by Chloe Garner
“I hope they weren’t,” he answered. “They could have just been here to cause trouble, or they could have been here for anyone else… I mean, they killed Yasmine. Maybe that was why they were here. Something about her dad and the Council.”
Valerie shook her head.
“Either way, someone let them in. Mrs. Gold told me when I got here that the defenses here had stood for a hundred years, and yet they’ve broken down twice since I’ve been here.”
“Twice?” Ethan asked.
Shoot.
That had been a secret, too.
She was exploding with all of these secrets and just bumping into her threatened to reveal them.
She leaned out across the table again.
“Are you willing to risk violating curfew?” she asked.
He checked his watch.
On a school night, they were supposed to be in the building by ten and in their rooms by midnight. Mrs. Gold had some nefarious way of checking on the beds, but not on whether or not they were in the building.
“What’s up?” he asked. She stood and he went over to hit Shack in the shoulder with the back of his hand.
“Cover for us,” he said, and Shack shrugged without looking up.
“No worries.”
Ethan nodded and started for the library doors.
Just like that, he’d walk out with her, no context needed.
Was she too untrusting, or was it just his disregard for the rules, anyway?
Probably the second one.
She followed, going to the front doors of the school and out into the darkening night.
It was a bit overcast, this night, and the lawn was crispy underfoot. There was a sharp, cold breeze, and Valerie wished for a moment that she’d gone back to get her coat. Her wet hair was going to be the death of her.
“Warmer down in the trees,” Ethan said, reaching over and taking her hand. He spoke a few words and his skin went warm against hers. She tucked her arm in underneath his and let her head down onto his shoulder.
Just so easy.
Just like that.
They walked quickly down to the tree line, then Valerie tucked in against one of the big oaks, sitting down in the remaining leaf litter while Ethan kicked a gap in the leaves in front of her and put his hands down over the bare ground.
More words, and a soft blue flame came up from the ground, billowing larger as he worked on it, and putting off a powerful heat. It wasn’t hot, it just drove away the cold like it hadn’t been there.
“I can’t do that,” Valerie said after a moment. “I don’t know how.”
“Funny thing is, I bet you would know how, if it was that or freeze to death,” Ethan said, coming to sit next to her. “Hoping the blue is dim enough that they can’t see it from school.”
She nodded, settling.
“So,” she said softly. “There’s so much.”
“So much what?” he asked.
“I don’t know who to trust,” she said. “I’m certain that someone put the cast in the hall by the girls’ dorms because they were letting in the demons, and I’m certain that they did it so that the demons could come and kill me. I just don’t know who did it, and why, specifically. And if I don’t know why, I don’t know… I don’t know why they wouldn’t try again.”
“Are you afraid?” he asked, and she shifted to sit nearer to him.
She wasn’t afraid, but it was just so… She wanted an ally, and she wanted that ally to be him.
“No,” she said. “Not for me. Maybe I should be, but I’m not. I’m afraid for everyone else.”
“How are you so certain?” Ethan asked. “Did someone say something to you?”
She watched the blue flame dance.
“You promised to keep my secrets,” she said. “That you won’t tell your dad or anyone.”
“I did,” he answered.
“My dad told me,” she said. “Actually, he told me that when he got me out of there, they would leave, because I was the one that they came for.”
“Your dad was at the school that night?” Ethan asked, twisting to look at her. She sat up and nodded, knowing that he could only just see her in the dim light of the magic fire.
“Yeah.”
“And no one saw him?” Ethan asked.
“He kind of has this thing with time and stuff,” Valerie said. “He never really explained it, so I didn’t understand it.”
“When did you leave?” Ethan asked. Valerie shifted to sit back against the tree, now her arms low across her chest.
“That night,” she said. “We left and he drove… all night, more or less, I think… I slept most of it. And then we were at this house and… He told me a lot of things that I haven’t figured out yet, who I believe. Mostly him, actually, which is… weird. But his story makes a lot more sense.”
“When?” Ethan asked. “I talked to you that morning.”
“I know,” Valerie said. “And I remember that. I don’t really remember what we talked about, because I was dazed from the fight, but I do remember that you were there and that I was really glad you were there, because you felt safe.”
“I’m confused again,” Ethan said.
“I know, imagine how I feel,” Valerie answered.
She couldn’t see his face well at all, but she didn’t need to to imagine his expression.
It would have been her expression, as well, hearing this story.
“You just said…” he started, and she nodded.
“That I was far, far away at a house. Yes. And I was here with you at breakfast. Both of those.”
“That’s not possible,” Ethan said.
“I really wish I could agree with you, because then all of this would make a lot more sense.”
“Valerie, you need to talk to someone about this.”
“I did,” she told him. “Mr. Jamison. He knew that my dad was there, too, because he found the magic my dad used to lock my dorm room door closed to keep the girls in there safe while we left.”
“You held the door closed,” he said. “Sasha saw you.”
“I know,” Valerie said. “And I remember. They warned me that it would be weird, but it really wasn’t enough to prepare me for it. I think I was actually in both places, and I have no idea how. I really don’t.”
“You told Mr. Jamison, and… he didn’t think that was weird?” Ethan asked.
“No,” Valerie said. “He knew that my dad could do that, and he also knew it was going to suck. And it did. I’m just… I’m not saying I’m over it or that I’ve recovered or figured it out or anything… Just that I manage not to think about it very often any more, and that’s working for me.”
“You really think that your dad was here,” Ethan said.
“I do.”
“And he took you away for a day.”
“For two weeks,” Valerie said. “He taught me to fight and he taught me to do magic and… It was good, actually. Training with someone who got me.”
“Two weeks?” Ethan demanded.
She nodded, just watching the fire. The specter of those memories was unsettling, even this far out.
“Two weeks.”
“With your dad?”
“Yup.”
“Who’s supposed to be dead?”
“He went quiet. No one ever confirmed he was dead,” Valerie said. “My mom didn’t seem that surprised, when I mentioned him.”
“Valerie,” Ethan said quietly. “I made a promise and I’m going to keep it, but you need to tell someone that.”
“I did,” Valerie said again. “Mr. Jamison…”
“I mean someone who knows things,” Ethan cut in, not rudely. “I… Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t… Not until kind of later… I knew your dad wasn’t dead. The Council has picked up evidence of it a few times, and… He went quiet because he came from a Superior family. His parents hated civilians, and his sister is a fanatic. She’s really, really high in the ranks on the Superior side. He was with the Council for a while, but then
he switched back. He’s one of them.”
Valerie’s kneejerk reaction was to argue with him, but she let the words settle, considering them.
“You know it’s true,” Ethan said after a moment.
“No. I don’t,” Valerie answered. “I just also know I’ve been wrong a few times lately, haven’t I?”
He fell silent, now, giving her time to think.
She wasn’t going to tell him about Gemma. That wasn’t her secret to tell.
But none of it rang true. Not really. Her mom hadn’t been worried about her being with her dad, nor had Mr. Jamison. Just the Council, and their contact with him had been through a handler who was a double-agent.
Of course the man would tell them that Grant Blake was a traitor, and that was why he’d gone quiet.
“No,” she finally said. “His story makes more sense than yours.”
“He did come from a Superior family,” Ethan said. “Did you know that? Did he tell you?”
“No,” Valerie said, though it would have explained how deeply Lady Harrington disapproved of him. The woman was a purist unto herself.
“And that doesn’t bother you?” Ethan asked.
“No,” Valerie said again. “It doesn’t. It doesn’t matter. I told my mom that I spent time with him, and she never even blinked.”
“Did she know he was alive?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t know,” Valerie said.
“Maybe it was shock,” Ethan said. “And hope. She bailed on the magic world a long time ago. The Council only figured out what happened to your dad maybe ten years ago. A long time after she took you and disappeared. Maybe she had no idea what happened, and she just assumed he was still… You know, good.”
“Mr. Jamison found his magic on the door, right where I saw him put it,” Valerie said.
“Maybe he was the one who let the demons in,” Ethan said. “So he could come in and rescue you from them.”
Had Mr. Jamison been specific about the door being where he’d found the magic? Valerie couldn’t remember. She thought that’s what he’d said…
“There are spies on the Council,” Valerie said. “People who are taking information back to the Superiors. Though… My dad said that our understanding of how their politics work is really… bad.”
“Oh?” Ethan asked. “He talked about them?”
“A lot,” Valerie said.
“He’s one of them,” Ethan said, exasperated.
“He isn’t,” Valerie answered, more certain as she thought more about it. “But they aren’t fighting so that they can kill people. They’re trying to take away people’s magic so that only they get to be magic, and that process keeps killing people by accident.”
Ethan was silent for a long moment.
“That actually explains some things I’ve wondered about my whole life,” he said slowly.
“But it’s a secret,” Valerie said. “If you tell anyone that, they’re going to know that someone from their side is talking to our side and they’ll figure out who and…”
“I get it,” Ethan said after a moment. “It’s the same way my dad is with secrets on the Council. They have people working for them getting that kind of information, too, you know.”
Valerie nodded, skeptical, but willing to be supportive if it helped him give her more benefit of the doubt.
“I’m risking peoples’ lives, telling you any of this,” Valerie said. “If they find out my dad is alive, some things are going to… They’re going to figure out some stuff that’s going to get good people killed. He told me that very specifically.”
“Or he could want you to keep his contact with you secret so that he can work on turning you,” Ethan countered, simply being faithful to his opening perspective. He wasn’t as passionate as he had been at first.
“Or that,” she allowed.
“Wow,” he said after a moment.
“Yeah. It’s been killing me, not having anyone know.”
“I bet. You remember being in two different places at the same time?”
“The memories came to me after I got back, but it was like I never left. I could remember everything that happened, during that time, and still remember everything that happened with my dad. It was awful.”
He put his arm out, and she shifted to lean against him again.
“That’s not all, though,” she said after a minute.
“How could that not be all?” he asked.
“The night that you… The night that my mom came.”
“The night of your birthday party,” Ethan said, and she nodded.
“There were people after her,” Valerie said. “They found her, because she came to see me, and they attacked the school. That’s why we locked everyone in. And we went up to Mr. Tannis’ room and she fought them. She killed them all… and I helped her.”
He breathed for several moments.
“Did you actually kill anyone?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “But I built casts that did, and I cast at a pair of them with magic that could have killed them, if they hadn’t been warded.”
“It matters, that you haven’t killed someone,” Ethan said.
“Why?” Valerie answered. He pressed his cheek against her hair and shook his head.
“Not to anyone,” he said. “I just… I know that it’s different. If you didn’t actually do it, then it’s different.”
“How do you know?” Valerie asked.
There was a very, very long pause.
“Because I have,” he said, his voice low.
There was a thud that Valerie felt through the ground, and the sound of breaking glass up at the top of the hill.
Valerie was on her feet and Ethan was extinguishing the fire as the first voices reacted. It wasn’t loud, but Valerie could hear people yelling and the sounds of a fight. Things breaking and slamming into walls.
“Go or stay?” Ethan asked, next to her again.
“Go,” she said, insulted.
“If they’re looking for you…” Ethan said.
“I won’t live with myself if I hide down here and they kill Sasha, looking for me,” Valerie said.
“Fair enough,” Ethan answered. “Are you ready?”
She shook her hands out, looking up at the sky and wishing for a moon.
“Ready as I’m gonna be.”
Nothing is Safe
By the time they hit the front doors, students were already pouring out, and Ethan and Valerie had to struggle to get through the doors.
“What’s going on?” she asked a girl she recognized.
“They’re…” the girl said, then she was running again.
Valerie shouldered her way through and made it to the far wall, standing against the office glass as Ethan put an arm out toward her.
“Come on,” he said. “I haven’t seen Sasha or Hanson yet.”
Valerie grabbed his hand and ran down the hallway with him, pausing at the wall where the hallway turned. There was a corner, there, before the dorm hallway started, and they stood with their backs against the wall, listening to voices Valerie didn’t understand.
“Demontongue,” Ethan whispered. “I don’t understand much, but I think they’re trying to get your door open.”
“We have to stop them,” Valerie whispered back.
“You ever fought a demon?” he asked, then looked up as the ceiling shuddered. “They’re upstairs, too.”
“Where is Mrs. Gold?” Valerie asked. Last time this had happened, the woman had been right in the thick of it. Valerie hated to think that the woman hadn’t made it, this time. “I swear, if she’s dead, I’m just going to give myself up.”
“Don’t you dare,” Ethan said. “They want you as leverage against your mom, because she’s saving even more lives than you can imagine. You have to stay safe so she can do her job.”
“How is this safe?” Valerie hissed, and they both went silent for a moment as the voice changed to English.
“Do it.”
She looked at Ethan and he shook his head.
There was a flurry of magic energy from around the corner, and as Ethan stepped forward, Valerie put her arm out, pressing him back against the wall again.
She breathed slowly, feeling the potency of the cast.
It was drawing energy from everywhere. The floors, the walls, the ceiling, patterns, colors, everything.
And she knew - she just knew - that if she tripped one of those connections, it was going to go off, and while it was most certainly going to kill Sasha, it stood a very good chance of killing her and Ethan, too.
“Be still,” she mouthed.
They listened for a full minute longer - a minute that felt like an eternity - then she put her face flat against the wall.
More thumps and dust drifting down from the ceiling, and shouting.
Footsteps.
On the stairs.
There was a tendril of magic attached to the stairway door.
She could tell.
“Valerie,” a voice said.
Her eyes flew open.
“Dr. Finn,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“Probably the same thing that you’re doing,” he said. “But better. I knew this is where I needed to be, but I’m not standing there waiting for someone to blow up the whole building.”
“What now?” Ethan asked.
“Valerie Blake, you need to get to work,” Dr. Finn said.
“I can’t move,” she said.
“You can speak,” he answered.
She turned her head to look at him, standing there in the hallway coming from the same direction she and Ethan had.
“If for no other reason than that it’s very traumatic to watch a friend get exploded, I’d recommend you remove some of the triggers from where they are actually attached to him,” Dr. Finn said.
“There are too many,” Valerie said.
“It’s called a spider bomb for a reason,” Dr. Finn said.
“Spider bomb,” Ethan echoed, breathless.
He knew what that was.
“They’re coming down the stairs,” Valerie said.
“And there are presumably girls in their rooms who are going to get curious and open their doors,” Dr. Finn said. “So we need to move quickly.”
“You’re going to help me?” Valerie asked.
