“Will it scar?” she asked, her fingers tracing the lines.
“Yes, it’s supposed to.”
I grabbed her hand, kissing the tips of her fingers. I could taste the bitter iron of my own blood, and Hazel squirmed as my tongue flickered against the sensitive pads.
“How do you feel about it—the position, I mean?” she asked softly.
“Nevertide needs it; we can’t accomplish anything with kingdom-less guards and commanders.”
She was silent for a moment, then looked up at me, her eyes troubled.
“Is it permanent?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
She nodded. I could tell she was a million miles away, thinking into the future.
“I can’t answer any of those questions, Hazel.”
I didn’t know what was going to happen if we survived the entity and Queen Trina, and knew even less about what would happen when the borders opened and the humans were finally free to return home. I knew what I wanted to happen, but I was fast learning that it didn’t make a blind bit of difference.
“I know you can’t.” She sighed, taking her hand out of mine, but wrapping it around my waist instead as she leaned her head against me.
“I think we should start practicing—develop your new powers, what do you think?” I asked, partly to distract her, partly because it needed to be done—Hazel would be better able to protect herself if she had some concept of what she was capable of.
“Yes!” she answered instantly, then hesitated. “I don’t know if I can though—the potion that Abelle gave me…”
“You should still be able to practice. I’d be amazed if it neutralized your powers completely.”
Amazed and furious.
“Okay, good. Where do we start then?” she asked, breaking away from me, her eyes sparkling in anticipation.
“True Sight,” I replied. “It would be interesting to see if you have the ability.”
“Really?” she asked doubtfully. “I thought True Sight was rare? What about barriers instead?”
“I have True Sight – all the Hellswans have been blessed with the ability,” I said. “If your sentry powers are the result of our bodies and souls joining, then I wouldn’t be surprised if you had the ability as well. Additionally – you know you can create barriers.”
“In an emergency,” she objected, “with your help. I want to be able to do them by myself. What if I need to protect Benedict or Julian?”
“After True Sight. Trust me, the effort it takes will help sharpen your mind.”
“I honestly didn’t realize till today that you had the ability.” She looked impressed.
“Well,” I replied reluctantly, “It’s not actually as advanced as Ash’s ability – as much as it pains me to say it.”
Hazel hid a snicker behind her hand, and then agreed to progress with the lesson.
We sat down at one end of the room, facing the wall that adjoined the room we were in with the humans’ sleeping quarters. I sat a few feet away from her, giving her some space so she wouldn’t be tempted to syphon by mistake. I wanted Hazel to be able to use her powers without drawing off others’ energy; it was harder, but would be necessary.
“I can only see wall,” she announced glumly after a few moments. I suppressed a laugh at her impatience.
“Try imagining what’s beyond it—and don’t stare at a fixed point, try to see the larger picture, almost as if the wall isn’t really there.”
“Oh, that simple, huh?”
“That simple.”
She rolled her eyes, then closed them briefly before starting again. I waited patiently next to her, unbothered by the time passing. It was a rare pleasure to have time with Hazel when we weren’t in immediate danger, and under circumstances where I could just sit and stare at her, without her becoming aware of me and therefore embarrassed.
I could see the muscles of her entire body tensing, her small frame trying to expel as much energy as she could. A small, delicately blue vein on her forehead started to pulse with the effort, and I clenched my hands by my sides, restraining myself from leaning forward and pressing my lips against it.
“I got it! Well, a bit, the outline of some of the kids. It’s still a bit blurry, but in black and white—do you see it in color?” she asked excitedly.
“Color will come, keep trying,” I murmured.
She turned her attention back to the wall with renewed energy, a small smile playing on the edges of her lips.
After a few moments, she slumped back, sighing.
“It’s still black and white.”
“It takes time, don’t worry. You just need to keep practicing.”
“I want to stop taking the potion. I think that will help. My energy feels almost non-existent, it’s really frustrating,” she implored, turning toward me.
I was tempted to agree with her. I didn’t like the idea of her taking an unknown potion concocted by Abelle, a woman who had always struck me as hare-brained and foolish. However, Hazel was happier being able to spend time around her friends, and less alienated. Selfishly, I didn’t want her transformation and first experiences of being a sentry to be more painful than they needed to.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I replied eventually.
“But I think I can control the hunger—now that I know what it is, what it feels like…I’m more prepared.”
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Are you sure this isn’t wishful thinking?”
Hazel was silent.
“Maybe.” She leaned her head back against the wall, dejected. “I just don’t want you worrying about me, worrying that I can’t protect myself, now that you’ve got this new position. You’ll need to look after everyone, not just me—and I don’t want to be in the way.”
I laughed out loud. “Hazel, you could have powers beyond my imagining—superhuman strength, the skills of a deadly assassin—and I’d still worry about you. I’d still want to protect you above all else.”
She sighed. “Okay then… I’ll keep taking the potion.”
I nodded, satisfied.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“What for?”
“Allowing me to continue to do this.”
I dragged her toward me, pulling her up onto my lap and wrapping myself around her. Her head nestled into the crook of my neck, and I sighed at the warmth emanating from her body.
“Get some rest,” I murmured. She nodded, yawning as if on cue, and snuggled deeper against my chest. I watched her sleep, feeling content, until the first streaks of dawn broke through the night’s sky.
Julian
“You would have thought that Ash and Tejus would have learnt by now. Seriously, I almost died, for like the fifteenth time—obviously, it’s not a good idea. I should come, I can help look!”
I waited for Benedict to finish his rant while I tried to find a clean sock.
“Speak to Ash, not me,” I replied, distracted.
“Fine—I will.”
The door banged shut just as I found my sock. It wasn’t exactly clean, but it would do. It wasn’t like my mom was around to disapprove.
“Are you ready?” Ruby poked her head around the door.
“Yeah,” I replied. I felt like I was still half asleep. The sky was still mostly dark. It was going to be hard enough looking for a single book in the pile of stones that had once been Hellswan castle without doing it in the dark.
“Why are we leaving so early again?” I asked as I followed her down the stairs.
“Because it’s kind of a big deal?”
“Oh, yeah, right.”
Ruby snorted with derision.
“Why are you so tired anyway? Didn’t you get any sleep?” she asked, now looking concerned.
“I’m fine. It’s just that some of the kids snore. And Benedict. Benedict is the worst of them all.”
Ruby laughed. “Yeah—I remember that from the castle.”
I was about to ask
her where she was sleeping now, but then thought better of it—I didn’t want to know. No doubt she and Ash had bagged the best room, one that probably had an actual bed, rather than a dusty floorboard.
We made our way out onto the lawn in silence. Ash, Tejus, Hazel and a small group of guards and ministers were gathered at the far end, standing by bull-horses and three vultures.
“Hurry up,” Tejus snapped, busying himself with helping Hazel up on one of the bull-horses. I bit my tongue, wondering if I’d be permitted to ride with one of the sentries who would be traveling with a vulture.
“Come on, kid.” One of the guards looked me up and down. He didn’t look impressed, and no wonder. I knew I had a bruise the size of a walnut on my face, I was squinting like a new-born mole thanks to my broken glasses, and my robe was too big. I felt like an idiot. The guard had obviously decided to take pity on me.
“I’m flying—you’ll be all right with that?” he continued, the same skeptical look on his face.
“That’s great.”
I suddenly didn’t mind what he thought of me—I’d be flying, and that was all I cared about. We’d probably be able to chase the dawn as it rose. I climbed up on the vulture, feeling the soft feathers run beneath my hands. The guard sat himself in front and a moment later we were off, soaring high above the palace.
“Thanks for letting me come,” I yelled to the guard over the wind that rushed past us. He turned his head sideways.
“No problem. I saw you protect Jenney yesterday. It was brave.”
His compliment surprised me. Maybe I didn’t need to be as embarrassed of my bruise as I thought.
“You looked funny falling down though—ha!” He guffawed.
Thanks…
Ignoring him, I looked down at the landscape below us. I could see the crack that ran through Nevertide clearly from this perspective. The damage was extensive. Around the crack, landslides had appeared, tipping the forests downward like waterfalls, and large rock formations had exploded out of the earth like jagged teeth. Soon, what was left of the castle appeared on the horizon. My gut clenched. I had hated the place, but seeing the ruins of something that had always looked so foreboding and indestructible was an unwelcome reminder of the awesome power the entity had. If we didn’t find this book, we wouldn’t have a chance.
We landed inside the ring of rubble that had once been the outer wall of the main castle. I jumped off the vulture, my legs wobbly from the adrenaline of the flight. The guard and I looked around, both of us silent as we digested the enormity of the task.
“Guess we better get on with it,” muttered the guard. “Mind you, I’ll be blown over if this book has survived all this—see the black of the stone?” he asked, pointing at the main part of the castle. Only half-towers and broken walls suggested what the building had once been, and as the guard had observed, the stone was mostly charred black.
“Fires have done that,” he continued, “they must have been burning for a long while for them to have caused damage like that. And the emperor thinks a book would have survived? Pah!”
I was inclined to agree with him. What were the chances that paper would have remained intact when the stones themselves were practically burnt to cinders? This was starting to look like an idiot’s errand.
The two other vultures had been flown by a pair of ministers, and Ash and Ruby. I heard the approach of the birds, and soon the guard and I were joined by Ruby, while Ash discussed the likely location of the book with the ministers.
“I guess we just start looking,” Ruby said, looking despondently at the ruins.
“Okay,” I agreed, walking toward the nearest pile, which I suspected had been one of the four towers. I clambered over the larger stones, pulling out anything that looked like it wasn’t just plaster and crumbling rock.
It was tiring work. I had to keep hauling stones about, only to find an assortment of burnt objects, none of which resembled a book. I envied the ministers and guards—they all had double our strength, and a few were using True Sight, standing in front of rocks, seeing right through them without having to do a thing. Hazel had joined our search party and kept trying to do the same, swearing that she’d accomplished it last night, but unable to achieve it today.
“Old Viking coin, anyone?” I asked, holding it up to the light. I’d found a pile of them wedged in between some rocks and an iron pipe. “I think this could make us pretty rich once we got back home.”
“Julian, can you focus?” Ruby snapped.
“Sorry.”
She turned back toward me, her face scrunched in remorse. “I’m sorry. I’m a bit moody. This feels kind of hopeless.” She chucked a bent cooking pot back where she’d found it with a frustrated sigh. I’d noticed that for most of the morning Ruby had seemed a bit distracted and glum—maybe we all were, but because she was normally upbeat, it was more obvious that something was bothering her.
“What’s up, Ruby?” I stopped rifling through the rubbish and went for the direct approach. “I mean, besides looking for a needle in this crappy haystack. Something’s bugging you.”
“It’s nothing really.”
She glanced over to where Ash and Tejus were standing, a few yards off to our left. I followed her stare. It was something to do with Ash.
“How’s it feel being the girlfriend of an emperor?” I asked, pretending to turn my attention back to moving rocks so she might feel more comfortable opening up.
She groaned. “Difficult. We had all these plans…I don’t know, it’s just difficult. There’s always something standing between me and Ash. If it’s not Queen Trina, it’s Nevertide politics—and I guess now, as emperor, he has this massive responsibility that I can’t even begin to understand…it makes me feel separate from him, you know?”
Uh… Not really.
“Sure,” I murmured. “That must be difficult.”
“Anyway, ignore me. I’ll snap out of it.” She forced a grin, and I returned it.
Privately, I thought that Ruby might have been better off without Ash. I didn’t understand how they could have a future together—he would always be needed in Nevertide, and Ruby couldn’t just turn her back on her home and her friends, and GASP. She had a whole life back at The Shade, one that Ash just wouldn’t understand. I didn’t really understand Ruby or Hazel’s interest in dating sentries—to me it seemed plain weird. They were so old-fashioned and strangely unemotional, and tall. They were really, really tall. Nobody needed to be that tall! Ruby would have an amazing future ahead of her—dating someone from back home would be way better for her. Someone who could fight by her side when they joined GASP…
“I think I can see it!”
The guard I’d traveled with shouted out from one of the rock heaps up ahead. All three of us started to clamber toward him. I could hardly bear to hope that this long and boring search would finally be over.
“Under there!” The guard was standing above the shell of a room that would have originally come off the main hallway. The rubble from one of the towers had surrounded it, creating a pile that we could climb up, giving us a bird’s-eye view of the room. Most of it was covered in gray stone, but I could see the golden glint of a lavish headboard.
“Is this the old emperor’s room?” I asked.
“Think so.” The guard nodded. “The book’s in a box, down under those rocks.”
“You’re right,” Ash announced, climbing up behind us. Tejus joined us a second later, and we all peered down at the room.
“Let’s get on with it then,” I prompted. I wanted this over and done with already.
Hazel smirked at me.
“Volunteering, are you?”
The remaining construction of the room didn’t look all that stable, but if I could find another way in, by going down and around, it would be safer.
“Yep,” I replied stoutly.
“I’m joking—I’ll join you.” Hazel laughed.
“No, you won’t,” Tejus barked.
Surpri
se, surprise.
“Tejus, I’m going. It’s fine. We’re all smaller than you guys—we can get in more easily,” Hazel reasoned, as she and Ruby started to make their way back down the slope of rocks. I hurried to join them, not wanting to be left dealing with the brunt of Tejus’s wrath.
I slowed my pace as I neared the bottom of the stone pile, the ground becoming more perilous as I jumped from one stone to another to keep up with Ruby and Hazel. We started to climb over the old entrance to the castle. The stench of rotting flesh grew in intensity, and I felt nauseated.
“I think this is where most of them were killed,” Hazel said sadly. “They all flocked here, trying to escape.”
I tried not to look down. At one point, clambering over one of the stones that made up the arch, I stepped on something soft. I leapt forward, not looking behind me, but the stink that emerged filled my nostrils and I vomited—quickly and quietly, trying not to draw attention to myself.
“Are you okay?” Ruby’s voice was muffled by the sleeve of her robe.
I could only nod, not wanting to breathe.
As we traveled along the hallway, the smell started to fade, to be replaced by the much more palatable stench of burnt fabric.
As I climbed over a pile of broken rocks, I heard a faint yowl. Pausing, I looked back in the direction of the sound.
“Guys — I hear something.” I waved for them to come back, and made my way to where a half-burnt doorframe had fallen against an old chest. Hazel and Ruby followed, and the sound grew louder and more insistent.
Was it… a cat?
I lifted the wood, sending debris scattering off its surface and clattering to the ground. A dark shape leapt out from the gap I’d uncovered, knocking me sideways.
“Lucifer!” Hazel gasped, running toward the creature – which I now recognized as a lynx. It started to hiss around her legs, covering her in black soot.
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