Masters of the Veil

by Daniel A. Cohen

  May stood out like a white wall against the crashing doom. The glowing sheen around her expanded, engulfing everyone on the mountaintop.

  The rumble shifted into loud, snapping cracks.

  May held strong, her diamond-skin outstretched.

  More sound returned. Next came singing, like angels humming a soft prayer, growing louder and louder—the music of heaven.

  You can do it.

  The white light poured out, almost blinding. The music rose, and May’s body began to shudder. It was too much for her.

  The cracks started to close. Very slowly, the fractures sealed up.

  Despite her convulsing body, May smiled.

  The music erupted into a choir of voices, all singing May onward. Even the Tembrath Elite looked on with awe.

  She was going to do it.

  May gave one final heave. After an explosion of light and sound, she fell.

  CHAPTER 24

  Samuel Lock’s fingertips pierced the soft grass up to his first knuckle. He was lying face down on a bed of soft green.

  Sam had watched May’s body fall with grace, like hands were gently laying her to rest. As soon as she’d struck the stone, an explosion of white had knocked them all over. In seconds, a thick layer of green grass had covered the plateau, and a whole army of trees had grown in an instant and circled them.

  May lay on her side, peaceful.

  Sam rushed over to May, cradling her body, ignoring the pain in his arm.

  His voice was no longer gone. The sky was back to normal, and the sun was rising.

  She had saved them all.

  “Hello, Sam.” May smiled, a small trickle of blood coming from her mouth.

  Sam felt the tears coming. He tried to hold them back. “You did it.”

  She stroked his arm. “We did it.”

  Sam sniffed. “How’d you find me?”

  “Something special came out of the Veil when you did your first grip.” Her voice was joyous but feeble, as if it would fail at any moment. “I’m sure he will let you meet him soon.”

  Sam’s words burst out. “I didn’t want to break Her, I swear.” The tears broke through. “They made me—”

  “Hush. I know.” She ran her fingertips across Sam’s cheek. “As soon as they got Cassiella, you had no choice.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They took over her mind and made her lie. Plus, they gave you that letter.” She coughed and her hand fell to her side. “They knew exactly how to nudge you out.”

  Sam held back another wave of tears. “I’m so sorry.”

  Her voice weakened to a whisper. “You don’t need to be. You’re still a boy; we all know you never meant to hurt anyone. Promises of saving the world can be very persuasive.”

  Sam nodded.

  “I’m so glad I met you, Sam.” The light from the rising sun illuminated her face. “You are going to do extraordinary things. It has truly been an honor.” She coughed onto the back of her hand, which came away bloody.

  Sam shed a steady flow of tears. She’s dying. “You can’t go.”

  “It’s my time. Do not weep, for I have been around long enough.”

  “But I need you.”

  She smiled. “Death is such a funny thing.”

  Sam couldn’t understand how she was so calm. “How so?”

  “Because everything changes, even death.”

  Sam sniffed again, rubbing his nose with the back of his sleeve.

  “This is one mystery I am happy to explore.” She brought her hand up and held it in front of Sam. Her second-skin had cracked and pieces peeled off her hand. The last patch fell away, revealing a yellow petal hidden against her palm, covered in radiant dust.

  A yellow sunflower petal, as vivid as if it had just been plucked.

  Sam wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes. “It was you?”

  May beamed and nodded.

  He chuckled between sobs. “You were the one who started it all? You were that little girl from all the stories?”

  Another nod. “Take it.” She pressed the petal into his palm. “Remember me.”

  Her white glow started to fade.

  “I will.”

  “It was wonderful knowing you, Sam, even if only for the briefest of periods.”

  He smiled. “You can call me Samuel.”

  She laughed. “So, you’re taking to our customs already.”

  Sam swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. “I still have a lot to learn.”

  “You will.”

  Sam took two fingers and drew them across his heart. “Travel well, May.”

  She took his hand and smiled. “And you.”

  With one final gaze deep into his eyes, she was gone.

  CHAPTER 25

  Bariv stretched out, letting the sun wash over him. “Do you like your new room?”

  Sam nodded, but kept his eyes on the pond. “It’s great.”

  “So, I hear you and the rest of Rona’s students are back to normal.”

  “Yeah, as normal as can be expected, considering we almost saw the end of the world.” He dipped his hand into the water and swirled it around. “But I have many more apologies to make.”

  Bariv sat down on the bench beside the rinsefish pond. “You made the right choice.”

  Sam chuckled. “Don’t worry, I have no reservations about that. I know in my heart that this is where I’m supposed to be.”

  Bariv bent over the stone and reached down, just barely able to reach the water’s surface. He dipped his finger in, and dozens of rinsefish swam up, nudging their rinsers toward him. “And your parents?”

  Sam raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you guys have some sort of protocol for that?”

  “We do.” Bariv sat back on the bench without taking a rinser. “They can come live here if you like, or we have other options.”

  Sam tried to picture his father in a place like this. “I think maybe ‘other options’ are best.”

  In the days since the incident, Sam had been adjusting to his decision. It wasn’t even really a decision: after all that had happened, it felt more like destiny. He was going to live in Atlas Crown and learn the craft of magic—the right way. He had a lot to do already. Despite what Glissandro played and what Cassiella promised in between her own apologies, Sam still felt responsible for everything that had happened.

  Sam flicked the surface of the water. “Still no sign of Crom or Erimos?”

  “We have the other Tembrath Elite here waiting judgment, but no, Crom and Erimos have not been seen since the events at the top of the mountain.”

  “What will happen to all those creatures that came from behind the Veil?”

  “They will die, as they are cut off from their energy source. Do not worry though; I already have a team of sorcerers making sure they remain where they are until they perish.”

  The day was bright and the community bustled again. Although no one came over to speak with Sam or Bariv, most of them waved or gave small bows. Sam wasn’t in the mood to socialize, anyway.

  He just hoped they would eventually forgive him.

  “I met Her, you know.” Sam sat back down next to Bariv.

  “I know.” Bariv gave a boyish smile. “She is quite fond of you.”

  Sam ran a hand across his second-skin. The stars on it seemed extra bright that morning. “When can I talk to Her again?”

  Bariv took a diamond out of his pocket and handed it to Sam. It looked exactly the same as the first one Bariv had presented him with. “In time.”

  Sam took the diamond and placed it in his pocket. “I still can’t believe that May was the first one to discover magic.”

  “Not many people knew, actually. She didn’t find it necessary to share. I also think she rather liked watching the different reenactments. She used to tell me, ‘just because it didn’t happen that way, doesn’t mean it couldn’t have.’”

  “She was amazing.” Sam pinned his eyes to the ground.

  “
You’d think more people would have guessed from her robes, though.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Since all clans come from her, she honors the clans that have died out over the years by keeping their symbols alive on her robes.”

  Sam rubbed his temple and let out a deep breath. “I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

  “She never blamed you.”

  “But—”

  Bariv cut him off with a pointed finger. “There he is again.”

  Sam turned and saw the panther. Or at least, “panther” was the best way to describe him. He paced back and forth a few yards away. Lean and muscular, his sharp blue eyes looked exactly like Sam’s. Tiny black swirls adorned his sleek black coat—the same ones Sam had been seeing since the football game. As the large cat moved, swirls flowed off his body and lagged behind in the air. They drifted along until they eventually reached his coat again and latched on.

  Sam held his hand out, but the panther kept its distance. “I still can’t believe he led you guys right to us.”

  “To you.” Bariv’s tone was coy. “You know, I didn’t find out about my snake for years.”

  Sam watched the graceful cat move closer. “So just us, huh?”

  “As far as I know.” Bariv traced the swirls on his cheeks. “And I know a lot.”

  Sam pulled his hand back. “I still don’t understand.”

  “Things come out of the Veil when we use Her. When I saw my parents’ deaths, and when you were at the game, we both caused something new to be created. It does not usually happen. When it happened, we were so closely linked with Her that we pulled out something closely linked to us.”

  The panther crouched low to the ground. The creature was more the size of a lion, its body thick with muscle. “How did he know to go to Glissandro?”

  Bariv nodded toward the panther. “I assume he’s been watching you for a while now. He knew you were in trouble. You two are connected, very strongly, in fact. He is here because of you, and you are here because of him. The relationship will grow stronger over the years; at least, my own experiences lead me to believe so.”

  The panther pounced on some invisible prey. Black swirls arched off its coat and through the air.

  Sam’s words escaped as a whisper. “He’s beautiful.”

  “Truly.” Bariv gestured around them. “Just imagine what you’ll see when you actually take the time to see our town properly.”

  “First I want to train up. I don’t want to ever be used like that again.”

  Bariv sat back, leaving his feet dangling off the ground. “Relax and take your time. The power is behind the Veil, and I know the Tembrath Elite will not try to reach through again.”

  “So, what do I do now?”

  Bariv pointed again toward the panther.

  It stared up at Sam now, only inches from him. It fixed gentle teeth around Sam’s second-skin and pulled it away.

  Sam wasn’t afraid of the creature, but it hadn’t yet spoken to him like Bariv’s snake. He’d tried talking to the cat a few times since returning to Atlas Crown, but it seemed to be following its own agenda.

  The panther dropped the second-skin on the grass and lowered its head.

  A single swirl drifted off its coat and came to rest against Sam’s palm. As he watched, the swirl sank deep into his skin. Sam curled his fingers and felt the rush of the Veil against his palm.

  Bariv clapped a hand on his shoulder. “First, we honor May, and then I think it’s time that you became my first real student.”

  The panther dashed off into the distance.

  Sam relaxed his hand and felt the brush of the Veil subside.

  He picked out a rinse-fish glob from the pond and wiped it against his palm, making sure the swirl didn’t wash away.

  It stayed, making Sam wonder if the panther had just given him a permanent connection to the Veil.

  Bariv pointed a finger at the swirl on his cheek and nodded.

  The white glob dripped off his hand and hit the ground.

  To his surprise, a cinnamon flower did not grow.

  Instead, it created a tiny sunflower.

  ***

  THE END OF BOOK ONE

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of:

  Children

  of the Veil

  Book Two of the Veil Trilogy

  Coming in 2013 from

  Spencer Hill Press

  CHAPTER 1

  Sam Lock plucked a large stalk of white grass from the ground, bringing the submerged tuber along with it. He severed the vegetable from the grass and brushed off the dirt. He squinted, found his target, and hurled the food as hard as he could.

  It wasn’t a particularly good throw, but the tuber was snatched up on the fly, anyway.

  “Now will you come over here?” Sam called across the vast field.

  The panther just stared at him, chewing the tuber, its black coat shining in the bright sun. The small dark swirls from its fur drifted in lazy lines, wandering back to the panther’s skin. A few swirls went past its body and then circled back.

  Sam looked at his right hand and saw the matching black swirl. It was a gift the animal had given him, a permanent connection to the Veil—not that it helped him much.

  It had been three weeks—or twenty-one sun arcs as the people of Atlas Crown would say—and Sam was still not very good at using the Veil. He was getting better at sensing Her energy, which he could now do on command, but focusing in and clearing his mind completely was getting to be a problem. Every time he tried to hone in on a task, an explosion of thoughts would pop into his head. It was almost as if every attempt at gripping added an additional layer of clutter in his mind. Thoughts of home, of his family, of the Tembrath Elite, of May…

  Bariv had been patient, but each consecutive session in the cave turned gloomier.

  After today’s particularly frustrating attempts at bonding with the Veil—in which Sam had actually managed to set a practice skin aflame—Sam had gone back to the woods, having a particularly frustrating time trying to bond with the panther.

  “You name him yet?” Familiar music played from behind Sam.

  Sam turned to find his good friend Glissandro Thicket walking across the white grass, horn in hand as always.

  “He probably has a name.” Sam grasped another stalk of snowy grass. “He just won’t tell me.”

  Glissandro smirked. He brought the horn to his lips and let out a long groan of a note. “Not everything can talk, you know.”

  Sam sucked his teeth as he separated the grass from the white vegetable. “Oh, he can talk. He’s just stubborn.”

  “Big surprise.” Glissandro gave Sam a sarcastic grin.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sam lobbed the tuber. The animal ignored it as it landed a few feet away from its body. It looked passively at Sam with its big blue eyes, the exact same color as his own.

  “Nothing,” Glissandro played. “But he didn’t talk to me when I first met him either. He just kind of looked at May funny and she knew where to go.”

  At the mention of May, Sam’s mind flashed back to the event that transpired on top of Dami Damascus. A hard lump formed in his stomach. “Do we have to talk about that? I was kind of hoping to forget how I almost destroyed the whole world, thanks.”

  Glissandro plucked a snowy stalk from the ground. “Why the joker-grass?”

  Sam had been wondering the same thing. Yesterday, Sam had nibbled on one of the tubers in a curious attempt to find out what the fuss was, only to find that it tasted like chalky egg whites. There were plenty of tastier options to be found in the woods of Atlas Crown. “Every day I’ve been following him here. He keeps rolling around in it. A few days ago I plucked one of these potato things out for him and he took it and ran away. Hasn’t come close to me since. I’ve been throwing them to him, but I don’t think it’s getting me anywhere.”

  Glissandro sniffed the tuber at the end of his stalk and wrinkled his nose. “Was it winter yesterday, too?�
�

  “Huh?”

  “The grass.” He planted the tuber back in the ground and patted the white soil back around it. “Was it trying to be winter?”

  “Oh.” Sam remembered how the joker-grass could change appearance in a matter of hours. “No, yesterday it was gold and red and yellow.”

  Glissandro ran his hand across the tips of the grass, his hand coming away with a thin layer of powder. “I’d have liked to have seen that. Autumn has always been my favorite.”

  Sam cocked his head to the side. “Does Atlas Crown even have seasons?”

  Glissandro shrugged and stood back up. “It’s up to the growers. Anyway, I think you should name him. You’re kind of like his mother.”

  “Father,” Sam raised his eyebrows, “if anything.”

  Sam looked over at the animal. While black like a panther, it had the size and girth of a bigger cat, closer to a lion. Its coat stood out in stark contrast against the snowy grass. It walked with grace and pride, but when it sat, it sat like a champion. Once he’d flopped down on the joker-grass, the only thing that got it going was Sam coming closer.

  Sam put on a sly grin. “How does ‘lazy stubborn cat-thing’ sound?”

  “He did save us, you know,” Glissandro played. “If it wasn’t for him…”

  Sam shook his head. “I’m never going to live that whole incident down, am I?”

  Glissandro paused and then played a high trumpet call.

  The feline’s ears perked up. It stood up and ran off into the brush, jumping high over the bushes and out of sight.

  Sam’s eyes went wide with frustration. “What’d you say?”

  Glissandro rubbed a finger along his horn pensively. “It was a greeting call. I use it with some of the animals. It’s quite friendly.”