“I do remember.” My voice rose. “That town over there. By the citadel. That’s where you captured me from. It’s true, isn’t it?”
She studied me. “I thought you were too young to remember.”
“That’s what you’d like to think.” I swallowed down the scalding tears threatening to rise to the surface. “You didn’t care either way, did you? You killed them for no good reason at all.”
I’d always known on an instinctual level that the Family had never been the loving parents they’d pretended to be for most of my childhood, but not that they’d done anything as grotesque as to massacre my birth family along with everyone else who’d lived in their town. As if that wasn’t enough, they’d then taken me captive, erased my history, and made me believe that I’d only ever been what they’d made me to be.
“I wouldn’t worry your head about it,” she said. “The elves are gone.”
“Then where did you get the ones at the warehouse from?” I demanded. “Where did you capture them?”
She tilted her head. “Why the sudden interest? It’s hardly relevant to your current dilemma.”
It is. I might still fear what she could do to me, but my rage and disgust outweighed my wariness, and knowing what she’d done to my former home set a fire burning in my veins.
I would take great pleasure from crushing the life out of her with my bare hands.
“Tell me where Roth is, and I might let you walk away in one piece this time.”
She gave a laugh. “You thwarted me by chance last time, nothing more. Besides, those cantrips have already spread throughout the city. The Houses are desperate enough to sign a deal with anyone in exchange for a cure. You’ve already lost.”
I took a step towards her, and a piercing light shone from the distant shape of Elysium’s citadel.
“It looks like the battle is over,” she said. “I wonder if any of your friends survived?”
Shit. The battle was over? I couldn’t tell the victor from this far away, but if the transporter remained active, it didn’t look good. I needed to finish this fast.
While her attention was on the citadel, I conjured fire to my hands once more. Lex studied, no longer laughing. “So you really want to do this, Bria? To the person who raised you?”
“You stole me from my real family.” An inferno coalesced in my hands, searing the ground below our feet. “I’m through playing games with you.”
23
“Very well,” she said, dismissing the flames I threw at her with a wave of her hand. “We’ll settle this once and for all.”
She made a twisting motion with her hand. At once, my own hand moved in unison with hers, until the bone strained. Pain ripped up my arm and I bit back a scream, determined not to cry out. I just had to hang on until backup arrived, or until I found a way to get through her defences. My head swam with dizziness, and I gritted my teeth to keep from passing out from the pain.
My feet swayed, reminding me the ground beneath us was still unsteady from the earth mages’ tunnelling. Maybe I can work with that. I clenched my teeth against another sharp stab of pain, then I used my free hand to throw a fireball at the ground.
Flames burned the soil away and shook the earth below our feet, forcing Lex to brace her hand on the wall to steady herself. The moment the pain lifted, my next fireball hit her in the face. She yelled in shock and pain as it burned through her flesh straight to the bone.
She’d recover, quicker than I’d like, but I had to find the man who’d raised me and get that cure from him before it was too late for the entire city. I’d worry about Lex and Adair later.
I took off at a run, the ground flying away beneath my feet. Roth would be somewhere near the Houses, I was sure, but hardly anyone was out on the street at all. They must have run for shelter when shit had hit the fan. Sensible, given the golden cantrips lying in the streets.
At the first opportunity, I clambered up onto the rooftops and then leapt from one sloped roof to the next until the world became nothing but a breathless blur. When I spotted a familiar landmark, I landed on my feet on bare ground littered with bodies. The area surrounding the Houses was eerily silent, and the citadel’s light had died down enough that I knew the battle was over. The assassins must have withdrawn, leaving the deadly cantrips to do their work. As I approached the citadel, it lit up again, in a single blink. A signal. An invitation to enter.
I walked up to the door, which opened at my touch. The room within was littered with bodies, too, yet silence prevailed. I climbed the staircase, my heart beating fast.
When I opened the door to the upper room, one lone man stood alone next to the transporter. Like Lex, Roth hadn’t aged a day. His features suggested elven heritage, his hair was glossy black, his suit impeccable enough that he might’ve walked into that gathering in London and not stood out in the slightest.
It’s true. They’ve won.
But I didn’t see Liv’s body among the dead, nor the Elemental Soldiers. Roth tilted his head, a smile playing on his mouth.
“There you are,” he said. “I thought you’d recognise my signal.”
“Give me the cure,” I warned.
“I have something more important,” he said. “I found a friend of yours.”
Someone stepped into view. Tay, her hands limp, her eyes blank. Still dead… yet Lex’s final act had been to reanimate her. Zombie-Tay walked over to me, her face blank, and halted in front of me. There was no life left in her, I knew, but part of me balked at the idea of striking her down all the same.
“I wonder why she gave her life for you,” Roth said softly. “She had so much to give us, yet she threw it all away.”
“Stop talking.” I walked past her, conjuring a fireball to my hand. “I know she’s dead. She can’t feel pain. But you can.”
We circled one another, and he held up a cantrip with a smile. “This is the cure. Want it? All you have to do is agree to work for me.”
I could see where this was going. “You’re manipulating me. You have zero intention of following through.”
“I plan to keep my word,” he said. “I don’t want to argue with you, Bria. Despite the way you’ve shunned your upbringing and brought disaster upon us, you aren’t our enemy. You’re our ally, and I hope you’ll choose to fight by our side before the choice is made for you.”
“You mean before you force me to ‘choose’ to help you.” My hands clenched. “Yeah, no thanks. You can get stuffed.”
“Shame,” he said. “I think you need an incentive. You see this machine here? You know what it does?”
“Amplifies any cantrip inside it,” I said. “Not news to me.”
“Any cantrip.” He indicated a slot on the side, in which a cantrip had already been placed. “Know what this one does?”
I couldn’t see all the markings on its surface, but I saw enough to make ice flood my veins. “The virus…”
“Exactly,” he said. “This handy device amplifies the effects of any cantrip, including ones of our own creation. If, say, there was a cure for the magical virus currently flooding the city, then it would be possible to spread its effects so that nobody else would die if they touched one. On the other hand, if you were to refuse to cooperate with me…”
The virus. It was lethal enough on its own. How much worse would it be if it was amplified via the same machine which linked the citadels together?
On the other hand, if I agreed to join him, I’d once again give him and Lex total domination over my life. I’d be knowingly letting them turn me into a weapon to use against anyone… including my allies.
My gaze fell on the machine, and the absence of glowing lights on its surface caught my attention. “Did Liv and the others drain the batteries out of that thing? Looks pretty dead to me.”
“Oh, that doesn’t matter,” he said. “When the life force of any living creature might be used as a battery, our source is limitless.”
Nausea flooded me. “Like those sprites… and
humans, too.”
“Life energy,” he said softly. “The same source spirit mages use. We’re not so unalike.”
I recalled the sprites trapped in that cage and fought back the urge to vomit. “I don’t see anyone living in here aside from the two of us.”
Ryan and the others were supposed to be getting hold of a cantrip to turn the machine off, but it already looked dormant. The dim light of the transporter told me I wouldn’t be able to use it to hop through and find the others, either, but the viral cantrip inside it would activate the instant he turned it on.
Roth smiled. “I know what you’re thinking. I’d advise you not to challenge me. If your friends are on their way to help you, they’re within range of this lethal cantrip, too.”
“It’s no use to you without a battery.”
“I wouldn’t speak too soon,” he said. “I could make you turn it on yourself.”
He wasn’t even kidding. Adair could influence your actions and decisions. Lex could influence your body. Roth? His power was even more sinister, if possible. Not one I had the ability to resist. But turning my back on him now was out of the question.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow stir, and I readied myself. “Try it.”
At once, a wave of sadness hit me, pushing me to my knees. Tears blurred my vision, and the sight of Tay’s lifeless body nearby only poured fuel on my grief. Gasps shook my body as the impact of everything I’d lost hit me like a train, combined with the remorseless pain Roth’s power inflicted on me.
Roth’s talent brought him absolute control over my emotions, but I hadn’t counted on my own buried pain aiding him in bringing me down. I could hardly move, my body trembling all over. Dammit. I won’t be brought down by this.
I raised my tear-streaked face and saw a shadow detach itself from the wall and fall over Roth from behind. The dark form of a lich moved closer, and when he turned around, shock momentarily flickered through his features.
Bet you didn’t count on one of my allies already being here, did you?
I still had people left to protect. People counting on me. People like Harper.
The unbearable flood of sadness lifted enough for me to raise my hand and fire a blast of magic into him. Roth staggered, the flames eating away at his fancy clothes and scorching the skin off his bones. He let out a horrible laugh, the skin peeling back from his teeth and making him look even more grotesque than usual.
Then he slammed a palm into a button on the machine. At once, light spun across its surface. My heart gave a lurch when the cantrip in the slot on its side ignited, too.
“I lied,” he said softly. “There was already enough power left inside it to set off the virus.”
“You bastard,” I said.
“If anything, I did you a favour,” he responded. “As long as you remain in here, you’ll be unaffected. Even if you leave, the virus will never result in a permanent death for you. The others, however, won’t be so lucky.”
Roth gave a triumphant smile laced with pain, and then he hopped through the transporter and vanished.
Harper floated over to me, the illusion of her face flickering into view. “Shit. Did he set off the virus?”
“Yes… and he took the cure with him.” The horror of what he’d unleashed sank in as I stared at the spot where he’d vanished. Then my head snapped up when Zombie-Tay walked over to me again. Impossibly, she was still standing, though no alertness shone in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her. “I guess we’ll all be joining you soon. I mean, I can stay in here forever while everyone else dies, but I’m not all that keen on the idea, to tell you the truth.”
Tay made no move to attack me. She wasn’t under anyone’s control, not anymore, but she wasn’t alive, either. She’d keep standing only until the remnants of Lex’s magic faded.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her. “I know you tried to warn me. You tried…”
“What’s that in her hand?” said Harper.
I looked down, catching sight of a gleam in the palm of Tay’s right hand. I reached for it, and her arm jerked forward, pressing the cantrip into my palm. I looked at its marked surface, disbelief flickering through me. She’d had the cure with her all along. “Thanks, Tay.”
I knew she couldn’t hear me, not really, but she might just have saved us after all.
Harper moved in behind me. “Bria…”
The transporter lit up again, and several people appeared on the platform. Ryan and Trix, followed by Miles and several of the sprites we’d saved from the trap in the other citadel.
“There you are!” said Miles. “We’ve been flying all over the city looking for you.”
“Don’t move,” I warned. “Roth… he put the virus into the machine.”
“Doesn’t look like it’s switched on,” Ryan remarked. “This place burned up in the fight.”
“He said there was enough power left in there to activate it.” I held up the cantrip in my hand. “I have the cure. I thought you lost the battle. This place was empty…”
“Hawker fled,” Ryan said. “Along with what was left of his army.”
“So did Roth,” I said. “He hopped through the transporter. Lex was in a bad way, but she’s probably run back to the house by now.”
“Adair did the same,” Miles said. “Once the sprites had finished picking at him, anyway. We’d have gone after him, but I was worried when I couldn’t find you. I ran into Ryan…”
“I was on my way from the Death King’s castle,” Ryan said, holding up a cantrip. “Got this from Devon.”
“It’s a magical neutraliser which will block the node,” Miles said in explanation. “It should be enough to cut off the link with London.”
“Damn, nice going,” I said. “So—r”
“Ah, shit.” Miles looked down at his hand, which had begun to break out in blisters.
“Dammit.” I grabbed for the cantrip in the slot on the machine, tugging it out with my fingers, but the damage was already done. Ryan’s face had begun to blister, too. They’d already been exposed to the virus.
With frantic movements, I turned to the cantrip Tay had given me and flicked the switch on the side of it. When I thrust it into Miles’s hands, the marks began to fade immediately. I then grabbed Ryan’s hand and did the same, releasing a relieved sigh when the rash vanished from their palms.
“Thanks,” said the Air Element. “Damn. I didn’t see anyone outside, but if they were out while that cantrip was active…”
“I know,” I said, with a grimace. “But even if not, anyone who picks up any of those cantrips in the streets is liable to fall under the same effects. I’ll do it.”
I shoved the cure cantrip into the side of the machine, but the light was dead. It had powered down. Worse, the blisters were creeping onto my own hand. I slammed my palm onto the button which turned on the machine, but to no avail.
“It’s dead?” said Ryan.
I swore. “I can’t turn on the machine without a power source, and Roth… he hinted that it’s powered by life energy. Human or sprites. But there’s nobody here but us.”
“Did you say sprites?” Dex flew up to me. “There’s a few of us here.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You sure?” Miles said. “I don’t think they have to be trapped in a cage to power the transporter.”
Not like I had anything to lose by asking. “Okay, Dex. Can you check with the others?”
He flitted over to another transparent figure hovering in the corner, and a glowing water sprite zipped over to join us. “You want us to power the machine?”
“Only if you don’t mind,” I added. “I need a power source to activate the cure for the virus. It won’t help the people who’ve already died, but it’ll stop anyone else getting hurt and give them time to get those cantrips off the streets. Can any of you lend a hand? I promise I won’t hurt you.”
“Don’t worry,” Dex told the s
prites, several of whom had gathered to listen. “We can trust her.”
The group of sprites grew larger, gathering above the glowing machinery. Magic spun around them, forming a kind of shield which ignited the buttons on the machine almost immediately. Bolstered, I hit the button again. The instant I did so, the air ignited with magic.
The blisters faded from my hand. As the cantrip’s effects spread, I noticed Tay had fallen to the ground, the effects of Lex’s magic finally giving out. It was too late to save her, but with her final moments, she’d saved countless lives.
Now we had to make her sacrifice count.
“We have to get the rest of those cantrips off the streets,” I said. “Once we do, we’ll bury them where they can’t be found. Then we’ll put in that neutraliser spell of yours, all right?”
“I’ll hang onto it,” Ryan offered. “Once we put it in here, we’ll have to leave it there in case Hawker’s people come back.”
So they’d survived. “It’s not over, then.”
“No, it isn’t over, but you still saved everyone,” said Miles.
My eyes burned with tears as I looked at Tay’s body. “She’s the one who gave me the cure. She saved us all, in the end.”
24
Upon our eventual return to the Spirit Agents’ base, we burned Tay’s body along with the others whose lives had been lost in the battle. I knew she would have preferred it that way. She’d hated the idea of being buried, and it seemed fitting to scatter her ashes in the city where the two of us had made our home.
The other Elemental Soldiers didn’t kick up a fuss about me staying behind for her cremation rather than joining them back at the Death King’s castle after we’d finished helping with the clean-up in Elysium, which I appreciated. While we’d helped to clear every infected cantrip we found off the streets, the Houses of the Elements remained in a state of shock and would do for a long while yet.
Upon my return to the castle, I half-expected the Death King to call me in to berate me for failing to stop the Family’s plot. Instead, he didn’t ask to speak to me at all. The following day, Miles showed up at the castle with the news that the node linking the citadel with London had been officially turned off.
House of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 2) Page 22
