And during all those other run-ins with magical creatures I must’ve unknowingly been using my magic too, just without the Magic Build-Up provocation.
Holy bananas! I know what my power is!
It’s . . . Life
My watering can mark started to tingle, but I had bigger things going on that demanded my concentration.
I looked at the dragon for all that he was for the very first time. “I remember you,” I said slowly. “I remember the first time I touched you and I know what you are.”
I started to reach my hand toward him, but was distracted by the realization that a fresh wave of troops was storming the halls and headed for us. The guards that had been taken down by the arrival of the dragon were also getting up. Some were faster than others. And some were making a move on a knocked-out Daniel!
My attention shifted from the dragon and I bolted for the other side of the hall. I pushed past several guards and swung my spear to smash others out of the way, making it to Daniel in time to step between him and the guard that intended to end him.
Angrily, I blocked the guard’s strike, roundhouse-kicked his ribs, then brought my staff down on his neck. To finish, I spun around and pushed him off his feet.
I saw that Daniel and the others were coming to. But that didn’t change the fact that we were outnumbered. I glanced at the dragon—who was still eyeing me, unsure of what to do. I dashed to the hefty bear statue directly behind Daniel and placed my hand on the creature’s face.
Please let this work.
I closed my eyes and concentrated.
Wake up, I thought. Wake up and defend us.
I opened my eyes to see my hand flicker with an aura of golden light. The mystical color transferred into the bear and filled his eyes with an iridescent shade of liquid gold.
The creature blinked as the rest of his body turned animate. Then he looked to his left and his right before hurtling himself toward the nearest battalion of guards.
It worked!
My reasoning had been sound. As I raced over to Daniel I reflected on the general wording of everything I had been thinking when my hands had given life to so many creatures before.
“Come on, flower! Live, darn you! Live!” I’d shouted overdramatically as I humored SJ when she discovered the flowers on our balcony were dead. The result—the next morning the flowers were emanating more life than any plant I’d ever seen.
“Ugh, come on. Get up, get going, and go get Mauvrey,” I’d grunted as I clutched the seagull fountain at Adelaide Castle on my way to pursue my teenage nemesis.
“Just pull yourself together and go crush some Therewolves,” I’d urged myself as I gripped the rock of the Therewolf tunnel and prepared to rejoin the fight.
“Just go and kick his butt—him and all his annoying friends. You can do it. Just get up from the ground and go,” I’d thought fervently outside the Forbidden Forest as I clutched the tree I was hiding behind to garner the courage to face Arian.
And finally, “Come on, come on! Let’s go!” That’s what I had been thinking when I’d laid my hand on the dragon statue back at the Capitol Building.
My power was giving life. Whatever I thought or commanded when I was using the ability was the very order that my creations felt obliged to follow. Like this dragon. Because of my wording, he’d thought he was supposed to come with me. That’s why he’d been following me across the realm.
It all made perfect sense. Not only that, it felt right. Emma said that when I figured out my magical power I would just know. Well, I knew. The assertion burned in my heart and gut with such fervor it was like I’d swallowed the sun.
My friends and the rest of the guards had gotten up by that point and were all surprised by the full-sized bronze bear that had joined the fight. Daniel glanced at me as if to ask a question, but I didn’t wait for it. I simply went to the next statue in the lineup—a lion—and put my palm on his head too.
Protect my friends; stop the guards.
My hand tingled as the glow I produced passed to the statue. The lion stretched to life and began obeying my orders like the bear.
This was too good to be true. The creatures I gave life to automatically regarded whatever I’d been thinking at the time of their inception to be their command and purpose. Which made me wonder if they would listen to me after the fact as well.
Feeling threatened, the dragon in the center of the chaos started to lash out. He swiped his massive tail and claws at the guards who were trying to contain him. I figured it was only a matter of time before he set this whole place ablaze. Which I wouldn’t have minded so much if my friends and I weren’t stuck in here.
While the four of them continued to fight, I repeated my magical life-giving process on three more bronze animals then raced back to the dragon, trying to put myself in his line of sight. I returned my weapon to a wand and hurriedly shoved it in my boot. Then I waved my arms to get his attention.
“Hey!” I shouted.
He turned. His immense nostrils were inches from my face. I stared straight into his gaze and raised my hand steadily. It glowed like his eyes as I purposefully concentrated on my magic. “Whoa, boy. Whoa.”
I saw the dragon’s mouth open slightly, allowing me to get a glimpse of the many sharp teeth inside. I remained calm and continued to move my hand closer to the dragon’s face until my fingers touched his scales.
“You can save us,” I said. “Please, no fire,” I commanded. The energy around my hand pulsed. “Just protect my friends. Keep the guards away from us.”
The dragon paused and blinked at me. I worried for a second that I’d been wrong. Maybe my command over these things was a one-off. But then the dragon rammed his head into two guards who were rushing at me. He followed up with a snort and a flick of his tail, which swept away four guards charging Blue.
Yes!
With the dragon on our team, I redrew my wand and rushed to join Daniel and SJ.
Shield.
Block. Thrust.
Spear.
Jab. Swing. Smack.
“What the heck is going on?” Daniel asked as he slashed and struck his own set of opponents.
“Short version: I have magic and it’s time I used it!” I slammed my staff into one guard’s head then kicked out his knee. “These things—the statues, the dragon—they listen to me!”
“If they listen to you . . .” SJ fired a slime potion to her left and an ice potion to her right. “Then let the rest of them help us while you make a run for the throne room.”
Roundhouse. Elbow. Block.
“No way, no splitting-up,” I called over to her. “I’m not ditching you guys again!”
“Crisa,” SJ began, “this is not ditching, it is—”
Daniel pushed SJ out of the way to stop an attacker from slicing her in half. She spun around angrily with an ice potion in hand.
Instead of using her slingshot to release the orb’s power, she crushed it in her fist—causing the lower half of her arm to become consumed in a shell of ice. She punched her would-be slaughterer in the face and shattered both his jaw and her makeshift ice gauntlet on impact.
Awesome.
“As I was saying,” she continued, “it is not ditching because this time we know why you are going and that you will come back for us. So go! Take Daniel for backup and find our In and Out Spell ingredients while you have the chance!”
I nodded at SJ and transformed my spear back into a wandpin. There was another bear statue a few feet over. I awakened him with orders to take us to the palace throne room.
I hopped onto the bear’s back. Daniel knocked one last guard off his feet, stored his sword in its sheath, and jumped on behind me.
“Go,” I commanded the bear.
And he did just that.
ith Daniel and I hanging onto his fur, the bronze-colored bear plowed past countless guards and bounded down the halls until we reached the throne room.
The majority of the guards were involved in the
main battle so there weren’t many in the room when we entered. Daniel and I dismounted as the few soldiers who were inside charged us.
I put my hand to the bear’s head coolly.
“Defend,” I said.
Gold energy lit up my hand. Without a second thought the bear took off toward the men.
I heard their yells but did not break stride as Daniel and I marched to Nadia’s throne on the other side of the room.
I pushed away the maroon curtains to her study and discovered it was also empty . . . except for Arian. He looked at me in utter surprise. I spotted our quill, locket, and my Hole Tracker on a shelf beyond Nadia’s black marble desk.
“Get the stuff,” I told Daniel. He nodded.
Arian drew his sword and started toward me. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?”
I didn’t flinch. I casually placed my hand on the bookshelf to my left and summoned my magic. “Protect,” I commanded.
The bookshelf jerked to life. It ripped itself from the wall, flipped on its side, and rammed its way across the room—blocking Arian from getting anywhere near me.
This was the first time I’d ever seen Arian look genuinely, completely fazed. “How did you—”
“It’s like you said, Arian,” I interrupted. “I have magic. A lot of magic, it turns out. But you know what I don’t have a lot of anymore? Patience. So before my friends and I get out of here I want you to tell me something.”
“What?”
“The one thing I was never able to figure out. How can you and your men get out of Alderon to come after me and the other protagonists you’ve been hunting? The In and Out Spell over this land is still intact. If it wasn’t, Nadia wouldn’t be sitting here while you knock main characters off her list one at a time. She would have made her move on the rest of the realm a long time ago. So tell me, how do you escape?”
Arian didn’t respond.
Ugh, I don’t have time for this.
I knew that if I had any hope of permanently stopping these people, or protecting the other protagonists they’d taken an interest in, I had to know. Otherwise what was to stop Arian from coming after us again?
I put my hands on the maroon curtains hanging in the doorframe and willed them to obey me. Tearing themselves free of their hooks, they flew over to Arian and violently wrapped around his arms, yanked him off the floor, and hung him a few feet off the ground like a tortured scarecrow.
“I thought I told you I was low on patience,” I said. “So talk.”
He refused, remaining silent.
“Fine.” I looked to the curtains. “Pull.”
Without my having to touch them, the curtains obeyed and began pulling Arian’s arms in opposite directions, stretching him out like a rag doll until . . .
“All right, all right!” he eventually croaked.
I raised my hands, which hadn’t stopped glowing. Despite the fact that I hadn’t spoken an order, the curtains seemed to read my mind and corresponding gesture. They stopped stretching Arian.
“Well?” I said.
Arian gritted his teeth as he met my gaze. “Every soul in here is trapped with no option for escape, unless . . .”
“Unless what?”
“Unless they surrender their soul. It’s a simple loophole. One that may not apply to the all-powerful In and Out Spells around the whole of Book or even the Indexlands, but that can certainly get past the weaker versions that encase Alderon and your school.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s not that complicated, Knight,” Arian sneered. “The In and Out Spell around Alderon has magic designed to prevent living things from crossing its borders. And the way the spell can detect living things—humans or even higher-functioning monsters and magical creatures like you—is by their souls. Soulless forms of energy face no such limitation.”
“So, what, you’re telling me that in order to cross Alderon’s barrier you surrendered your soul?” I asked. “If that’s the case, then how are you even alive?”
Arian hesitated.
I tightened my fists and the curtains responded by giving Arian a forceful yank. He grimaced and responded through gritted teeth.
“Shadow Guardians.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna need a little more than that.”
“Shadows are not just the castings of darkness we leave in our wake, Knight. They’re a species—energy creatures from another realm. If you surrender your soul to them they can inhabit your body like a vessel in its place. The people who undergo this exchange are called Shadow Guardians. Only about one in every hundred people is compatible for the process though, so very few of us can leave Alderon and carry out Nadia’s work. My team of hunters and I can only take on so much. That’s why my sole focus for years has been recruiting commons on the outside and leading the hunt for priority protagonists like you.”
“You may want to request a reassignment then, because it doesn’t look like that’s your forte,” I replied. “Keep biting off more than you can chew like that and you’re gonna get yourself killed.”
Arian laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are; you and your baseless threats. See, here’s the advantage that you don’t get about me, princess. Unlike you, death is not something I worry about.”
“Because you’re some big, bad antagonist—yeah, yeah, I get it.”
“No, because hosting a Shadow already comes with that cost. You don’t just give up your soul. Every minute one inhabits you it gradually drains your body of its life force until there is nothing left.”
“So by hosting that thing inside you, you’re basically dying?” I shook my head. “You know what, Arian, on second thought my advice is to forget the reassignment and just quit. Unless you want to waste the rest of your limited lifespan on more vain attempts to capture me.”
“Don’t worry,” he scoffed. “I’ll be fine. It’s only a year until the Eternity Gate opens, and when it does, I assure you each and every one of us Shadow Guardians will be stronger than you can even imagine.”
“The Eternity Gate,” I repeated. I’d heard and seen that phrase far too many times before—in Natalie’s file from Godmother HQ, her documents in Arian’s bunker, multiple dreams—but I still had no idea what it meant. Now I had a chance to find out.
“What is it?” I asked earnestly. “What is the Eternity Gate?”
Arian glared at me, refusing to answer.
“Tell me!” I barked.
He still did not speak.
Filled with frustration, I raised my glowing hands and jerked them apart—causing the enchanted curtains to recommence wringing Arian’s arms. Even so, my enemy continued to resist.
“Arian!” I shouted as I drew my hands further apart. They started to glow even brighter. He writhed in pain as the curtains yanked harder and harder, threatening to tear him in half.
“What is the Eternity Gate?” I growled.
Vicious, ardent emotion pulsed through me. I couldn’t recall ever having felt like this before—so full of anger and vengeance and power. It emanated from me like heat off the sun. For a moment I thought the intense feelings might burn me out completely. But then I felt something else, something gentle anchoring me.
“Knight.”
I turned to discover Daniel standing behind me, his hand on my shoulder.
As if I’d been in a trance, I suddenly shook my head and blinked, lowering my hands. The glow of the curtains, as well as my own, faded. Arian dropped to the ground behind the bookshelf and I took a wobbly step to the side.
“The others,” Daniel spoke steadily. “We need to get to them. I’ve got what we came for.”
I looked back at Arian. Part of me wanted to get away from him and the person inside me that had taken over and almost ripped him in half. Yet . . . a small part of me wanted to stay and let that person go even further.
“Yeah, okay,” I said, willing away the vengeful feelings.
Daniel and I made for
the door.
“You can’t escape,” Arian called after me. “Even if you make it out of here, there’s no changing that your card’s been punched. One way or another, Crisanta Knight, your end is coming.”
I met his gaze. “Try and hurt me or my friends again, Arian, and I can promise you the exact same thing.”
With a touch to the bookshelf on my right I trapped him inside Nadia’s study, ordering the thing to seal the door behind us.
Daniel and I rushed back into the throne room. The circumstances were way worse than they’d been a minute ago.
The moment we emerged, we were ambushed. The number of soldiers had tripled and a group of attackers had gotten past the bear and was rushing toward us. Adding to the problem, through the entrance of the throne room I could see another dozen men heading down the hall. Some were archers who were already taking aim.
Lapellius.
Shield.
My wand spiraled out and protected my chest from an arrow. The guards began to attack. Daniel and I clashed and ducked and spun and jabbed. They drove us closer to the wall. Another three escaped the bear’s defenses. I barely evaded a sword swinging toward my head.
The bear wasn’t enough to protect us from this. And he wasn’t enough to get us past the oncoming surge blocking our way back to our friends either. I needed something . . .
I spotted the large serpent head above the main door.
Bigger.
I think I actually smiled. For once I was not only glad to see one of my nightmares evolve into reality, I was happy to help it complete the transformation.
I concentrated on the serpent’s head but couldn’t hold the focus. An attacker’s sword slashed at my arm.
Awgh!
I cringed at the cut and kicked my attacker. Two more soldiers rushed in before I could block them. Each one grabbed an arm and slammed me against the wall.
Pinned there, I felt rage and power flood through my body. I shot my eyes to the serpent on the other side of the room and called on my magic with every fiber of my being.
Free yourself. Stop the guards. Give us a ride out of here. NOW.
Inherent Fate Page 27