by Katie Cross
Guardians ringed the perimeter of the cemetery, spaced at even intervals and facing outward. Even their presence couldn’t comfort me. Who were they against Miss Mabel’s barbarous cruelty? It knew no boundary.
That’s why my mother lay in the cold ground, never to smile again.
Helen stood outside the cemetery, but this time her chant faded away. She held her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking. I recognized the words of a familiar invocation as she called on the heavens to give me light and energy, to banish the bitter sting of death. But she couldn’t finish it, and I didn’t know if that was my fault or not. I watched her for a long time, and then I saw movement far behind her, in the depths of Letum Wood. Isadora’s foggy eyes met mine. I saw a knowing sadness, a mourning there. Her warning at the beginning of the school year haunted me.
Don’t underestimate her.
The crunch of leaves announced that someone walked toward me, and I braced myself for another well-meant expression of solace from someone I didn’t know. The footsteps came to a stop at my side. Isadora disappeared.
The High Priestess’s scratchy voice broke the air.
“Miss Mabel is gone, and the High Priest is dead. She killed him shortly after murdering your mother.”
“I’m not surprised,” I murmured. “She loves chaos of her own making.”
I didn’t have the energy to look the High Priestess in the eye, so the two of us just stared at the deadfall. How could I look at her knowing I would one day kill her? Especially when I couldn’t tell her that I’d signed the binding. I had the creeping suspicion that the High Priestess had known all along that I wouldn’t be able to warn her. Had I known, I wouldn’t have agreed. She must have understood that about me.
It would be a bitter secret, gnawing at my heart.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “You changed all her plans.”
Yes, and she changed mine.
“Marie’s death will not be posted in the Chatham Chatterer as it occurred,” the High Priestess said with little preamble. “It was an unfortunate accident while visiting her daughter at school.”
A well of bitterness grew in my chest.
“You’re covering for a murderer.”
“No. We’re playing our cards right. Miss Mabel will think that we’re trying to cover up a scandal with the Network schools to ensure we always have students. But we are trying to avoid drawing the spotlight onto her. There’s nothing Mabel loves more than attention.”
“Who will know the truth?”
“You and I, your father, and a handful of Council Members I trust. They put the classroom back together and repaired it before they left.”
I suppose that meant she had Council Members she didn’t trust. Just thinking about it left me with a headache.
“If a few Council Members know the truth, Miss Mabel has no hope of becoming High Priestess by popular vote,” I said.
“As I said before: you changed her plans. I think it’s safe to assume that she’s going to attempt to do what I did with Evelyn.”
“An overthrow?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Or she can have me do it from within. A young traitor, bound to an unknown task.
“Do you think she will try?” I asked.
“I have no doubt.”
We said no more. There was nothing more to say.
The High Priestess glanced over her shoulder to the small queue of people talking to my father by the cemetery gate. His wispy brown hair fanned out around his face and neck. Dark circles colored the skin under his eyes and a layer of stubble across his chin, but he held himself together with surprising strength.
“What’s going to happen to him?” I asked, following her gaze. The wind brushed a few tendrils of hair off my face. Helen had picked the chant back up, and it coalesced into the background.
“He’s going to continue in his job.”
“What about the Council? They aren’t likely to be as lenient with him.”
“You let me worry about them.”
That was a kind way of saying that it wasn’t going to be that simple.
“He’s not the first Head of Protectors to have a secret. He never let his family life interfere with his work, which is an argument in his favor.” The High Priestess shifted and pulled her white shawl back over a shoulder. “Not until recently, anyway. He’s been adamant about controlling your safety and being with you at all times for several weeks now. It’s caused a few more issues amongst my Protectors than I would have liked.”
Our eyes met for the first time. The rough edge I normally saw there had softened a little, making her look more like a grandmother than a ruler.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s as simple as it sounds. You weren’t aware of anything unusual except for the sudden appearance of a white cat.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“After Derek learned that Mabel had you at the Esbat, he became concerned. He received permission from me and came the next day. He wasn’t there all the time but returned as often as he was able.”
Tears rose to my eyes. Papa had been with me all along as my white cat. That’s why he never answered my frantic letters.
Vague memories played back in my mind, making my heart thump. He hadn’t been alone. The calico cat at every Competition event. Her sudden reappearance after Grandmother died. The way the two cats curled around each other. Their frequent company whenever I was alone.
My nearly inaudible voice came out in a mournful whisper.
“My mother was the calico cat, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. Once Derek realized your Mactos with Miss Mabel wasn’t just a test for the mark, he left to warn me. Marie stayed to monitor the situation in case you needed help. Mabel forced her transformation at the end.”
“But how did she know?”
“Mabel has many abilities, Bianca. They cannot always be explained.”
It was a bitter pill to swallow.
“How did he get hurt before he came? If I hadn’t nursed him back to health then–”
“He got into a fight with a stray critter when he transformed in the forest to avoid any chance of being seen. Apparently fighting is a bit different when there are four legs to coordinate.”
We fell into silence again. I just wanted it all to go away, but it wouldn’t. Not ever. This grim reality was here to stay.
The High Priestess motioned off to the side with a tip of her head.
“It seems I’m not the only one waiting to talk to you. I won’t take up any more of your time. I’m not sure they’d let me anyway. Camille has been inching closer every minute. Leda seems protective of you. She hasn’t stopped glaring at me since I arrived. They will soon overtake us.”
Camille and Leda stood a few feet into the tree line, staring at me in their white dresses and hair ribbons. My best friends.
“Take your time here, Bianca. We’ll wait by the carriages. You’re coming to stay at Chatham Castle, where we can keep you near your father.”
And near you, so I can murder you in your sleep at Miss Mabel’s behest.
I couldn’t look at her. My response felt choked.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
She pulled a pair of gloves out of a pocket and started sliding them over her wrinkled hands.
“This is a lot bigger than just you and me, Bianca. It has been for a while. I only kept the obvious wolves at bay when I overthrew Evelyn. Now is the time to flush them all out. It will be a painful, dangerous process. Keep that in mind.”
I thought I knew what she spoke of. Miss Mabel and Dane. The Central Network and the Western Network. Council Members she couldn’t trust. Death and war. She was telling me that it didn’t start or end with Mabel, or my mother, or me. Bigger forces were at play, forces I hadn’t yet imagined.
Forces I didn’t want to imagine.
The wind stirred up a flurry of leaves as she departed.
C
amille gave an awkward curtsy to the High Priestess as she walked past, but Leda ignored her and started right for me. They reached me at the same time, pulling me into a hug that would have knocked me over if it hadn’t also held me up. A sob filled my throat with suffocating thickness.
When they pulled back, tears swam in Camille’s large hazel eyes. For the first time since I’d met her, she had nothing to say.
“Bianca, this is my fault,” Leda said in a wavering voice. “I didn’t see–”
“No.” I grabbed her arm. “This is not your fault. I would never expect you to foresee everything. An accident–” I stumbled over the words. “Just an awful accident.”
We stared at each other. She finally nodded once, blinked several times, and looked away. Leda didn’t believe me, but she said nothing.
“I’m not going to ask if you’re doing okay,” Camille said, squeezing my arm above the elbow to avoid my bandaged hand and restoring a sense of grounding to my upside-down world. “Because I know that you’re not. I remember how it felt when my parents died. Your father told us how it happened while you were speaking to the High Priestess. A terrible accident, falling that way.”
Camille tightened her grip on my arm again, the wide-eyed look telling me in no uncertain terms that they knew the truth. They knew, and it was enough.
“Thanks,” I whispered, attempting a short-lived smile. Tears pooled in my eyes. Camille looked around, her gaze lingering on the two fresh headstones that represented nearly everything important to me.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“I’m moving to the castle.”
Camille’s eyes popped open in shock.
“Chatham Castle?”
“No,” Leda muttered. “The other one.”
“You’re going to live with the High Priestess?”
Yes, my beautiful nightmare. I wondered how they would react if they knew what I’d gotten myself into.
“For now, anyway,” I said dismissively, not wanting to get into details.
“I guess that’s where you’d live when your father is the Head of Protectors,” Leda said, glancing back at him. He stood apart from the small queue, intent in conversation with the High Priestess. “He’s a really nice guy, Bianca.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you still going to keep your grandmother’s shop open?” Camille asked. My thoughts turned back to the Tea and Spice Pantry with a twist in my stomach.
“No,” I said. “Papa talked to the lady that’s been helping my mother and gave it all to her.”
It had been a simple conversation between Papa and me, but it had closed a door. I couldn’t go back and see the deep barrels and the swatches of lavender or smell the cloves. My heart wasn’t strong enough.
“What about your curse?” Leda asked.
The real question. Winter’s cold grasp would fade into the fresh life of spring. It would give way to summer and the end of my life.
“I don’t know.” I sucked in a deep breath and looked out on Letum Wood. “Miss Mabel is still out there. I have until the middle of summer.”
“Are they going to close the school?” Camille asked.
“No.” A conversation I overheard between the High Priestess and my father ran through my head. Miss Scarlett would run the school as usual. If Miss Mabel stopped in, she’d let them know. No one would notice Miss Mabel’s absence. “It was just an accident. No reason to alarm anyone.”
Right, their looks seemed to say.
Camille lifted my right hand.
“Your circlus is complete,” she said, glancing at me in surprise. Her voice was small, like a child’s. “You’re all done then. For real.”
A call from the road caught our attention. Augustus pulled up with the same faded horse and creaky carriage I’d taken to the Esbat. He waved for Camille and Leda.
Camille whirled back around.
“Are we ever going to see you again?” she asked, clutching my hand even tighter.
“Of course,” I said.
“She’s going to invite us to the castle.” Leda closed her eyes, then opened them. “Really soon.”
I responded with a breathy laugh.
Camille’s eyes grew watery. She threw herself against me with all her usual force and didn’t let go for a long time.
“Thanks for being my friend, Bianca,” she said into my shoulder, and I held her extra tight. “Merry part.” She whirled around without another word and ran off, her hair bouncing, her white stockings flashing. Leda and I faced each other. Her eyes were exceptionally bright today, their divergent coloring highlighted by her white-blonde hair.
“Merry part, Bianca. Go well.”
She put a kiss on the ends of her fingers and blew it to me. I smiled, and she walked away.
Once they had departed, I turned back around to face my mother’s grave. I didn’t know how long I’d been standing there when I looked up to the soft, warbling descent of white snowflakes. Papa stood at my side. He moved as silently as the snow. He wrapped a strong arm around my shoulder. I leaned into him, inhaling the musky scent of leaves and mint. For just a moment, I felt safe. I was a little girl in his arms blinking away the snowflakes on my eyelashes. There were no secrets. No fears. Just Papa.
“You ready to go home, B?”
No I wasn’t ready. There was no home, not at Chatham. If Mama wasn’t there, it would never be home. Just an intimidating, walled prison that guaranteed my proximity next to the High Priestess, when I was bound to murder her whenever Miss Mabel desired. But I couldn’t tell him that.
“Yes, Papa.”
I knelt down and picked up two twigs. They braided themselves together and blossomed into two creamy white lilies. I set them on the top of her headstone and straightened up.
It felt as if I stood on the brink of something grand and horrible, a great chasm yawning on all sides, waiting for me to take one wayward step or to stumble where I stood. No matter where I went, I faced the darkness alone. It wouldn’t be long before I met up with Miss Mabel again. We were caught up in a sick symbiotic relationship that would only end in death.
All our lives were ticking away now. The High Priestess. My father. Myself. The Central Network.
“So mote it be,” I whispered.
And then I walked away, my heart in the ground behind me.
THE END
The Network Series
Mildred’s Resistance (prequel)
Miss Mabel’s School for Girls
(winner of IAN 2015 Outstanding Fantasy)
The Isadora Interviews (novella)
Antebellum Awakening
The High Priest’s Daughter
War of the Networks
The Network Series Complete Collection
(includes all the above books in one edition)
Short Stories from Miss Mabel’s
Short Stories from the Network Series
And when you’re done reading The Network Series, there’s more...
• THE DRAGONMASTER TRILOGY •
Flame
Flight
Freedom
• THE ANTEBELLUM COLLECTION •
The Witch Without Magic
The High Priestess
The Swordmaker
The Weavers of Magic
About Katie
I write fantasy books so you can seize the light. Hold magic in your fingertips. Command dragons. Throw yourself at the mercy of an attractive stranger. You’ll forget the shadows of real life to live your wildest adventure.
And remember that you are the hero of your own story.
Table of Contents
The Network Series
Title Page
•••
Rights and Disclaimers
Dedication
Acknowledgments
•••
Miss Mabel's School for Girls
Isadora's Interview
Merry Meets
A Bit Mad
A Reliable Weakness
Are You Afraid?
Predictions and Possibilities
Play It Smart
Overpowering
Some Dangers
The Second Letter
A Terrible Thing
Are You Scared?
Inheritance Curse
Hazel
I Want To Be Great
The Winner
Contracts and Requirements
In Vino Veritas
Continuing On
Liquid Curses
Experiencing Ignorance
Deception Spells
Loyalty
A Frightening Euphoria
I Must Know
The Esbat
The Anteroom
Searing Pains
Wasted
Samhain
Hexes
Poke Root
Communication Spells
Tricks and Hexes
Vertigo
Purple Flowers
Divinings
Brianna's Birthday
It Won't Kill You
Not Your Fault
Powerful Chances
Not For Anything
Making Chaos
•••
Read More
About the Author