Karis grabs his arm, struggling to hold him back. “Dane, you can’t go in there!”
He tries to throw her off, a vein sticking out in his neck, but she clings on. “Zara!”
The water roils violently as the Colossus tries to heave itself out. I stare at the broken pieces of the ship. The figurehead with the freedom rune bobs to the surface of the water, one of its arms snapped off.
No.
A figure breaks the surface of the water, out where it’s a bit calmer. It’s Finn, Ava right behind them. Others surface. Het. Aiken. Manaka.
Zara surges up. She grabs the figurehead as relief bursts through my chest.
She looks across the water to us. “Move it!”
The Colossus is still pulling itself from the bay. Dane, Karis, and I take off toward the boathouse. Its doors are secured with a lock, but I punch it and it smashes into pieces. Dane and I haul the doors open and we rush inside. The place is a mess of jumbled beams and wood, cracked and broken and forming a thicket in front of us. Still, it’s impossible to miss the light of the Heart, rays of gold shining through the wreckage like streaks of the sun.
“Look out!” Dane shouts.
I catch a glimpse of the Colossus’s hand right before it slams into us. I go flying, hitting the ground hard, my head smacking against stone. I struggle to my elbows, blinking sluggishly. My hand gropes for the satchel at my side.
It’s gone.
I lurch up to my knees. My satchel lies right in the path of the Colossus’s steps as it forces its way into the boathouse, the roof splintering before its legs.
Karis is across from me, a long scratch on her cheek, but she’s on her feet. She looks at the Colossus, and then at the tome. She runs for it.
“Karis!” I cry.
She throws herself at the satchel, grabbing it and rolling out of the way right as the Colossus’s foot comes down. The boathouse shakes and she falls.
I stagger over to her. The Colossus takes another blind swipe and I grab Karis, pulling her to the side. We stumble into the small shelter a broken corner of the boathouse offers.
Karis looks up at the Colossus as it takes another swipe, demolishing an entire wall. She shakes her head. “Alix, it’s too close. We should regroup, try this a different time.”
There’s fear in her eyes, and I know it’s fear for me. But I shake my head. “I need to do this now. While there’s a chance.”
She looks down, and we both realize at the same time that my satchel—my tome—is still in her hands. I freeze. Suddenly I’m thrown back to the last time we stood this close to the Heart. When she wrote words that I couldn’t refuse but to obey. When she betrayed me. The memory crawls all over me, paralyzing me. What if she takes my will away from me again?
Karis swallows, then she presses the satchel into my hands. “I know you do,” she whispers.
My fingers instinctively curl around the leather, my seal flaring with warmth. She gave it back.
She looks out at the Colossus. “Dane and I will get the magistrate’s attention and try to distract him long enough to give you a chance.”
Her and Dane, alone against that thing? “Karis, the Colossus is enormous, and—”
“Alix.” Karis’s quiet word stops me. The fear is gone from her eyes now. She looks at me, her gaze stubborn and strong. “You can do this.”
Then she’s gone, running toward the bronze giant. “Dane!” she shouts. “Try to lure it away!”
I look at the two of them, so small compared to the behemoth before them. Yet still doing this, to give me a chance. I’m torn between the two of them and the Heart, so close. I have to decide. What I want to do. What I need to do.
I run, scrambling over broken pieces of building, shoving anything aside I can’t get past. I can hear the Heart calling out to me with that brilliant melody. Its buzzing energy makes the very air vibrate. I don’t know what will happen when I touch it again, but this time I know I’m doing this not because of what my father wanted, or what Calantha might want, but because I want it. For all of us. Then I’m there, potent golden light stinging my eyes.
I stand before this ancient Heart. There have been other vessels, like Zara’s pendant, that have controlled automatons over the ages. But none have been as large or contained as much Script ink as the Heart. This is the one that truly gave the Scriptorium their strength. This is the one my father knew we had to destroy if there was ever to be peace.
I throw my hands against its blazing surface, falling into its song. This time I don’t hesitate. I open my mouth and sing, loud and strong.
The runes respond, and the Script ink plunges down my arms. It fills me up, all light and life and wonder until I’m blazing with it, as the Heart dims and goes dark. The melody fills my world, until the light is all I see and the song is all I hear. It dims the sounds behind me, of the building creaking and cracking as the Colossus tries to force its way through, of the waves beneath my feet.
Even drained of Script ink, the Heart feels as if it’s pulsing in front of me, as if it really is alive. I change my song to one my father and I worked on together, and I sing it out.
As I sing, I finally know that Karis was right. I’m not a weapon. Not a tool. I’m me. Choosing to destroy the Heart doesn’t change that. Using the runes my father gave me doesn’t change that. I am not bound to these lines on my skin. I can do more than I ever imagined. I know that now, and I won’t doubt it again.
I spent my time in the villa dreaming of a world just out of reach, a world of islands and waves and starlight. Now, I’m a part of that world, and no matter how I started, I get to decide what to do with this beautiful, brilliant life of mine. I’m done making myself into anything less than I am.
My notes touch the runes my father told me I needed to, and each one is a flare of light piercing my vision. I feel rather than see sheets of gold peel from the Heart. It’s heart-wrenching, but I keep singing, my voice strengthening even as the melody of the Heart grows fainter and then silent.
The notes fade from my lips. My vision clears. I’m back in the boathouse. There is no Automaton Heart in front of me anymore, only twisted, golden sheets lying on the ground. I drop my hands to my side, my palms still burning from the Scrivolia’s touch.
The Heart is gone. The magistrate will never be able to use it again. The Scriptorium will never be able to use it again. After all these centuries, all this pain, I finally did it. I can scarcely bear the emotions welling inside of me, the joy and triumph and relief. It’s done. It’s finally over.
“Karis? Karis!” Dane’s voice filters back to me. It comes again, even more desperate. “Alix, I need you!”
I race back, stumbling around the wreckage, even as the room blurs around me. The Colossus is frozen once again now that the Heart is gone. Its hand has reached down to the ground, fingers curled. Trapped in those fingers is Karis. She isn’t moving.
Dane’s struggling to pry the Colossus’s hand open. He looks at me, panic in his eyes. “Alix, help me,” he begs.
I run to him, grabbing the automaton’s fingers and lifting. My metal skin groans beneath the weight, but I can’t stop. I can’t look down at Karis who is so still and pale.
Crying out, I give one last heave, and the fingers part. Dane grabs Karis beneath the arms and pulls her out.
He brushes the hair from her face. “Karis?”
She doesn’t respond.
I stagger back, panic engulfing me. If I’d only stopped... If I’d only helped... Then Karis... I can’t say it. I can’t think around the pain that’s splitting all over me.
Karis’s body convulses, and she heaves in a breath, her eyes flying open. She coughs, hacking in air.
I sink to my knees as Dane wraps her in his arms, eliciting a strangled yelp from her.
She’s alive.
He slackens his grip. “Sorry.”
Karis struggles to sit up, wrapping her arm around her ribs. She looks at the Colossus, frozen now. “D-did we win?” she manages weakly.
Dane buries his face in her hair.
“Yes,” I say. “It’s done. The Heart is gone.”
Relief spills over her face as we look at each other, both of us on the ground in this broken boathouse. Both of us still here. I open my mouth, not sure what I want to say, needing to say something because I almost lost her, when footsteps sound behind us.
Dane and I whip to our feet, but it’s only Zara, and Finn and Ava behind her. They climb over the Colossus’s frozen arm, all of them dripping wet.
Zara raises a brow as she slides down to the floor. “I take it the mission was a success?”
A grin splits Dane’s face. He runs to her and lifts her off her feet, spinning her around. Then he seems to realize what he did, and his eyes widen. Before he can apologize, Zara clasps his face in her hands and presses her lips to his.
I stare. I’ve never seen anyone kiss before.
Zara laughs as Dane sets her back on her feet. “You did good, soldier boy. I’ll give you that.”
“After all this time, I’m still just a soldier boy?”
She grins. “Always.”
Behind me, Karis struggles to get to her feet. I take her arm and help ease her up. “What about the others?” she asks.
Zara nods. “Let’s go find out.”
40
* * *
KARIS
The Colossus is frozen, but this isn’t over. I have to make sure my brother and everyone else is safe. And we have to find the magistrate. As long as that man is out there, none of us will ever be safe.
We climb up through the tiers, my ribs burning like pokers in my chest. As we go, I see the destruction from what we did. Streets are cracked. Whole buildings are reduced to rubble. These were the magistrate’s people. And this is what he did to them: sent the Colossus down here without a care about the damage it might cause. Suddenly the burning in my chest has nothing to do with the pain.
I rage.
Fire seethes inside of me. For everyone he’s hurt. For everyone he’s killed. For everyone he’s crushed for the sake of his own power.
And today is the day we make him pay.
A crash rends the air and someone shouts.
We pick up our pace, bursting out into a small central square. The magistrate stands there, the side of his face bloodied and his robes torn. The chariot he must have been trying to escape in—to flee like a coward in—is on its side, a spear sticking out between the spokes of its wheel. A dozen soldiers are with him, all wearing black sashes. Facing him, already in the square, are some of Zara’s pirates and Calantha’s rebels, as well as Rudy and my brother. Rudy leans against a building, nursing a nasty cut on his arm. Matthias stands protectively in front of him, livid, clutching his staff as if he wants to beat someone with it.
The magistrate’s gaze swings toward us as we come barreling in. His lips peel back in a snarl.
Zara swaggers forward and plants her hands on her hips. A slow smile curls over her lips. “You seem to be surrounded, Magistrate,” she drawls.
Calculation ticks in the magistrate’s eyes. We’ve shut down his automatons, drawn most of his forces away, but what he has left is still roughly equal to our own numbers. Even I can see that.
“Attack!” he orders.
The square erupts into the chaos of clashing blades. One of the magistrate’s men comes toward me and I grab for my dagger, but the pain in my ribs blinds me, and my hand fumbles. I gasp, staggering sideways, and then Dane’s there.
“Karis, stay back!” He knocks the man’s blade to the side, driving him away.
The pain in my chest makes my head swim. The screams in the square are deafening. One of the magistrate’s men falls. And then another. We’re winning, and I’m still standing frozen and useless.
That’s when I see the magistrate. He isn’t trying to fight. He’s edging away.
He’s running. Leaving his men to die on his behalf and running. Fury strangles out my air. No. He doesn’t get to cause all this and just run.
I force myself to move, even though each step makes the world blur around me in pain. I stagger around the others, my hand pressed to my side. If he gets into the network of streets, we’ll lose him. I push myself harder and get there before him, barely. This time I do manage to draw my dagger. I hold it out in front of me, only to find that my hand shakes.
He sees and smiles. Not the smile from the garden, calm and serene. This one is cruel. He pulls out his own knife, gleaming and sharp enough to cut air. Traces of the Script ink shadows cling to his skin and clothes. His eyes have been taken over by a frenzied sort of energy, as if the shadows are consuming him. Whatever they are, he can’t control them.
The magistrate’s lips twist. “Here she is, the stubborn little rebel, so willing to die for her cause. I truly expected more from you, Karis.”
His words are meant to cut, and they would have found their mark before, when I was still that selfish girl from Tallis. The orphan, alone and lonely, wanting only a future where I found my brother and left all the problems of the world behind. But I’m not her anymore. I am willing to die for this. That knowledge, that resolution, resounds inside of me.
“I would happily die,” I grit out, “if it would mean stopping you.”
It’s not the answer he expects. I can tell that by the way his eyes narrow. “And what do you think happens when you stop me? Do you truly believe the world those rebels want to build will ever be strong enough to survive? A world without automatons, where other nations constantly prey on our shores? Where we’re weak and defenseless against our enemies? Your little rebellion has built your beliefs on naive ideals that have no place in the real world. The Scriptorium is power because that is what it needs to protect itself. You can’t stop it.” He edges toward the road and once more I step in front of him, trying not to sway as the pain ricochets inside of me.
His words once spoke to some of my deepest fears. That even if we remove their leader, the Scriptorium will remain just as it’s always been, with only the face changed. And that all the people like me, like my brother, will stay crushed beneath their feet.
But I think of Calantha, who sacrificed herself for us. Rudy, a great young mind, willing to risk everything to build a new world. Dane, who was a Scriptorium soldier and turned away from that life.
“You were only right about one thing,” I say. “Peace doesn’t just happen, not as long as there’s people like you ruling over us.” And I realize, standing here now, he’s just a man. I was the one who made him into something more.
Someone to my left shouts. I look. It’s just a glance, but in that moment the magistrate lunges at me. I jerk back, my bruised body protesting, and narrowly avoid the swipe of his dagger. His blade flashes silver in the sun. I frantically try to meet it with my own, hoping I can stall long enough to give the others time to notice.
Over the magistrate’s shoulder I catch a glimpse of a figure, his wooden staff sweeping soundlessly over the ground. Matthias. The Bandit. Danger glints in his expression.
I don’t want my brother anywhere near this man. I want to yell at him to run. But I decided that this time I would fight, no matter what. So did he. And seeing my brother has given me a plan. It might be my most reckless yet, but it’s all I have. Matthias needs an opening and I can give him one. I just need to let him know where the magistrate is going to be.
“Look lively!” I shout. The words from the code my brother made, to guide him to the left.
It’s been years, but Matthias still remembers and still trusts me like before because he strides in that direction.
The magistrate’s brows furrow at my shout, but I’m already moving toward my brother, feinting to the side. My ribs scream in protest. B
ut the magistrate is faster than I thought he’d be. He moves with me, his knife swiping out, so close.
Matthias’s arms snap around the magistrate. The man snarls, writhing in Matthias’s grip, and Matthias grunts as the magistrate’s elbow connects with his gut. I’m staggering forward to help when Matthias presses his knife into the man’s side, hard enough to draw blood. Instantly the magistrate goes still.
Matthias leans in closer. “Miss me?”
The magistrate’s face pales, scraggly hair trailing down his temple, and for the first time, fear enters his eyes, pushing back the darkness.
Fear of us.
My body burns, but the pain dims behind sheer disbelief as I take in the square around us. The magistrate’s men, noticing what’s happened to their leader, are surrendering, raising their hands in the air, laying down their arms.
Is it...over?
Alix stands at the far side of the square and I meet his eyes, filled with blatant relief. The relief and something else, an uncertainty, a thawing, as we stand on either side of this square, so much between us. Hope flares painfully into life in my heart.
I step toward him, but Finn is already there, slapping Alix on the back, Wreska and Het close behind. Dane comes up to me, laughing as he wraps me in a hug.
Aiken, standing nearby with a bloody cut on his cheek, lets out a cheer, and then all around us pirates and rebels and my friends join in. The sound fills the square, seeping into my body and bones and heart.
I squeeze Dane back even though it makes me dizzy with pain.
It’s over. The Heart is destroyed. The magistrate is captured.
And the city is ours.
41
* * *
KARIS
We’re in the Acropolis, the actual Acropolis. Sitting on its carved chairs. Looking out its latticed windows. When I was back on Tallis, dreaming about rescuing my brother, I never would have believed something like this would be possible. Then again, I’m here and I still don’t quite believe it.
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