The Gray Tower Trilogy: Books 1-3

by Alesha Escobar

  Sevastian spoke. “I went through your purse and found some interesting items. Clearly you have magical abilities, and someone sent you here to steal from us. Was it Akos? Or did Vencel hire you?”

  “Please, untie me,” I said with another false cry, trying to stall them for as long as I could. I sent a tendril of energy toward the edge of the warded circle. I forced my way through and began pouring my own magical energy into the circle, like water soaking a cloth.

  Jakab’s voice was uneasy. “Madame Veduny said something like this would happen. What if Eva’s working with the traitor?”

  His brother snorted. “I doubt her name is even Eva. Besides, I told you a hundred times there is no traitor. You need to stop going to witches’ parlors and playing around with their trinkets. They don’t know what real magic is.”

  “Conjuring demons isn’t magic.” I sent another tendril of energy toward the edge of the circle surrounding me. I could feel it bend in response, and continued adding pressure in the hope of breaking it.

  “I don’t care what you call it,” Sevastian responded. “As long as I get what I want.”

  A steel knife pierced the middle of my right hand and I let out a shriek. This time, I really did sob. The knife was dislodged and then pierced my hand again, and I cried out. I jerked in the seat, both of my hands straining against the ropes that tied them down to the arms of the chair.

  Sevastian spoke. “You’ll tell us who you work for and what you came for, or else this will get much more unpleasant.”

  My body shuddered from the adrenaline rushing through me in response to the pain. I lost hold of my counterspell and had to start over again and push through Sevastian’s ward. “Jakab...” I sucked in a painful breath. “I can explain--”

  Another strike hit me across the face. “I won’t fall for your mind games again,” Jakab said. “You heard him. Tell us what we want to know.”

  I tasted blood in my mouth. “Okay...I’ll tell you who sent me...” I worked furiously again against the ward--pushing, prodding, smashing--anything I could do to break it.

  Please...come on. I felt the cold blade of the knife against my cheek. This time, I threw all of my energy into hitting the ward, and suddenly the wave of heat grew in intensity and doubled over onto us--not quite what I was going for. The heat wave knocked me backward and onto the floor in my chair, and I heard Sevastian and Jakab scream out in shock. By the loud thuds I heard, it sounded like they were also knocked off their feet and landed on the floor.

  I could feel the weakened energy of the ward drifting around us like a cloud of dust. I strained to listen for either man, but it sounded like they were out cold. A shot of pain ran through my right hand, and I hissed as I used the lubrication from my bloodied hand to wriggle my wrist loose. I pulled down the blindfold. The basement area was dimly lit with a few crates stacked in one of the corners. I could taste the metallic essence of a few knives hidden throughout the room.

  I untied my left wrist and undid my legs. I rose to my feet, my knees shaking. Jakab lay unconscious in the far left corner, while Sevastian was sitting across from me, dazed and with a gash to his head. I slipped the blindfold from around my neck and used it bandage my injured hand. Sevastian finally snapped out of it and stood.

  “I don’t know who you are,” he said, drawing a revolver from his belt, “but you’re not leaving this place alive.”

  “Go to hell.”

  He fired a shot and missed. The bullet whizzed past my right ear, but I was so numb that I barely flinched. Before he could fire a second shot, I brought my Fire forth to lay hold of the scattered energy still dancing about the room. I thought about a lesson I once had with the Master Alchemist, who told me to focus my energy so I could feel metals and manipulate them. I couldn’t do that, but pure malleable energy was easier to command. I sharpened each point of energy, blazing hot with the magic of my Fire, and shot them all at Sevastian, piercing nearly every inch of his body and causing his skin and clothing to sizzle and burn. Sevastian dropped his gun and screeched, flailing about and stumbling toward his unconscious brother. He began uttering words, dark words that rolled off his tongue and invoked a tainted power.

  He was calling something terrible down on me.

  The entire building trembled, and there was a loud pop. Sevastian groaned as two bloody gashes stood in place of his eyes, and he dropped to the floor in a pool of blood. I swooned, growing weaker by the second due to my own blood loss. My body ached with the stress I had put on it when using my Fire, but I forced myself to turn toward the basement door.

  Suddenly a blast of wind filled the room, and I nearly fainted when I sensed the magical essence of someone I never wanted to cross paths with again--Ammon. The wind turned into black speckles and accumulated until a shadow figure formed. The demon stood before me, twice as tall as any human, with red eyes and rows of sharpened teeth. He smiled at me and made a movement with his hand, and I flinched. He chuckled, revealing, in his wispy black grasp, a single page.

  “I believe you’re looking for this, Isabella?”

  I stared at him in revulsion. “I thought...you were gone.”

  “You owe me,” he said, floating toward me. “You turned me loose from that gypsy woman before I was ready, and you had that priest cast me out!”

  His voice rose with that last accusation, and it made my knees buckle. “You can’t touch me.” I had closed any doorways that would give such a poisonous being a foothold into my mind or heart.

  “Is that so?” He smiled, reading my thoughts. He held the page just within my reach. He pulled it back just when I tried to grab it.

  Dread flooded my limbs and made me feel even weaker, and all I thought about was how I couldn’t lose that page. All of my sacrifices, the answer to closing the time rifts and blocking demons from entering this world, perhaps even the answer to saving it, was in that text. I asked in a trembling voice, “What is it then? What are you after?”

  He arched his back and tapped the page against his dark chin, as if in deep thought. “Though I despised the woman, she had her use. You owe me someone new. I want to be tethered to a person here in the physical world, so I can stop being summoned in circles.”

  He was speaking of the old gypsy woman, Delana, a medium who told fortunes and sold enchanted jewelry. Delana had fought Ammon a long time ago when she was young, and tethered him to her so that he would not roam free to harm other people. At times, he was docile, and would shrink into the background among the several spirits Delana communed with, but he had only been biding his time. He slowly chipped away at her defenses, her very sanity, and when he recognized me as the Drifter, he overtook Delana and possessed her so he could drive her to suicide and then pursue me.

  When I stepped in to save her, I brought along an exorcist who cast Ammon out and broke the bond. Now it seemed the demon had been repeatedly drawn to Sevastian’s summoning circle, and would be bound to appear in others unless he could tap into a human’s psychic energy so he could come and go as he pleased.

  I shook my head. “If I had the power, I’d expel you again. There’s no way I’m giving you someone to be tethered to.”

  He held out the page and a small flame began licking the bottom of it. “Then watch your precious text burn.”

  “No!” I threw myself toward the page. An invisible force slammed me to the ground, and I hit the floor with a smack. “Please...don’t destroy that page.”

  I looked up and saw him quench the flame. “Why shouldn’t I?”

  “You said that you wanted to be tethered to someone...” My mouth went dry.

  “Now you’re starting to understand.” He grinned at me with his rows of shattered teeth.

  I sat up, raising a trembling hand and not even bothering to hide the grimace I wore. Like Delana once did, I would have to take on the burden and the danger. Once I had the page and learned how to close the rifts, he would be the first demon I’d destroy and banish from this world. “Now listen clearly, dem
on. The only thing you’re going to share with me is raw energy. My mind is off limits. My body is off limits. You have no claim over me. And, you will not harm anyone. Understand?”

  He sneered, but then swooped downward and met me face-to-face, offering me the text without uttering a word. I snatched it and was almost afraid he'd set flames to the page again. He reached out with his hand and touched the one I had extended. I felt a rush of energy leave me. His form became more substantial, his color grew flesh-like, and his red eyes faded until they looked human. When he finally completed his shape-change, he appeared to be an average man with brown hair and even muddier brown eyes. He wore a tweed jacket over a white shirt and dark pants. His jaw was heavy and angled, which made me wonder if he still had those hideous rows of shattered teeth.

  “I’ll be seeing you around, Isabella.”

  “Where are you going?” Bile rose in the back of my throat at the sight of him. I had better learn how to destroy demons. Fast.

  “I’m going out to feed off the vices of this fine world. It’s like food to me.” He held his hands up in the air when I opened my mouth to object. “Don’t worry, it’s your energy...your rules. I must abide by them--however foolish and naive they are.”

  “I’m going to destroy you,” I said, finally rising to my feet.

  He shrugged. “A few weeks ago you believed that you had defeated me through that exorcist. You thought that you’d never see me again. Now, you’ve got me tethered to you.”

  “Get out!” I trembled again. I felt like we had just engaged in a crucial match, and I lost a round. He had drained a mixture of magical and mental energy from me, and now he would walk about inspiring and gaining pleasure from evil.

  Ammon smirked and walked away, straight through the wall. I folded the page and tucked it away, down the front of my dress, suppressing the sensation of disgust I felt. I stumbled toward the basement door, but a shot rang out and a bullet grazed my left shoulder, stinging like a red-hot poker. I gasped in pain and turned around.

  “Witch! You killed Sevastian.” Jakab had risen and he wore a feral look on his face, a mixture of animalistic rage and hatred.

  I tried taking another step forward, but collapsed to the floor in a heap of exhaustion. I heard Jakab lurch toward me and then he also fell. He pulled himself closer, sliding along the floor, until he reached me and his face met mine. I glanced at his chest and saw dark red blood seeping through his shirt. He gasped for air, raising the gun with a trembling hand and pointing it straight at me.

  My heart beat frantically in my chest, and my head throbbed again with a feverish intensity. Jakab steadied the gun in his hand, his teeth clenched with determination. Suddenly, an invisible force bent his fingers backward and there was a loud crack. Jakab screamed. His neck twisted in a violent jerk that made another crack. He stopped screaming, and his head dropped to the floor, his eyes opened wide in a perpetual stare.

  I looked over toward the doorway with blurry eyes and saw a figure standing there. I heard gunshots outside the basement, along with shouting and screaming. The electrifying power of someone performing elemental magic reached me even down here. It felt like Brande. The person standing in the doorway flinched when a loud explosion rocked the building, and then he moved toward me. As he came into view, I finally recognized him. Gregory’s shaggy gray hair hung just above his shoulders, and the odd scent of his broken magic hung about him. What was he doing here?

  “Wh-where’s Brande?” I let him help me to my feet.

  “Up above, giving Jakab’s men hell. I didn’t like that you left with him, and I followed you here. Can you walk?”

  I nodded, and then almost fell onto my face. “Maybe I need just a little help.”

  When he saw my injured shoulder and hand, his expression went from concerned to frightened. “You’re bleeding.”

  “Are you strong enough to do a Circle of Healing?”

  He backed away from me. “No.”

  I turned and glanced at Jakab’s body, then faced Gregory again. “You just did that, right? And you used your powers to shield the boys and protected them--but you can’t do a Circle of Healing?”

  He shook his head. “You don’t understand...”

  “Hey...what’s wrong with you?” I extended my hand toward him and he recoiled and ran out of the room.

  I cursed under my breath and followed, my legs quivering and threatening to collapse beneath me. He rushed down a dark hall and to the lift, then pressed a button and slipped inside. I caught up just before the doors shut, and the lift took us up with a groan. He stood as far away from me as he could, his eyes downcast and his lips mumbling prayers. Rosary beads were wrapped around his right hand.

  “Gregory...why are you so frightened?”

  He turned away from me and faced the corner. “Please, don’t...”

  My heart pounded in my chest. Could he sense what I’ve just done? Was I now tainted like Mehara said Master Skye was? “Gregory...is it me? Are you afraid of me?” I reached for him again.

  “I said stay away!” He flung me backward, into the opposite corner and bared his teeth. His canines elongated before my eyes, and his pupils gleamed with an unnatural light.

  My head throbbed again and I wanted to scream. I slumped against the corner, gazing at him in horror. “You’re a Cruenti? You’re a Cruenti!”

  He shook his head. “Not anymore...not anymore.”

  The lift stopped with a jerk, and as soon as the doors opened, he flew out and disappeared. I pulled my knees up against me and sat there, trying to muster whatever energy I had left just in case I needed to blast my way through Jakab’s remaining security--or even Gregory, if I needed to.

  “Isabella...” Brande stepped into the lift. His stone cold face hid the raging fire of anger boiling inside him. He had a few cuts and bruises on his face, but they were probably nothing compared to the ones Jakab had given me. He scooped me into his arms and held me tight.

  “Jakab and his brother are dead. I have the page.” I leaned my head against his shoulder as he carried me down the hall and into the main lobby. Brande stepped over dead and charred bodies as if they were mere rocks in the middle of his path.

  “Dani has the car running outside,” he said.

  My vision blurred, and I nodded. He brought me outside and placed me into the backseat of Dani’s car. I saw him turn toward the building and pause. He stood there with his back to me, anger still rising. Suddenly an aura of light erupted around him, and the air grew dense and my fingers tingled.

  The top floor of Jakab’s building burst into flames, and balls of fire exploded through windows from the top down. An invisible shield deflected some of the wind and heat that came our way. Brande turned in the direction of the river and held his head high, and a pillar of fire fell from the sky. The fire crashed into something and caused loud explosions and a violent disturbance of water. I was certain it was Jakab’s second ship at the docks. Finally, Brande turned in the direction of the railroad, where the crime lord had a few warehouses. I remembered how we had spent hours poring over maps of those storage spaces where Jakab kept his ill-gotten goods. Brande caused an earthquake to erupt and three loud crashes resounded halfway across the city.

  Brande finally faced me and got into the car. Dani hit the accelerator and took off, mouth gaping and fingers gripping the steering wheel. Dani stuttered in an attempt to say something, but then he just let out a long breath and remained quiet. Brande’s anger still lingered, and I understood how he felt. All I could do was lean against him--I was in too much pain to wrap my arms around him. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, and lightly touched my bleeding shoulder, sending a wave of healing energy through my body. Although I no longer felt like passing out, my body still ached and throbbed from the beating it took. It looked like Brande had used much of his energy to destroy Jakab’s possessions, but I was grateful for the small relief.

  I pulled out the page and opened it, so that we could both examine it. The fr
ont was nearly filled with lines of text written in Turkish, and the back was covered with a rather odd version of DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man. An androgynous person stood in the middle of a Circle, surrounded by symbols and numbers. Being able to hold the text in my hand caused a sense of relief to wash over me, but then the exchange with Ammon felt like an embarrassing sting. How could I tell Brande or anyone else about it?

  After a few moments, I fought through the burning sensation in my throat and whispered, “Thank you.”

  He reached for my hand and squeezed it, and that single gesture was all I needed.

  When we arrived at our building, Brande took me to my apartment and used the medical kit Master Lan had left for us. Unfortunately, jade powder, with its ability to heal poisons and wounds, wasn’t among the supplies. Brande cleaned and re-bandaged my hand where Sevastian had stabbed me, making sure to line the wrapping with a medicinal herb. His eyes still flared with anger, and he worked in silence. Mehara cast a Circle of Healing, which helped my shoulder wound, and I could also feel relief from the swelling on my cheek.

  “You should rest now, and we’ll do another round of healing in the morning.” Mehara eyed me with concern.

  I shook my head. “Tell Izsak to come up here. I want to speak with him.” I finally had the page, and I wanted my answers now. I was willing to lose a little sleep over this.

  “Mehara’s right. This can wait--you need to recover.” Brande brushed his thumb against the back of my hand, over the bandaged wound.

  My face tightened as I tried to control the irritation I felt. I went through hell for this page, and all I wanted was to be left alone so I could read it and understand it. “I promise I’ll rest as soon as I speak with Izsak. Please...send him up.”

  They both gazed at each other, and I bristled, imagining her communicating with him mentally and conspiring to force me to sleep. Finally, Brande sighed and faced me. “Twenty minutes. Then, it’s to bed. You’ll be of no use to anyone if you’re ill or hardly able to move.”

  I nodded. “Of course. Twenty minutes is all I need.”