, not when I was this close. ‘We need help,’ I said. ‘If there are gargoyles here, then th
at means they’re guardians, too. Surely they’ll help us.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Ezzie didn’t look convinced. ‘There’s only one way to find out.’

  ‘Okay.’ I’d made up my mind. ‘Lead the way.’

  37. Josephine

  We tried keeping to the smaller tunnels, but it grew more difficult the closer we approached the central portions of the Court of Shadows. Hugo and Ezzie fell back, allowing me to take the lead for appearance’s sake, even though Ezzie whispered directions to me as we walked.

  For the first time, I appreciated the Queen’s gift of new clothes. Even if someone were to recognize me, it looked as though I was on my way to the Gathering Celebration, same as anyone else. Hugo and Ezzie, with their long coats and heavy hoods, blended in tolerably, but we made sure to avoid any Marksmen we saw coming in our direction.

  We turned into another hall. Pools of warm light spilled out from several wide, arched doorways on the right. Noises and food smells drifted outside the room. It was the Gathering Chamber, but it wasn’t empty anymore, like it had been when I’d met with the Queen. Several hundred Gypsies crowded around the long tables and stood in groups along the walls.

  I paused at one of the archways. I scanned the room, but I didn’t see any of the Corsis or Katie amongst the crowd. I felt a hand on my shoulder, coaxing me away from the entrance.

  ‘Turn here,’ said Ezzie in a low voice.

  I quickly complied, passing through an intersection of corridors that led from the Gathering Chamber and down several steps. The air turned cooler, and the noise and pleasant smells of dinner faded. The hallway veered to the left. Two Marksmen appeared, coming our way up the corridor.

  ‘Hey,’ said the first man, the taller of the two. ‘You’re not allowed down here.’

  ‘The Queen sent me to speak with the gargoyles,’ I said. He hesitated, caught off-guard by my reply. I took a chance and dove right in. ‘I don’t have a lot of time. She wants to make sure everything is in order.’

  His eyes swept over me, taking in the style and colors of my clothes. At least I looked like I was a high-ranking clan member, even if there was no evidence of anything else. ‘Alright,’ he finally replied, ‘But make it quick.’

  I brushed by him and went straight for the first opening I saw – a large wooden door with an arched top. I prayed that I’d made the right choice as I put my hand on the large iron handle.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said, turning over my shoulder. ‘That will be all.’

  The Marksman moved forward. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t let—’

  A swift blow to the head cut him off. He fell at Ezzie’s feet. The other Marksman didn’t even have time to grab his weapon. Hugo’s massive arm clamped around his throat, and he slumped unconscious to the floor in a matter of seconds.

  ‘That went better than I expected,’ I said.

  ‘Nice job,’ Hugo replied.

  Esmeralda didn’t respond. Her eyes had shifted again, from hazel to a silvery sheen, and expression seemed caught between wonder and disgust. I reached out, touching the sleeve of her Marksman disguise. She flicked her gaze towards me and mouthed one word: gargoyles.

  Hugo slid one of his stolen diamond daggers from inside his coat, but Ezzie stopped him with a fluid wave of her hand. She closed her eyes, and her thin brows drew close together in concentration. A few moments passed, as Ezzie remained in the same motionless posture, eyes shut and head bowed.

  ‘Something isn’t right, Badrick,’ said a low, female voice from the other side of the door.

  ‘I agree, replied a deep male voice. ‘He is not a chimera. You saw that as well as I when he was brought before us. But neither is he like us.’

  ‘You believe it is true, then,’ answered the female voice. ‘This Augustine has indeed found a way to manipulate our kind even further. This is why they are allowing him to join their ranks.’

  ‘Do you question it, Tamzen?’ said the one she’d called Badrick. ‘Their quest is the acquisition of power, as it has been since before the Sundering. Perhaps they were once content to leave these Outcast Clans alone, but when word of a new power comes along, they are drawn to it as insects to flame.’

  The female began a reply, but abruptly their voices ceased, and a heavy quiet fell on the other side of the door. Ezzie’s head dropped further, and her lips moved slightly.

  ‘You may enter,’ said the male in a louder voice. ‘There are no Gypsies here.’

  Ezzie opened her eyes, and as she looked at me, I realized she’d been speaking with them telepathically. She nodded at Hugo. He tucked the dagger back into his long coat as I pushed open the door.

  The room was a large circular space, with a high jagged ceiling held together by thick wooden rafters. A railed balcony ran around half the space, but the rest had been destroyed. The pillars that held up that side of the balcony were cracked, and wood and debris covered the floor. Before my brain had time to formulate any questions about what had happened, I saw them.

  Four gargoyles.

  They turned to regard us, and I faltered as I took in the sight of them. Apart from Sebastian, I’d only seen Augustine’s gargoyles, and I refused to even put them in the same category, long before they’d become anything else. These gargoyles were nothing like that.

  A feeling of ancient mystery wafted around them like invisible smoke. Their gray faces looked noble, despite their intimidating appearance. As I studied them warily, I felt a kind of awed fear, like I might feel if I were to encounter a shark in the middle of the ocean. I’d never been afraid of Sebastian when it came to my own safety, but these new shadowen sent a tremor up my spine.

  They were dressed in clothing from a different place and time. The style reminded me of Renaissance tunics and breeches, but the fabric was a shimmery gray that blended with their skin, making the gargoyles appear even more like moving statues. They shared characteristics with Sebastian, but they weren’t quite the same. None of them had horns, and the wings that jutted from their backs in sharp angles didn’t trail the floor, like his often did.

  I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed the intense, silent standoff going on between the gargoyles and Esmeralda. Hugo stood a little at a distance, watching them carefully, his thick brows lowered in confused concern. They were speaking to each other again. The male gargoyle’s expression remained frigidly barren.

  ‘Esmeralda,’ he said, finally, speaking out loud for our benefit.

  ‘Badrick,’ she replied in a civil tone.

  He studied her carefully. ‘It has been a long time since last we met. Tell me, how have you fared all these many years since the Sundering?’

  ‘Well enough.’

  His expression remained passive. ‘And you do not sleep.’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I was given a second chance at life.’

  ‘Is that what you call this?’ he asked, gesturing at her with a repulsed grimace. ‘Living as a human, and not even one of Roma blood, at that. It appears you have been rejected from not one world, but two.’ His features molded into a stoic smile. ‘But your judgment was fair. You killed your charge, and you betrayed the Sobrasi.’

  Hugo inched closer, his hand staying to his inside coat pocket and anger building in his eyes. The gargoyles moved closer. Esmeralda, however, didn’t move a muscle. With fierce eyes, she continued to stare down the one she’d called Badrick.

  ‘Markus died because I was not there to save him,’ said Ezzie, her voice ripe with tension. ‘But I did not kill him.’

  ‘And why did you leave him alone, when the Roma were in such dire need of their protectors, when the blood wars were at their highest point and even the Sobrasi were turning on each other?’

  ‘It was the only thing I could do,’ she replied.

  As I watched the tortured look spreading over her face, I understood why. Esmeralda had fallen in love with her charge, and she knew it was forbidden. She tried to leave him.

  Hugo put a hand on her arm. ‘Hey, you d
on’t own them anything.’ His intense gaze bored into Badrick, and there was no fear behind his glare.

  ‘No, I don’t,’ she said. She seemed to be fighting an inner struggle, but she didn’t pull out of Hugo’s grasp. Instead, she spoke only to him. ‘I thought there might be a way to release Markus from our bond, that perhaps he would no longer feel the same towards me. I went before the Sobrasi and told them all, thinking they would help me. Instead, they dragged Markus before their meeting and accused him of betraying his duties. He escaped their clutches, but they sent shadowen after him. And I was not there to protect him.’ Esmeralda’s silver eyes flashed. ‘The Sobrasi ceased being a force of good long ago. The Roma that were worthy of those positions were killed or banished, leaving only greedy traitors in their place. The Sobrasi have no honor anymore.’

  The lead gargoyle approached until he and Ezzie were face to face. ‘In this, we do agree.’

  Silence fell. I waited as long as I could. ‘If you feel that way, then we could really use your help.’

  Badrick’s eyes slit toward me. ‘Esmeralda, who are these Gypsies?’

  ‘Josephine Romany and Hugo Corsi,’ she replied.

  He took his time, looking us over. I had the unnerving sensation that a whole lot was being said between the gargoyles that Hugo and I would never hear. Esmeralda didn’t react, either way. After he’d completed his internal review of us – or whatever Ezzie said about us – he nodded again.

  ‘It is an honor to meet members from such renowned clans,’ he said. ‘I am called Badrick. This is Tamzen.’ He gestured to the female on his right. She was tall and slim, with cropped pewter hair that hung wild around her shoulders. ‘And these are Gussalen and Sunniva.’

  The other two female gargoyles made a similar greeting, but they didn’t speak. I opted to return their formal introductions with a greeting we used when other clan members came to visit the Circe. ‘God has sent you.’

  Badrick’s expression shifted into one of approval, as through he hadn’t expected the words. ‘It is by God we have been sent.’