“So you’re afraid that if we undo the time loop, your history will change.” I clung to this, even though things obviously weren’t going very well right now. If Lara believed we had a chance of altering the past, perhaps my idea would actually work.
“But how do you even know about all this?” said Crispin. “You didn’t even know there was a time loop in that castle when I left. No one did.”
“A new ally explained everything to me,” said Lara.
I realized what she meant. “Beatrice. You’re working with Beatrice, aren’t you?”
“She managed to tap into my communications from inside the castle.” Lara touched her shell necklace. “She warned me to have my soldiers watch for you in case you ever escaped. Of course, she didn’t think it was likely, but I advised her not to underestimate you three. I also cautioned her that it wasn’t worth letting Crispin in and adding him to her collection of lost souls…but she couldn’t resist ensnaring the famous White Rabbit.” She laughed. “What a ridiculous name.”
“Molly liked it,” said Crispin softly. “She came up with the whole idea, the costume and everything, while we were imprisoned in Warrengate together.” He pulled his mask back over his face in a gesture of defiance.
“How touching.” Lara motioned to us and addressed the selkies. “Bring them. I want to escort them to their new home personally.”
Cordelia and Crispin both started to cast spells, but at the same moment, Lara opened her mouth and an eerie melody filled the air. The Sea Witch’s Lullaby, a creation of Molly’s ancestor that could negate the magical powers of any Charmblood. The runes Crispin and Cordelia had summoned quickly fizzled and vanished.
However, the song had no effect on me. I lunged at one of the male selkies, but he struck out with his bare foot and caught me in the throat. The blow would probably have crushed the windpipe of an ordinary human and killed them on the spot. My body wasn’t fragile enough for that, but the attack still left me choking and gurgling.
Lara grabbed a handful of my jacket and hauled me to my feet with inhuman strength. “Enough. It’s over. Do you understand? The past is set in stone, and so is the future. No more happy endings. Time for you to give up now.”
“Never.”
“Stubbornness won’t get you anywhere, Nick,” she sneered. “Molly learned that lesson. Someday, after you’ve lived in this new world for a while longer, you will too.”
She released me, and I collapsed to my knees. “Move,” she ordered. “We have a long way to walk.”
I gave a bitter laugh. “We’re walking, Your Majesty? No royal coach pulled by giant otters or something?”
“You need to get a closer look at what this world has become in your absence,” said Lara. “Let it sink in.”
“There’s no need for this, Lara,” said Crispin. “You’ve won. You don’t have to be cruel.”
She seemed surprised by the accusation. “It’s not my intention to be cruel, Crispin. The cruelest thing I could do would be to allow my subjects some faint, lingering hope that they have a chance to overthrow me. They don’t need to be tortured by phantoms just out of reach. Yes, I have won…but you three need to accept it. Only then will you be able to move on.” She beckoned to us. “Now. Follow me.”
I’d saved Talesend from destruction once, when Cordelia and I stopped Lord Whitlock’s scheme. That experience had given me an odd sense of personal responsibility for the city’s safety. Plus, I’d grown up here. Seeing it devastated like this was a painful blow. As we passed the city limits, I cringed at the barren streets, the cracked pavement, and the shattered windows all around us. The swirling fog was the only thing I recognized from the Talesend of the past. The dilapidated buildings were warped and twisted in spots, as if some unearthly force had torn through them. I could have sworn I saw some of the stone gargoyles atop the oldest buildings moving, but aside from that, there were no other signs of life on the streets.
“Where is everyone?” I asked Lara.
“Indoors, observing the curfew,” she said. “Exactly as they should be.”
“What do you mean to do with us?” said Cordelia. “Are we going to be locked up for all eternity, or do you have something else in mind?”
“You and Nick will only be playing minor roles in what happens next. Crispin, on the other hand, will be the star of the show.”
Crispin looked at her sharply. “What are you talking about?”
“If you want Nick and Cordelia to stay alive and receive humane treatment, you’ll have to resume your old training regimen.”
My stomach turned. “You mean you’re going to do the same thing the Council did? Force him to keep strengthening his powers?”
“In a nutshell, yes.”
“But why? What do you want with him? Levesque was going to invade Neverica; is that what you’re after too?”
She laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I couldn’t care less about Neverica.”
“Then what are you after?”
She stopped in the middle of the street, as did her entourage. “In the end, Molly Beaumont chose to embrace power instead of running from it. That’s what I want for Crispin.”
“Well, obviously, Molly lost herself in the process,” said Cordelia. “Not a very appealing prospect.”
“I know that. And the same thing will almost certainly happen to Crispin. But it will be for the best.”
“But Crispin’s not like Molly,” I said. “She had something dark and evil—namely, you—lurking inside her. Crispin doesn’t.”
“Oh, Nick. You still don’t understand what your brother is capable of.” Her eyes shone as she warmed to her theme. “You haven’t read the scrolls I’ve dug up, or spoken to the oracles I’ve consulted. Do you realize there are prophecies about Crispin?”
Crispin was seething with rage. “Shut up, Lara.”
My thoughts drifted back to the night when Cordelia and I had entered the domain of the Magic Mirror and talked to the entity that lived inside it. “I’ve heard one prophecy. About both of us. ‘One a hero, one a monster, one fated to destroy the other.’”
“I’m not talking about that one,” Lara scoffed. “Far too vague to be of any interest. I’m talking about the Man in White. Or the White King, as some call him.”
I cast a nervous glance at Crispin’s white clothing. “What do you mean?”
“The prophecies speak of one who will transcend time itself and remake the world,” said Lara. “One who will make the impossible, possible. He will open the gate to a realm of wonders.” She smiled. “That last one’s not mere poetry, by the way. It refers to something quite literal.”
“I won’t open the Gate,” said Crispin. “Not now, not ever.”
“Not even to save your brother and your friend?” said Lara. “I don’t mean saving them from simple, straightforward death, you know. My torturers can tarry a long while on the road between life and death.”
“Just because I wear white doesn’t mean that I’m going to become this person you’re talking about,” said Crispin. “I’m not. And I never will.”
“What does she mean, Crispin?” I pleaded.
This was an extremely inopportune time for us to be rescued. Still, that’s what happened, and there was nothing we could do about it. One by one, the selkies gave seal-like yelps of pain and slumped to the ground. They clawed at tiny darts lodged in their necks before they lost consciousness.
“Sorry!” a female voice called from somewhere above us. “I hope those weren’t too painful! The darts didn’t have poison or anything nasty like that; you’ll just sleep for an hour or so.”
“Ella.” This voice was male. “You’re apologizing to unconscious people, and you’re giving away our position.”
“Oops.”
None of the darts had struck Lara. Several were lodged harmlessly in the ground by her feet, no doubt deflected by her magic. She picked one up and glowered at it. “Oh, barnacles,” she cursed through clenched teeth. “It’s them.�
��
“Them who?” asked Crispin.
“I’m afraid two other masked vigilantes replaced you while you were gone.” Lara scanned the misty rooftops for the dart-shooter. “A man and a woman. I don’t know very much about them, except that the woman is oddly squeamish about violence and the man definitely isn’t.”
“Before we get rescued,” I broke in, “do you think you could tell me more about the White—”
“You are not getting rescued.” Lara waved her hand, and the mist thickened around us. Whoever was firing those darts, they wouldn’t be able to see us now.
“Keep moving,” she commanded. “Before I shove some of this mist down your lungs and turn it to to solid ice.”
“What was that you were saying before about giving up on false hope?” I folded my arms and gave her a wry smile. “Maybe it’s time you took your own advice. I’m pretty sure we’re about to escape.”
“Excuse me,” the woman on the rooftops called down. “Would you mind surrendering now, Your Majesty? I mean, we have basically defeated you already. No need to keep fighting, is there?” Her tone remained friendly.
Lara’s only response was to unleash several notes of Undine song. But before she could get very far with it, something came whizzing through the mist and wrapped around her face. Her song was quickly silenced as a mechanical muzzle fastened itself into place with a whir of gears. Her eyes widened with fury, and she struggled to find a way to pry it loose.
“I told you she wouldn’t surrender,” said the man.
“Oh well,” said the woman. “It was worth a try.”
Two figures leaped from a nearby rooftop and landed on the street with catlike agility. One was a red-haired woman wearing a blue leather jacket and carrying a tiny crossbow fitted with more of the darts that had taken out the selkies. The other stranger was a dark-skinned man dressed in a hooded cloak. He had an insane number of weapons on his person—a rapier in a scabbard at his right side, a gun holstered on the left, a variety of daggers in a bandolier around his torso, and a big crossbow slung over his back.
“Come on,” said the woman, beckoning to us. “That muzzle won’t hold her long.”
The man drew his sword. “Can’t I kill her, Ella? I sharpened Agatha this morning. It’ll be quick and painless.”
Ella was horrified. “No, Matteo! We’ve talked about this!”
“Hold on,” I said. “Who’s Agatha?”
“He names all his weapons,” Ella confided. “I try not to be jealous.”
Matteo pouted and returned Agatha to her scabbard. “It’s very hard being married to someone who won’t ever let you kill people.”
Ella put her hands on her hips. “If you don’t want to be married anymore, we could always stop.” There was a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Matteo half-smiled. “Nah, never mind. Small price to pay.”
I shook my head. “Flirting? Seriously? Do we need this right now?”
“Getting back to the point,” said Cordelia, “run!”
“Oh, right.” Matteo spun on his heel and sprinted down the street. I couldn’t imagine running with that many weapons hanging off my body, but he somehow made it look easy. Ella hurried after him, and the rest of us followed.
“Who are you?” asked Cordelia.
“The people we’re looking for, obviously,” I panted, dropping to all fours so I could run faster. “Ella and Matteo. At least something’s gone right today.”
“Cinderella and Prince Charming?” Crispin was dumbfounded. “I’ve been replaced as Talesend’s protector by Cinderella and Prince Charming? Now I’ve heard everything.”
“I have a feeling we’re never going to hear everything,” I said.
“But where did the two of you come from?” Crispin demanded as we dashed around a corner. “Why are you running around my city, doing my job?”
“You were gone,” said Matteo. “Trying to fix a problem that we had a role in creating. When we heard the Castle had reappeared outside Talesend, we came here to investigate. After you went inside and never came back, we decided it was only right that we help the people of Talesend in your absence.”
“We work together with Alice,” said Ella. “She’s all right, by the way. She’s back at the camp, waiting for you.”
Crispin was so startled he nearly tripped and fell on his face. “You know Alice?”
“Later, Crispin!” I shouted. “We’ll get a full explanation later!”
After running for what felt like miles, Matteo suggested we take a breather, and we finally skidded to a stop in an alley. “Do you think we’ve lost her?” said Cordelia, in between desperate gasps for air.
“I’m sure we have,” said Ella. “She’s probably given up by now.”
The ground shook beneath our feet as slow, heavy footsteps echoed through the dismal streets. Something very large was walking through Talesend. And it was getting nearer.
“That doesn’t sound good,” I said.
“It’s not,” Matteo agreed. “That’ll be one of Lara’s—projects. We need to move.”
“Too late.” Crispin pointed up at a dark figure looming in the mist. “It’s here. What on earth is that thing?”
The screech of metal against metal ripped through the air, and the mist cleared enough to bring the towering shape into focus.
My eyes widened. “Is that…”
“Yes,” said Ella. “It’s a giant robot.”
I groaned. “More robots? Could we stop with the robots already? I hate robots!”
“When did she start using those?” said Crispin. “I know she got Kiran Dhakar to help her create some advanced weapons, but—”
“She had a falling out with him and murdered him,” said Matteo.
I winced. “Ouch.”
“Apparently, she has a new ally who gave her the designs for these robots.”
“Beatrice,” said Cordelia grimly.
The behemoth stood thirty feet tall, and was made from some unusual metal I couldn’t quite recognize. It was dark grey in color; almost black. Carved symbols glowing a bright blue-green covered the robot from head to foot. Transparent pipes snaked around its arms, legs, and neck, carrying a liquid that shone with the same aquamarine hue. It had two glowing green orbs for eyes, but no other facial features to speak of.
“Everyone stay back,” said Matteo. “Let me and Penelope handle this.” He drew his pistol and fired directly at the robot’s eyes.
The bullets struck their targets, but bounced right off of them.
Matteo gave his gun a reproachful look. “Penelope, I’m very disappointed in you. Shooting out their eyes worked last time!”
“Clearly, she’s upgraded the robots,” said Ella. “Again.”
“Right,” said Crispin. “Time we got back to running, I think.”
But as we all started to sprint down the street in the other direction, another one of the robots appeared in front of us.
“Okay, fine, don’t panic,” I said. “Those things don’t move very fast, and they’re too big to follow us into tight spaces. Get to the alleys.”
We scrambled into the shadows between a crumbling dress shop and an abandoned restaurant…but unfortunately, the giant robots weren’t the only ones on the streets. There were smaller ones, crafted in the shape of clockwork spiders, scuttling across the walls of the buildings all around us. We jumped back as they swarmed down the alley toward us.
“They’re all responding to our attack on Lara,” said Crispin. “She’s got a telepathic link with them, even when she can’t talk. They won’t rest until we’re captured, or worse.”
“Are either of you Charmbloods?” Cordelia asked Ella and Matteo.
“I am,” said Matteo. “I’m not very good at magic, though. I hardly ever use it.”
“We don’t need anything complex,” said Crispin. “A few fireballs will do. If we can break through their ranks—”
“It won’t work,” said Ella. “Those things are surprisingly
resistant to magic.”
“Then forget magic.” I extended my claws and moved toward one of the bigger robots.
Crispin rolled his eyes. “Nick, they’re made of metal. You can’t hack them to bits with your claws. Be sensible.”
I smirked at him. “Is that what you are these days? Sensible? Remind me never to get old.”
He ground his teeth. “For the last time, I am not…”
“Sorry. Very busy. Write it down and tell me later.” I bounded toward the robot and started climbing up its leg before it could react to me. It swatted at me with its huge hand, but I manged to dodge it.
Obviously, my intention wasn’t to tear the robots apart with my claws. All I needed my claws for right now was climbing. I figured that glowing green stuff had to be important to the functioning of the automatons for some reason. Hydraulics, or something like that. So I clambered up to the robot’s neck, where one of the liquid-filled pipes reached into its metal skull. I grabbed it and, after a few seconds of fruitless tugging, wrenched it free.
The green fluid spouted from the end of the pipe and splattered everywhere, including on my clothes and fur. Fortunately, it had no ill effects on me. The removal of the pipe had the desired effect. The robot’s arms and legs jerked as it staggered around in circles. It made a half-heated attempt to grab me, then gave it up as its head lolled to the side. It pitched forward—heading straight for the other giant robot.
I leapt to the ground. “Come on! We need to move!”
The two automatons smashed together in a shower of green sparks. Soon, they both collapsed to the pavement in an avalanche of glowing green tubes and scrap metal. Many of the smaller robots were caught up in the impact, while others were felled by bits of flying shrapnel.
I took all this in through brief glances over my shoulder as we hurried away. The last thing I saw was Lara, who had arrived just in time to see what was left of her machines. Her eyes blazed with fury, but she was only now beginning to work the muzzle loose, so she could do nothing to stop us as we fled into the night.
The Stroke of Eleven Page 12