At least a dozen banshees are gathered around the table, some munching on puff pastries. To their credit, they keep their reaction restricted to wide-eyed shock.
Tasha climbs up on a chair to close the sliding panel in the ceiling. Then she prods me toward the banshees and signs as she speaks, “Here she is.”
My body is frozen stiff while my eyes sweep from face to face. Some of them are young, barely older than me, others are well into their thirties or forties. My knees turn unexpectedly shaky. Apart from Mom, Aunt Zoe, and Grandma, I never met other banshees before.
“Why have they trapped you here?” I choke on the words. “If you refused the call of your powers, why not let you be?” My eyes pool with tears of bitter anger at the hunters.
Two of the banshees to the right move, and a third woman stands from her comfy armchair. My lips part, letting out a ragged breath.
“Grandma?”
Her silvery hair is bound with a yellow scarf at the nape of her head. Her face, though wrinkled, glows as she smiles at me.
“My dearest,” she whispers as she signs.
I fling myself into her embrace, squeezing her tightly. I only let her go so I can sign in her field of vision. “Are you all right? What did they do to you?”
Grandma gives me a flat smile. “Oh, dear, don’t you worry about me. I’m right where I was meant to be.” She gestures to the table filled with desserts. “Help yourself to an eclair. They’re still your favorite, yes?”
I gape at her, my brain trying to make sense of her nonchalant attitude. “You’ve seen this moment, haven’t you?”
Grandma takes a chocolate from an open box of truffles and pops it into her mouth. “Good. You’re getting the hang of the banshee legacy.”
“Does this mean we have time for you to explain?” I scan the room. Who knows how long it will take the hunters to find me.
“Just enough time for me to tell you the basics. I haven’t seen how we get out of here, but we’ll have to put that out of our minds for a minute.” Grandma pours a glass of sweet tea for each of us. “The most important lesson I can teach you, Cami, is that when people underestimate you, you’re free to fly under the radar and do as you see fit.”
I reach for the glass but don’t drink yet. This is surreal.
Grandma wipes her fingers on a napkin, then continues signing as she speaks. “I’m sorry I never told you this before. Like many other visions I’ve had, the information would be best revealed at a specific time. When I refused the call of my powers, I did it with a very clear vision of the future in mind. In fact, as unpredictable as my banshee powers were before my Claiming, I used every minute available to duck into the future. I scribbled about each vision I had in my notebook, then did my best to arrange them chronologically. Little by little, my future became clear, and so I accepted the mission meant for me.”
I finally calm myself enough to take a drink of the sweet tea. I suppose it is possible to see a future where you don’t have powers and realize you’re meant to refuse them at your Claiming. “But being trapped here? That should be no one’s role. I refuse to believe it.”
Grandma reaches a hand to stroke my cheek. “I have been free longer than most, dear. I only let myself get captured when I knew this moment was upon us. Now, listen carefully. Once you’re out of here, you will need to go to the banshee room at Elmwick Academy. Your mother wrote you a letter, and she and Zoe hid it between the frames of two mirrors. You may have to look closely to find it, but I’m sure it’s still there.”
I blink at her in confusion. “So, the clue is back at Elmwick Academy? I thought Aunt Zoe gave it to you for safekeeping.”
“What clue, dear?” Grandma brushes a stray silvery curl away from her face.
I spin around to find Tasha, my mind spinning in denial. “Tasha told Mason and Zach that I’ll find what I’m missing here.” My signing gets imprecise when my hands shake. “I bound a new circle, Grandma, and we’re all slipping out of control. We need to break the joint spell and add a hidden legacy to our circle to fix it. Please tell me Aunt Zoe told you how to undo the joint spell safely.”
Grandma’s jaw slackens as she picks her next words carefully. “Before your aunt and your cousin were captured, Zoe told me she found a note at Elmwick Academy, but she believed what the note suggested was impossible.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to push down the flashback of Seff howling into the night, likely rushing into a bloodbath in Elmwick as we speak. The circle is way, way out of control. And my last hope of a magical fix just flickered out of existence.
I didn’t realize how much hope I had pinned on the idea that grandma would have all the answers. Not until now when her words sink deep into me, leaving me utterly hopeless.
Grandma takes in a sharp breath, drawing my attention back to her. “I’m sorry if you came here looking for answers I can’t offer, but Tasha spoke the truth to your friends. I have the key to what you’ve been missing—a part of our family...”
My stomach swoops with heavy guilt that I can’t prioritize Grandma’s news over the mess that is my life at the moment. “I understand, Grandma. I’ll search for that letter, I promise.”
I roll my head back, trying to separate everything that’s wrong in little pieces and prioritize. Mom’s letter is at the bottom of my list. I’ll have to stick the topic of surviving the joint spell somewhere in the middle. Top priority is getting my grandma and the rest of the banshees out of here.
“Listen to me, Cami,” Grandma says with urgency this time. “Only banshees with unclaimed powers are kept here. The hunters don’t want us out in the free world because we know too much. Old tales, visions whispered from mother to daughter for hundreds of years. United, we’re dangerous to them. You must understand, when your mother was killed, she was on a mission to find the rest of us. The ones who claimed their powers are kept elsewhere, in a gruesome, cruel place. Your aunt and her daughter are there.”
I let the words wash over me, feeling trapped, drowning in this moment. As if on cue, the darkness inside me stirs, longing to let loose.
“The letter your mother left for you at Elmwick Academy should help you find the place they’re keeping them and free them.”
I stare blankly at Grandma, unable to trust the distant feeling of hope. Could I really do this? Get back the family I thought was lost forever?
“Will you do it?” Grandma blinks at me in expectation. “Will you help me fulfill the dream of reunion—the only thing making your mother and aunt’s tribulations worth it?”
I slide my hands out of hers to sign so all the rest of the banshees, even the ones unable to see or read my lips can understand.
“Of course I will.” The pressure of the darkness in my chest releases as cool determination swipes away the negative emotions. “I’m getting you out of here, and then I’m getting them out of that prison. We shall be exactly what the hunters fear—free.”
Tasha steps in the middle of the circle the banshees have formed around me and my grandma. “Not that I don’t love the idea, but this is where the vision ends, right?”
Grandma nods. “Can you get us out through the panels?”
Tasha clicks her tongue. “The route I used to help the two hidden legacies escape is now blocked.”
I chew my lip in concentration but can’t help the grin that accompanies my next idea. “That monitor on your wrist, can it record sound?”
Tasha blinks at me, eyes drowning in dark make-up. “Yes, but I won’t be able to hear it.”
“You won’t need to hear it,” I argue. “Can you sneak into the surveillance room? I suppose that’s the place to gain access to their communication system?”
“Err, yes...” Tasha stares at me in confusion, but my chest only swells with a deep breath.
“The hunters believe that, because you didn’t claim your powers, you’re not true banshees.” I think of Grandma and the intricate schemes she’s been playing all her life to make her visions come
true. “They don’t understand how wrong their thinking is, but they will.”
Some of the banshees smile at me, intrigued.
“Ladies, we’re not sneaking out of here,” I say. “We’re screaming and busting our way out.”
The looks they shoot at each other make me acutely aware that I should explain further.
“I only started being able to control this after my Claiming, but I’m able to play with the effect my screams have on people and even objects. I can make a sound wave stronger, so it physically pushes a person or breaks through a wall, but I can also make the sound high-pitched—that way the real damage is in the unbearably horrible sound. Trust me, it will render any hunter left in this compound unable to fight.”
“What about you? Won’t that sound be twice as unbearable to you?” Tasha asks.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll help you get to the surveillance room and hide there while you show them that every banshee is a rager.”
“You won’t be with us?” one of the older banshees asks.
“You don’t need me,” I say. “Just a tiny bit of the most annoying sound I can produce.”
This time, its Grandma who grins. “Let’s show them just how much they’ve underestimated us.”
Chapter 26. Mason
Cami’s scream flung me at the wall so hard that my shoulder still clicks when I roll it back. I only managed to escape the hunters with Zach’s help. He shot silver bullets at them to cover me, but they’re still on our trail.
Zach and I don’t slow, rounding corners as quickly and silently as we can. Every time we get to higher ground, we spot them in relentless pursuit.
“I suppose that’s good,” Zach whispers when we both squat behind a beach towel hung to dry on the third-floor fire escape. “If they’re after us, Cami will have more freedom to move.”
I suppress the thought of her alone in The Hunters’ Den. My blood is boiling as it is. “We have to go back for her.”
We both quiet and wait for the hunters to pass in the alley below. The smallest flicker of movement could draw their attention to us, but it seems we finally gained enough of a head start to hide without them realizing. In a hurry to catch up to us, they check the obvious, ground-level hiding spots—behind the trashcans and inside the building’s entrances—before they continue.
Zach and I sigh with relief but don’t abandon our position for a few more minutes in case they come back. Once we take stock of our ammunition—down to a clip of silver bullets each—we climb down the fire escape.
I guess it should be safe for us to run back to The Den, but a game with so many moving pieces is hard to predict. We hide in the shadows, watching our backs. The hunters will soon figure out they lost our trail and come back.
It seems that won’t be our biggest problem, though. We’re a block away from The Hunters’ Den when a sleek black car pulls up next to us. Zach and I whirl as a well-coordinated duo, guns raised.
The backseat window lowers with a monotone buzz to reveal Sofia, sunglasses on despite the depth of night. “Are you boys lost?”
I stare at her in shock. “How did you—”
“Oh, what? You don’t think Ren could recognize you?” She gestures to the driver, then pops the backseat door open. “Get in.”
We slip inside the car, where the sweet smell of vanilla wafts from the to-go cup in Sofia’s hands. She takes a leisurely sip from the bright yellow straw, then addresses Zach, “Shouldn’t you be out there searching for my sister?”
“Shouldn’t you be anywhere but here?” Zach replies. “If you let us go twice, your father will have a hard time convincing the hunters you’re on their side.”
“Things have changed.” Sofia takes another long sip from her milkshake. “Elmwick is at war. You need to get there and stabilize the circle right now.”
“Would love to.” I roll my eyes. “But we’re not yet quite clear on how to—”
“You’re kidding, right?” Sofia gapes at me with dramatic flair that seems a bit much. “Didn’t the charmers tell you?”
But I get no chance to argue back or explain about Eddie’s flimsy solution. A high-pitched sound cuts through the air, making Sofia and her driver clasp their hands over their ears. Zach and I share a look, flinching. Our hidden legacy abilities—a consequence of the joint spell—make us less susceptible to the banshee screams, but the grating, maddening sound is still irritating. I can only imagine what it’s doing to the hunters in the compound.
“Cami is breaking out,” I tell Sofia, who only groans in response.
“Let’s help her.” Zach’s green eyes flash in the darkness with a vindictive gleam. “Stay here,” he says to Sofia, then we both rush out of the vehicle.
Cami’s scream has summoned the hunter search parties back to The Den. They attack in panic, which makes me want to gloat. They’re not used to fighting a banshee. Let them see just how powerful she is.
Zach covers us, shooting at the hunters outside who are running toward The Den.
“Save your bullets,” he says, and I nod.
That’s as much of a strategy as we can muster before the bullets start flying at us. Since Cami reduced the doors to splinters with her scream earlier, we take cover next to the door frame.
Inside, three hunters are rushing for the door to the spiral staircase. I block out the gunfire and Cami’s high-pitched scream and unleash every bit of Andreev’s fight training on the three hunters.
The first one to take his eyes off the door and turn to me gets the butt of my gun smacked at his jaw. He falls to the side, spitting blood before he can even swear. I grab the second one from behind—a guy with a long, messy beard—and try choking him, but the third comes at me, so I let go of Messy Beard’s throat, twist his wrist, so his head flies back in pain and aim a front kick at his friend.
Arrows strike between the floorboards, but I have no time to look back at Zach. I use Messy Beard’s body to block the punches coming at me, but the first fellow spits a mouthful of blood and gets back on his feet.
“I’m all out!” Zach shouts from his position at the door.
I push Messy Beard into the other two, so I can throw my gun at Zach, but it’s too late. All the hunters previously on our trail stream inside the compound. One of them descends upon Zach before he catches my gun. The weapon drops to the floor while the hunter grabs Zach by the front of his shirt and punches him with his other fist.
A hollow boom shakes the compound, coming from below, but it isn’t enough to steal our attention away from the fight. The three hunters grab me, two immobilizing each of my arms, and the third choking me with one arm from behind. It must be Messy Beard, I’m guessing without being able to see.
Another boom shakes the floor beneath our feet, but it’s only the first in a series that hits The Hunters’ Den from within. Cami isn’t alone.
“They’re escaping!” one of the hunters at the door shouts. “Call for backup! We need backup here at once!”
Messy Beard pulls my head back so I don’t see what happens next, but a new wave of tremors comes from below.
He shouts, “What are you doing here, girl? Get out before you get hurt!”
My brain freezes for a second. He can’t mean Cami, can he? At the cost of a few hairs ripped from my scalp, I manage to level my gaze. And my throat goes dry, burned by a fiery breath roaring in my chest.
Sofia, her white cane in hand, stands at the doorstep to The Den, still as a regal statue. “Let them go, please.” There’s no begging in that ‘please’, only menace.
I want to scream for her to run, embers stirring to life in my chest. I will obliterate all these men if they dare lay a finger on her. Or Cami. Or any of the others. My eyes find Zach, who’s gone red in the face. He’s the only one who understands the connection I have with the legacies and that constant discomfort of having no power to defend them. To truly join them.
For the first time ever, I wish for the powers I possess, locked away as they may be. A
nd for the first time, I’m afraid of what I might do if I had the magic of a fire drake.
The hunters bellow at Sofia to get out as Zach and I struggle against those trying to subdue us.
The viper girl only clicks her tongue with a grimace. “Don’t ever say I didn’t ask nicely first.”
In a flash, she twirls her white cane like a weapon, cutting the air. More viper than girl in her movements, Sofia attacks. Each blow is quick, precise, and unexpected. She twirls, smacking hunters in their shins, butting the white cane’s grip under their chins.
Despite the shock, the wide-eyed hunters fight back. But Sofia swerves out of the way as if this is all a choreographed dance she has performed countless times before.
They don’t manage to land a single blow. They can’t. It’s...some sort of magic.
Chapter 27. Cami
I stick my fingers in my ears and produce the sound that can incapacitate anyone, especially me. Ironic, isn’t it? All the same, the release I feel from letting it out infuses me with a sense of justice. My banshee intuition whispers to me that we can do this. Today, the banshees will fight back, with or without powers.
Once the recording is done, the banshees help each other through the opening and split into groups. Tasha, as someone used to unauthorized walks about the place, leads us out to the spiral staircase to look for the easiest escape route.
But the compound has gone into lockdown. Thick iron bars cut off the access to the upper level. I glance at the door behind us—the one Mason said leads to the boxing ring.
“Our only way is through there,” I tell Tasha. “That’s where the surveillance room will be. Can you arm the others?”
Tasha frowns, uncertain.
To my surprise, my grandma suggests, “How about a trip to the supplies closet?”
Three banshees rush back through the panel to this supplies closet. A minute later, they pass hammers and saws through the opening. I guess that’s how they made the intricate network of moving panels. Piece by piece. Over time. Each alteration a step closer to freedom.
Heritage: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Elmwick Academy Book 3) Page 19