Called by Darkness

by Sean Fletcher

  I turned the corner and nearly tripped on one of the patrol gargoyles. Or the pieces of it. Chunks of stone broken off from its body had been strewn across the floor. One of its wings had been shattered.

  No. No way.

  “Mia!”

  I started sprinting. I spun around another corner and into Remembrance Hall. Moonlight filtered through the oak tree’s canopy, casting a hundred miniature spotlights on the grass and marble floor.

  Mia was standing at the base of the tree, staring up at it. She was eerily still. At the sight of her I breathed easier. She was still here. There had to be an explanation for the gargoyle, but for now she was okay.

  “Mia? What are you doing?”

  She didn’t move.

  I slowly approached, not wanting to startle her. My senses were on full alert. I couldn’t see any immediate danger, but I’d never felt so unsafe in the Academy. “Mia, tell me what’s going on! Did you see someone—”

  Mia turned and my breath caught. Her eyes were completely black, black like bottomless pits, a darkness that left nothing of my friend in them.

  Then she summoned a spell and launched herself at me.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I was so caught off guard I didn’t even dodge when Mia’s spell-covered hand clipped my left arm. I stumbled back, arm searing with pain, as she lunged again, her eyes that same, awful black. I swept beneath her blow and backpedaled, trying to put as much space between us as I could.

  “Mia! Wake up! It’s me! It’s Skylar! Whatever’s hap—”

  Another spell barely missed my ear.

  “—you need to fight it! Come back to me!”

  I managed to duck in time as her magic-laden fist cleaved the air where my head had been. I instinctively called on my own magic to counterattack but stopped myself just in time. I couldn’t fight back. This was Mia; even if she was somehow being controlled, I couldn’t hurt her.

  It seems you could use some help, the Dark Prince’s voice taunted in my head.

  You shut it, I growled. Power or not, I couldn’t trust him, and I couldn’t use him. Not now, and definitely not against Mia.

  After another spell just barely missed me, Mia turned her attention back to the tree, fixated on it. Why did she—no, why did whatever was controlling her—want to destroy that?

  “Defendi!” I cried as Mia cast a column of flame at the trunk. Her spell splashed against my invisible barrier and dissipated.

  “Let my friend go,” I said firmly as Mia continued battering the barrier. I winced as her next strike put a crack in it. “Whoever you are, let her go!”

  But you know who I am, don’t you, Skylar?

  I gasped. Mia had spoken, but it’d been Kasia’s voice that’d come out. Mia’s face broke into a cruel smile. “Sweet, innocent little Mia. I’m afraid she’s out of reach of any of your powers. Will you kill your friend to save your Academy? Choose, little Rivest. Make a sacrifice worthy of the hero you want so desperately to be.”

  I leapt aside as Mia attacked me again. I blocked her overhead strike and, spinning as I did so, managed to sweep her legs at the same time I summoned a blast of air that threw her back. Mia flipped as she fell, coming up in a crouch. She snarled, the sound so unlike anything I’d ever heard from her.

  “You won’t deny me this, little Rivest! The Academy is mine to destroy, and neither you nor Lucien nor the great Aspen Rivest will stop that—”

  “Winspra!”

  A vortex of wind rushed through the hall from behind me and slammed into Mia, sending her tumbling. She tried to regain her balance but I was already running toward her, trying to keep her as far away from the tree as possible. I had no clue why she was so interested in it, but if it was something Kasia wanted then I had a strong hunch it couldn’t be good.

  I summoned another burst of wind that battered Mia sideways. I saw her plant her palm flat against the ground, watched her mouth a spell too quick for me to react.

  “Detna!”

  The explosion blinded me. Heat blistered my skin as I was thrown back, slamming my head hard against the marble. My vision was fractured in two as I sat up—right as Mia landed on me, knees pinning my arms to my sides. Her magic illuminated the crazed lines in her face, contorted in possessed rage.

  “Mia…” I said weakly. “Don’t…”

  “So weak,” Mia said in Kasia’s voice. “Here, let me give you pain. Let it be your new teacher, Skylar.”

  She raised her hand.

  “No, Mia!”

  Colson’s strong arms wrapped her from behind, clamping her hands to her sides as he hefted her off me.

  “She’s not herself!” I gasped, struggling to sit up. “It’s some kind of curse!”

  Mia was spitting like a wildcat while Colson did his best to keep her under control. The back of her head battered against his chin as he pulled her higher.

  “Are you all right?” Asher said, sliding in beside me.

  “It’s Kasia!” I said, desperate for him to understand that this wasn’t Mia, that Mia would never try to hurt us. “Kasia’s controlling her somehow. She’s trying to attack the tree!”

  Asher glanced at it in shock that quickly morphed to understanding. “The Academy’s strongest protective charms are infused within it. If the tree goes down…”

  “The Academy’s vulnerable,” I finished in horror.

  “A little help!” Colson said. Mia tried biting his arm, forcing Colson to squeeze tighter.

  “We don’t know any countercurses!” I said.

  “Then think of something to stop—” Mia’s flailing foot kicked his ribs. “—her from struggling!”

  “Detna!”

  Mia’s spell blew up the floor in front of us, tossing Colson back like a wad of paper. He hit the ground hard but managed to keep a weak grip on her. Mia was still moving, trying to shove her way out of his arms.

  Asher rushed past me, heading right toward them. “Colson! Let her go!”

  “You crazy?” Colson groaned. “She’ll tear you—”

  “Just let her go right…now!”

  There was a reluctant pause, then Colson released her. Mia tumbled free, surprised for all of a second before her black, enraged eyes turned on Asher.

  “The headmaster’s brat joins us. How perfect!”

  With a screech, Mia charged, launching herself in the air toward him.

  Asher stepped aside at the last moment.

  “Spectra!”

  He unleashed the stunning spell as his fist slammed into Mia’s stomach. Mia wheezed. Her eyes fluttered as the darkness covering them retreated, then vanished. Asher caught her as she slumped over and gently lowered her to the ground. I rushed over, fear tightening my chest. “Is she—”

  “She’ll be fine,” Asher assured me. “I weakened the stunning spell. I couldn’t think of any other way to stop her.”

  Colson was groaning in pain and Asher went and checked him over.

  “She got a good hit on him,” Asher said to me, face grim. “We need to get both of them to—”

  Mia suddenly shuddered. I held down her arms as her entire body bucked and twisted. Her eyes burst open again, her mouth wide in a silent scream as black smoke poured from it, forming into a small cloud above us.

  I stood slowly, never pulling my eyes from it. “Dark magic.”

  “Kasia’s curse,” Asher muttered.

  When the last of the smoke had left Mia’s lungs, she gave another shuddering sigh and lay still. The cloud hovered in midair, and then took off down the hall.

  “Oh no you don’t!”

  I tore after it, blood and rage singing in my ears. Did Kasia think she could just attack my home, hurt my friends, and not pay for it? I would find her, I would make her pay for what she’d done.

  The curse whipped through the corridors until it reached the main entrance hall and burst outside the front of the Academy. I sprinted after it, stopping for only a moment as the disorientation of passing through the magical border o
f the Academy hit me. I saw the curse whip across the street, up the side of a building, toward a shadowed figure at the top. I couldn’t get a clear image from this distance, but they were hunched over and bulky. Nothing like the thin, willowy frame of Kasia.

  The figure opened their hand and the curse settled into it. Then they turned and ran.

  I almost followed. My body ached to tear after them, but I forced myself to stop. My friends were back there, hurt, weak. I had no backup, and as much as my rage begged me to make Kasia pay for what she’d done, I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I needed help.

  I swiftly summoned a small magic bird into my palm and held it out toward where the figure had gone. I recalled as many details as I could about them: their shape, size, how they moved, anything I could think of.

  “Follow.”

  The bird took off and I watched it until it fluttered out of sight.

  For the second time in the last couple weeks, I found myself outside the medical wing.

  I couldn’t sit so I paced, hand gripping and releasing Valkyrie hanging from my jean loops. After taking Mia and Colson to Mrs. Rochester, Asher and I had rushed back to our room and suited up before coming back to check on them. Twenty minutes later and we’d heard no word from Mrs. Rochester. The rest of the Academy was stirring, despite the late hour, awakened by the commotion. On my way back to the medical wing I’d passed dozens of students sticking sleepy heads out of their rooms. Some had asked me what was going on, but I hadn’t answered.

  “Mrs. Rochester said she’ll be fine.”

  Asher walked out of Mia and Colson’s ward, closing the door softly behind him. He looked as tired as I felt, faint bags under his eyes and a darker bruise on his neck from where Mia had struck him during his last attack. “She and Colson both. My dad’s calling an exorcist just in case, to make sure the last of the curse is really gone.”

  My knees grew weak with relief and I sank into a chair and put my head in my hands. “They should have done that first,” I growled. “They should have caught it. How could Mrs. Rochester miss it? How could I—?”

  Asher’s warm hand clasped my shoulder.

  “This isn’t your fault,” he said. “Trojan curses are super advanced magic. We had no way of knowing. I bet Mia didn’t know. Even our parents probably would have missed it.”

  “But I knew her best! I should have seen something. She seemed better, yeah, but still…”

  Asher sighed, taking a seat beside me. “You think you’re the only one who should have been watching out for her?”

  “Yes. I should be strong enough to protect her. I should be strong enough to protect everyone.”

  “Huh…strong enough to protect everyone. That actually makes a lot of sense.”

  I looked over at him. “Really?”

  “No. It’s stupid. And you’re stupid for thinking it.”

  I lightly shoved him, but he just held up his hands, not denying that he deserved that but not conceding to me, either. “I’m just telling it like it is. Being partners doesn’t mean you have immunity from some tough love, remember?”

  I smirked, feeling a little better despite the lead weight on my chest. Mia and Colson were going to be all right, I reminded myself. They were all right. They were all right…

  And the Society…

  I closed my eyes. After a moment, I picked up the faint trail my magic tracker had left. The connection was fading. We didn’t have much time until we lost them. If that happened we’d be running blind. There’d be no point sending anyone out to search for them without a clear direction, and we wouldn’t be able to leave the Academy unguarded for too long. All we could do is sit around twiddling our thumbs, waiting for them to attack again.

  I knew I wouldn’t be waiting around. Asher and I were already dressed to kill. Almost literally, our weapons strapped to our sides.

  I opened my eyes to find Asher staring at the wall across from us. He smiled faintly. “Believe me, you’re not the only one watching out for her.”

  “Colson?” I guessed.

  “Colson,” Asher agreed. “The guy thinks he’s a brick wall when it comes to showing his emotions, but I can read him like a book. I think Mia actually talking to him has smitten him even more.”

  “Verbal communication does tend to help relationships.”

  He glanced at me, as though searching for some double meaning in my words. “That it does.”

  I stood again, my legs too jittery to stay still. “You said the tree was some kind of charm, right?”

  “Kind of. It’s not a charm itself, but it acts as a grounding, a central point, for most of the Academy’s defensive spells. The Masters bolstered this place up a ton after the Battle of New York. Even more after Mia was taken. More concealment and distraction charms, barriers, the works. All that magic needed a solid place to keep it stable.”

  “So when they couldn’t get inside again, the Society sent Mia to take it down.”

  “And then they could take out the Academy, yes.”

  “How did I not know about the tree? And don’t say it’s because I don’t pay attention in class,” I added when Asher opened his mouth.

  “Don’t have to. You already knew that.” He smirked, leaning out of reach as I tried to smack him again. “No, you didn’t miss it. I only know it because my dad’s headmaster. If the tree goes, the Academy will be defenseless until the charms can be set up again. But even then, they won’t be as strong without it. With that kind of vulnerability, you don’t exactly want to spread the news around.”

  Another thought occurred to me, something I hadn’t considered until then. “If Kasia managed to curse Mia then there could be a bunch of people at the Academy cursed and we wouldn’t know it.”

  “I’ll ask my dad to have the exorcist take a look,” Asher assured me.

  The ward doors opened again and Lucien and Master Lipstuck emerged.

  Lucien saw Asher and me standing there, both of us ready to go after the Society. “No, no, no. Absolutely not—”

  “I have a tracker on them, Lucien—Headmaster—sir,” I said. I closed my eyes and quickly checked it again. “It’s still there but almost gone. We need to go after them. This might be our only chance to stop them before they attack us again.”

  “We have no idea of their true strength,” Lucien said. “Sending in forces would be stupid.”

  “Then we’ll just send in a few,” I said. “Hard to detect and harder to catch. Enough to see what we’re up against and find out where they are. We might even stop the person at the center of it.”

  “And I assume you think you’ll be part of this little escapade?”

  I gestured to my clothes and sword, as if to sayWell…yeah.

  Lucien ran a frustrated hand through his hair with an exasperated huff. “Even if that was a good idea, you expect me to let you go gallivanting back into dangerous territory after you just barely escaped the first time?”

  Well when you put it that way…

  “We start practical hours next year,” Asher said. “We’ll be facing assignments probably as bad as this. So either we ‘gallivant’ out there again with you right now, or by ourselves then. Your call.”

  The two of them stared at one another, the tension between them so thick I could almost see the sparks fly. Asher didn’t flinch. A single lock of Lucien’s perfect hair drooped but he didn’t move to sweep it back.

  “If I may,” Master Lipstuck offered. “Mr. Dunadine and Miss Rivest are not wrong. Those two have seen the enemy and where they’re hiding. We could send a few of the other Masters out, with them leading the way…”

  “Lucien,” I said softly. “I promise, I promise, I’m not being rash and just rushing into this without thinking. This might be the only chance we have to get the drop on them—you know that. We can stop this. Now.” I nodded at the medical ward over his shoulder. “For them. And for anyone else the Society might hurt.”

  Indecision warred on Lucien’s face. His rigid stature seem
ed to deflate, just a little, as he looked at Asher and me. It was as though something he was worried about more than anything had come to pass and he hadn’t been ready for it.

  “Master Lipstuck, gather a handful of the other Masters,” Lucien said. “Tell them to meet us at the Academy’s entrance in five minutes. The remaining Masters need to stay vigilant. Extra gargoyle patrols, more safeguards, additional alarm charms encircling the entire outer grounds. The exorcist will check for any lingering curses that might have slipped past us. And as for you two…”

  He turned back to us, still looking like this was the worst decision he’d made in a long time. “Don’t make me regret this. Lead the way, Skylar.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  We made it all the way back to the abandoned City Hall subway station before my tracker went out.

  “Hex it all!” I said. Loudly. “Lost it,” I told the others as they gave me confused looks. I double-checked again, but the earlier connection in my mind was well and truly gone. And just when we were getting close, too.

  “No matter, I’m sure we can find the way from here,” Master Lipstuck said.

  “We can,” Asher said. He stepped around me, putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder as he passed. I didn’t feel reassured. My earlier bravado at catching Kasia had waned the moment we’d re-entered the damp, dark tunnels. Not even the presence of the other Masters—Coach Newman, Master Lipstuck, and a couple others from classes I hadn’t taken yet—didn’t make me feel better. What if I was wrong? What if this didn’t lead to anything and we were leaving the safety of the Academy for no reason?

  I hurried to catch up with them. Our lights danced farther down the tunnel until they mingled with the fluorescent glow of the abandoned station. We extinguished them and one by one snuck up and onto the platform, flattening ourselves against the tiled walls.