by E. E. Holmes
“Fine, I guess. A bit of a lingering headache, and my hand is still sore, but otherwise I feel totally normal,” I said.
“No fecking heroics, now,” Fiona warned. “Are you sure you’ve recovered?”
“Yes,” I replied, and I looked up at Finn to reassure him, too. “I swear, I’m absolutely okay.”
“Good,” Fiona said, sounding uncharacteristically relieved, “Now for heaven’s sake, do not attempt to draw that thing again.”
“Contrary to popular opinion here, I am not an idiot,” I answered. “I have no intention of trying to connect with the angel again. But can someone over there tell me why that happened? Why did I lose control like that? And what do all the runes mean?”
“What happened was that you attempted to draw something that didn’t want to be drawn. In fact, it doesn’t want to be drawn, seen, felt, or heard! It was protected from detection by a Casting, and a right powerful one at that; that’s why you drew all those runes. What’s happened to you is called a Psychic Habitation—in this case, a defensive one. The angel used your Muse connection to grab onto your subconscious, taking control of you… likely in an effort to keep its own Casting intact. Psychic Habitations are rare, but far stronger than Psychic Trances. They’re also bloody dangerous.”
“Psychic Habitations?” I asked, feeling my mental defenses kick into gear. “If they’re so dangerous, isn’t this something you should’ve told me about?”
“Dogs!” cried Fiona. “Don’t they teach Apprentices anything these days?”
“And what about Campbell?” I asked. “He can’t be using a Casting, can he?”
“Don’t worry about Campbell,” Fiona snapped. “He’s the least of your problems.”
“But, if he’s using—”
“Oi!” Fiona shouted, and I knew if we’d been in the same room, some object would now be hurtling toward my head. “If he’s using Durupinen information, it’s on the orders of that angel creature, or whatever’s hidden on the other side of that Casting. That’s what you need to concern yourself with.”
Finn, in his best Caomhnóir voice, broke in. “Fiona, I want proper instructions on how to release her if it happens again. We were lucky this time, the angel released Jess with minimal interference. I won’t chance that happening again.”
“Yes. Carrick has experience with this. He’s with Braxton putting together information for you as we speak,” she replied.
“Quite right.” declared Finn. I’d never heard “quite right” used as a command before, but somehow Finn managed it.
Fiona turned her attention back to me. “Jess, that angel has intimate knowledge of the Durupinen, and, more importantly, now—whatever that thing truly is—it knows how to get to you.”
“Everyone keeps saying ‘whatever it is,’” began Milo, “but is anyone going to offer some thoughts on what ‘it’ could be?” His voice, alarmed, was higher than usual. “Like, what are the options? Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Can we start with that?”
“We don’t know what it is,” Fiona admitted. “And we won’t until we strip that Casting away and get a good look at it. Now untwist those knickers and listen to me. The angel, for want of a better word, is using a Casting called Masking. When a spirit is Masked, it’s camouflaged so that it can hide in plain sight from both the living and the dead—just like what the Masking bracelets are doing for you, but for spirits.”
“But it’s not hidden, really,” I said. “We can still see that it’s there. It just looks like a cloud instead of its regular form. And for all of us who are Sensitives, it affects us with headaches and dizziness, too.”
“Don’t interrupt me, I’m getting to that!” Fiona snapped. “Either someone has done a poor job with the Casting, or the thing being Masked is not a normal spirit. Either way, the Masking is not functioning properly. But more alarming than that, is this: That angel shouldn’t have been able to force a Psychic Habitation with you in a Warded room.”
“So what are we supposed to do then?” Hannah asked.
“That’s not my job—Cat will talk you through that,” Fiona said dismissively. “But Jess, I’ve got special instructions for you, and you’re to carry them out to the letter, you hear me?”
“Okay,” I said, knowing it was always futile to push back even a little where Fiona was concerned. “What is it?”
“I’m sending all the details for a Casting to block your Muse abilities,” Fiona replied, in a tone that sounded as though the words left a bad taste in her mouth. “It will only work temporarily, but it will help to keep you safe while you’re still at that place.”
I squirmed, hating the thought of messing with my gift. “Isn’t it enough that I won’t try to draw the angel again?”
“Not a chance we’re taking!” Fiona snapped. “It shouldn’t have got past those Wards in the first place, and now that you’ve connected with it once, you’re more likely to be involuntarily drawn to it. Psychic Habitations don’t just take over your consciousness like Psychic Trances do; they take over your subconscious—the very part of yourself you can’t control. So either you muffle the Muse in you, or you risk a Psychic Habitation that you can’t wake up from.”
“That can happen?” I asked, horrified.
“If you come up against a powerful enough one, it could,” Fiona replied. “A spirit once Psychically Habitated in me, and I spent three straight days creating a tapestry depicting her death in the Fairhaven Príosún. Someone found me in my studio and released me, and I consider myself fully lucky. No telling how long that spirit could’ve held me. Don’t risk it, Jess. Follow the instructions I send you. You got that?”
Hannah, Finn, and Milo were all staring at me like I’d suddenly turned into a ticking time bomb. “Okay, okay. I will, I promise.”
“Good. I’ll hand you back over to Cat now. We’ll talk about the artwork you left with me after you’ve finished your assignment there. There were two or three sketches that weren’t complete rubbish, so, I guess, well done you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thank you. As usual, I appreciate the extravagant praise.”
We heard a muffled curse as Fiona tried to hand the phone back to Catriona without dropping it. Then Catriona’s voice began oozing from the speaker.
“Now, then. We’ve been over all of the pictures from last night, including the ones of the property, and the Council has decided that we can’t allow Whispering Seraph to continue. The place must be nixed, and quickly. But before the Trackers can swoop in and shut things down, that angel needs to be Unmasked and contained. And you need to do it.”
We all looked at each other; dismay and alarm were painted on each of our faces.
“Why do we need to do it?” Finn asked; I could tell he was trying his best to sound reasonable and levelheaded. “We haven’t any experience with this sort of thing. Wouldn’t it be better to let a Senior Tracker handle this?”
“You’re hardly out of your skill set, Caomhnóir Carey,” Catriona said, with a sly smile in her tone. “Honestly, if you can’t oversee a simple Casting or two, perhaps you shouldn’t be assigned to a Gateway.”
Finn’s complexion turned a dusky red and he dropped his eyes. I wondered why Catriona thought it was a good idea to mock the very Caomhnóir she was trusting to keep us safe during the Unmasking.
“He’s just doing his job, Catriona,” I said coldly. “Keeping us out of unnecessarily dangerous situations is his primary function here.” Finn raised his head to look at me; he had the merest suggestion of a smile on his face. I returned it and went on, “You, on the other hand, seem to have no problem throwing your mentees straight into the fire, so I don’t really think you should be talking about who’s better at their job.”
Catriona clicked her tongue. “Now now, I do believe I detect a note of sass from you, Jess. I’m not generally accustomed to taking attitude from anyone. But under the circumstances, I’m going to chalk it up to fear overriding your good judgment. I’ll give you a pass this time.”
Oh, she wanted sass, did she? I opened my mouth to let it fly, but Hannah reached out and clapped her hand over my mouth.
“Fine, Catriona, we’re listening,” Hannah said loudly. “Just tell us what we’re supposed to do, and we’ll do our best until the other Trackers get here.” I pulled my face angrily away from her hand, but the gesture had done its job; I kept my mouth shut and listened.
“Your assignment will hardly overstretch your abilities. Find a way to get the angel into a Circle. I don’t care how you do it. Once it’s in there, seal the Circle so it can’t escape. Then follow the instructions I’m sending to you to Unmask it. Once the angel’s been Unmasked, its true form will be revealed; Cage it, or seal the Circle, until the Trackers arrive. But remember, even with your Muse abilities blocked, the Wards might not properly affect this creature, so you can’t count on them for protection. Other than that, it’s really quite simple.”
Again, Hannah, Finn, Milo, and I looked at each other. I could think of about a thousand ways Catriona’s “simple” plan could go disastrously wrong. I knew Hannah, Milo, and Finn could each come up with a thousand more.
“Right, let’s assume we manage to do all of that,” I said slowly. “What are we supposed to do with Campbell until you get here? I doubt he’s going to just stand aside and let us threaten his angel.”
“Separate him from the angel, if you can, so he can’t interfere,” Catriona replied, her tone almost bored. “Distract him somehow.”
“But we’ve never seen the angel without him before,” Hannah pointed out. “We’ve only ever seen them together.”
“But you’ve seen Campbell without the angel,” Catriona said flatly.
Hannah frowned. “Well, yes, but—”
“Well, the angel must go somewhere when they separate. Someone follow it,” Catriona instructed, as if this were the most obvious and mundane course of action in the world. “Must I walk you through every tiny detail? Haven’t you any common sense?”
I very nearly grabbed the phone out of Finn’s hand and hurled it at the wall. He must’ve known I was ready to boil over, because he broke away from our circle and swiped at the screen before bringing the phone up to his ear. “Yes. We’ll do our best, and report back to you with our progress. Nonetheless, you should send the other Trackers as backup immediately. In the meantime, if the situation gets properly dangerous, if the risk is too great, I am pulling my Gateway out, mission be damned.” And he hung up.
The silence that followed hung especially thick in the absence of Catriona’s condescending tones. No one spoke because no one knew what to say. We’d been handed what felt like was an impossible task.
“Right, then,” Finn finally said. “We’ve got our orders. Do we follow them or disregard?”
Hannah looked surprised. “Do we have a choice?”
“We always have a choice,” Finn answered. “You aren’t required to follow Catriona’s orders when a mission becomes too risky. Not even the Council would fault you, if it came to that. We can walk away right now if you want to. Just say the word.”
I looked at the fear Finn was trying so hard to keep out of his eyes, and I wanted to embrace him right then and there. Of course he wanted to give us this out… because of course he wanted us to take it. But weirdly enough, I didn’t want to.
“Here’s the thing,” I began. Hannah turned eagerly toward me, clearly hoping that I would make the decision for both of us. “As much as I want to tell Catriona to take a flying leap, I don’t think we can. We’re in too deep already. No one else will ever be able to get the kind of access to Campbell and the angel that we already have.” I picked up the schedule detailing the time of our session, which was now less than an hour away. “We’ve got an ideal chance to end this now, and I think we should take it.”
“But now the angel knows how to get to you Jess, And we have no idea what we’re doing!” Hannah cried.
“That’s not entirely true,” I said. “Take the fear out of it for a second. Logically, we’ve already faked our way through one communication session—we can fake our way through a second one. When it’s over and the angel leaves, Milo can follow it at a distance.” I turned to Milo, surprised that he hadn’t objected to the plan already. “I know you can be stealthy when you need to be. You can keep an eye on the angel while staying out of sight, can’t you? Just to see where it goes?”
Milo squirmed a little. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Good,” I said, and turned back to Hannah. “So Milo finds out where the angel hides, and we all go after it. Once we get it alone, you and I are more than capable of creating a Circle, aren’t we?”
Hannah bit her lip, but conceded with a nod.
“Finn knows how to control a Circle, it’s Novitiate-level stuff. If the angel gets too feisty, he can expel it. Isn’t that true, Finn?”
Finn nodded. “Yes. I can definitely handle that.”
“And, if we succeed in Unmasking the angel, Finn already knows how to seal that Circle to contain it. If a seal isn’t strong enough to hold it, we can Cage it. Remember, we read all about Cagings—they’re much simpler than Uncagings. And you and I are probably the only Durupinen on this continent who have experience with either one.”
“I don’t like Cagings,” Hannah said warily.
“I don’t like them either,” I agreed. “And maybe we won’t have to use one, but we do have that option as a last resort. So why don’t we just end this, for everyone’s sake? And yes, I’ll be protected. Between Finn’s instructions on how to break me out of a Psychic Habitation, plus the Casting to take away my Muse abilities, I’ll be at least as safe as the rest of you. Then we can go home and let the other Trackers clean up the mess.”
“Ugh, I hate it when you’re right and I’m forced to agree with you,” Milo groaned. “It takes all the fun out of my afterlife.”
Finn sighed, but his face looked determined. “Right, then. Let’s give it a go. But on one condition: If things get out of hand and I give the order to abort, everyone complies, no questions asked.”
I bristled at order and comply, but it was a knee-jerk reaction. I knew Finn wasn’t really trying to wield control, he was just trying to keep us safe; he was doing all he could to minimize what was a potentially a very real threat to our lives. I could get behind that. I trusted him, and I trusted his judgment. Now more than ever.
“No questions asked,” I said quietly. Hannah and Milo both stared at me, but then hastily agreed as well.
“We haven’t much time,” Finn said. “Jess, I’m sure Fiona has already emailed the instructions for blocking your Muse abilities. Take care of that first, so we know you’re safe. And then we’ll start planning.”
22
The Escape Artist
OUR COMMUNICATION SESSION WAS TO BE HELD, ONCE AGAIN, IN THE DRAWING ROOM, and I could only hope the staff had cleaned up the shards of glass from yesterday’s explosion well. From the blurb on the schedule, it sounded as though there would be at least a few other guests sharing the session with us, although we had no idea who these guests would be.
Before going downstairs, we decided to send Milo on a search for Campbell. Milo reported back immediately: Campbell, sans angel, was on the porch, mingling with the guests at breakfast. Much to my stomach’s dismay, we then all agreed to forego breakfast so that we could investigate the drawing room before the session for Group A began. Milo agreed to keep an eye on Campbell while we investigated.
Hannah, Finn, and I split up, each taking a different route to the drawing room. The hallways were deserted; those guests not at breakfast were sleeping in—and likely nursing their hangovers. We each arrived at the entrance to the drawing room without being seen or stopped by anyone. Finn tried the handles, but the French doors were locked.
Finn pressed his ear to the door and listened intently for a few moments. “Empty,” he declared, as he began digging into his pocket. “How much time do we have?”
“Twenty minutes,” I s
aid, bouncing nervously on the balls of my feet. “But I guarantee people will be lining up at the door before that.”
Finn grunted in agreement, then began picking the lock with the instruments he’d extracted from his pocket. I opened up my mouth in surprise, but closed it again as I remembered that Finn—always a prepared Caomhnóir—routinely carried a lock-picking kit. In a matter of seconds, a clicking sound came from the keyhole; Finn pushed the French doors open.
“Right,” he said, turning swiftly to us. “I’ll get the Circle set up. Get a seat on that settee right there, because that will put you within the Circle itself. If Campbell leaves, and the angel remains behind, we’ll Unmask it right there. If it leaves before Campbell does, Milo will follow it to wherever it’s hiding out; we’ll set up a Circle there later.”
My heart was thudding like a base drum. “Got it. What about the other people in the room?”
“Try to get them to shove off as soon as possible. They won’t know what’s happening, but they might sense something if the angel gets spooked,” Finn answered. “Right. I’m going in. Stall the guests for as long as you can. If anyone starts approaching these doors before I’ve re-joined you, you know what to do.”
“Start calling out loudly for Milo!” Hannah said, as if she were answering a game show question.
“Precisely. Here we go, then,” said Finn.
“Good luck…” I whispered, as he slipped through the door and closed it behind him.
Hannah and I immediately trained our eyes on the grandfather clock in the nearby corner, watching the seconds stretch agonizingly into minutes. Only seven of those minutes had actually managed to tick by when we heard footsteps behind us.
Marigold, donning a headscarf and an oversized pair of sunglasses as though in homage to Jackie O., was approaching us. As we watched her come closer, she stopped and put a hand out on either side as though to steady herself. Hers was a particularly vicious hangover—I knew the signs well, thanks to my mother’s own drinking. I was surprised Marigold had even made it out of bed; perhaps she was more determined to communicate with Harold than I’d realized.