by E. E. Holmes
I shook my head. “This is no trick. I know you have no reason to believe me—”
“No reason at all. Your words are empty, Northern Girl, as are all words that fall from Durupinen lips. Hollow, empty lies.”
I tried to keep my tone measured, although I was frustrated enough to reach through the Circle and shake her. “Irina, haven’t you just told me how badly you want to answer the call of the Gateway? This is your one chance—the Council will not give you another once they have you in custody. And the Trackers are coming for you now.”
She didn’t answer, but let out another pathetic, whimpering howl.
A sudden rush of energy flooded me. I looked down; Hannah had all four element candles lit. She clutched the fifth one, the slender white Spirit Candle, in her hand.
Irina lifted her head like a dog picking up a scent. She had felt it too, the nearness of her escape, the path home at last. She turned wild eyes on me.
“We’re ready for you,” I told her.
Irina’s face twisted and twitched, transforming itself into a battleground for her warring desires. “If I go, nothing will change. The Durupinen will still hold all the power! All those spirits—all trapped here in this wretched mansion. What of them, Northern Girl? What will become of them?”
“No one here is trapped,” I said as soothingly as I could, although my heart was pounding in my throat. “All the spirits here will have the choice to Cross whenever they’re ready. In fact, some of the spirits who are here with us now may even choose to Cross with you.”
“So many,” she moaned. “So many others. They must have free passage!”
“Irina, it’s not like that. If you think back far enough, you’ll remember your Apprentice training. You’ll remember what you were taught about the Durupinen role in the spirit world. We don’t judge who stays and who goes; that’s not part of our job. Those spirits who are still here have chosen to stay behind. But when they’re ready to go, they’re always free to make the choice to Cross. And I promise you, any spirit who needs to will always be able to Cross through my Gateway.”
“I was never free,” Irina spat.
“You were never a spirit, Irina. In fact, you still aren’t a spirit now. You’re a Walker, like me. Being a Walker is a strange and powerful thing. I know that too well Irina, but your clan didn’t. And since they couldn’t understand you and they couldn’t control you, they began to fear you instead. They let that fear cloud their judgment and demolish their empathy. But I see you, Irina. I see you.”
“You don’t see me. I don’t exist,” Irina whispered. “I’m gone. I am only my pain now.”
Never before had so few words caused such a wave of disparate emotions in me. I struggled to master my own face as pity and anger, fear and empathy, sorrow and frustration all collided within me. “Then let’s end the pain,” I said, with my voice shaking madly. “Let go of the Durupinen. Leave them behind you. It’s time to go home.”
Irina stared into my eyes. I stared back, refusing to blink, despite the tears blurring my view.
“Come on Irina. Believe me. Choose to let go. I owe you so much, you taught me to Walk. You gave me that freedom. Choose to let me free you now.”
The words resounding so sincerely through me also reached deeply within Irina; the anger and indecision fled from her face. The rage behind her eyes melted away, and without that anger to blind her, she could finally see.
Irina’s next words were soft, but firm. “Yes. If you will remember your promise, Northern Girl. Open passage for all spirits through your Gateway, always. If you vow to honor your words, I will go home. I want to go home.”
“I give you my word.” I gasped, as a fresh stream of tears fell from my eyes.
I wiped the moisture from my cheeks, and turned to find Finn, who had quietly reentered the room, watching me with a tender smile on his face. “Well done,” he said.
I nodded my thanks and then turned to Hannah. She was smiling as well. “Ready?” she asked me.
“Ready.”
She closed her eyes and released her hold on the other spirits in the room. As though waking from a long slumber, they each blinked bemusedly, wondering where they were and how they had gotten there. Then, one by one, each of their faces registered the same understanding—the same knowledge that the Gateway was near, waiting for them. A few, backing away, looked wary, but others drifted toward the center of the room, drawn to the beauty of the Gateway.
I crossed the boundary of the Circle, and felt the strange rippling of energy that told me I was now within the confines of the Circle’s seal. I looked up at Finn, but he answered the question before I could even ask it.
“Once the Gateway has been properly opened, I’ll lift the seal,” he said. “The other spirits will be able to enter the Circle then, and Irina will be free to Cross.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks.”
“Of course.”
I looked around at the waiting spirits. Grayson was nowhere to be seen.
“Grayson’s not here,” I told Hannah.
“I didn’t Call him with the others. I wanted to make sure he and Talia had all the time they needed.”
I smiled gratefully at her, then turned to the waiting spirits, who were watching us expectantly. Each face was awash with a mixture of curiosity, fear, awe, and anticipation. I’d seen those expressions many times now; they always made me anxious, and filled me with an uncomfortable awareness of the awesome responsibility we carried. I always had to repress an urge to turn and run from it all.
With her trademark dignity and gentleness, Hannah addressed the waiting spirits. “Whispering Seraph is closing. The angel who heard your words was a being much like you, but she hid herself from you. Your loved ones will not be taken advantage of anymore. We are here to Cross you over now, if you desire to go. It’s your choice, but we encourage you to take it. This world isn’t for you anymore.”
A movement in the periphery of my vision made me turn. Kyle was drifting backward slowly, shaking his head. He shivered out of sight.
I turned to Milo. “Would you? Now?” I asked him.
“Say no more. The Spirit Guide is off to deliver some guidance,” Milo said with a little bow, before he too popped out. I sent my heartfelt thanks thrumming to him through our connection. I knew talking with Kyle would dredge up painful memories of Milo’s own parental issues, and I didn’t take that lightly.
Every other spirit was still watching us intently, entranced, but it was Irina’s eyes I sought when I asked, “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” The word escaped on a sob. “Yes, I am ready.”
I choked back a sob of my own as I leaned in and whispered, “This is the right choice Irina. You will forget this world—the world beyond the Gateway will heal you. It will give you back the freedom stolen from you in this life. I promise.”
I turned my head as Hannah struck a match against the floor, then held it to the wick of the Spirit Candle. Every eye was fixed on the candle as the wick caught, as the tiny flame began to dance.
I took Hannah’s hand in mine. With each pulse of the now-familiar energy humming through us, every spirit in the room drew in closer, eager for the moment the Gateway would open, when its current would catch them and carry them to the distant shores that they so ached for.
We closed our eyes and repeated the words of the Crossing, words we had said so many times together that our voices seemed to melt into one.
“We call upon the powers endowed to us of old.
We call upon the connection that binds us together.
With the joining of hands and the joining of blood,
The Gateway we open, the spirits we Summon.”
I felt the Gateway begin to open between us. Hannah and I began to chant, “Téigh Anonn…”
§
“Téigh Anonn. Téigh Anonn. Téigh Ano—”
“What bloody hell are you doing!” A voice screamed.
Hannah yanked her hand from mine in alarm, causing the half-o
pened Gateway to snap shut tightly. We turned as Catriona barreled into the room. With one swift kick, she sent the Spirit Candle spinning across the floor. It hit the wall and snapped in half; the flame extinguished in a little puff of smoke.
“Catriona, what—”
But before I could even finish my question, Catriona had begun throwing handfuls of salt and sage dust into the air while shouting a Casting I had never before uttered. Yet I knew what this Casting would do, for I had prepared it only hours before.
A Caging.
“Catriona, no! Stop!” I shouted, but it was too late. The force of the Casting blew through the room like a shock wave. I pulled Hannah to the ground as the wave surged over our heads and collided with Irina, who, still trapped in the Circle, could do nothing to dodge it. The other spirits in the room, so eager a moment ago, all disappeared instantly, retreating into the relative safety of their realm.
Irina’s body jerked violently. Her arms flung wide open as she threw her head back, releasing a scream that no one—neither human nor spirit—would ever be able to hear. Then she crumpled into a heap on the floor and lay utterly still, fading to little more than a shadow.
Catriona, her face set in a grim smile of satisfaction, stared down at Irina for a moment. Then her satisfaction turned to fury as she set her gaze upon us.
“What the bloody hell are you playing at?” she demanded.
“We were performing a Crossing,” I cried. “Until you destroyed it!”
“Yeah, I can see that, I’m not blind!” Catriona shouted. “But why? I told you to contain the angel. Contain it! Not Cross it!”
“You told us to Unmask it, which we did!” I cried, crawling over to Irina’s form and crouching beside her. “Take this off of her!”
“I bloody well will not!” Catriona said. “She could’ve escaped the moment you opened that seal!”
“She didn’t want to escape! She wanted to Cross!” I shouted back.
Finn stepped forward, clearing his throat. “Catriona, we had things properly under control. There was no longer any threat here.”
“Not from where I’m standing! From where I’m standing it looks like you were about to let the culprit Cross without facing proper justice!” Catriona spat at Finn. She turned back to Hannah and me. “Now explain. Who is this Unmasked spirit and what the hell is happening here?”
I opened my mouth, but Hannah cut me off—which was probably for the best. The tirade I was poised to let loose wasn’t going to do us any favors.
“She’s not a spirit, Catriona. She’s a Walker.”
Shock wiped all trace of anger from Catriona’s face. “A Walker?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes. I’m sure you’ve heard of her,” began Hannah. “Jess told the Council about her during our testimony. This is Irina, the Walker in the Traveler camp who taught Jess how to Walk. Without Irina, my sister never would’ve been able to close the Gateway and save us all from the Isherwood Prophecy.”
Catriona’s eyes widened even further. She stepped forward and began examining Irina with great interest. “Blimey. I’ve never seen a Durupinen in this form before. She’s been missing since the Necromancer attack on the Traveler camp, hasn’t she?”
“Yes,” I said. Hannah looked at me warningly, but I held up a hand to assure her that I was in control of my emotions, at least for the moment. “Her body was injured in the attack, but then the Travelers nursed her body back to health. But Irina’s spirit—with good reason—will never return to that body, and so she’s trapped in Walker form.”
Catriona seemed to forget her initial anger as curiosity set in. “Fascinating,” she said. “She looks almost like a spirit. How in the world did she end up here?”
As succinctly as I could, I related the entirety of Irina’s story, detailing first her harrowing existence among the Travelers, then explaining how she met Campbell, and lastly recounting her plans for creating free passage at Whispering Seraph. Catriona walked around the room as she listened, examining the runes on the walls and running her hands repeatedly over the pile of stones that had very nearly become a rebuilt Geatgrima.
“A Geatgrima here?” she said, more to herself than to us. “Had she managed to open it, it could’ve had devastating consequences. And what’s this about free passage?”
“She wanted free and unguarded passage,” I replied. “She wanted to take the Gateways back from the Durupinen.”
Turning back to us, with her expression stern once again, Catriona barked, “In that case, I’m even more staggered! How could you consider Crossing her without consulting us!”
Finn stepped forward, braced for a fight, but remained silent. Perhaps he thought Catriona, in her ire, might just attempt to smack me across the face. Not that I wouldn’t have smacked her right back.
“But Catriona, didn’t you hear what I said—she was imprisoned by the Travelers for years! Decades of torture! She only wanted to prevent others from being trapped here.”
Beside me, Hannah was nodding her head vehemently in agreement. A tiny “Breathe, Jess. Don’t lose it now,” came from her lips.
“Oh, I see, so Irina’s in the right, then? She’s allowed to wreak havoc and then be on her merry way, is she?” Catriona asked, with her arms folded across her chest. “I thought you had more sense than this! You’ve allowed a suspect to play on your sympathies and manipulate you into aiding her escape.”
“She’s not manipulating anyone!” I replied. “Well, not anymore anyway. But don’t you see, it was the Durupinen who drove her to desperation in the first place!”
“Her past experiences are pitiable, but pity doesn’t excuse her from facing repercussions for what she’s done,” Catriona said, in a tone that couldn’t have been more dismissive or more devoid of sympathy. “I realize you didn’t answer to anyone when you were chasing down scam artists on your own, but the Trackers have a system in place—a system you agreed to properly adhere to when you joined us. We have procedures. Irina must be tried and formally sentenced for her actions, and she must be made to carry out whatever sentence the Council finds to be fit.”
“Come on, Catriona,” I pled. “Hasn’t she been punished enough?”
“That’s not our decision,” Catriona said firmly. “And now you are coming dangerously close to facing disciplinary action yourselves. It would be a right shame if you were booted from the Trackers on your very first case, wouldn’t it?”
“It’s starting to look like a good option, actually,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Are you forgetting the alternative?” Catriona asked. “Sod it all, then, if you like. But make no mistake, if you throw away your position with the Trackers, you’ll be sent back to Salem with a team of Caomhnóir watching your every move.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. What else could I say? There were no arguments left. I looked to Finn, but his expression was mirroring my own hopelessness. I turned from him, searching fruitlessly for an ally in Hannah’s face. Their eyes both held the same, sad truth. There was nothing we could do: Irina had to be turned over to the Trackers. She had to face the consequences of what she’d done, little though she deserved them.
Catriona watched me come to this conclusion with a satisfied smile on her face that made my blood boil. “That’s a good girl,” she said. “We’ll squash that rebellious streak yet. Now, I’ve got work to do, but your part is done. With the exception of your poor judgment there at the end, you’ve all done well.”
“She obvious knows nothing about your so-called rebellious streak,” muttered Milo quietly, as he materialized beside me.
Catriona ignored Milo. She walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “The longer you do this, the stronger you’ll get. Their pain and sadness won’t affect you so much. Then it gets easier to do the right thing.”
I shrugged her hand away. “I’m not sure you and I agree on what the right thing is,” I replied.
Catriona raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps not.” She t
urned and headed for the door, calling out instructions to the Caomhnóir in the doorway as she did so. She didn’t spare another glance for Irina, who was still huddled in the Circle. “Come along, then. Your work here is done,” Catriona said to us, before disappearing into the passageway.
Finn and Hannah followed her. Only Milo remained by my side. Only he saw as I knelt down, closing the distance between Irina and myself. Only he watched as I moved forward, finding Irina’s gaze, until our faces were less than a breath apart. Only he listened as I leaned in and whispered to Irina.
“I promise you. I promise you, Irina, I will not leave you like this. I will set you free. We are the Walkers, you and me. Whatever they say to you, and whatever they do, know that I am coming. I will find a way to set you free.”
I didn’t expect her to answer—the Caging should have made communication impossible. But Irina was a Walker, not merely a spirit; we were traversing areas that few Durupinen had ever encountered, and none could predict. Perhaps my being the only other living Walker—the only one who’d existed in the same extra-spirit state—meant that Irina and I couldn’t be fully Caged from each other. When she opened her mouth to answer, her words, although I couldn’t physically hear them, reached inside of me, echoing and singing their meaning.
“I will wait for you, Northern Girl.” Within me, I knew Irina’s words carried the faintest trace of true hope.
I tore my eyes from Irina and stood up. I looked at Milo and saw my promise blazing in his eyes, too. His approval hummed through our connection, strengthening my resolve.
Just over his shoulder, Catriona’s two Caomhnóir, stony-faced yet somehow impatient, waited for us to follow them.
And I had no choice but to turn my back on Irina and walk out the door.
Epilogue
THE NEXT DAY, I WALKED OUT OF WHISPERING SERAPH for the last time. But as we were preparing to leave, I felt none of the ebullience that had filled me after we’d debunked Freeman and his Ghost Oracle. True, we had completed our first mission as Trackers. We had dismantled the Whispering Seraph scheme, and we had captured the “angel” at the heart of it all. We had even prevented Irina from taking control of a Geatgrima and potentially spreading chaos across the entire Gateway system. And just last night, Hannah and I had opened our Gateway uninterrupted; every last one of the spirits at Whispering Seraph had Crossed. I should’ve been elated by our triumph, eager for our next case. Instead, the only thing I was eager for was a nap.