by A R DeClerck
“You’ve gone mad.” Del pushed his spectacles up on his nose. “Perhaps you were always mad.”
“Only because I have been made this way.” Elizabeth shook her head. “I won’t let you ruin this. Leave now while you can.”
“Come down from there, gel!” Dooley made to step onto the platform, his arms outstretched for Elizabeth. Lucia did not even have time to warn him as Elizabeth’s hand stretched out and dark aether flowed from it like a ribbon. It wrapped around the man, and as he screamed it consumed him, tearing his flesh from his bones. The others stepped back, and Lucia knew that none of them would get close enough to stop Elizabeth without suffering the same fate. It would be up to her to stop the woman before she could hurt anyone else.
Grayson’s power flared from his hands. As white as Elizabeth’s was black, it wrapped around his body and shrouded him in sparkling light aether. “I remember what happened to us that day,” he told her from inside his cocoon of aether. “I know what we did.” He pulled back his sleeve to show her the brand. “We came here, and we lay down on the stones.”
“We were young. We wanted to run away from our lives, you as a wizard and me a girl with nowhere else to go. We wanted to make a blood pact.”
“We cut our palms,” Grayson said, “and when the blood touched the stones were were...changed by the aether.”
“All the goodness went into you, you know.” Elizabeth laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “All the light. I got the darkness. The hate.”
“You already had the hate inside you. You let it corrupt the aether.” Grayson stretched out his hand again. “Please don’t make us do this.”
“I’m not making you do anything. Leave.”
Grayson shook his head sadly. “You know we cannot.”
“Then perish.”
Elizabeth stood, dragging Lucia with her. The knife was close at Lucia’s throat, but Lucia did not feel its edge. She focused on Archie, and pushed down the heady feel of the aether and the sound of their voices inside her head. He was all that mattered. He was the end of her road.
Suddenly the machine behind them screamed, clattering and clanking. Elizabeth spun, her skirts tangling with Lucia’s.
“NO!” she screamed.
Corrigan stood over the machine, the Bo in his hands. He looked haggard, but triumphant and he grinned a wicked grin. “You’ll never control me again, you bitch.”
He pushed the Bo inside the machine and used it to lever open the panel. Inside the machine was a menagerie of cogs and wheels and springs, and the limp form of Machiavelli amidst it all.
Corrigan gathered up the bird in his arms and stepped off the platform. “You’ll never hurt anyone again.”
Elizabeth’s grip on Lucia tightened. “You may have destroyed the machine, but I don’t need it. Enough blood on these stones and I can open it anyway.” She pressed the knife harder against Lucia’s throat.
“Let her go, Elizabeth. This is over.” Del stepped deliberately onto the platform. “I have no magic. The aether cannot work through me.” He approached them slowly. “Put down the knife.”
“You are a silly man, Delbert Wicket. Dipping your wick in every stable boy at Summer Ridge and expecting me to never notice?” She laughed. “In truth I was glad you never came to my bed.”
“You never loved me, Elizabeth. Do not pretend now that you did.”
“You’re right. I never did.” Elizabeth moved quickly, the knife sinking into Del’s chest as she shoved Lucia away. As Lucia fell back, Elizabeth pulled the knife from Del’s chest only to stab it in again in a spray of arterial blood.
Lucia waved Archie off as he hurried toward her. Elizabeth bent over Del as his blood ran through the stones toward the hole at the center. When it ran down it might very well unleash the aether, just as Elizabeth hoped.
Lucia did not know what truly lay beneath the stones, but she did not want to know. She closed her eyes and listened to the voices of the aether inside her head.
In the beginning, they were a cacophony of sound that made no sense. Only noise with no meaning. As she listened, she could hear them singing. Songs of the universe. Of the beginning and the end. It was a song of creation and destruction. Good and evil. Life and death. One thing became clear. The aether did not wish to escape. They were satisfied with their place. Only Elizabeth’s madness made her believe otherwise.
“Elizabeth. Stop.”
At Lucia’s command the woman turned from her vigil over Del’s body. Blood dripped from her fingers, her face and bosom covered in it. She held the knife loosely in her hand. Behind Elizabeth, Grayson slowly mounted the stairs. He was awash in the particles of light aether.
“This is over.”
“This is not over. It is not over until I have what I want.”
“You cannot. You have failed.” Lucia held up a hand to ward off Elizabeth as she lunged toward her in anger.
A rumble shook the stones, and thunder churned in the skies.
“See!” Elizabeth went to her knees, her hands above her head. “It’s working.”
Lucia looked to Archie, and he was grim. Another rumble made the Earth tremble under them.
“I am sorry, Elizabeth.”
Lucia covered her mouth as Grayson touched Elizabeth’s forehead with his hand. Her eyes flew open as a scream wrenched from her lips. The light aether wrapped itself around her, entangling her.
“The aether can’t kill her,” Lucia said as she stood. “You’re only torturing her.” Lucia bent and picked up the butcher knife. She stood over Elizabeth as the light aether continued to writhe around her. “This is more than you deserve,” she told the woman. Then she drove the knife through her heart.
As Elizabeth’s lifeless body fell to the stones Archie rushed up the steps and wrapped Lucia in his arms. She dropped the knife and held him, shaking.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She laughed. “Am I all right? What about you? I killed you.” At the words her lips trembled and tears spilled over her cheeks. “She made me kill you.”
“No, no.” Archie pressed her lips to her cheeks. “I’m whole and hearty, thanks to Bastion and Stella. Hush now.”
“I killed her.”
“You did what had to be done. I’m only sorry I could not spare you the pain of it.” Archie looked to Grayson as the ground under their feet rocked. “Any ideas about how to stop this?”
“I don’t know!” Grayson helped Corrigan gather up the still- unconscious partygoers. “The blood is unlocking the door!”
Archie took Lucia’s hand and they ran back to the wagon as the stones began to buckle. The earth below them opened up and began to swallow them, taking Elizabeth, Del, and what remained of Atticus Dooley with it.
“Here now!”
They looked up as Bastion, Stella and old Bessemer rode over the hill in Bessemer’s old wagon. He pulled Cosy to a stop and jumped to the ground.
“Bessemer!” Lucia ran to the old man and gave him a hug. “Can you stop this?”
“I suppose I can, seein’ as how it’s my legacy.” Bessemer’s old cheeks pinked at her attention, but he soon pushed her away and rubbed his hands together. “Where be that boy, then?”
“I’m here, sir.” Grayson stood before Bessemer and the old farmer nodded.
“Good. Good. Gather up your magick. We have work to do.” He spit on the ground. “That be a portal that should never be opened.”
“What lies beneath?” Lucia asked as Archie’s arms went around her again. She reveled in the feel of him close and safe.
“Nothing good, my dear. Nothing good.” He nodded to Grayson. “Now focus, lad.”
All That Came Before
Bessemer’s face took on a ghostly glow as the air around him lit up with magic. Lucia gasped at the prick of it against her skin. He raised his arms and chanted in a thick, heavy voice.
Ardu. Eirigh liom.
Eisteacht liom gloach.
Eisteacht,
; Eisteacht liom.
Rise. Rise to me.
Hear me call,
Listen.
Hear me.
Everything around them went silent. There was no crunch of snow under tiny animal feet, no whistle of the wind through the trees. The sick tearing of the ground had gone quiet and Bessemer’s face split wide with a grin. He looked at Grayson.
“Pull it to you, son. Gather it up like wool to be spun and hold it tight against your chest.”
Grayson breathed deep and closed his eyes. The light aether that twinkled around him, clinging like fireflies to him, grew brighter as he focused.
Lucia looked up at Archie and he was staring with wide eyes at the two men by the pit. Corrigan was leaning against the wagon, Machiavelli in his arms, but his eye, too, were trained on the old man and the young wizard. Bastion cradled Yasmin in his arms inside the wagon, Stella’s head on his shoulder.
A buzz made Lucia wave at the air by her ear. She heard it again and swiped at the annoyance of the sound. Sound. The word made her pause. Bessemer’s magic had quieted the world, but next to her ear there was definite noise.
She concentrated hard. Hello?
Your assistance is required.
Was she the only one who could hear the aether as it spoke? Archie’s eyes never waved from Bessemer and Grayson, and Corrigan was nearly comatose from exhaustion. The air around them was thick, and she wondered how close the convergence point was to opening fully. Despite the aether’s insistence that it wanted to stay on its side of the barrier, the vacuum between worlds might pull it through. What can I do?
Bessemer staggered. His face was haggard and pale as he lowered his hands. “This will take more than we have.”
“What can we do?” Archie was quick to offer assistance. Lucia’s attention was half with him and half with the aether as it buzzed around her.
“There might a way. A spell to siphon up all the aether and return it to the convergence point.”
“What do we need?” Archie asked.
“A funnel.”
“Funnel?”
Bessemer’s eyes narrowed as he clapped Grayson on the shoulder. He shook his head, his chin on his chest. “It requires a sacrifice. A wizard will have to give up his body, become a conduit between our world and theirs. Let them travel back home through flesh and blood and bone.”
“That’s suicide,” Archie argued. His hand tightened on Lucia’s.
“I’ll do it.” Grayson’s eyes were ringed in red, his muscles trembling from the exertion of the magic. “It was my blood that opened this portal all those years ago.”
Your sacrifice is now required.
Lucia’s mouth went dry as the aether spoke to her. She had promised it that she would do anything it asked if it helped her earlier. Now it was ready to extract its price. Her life.
“No.” She carefully extricated her fingers from Archie’s grip and stepped forward. She ignored the sudden stiffening of his body as the others all turned their eyes to her. She could feel the aether swarming around her, teasing and touching every particle of her being. This was what she was. A healer. An Apothecary. She could heal the world, and all it would require was her very last breath. “It has to be me.”
“No.” Archie reached for her, pulling her back against his chest in a protective embrace. She felt his lips on her hair. “No.”
“I made a promise to the aether,” she told him, turning so that she could look into his eyes. She cupped his cheeks with her palms. “I promised that I would do anything to save you. To save them all. Now it’s time for me to pay my debt.”
His face filled with panic as his eyes searched hers frantically. “This isn’t the way. Not you. Not now.”
“This is the only way,” she assured him, pressing her lips to his.
“We’ll take the burden. All of us.” Bastion put the small Romani girl down carefully and jumped off the wagon. Stella landed quietly beside him. “We’ll join together and work it like a tandem healing.”
Your assistance is required.
I will help, she promised. I am ready to repay my debt.
“Gather quickly, then,” Bessemer said. He motioned them into a semi-circle around the open maw of the pit. Closer to the hole Lucia could feel her hair blown back from the force of the aether escaping. Archie resisted the pull of her hand, holding back from the circle.
“Hurry!” She stepped closer to him, wrapping her hands in his jacket. She tugged until he bent closer. The pain in his eyes was unbearable. It swam, shallow and cutting. “We have to do this.”
“No. We don’t.” He covered her hand with his. “Don’t do this.”
She felt tears prick her eyes. Did he think it was so easy? So easy to give up her life for his? For all the people in the world? She kissed him. Hard. In the press of her lips she put all the love and devastating loss that swirled through her. “I have to.”
The tear that trickled slowly down his cheek broke her heart. He would cry for her. He would die for her. Now it was her turn to die for him. She wiped away the tear and turned away.
Bessemer took her right hand as Archie kept hold of her left. She felt the jolt of magic course through her as their connection zapped between them. Bastion and Stella joined, and Grayson took up the end of the chain.
“Hold on tight and don’t fight it!” Bessemer yelled as the sound returned to the world. It was a roar that nearly deafened her. Lucia took a deep breath and held it. “I’m going to say the words of the spell and the aether will travel through us all.” He turned his gaze to Lucia. “Hopefully it will save your life.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed, and he nodded.
Ara is go talamh o
Gach ait a thainig tu
Riamh a thabhair ar ais aris.
Tri dom do bhaile
Agus sa bhaile aris
Teacht ar do ait I am
Augs spas.
(Return to the ground from whence you came,
Never to return again.
Through me to home, and home again,
Find your place in time and space.)
The pain was unlike any Lucia had ever experienced. Electric current coursed through her veins and traveled up her spine from the soles of her feet. She could not scream, could not gasp, as it buzzed through her. Still, it was stunted, she knew, as the others took some of the energy of the aether into their own bodies.
“Open to it, girl!” Bessemer gasped into her ear, his hand tight on hers. “Let it in.”
Lucia turned her head to look into Archie’s eyes. They narrowed with his own pain, but his hand clenched around hers. He shook his head, begging her with his look to ignore the old man’s words.
“I’m sorry,” she told him. She had stood on this precipice once before. Maybe the others could not feel it, but she was especially sensitive to the pounding of the dark aether just under the feeling of the light. It called to her. Part of her wanted to let it out, the other part of her wanted to lock it away forever. The two parts warred inside her, drawing blood that gushed from her ears and nose. This time, she vowed, she would make the right decision. No one else would die because she could not hold back her craving for the dark power. I am ready.
The power that was once a sizzling jolt became a torrent. She screamed as the brunt of the aether moved through her. Her body spasmed, her bones cracking with the force of the power. Her legs shook but she held herself up with pure willpower. She let go of Bessemer and Archie and held her hands out toward the convergence point. Go home.
The aether rushed from her hands, writhing ribbons of white and black. Her body pulsed as it pushed the aether from the air around them through her body. She felt it stripping away her life with every pulse, sandpaper on her soul.
It went on and on forever, until she could no longer stand. When she fell, she knew Archie would catch her. She blinked against the pain and stared into his eyes. “Champagne,” she choked out.
“What? Libations at a time like this?” He pu
lled her to his chest, rubbing his cheek against hers. “What a lush.”
“No.” She smiled at his teasing. “Your eyes. The color is champagne.”
“A lovely analogy, darling.” He pulled back to push the hair from her cheeks. “Hardly the time.”
“Just the time.” She was fading. The aether was taking her life with it as it returned home. She raised her hand with the last of her energy and touched the edge of his mouth with her finger. “I love you.”
He shook his head, trembling. She wanted to hear the words, but she could not hold on long enough. The last of her energy fled and she let her eyes close with a sigh of relief. At least the world was safe. Her debt was paid in full.
Archimedes was angry. Rarely had he experienced rage like the kind that flowed through him in that moment. It ignited his cells, and raised the hair on his body.
“Leave her,” he growled as Bessemer reached for Lucia.
“Have a care, boy. This woman saved us all.” Bessemer narrowed his eyes and crouched next to Archie with a shake of his head.
“She died. She is dead.” There were no other words, and Archie clamped his lips closed before nonsense spilled out. This was his world now. Cold. Dark. Without her, there was no light. He could not think, could not breathe.
He tensed when a hand came down on his shoulder, but Bastion’s tear-filled eyes drained some of his anger. He had to remember that he was not the only one who loved Lucia.
“Archie.” Bastion reached out to touch her forehead gently with his finger.
Archie wanted to drag her into his arms and run. As far and as fast as his legs would carry him, so that he did not have to share his grief with anyone else. It was all he had left of her. His eyes caught the cameo on her neck, and he caressed the ribbon. A sudden movement under his fingertips had him pulling them away with a gasp.
His eyes flew to Bastion’s. The Apothecary put his own trembling fingers on her neck, and he let out a shaky breath after a moment or two. “She’s alive.”
The world spun around Archie, light and noise and color mingling as his eyes watered. The weight of grief on his chest lifted, and he breathed in a deep breath of relief.