From the kitchen she heard Aurie pop the top of an energy potion and chug it. Pi wanted the sweet release of sleep, not to be awake enduring the post-mortem echoes that haunted her.
"I swear it's getting worse each death," said Aurie, holding the can to her forehead.
Pi sat up, and instantly regretted it. "I think the death residue is building up. Violet's little posse of cheaters is going to win soon anyway. If the Cabal gets the wish spell, we're all screwed."
Aurie didn't speak and stared at the blank wall as if it held dark secrets.
"Sorry, sis. I shouldn't have brought her up," said Pi. "We've been stumbling from one disaster to another. As advertised, hubris will be the death of me."
Aurie glowered in her direction. "Speaking of hubris. When are you going to start acting like a team in there? You keep disappearing at the important moments, and when things go to hell, you escape into the forest."
Pi's face warmed with embarrassment. She'd been exploring the area around the fort, trying to figure out what seemed wrong to her. "I really don't think the whole thing is set up like we think it is. And we're not getting anywhere doing what we're doing. The top teams are on wave nine, and we're back at five."
"I'm not sure why you don't think it's a fort. It's got walls and everything," said Aurie. "Try to work with us. You're always doing things on your own."
Pi was a big ball of tangled emotions inside. She hated going against the group, but they kept wanting to beat their heads against the wall.
"The contest is about strategy and tactics, and using the talents of the whole team. When are you going to see that, Pi? Or are you going to ignore everything again like you did with Radoslav and cause serious harm?" said Aurie.
Pi regretted telling her sister about the encounter with the Jade Queen, not because Radoslav had told her not to, but because Aurie kept bringing it up as an example of her failings. She'd only done it to prove to Aurie that Zayn wasn't any good. Priyanka had given the Ruby Queen an assassin spider as a way to start a war.
"At least I learned about what a liar Zayn was; otherwise, you'd probably still be mooning over his every word," said Pi, instantly regretting the tone, but Aurie seemed to accept it with heavy regrets.
"I thought he actually liked me until the very end when he told me it was only a game. Even then I didn't believe it," said Aurie.
"I still think it has to do with the wish spell," said Pi.
"It's got to be the prize at the end of the contest. That's the only thing that makes sense, and the Cabal must have enough teams that are nearing the end to feel confident they're going to get it. Invictus even said you'd wish you'd won in the memory gem," said Aurie.
"What if he knew he was going to die when he made that?" said Pi, remembering the way his skin had been discolored, his hair matted. He'd been a living ruin.
"I don't know," said Aurie. "We'll never know since we're not going to win the contest."
"What about Nezumi?" asked Pi.
Aurie's face pinched to a point. "That's not fair."
"You brought up my trip to the land of the maetrie," said Pi.
"It's relevant."
Pi crossed her arms. "We can't just leave him and his family to the demon. You and I both know that our protections aren't working anymore. It's only a matter of time before he figures out where they are. Hell, the damn thing might decide we're interfering and come after us. We can't just wait for it to make its move."
Aurie threw her hands up. "Don't you think I've thought of that! I can't fix everything. Hell, I can't fix any of it. Violet's going to win the contest, the Cabal's going to figure out how to use the wish, the two of us can't beat that stupid demon."
"I'm so sorry, Aurie. I'm such a shit sister. I've been little help, causing new problems instead of solving some," said Pi.
Aurie climbed onto the couch. They shared a smile. The last few weeks had been hard, and it was only going to get harder.
"Too many problems, not enough solutions," said Aurie, shaking her head softly.
"What if we have solutions and don't realize it?" asked Pi, unformed thoughts coiling through her mind.
"Talk sense, sis," said Aurie.
Words tumbled from Pi's lips as fast as they formed. "Maybe we need some cross-training. Flex our muscles in different ways. You know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. So let's try something different."
"It's a fort, Pi," said Aurie.
"Not that. Nezumi and the demon Grat. What if we took the Harpers against it? I'm sure this is something the six of us can handle," said Pi.
Aurie cringed. "I'm not sure I like the idea of putting them at risk. In the contest, we don't really die. If Grat kills us, we don't come back."
"Then why did you become a mage if you weren't willing to take risks?" said Pi.
"I know. I'm not disagreeing. But it's easier to sign yourself up for risk than to ask others," said Aurie.
"It's up to them if they want to do it," said Pi. "We can't force them, but I think it's important. We can't let the Cabal get the wish spell. Who knows what they would do with it."
"Become the head patron," said Aurie.
A moment passed between them as they looked each other in the eye. They both knew the idea had crossed the point of no return.
"Fine!" said Aurie. "Let's double down on our insanity and go out swinging."
"That's the spirit," said Pi.
"You contact the team," said Aurie. "I have some things to look into about our demon Grat that have been bothering me."
"I was hoping you'd contact them. They like you better," said Pi.
"What better way to learn some teamwork than to take a job you don't like?" said Aurie.
Pi growled and poked Aurie in the leg.
"I guess," said Pi with a wink.
As much as she hated that her sister was right, it gave her joy to be working with her. That was the thing she missed the most about not having a functioning family. Aurie was her sister, but their responsibilities kept them from spending as much time together as they'd like. Taking another run at the demon Grat, despite the horrible danger, would be great for more sisterly bonding. She just hoped it wouldn't also be the end if one of them got hurt.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Harpers met outside the boarded-up clinic, the place that had once been called Enchanting Apparel. It'd been painful to nail the boards up, because it had felt like failure, but Aurie hoped to rectify that today.
"Thank you all for coming on short notice," she said. "I know everyone's got a lot to do with finals coming up."
Hannah rolled to a stop. Rigel and Raz leaned against the dragon fountain. Echo had found a ladybug and was letting it crawl back and forth across his hands. Only Pi seemed ready for what was to come, biting her lower lip with increasing ferocity.
"Anything to help," said Hannah, "though I don't understand what we're doing here."
The others voiced their agreement. Aurie was confused until she saw Pi's body language shift away. "Pi? What did you tell them?"
"I may have been vague on the details, but heavy on the cross-training bit," she said.
"Why are we here?" asked Raz, looking between the sisters. "I've got vocal lessons tomorrow morning early. I only came because it sounded important."
"Pi," growled Aurie.
She couldn't believe her sister. She'd given her one thing to do.
"Look, Aurie, they wouldn't have come for the clinic. As important as it is to you, and to me being your sister and all, the others needed more persuasion," said Pi.
Rigel shook his head. "Look. Not to bugger on about it, but we've got a lot on our plates. Bloody get to the point."
This wasn't going as planned. Aurie wanted to slink away and forget the whole thing. Why the hell was she doing this? She put her face in her hands.
"Wub-wub," said Pi. "Tell them about wub-wub."
Even Aurie looked at her sister as if she'd gone
crazy. Then she remembered Annabelle's doll. Right.
"Yeah, tell us about wub-wub," said Raziyah, a fierce look in her eye.
"There's this family of..." Aurie almost said non-humans, but decided against it since she didn't know the prejudices of her friends. "This, well, poor family, they got attacked by Grat's minions, who's this pseudo-demon, forcing them from their home."
She indicated the three-story brick house on the other side of the street. The glass on the front door was still missing.
"When they tried to help us, Grat found out. Luckily, we got them away, and have been keeping them safe until we can figure out a way to stop this demon, or whatever he is. But it's not working anymore. It's going to figure out where they are, and when it does, I don't know. I just don't know," she said.
The team looked skeptical. She wasn't winning them over with her argument. Aurie decided that she had to tell the whole truth, then let them decide.
"It's bigger than Nezumi and his family. We need to win the contest," she said.
"Yeah, we know," said Hannah. "I'd like a good grade in that class, and the prize sounds really cool, even if we don't know what it is."
"We know what it is, and that's why we have to win it," said Aurie. "The prize is a wish spell."
They exclaimed their surprise.
"Brilliant," said Rigel, eyes full of ideas.
"No, not brilliant," said Aurie. "Bad. Really bad. That wish spell in the wrong hands could be disastrous."
"If that's the prize for the contest," said Raziyah, "then why aren't we taking another go at the bugs?"
"Because the semester is almost over. We've only got one more shot in there. We've got to figure out how to work as a team without ruining our last chance," said Pi.
"Count me in," said Hannah. "Not because of the wish spell, but because I'd never forgive myself if something happened to either of you because I wasn't there." Then she pulled a pair of manacles from a back pocket. "These will come in handy. They're resistant to spell work."
"Why did you have those in your back pocket?" asked Aurie.
Hannah gave her a look, the one that reminded her that Hannah was far more adventurous than the rest of them.
"Right," said Aurie. "Moving on."
Rigel raised an eyebrow. "Wub-wub is a kid's doll?"
"The girl's name is Annabelle," said Pi.
"Count me in. I've got a younger sister. Couldn't imagine anything happening to her. You either," he added with a wink. "And I'd like a crack at the spell. I could be the next Frank Orpheum with it."
"Echo helps Aurie and Annabelle," said Ernie with a grin.
Raziyah, who at this point had been standing back with a skeptical expression, put her hand on Echo's shoulder. "Echo, I don't think you know what you're getting into."
"Echo helps Aurie and Annabelle," he repeated.
Raziyah turned. "Aurie. It's great that you're trying to help these people, and I'm not sure about this wish thing, but you can't ask Echo. It's not right."
Aurie sighed. She felt the same way. She'd been debating with herself about allowing Echo to come along, but if she didn't then wouldn't that be making him different than the rest of them? He could handle himself so long as he had good direction.
"Echo help Aurie and Annabelle, just like Raz and Pi help Echo," he said.
The dark-skinned girl pushed her glasses up her nose. "Echo. You might die. This is dangerous." She looked at the others. "I can't let you do this. He can't make this decision himself. For god's sake, he repeats everything and plays with flowers during the contest. I'm sorry, Echo. I can't let you help."
As she tugged on his arm, Echo pulled away with a determined look on his face. As if another person inhabited him, he straightened and said, "Better to die in service to others than to live in fear of being yourself."
The words were a slap to Raziyah. She took a step back, almost looked like she was going to tumble onto her rear. Whatever fight she had in her faded. For a moment, Aurie didn't even recognize Echo. He had the same chubby face and vacant grin, but there was a hard glint in his eye. But as soon as she saw it, it was gone.
She didn't know what to think about the exchange. It was as if Raziyah feared Echo, which seemed ludicrous. The others sensed it as well, as uneasy glances were exchanged frequently. Was Echo who she thought he was? Based on her reaction, Raz had sensed it, too.
"We should get going," said Pi. "While it's not late yet, we don't want to get caught here in the dark. Bad things."
"If you don't want to do this, Raz, I totally understand," she said.
Raziyah couldn't meet her gaze. She had a look of a scolded child.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Raziyah. "Why do you care about Nezumi or this wish spell? Is this because you want it for yourself?"
A tightness formed in Aurie's chest. "If we don't help them, no one will. This isn't only about Nezumi and his family. This place here used to be filled with people, a vibrant district. The district is a symptom of the whole city's problems. Don't you see it? It's decaying piece by piece, street by street. But a city isn't made of buildings, or cobblestones, it's made of people, and if they don't stand up and stop what's happening, there won't be a city anymore. Especially if someone else gets the wish spell, someone who doesn't have the people's best interests in mind. So I'm standing up, and I'm asking you to stand up with me. If you don't want to, then fine. We'll do it on our own."
Raziyah side-eyed Echo and said softly, "I'll join you."
This only confused Aurie further. She needed the Harpers to work together. Teamwork was the only way they were going to get through it safely. She shared a glance with Pi, who had the same reservations, based on the frown haunting her lips as she looked at Echo. Maybe leaving him out of it was the safer course? But she needed everyone, and she'd made a big, stupid speech, so it wasn't like she could back out now.
"If we're doing this," said Raziyah, "can you at least tell us what we're up against? You said something about a demon."
"Pseudo-demon. Looks like one, but a salt circle didn't hold it. Walked right out," said Pi.
"Maybe you didn't make the circle correctly," offered Hannah.
Pi raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Hannah shook her head. "Right. Forget that. Not a demon. Check."
"So you know what it's not," said Raziyah. "That doesn't help that much."
"It had wings and other attributes of a demon, but other things bothered me," said Aurie. "Like why did it stay here after being summoned? Demons aren't usually happy homemakers. Usually, an escaped demon would rampage a while until the patrons put it down. Which means it's something else. Maybe a doppelganger, a kapre, or a rakshasa."
Raziyah shook her head. "Can't be a doppelganger if it had wings. They can't create appendages that aren't there. Same for the rakshasa. It's a shape-shifting thing, though you'd have to ask an animalian for confirmation."
"Kapres live in trees and aren't evil," said Hannah.
"How do you know?" asked Aurie.
Hannah reached down and pulled up her pant leg, revealing a tattoo of a bearded giant sitting in a grandfather oak.
"Well then," said Aurie. "Other ideas?"
"Tell us more about what you saw," said Raziyah.
Aurie explained the encounters with the wakers and the winged creature.
"Maybe it's an illusionist?" asked Hannah.
Rigel shook his head vehemently. "No way. That's world-class magery. No way to create those wakers, break windows, mimic the sounds and smells she described, especially on short notice. It would take a whole theater troop and weeks of planning. Which makes it bloody impossible."
"Winged vampire?" offered Raziyah. "Might explain the wakers. Could be weird thralls."
"He attacked us in broad daylight at his home," said Aurie.
"What about the maetrie? They're tricky bastards and they frequent the city," said Hannah.
Aurie looked to Pi, who shook her head softly. "No. Nothing like them."
"Maybe we're going about it all wrong. It's just weird to me that this creature has made its home in the Enochian district. What's so special about this place?" asked Aurie.
The silence stretched between them until Echo spoke. "Dragon is power."
Aurie was going to ask him to take the discussion seriously until she noticed him staring at the dragon fountain. No one else had taken heed of his words except Raziyah, who stared at him curiously. When they shared a look, Raz shrugged her shoulders.
"Can you repeat that?" asked Aurie.
"Dragon is power," he said.
"What do you mean?" she asked, getting chills regardless.
"Dragon, sphinx, mermaid, griffon," Echo said. "Dragon, sphinx, mermaid, griffon."
"I don't get it," said Pi.
Echo looked frustrated. "Dragon is power?"
"Like power how?" asked Aurie.
He looked constipated. "Wells of magic."
Rigel snapped his fingers. "The fountains! There are four of these in the city. A dragon fountain, the one here, and three others: sphinx, mermaid, and griffon. I remember it from the Hundred Halls website. It mentioned the fountains as a sightseeing tour, but wells of magic, I'm not sure about that."
"Shit," said Pi, staring sideways at the stone embedded with the poem. Aurie knew exactly what she was thinking. Their parents had used the power in the area to construct a portal to the tomb in Egypt, the one they'd used to retrieve the Rod of Dominion. She wondered if the well of magic had something to do with the wish spell.
"Yeah," said Aurie. "He's right. There's a well of power below. We were exploring once and found some weird things. Thought it was residue from the city. Guess we were wrong."
"That's probably why those wakers are here," said Hannah.
"Doesn't explain the pseudo-demon," said Pi.
Raziyah was staring at her hands, squeezing them as if they ached. "Something wrong, Raz?"
She looked up and noticed everyone staring at her. "Got a bad feeling about this."
Aurie couldn't disagree. Something seemed out of whack, but time was running out to help Nezumi. If she didn't act now, he'd be screwed. There was no way Pi could protect him on her own, and it'd probably get her killed if she tried.
Web of Lies (The Hundred Halls Book 2) Page 19