One Wish, One Choice

by Abby Hope Patrick

  Saskia’s eyes were open but unfocused. The light that had once filled them was gone. Nothing remained.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The group came to their senses and began to fight with all their strength against the guards.

  Faye had two guards holding her but somehow she managed to get her hands free. One hand slipped into her boot and she slid out the small pointed knife. She swung out and the edge of it sliced a clean cut along a guard’s cheek. But before she could do more, the other guard slammed the hilt of a gun into her forehead. She collapsed onto the marble floor and did not rise again.

  Jabez was grinning as he watched. “Kill the redhead next.”

  Anja screamed, turning her attention to Rufus. He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment. His hands began to glow, and when his eyes shot open, they were white. He stood frozen in place and Anja’s gaze was pulled to behind his back where liquid metal dripped onto the floor. His handcuffs melted away. The guards who had been holding Faye rushed towards him—and then fell to their knees, clutching at their throats. Rufus kept his eyes locked on them as he pulled the oxygen from the air around them.

  It didn’t take long for all the guards around him to lose consciousness. As they fell, Rufus stepped forward, hands raised, and the rest of the guards in the room began spluttering. They released their grip on Kano and Anja.

  Rufus was panting, his forehead slick with sweat as he focused on the magic. After a few agonising seconds, the guards collapsed.

  Rufus blinked twice, and his eyes returned to normal.

  The effort had drained him, he struggled to remain standing. But when his eyes landed on Saskia’s body, he staggered over to her without a second thought. He closed his hand around her wrist, waiting.

  Anja didn’t realize that she was still clinging to hope until Rufus pulled away. He locked eyes with Anja and shook his head, confirming what they all knew.

  Saskia was dead. There was nothing he could do.

  Anja’s attention was pulled away from them when she noticed Kano move. She didn’t have time to process what was happening as Kano sprung forward towards Jabez.

  She blinked, staggering back as Jabez and Kano fell in a tangle to the floor. Kano was struggling with Jabez’s wrist, trying to pry the knife from his hand. It skittered across the floor.

  Anja rushed forward—but it was too late. Jabez had already reached behind his back.

  She watched in horror as he pulled a gun from his belt, shoved Kano back, and fired.

  Kano toppled backwards. He fell to the ground at Jabez’s feet.

  Anja rushed to his side, skidding as she hit the floor. She clutched Kano’s stomach, the hot blood sliding over her skin. Rufus charged towards Jabez, his hands outstretched. Jabez’s chest heaved as he tried to take back the oxygen Rufus was pulling away from the air around him.

  Jabez took a few steps forward and fell onto his knees, dropping the gun. Rufus was too drained to pull all the air away but he was able to make Jabez splutter, his face slowly changing colour. Rufus picked up the fallen gun which had landed in Atgas’s blood. Slowly he made his way behind Jabez.

  He raised the gun to the back of Jabez’s head.

  His hand shook.

  Anja turned away. But there was no blocking the sound of the bullet shattering Jabez’s skull.

  Jabez toppled to the floor, but Anja could barely spare a thought for him. She looked down at Kano, who was soaked in blood.

  “Rufus!” Anja sobbed. “Do something!”

  Rufus dropped onto his knees beside them, his eyes taking it in. “I can’t.” He stared down at his shaking hands, sweat dripping down his forehead.

  “You have to!” She could barely force the words out through her sobs.

  Kano moved his lips. It seemed to use every ounce of strength he had left. His voice came out as a whisper,

  “Is… Saskia…”

  “Shhh, save your energy.” Her hand moved to his cheek, leaving a smear of blood.

  Tears ran down his face as he mouthed the words he could not say,

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.” She paused, choking on her own tears “Kano?” I just need to keep him awake, long enough for… Long enough, for what? As she looked down at him, she saw the storm that had once filled his eyes was fading. Her hand pressed to his cheek, her warmth soaking into his cold skin. “Kano!”

  He gasped, choking on the blood rising in his throat. And then he stilled, his body going still. Anja bent down and pressed her lips to his forehead.

  She’d seen blood before but it was nothing compared to this. Kano’s blood seeped through his clothes and pooled around him.

  Rufus wrapped his arms around her, but she couldn’t look at him. She closed her eyes, wishing she could suddenly wake up and find herself back in the safe house. Or in the barn. Or back at the orphanage…

  But Anja had used up her wish. Now she was on her own.

  Two sets of hands closed around her arms, ripping her away from Rufus. She shouted and tried to push them off but they held tight, pulling her to her feet. Two more people had Rufus by the arms and another one was scooping Faye from the ground. They were speaking, but Anja couldn’t process what they were saying.

  Before they were led out of the room, she caught her last look back. Kano, Saskia and Jabez all lay motionless.

  Anja was too numb to pay any attention to where they took her. Her body was shutting down with grief. She barely noticed as they were taken out through the building’s rear exit and loaded into the back of a big black truck. The doors were shut and locked behind them.

  The truck began to move. Rufus was yelling and banging on the closed doors. Faye was slumped in the corner and Anja was sitting against the wall, retching as her stomach heaved.

  The world seemed determined to take away everyone Anja cared about.

  Her parents.

  Saskia.

  Kano.

  It was all her fault. She’d put her trust in Jabez, and her friends had paid the price.

  * * *

  The road they took was bumpy and kept slamming them against the walls of the van.

  Rufus shuffled over to where his sister sat and held her as she hurled up the contents of her stomach. Her whole body was shaking.

  “We need to go back!” She pointed at the van’s doors. “Their bodies, we can’t leave them.” Anja hugged her knees to her chest.

  Faye didn’t acknowledge either of them as she sat with her back against the metal walls. Anja wasn’t sure when she’d regained consciousness.

  “Maybe medics can revive them?” Anja kept mumbling, believing herself less and less each time. She was choking on every word that came out of her mouth.

  Faye turned, speaking at last, “They’re dead.”

  Anja broke, sobbing into her knees. Faye turned her head away.

  The van drove on, leaving Kano and Saskia far behind.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The doors to the truck were flung open and light poured in. The constant buzz of the city overtook the small space.

  A group of men and women rushed in, grabbing the group and lugging them out. Someone muttered an apology when Anja was pushed too roughly,

  Or maybe they’re apologising for whatever comes next?

  The group found themselves shoved into a backstreet with apartment buildings on either side of them. They were directed into a building to their left and helped up some stairs. Faye was struggling against the men holding her but Anja didn’t have the strength to resist. Rufus kept tripping as he descended the stairs, but the two men on either side of him kept him from falling.

  “I will kill you for this!” Faye spat, squirming to try and get free. Someone clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling her swearing.

  They approached an apartment door. One by one, they were pushed into a dimly lit room. Inside, a cluster of people surrounded a big table that held maps and papers.

  Anja quickly realised that the p
eople holding them couldn’t be part of the government.

  All eyes turned to stare at the three of them. A middle-aged man stepped away from the table and walked over.

  “Good, you’ve arrived. We’ve been trying to find you since you broke out of the government cells. Sorry it took us so long, but you’re very good at hiding. We have a few men—” the woman holding Anja cleared her throat, “—and women,” he added, “working in the building, who saw you visiting Atgas. Then they heard the gunshots and called us. Now that Atgas is dead there’s no one in charge, so we need to act quickly.”

  Rufus spoke up, “Who are you?”

  The man smiled. “Good question. We’re the Magical Resistance. We’re fighting for those who possess magic to be free to use it. For some time now we’ve been gathering Sorcerers and taking them to a secure location, so they can use their powers freely. There’s a few left to move, but we’ve run out of time.” He frowned at Rufus. “Are you the one who wrote the article?”

  Rufus nodded.

  “Thank you. We need people who aren’t afraid to speak out. It’s how we found you. Your editor sent us a message about your article and we looked into you. But then you disappeared.” He paused, waiting for someone to speak, but the group just stared at him. He coughed. “Well, um. We heard about the police chase in Mooran and tracked you down. But when we found the apartment only one of you was there.” He turned to look at the back of the room. One of the people around the table walked over to a door at the back of the room and knocked on it. It opened and a figure hobbled out.

  It took Anja a moment to register who she was seeing. “Miles!”

  He limped towards them. “You’re here,” he exclaimed, smiling, “where is…?”

  His eyes scanned the group again. Faye answered the unspoken question by shaking her head.

  “No. No. No.” Miles stared at each one of his friends in turn.

  Anja ran to him, wrapping her arms around his shaking body. “It can’t be. She can’t be…” He sobbed into her shoulder while she held him.

  Miles finally let go and moved back. “How?” he whispered, wiping his eyes, the tears still running down his face.

  Anja bit her lip, drawing blood. “Jabez. He wasn’t who we thought he was. Once we’d helped him we became expendable.”

  Miles fell against the wall, his hands covering his face. Rufus was there in an instant, his hands wrapped around Miles’s shoulders. “Breathe,” he whispered, “just breathe.”

  The man coughed, pulling their attention back to him.

  “I’m sorry for your loss. Go and get yourselves cleaned up, eat something and rest. We can’t stay here for long.” He turned and rejoined the group around the table.

  They were directed towards a door in the back corner of the room. They followed slowly behind, Miles leaning on Rufus for support. His chest shuddered as he wept.

  Faye collapsed onto one of the bunk beds that lined the walls, her back to the group.

  Rufus left to go into the bathroom.

  “Miles, I need you to talk to me.” Anja went to sit next to her friend, who was sobbing into his sleeves. “Please.” Her voice cracked as grief threatened to take over again.

  Miles lowered his head, unable to meet her eyes.

  “An hour after you left there was a knock on the door. The man… the man you were talking to came in.” He stopped as a sob rose from his throat. “Honestly Anja, I don’t know. No one was talking to me… I was so scared about you guys. I can’t remember the details.” Tears were wetting his eyelashes. “Are they really…?” His voice trailed off.

  Slowly, Anja told him what had happened. As she spoke, her eyes drifted from Miles to Faye, who was lying on the top bunk. Anja could only see her back, which was shaking. Faye’s tears were silent, unlike Miles, who cried loudly as she held onto his arm, supporting herself as much as she was supporting him.

  * * *

  “Anja.” Rufus’s voice was muffled by the bathroom door, but the tone of his voice alarmed her. Her heart dropped. She scrambled to her feet.

  Rufus was sitting on the floor of the empty bath, his clothes sticking to his skin.

  She knelt down next to the bath.

  “There’s too much blood.” Sniffling, Rufus stretched out his hands, which were still stained with blood. The water around him tinted pink.

  Anja grabbed the bar of soap from the sink, then slowly climbed into the bath, sitting opposite her brother. “Give me your hands.”

  She began to scrub, removing the blood from Rufus’s skin and fingernails. The smell of it filled the room, but she kept going.

  He finally looked up, his eyes watery, “I killed someone,” he whispered. “He’s dead, and that’s my fault.”

  “If you hadn’t killed him then we’d all be dead.”

  Rufus didn’t respond. Only the sound of the water filled the room.

  She moved closer, wrapping her arms around him. She rested her head on his shoulder as he cried.

  “I’m a murderer,” he sobbed.

  Those words broke her. She had never seen her brother like this. He looked as shattered as she felt.

  I worked so hard to keep him protected… but everything I’ve done has been for nothing.

  She reached up and turned the water off, letting the silence settle. Every staggered breath Rufus took reverberated across the tiles.

  “Are you okay?” Anja asked.

  Rufus lifted his head, wet hair clinging to his face.

  “That’s a stupid question.” He tried to smile, but it faded quickly. “No. I’m not, and neither are you. I doubt we’ll be okay again.”

  Anja couldn’t find the words to reply. She snatched a folded towel from the floor and wrapped it around her brother while helping him to his feet, then she grabbed another for herself and her soaking clothes. She left Rufus to get changed while she returned to the others.

  Miles looked up, his face was red and blotchy. Anja settled beside him, embracing him.

  * * *

  Someone came in from the other room and addressed the group,

  “Which one of you is the Sorcerer?” Rufus lifted a half-hearted hand. “We want to talk to you.”

  Anja stood up to tell him that there was no way in hell she was letting them take Rufus out of her sight—but Rufus’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.

  “I’ll be one door away. Stay here and eat something.” Food had been brought in but lay untouched on the floor.

  Rufus left with the man. He’d recovered after his earlier breakdown in the bathroom and had been the only one of the group to talk since then. Miles had asked to use the bathroom next, but that had been half an hour ago. The door still remained closed. Faye looked up at Anja

  “Go make sure he hasn’t hurt himself.”

  Anja knocked on the bathroom door. There was no answer, so she let herself in. “Miles?” She moved into the small bathroom. He hadn’t turned on any lights, and her eyes struggled to adjust to the dark.

  “I don’t want to talk.” He was sitting on the bathroom mat, staring at the wall in front of him.

  Anja didn’t know what to say. When she didn’t leave, Miles raised his voice and said again, “I don’t want to talk. You only want to apologise but you’re not the one to blame. Jabez is. This whole fucked up system is.” His eyes met hers, utterly blank. “Saskia wouldn’t want us to blame ourselves, and neither would Kano.” He took a shaky breath. “But just because we aren’t to blame doesn’t mean it’s any easier. There won’t be a single day that I won’t regret not going with you guys.” His voice broke. “But unless you’ve got another magic necklace that can take us back in time there’s not much we can do.” His shoulders shook as he held in a sob, turning to stare at the wall again. “Now please leave.”

  She left, closing the bathroom door behind her.

  * * *

  Rufus returned to the group fifteen minutes later.

  “They want to teach me how to use my powers,” he told them b
efore they had a chance to ask. “Miles told them about the necklace before we got here and they want to know more.”

  “Did you say yes?” Anja asked.

  “Only if you guys all came too. They seemed happy about that, I think they want to use your story to turn people against Atgas—or, erm, her rules, at least. I also said we need to bring Willow along too. No way am I leaving her to get interrogated by government goons.”

  They spent a while discussing their options, to go with these strangers to some mystery location, or stay and spend the rest of their very short lives being hunted by the government.

  In the end, all of them agreed to go.

  * * *

  Anja had been so worried about her friends that the thought of having a shower hadn’t even crossed her mind. Her clothes were still damp and coated with Kano’s blood. Miles had brought their bags with him, so she went through hers, trying to find a clean set of clothes.

  When she was searching through her things, she found the heart Willow had given her. Anja held it in her hand, holding onto it tightly. She slipped it into the pocket of the jacket she planned to wear later.

  While the others were talking, she got up and went into the bathroom. The floor was wet from the showers before her, the hot water mostly used up.

  Her mind started to shut down as the cool water began running. The world felt as if it had been spinning out of control, and was only just now slowing to an uneasy halt. Her chest felt hollow and empty, as if her heart had finally given up. All she wanted was to stay here with the water hitting the top of her head.

  As she washed, she cried, her tears mixing with the water. Her breathing came quick and unsteady. The water felt too heavy, like drops of lead. Anja scrubbed at her skin until it was bright red. Even though the blood had gone, she kept scrubbing a little longer.

  Everything seemed wrong.

  Her head screamed for release from the pain.

  She let the silence fall around her. Her thoughts drifted to Kano and the last thing he’d said to her.

  What belongs to you but is used more by others?

  A sob rose up in her throat as she remembered the riddle. She’d never be able to tell Kano the answer, but she could still figure it out for herself.