It was also because of what Zayn had said about his patron, but she wasn't going to reveal that.
"You're wrong," said Priyanka. "You're a danger because you know that we tried to usurp control of the Halls without the rest of the Cabal. If that gets back to them, the pair of us are finished."
Eldritch flame appeared on her twin daggers. As it was, the three of them didn't stand a chance. Echo was near death, Pi looked like she'd been stuck in a jungle cage for a week, and Aurie had recently been deceased. She wasn't going to win with force.
"Yet, I'm not worried," said Aurie, searching for a reason. When the words came to her lips, she almost felt like she was casting a spell. "Don't you wonder why Echo saved me? Why did Invictus create the wish in the first place? It wasn't for himself, or he would have saved himself when the Cabal killed him. I don't know why he saved me, but don't you think it was for a good reason? Wasn't he the greatest diviner the world had ever known? You know that his biggest fear was that magic would destroy the world. That was why he created the Hundred Halls. Kill me if you think you must, but know that you may be dooming yourself."
The ghostly flame on her blades went out as her arms dropped to her side.
Aurie wanted desperately to collapse onto the floor, but she called on the last of her reserves, spelled strength into her limbs, and lifted Echo's near-lifeless body from the floor. Pi struggled to her feet like a newborn foal.
"Get us to Golden Willow," said Aurie. "I know there's a Garden Network here."
Neither patron made a motion towards the other room.
"Don't worry," said Semyon, stepping into the room and giving Aurie a curious glance. It was clear by the look on his face that he'd thought she was dead. "I'll take you."
Aurie was confused until Pi mouthed a name: Zayn. He must have contacted Semyon. If Priyanka found out, he'd be dead.
"You got my message," said Aurie, hoping to throw the trail.
To his credit, Semyon nodded agreeably, not giving the truth away.
As Aurie carried Echo out of the room, Semyon spoke to the other two patrons.
"We are going to destroy ourselves, and the city with it, if we keep doing this," said Semyon.
Frank Orpheum frowned. "Would you rather Bannon Creed get control of the Halls? We might not be your first choice, but we're better than the others."
"This can't last forever, Semyon," said Priyanka. "The city is falling apart without Invictus, and he left us no obvious way to replace him. As far as anyone knows, he's left the method hidden for a reason, and that reason is that we're to find it, and whoever finds it has earned the right to claim the position of head patron."
Aurie knew in her gut that this was the truth. He had hidden the method of ascendancy, but it hadn't been the wish spell.
"You're on the losing side, Semyon," said Priyanka. "Think about it from our point of view. If you win, then life will go as it did with Invictus. But if Bannon, or Celesse, or Malden get control, then anyone that opposed them will be dealt with swiftly. So you see the choice is quite clear."
"Have some spine, Pri," said Semyon, shaking his head. "There was a time you once showed some. Goodbye."
The four of them went through the Garden Network to Golden Willow. She carried Echo into the emergency room. Dr. Fairlight happened to be the doctor on duty, and immediately took him from her.
"What's wrong?" asked Dr. Fairlight.
"A powerful spell was put inside him when he was young," said Aurie. "But it's gone now. I think his soul doesn't know what to do without it."
"I know what we can do," said Dr. Fairlight as they wheeled Echo away. "A friend of yours was brought here a little while ago. She looked like she'd fallen."
"Hannah?"
"Does she always wear skates?" asked Dr. Fairlight.
"Always."
Aurie made Pi sit in the waiting room, while Semyon went with Dr. Fairlight to make sure Echo was going to be okay.
"You look like hell, sis," said Aurie.
"I feel worse," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "Rigel's dead. Priyanka killed him."
Aurie alternated between rage and sorrow. She didn't know what to do with her hands, made fists out of them, held them against her mouth.
"I didn't know," said Aurie. "If I'd only known."
"If you'd attacked her, she would have killed you. I saw her in action. She's a human blender," said Pi. "What about all that crap you said about Invictus wanting you alive? Like he'd had a prophecy about you or something?"
"All lies," said Aurie. "I knew some things about her from Zayn. I made the rest up."
"Jesus, Aurie. You're getting freaky good with this lying stuff," said Pi, half in adoration, half in concern.
"I'm a little worried about it myself," she admitted.
Pi looked away, wiped away tears. "Rigel's poor mother. It's not fair. He'd made the summer tour, was going to live his dreams. We should have never invited them."
Aurie clutched her sister tightly. "I know, Pi. I know. It's all my fault."
"Our fault, you mean," said Pi.
"Does it matter that it was important? Keeping Priyanka and Frank from the wish spell?" asked Aurie.
"It doesn't feel like it right now," said Pi. "I feel like a giant pile of dog shit. We got our friend killed."
"He knew what he was risking," said Aurie. "And it was important, even if it sucks. If we hadn't gone, then they would have gotten the wish out of Echo, and then killed him to hide the evidence. Someone was dying either way."
Pi sunk against the side of the chair, gaze faraway. "I wish I could see it that way."
Aurie climbed onto the chairs and held Pi, who clung to her as if they were six years old again. "Why does this have to be so fucking hard?"
"The important things are never easy," said Aurie, squeezing tightly. "Dooset daram."
"Fuck death," said Pi, bringing stares from a family on the other side of the waiting room, "and fuck the Cabal. Rigel should be alive."
Aurie couldn't disagree. She held onto her sister for a long time. She didn't want to let go, but eventually they had to. It felt like something had changed in them both. Something they'd never get back. In that moment, she wanted more than she had in many years to be able to call her parents.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Without a doubt, it was the saddest contest room in the Spire, Pi thought. Hannah was sitting on a bar stool—sitting, no skates, boots, not even fidgeting—with an uneaten bar of chocolate in her fist. Aurie sat against the wall, legs splayed out before her, gaze vacant.
Echo was there too, except he didn't seem like Echo. He was focused, sitting quietly like an A student patiently working through a problem in his head that was painful to consider. He was still chubby, wearing the same tan slacks and gray T-shirt that he typically wore, but the keenness of his gaze transformed him into someone Pi hardly knew.
The scoreboard blinked, indicating a team had finished their final attempt. When the day was over, the team with the highest score—which at the moment was Violet's team—would earn the prize.
"What is wrong with you people?" Pi gestured towards Hannah. "You're not even wearing skates?"
"What's the point?" asked Hannah. "Rigel's dead, and Raz is...god, I can't even wrap my head around it. There's only four of us. We don't have a group of experts helping us with our strategies like the other teams. We never made it past wave five with the whole team, and now you want us to commit suicide by giant bug? Count me out."
"What about you, Aurie? Are you giving up, too?" asked Pi.
Aurie stared at the scoreboard. "It's not that I'm giving up. I just don't see the point. Can't we go watch a play in Rigel's memory or something?"
"Echo?"
He carried with him an invisible weight. It wasn't hard for Pi to see that he felt guilty for Rigel's death too. He also had to be coming to grips with not having that spell inside his head. She had no idea how that had affected him. He appeared as a man freed from prison afte
r a long sentence who, faced with the overwhelming new reality, could not come to grips with it. Pi wondered what kind of man Invictus was that he would do that to a child.
"I'd prefer Ernie," he said cautiously, as if he weren't sure what words would come out of his mouth, "and I don't know. I'm trying to sort out who I am."
Aurie slapped her hand against the floor. "Face it, sis. The reason we wanted to win the contest so bad was because we thought the wish spell was at the end of it. Without that, there's not much point. We're going to get a decent grade, nothing special, but I'm not up for dying again with nothing on the line."
Hannah spoke up. "You know I would have appreciated knowing about that wish business. I thought I was your friend."
"I'm sorry, Hannah. We didn't want to get you involved," said Pi.
"You got me involved with what was supposed to be a simple demon banishing," countered Hannah.
Pi had no answer.
"Why do you want to do it?" asked Ernie.
When she looked at Aurie, she almost broke into tears. Pi paced around the room while they watched, clamping down on her fears before they overwhelmed her.
"Because Rigel's dead, that's why. And we lost our friend Raz. Yeah, I know, she wasn't really our friend, but I feel like Raz died too. I hate the idea of just rolling over and doing nothing. I'd rather go down fighting, even if it doesn't mean that much. I don't know if that's something Rigel would have wanted us to do, but dammit, it's something we should do. Even if we only have a tiny chance of winning, and I think we have a bigger chance than we think, we owe it to ourselves to try and knock Violet and her posse off the top of the leaderboard. Wouldn't that be worth it? Come on, Ernie. Remember what she did to you at the beginning of the year? Or all the hell she's put you through, Aurie?"
When Pi looked Hannah's way, she added, "I think she's a major twit."
"It doesn't matter if we want to win," said Aurie. "We need a plan that gives us a chance. I don't think we'd make it past wave three with the four of us, let alone make it to the queen."
"What if I know a way we don't have to fight through the waves?" asked Pi with a grin.
The hopeful glances were all the encouragement she needed. Even if it didn't work, just taking a chance, doing something rather than sitting around and moping, was worth it.
"Are you going to tell us?" asked Aurie.
"Only if you promise that you're willing to try, even if it's a little unconventional," said Pi.
"I'm in," said Ernie, "if only to keep me from having to think about who I really am for a short while."
Hannah scrunched up her face. "Fine. Unconventional. I'll make an attempt without my skates. I swear you two are relentless about them."
"No," said Pi. "I want you in your skates. They're part of the plan."
"They are?" asked Hannah, her face lighting up.
Aurie sighed. "I'm getting the strong feeling that I'm not going to be given a choice."
"There's always a choice." Pi smiled.
Aurie raised an eyebrow. "And hear about it for the rest of my life? Hell, no. I'll take a pair of mandibles chewing off my face compared to that any day."
"Love you too," said Pi.
"So tell us the plan," said Hannah.
Pi slipped out of her backpack and threw it onto the couch.
"Jesus, what's in there, dead bodies?" asked Aurie.
"Books," said Pi. "Pull 'em out and start eating."
Hannah and Ernie gave her a horrified stare.
"They've been magically binded to transfer knowledge," explained Pi. "It's one of the things they teach us in Arcanium."
Hannah shook her head. "You guys are so weird."
"That reminds me," said Pi. "What hall are you actually in, Ernie? We've been wondering all year, and you avoided our questions without answering."
"I...I don't really have one," he said. "I was bound to Invictus at a young age."
"Could that mean that he's still alive? I mean, it's not like you're frothing at the mouth with faez madness," said Aurie.
"He's definitely dead," said Ernie. "I didn't see it, but I felt it the moment it happened. It was like having a shard of ice shoved in your gut. It was the worst."
"Wait. We can't have you continue. You're unprotected from faez madness," said Pi.
"It's okay," he said. "Having the wish spell sort of hardened me against that. Mostly, anyway."
While they dined on the books, washing them down with energy drinks and chocolate, Pi challenged the rest of the Harpers with a question.
"Why are we defending the fort?" she asked.
Everyone shrugged and made noncommittal noises. She felt like a high school teacher in front of a reticent class.
"Because the bugs are attacking us?" Hannah asked skeptically.
"Sure, but why else?" asked Pi.
Ernie gestured. "It's a classic tower defense game with multiple waves of enemies that get successively more challenging."
Everyone nodded in agreement, but Pi was smiling. It was the exact point she was hoping someone would make.
"What if that's what we're supposed to think? We're all born and raised on games. So what do we do when we see a challenge? We figure out what game it's similar to so we can utilize those strategies," said Pi.
"If it's not a tower defense game, then what kind of game is it?" asked Aurie.
"It's not a game at all," said Pi. "The book you just ate is called Flora and Wildlife of the Fourth Quadrant of Human-Inhabitable Extra-Planar Spaces. Concentrate on the part about Planet 8b.5."
One by one their eyes lit up as the knowledge came to the forefront of their awareness.
"Holy balls," said Hannah. "It's the bug planet."
"The technical name for that species is Heinlein Kiranides. They are the dominate life form on that planet. There's not a lot of research on them, but they have a similar breeding program to many Earth bugs like armyworms, or Japanese beetles. They lay their eggs in other locations than their nest."
"So the fort is just their breeding ground?" asked Hannah.
"And we're camped on top of their eggs. No wonder they keep attacking us," said Aurie.
"The flowers!" exclaimed Ernie.
Pi grinned. "You got it. They repel the bugs, which is why they plant them in the breeding areas to keep other colonies at bay. The so-called fort walls aren't rock, but hardened saliva from the bugs to keep the ground-based predators from burrowing in and eating the eggs."
"We're practically inviting them to attack us," said Aurie.
"Yep."
"So what are we going to do, sis?" asked Aurie with a suspicious tone.
"We're going to split the party," said Pi.
The three of them responded in unison. "You never split the party."
"We're going to split the party," she said again with a shrug.
"Didn't we learn that lesson already?" asked Aurie.
The reminder of Rigel's death brought the mood down, but Pi forged ahead. She wasn't done mourning him, would probably never get over it, but they had to do this.
"Sometimes you have to do things differently, even if they don't seem right at first," said Pi.
Aurie shook her head skeptically. "I don't know. Splitting the party is bad. We're already down two."
"What is it that you always tell me—when the going gets tough, the tough study harder? I've done my homework, I've studied harder. Once we get into the fort, we're going to kill the initial bugs, but then get out without messing with any of the young bugs in the ground. We'll need to grab the flowers off the bushes before we go, but that shouldn't be too hard. If we haven't killed the eggs or the young bugs, I don't think they'll be in a frenzy to kill us. Then we can find the queen's home and take her out."
"Do you know where it is?" asked Ernie.
Pi sighed. "No. I've tried to find it, but no luck so far. That's one of the reasons I made the books. I thought we might be able to figure it out on the way."
"What was all th
at about splitting the party?" asked Aurie.
"The bugs aren't going to stay away forever. Eventually we'll need a distraction." Pi looked at Hannah.
"Me?"
"Once the bugs find us, and they will, I want you to drop your flowers and lead them away. It'll give us more time," said Pi.
Hannah frowned. "That's your plan?"
"If it doesn't work, what's the worst that can happen?" said Pi.
"I become a bug shish kabob," said Hannah.
"And reappear here," said Pi. "No risk, no reward."
"I'm still in," said Hannah. "I just think splitting the party is stupid."
"Anything else?" asked Aurie.
"That's it."
"Well it sounds better than anything we came up with before," said Aurie. "I guess wanting to do things differently sometimes works out."
"Is that an apology?" asked Pi.
Aurie raised an eyebrow. "I'm proud of you, sis."
"Don't be proud, let's win this thing!"
Loaded up on enchantments, they moved into the portal room. There was an energy in the air, bouncing between them with secret smiles and knowing glances. Excitement was welling up inside Pi. This was a chance to prove something to herself and to her sister. The prizes at the end of the contest were nothing to sneeze at either. Despite the likely possibility that she would get murdered by an oversized insect with a cutting fetish, she was glowing.
"See you on the other side," said Aurie as the portal activated.
"For Rigel," said Pi.
They repeated it as a team. "For Rigel."
Together, they touched the obsidian stone.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Something felt different to Aurie almost immediately, but she didn't have time to contemplate with the bug bearing down on her.
Using a solar spear, a variation on the fire spear in which she convinced the spell it was using energy from the sun, Aurie annihilated the bug into ash. One of the benefits of failing repeatedly in the contest had been refining their abilities and tactics.
The others easily took care of their bugs. Even with only four left on the team, the initial portal fight was trivial.
"Nobody move away from the cube," said Pi. "We don't want to trigger any of the adolescent bugs."
Web of Lies (The Hundred Halls Book 2) Page 22