Eclipse Core (School of Swords and Serpents Book 2)

by Gage Lee

  “Us?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you were just my handler.”

  “Well, yes,” Hagar said with a smile. “And, no. That’s something else we’ll figure out as we go. Take it easy, Jace. I’ll see you sooner than you think.”

  Just like that, Hagar walked out my front door and headed across the bridge. I crossed my fingers and offered up a short prayer to the Empyrean Flame that this would all make more sense someday. For the moment, I had to satisfy myself knowing that I was fighting for the good guys. Every mission I completed against the heretics was one less problem we’d have to deal with down the road, and one step closer to finding my mother.

  That had to be good enough.

  Despite that it had been dark in my target’s apartment, it wasn’t quite noon on Sunday afternoon at the School. I busied myself in the kitchen making a cup of coffee, hoping the simple ritual would take my mind off the last mission. Albert and his bodyguard had both gotten what they deserved. They’d known the risks when they threw in their lot with the heretics.

  It was the image of my face I’d seen in the broken television glass that had stuck with me. That was what I’d become if I gave in to the urge, and every mission it got harder to hold back. I was on a very narrow path, just as Hahen had warned me. If I ever fell off, all the good work I’d done for the clan might be undone by my darker powers.

  I was half depressed and halfway through my cup of coffee when a knock echoed through the cottage. Someone was at my door. I had no idea who it could be. All my friends were supposed to be out for the holidays.

  Frowning, I dumped the rest of my coffee down the sink and left my quarters to see what was going on.

  “Hey,” Rachel said when I opened the door. She held up a small wicker basket covered with a checked cloth. “How about a picnic?”

  “That sounds great.” I realized I was starving, and whatever Rachel had in that basket smelled delicious. “Where to?”

  “Back to the path?” she asked. “Maybe we can go another way, see something other than mountains.”

  “Perfect,” I agreed. “Why’re you back so early?”

  “Oh, that,” Rachel said. “Portal tickets were way less expensive today than tomorrow. I figured I’d save my parents some money.”

  “Is your brother back, too?” I asked.

  Rachel laughed as we headed down the hallway and shook her head.

  “Oh, no,” she said. “Rafael is snowboarding with his friends at Telluride. He won’t be back until he absolutely has to be.”

  “I still don’t understand your family,” I said. “If Rafael came to the School of Swords and Serpents as an initiate, why were you enrolled at the Golden Sun Academy? And why does he get a trip to snow country while you’re looking for portal bargains?”

  Rachel didn’t say anything for a few moments. She stared down at her hands and the basket she held. I didn’t push her, afraid that I’d embarrassed her or made her mad. That hadn’t been my intent. I just wanted to understand how two people from the same family could be so different.

  “My parents aren’t rich.” Rachel broke the silence between us as we reached the hallway that led to the path. “Rafael is here on scholarship. He also does work for the Disciples of Jade Flame. He’s like... I don’t know how to explain it. Anyway, he’s actually much better off than the rest of us. I see more of him here at School than I ever did back home.”

  I hadn’t considered that I wasn’t the only student who had someone else footing the bill for their education. It felt strange to imagine Rafael and I being so much alike. We hadn’t paid for school, we were both doing things for our respective clans, and we were both on a secret payroll.

  I had a dark thought about last year. Had Rafael’s clan hired him to take me out?

  That didn’t seem like a very good question to ask his sister, so I pushed it away.

  “Oh,” I said. “That makes sense. Maybe he can get you in with the clan, too.”

  “That’s not a great idea,” Rachel said with a grimace. “I mean, yeah, I’m technically a Disciple. I don’t fit in very well with the other ones, though. My attitude doesn’t sit well with most of them.”

  She trailed off, then shrugged as we stepped on the path.

  “I know what you mean,” I said. “I’m part of the Shadow Phoenix clan, but they hated me last year.”

  “Rafael said everyone hated you.” Rachel giggled. “It’s amazing how becoming the school champion and kicking the snot out of a hundred contenders made you so very popular.”

  “Oh.” I took a fork in the path and headed toward a forested area we hadn’t visited together yet. “That’s why you’re with me.”

  “With you?” Rachel said with a faint grin. “I’m with you so we can have a nice early dinner. I’m just being nice to a poor Shadow Phoenix who stayed at school over the whole winter break.”

  We both laughed at that, and I felt more at ease than I had this whole year. There was something just right about hanging out with Rachel. She was nice, and sarcastic, and we had similar backgrounds. It didn’t hurt that she seemed to get more attractive by the day.

  “Well, thank you for taking pity on me,” I said. “It gets lonely in my room by myself.”

  “It looks like a pretty impressive room you’ve got there.” Rachel raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think anyone else gets their own lakeside cabin.”

  “There are definitely perks that I’m going to miss when I’m not the champion anymore,” I said. “Then again, last summer just about did me in.”

  “Here’s good,” Rachel said. We’d passed through a thin band of trees to a bluff that overlooked a rushing river. The ground was covered in a thick layer of springy moss that made a perfect place for us to sit. Rachel placed the basket on the ground, and I sat across from her.

  “Let’s see,” she said. “I stole most of this from the dining hall. There’re some chicken tenders, biscuits, a little pot of honey, apples, cherries, a couple of kinds of cheeses. Oh, and this.”

  She lifted a bottle of wine from the basket and offered it to me across her forearm like we were in a fancy restaurant.

  “A fine vintage,” I said. “I think. I’m not much of a wine drinker.”

  “Me, either,” Rachel said with a grin. “I figured this was as good a time to try it as any. Picked it up from a party during the break.”

  Fortunately, the bottle had a screwtop instead of a cork, because neither of us had a corkscrew. We ate and drank, filling our bellies with food and sipping the stolen wine. It wasn’t long before my head felt fuzzy and warm, and my words slipped and slithered across my tongue when I spoke.

  “Did you miss me locked up here in this big old place by yourself?” Rachel wiped wine from her lips with the back of her hand and handed the wine bottle to me.

  “I wasn’t alone,” I said. “The staff were here. They’re pretty nice during the breaks. Even fixed me a Christmas ham. Or, at least, slices of a ham.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she said.

  She glowered at me, then we both dissolved into a fit of giggles. It was hard to take anything seriously when my thoughts were tumbling around the inside of my head like a litter of kittens on catnip.

  “I missed you,” she admitted. “A lot.”

  Her cheeks were bright pink, though I couldn’t tell if it was the alcohol or if she was blushing. If she was embarrassed, she didn’t act like it. Her eyes sparkled, and she stared intently at me.

  “I missed you, too,” I said.

  We gave each other goofy grins, our shared happiness both surprising and overwhelming. Something was changing in our relationship, and I felt a pang of guilt and regret mingled with excitement and mystery. Clem and I would always be friends, I was sure of that. What I had with Rachel, though, was very different.

  “What happened to your hand?” Rachel asked. “I just noticed the blood.”

  I glanced down at my right hand and was surprised to see fresh scabs across my knu
ckles. I must’ve gotten them when I punched Albert’s protector.

  “Oh,” I said. “It’s nothing. I was doing some stuff with the clan. Moving boxes and junk while everyone was gone. Scraped the back of my hand against a doorframe.”

  “I see,” Rachel said. “You work for the Shadow Phoenixes?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Just boring stuff. I’m sure it’s not nearly as exciting as what Rafael does for the Disciples.”

  “That’s why you have those nice robes?” Rachel reached across to finger the black cloth of my clothes. I’d never really appreciated just how nice they actually were. She had a way of showing me everything through different eyes. “These must’ve cost a fortune.”

  “No, those are from being the champion,” I said. “At least I think they are. They were in my closet when I got to my room.”

  She took a long swig of wine. The little that was left after she finished swirled around in the bottom of the bottle as she handed it back to me. Her lips were stained a deep red, dark and mysterious.

  “I wish I could’ve met you before you were the School champion,” Rachel said.

  “Why?” I asked, honestly confused. I took another sip of the wine and handed the last of it back to her. “I doubt you would’ve thought very much of me last year.”

  “I bet you’re wrong.” Rachel gave me an honest, warm smile. “Rafael told me about you. How hard you struggled. How you had to fight for everything.”

  “All that is true,” I said. “I was also a thief, and I nearly got my friends killed in the final challenge. Plus, I was a filthy camper. It wasn’t much to see.”

  “Don’t say that,” Rachel said softly. She reached across the basket and brushed my cheek with the tips of her fingers. “We’re all born with cores. We can all master jinsei and serve the Flame’s Grand Design. The only difference between campers and Empyreals is money.”

  “That’s a very big difference,” I said. “Money changes everything.”

  “And that’s why I wish I’d met you last year,” Ray said. She leaned forward until her hands were on either side of the picnic basket and her face was less than a foot from mine. “Which one do you think is the real Jace? The scrappy initiate or the confident School champion?”

  I leaned forward, too, drawn to Rachel as if by magnetism. Our noses bumped against each other, and she giggled.

  “I’m not that different now,” I insisted.

  “You just said money changes everything,” she teased. “Maybe it changed you in ways you can’t recognize. Maybe you’re a different person than the one who came to school here last year.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said, mesmerized by Rachel’s vivid eyes. “I’m still a kid from the undercity at heart.”

  “Let’s see if you still know how to kiss like a camper,” she whispered.

  And then we did.

  The Blur

  ERIC AND ABI CAUGHT up to me at breakfast on the first day of classes after the break. Clem wasn’t with them, and they both looked like they had terrible news to tell me.

  “Oh, man,” Eric said. “You’ve done it now.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “I haven’t done anything.”

  “Well,” Abi said, “before break you fought Rafael for Rachel’s honor.”

  “That is not what happened,” I said. “He challenged me to a duel because he thought—”

  “And now Rachel is talking to Clem,” Eric finished. He tilted his head toward the far side of the dining room where the two girls sat across from one another at a small table. I couldn’t see Rachel’s face, but Clem looked very serious.

  “Oh,” I said quietly. “This isn’t how I thought this would go.”

  “You really don’t know anything about girls,” Abi said with a grin. “How are you feeling otherwise?”

  “Fine, I guess,” I said. “Why? Do I not look okay?”

  “You look fine,” Eric said. “Apparently, extra fine, given the fact that you landed Rachel.”

  My two friends chuckled at that, then Abi’s eyes grew more serious.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about you,” he said. “About what happened at the duel. And with the Locust Court’s emissary last year.”

  My blood ran cold. Had Abi figured out my secret?

  “I talked to my father when I went home for break,” he continued. “He is a very wise man, a spiritual leader for our community. He remembered seeing you in the challenge.”

  “Over the summer?”

  “No,” Abi said. “The first challenge. When you fought Hank at the Five Dragons Challenge.”

  That was surprising. I didn’t even know that fight had been televised. Even after I became famous as the School’s champion, no one had ever brought it up. That Abi’s father had seen it, and remembered what had mostly been a pretty boring fight, surprised me.

  “Anyway,” Abi said as he topped off his plate with an over easy fried egg, “he thinks there is something very special about you. About the way you handle jinsei. And aspects.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as I followed my friends toward our usual table. Clem and Rachel were still in deep conversation, and I pretended not to notice. There was no way that was going to be good for me.

  “It means most people can’t do what you do,” Abi said as we sat down. “I didn’t catch all of your technique, it happened too fast. But I did see you fill your aura with aspects faster than I thought was possible. That’s a unique gift you have.”

  Abi’s voice was low and grave. I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me with suspicion, concern, or admiration. He was hard to read, and my paranoia didn’t make it any easier to decipher his thoughts. He could have easily been congratulating a friend on learning something new.

  Or, as a member of the Portal Defense Force, he could have been telling me that he knew I was an Eclipse Warrior and should watch my step.

  “It’s probably because I had to teach myself so many things,” I said. “Being a camper and all, you know how it is.”

  I felt a twinge of shame at using my background to deflect the conversation. Campers made Empyreals very uncomfortable. Most of those who lived in the overcities would just as soon pretend the poor people in the slums beneath them didn’t exist. Rachel said it was because they couldn’t reconcile the fact that they lived in luxury only because most people couldn’t.

  “Oh, no,” Eric said. “Don’t look now.”

  I glanced up instinctively and saw Clem and Rachel headed in our direction. They walked side by side, their trays of half-eaten breakfast balanced on their hands, their faces carefully neutral.

  “We should go,” Abi said.

  “Please don’t,” I pleaded.

  “Hey guys,” Clem said, her voice so pleasant I was sure she was being sarcastic. “Room for two more?”

  “Yeah,” Eric said uncertainly. “Sure.”

  Clem sat across from me, between Eric and Abi.

  Rachel took the seat next to me.

  That division felt a little too much like taking sides for my comfort. I traced aimless lines in the syrup on my plate and waited for the hammer to fall.

  “We were talking,” Rachel said with a nod toward Clem, who shot me a smile so wide and bright I thought she might bite me. “About us.”

  “Us,” I said noncommittally.

  “You know,” Clem said, her grin growing wider by the second. “About your picnic.”

  “Yes,” Rachel confirmed. “Clem’s fine with everything. She says you were just good friends. And I want you to stay good friends.”

  There was a glimmer of pain in Clem’s eyes at the words. Her smile tightened, just a little, almost impossible to notice.

  But I saw it.

  And it hurt.

  “Yes,” Clem confirmed, her smile painfully wide. “We’re all going to be great friends, from now on.”

  Eric and Abi glanced at me with sympathy in their eyes.

  Oh, man. What had I done?
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  As it turned out, things weren’t nearly as bad as I’d worried they’d be. Clem and Rachel really did seem to get along. I didn’t catch even a whiff of argument between the two of them after that. Clem never mentioned Rachel during our scrivenings tutorial sessions, which was both a relief and annoying. I was glad Clem hadn’t been hurt by my choice but couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t at least a little upset.

  But, as the days of January passed, the last of the tension between Clem and me faded and our group of four grew to five. We ate our meals together, helped each other with our classes, and spent more time goofing off at my cottage than we probably should have.

  The only dark spot on those weeks was that Abi was gone more often than not. The Portal Defense Force kept him and the other students hopping, and more than once he and his fellow cadets all missed class on the same day. When that happened, I was surprised by how many students were working for the PDF.

  It also made me wonder which of my classmates were secretly working for their clans or other, darker, forces. If Rafael, Hagar, and I were all working for our clans, it was very possible that there were other students who’d decided they wanted to be heretics when they grew up. I’d have to bring that up to Hagar.

  Not that I saw much of my handler. She was out of classes far more than she attended, and I wondered how many of the professors and staff the Shadow Phoenix clan had paid off to keep her absences quiet. As days without Hagar turned into weeks, I threw myself into my studies and martial arts practice.

  That, at least, turned out to be a good use of my time.

  Professor Song started us on a new kind of meditation that involved the repetition of modified martial arts forms in a fluid cycle. It was supposed to bring our bodies and minds into closer unity, and I was surprised when it actually worked.

  My Thief’s Shield technique had shown me the key to integrating my serpents, aura, and core. What it hadn’t done, though, was push my core to the next level. I’d been stuck at initiate all year, and the meditation techniques I’d tried seemed to make my dark urges more dangerous and forced me to back off before I lost control.