Jon stood from Seph's bedside as soon as I entered her once-more guarded room. Echo sat in the corner chair researching through a stack of books, the Staff of Sullivan leaning against her chair.
"What's happening? Any word?" Jon asked, obviously sensing through our blood bond I was me rather than the headmistress.
"Could you excuse us for just a minute?" I asked the many guards stationed around her bed. I’d quadrupled her protection, but I still didn’t know if it would be enough.
They shuffled out, leaving the three of us to talk privately.
"Ryze is here, and I don't have a clue what to do next," I admitted. "But I brought back the giant from the catacombs to hopefully buy us some time."
"You what?" Echo dropped the Book of Gray Stone, but Jon's quick reflexes saved the big tome from crashing to the ground.
He held it protectively to his chest. "A freaking giant?"
"Never mind that. Tell me you found something."
Echo shook her head. "I haven’t found anything."
I sighed and rubbed my temples.
"But maybe we found something already,” Jon said. “Osteomancy led me to the Book of Gray Stone when I asked the bones how to help Seph. The Book mentioned the Equalizer but not the Staff of Sullivan."
I sank into the seat next to Echo’s. "It could be one and the same. The staff is obviously important to Ryze, but we already tried it on the stone and nothing."
Jon wagged his finger in the air while nodding. "We tried it on the stone. Not Seph."
Sighing deeply, I stared at my roommate floating above her bed, one hand reaching and the other gripping the stone. I thought she'd been reaching for us, but maybe... Maybe it wasn't us at all. Subconsciously, she might've known what she needed to break out of whatever activating the stone had done to her.
I rose from my chair and took the Staff of Sullivan, my gut knotting around itself. Still, we had no idea what the staff would do.
"What if it hurts her?" I whispered.
"What if it helps her?" Jon smiled grimly.
All we wanted was our princess back, and at this pivotal point, we had to try. Amaria depended on it, and we were out of time to play it safe.
I strode toward Seph, angling toward her outstretched hand. With a glance at Echo and Jon, I placed the staff into her outstretched hand. Her fingers snapped around it instantly. I jerked backward, my blood jumping. Echo and Jon gasped.
We waited, our attention glued to Seph. We waited some more, but nothing else happened. Frustration welled as I ground my teeth together and the back of my eyes burned.
"Seph, please," I said, my voice cracking. I leaped up onto her bed next to her and cradled her face. "You have the Staff of Sullivan. Maybe even the Equalizer. What do we need to do now? Ryze is here, and he will take the onyx and you with it if we can’t destroy it first. Please. We don't have much time."
The academy’s foundation quaked and nearly threw me off the bed. The tremble shook loose dirt and stone which plumed down from the ceiling. I didn’t know what was happening, but my nerves stretched taut. We needed to hurry.
“Seph!” I cried.
She’d grabbed the staff. She wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t important. Right?
Another harsh blow hit the academy and sent me flying off the bed.
With sweat dotting his brow, Jon adjusted the staff in her grip so it pointed toward the stone. A sucking noise emanated from it, and somehow, someway, the onyx zipped from Seph’s grip and stuck to the end of the staff. She dropped to the bed. The staff clattered to the floor with the real stone attached.
Echo rushed to pick the staff and onyx up. Then we stood there, none of us daring to breathe.
Seph’s lashes fluttered. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. She sucked in a long breath.
“Seph.” The hope in Jon’s voice melded with my own and knotted up my throat.
I held perfectly still, thinking I might mess this blissful dream up if I risked moving.
Not Nebbles though. She jumped up onto her beloved princess’s bed—but then her hackles raised and she hissed toward the slightly open door.
Screams echoed from somewhere inside the academy.
My blood turned ice cold. I turned to Echo. “Take the staff and run.”
“How do I destroy the stone?” she asked, panicked.
“Just run for now,” I said in a rush.
Echo raced from the room.
“I’m not leaving her,” Jon said, shaking his head.
“I would never ask you to.” I started toward the door, wishing I could stay, too, but knowing I couldn’t. “I’ll send in the guards.”
Once I did, I raced through the infirmary hall to figure out what was happening, then drew a symbol on this wing’s door to keep it shut. In this part of the building, things seemed relatively quiet. In the entryway, though, it was a different matter.
Through the open front doors, the reliving were already flooding up the front steps. Ryze’s. Ours. I had no idea, and I didn’t even have time to shut the doors to keep them out. The giant was nowhere to be found.
I ran and flung open the doors to the classroom wing, and once I shut them, quickly scrawled the locking symbol onto them. Then I turned.
And faced Ryze himself.
Chapter Seven
My stomach dropped and bottomed out at the sight of Ryze. We were alone in the hallway, dark mage against dark mage. Confusion flashed behind his eyes as he took in my headmistress form.
With just a thought, I changed back into myself, not for his benefit but for mine. When I killed him, he needed to know it was me.
He shook his head, one corner of his mouth curling. "A skin-walker. A shadow-walker. A thief. A killer. You’re almost just like me, Dawn."
"I'm nothing like you," I hissed. "And I haven't killed anyone."
"Yet, you mean. You plan on trying to kill me."
"I brought you back from death. Seems fitting I should send you back."
"Hm." He quirked an eyebrow, the disbelieving grin spreading over his face scraping my nerves. "How will you kill me though? You and your friends have gone up against me before. Do you need me to remind you what happened?"
"Five stones have been destroyed.” I raised my eyebrows. “Which means you’re weak."
"Am I though?” He took a step closer. “Really?"
He was trying to shake my confidence, but it was my resolve he should've been worried about. I would not quit until one of us was dead.
The peppermint smell and invigorating feeling of Echo’s magic touched our renewed blood bond. She was close. My ears pricked at the faintest sound of footsteps from above, even though the ceiling towered high above us. I had a feeling I’d be seeing her face through a murder hole sometime very soon like she’d done at Ryze’s castle. It might just be a good enough distraction so I could beat him this time.
"Show me. Show me how dark your magic can really go,” Ryze dared. “Ever done a killing spell before? Would you really mean it? Try it and find out.”
"So I'll drain my magic faster and fall into mage's oblivion?" I clicked my tongue and shot him a withering glare. "Even you know I'm not that stupid."
He held out his hands and laughed. "You intrigue me, you know. I don't think I've ever met anyone quite as relentless as you."
Sure enough, a hole appeared midair behind Ryze’s head. Behind it, Echo caught my eye and held up a finger.
"I really don't care what you think of me. I only care about what I think of you, and what I'm thinking now is”—I pursed my lips, stalling and stalling some more for Echo’s sake—"I wish you'd step a little to the left."
His gaze sharpened on me, and then he lifted it to the murder hole, right on time. Boiling black oil poured down on top of him from a large barrel. While he screamed in agony, it streamed down his face and coated his clothes. The stench wafting from his smoking body turned my stomach, but I smiled through it.
"Just kidding about the stepping left part
," I said over his cries. "I just wanted you to look up and see what was coming."
His screams morphed instantly into a cold, dark chuckle. "Speaking of what's coming..."
My heartbeat spiked, and in the next instant, I barely registered another magical signature over the smell of burning hair and flesh. A signature I’d memorized. Wet fur and a sort of empty feeling.
An arm grabbed me from behind. Steel pressed against my throat, and this time, I wasn’t in the Room of Nightmares at Ryze’s castle. This was real.
A warm breath slid across my cheek. "What I wouldn't give to split your neck like I did your dear brother."
My blood froze at the promise in Headmistress Millington’s voice, but the rest of me blazed with hot rage that she’d even mention my brother. "What's stopping you?"
"My master would be displeased. He's grown fond of you."
"No, I've grown bored with her." Ryze swiped the oil from his face and flicked it to the ground. "Find the onyx. Do what you please with the rest of them." He sneered at me, looked up at the empty hole, and then vanished.
"My day just got so much better," Headmistress Millington said. The steel pressed in deeper behind my ear, and a single drop of blood tracked down the side of my neck.
Was this what Leo had felt right before his death? Complete helplessness and loss? Had he found peace right before? Because I wouldn't. If she killed me, I'd failed, and I would hate her even more because of it.
"Why?" I croaked as the blade sank in deeper. "Why Leo? Tell me."
She stopped the knife, possibly the same one she'd killed my brother with, and a stream of blood trickled down into my cloak. "He was talking too much, telling everyone who'd listen, that the onyx was whispering to him."
Except me. He hadn't told me, and based on my parents' confusion after his death, he hadn’t told them either. Why? Why not us?
Then the answer came in his voice, as if he were here with me watching me relive what he'd gone through: To protect you, Biscuit. Because of course he would do that.
"When he came back here, he told me he'd destroy it," the headmistress said.
"So you destroyed him first." My whole body trembled, and I thought I might be sick. "Why skin-walk as Ramsey?"
"A fluke really. He was the first person I thought of since he kept bothering me about the maps of the academy. Though it would have been nice if you'd killed Ramsey to silence him, I knew he'd never find the Staff of Sullivan."
"Did you steal it?"
"No. The headmaster before me did."
"Why?"
"Because no one knew what it did other than give an entire family its power, and not knowing all that a magical relic is capable of is dangerous."
And now the staff and the stone were joined. But why, unless...?
"The staff destroys the stone." Had that been what Leo meant when he’d said Equalizer? That it would equal out the stone’s darkness? I angled my face the best I could to look at her, to let her see how deep my hatred of her went. "Doesn’t it? Tell me how. Do something good for Necromancer Academy for once in your miserable career as headmistress, and tell me."
Her dark eyes flashed with menace. "You have no idea the good I've done for the academy."
"By working for Ryze? By hiring professors and admitting students who also work for him?"
"I admitted you, even when I knew exactly who you were and why you were here, and look at what you've done over the course of the year. You brought back the greatest, noblest leader Amaria has ever seen. You've perfected black magic so much, you've made it yours. Obviously no small feat. You will do even greater things, far beyond necromancy, and Ryze could help you."
Horror clawed at my blood bond, shortly before Echo screamed from somewhere in the school. Whatever was happening to her, I prayed she was all right.
An unnatural movement scurried out of a classroom behind the headmistress’s shoulder, a collection of moving bones tenting a black cloak. A lock of red hair trailed out from underneath it, speckled with dirt and leaves. Vickie. I’d bet my life on it. The way her body had bent backwards proved it.
I fought back a shiver, pretending I hadn’t noticed. "And what about your help, Headmistress Millington? Would you help me too? If I pledge my support for Ryze, could I count on you too?"
My blood bond began to scream with Jon’s panic. Something terrible was happening.
“Of course I will help you,” the headmistress said sincerely. “My whole family has been dedicated to Ryze since his original reign.”
“Good.” I grinned wickedly and shoved my elbow into her ribs.
She stumbled backward and tripped over Vickie directly behind her. Her arms wind-milled as she fought for balance. Her eyes and mouth opened in wide Os. The knife dropped from her hand as she tilted back, her legs flying over her head. She landed hard, and her head thudded against the ground with a sickening splat.
Vickie scurried off down the hallway.
A war raged inside my heart, part of me wanting to stay behind and make sure the headmistress died. But I couldn’t. My friends needed my help, but I wasn’t sprinting toward them just yet. The headmistress lay unconscious with blood pooling out over the stone floor from her head. I could end this faster for her, slide my dagger across her neck and end her.
Or I could let her die slowly.
I spun around and raced for her office and the exit beyond. Jon’s building panic spiked through the blood in my veins. All I sensed was that he was outside...somewhere. Once I’d made it through the trapdoor, I picked my way over several fallen trees, and even more fallen bodies. Some were fresh, and I searched their faces for anyone familiar. I didn’t see one, but I did find the giant since he was so hard to miss. He lay dead again, a huge skeleton I picked my way through instead of around.
My senses prickled for any sign of movement as I headed toward the main path in front of the academy. My heartbeat thundered against my rib cage. I wanted to save my magic reserves, but wandering out here alone... Well, I might not be able to.
Through the warped, dead trees on the main path, floated Quiet on its side. And standing in front of the pond with her arms spread wide as if controlling the water stood a petite girl.
My fury stampeded up my throat as I stomped toward her. "Morrissey!"
She turned, an annoying smirk on her face. She wore a long black dress buttoned up to her neck with buttons that looked like fangs.
Behind her, Quiet instantly responded to the sound of my voice and the pounding of my footsteps. The hands reaching from inside the pond went into a frenzy. Morrissey swept Quiet closer to me like a threat not to get too close. A threat I planned to ignore.
"Was it worth it?” I shouted. “Was it worth it to betray all your friends here, to use me? All to watch your dear leader rise only to see him fall so quickly?"
Her expression twisted into rage. "No one has fallen."
"So you do talk.” I stopped a few feet away from her and Quiet. “I think I liked it better when you were silent, though it was all for fake reasons, wasn't it? Teeth don't really whisper to you at all, do they?"
"They do." She stepped closer, her black eyes turning impossibly darker. "Yours are screaming for me to listen, but—"
"But I won't listen even if I let you anywhere near my mouth,” I hissed. “You'll just send me on a wild goose chase again, right?"
"I had no idea what you'd find in the familiars' cemetery, Dawn."
"But you knew exactly what would happen when you inserted the magic dampener inside my fake tooth."
"Ryze brought back my sister—"
"Save it for someone who cares," I snarled. "Without a soul, that thing Ryze showed me you think is your sister is nothing like the real thing, and you know it."
She shook her head slightly, her jaw wobbling.
"Do something right for once, and tell me where he is."
She searched the space between us, much smaller than the deep crevasse her betrayal had carved. "He'll kill me."
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Like a stretched nerve, I snapped, my heartbreak over our friendship worn away by her stupid, traitorous face. I charged forward, and before she could do anything to stop me, I wrapped my hand around her neck, and shoved her sideways toward Quiet. We moved so fast, she stumbled over her feet, and I squeezed harder so she'd be sure to stay upright. Then we stopped, just out of the pond's reach.
"Right now, you need to be worried about me, not him," I growled. The sound of my voice stirred the arms faster, and they clawed toward Morrissey since she was closer. "What do you think I will do if you don't tell me where Seph is? What do you think I've wanted to do to you since the day you tricked me into bringing back Ryze? Take a wild guess."
Quiet swiped at her long hair. If I pushed her not even an inch farther, it would take her. One push and it'd be done.
"Dawn..." She choked out. She looked behind her with wide, terrified eyes. "Please."
"Tell me," I demanded.
She met my gaze again, a mix of emotions playing across her face. "The village."
"Why there?"
“Because he has the onyx and the staff.”
I hissed out a breath. No. That meant he’d gotten it away from Echo, and I doubted she’d had time to figure out how to destroy the stone.
"There's a boat on the shore there," Morrissey continued.
I leaned toward her and stared her down. "Are you lying to me?"
"No. You were my friend, too, Dawn."
"I wish that was enough to save you," I fired back.
A battle raged inside me to toss her into the pond or rush toward the village or both. My fingers curled harder around her neck while my gut swam with indecision. I wanted her to suffer, but did I want her dead? In a way, Ryze had tricked her like she'd tricked me, giving her back only part of her sister. What she'd done wasn't the same as murdering Leo. Still, though...
I pushed her. Not forward but to the side where she fell and then scrambled out of Quiet's reach.
"Even if I don't kill you..." I said, towering over her. "Even if Ryze doesn't kill you, your cowardice will. You ran from this academy after you tricked me. You didn't even have the courage to deal with your sister's death."
Necromancer Uprising: Book 4 Page 6