“I believe Lucien’s attitude toward our proceedings are all we need to hear,” Xavier said. He waved a hand and suddenly Aspen’s arms were frozen to her sides, her legs locked together. “I’ll remove her to confinement where she can hurt no one else until we can question her further. In the meantime, perhaps our boroughs can get a little peace.”
Aspen struggled to free herself, but the spell holding her was too strong. None of the other Mages had made any move to do anything.
“Lucien! Stop them!” Aspen yelled.
Lucien leapt up, but Simshar, Don Jones, and Etienne moved to block him. Spells curled to life around them, more than even Lucien would be able to break through.
“Do not disobey the Council’s wishes, Lucien,” Simshar warned. “We’ve indulged you for too long. After this little incident, we on the Council will need to reevaluate your position as one of us.”
“You as well, Nina,” Etienne said as Nina made to move for her blades. “Don’t throw away all you’ve accomplished for him.”
“Lucien!” Aspen yelled.
“Silence!”
Xavier flicked his finger and thickness filled Aspen’s mouth until she couldn’t speak. Xavier flicked again and her entire body lifted up and she began to drift behind him down the passageway, away from the Council. Isak had moved toward them, desperate now.
“Xavier, I’m telling you, it wasn’t her! You can’t—”
The floor of the passageway rose up behind them, cutting them off from Isak and the others. Aspen tried to scream but she couldn’t make a sound. Her arms and legs were still locked together tight. She could feel Xavier’s magic tingling on her skin as her ability ate away at it, but it wasn’t fast enough.
They were returning back toward Grand Central Terminal, but at the last second Xavier took her a different way down the tunnels, away from the entrance. What little hope Aspen had of someone stopping him quickly vanished. How could the Council have let this happen? And Lucien…Isak…they could do nothing for her while the Council held them back. She was very much on her own.
Xavier was walking faster now. They’d entered a narrower part of the tunnels, a place that looked less used than the others. The walls were rough, the space silent. He said nothing to her as he went, but she could feel him seething. She tried to break his magic again with more ferocity, desperate now. This time she got her shoulders to move, but it wouldn’t be fast enough before Xavier turned his attention to her once again. Whatever he was doing, he wasn’t taking her to house arrest.
They reached a dead end in the passageway. Xavier stared at the blank stone wall.
“You thought I wouldn’t remember you?” he said. “Your hair may not have been silver back then, but you’re still the same brat.”
He turned to her then. He was sneering, the cruel scars practically shining beneath the glow of the dim light. “The offspring. The one who refused to burn with her parents. Yes, I remember, Aspen Rivest. I remember you should have died with them ten years ago, and now you’ve returned to haunt me. You almost ruined everything, girl. You and that self-righteous fool Lucien. Almost…but not quite.”
Aspen’s mind had frozen in shock. The one advantage she’d had over Xavier was gone, and now she was all but helpless to stop him.
Xavier reached behind him and touched a point at the center of the wall. Blue magic glowed beneath his fingertips and a door opened. Aspen blinked in the sudden sunlight.
They were now in a secluded back alley. Xavier lowered Aspen until she was eye level with him. “It was quite easy, you know, killing all those beings. As much as the boroughs dislike the Mages, they trust them, a feeling bred into them over centuries of rule. It worked to my advantage. Allowed me to slip in without suspicion.
“Of course, it didn’t hurt that the Council was too blinded by their own sense of self-worth that they would never believe that one of their own would do such a thing. How could they? They were the Mages. Infallible, untouchable, above all scrutiny.”
Lucien knew! Aspen tried to yell through the thickness in her mouth. Her horror was replaced by mounting rage toward the man who used the trust of everyone to betray them. He had acted like a friend all while driving a knife into their back. But Lucien hadn’t fallen for it.
“Yes…I can tell what you’re thinking,” Xavier said, leering. “The great Lucien Dunadine. Lucien…whom I would almost count as an equal, believe it or not. He may be a pompous, petty child, but he sees more clearly than any of those other fools ever have. But he was too interested in defying anything the Council stood for to figure out what I was up to until it was too late. It’s a pity…all those years ago whenever Maladias offered us power to let him inside the borough…Lucien should have accepted it then. Now he will face destruction along with all the others…”
Aspen cursed herself for being so stupid. Xavier! It was so obvious that he’d be the one behind this, yet she’d let herself be blinded by her own petty vendetta against Hugo to see that it was all Xavier’s doing until it was too late.
Xavier’s magic had almost worn off her now. Aspen’s arm twitched toward the inside of her jacket, briefly forgetting that her knife and other gear wasn’t there anymore.
“No!” Xavier snarled. “You think you can best me? You think you can turn my apprentice from me? Turn him against everything I’ve taught him?”
Aspen could see the crest of his anger building like a wave, ready to crash down against her, ready to snuff her out. She braced herself for what was to come.
“A Norm and a Null. There’s only one way to deal with both. The same way I should have dealt with you years ago.”
Xavier lay open his other hand, and a black scythe of magic manifested in his palm, the curved blade wickedly pointed toward Aspen’s throat. “Goodbye.”
Aspen managed to break her right arm free just as he swung. She threw it in front of her, knowing it was too late, waiting for the scythe to fall and the inevitable end…
The peal of a gong reverberated through her bones. Xavier’s spell on her broke completely and she found herself falling to the ground, suddenly able to move again. She rolled, gaping above her.
Lucien had intercepted Xavier’s attack, a magic blade of his own lodged in the curve of Xavier’s scythe, stopping it inches from Aspen’s face.
“I should have known it was you,” Lucien said.
“You’re too late now!” Xavier hissed.
He tore his scythe apart and cast a spell into the ground. The concrete beneath their feet began to spin, swirling faster and faster until a whirlpool of rock sucked everything into it. With a distressed screech of metal, a dumpster was pulled beneath the surface. Aspen felt herself slipping after it. Lucien swept his arm across him and some bricks detached from the alley wall and covered the whirlpool. With another sweep, Aspen went sliding away out of Xavier’s reach. A shadow fell over her.
“Run,” Nina said. “We’ll deal with him and the Council. You need to get out of here.”
“But what about Lucien—”
“You won’t stand in my way this time!” Xavier roared.
There was an explosion of light and Lucien went hurling back. Xavier’s body was enveloped in a golden glow, looking like a demonic angel with his black scythe still clutched in his hand.
“Nina!” Lucien called, pushing to his feet. “Take her out of here!”
“And leave you alone?” Nina said. “Forget it!”
“Just do it! I’ve got this.”
He took a stance, his feet evenly spaced beneath him. He brushed his robes back. He pressed the tips of his fingers together, placing them up against his mouth. Nina’s eyes widened.
“Lucien, no! You can’t control—”
“Incineration!” Lucien cried.
Aspen’s skin was suddenly boiling. The moisture was sucked out of the very air as the head of a great beast composed of flame shot out of Lucien’s hands. It looked like a dragon, its eyes pitiless holes, its mouth large enough to swallow a
man whole. The beast curled up in the center of the alleyway, searing the walls black. Aspen could feel its intent, feel its aliveness. This wasn’t some mindless fire; this was a sentient being with only the craving to consume everything in its path.
Lucien pointed it at Xavier.
The beast arched and dove straight toward the other Mage. Xavier snarled and, at the last moment, spun in place, vanishing in a blink of light just before the flames hit. He reappeared a moment later in another place, but the flame continued to swirl around, seeking something new to engulf.
“Rein it in!” Nina cried. “Lucien, you have to bring it back before—”
Lucien brought his hands together, again and again as though trying to squelch the flames out. They only rose higher. The beast turned. Its great, gaping mouth opened as it prepared to swallow them.
“Run, Aspen!”
Aspen couldn’t move. Her body had ceased to listen. Suddenly, she was seven years old again, watching helplessly as the fire devoured her house, her parents, everything she loved…
No. No…she forced herself to remember. She was grown up, and no longer a helpless child.
But she still couldn’t fight this. This was power beyond what she knew. Power beyond what was hers to handle.
Nina had drawn her two knives and crossed them in front of her. She shouted an incantation. A hole opened in the middle of the air before her, a portal to a plane somewhere other than Earth.
“Ifrit!” Nina cried. “I call upon my contract with you! Come to me! Come to me and fulfill your duty!”
One arm the color of molten copper clenched the side of the opening and pulled its way through, drawing forth a head that was almost bull-shaped.
Nina pointed to the approaching flame beast and Lucien and Xavier, who seemed oblivious to it as they fought.
“Consume that flame!” Nina shouted.
The Ifrit’s eyes locked on the fire with a hungry gleam. The muscles in its arms and chest flexed before it pulled back and launched itself out. Golden wings opened at its back and carried it above the flames.
“Aspen, why aren’t you gone?” Nina yelled. “I said run—”
The Ifrit bent its body forward, then drew back, sucking in the air around it. An enormous howling wind whipped through the alley. The fire’s progress toward Aspen slowed, then stopped, beginning to rotate counterclockwise back toward the Ifrit who inhaled it like a bowl of noodles. First the tail, then the body, all the way to the beast’s flaming head until nothing remained.
Then the air exploded.
Aspen was thrown back into the brick wall. She saw Lucien fly by in a tumble of limbs and cloak. Nina had hit the ground beside her, throwing her arms protectively over her head to deflect the worst of the debris, but a loose brick clipped her forehead and blood flowed down her face.
And Xavier…
Aspen lurched aside as he landed where she’d lain. His face was chapped by flames. The tops of his robes at the shoulder had been burned away, revealing a symbol tattooed there. The same symbol on the book in Prague. The symbol she’d seen before somewhere else.
“You…” Xavier said, so enraged that he was having trouble forming sentences, spittle clotting at the corner of his mouth. “You’ve ruined this. You’ve…ruined all of this!”
Aspen tried scrambling away, but she was so disoriented it was difficult telling which way was up or down. The most she could do was keep moving and hope it was taking her as far away from him as—
Another explosion, smaller this time, blew her against the wall again. When her vision stopped spinning, she saw Xavier reaching for her, one hand clawing for her throat.
“You!”
Aspen tried to move again but her legs had tangled beneath her. Her arms refused to move like a marionette with its strings cut. At last she jerked backwards as Xavier’s hand swiped where her face had been. Rocks and glass bit into her hands as she clambered away. But it wasn’t far enough. Xavier raised a hand. The black scythe was suddenly there again, hanging over her, ready to fall. Aspen could see her life reflected on the edge of its blade as it came down.
There was the flourish of a cloak as Lucien dove toward her. Aspen felt him firmly pull her close right before a sudden jerk yanked at her midsection and they were spinning, spinning away from everything…
At the Edge of Truth
“Aspen? Aspen!”
The frantic voice sounded from somewhere far above her. With great effort, Aspen’s mind drew back from the comforting, cool darkness and back up into the light. She opened her eyes to find Lucien hovering over her, eyes wide with concern. When she blinked, he let out a long sigh of relief.
“You were out for almost ten minutes. I thought…can you stand?”
Without everything hurting so bad she wanted to cry? Definitely not. “I think so…”
She took Lucien’s offered hand to pull herself up. The second she was upright her world spun, forcing her to steady herself on the brick beside her. They were in a small, empty courtyard beneath the balconies of an apartment complex.
Lucien was still giving her a concerned look.
“That magic Segur put in you…you’re not ready to handle all that.”
He seemed to be trying to avoid the subject of Xavier all together. Aspen couldn’t blame him. What Xavier had done…what this meant for the Council…it was all a little too much to take in right now.
“We need to get you somewhere safe to rest,” Lucien went on. “Nina knows where I am. She should be here any minute…”
He gave her one last glance to ensure she wasn’t going to collapse on the spot, then went around the corner to look for Nina. Aspen pressed her finger to her temple. If she pushed hard enough, the headache slicing its way through her brain subsided some. The magic Segur had forced into her had only seemed to make the pain ripping through her insides worse. It was all Aspen could do to grit her teeth to keep a whimper of pain from squirming its way out.
The sound of angry voices came from around the corner a moment before Lucien appeared, red-faced, Nina and Isak in tow. A wave of relief crashed over her at the sight of him. He was safe, and more than that, if he was here that meant he must not have known about Xavier. He must not have been on his side.
“Why did you bring him?” Lucien demanded of Nina, thrusting a finger at Isak.
Aspen tried to step forward to stop him but her leg gave out. Isak’s strong arm caught her. “Easy,” he murmured. “Hey!” he called to the others. “She’s getting worse—”
“You stay away from her!” Lucien snarled.
“Lucien,” Aspen said groggily. “He wasn’t—he doesn’t know. He’s not part of this.”
“Calm down, Lucien,” Nina said softly. “We need to get to a safe place. Now’s not the time.”
Lucien seethed for a moment longer, then swept his cloak around and took off.
They must have been an unusual-looking group as they made their way through the busy streets: a silently seething Lucien striding elegantly ahead of them, cloak flapping; Aspen and Isak barely keeping up, Aspen now needing to lean less on him; Nina at the rear, every now and again casting a worried look back as if Xavier would be right behind.
Lucien cut through the pedestrians like a shark through a school of fish. He looked at no one else, and no one looked at them, as though he’d cast a spell that would make them invisible to passersby. If he turned his head, Aspen could see his lips were a thin white line. Every so often he would bring up his hands and rub them as though pained. She noticed most of the rings he wore were now dulled.
“We can’t go back to your house, Lucien,” Nina said, catching up to him at a street corner. “The Council…and Xavier…”
“I know,” Lucien said. “I’ve got another spot.”
“What about Xavier?” Isak said. “What happened back there? I thought Xavier was—”
“Not now,” Nina said curtly.
“Aspen?” Isak said in a low voice. “What’s going on?”
> Aspen could see for certain that he truly had no idea what had really happened, but she didn’t have the energy or the desire to explain things to him at the moment.
“I can walk fine now, Isak. Thanks.”
Aspen tried to slip her arm away from him but almost at once her legs went weak. Isak caught her and helped her keep moving.
“Not just yet, I guess,” Isak said, grinning slightly. Aspen grunted.
Lucien stopped at the next street corner and motioned them over. Shoved between a pawn shop and a quick stop market was a bar. The front of it was so unassuming Aspen would have passed right by—and indeed she probably had before. They were near one of the entrances to Ember’s Landing.
“Cliff will set us up with some accommodations,” Lucien said, stepping up to the door. He looked at Isak. “You can go now.”
Isak pulled Aspen’s arm farther over his shoulder. “She needs help getting inside.”
“She’s perfectly capable—”
Nina put a gentle hand on his arm. “Lucien.”
Lucien continued to glare at Isak before whirling around and stomping inside. Isak let out a soft breath. “I almost liked him better when he didn’t take anything seriously,” he muttered.
Aspen agreed.
It was still early, so the bar was empty of customers. There were only a couple waitstaff setting out chairs. One man who had been toweling off the bar was leaned over it, resting his massive tattooed forearms across it as he spoke to Lucien. Lucien nodded to their group as they stepped inside.
“This better not come back to bite me, Lucien,” Aspen could hear the man say as they approached. “Takes a lot to keep this place going without the Council sticking their noses in here.”
“I promise it won’t be an issue, Cliff. I just need a place for her to stay until this blows over. They don’t know we’re here and you’re not part of this.”
“Darn right I’m not. Plan on keeping it that way, too.”
Cliff looked at Aspen, still leaning heavily on Isak. He sighed relentingly, then snapped his fingers. One of the waitstaff—a young guy with a death metal T-shirt and a mop of brown hair—hurried over.
Mage's Apprentice (Mages of New York Book 1) Page 25
