My own words were like a slap to the face, harsh enough to bring tears to my eyes. You didn't even have the courage to deal with your sister's death. Like I had any room to talk. I'd turned to revenge instead of dealing with Leo. I was a coward too. I hadn't wanted to learn to cope like regular people did over the death of a loved one. Still hadn't.
Blinking hard, I backed away from Morrissey and then hurried off to the academy gate, my heart splintering over the grief I hadn't allowed myself to fully feel. If I survived this, if I could save my friends, Ramsey, and the entire world of Amaria, I vowed to stop being a coward and finally deal with Leo's death. If... There was so much riding on that if.
The gates of the academy had fallen, and outside them, dead littered the ground. Some fresh, some ancient, but I didn't dwell on them. I picked my way over them as fast as I could while I wound my way through the path in the forest. My senses awakened to every sound, but everything, including the trees, appeared dead. Before, the trees outside the academy grounds had been alive, but the war had affected them, too, and the prickling feel of a lot of spent magic thickened the air.
Only minutes had passed when I finally stepped foot into the abandoned village, but it felt like an eternity. Though the farther I went into the village, the less abandoned it began to feel...and sound.
Screams echoed, sharp and pained. I picked up one faint magical signature through my blood bond, then another that didn’t come from my blood bond. I shouldn’t have scented the second one though. That one belonged to Headmistress Millington, who was supposed to be back at the academy while lying unconscious in a pool of her own blood.
I raced down the village’s main road toward a small boat docked on the beach. When I drew closer, everything I saw pulled me up short. Jon lay on the ground a few yards away, unmoving. Ryze and the headmistress walked together away from him toward the boat, the Staff of Sullivan in the headmistress’s hand. And between them and the boat stood Seph. Her black cloak whipped around her as she stared them down. Parts of me cheered and crumbled at the sight of her, upright and alive, but all alone. Her against them.
I started running at a full sprint, ignoring Jon, ignoring Seph, ignoring everyone but my enemies. “Ryze!”
Like he had all the time in the world, he turned.
Without another thought, I took the dagger from my boot and a death charm from my pocket which was meant to invite death closer. I slipped the charm into his pocket. At the same time, I plunged the dagger deep into his chest.
He grinned, victorious. But...why?
Oh gods. Something was wrong.
Pain flared through my chest and twisted, hot and fierce. It stole my breath and sounded an alarm through my head. Warmth seeped down my cloak, and when I smashed my hand to it, my fingertips came away bloody. There wasn't a blade there, though, only inside Ryze. I blinked up at him in agony.
There wasn’t an ounce of pain in his expression, nor a drop of blood on him. "If you want me dead, then I’ll make sure you die too."
"So be it," I said between pants. I sucked in air but choked on a wet-sounding gurgle.
"It won't be long."
I withdrew my knife to bury it back into him again, but the world slid sideways and took me with it.
“No!” Seph shouted.
I slumped to the sandy beach, and my body had already started to go numb. I was losing badly against him, yet again, but I couldn't. Not this time. But what else could I do? I could barely breathe, let alone say a healing spell, and even if I used magic against him, he might just use it against me right back.
“Come with me, Dawn,” he said, holding out his hand. “I will take all your pain and worries away.”
Headmistress Millington stared down at me, her expression empty and uncaring.
“Or not.” Ryze dropped his hand and started to turn away.
“Wait,” I rasped, because there had to be something I could do. Something other than lying here defeated yet again.
A shadow streaked past me. A shadow with pointed ears and a tail. Nebbles the Undertaker, with her one orange eye aimed at Seph. A cloth doll dangled from her mouth with bits of hair pinned to its head.
A sliver of hope kindled deep inside my chest. Ryze and the headmistress hadn’t appeared to notice the cat. Or didn’t care.
“I’ll go with you. I’ll join your side.” It hurt to say it, but I’d do whatever it took to buy Seph and Nebbles some time.
“Perfect.” Ryze grinned.
“She’s lying,” Headmistress Millington hissed.
For the briefest of seconds, I caught Seph’s gaze. I took strength from the determined light in her eyes, the fact that they were finally open. She was alive and okay, and together, we might be able to end Ryze.
A victorious grin curled her mouth as she took the doll from Nebbles. Then, she tightened her grip around the head and feet and gave them a violent twist.
Ryze buckled to the ground with a shout of pain. The headmistress fell to her knees next to him. I swiped out hard and fast with my dagger, and it caught her across the cheek.
In my periphery, Ryze twisted and bucked on the sand, his face a mask of torture. His bones snapped, again and again and again.
But I kept my focus on the headmistress. Both of us rose at the same time, her with the staff, me with the dagger. Leo’s dagger. It was poetic justice to see the blood sliding down her cheek from a deep gash, put there by the dagger he’d given me.
I tightened my grip on it. “Give me the staff.”
She took a step backward, glancing sideways at Ryze on the ground. “No.”
“You’re willing to die for him?”
Her gaze narrowed. “You’re going to kill me?”
“I thought that would be obvious by now.”
“Do it, then.” Fear flickered over her expression, and she pinched her thin lips to near invisible.
She was afraid, as she should’ve been. Like Leo had probably been.
I glanced down at the staff in her hand, stark white wood with a black stone on one end. The Equalizer contains unknown powers, The Book of Gray Stone had read. It brings light to the dark and dark to the light. It had brought the dark to the light by sucking up the black stone to its end. That was important...somehow.
You’re almost just like me, Dawn, Ryze had said. Almost. Because I hadn’t killed. If I killed the headmistress, I would be just like him. She’d be dead, though, and that was what I wanted. Right? No, I wanted to save Amaria even more, and to do that...
I slashed my blade across her neck. Her eyes popped wide and she gasped. The staff dropped from her grip, but I caught it before it hit the ground. Then I aimed it at Ryze.
A powerful light exploded out from the end with the onyx. The stone shattered. The light surrounded him and dragged his writhing form closer. The light swallowed me and the headmistress up, too, and seared blinding white light to the back of my skull.
The Equalizer brings light to the dark and dark to the light.
The three of us—we were all dark.
Ryze and Headmistress Millington screamed, and another voice joined in, equally agonized and pained. It sounded just like me, but I hurt too much to process anything beyond that. The screams faded, and then...a blissful nothingness swept me away.
Chapter Eight
All I remember was waking up back in the infirmary wing at the academy with five anxious faces peering down at me. Six including Nebbles, who sat next to my feet. My parents, Echo, Jon, and Seph, too, but I wouldn't let myself look at her gorgeous face just yet because I knew I'd lose it. I needed to ask one very important question first.
I licked my dry lips, preparing myself for an unsatisfactory answer just in case. "Is he dead?"
My dad bowed his head over our clasped hands, tears coursing down his face. Seeing him cry always cracked me open and made my heart bleed, so I imagined whatever he might say next would drain me into a useless husk. It couldn't be good. His tears never came with positive news.
> Mom rested a hand on his shoulder, her blue eyes bright as she gazed at me. "Yes."
I sucked in a breath. "But?"
"No but, Dawn. You killed him. You saved Amaria."
"Really?"
"You were there. You don't remember?" Echo nudged my foot, a wide smile blooming across her face. Faint bruises still marred her body, and I would learn later that she’d fought Ryze nearly to the death to keep her hold on the Staff of Sullivan. Jon had also barely survived and would thank my parents profusely from then on for saving him.
"I remember..." Swallowing hard, I reached my hand toward Seph, still not daring to look at her, and she grasped my hand with both of hers. "I remember having a lot of help."
"I had a cat play fetch like a dog. That’s all." At Nebbles's hiss, Seph added, "Yes, Your Majesty, I'll wash my mouth out at that filthy word."
I closed my eyes at the sound of Seph's musical voice, hardly able to believe she was really back with me. "Where is he now?"
"Still floating in a ball of white light,” Jon said. “The Equalizer seems to seek out the darkest thing it can. Professor Lipskin thinks the Ministry of Law Enforcement will send him to another realm he will never get out of.”
"Headmistress Millington is in jail,” Mom said, her voice growing hard.
I nodded, remembering I’d only slashed her neck with the intent to catch her off guard, not to kill. Despite what Ryze said, I wasn’t at all like him.
“Morrissey turned herself in to the Ministry." Echo cracked her knuckles. "I would have liked to have gone up against my former roomie, but maybe it's a good thing I didn't."
"Yeah..." By killing the headmistress, I would've allowed my grief to suffocate me instead of finding the courage to face it head-on. And that was what I needed to do, not wallow in it until it festered into an act of murder. I still wanted her to pay, but not by my hand. I needed to grieve in peace with my parents so I could be free in all the ways that mattered.
Dad's tears plinked down onto my arm, and I gripped his hand tighter.
"Are you okay?" I whispered.
He breathed in deeply and nodded. "I'm relieved, so relieved that you're here and... I'm just so damn proud of you, Dawn. I'm the luckiest dad ever to have a daughter as brave as you. To face Ryze like that, to stop him... It's..."
Reckless. Stupid. Terrifying. Those were the words I came up with.
"Humbling," Mom said with a sweet little shrug, her chin trembling.
"I would do it again for just you two," I breathed. “I love you.”
"Ditto, kid," Dad choked out.
Echo rose to her feet, swiping her hand across her nose. "On that note, I'm going to go and let you rest. I relief-cry best when I'm hitting something."
Without tearing his gaze from Seph, Jon stood too. "I'll be right outside the door if you need anything."
My parents left as well, but I kept my hand locked around Seph's when she started to follow.
"Don't you dare."
She chuckled and the hoops in her ears clinked together, a melody I'd missed with every bone in my body. Finally, I looked at her, and instead of falling apart, I felt almost whole again, like one of the vital missing parts of my life had been found and had clicked into position once more. Funny how a friendship could grow into something I felt I needed more than air.
"You good?" I whispered.
"I..." She blinked down at her lap and took a deep breath. "I killed people."
"No, you did not. Professor Wadluck made you sleepwalk and was controlling you. You had nothing to do with it."
"But...my hands did things I don't even remember doing. I activated the stone. I..." She shook her head, her expression tortured.
"Nobody blames you. We were both used as pawns, and the people of Amaria see that very clearly." If they'd shown me an ounce of judgement, I was pretty sure I would've crumbled under the pressure and guilt I'd already placed on myself. But they hadn't. There were good, decent people, and I wanted desperately to focus on them for a change instead of the murderers and outliers who'd joined forces with Ryze.
"Do...do you think I'll learn to forgive myself eventually?" she asked.
"I'm positive you will."
"And what about you?"
"There's nothing to forgive."
"No, I mean how are you?"
"I...don't know yet? I can't quite believe it's really over, and...I'm also ridiculously hopeful."
She grinned. "About?"
"Life. Finding the courage to live it and starting freshman year over with my favorite roommate."
She sighed, her dark eyes shimmering. "That sounds like the best idea I've heard in a very long time. You're sure you can put up with me again?"
"I'm afraid you're stuck with me forever."
"Lucky me. But Necromancer Academy? Now that you're not in the revenge business, you could enroll at White Magic Academy and—"
"Nope. This is who I am now. A dark mage whose magic is stuck on black." I shrugged. "The color of my magic doesn't define me. My choices do, and I choose to stay here where I feel like I've done something worthwhile. Besides, you and Jon and Echo are here, and..." Even saying his name burdened my heavy heart.
Seph's gaze narrowed. "What are you not telling me?"
"I... Somehow I fell in love," I whispered.
"Ramsey, you mean. I knew this.” She threw up her arms, scaring Nebbles off the bed. “I could see it happening right in front of me."
“See what?"
"You falling for him when you were no longer sure if he killed your brother. And he... Well, he banana'd over you right from the get-go. The way he looked at you and worried over you when you were locked in the dungeon... It was obvious he was in love with you."
I sank my eyes closed briefly as memories whirled through my mind—first hating him, then feeling annoyed by him, and then, impossibly, the thrill of a simple touch.
"There's more.” I looked at her imploringly. “He died. Ryze killed him.”
“Oh gods, Dawn.” She blew out a shaky breath.
“But after he died, I wasn't thinking. I separated his soul into six stones, or I tried to anyway. I wondered if you would activate them so I can maybe bring him back."
"You know I will," she said simply. No harsh judgements about the dangers of soul separation or reminders that it might not even be possible after such a short amount of time. Not from her, my best friend in the world. "I wasn't exactly present when I activated the onyx, but I'll do what I can."
"It won't be the same as with Ryze. I don't know how I know, but I just know. If there's even a hint that it will hurt you, we won't—"
"We'll try. You deserve a chance at happiness, and if he's what makes you happy, we'll try."
"He is, but he's not the only one." Finally giving in to my tears, I wrapped her up in a tight hug I didn't plan on breaking anytime soon. "I've missed you terribly, and my new goal in life is to make you sick of me."
She chuckled as she clung to me, a teary yet happy sound. "Well, good luck with that."
IT TOOK A FEW DAYS for me to be mentally prepared enough to see anyone beyond my inner circle, let alone to piece Ramsey's soul back together. I wanted to be in topmost shape for that, but my energy after the battle kept me dragging. One cure for that? Bread.
Magic had put the academy back together again quickly, and the reliving had been returned to their graves. Miraculously, we didn’t have to bury anyone for the first time. None of ours died.
I followed my nose toward the Gathering Room with Seph, the scent of fresh-baked bread summoning my growling stomach. Even though the entryway was empty, the academy buzzed with excited energy. Or maybe that was just me and my taste buds.
When I opened the closed doors, the Gathering Room exploded into raucous cheers. The place was bursting with mages of all ages standing and cheering for—us?
Seph and I shared a wide-eyed look, but sure enough, it was our names that were being chanted. Those, and “Hail to the stone destroyers!
” and “Heroes of Amaria!” Even the skulls in the chandeliers joined in.
My parents stood close to the door and seemed to cheer the loudest. Near them, a family of crowned royals dressed in bright colors who were nearly as beautiful as Seph had tears in their eyes as they clapped politely.
Jon and Echo bustled up to our sides with energized grins, took our hands, and threw them into the air. The cheers grew even louder.
I stood awkwardly and took it in, though I hoped it would end soon. As someone who felt more comfortable slipping into the shadows in the literal sense, being the center of attention felt odd, but I grinned and tolerated it. Amaria deserved a reason to celebrate, and a reason to love, which Jon reminded us of in the next moment.
He took Seph’s face in his hands, tipped her head back, and kissed her deeply. Her already rosy cheeks turned redder as she kissed him right back. My heart swelled for the two of them, but I found myself wishing for my own love. If I couldn’t merge Ramsey’s body and soul, would I ever find love like that again? Could I even do it, or would I have to wait one thousand years like Ryze had?
As the cheers finally began to fade, Echo caught my eye and nodded. She had the six stones, the catacombs had his body, but did I have the strength? Only one way to find out.
“WISH ME LUCK?” SEPH knelt next to the six stones lying on the ground in the catacombs. We’d waited until later that night, long after the celebration had ended.
“Good luck,” Echo and I whispered.
Jon hovered over her and wiped his hands down his cloak. “I...I wish I could help you. If something goes wrong...”
I squeezed his shoulder in solidarity, though I doubted he was more worried than I was. Seph didn’t seem scared at all.
“These rocks aren’t whispering to me,” she’d assured us. “They don’t make me feel sick like the onyx did, and I can go near them. Ramsey is obviously not like Ryze.”
True. Still, I gripped the Staff of Sullivan like it was the only thing keeping me upright.
Necromancer Uprising: Book 4 Page 7