The Nightmare Charade

by Mindee Arnett

  I leaned forward, still skeptical but willing to hope. “How do you mean?”

  “I don’t know why the shape-changer has stolen the Death’s Heart,” Corvus said. “Marrow does not need it to come to life. At least he has never needed such a thing before.”

  “Wait.” I raised my hand. “How do you know so much about Marrow?”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t guessed already.” Corvus tapped a finger against his breastbone “Once you found out about my Borromean brand, that is.”

  I stared at him, my mind trying to solve the puzzle. “Those men with the brands … they were there when Nimue…”

  “Trapped Marrow in the dream, yes,” Corvus said as I faltered. “There were twelve of them. There are always twelve of us—the Borromean Brotherhood, as we call ourselves. Four darkkind, four naturekind, four witchkind.”

  “We?” I blinked. “So that means that you—”

  “Have dedicated my life to keeping Marrow sealed in his tomb.”

  I took a moment to process this information, but there were too many questions. Too much I didn’t understand. I cleared my throat. “There are twelve of you?”

  Color darkened Corvus’s cheeks. “There were twelve of us.”

  “Were?”

  Corvus rubbed a thumb over his ring finger, and his voice darkened as he said, “Only the blood of the twelve can undo the circle.”

  I flinched at the familiar quote.

  “The shape-changer killed them,” Corvus said a moment later. He drew a breath, and I sensed his struggle to control his emotions. His anger seemed to come off him like waves of heat off a bonfire—anger and hatred. “He murdered us one by one. All but me.” Corvus motioned to his missing eye. “I am the only one who survived the attack.”

  I swallowed a mixture of pity and revulsion. I couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like for him to go through that. But it made me inclined to trust him. This wasn’t just about justice for him. It was about vengeance, too, and that was a powerful motivation. I could only hope it would be enough to save my mom and Eli.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So you said you had a way to get the shape-changer now. What is it?”

  “You,” Corvus said at once.

  “Me?” A chill slid over my skin.

  Corvus nodded, his expression growing even more intense than before. It seemed to glow with a newfound fervor. “Of the people the shape-changer has abducted recently, the only thing they have in common is you.”

  Eli and my mother, I thought, knowing he was right. “What about Bethany?”

  Corvus waved the question off. “I’m not sure why he took her, although he had his reasons, no doubt. But they don’t matter now. What does, is that he seems to be targeting the people close to you.”

  “But why?” I wrung my hands, the reality of this truth hitting me like a blow to the gut. For a moment I wanted to curl into a ball, the fetal position the only way to cope with the guilt. My mom and Eli were both suffering right now—because of me. Assuming they weren’t dead yet.

  “Again, I don’t know why,” Corvus said, and I could hear the regret in his voice. It made me feel like crying.

  “But what I do know,” he continued, “is that you are the key to finding him. I’ve suspected as much since the moment I found out that you had bonded with The Will sword. Your mother has worried about you being dragged into this from the beginning, which is why she insisted so stridently that we keep you in the dark about the shape-changer for as long as possible. She worried that you might try and go after him yourself.”

  “Yeah well, she was right.” I folded my arms across my chest and began to tap my foot against the concrete floor. “But knowing he’s targeting me, what can I do to help find him?”

  “The hardest thing of all,” Corvus said. “Be patient.”

  “Huh?”

  He bobbed his head, his single eye overly bright. “I need you to wait and let him come for you. He’s going to, I know it. And when he does, I’m going to be there to catch him.”

  I blinked, my mouth sliding open again. “You want to use me as bait?”

  “In lieu of a less vulgar expression, yes.” Corvus bared his teeth in an almost feral smile. “It will take a significant amount of bravery on your part. But if you’re anything like your mother, I know you can do it.”

  Tears stung my eyes as he said it. I knew he might be manipulating my emotions on purpose, but it worked nevertheless. “I’ll do it. But if he comes for me, how am I supposed to let you know?”

  “It’s simple, actually.” Corvus stood up and reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small object I’d never seen before. “And it’s something he will never see coming.”

  * * *

  Half an hour later, Paul and I left Mr. Corvus’s house. Corvus had taken off the spell that had incapacitated Paul only a few minutes before. He’d been livid at first, demanding an explanation of what happened. But I couldn’t tell him. Corvus was right about that. Nobody could know the plan we’d just set in motion. In the end, I had to appeal to Paul’s better nature.

  I took his hand and squeezed his fingers, pleading. “You’re going to have to trust me, Paul. All right? Just trust me.”

  He watched my face for several seconds, not speaking, then he slowly nodded.

  After that we’d climbed the steps out of the cellar and headed for the front door. Mr. Corvus watched us go, not speaking a word to either Paul or me. We got into the car and started to make our way back to Arkwell.

  When we were less than five minutes from campus, Paul pulled into an alley.

  “What are you doing?” I said as the car came to a stop.

  “Time to put on our faces again,” he said, retrieving his shape-change necklace.

  “Right.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out mine as well. I stared at the necklace with its smooth, yellowed teeth, an uneasy feeling in my stomach. After what I’d learned from Mr. Corvus about shape-changer magic, I couldn’t believe that the magickind police force sanctioned the use of these necklaces. Then again, I supposed maybe it didn’t surprise me that much, even now. The Magi Senate wasn’t above using black magic to meet its own ends. Still, once we got back to campus I was going to follow through with my vow to destroy it.

  “You coming?” Paul said, startling me out of my reverie. I looked up to see that he’d already slid on his necklace and changed back into the Menagerie worker.

  “Yeah, just a sec.” I put on the necklace and immediately felt the shift into the other woman. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  Paul pulled the car out of the alley and back onto the main drag. I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket and pulled it out.

  “Who’s it from?” Paul said, glancing over.

  “Selene, she—” I broke off as I read the message. Once. Twice. Three times. Fear closed in around me like collapsing walls.

  Lance is awake, Selene had written. He saw his attacker. It was Paul.

  26

  The Shape-Changer

  Don’t panic, Dusty. Don’t panic. Play it cool.

  “She what?” Paul said, and I jumped at the sound of his stranger’s voice.

  “Oh, she, um, Lance is still unconscious but doing better.”

  “That’s good.”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything more, not if this really was the person who’d attacked Lance and kidnapped Eli sitting beside me. Maybe Lance made a mistake. He had taken a blow to the head. But if it was true—the thought was almost too frightening to be allowed. My stomach churned at the idea of Paul being involved in all this Marrow business again. How could he? How was he capable of such deception even now?

  Unless this isn’t Paul in front of you.

  The thought flipped my panic button so hard that for a moment, I almost attacked him. Around my wrist, Bellanax burned, the sword sensing the danger. I held back at the last second. I needed to be careful, needed to be smart. But it was hard to think with the
blood rushing in my ears.

  “You all right?” Paul said, glancing over at me again.

  “Yeah sure. Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I avoided his gaze. My knuckles were white around my cell phone, and I forced my hand to relax.

  “You sure? Because we’re almost at the main gates.”

  “Oh.” I peered out the front window and saw the gate just ahead. Play it cool, Dusty. For a second, I contemplated asking the guard for help, only to dismiss the idea. If Paul was behind the attack on Lance—if he was behind everything—then I needed to keep it secret long enough to find Eli and my mom. If I tipped him off now, he might run, and I would never find them.

  Summoning as much courage as I could muster, I forced my body to relax to its pre-terror state. It was hard, but I managed it. Bellanax helped, its power coiled and waiting, ready to strike the moment I called for it.

  Thinking clearly once more, I sent Selene a quick reply:

  I’m with him now. Get Corvus to help. We’re heading to campus.

  I glanced over at Paul as I pressed send, praying I hadn’t roused his suspicion, but his gaze remained fixed out the front window.

  When we arrived at Arkwell, the same guard from earlier came out of the gatehouse. Paul pulled the car to a stop and handed over our IDs once more.

  To my surprise, the guard didn’t scan them at once but took his time looking them over.

  “Something wrong?” Paul said after a few seconds.

  The guard looked up. “We’ve had a security alert. We’re on the lookout for a guy named Alan Early. Six feet tall, dark blond hair. Has a beard. Do you know him?”

  I felt more than saw Paul stiffen. “Alan?” he said. “Sure I know him. We work together in the Menagerie. What’s he supposed to have done?”

  “Don’t know, but the police are on their way here now to look for him. We’re putting the campus under lockdown. You got back just in time.”

  My heart stuttered at this news. I’d never heard of Alan Early, but it didn’t take a genius to guess that was the name Paul was using when he wore his creepy bearded-man face.

  “Oh, glad we got lucky then,” Paul said.

  The guard nodded and handed over the IDs. “Say, you haven’t seen Early today, have you?”

  “No, but if I do, I’ll call the authorities right away.” Paul’s manner as he spoke was a convincing display of innocence and concern. Even I halfway believed him.

  “Very good,” the guard said.

  Realizing the jig was up, I leaned toward the driver’s side window, ready to sound the alarm. Paul knew he’d been found out—he would run as soon as he could. But before I could say anything, he touched my wrist, and I felt a sharp prick like an insect bite. Pain lanced through my body, and I froze, unable to move or speak.

  “Thanks so much,” Paul said to the guard, and then without releasing my wrist, he drove us through the gate and onto campus.

  What did you do to me? I tried to shout, but my mouth wasn’t working. I had become a prisoner in a frozen body, completely at the mercy of the boy sitting next to me.

  If he is a boy. I never knew Paul to have magic like this. My hand felt as if it had been bitten by a snake, and there was something like venom pulsing through my veins, enforcing the paralysis.

  But if this wasn’t Paul, if it was the shape-changer wearing his skin, then where was the real Paul?

  Consume their heart, I heard Corvus saying once more. But no, Paul couldn’t be dead. Unexpected tears stung my eyes at the thought. I wanted to wipe them away, but I still couldn’t move. I couldn’t even blink.

  The stranger next to me pulled the car into the same parking spot as before. I waited while he killed the engine, incapable of doing anything else.

  “Sorry about the sting,” he said, flashing me a chilly smile. “But I had to act quickly once I realized what was going on.”

  Again, I waited with enforced outward patience, unable to give voice to the curse words screeching in my mind, begging to be shouted.

  He finally removed his hand from my wrist, but he didn’t let go—not until after he’d pulled Bellanax from my arm and put it in his pocket.

  “And now, it seems we have reached a moment of inevitable conflict, you and I,” he said, and the sudden strangeness of his speech confirmed for me what I already knew—this wasn’t Paul. “I am prepared to counteract the venom’s effect if you agree to come along quietly.”

  Inside my head, I was laughing. Definitely not Paul. He would’ve known better than to suggest such a thing.

  “And I am quite certain,” he continued, “that your answer is going to be yes, despite what you might be thinking inside that pretty little head of yours.” He reached over and ran a hand over my hair and down the side of my cheek.

  The laughter stopped, rage taking its place. I wanted to hit this guy. I wanted to scream and pound my fists into his face.

  “Your options are quite simple, Dusty Everhart. I can either kill you right here, or I can undo the paralysis and give you a chance to save your mother and your precious Eli.”

  Silence filled my head now, the quiet calm of sheer terror. This man was a killer. He’d done it a hundred times. And he eats his victims’ hearts.

  “You have something I want,” the not-Paul said. “And it’s important enough that I’m willing to bargain. Let me know your decision in five-four-three-two-one. Anti-amnes.”

  The spell swept over me, and I felt the paralysis give way, as if I’d been cut free from a spider’s web. I opened my mouth, my eyes blinking rapidly to restore the moisture from so many minutes of not blinking.

  The shape-changer climbed out of the car and hurried around to my side. He opened the door for me and waited. I got out slowly and faced him, planning my attack.

  “Hypno-soma!” I screamed, casting the spell with dizzying speed, all those practice sessions with Selene paying off.

  But the shape-changer was even faster. “Alexo,” he said, seeming to swipe my dazing curse aside with his shield spell. Then he countered with a spell I didn’t recognize. I tried to block it and missed. The magic struck me, then nothing, not so much as a tingle of pain.

  Shaking it off, I raised my hand for another attack, but when I spoke the incantation my magic didn’t come. It was gone. Erased. Cut out. “What did you—” Invisible fingers closed around my throat as the shape-changer raised his hand toward me.

  “Don’t be hasty here,” he said. “I mean what I say. You can save them both. You just have to give me what I want.”

  “And … what … is … that?” I said between gasping breaths. I had my fingers at my throat, trying to free myself from his magical grip, but there was nothing to grab onto. I’d never met someone with such powerful mind-magic, and without my own magic, I was helpless against him.

  “You will find out. And I promise it does not have to involve your death.”

  “That’s … re … assur … ing.”

  The shape-changer grinned and lowered his hand. The pressure on my neck vanished, and I sucked in choking breaths.

  “This way, when you’re ready.” The shape-changer held out his hand, indicating the direction.

  I reached for my magic again, but once more nothing came. “What did you do to me?” Tears burned my eyes, and a sob expanded in my chest. I knew it couldn’t be permanent that it was just a spell, some kind of block. I could even sense my magic still waiting inside me, but being separated from it was terrifying. It was like those dreams where you needed to run but couldn’t—you knew how to run, knew you were capable of it, but your body refused to obey.

  “Convenient little spell, wouldn’t you say? One of my specialties. It works so well, even on Nightmares.” The shape-changer put his hands on his hips. “Now let’s go.”

  Still I didn’t move. I needed to get at the device Corvus had given me, tucked in my left front pocket, some kind of tracking beacon. All I had to do was press the button and it would send an alert to his phone along with my GPS coor
dinates. The electronic device was new enough that animation wouldn’t be an issue. If I could only activate it without the shape-changer seeing.

  First though, I needed to ditch this stranger’s body. I needed the familiarity of my own skin if I stood any change of activating the device and surviving this. I reached up and pulled off the necklace, half-expecting the shape-changer to stop me, but he said nothing.

  Savoring the relief of my own shape, I stepped in front of my captor. He did not remove his necklace or the purloined Menagerie worker’s face. He couldn’t with all his other covers blown—both Alan Early and Paul Kirkwood were wanted men.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, moving in the direction he had indicated.

  “The Menagerie.”

  Nodding, I started to put my hands into my pockets, nonchalant. An invisible force snaked around my wrist and squeezed, restraining me.

  “Keep your hands where I can see them, please.”

  “Oh, sure, since you asked so nicely,” I said, scowling back at him. I faced front again, adjusting my course toward the Menagerie. Fighting back dizziness I tried to formulate a plan, some way out of this. Then I realized that I might not need to. I’d thought this shape-changer was supposed to be clever, but heading for the Menagerie was the epitome of stupid, given what the guard had just told us.

  Then again, I should’ve known better than to hope it would be so easy.

  Just before we rounded the corner toward the Menagerie’s main gates, the shape-changer said from behind me, “Now, be sure to play your part well, my dear.”

  “What?” As I started to turn around he grabbed my arm. Magic crawled over my skin, followed by the familiar squeeze and stretching sensation of trading my face and body for someone else’s.

  When the shape-change ended, I looked down and saw fingers lined with age and thick blue veins—the hands of an old woman instead of my own. Somehow he’d shifted my shape without the necklace. “How are you doing this?” I said, and I gasped at the familiar voice of Lady Elaine issuing from my mouth.

  “Just one of my many talents,” the shape-changer answered, only his voice was different now, too. I didn’t have to look back to know who it was, but I did anyway. Instead of the Menagerie worker, the shape-changer now wore the face and body of Detective Valentine.