by Kaylin Lee
Somewhere ahead, Damian and Drew walked together, and farther ahead, Anton and Basil. Anders and Stefan brought up the rear, behind us. I was too cold to know if my shaking was from fear or freezing rain.
“You! Halt!” The shout came from in front of us. It had to be guards. Had they found Damian and Drew, or had they found Anton and Basil? Or all of them? “Hands up! You’re surrounded, idiots.” I froze as the triumphant order echoed through the woods.
Si grabbed my hand and gestured to the woods around us. “Not us,” he breathed. “We can hide. Run.”
He yanked me with him and took off on a side direction, toward a boulder-dotted slope that broke from the tree line. Feeling exposed, cringing at every crack of leaves and twigs beneath my feet, I followed him. We dove behind a large boulder and hunkered down together.
“Si?” The whisper came from further up the hill. A shape came sliding down then joined us in our cover. Closer up, I recognized Anton’s gangly form.
Basil appeared beside him, his eyes wide and his face pale. “They got Anders and Stefan already. The guards spread out through the woods and got them from behind.”
“Then they have Damian and Drew too,” Si whispered. The collective silence mirrored my own horror. What would they do to them to reach the rest of us?
“We know you’re up there!” This voice came from the other side of the boulder where we hid. “We have your brothers. Come out now, with your hands up, and they won’t be harmed. Delay, and …” A child yelped—Drew? The guards laughed. “We’ll find out how high the little one can scream.”
My grip on Si’s hand had to be bone-crushing, but I couldn’t bring myself to release him. “What do we do?”
Si didn’t look at me. His gaze locked on Anton, who had shifted into a crouching position. “Don’t do it. Getting caught won’t solve anything.”
Anton ignored him and leaned out of Si’s reach.
“This won’t save them!” Si’s whisper was urgent. “Stop it!”
“But it might get the guards away from you three.” Anton met Si’s gaze. “Be ready to run.”
Si lunged for him, but Anton stood and left the shelter of the boulder, leaving Si no choice but to let him go or expose the rest of us.
“I’m alone, I’m unarmed, and I’m coming out,” Anton called loudly. “Please, don’t hurt my brothers.”
I huddled beside Si and Basil as we listened to Anton’s footsteps retreat down the slope.
“Where are the other boys?” The guards shouted back. “And where’s the mage girl?”
“I don’t know,” Anton answered, his voice even. “Like I said, I’m alone. But I can show you where I was going to meet them.”
~
We hid, shivering in the pouring sleet while Anton led the guards away from the slope. When their voices faded, we backtracked, veering away from the cave to a thicket of bushes with a game trail leading into it.
We spent the night there, shielded from the rain by a low tree, Basil and I on either side of Si. The terror of the evening must have exhausted us, because when I woke, the sky had brightened, and Basil and I were leaning on Si’s shoulders.
I lifted my head, feeling slow and heavy. “What are we going to do?”
Si watched me through half-closed eyes.
“Get you home.” The set of his jaw was hard. “Like we promised.”
“Si—”
“Shh.” He put a hand on my arm. “Someone’s coming.”
He woke Basil and stood, his crossbow ready, as the rustles from the game trail grew louder.
I gathered my magic and stood just behind him, hoping I’d be able to do more than heal in the aftermath as I always seemed to do. But the person who appeared was not a guard—it was a young woman with a wiggling baby in her arms.
“Oh!” She clutched Elis close to her chest and gaped at us. “You’re free? I was just looking for somewhere to hide. I thought you were tied up with everyone else.”
“Everyone else?” Si lowered his crossbow.
Cat shushed Baby Elis and bounced him on her hip. “They’re all tied up in the mine. My husband. My parents. The other women from the Hollow, and the kids too. Elis slept poorly, so I was awake when they came through the Hollow to round everyone up. My husband distracted the guards while I ran out the back and hid in the hills. I saw Drew and the other boys herded into the mine along with everyone else. Thought you were with them.”
Si ran a hand through his hair, his expression shuttered. “No. We escaped.”
Thanks to Anton’s sacrifice. I let my magic fall to the ground and wrapped my arms around my torso. What was Althea planning?
“How many guards?” Basil asked.
“Thirty at least. Armed with blasters, bows, and some nasty curses too.” She shivered, and Elis seemed to sense his mother’s distress, because he whimpered. “Seen ’em at work before. Those curses are ugly. I wish we’d never let those city people into the Hollow,” she added, her lips flat. “Thought we’d make a better living working for them, digging that nasty black rock we’d been ignoring. Didn’t make us any more marks in the end.”
Si nodded. “I know, Cat. Thank you.” The tension in his shoulders made my heart ache. Now he would have to choose between honoring his word to take me home safely or rescuing his brothers from a horrible fate. It was a choice no one should ever have to make.
“We have to rescue them.” I pulled on the end of my braid, twisting the strands around my finger until it hurt. “Your brothers and all those innocent people. Everyone.”
“That’s exactly what Althea wants.” Si paced away from me. “She’s trying to draw us back to the Hollow. If we go back now, Althea will get what she’s wanted all along—you.” Si picked up a rock and hurled it into the thicket. “Besides, even if I agreed we should try, it’s not possible! There’s only one entrance to the mine, and we don’t stand a chance against those curses.”
“He’s right. A rescue would be impossible.” Cat set Elis on the ground and sat against a tree stump, her shoulders sagging.
“But you’re bandits!” I looked between Si and Basil, feeling desperate. I couldn’t let them leave their brothers, not for me. “You can steal anything. I know it. That man called you the Ghost, didn’t he? You snatched me from a whole team of Sentinels. Surely …”
“Those Sentinels were armed with bows, not curses. And we’re talking about rescuing a whole settlement of people, not one girl. I’m only a Badlander, Alba. I don’t have any magic or money. I can’t do the impossible.”
Basil had been standing with his back against a tree, his body eerily still, like losing his twin had robbed him of energy. Now he approached us, his shoulders hunched. “I bet I know where we can get some magic. The kind we used to use.”
I was struck by how alike the two brothers looked in that moment—one big, one small, one bold, one quiet—both stubborn and loyal to the core.
Si studied Basil. “We never hit the Hollow’s general store in the past,” he said. “For good reason.”
Basil jutted out his chin. “Cat said they have thirty guards at the mine. That doesn’t leave any for the store. I’ve been counting them when we work, and I’m certain there can’t be more than thirty in the whole Hollow.”
“You think they left all those rations unguarded? Doesn’t sound like the Galanos family.” Si shifted, the war between hope and defeat tearing him in two.
“They want Alba.” Basil shrugged pragmatically. “Maybe Lady Galanos would do anything to get her, even leave the store unguarded. And rations have been down for weeks, but I don’t think it’s because they’re running out. I think it’s because they needed to raise the quotas, and they don’t want anyone amassing enough supplies to run away.”
“So there’s a store full of loot, unguarded, just sitting in the Hollow and waiting for us to do a bit of shopping?” Si huffed. “Too good to be true, little brother.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with magic,” I interjec
ted. “Even if it isn’t guarded, how would it help us against the curses?”
“They sell suffio and cinderslick at the general store too. We can make suffio bombs.” Basil’s quiet, calm tone sent a chill over my arms. “Draw the guards away from the mine then use another bomb on the guards that remain. Get everyone out before the smoke clears.”
I swallowed. “You can do that?”
Si palmed his eyes. Then he dropped his hands, his expression grim. “Basil can. Like I said, he’s the best tinkerer in the Badlands.” He nodded at his younger brother. “It’d be a shame to let his skills go to waste.” He put a hand on my shoulder, grim faced. “You sure you’re willing to do this? I could have you home safe in a few days if we left now. But if we stay, there’s a good chance Althea will get you no matter how many bombs we make.”
Bri needed to be rescued. My mom was in danger of going into a trap if I got caught.
But danger was everywhere, wasn’t it? No matter which path I took, I’d find no assurance of safety or success.
At some point, I had to trust that my parents would find a way to beat the Masters, even if I never made it home alive. I couldn’t control what happened to my family or what would happen to me tomorrow. I couldn’t fix what the Masters had done to our family by cursing Bri years ago.
But there was one thing I could do—one thing I could control. Make the choice to heal those in need, no matter the cost.
I put my hand on Si’s where it rested on my shoulder and smiled at his worried expression, buoyed by the certainty swelling in my chest. Perhaps this was how Anton had felt when he decided to finish his tattoo. “There’s no doubt in my mind. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 32
“Ready?” We stood near the door at the Hollow’s store, peering out. Si spoke to Basil, but his eyes were locked on the dark, patchy rock face that formed a wall at the end of the valley. We could just make out the plainclothes guards who clustered at the mine’s entrance.
“Ready.” Basil set the box down carefully. “It’s almost time, Si. The first one will go off soon.”
“How soon?” Si led us out the back of the Hollow’s store.
“Count of twenty,” Basil answered.
So soon? I raced to keep up with Si’s sudden increase in pace. We rushed behind the line of shacks and buildings lining one side of the narrow Hollow, which was barely big enough for two rows of dwellings with a single, rocky path between them. The sun had risen, giving us enough light to avoid tripping on the uneven ground between the shacks and the steep mountain slope that rose behind them.
At Basil’s instruction, we’d placed suffio bombs at four different points down from the Hollow with the final bomb in the store, where it would—if all went as planned—produce an enormous blast, igniting the remaining suffio and cinderslick stores just as the guards ran past to hunt for us near the smaller bombs.
We were nearly to the mine entrance at the end of the Hollow when the first blast shook the ground.
Si held up a hand. “Wait,” he whispered over his shoulder. The three of us huddled behind a foul-smelling outhouse. On its other side, by the mine entrance, guards shouted indistinct words. Someone ordered three guards by name to investigate.
Si pressed his lips together and shook his head. He didn’t need to voice his concern—three wasn’t nearly enough to level the playing field.
Basil put a hand on his arm. “More will go.” He jerked his head toward the end of the hollow. “Five, four, three, two …”
BOOM.
BOOM.
Pebbles and small rocks spilled down the slope, pelting us as we covered our heads.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
How many was that now? Five? Six? The seventh bomb would be the store.
Shouts rang out as more guards left the mine. I caught a glimpse of at least a dozen guards sprinting down the Hollow’s path in chaos. “Find them!” The woman’s voice was shrill and familiar. “Before they bring this valley down on our heads!”
Several more followed that group. Si nodded to us. “Ready?”
Basil lifted the bomb he held. “Let’s go.”
We crept around the building and the remaining team of guards came into view. They were clustered around Lord and Lady Galanos, who were pacing in front of a jarringly luxurious dwelling next to the mine’s entrance. It was far plainer than their main villa on their Asylian compound, but twenty times the size of the tiny mining shacks in the Hollow.
An enormous stack of unmarked crates was piled beside them, glistening, black rock showing through their slats. Was that what the mine produced?
I craned my neck, but Si pulled me down, shooting me a look. He was right. This was no time for curiosity. Whatever the Galanos family was up to, we had to get the miners and their families out.
We held back, just out of their line of sight. Basil handed the bomb to Si, then pointed down the Hollow toward the store and counted down with his fingers. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
BOOM. A series of deafening explosions followed with less than a heartbeat’s space between them, each boom more bone-shattering than the last. The mountain rumbled angrily as the explosions died away. Rocks cascaded down the slope around the mine’s entrance.
Smoke billowed up from the store, pouring through the rock walls of the valley.
Si raced forward and hurled the bomb at the remaining guards.
Before anyone could even shout in protest, the bomb exploded, sending bodies flying.
I coughed as smoke from the store and the latest bomb filled the air around us.
“Hurry! They might have just been knocked unconscious.” Basil pulled my arm as we followed Si into the mine.
The smoky air and dim mining shaft made it difficult to see at first. “Si! Basil!” Drew’s voice came from deeper in the mine. I squinted in the darkness. Now I could see them—at least fifty innocents huddled in the tunnel, their hands and feet bound. I pressed a hand to my mouth. Even the children were bound. What was the Galanos family planning?
The air tingled, then an ear-splitting SNAP echoed outside the mine. I whirled to face the entrance and crept toward the light, keeping my body against the rock wall.
“Althea!” The male bellow echoed through the valley.
“I’m here.” I peeked around the edge of the mine’s entrance as Althea struggled to her feet, her face singed and clothes black with soot. “Master, I—”
“Your delivery was late,” he hissed. The man was tall and thin, with pale, golden hair and skin that was so absent of color, it reminded me of faint smoke. Two other men and a tall, beautiful woman in a violet gown stood beside him, their expressions smug and mocking. “You know we don’t tolerate incompetence.”
“I was going to bring you the mage girl,” Althea said, her voice high and pleading. “I was so close. I just needed a little more time to—”
“I tried to tell her to leave it alone.” Lord Galanos dragged himself up from the rubble of the bomb. He pushed Althea to the side and fell to his knees in front of the Masters. “It was all her idea to hold the delivery until we found the mage girl and turned her in. Petty jealousy, Masters. That was all. She wouldn’t let it—”
“You’d already failed to bring her!” The tall, beautiful woman laughed. “You couldn’t even control a few miners without our help. How were you going to fix this failure, hmm, Althea? You should have brought us the new shipment and accepted your punishments humbly, like good servants.”
“Of course, of course.” Althea dropped to her knees beside her husband. “We’ll— ah, we’ll accept whatever—”
The violet-clothed woman flung a vial of glittering liquid over the couple as they knelt. Lord and Lady Galanos shrieked and withered, the life sucked from them before Althea could finish her sentence.
“Yes,” the man said coldly as their corpses crumpled to the ground. “Accept it you will.”
He threw another vial at the crates. A fast-moving spiral of silver wind enveloped them. “
Close the mine, like these fools were supposed to do,” he ordered the woman beside him. “I don’t want any trace of our work remaining.”
Close the mine? But we were all still inside! Panic flooded through me as I shrank away from the entrance so the woman wouldn’t see me.
The woman shot a blast of magic from her hands toward the mine entrance. I ducked and covered my head. The mountain rumbled and shook. Rocks pelted my back.
“Alba!” A large, heavy presence landed on me, knocking my breath away but protecting me from the sharp rocks.
A horrendous crashing noise came from the entrance just in front of us. Si groaned in pain.
“Si?” The ground rumbled beneath my knees. “Si, are you well?”
The crashing noises and rumbling stilled, but Si didn’t answer, his heavy body limp over mine.
I pushed Si’s arm from my head and looked up. The magic had turned the mine’s entrance into nothing but a pile of rocks. We were trapped.
Chapter 33
“Alba.” Someone had moved Si’s body off me. I knew that much. I sat on the hard, cold ground, my breaths coming in hysterical gasps.
“Alba, you need to take a deep breath.”
“I—” Panic had my throat in a choking grip. “I can’t—”
“C’mon, you have to calm down.” Was that Anton? “We need you to—”
“You’re not helping her.” It was Damian now. I knew he was in front of me, but I couldn’t see him. All I could see was the caved-in entrance and Si’s limp body on the ground. Someone gripped my hand. Damian again? He forced me to rise to my knees then placed my hand on Si’s neck. “Feel that?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Wha—” Sweat dripped down my temples. “Feel—”
“He’s still alive.” Damian pushed down on my hand. There it was—the featherlight beating of Si’s pulse.
“I can’t—” I tried to calm the whirlwind of panic inside me so I could think clearly, but the harder I fought, the wilder it grew. I hated myself, hated my weak, stupid, mind-destroying fear.
“Release a small amount of magic and tell me if his brain is bleeding.” Damian’s voice was calm and firm.