The Fading Dusk

by Melissa Giorgio

  “A chance you wanted me to give away, just like that!” I snapped my fingers. “You covered me in spells, making me ill, making me think I’d lost my mind! And then you expected me to call Jaegger and give him my life in exchange for yours, no questions asked?” I demanded. “That didn’t bother you, Bantheir? Hurting me never bothered you? Killing me never bothered you?”

  “No.” There was no hesitation, no regret in his voice, only pity. Pity that I believed my life to be as important as his.

  I pushed away from Jaegger, thoroughly disgusted. “You know what I wish, Bantheir?” Fury pulsed through me, making me scream my darkest wishes. “I wish you were the one who had died horribly, instead of Vernen!”

  “Done,” Jaegger said, rising to his feet in one solid movement.

  Startled, I turned to him. “What?” For a moment my anger had blinded me, and I’d forgotten the dragon was there, hanging on to our every word. Shards of ice shot through my veins when I realized what I had unintentionally said, and I covered my mouth with a gasp.

  The wish. The sacrifice.

  I had just made my wish.

  “No!” Bantheir shrieked, backing away until his body pressed against the edge of the bubble. “Stay away from me, dragon!”

  Jaegger paid him no heed.

  “Irina, tell him to stop! Don’t let him kill me, please, Irina! I raised you, I saved you, I gave you a life, please, Irina—”

  What had I said?

  What had I done?

  Jaegger allowed me no time to take my words back. His claw flashed out in a black blur, trapping Bantheir beneath his sharp talons. The magician was blubbering, pleading for his life, but Jaegger ignored him. He opened his mouth wide and I turned away, squeezing my eyes shut as I covered my ears. But I could still hear Bantheir’s anguished screams until they broke off suddenly. Sobbing, I wrapped my arms around my stomach, rocking back and forth, hating myself, hating myself, hating myself…

  “Irina, wake up! Please, wake up!”

  I came to with a loud gasp, launching my body forward but finding I couldn’t move. Leonid’s concerned face hovered over me, his arms wound tightly around my body. He stared at me for a heartbeat before crushing me to his chest, one hand tangling in my hair while the other circled around my back. “Irina.”

  “L-Leonid.”

  “It’s over,” he murmured in my ear. “Bantheir’s gone.”

  The awful reality of what I’d done came crashing back to me, and I burst into tears, clinging to Leonid, afraid to ever let go. I closed my eyes and burrowed my head against his shoulder, my sore body heaving with giant sobs.

  I had killed Bantheir. As furious as I’d been, I’d never meant to destroy his life with a careless sentence. I hadn’t truly wished for him to die, not in such a gruesome way.

  Memories of his screams echoed in my ears. Stomach heaving, I pushed Leonid away, retching. He rubbed my back with one hand, the other holding my hair away from my face. When I finished, I swallowed, my mouth filled with a sour taste and my throat aching. Leonid wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling my back against his chest.

  A shadow covered me. I raised my head to see Parnaby watching. “Is he dead?” he asked, his voice flat and dry. His face was blank, impassive.

  Leonid’s grip on me tightened. “Sir, I don’t think—”

  “Is he dead?” Parnaby’s voice rose in volume, drowning out Leonid’s.

  “Yes.” I shut my eyes, feeling the finality in that one, single word.

  “How did you do it?”

  “Parn!” Elyse scolded from across the courtyard where she tended to Aden.

  I opened my eyes to see Parnaby looking cross. “I need to know! This is important! Yes, she’s clearly gone through a rough time, but we all have! If he’s not truly dead, if the threat hasn’t been eliminated, then we need to prepare ourselves for another strike!”

  “He’s dead,” I answered, my voice hollow. “Jaegger killed him.” My empty stomach cramped and I grabbed for Leonid desperately.

  He tucked my head against his chest, running his fingers through my hair with slow, gentle strokes. Against my ear, his heart was beating madly. Slumped over, I concentrated on the steady thumping noise, breathing in and out steadily as I fought to control my raging stomach.

  Even as his face remained emotionless, Parnaby’s brown eyes gleamed, showing a morbid fascination. “How did he kill him?”

  “Parn!” Elyse cried again.

  His face flashed with irritation. “Elyse, I just told you—”

  “No, look.” Her hushed voice was trembling. Leonid stiffened as Parnaby let out a string of curses.

  Gripping Leonid’s shoulder, I pulled myself upright and glanced past him to see what had everyone’s attention.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  Vernen had just walked into the courtyard.

  LEONID LET OUT AN UNCHARACTERISTIC whimper as he stared at his best friend. Vernen had taken a few shaky steps into the courtyard before pausing to stare at us uncertainly. For a long moment, no one spoke or moved. Then Vernen raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun and said, “Leon?”

  Leonid inhaled sharply, his grip on me so tight it was almost painful. His entire body was shaking—even his teeth were chattering.

  Vernen took another step toward us. “What’s going on? I remember the fight at the prison and then…” He trailed off, looking lost.

  “Go to him,” I said, finally finding my voice. I put a hand on Leonid’s chest and he jumped, as if just remembering I was there. His grip loosened slightly as his eyes darted from me to Vernen and back again. “Leonid, go. He needs you.”

  “But how is this possible?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

  “I’ll tell you later—go!”

  The moment he let go, I regretted it, but I knew Vernen needed Leonid more than I did just then. At first, Leonid took a few halting steps toward his friend, but then he picked up speed, racing toward Vernen and knocking him down in a tackle.

  With my thoughtless proclamation, I’d saved Vernen. I had saved Vernen. Vernen, who was good and true and who had died protecting me.

  I rose on shaky feet, my thigh throbbing as I put weight on my bad leg. My left hand, too, hurt, and I looked down to see pieces of glass embedded in my skin. No, not glass—the Essence had shattered. I curled my hand into a fist, ignoring the sharp jabs of pain as blood began dripping from the cuts. I wondered if the missing piece had returned to Jaegger’s shoulder, making him whole again. I hoped so. The world was better off without pieces of the Essence to tempt and ruin humans like Bantheir. Everyone deserves a chance to live, I thought, watching Leonid and Vernen hug fiercely. But no one has the right to say their life is more important than another’s.

  I had made the right choice. I had.

  I had. I had. I had.

  “Lark, come here!” Leonid called, gesturing wildly. His face was alit with happiness, his laughter echoing off the buildings. I’d never seen him so happy before. I did that, I thought with growing wonder.

  Before I could join them, a hand snaked around my wrist, squeezing tight. I stifled a cry as I stared into Parnaby’s face, red with fury.

  “Irina,” he snarled, “what did you do?”

  Tired of being bullied, I wrenched my arm out of his ironclad grip. “Do you really want to do this now, in front of everyone?”

  “Lark, come on!” Leonid’s voice was still carefree; he hadn’t noticed Parnaby’s anger yet.

  The president and I stared at one another, each daring the other to back down first. My heart was pounding out of control, but I refused to be the one who pulled away. I’d made my choice, and now I had to live with it.

  It was right. I was right.

  Parnaby blinked first. Lowering his outstretched arm, he hissed, “This isn’t over, Irina.”

  He was right. It would never be over.

  My bones were weary as we followed Parnaby through the straight, evenly-spaced streets of Rise. At first, I
thought we would return to Leonid’s family home, but Parnaby’s winding, confusing path took us much farther into Rise. The buildings were older, taller, and intimidating as they towered over us, their black windows like soulless eyes. It was eerily quiet, as if all the animals had fled the moment Bantheir had started working his magic in the center of Dusk. At the accidental thought of my master, my stomach twisted and I unconsciously reached out for Leonid.

  But he was lagging behind with Vernen, talking animatedly as the shorter soldier stared straight ahead, sometimes nodding. Vernen’s steps had slowed considerably the longer we walked, and I wondered if he felt as fatigued as I did. I could only imagine what dying and then coming back to life thanks to the careless words of an ignorant girl did to both your body and soul.

  I wondered if he hated me for it.

  I saw Vernen’s blue eyes flick to Leonid and he smiled softly, just a slight curve of his lips, and it was enough to make Leonid beam in a way he almost never did. Whatever my misgivings, whatever Parnaby would do to me for bringing Vernen back, it was worth it.

  I would go to my grave thinking that.

  Aden, who had been limping along in front of me, stumbled to a halt, and I barely avoided crashing into his tall frame. A hand reached out and steadied me; Leonid pulled me close and I gratefully leaned against him, the wound on my thigh throbbing again. Ahead of us, Parnaby stood in front of a long wall, hand outstretched as if he were searching for something amongst the bricks and concrete.

  “Where is he taking us?” I murmured to Leonid, not quite sure why I was speaking softly. But Parnaby had a look of great concentration on his face, and I was afraid he would snap at me to be quiet if he heard my question.

  Before Leonid could answer, Parnaby made a low noise in the back of his throat and the brick wall shimmered, like the way the air did on a hot summer day. But I felt no heat, just a deep sense of foreboding as part of the wall vanished, leaving behind a tunnel of darkness. Magic again. I squeezed my fists, forgetting, for a moment, the cut the Essence had made in my left palm. I hissed in pain and Leonid’s grip on my shoulder tightened.

  “It’s a tunnel to the president’s mansion,” he replied to my earlier question in an equally quiet voice.

  Parnaby and Elyse ducked through first, followed by Aden. I hesitated at the entranceway, cold air tinged with a musty smell assaulting my face. “Why?”

  Parnaby grunted, conveying his impatience. “Because we can’t be seen traipsing in and out of the mansion whenever we want. Now get inside before someone sees you! I can’t hold this spell forever!”

  Leonid nudged me forward gently, and I only narrowly avoided tripping over myself, my heart pounding, as I let the darkness swallow me. I turned around to watch Vernen walk in, his face showing no concern or interest or anything. Parnaby was staring at Vernen too, eyes narrowed in concentration. Shuddering, I looked away and allowed Leonid to lead me farther down the sloping tunnel, following Elyse, who held a lit torch. The light created strange shadows on the narrow tunnel walls, and I took a deep, shuddering breath, imagining the walls suddenly caving in on us.

  Everyone was quiet as we walked, the only sounds our footsteps against the dirt floor. Parnaby wormed his way past us, joining Elyse at the front. The tunnel twisted and turned, and sometimes even forked off into two pathways, but Parnaby and Elyse never faltered, never paused to remember which way to go. I wondered how many times all of them, excluding Aden and myself, had traveled through the tunnel.

  I was wilting with exhaustion when the ground below me began steadily climbing up and I let out a sigh of relief. Parnaby waved his hands again and another door materialized in the wall. We followed him into a darkly lit room, Elyse last, joining us once she’d extinguished the torch in a bucket of water resting next to the doorway.

  We stood in a large sitting room furnished with dusty-looking sofas and end tables. An unlit fireplace took up almost the entire wall to my left. In front of me, large windows were heavily draped with thick, dark-colored drapes. The air was close and stifling; already I was sweating, my clothes sticking to me uncomfortably. Parnaby disappeared, Elyse close behind him, and Leonid led me to one of the sofas. Exhausted, I flopped down and a cloud of dust burst up into the air around me like snow, causing me to sneeze.

  Leonid sat down next to me, twining our fingers together, and I rested my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. I was so tired and wanted nothing more than sleep…

  Moments—or maybe hours—later, Leonid murmured my name and my eyes fluttered open. Lamps had been lit, but the room was still sinister and unwelcoming. Parnaby and Elyse had rejoined us, a tray of refreshments laid out on the table before us. Leonid handed me a cup—it was always tea with him—and I took a big drink, washing away the dryness that had settled in my mouth from the dust.

  “Now that we’re all awake,” Parnaby started, his gaze sliding toward Aden, who lay slumped in a chair, eyes barely open. “Well, mostly awake, we can discuss what happened today.”

  “What is there to discuss?” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Parnaby’s gaze homed in on me, and I regretted speaking.

  I steeled myself, waiting for Parnaby to continue what he’d started earlier in the courtyard. But he sent me a hard look, one that promised we would speak later, privately, and I gulped. Parnaby turned to Vernen, who sat on the other side of the sofa, next to Leonid, and asked, “Why don’t you tell us what happened, Vernen?”

  Vernen blinked slowly. “What happened?”

  “Yes, when you died, and then came back. Can you describe it?”

  “When I… died?” Vernen’s words were slow, monotone, nothing like the Vernen I was used to.

  “Yes, Bantheir killed you. Surely you remember that,” Parnaby said.

  Next to me, Leonid had gone very, very still. His hands were curled into tightly-clenched fists, slightly shaking as they rested atop his thighs. I touched him lightly on his arm, but his full attention was focused on Vernen, waiting for his friend to answer.

  But Vernen didn’t answer. His face was still wearing that same blank expression, and now it extended to his unblinking eyes, which had a glassy look to them. You could tell from his unwavering stare that wherever Vernen was, it wasn’t with us.

  I sucked in a breath, scared of what I’d done to him.

  Had I somehow broken Vernen with my wish?

  “Vernen?” Parnaby prodded, leaning forward to wave a hand in front of the soldier’s face. Leonid stiffened, eyes narrowing dangerously. “Are you listening? Can you even hear me?” Parnaby let his hand fall. “Perhaps he’s broken.”

  In a flash of sudden movement, Leonid jumped to his feet, startling me. “He’s not broken!” Two spots of red blossomed on his cheeks as his eyes flashed madly. “There’s nothing wrong with him, do you hear me?”

  Parnaby, the exact opposite of Leonid, calmly settled back in his seat and folded his hands in his lap. “Then why isn’t he answering my questions? Look at him, Leonid.” He gestured toward Vernen. “Even now, he’s still not reacting to any of this, not even your hissy fit.”

  Leonid made a sudden movement forward, and for a moment I thought he was going to punch Parnaby in the face. Instead, he snarled, “I’d like to see how well you’d do, if you’d just died and come back to life. Leave him alone, Parnaby.” He cast another look at Vernen and something in Leonid’s face tightened, as if he were in pain. Without another word, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang.

  We sat there in a stunned silence.

  Vernen blinked and asked, “What happened?” His head swiveled to the left, focusing on the empty spot next to him. “Where’s Leon?”

  “Interesting,” Parnaby murmured, tapping a finger against his chin as he studied Vernen like he was a science experiment. “Very interesting…”

  I shivered as a gleam of curiosity sparkled in Parnaby’s eyes.

  I STOOD OUTSIDE PARNABY’S OFFICE, shifting m
y weight from one foot to the other. The room I stood in was dark and warm, and two soldiers flanked the door, staring at me as I steeled my resolve. Even after three days of living in Parnaby’s odd mansion in Rise, I still found myself out of place and uncomfortable. Having my friends by my side had helped, but today I stood alone, waiting to speak with Parnaby.

  I’d managed to avoid him by sticking to Leonid’s side, which he hadn’t minded at all, but the moment Leonid had left the mansion to run an errand, Parnaby had seized upon the chance of meeting with me alone. I was certain he’d sent Leonid on that errand just so he could talk to me alone. And there was no question in my mind as to what he wanted to talk about. The rage Parnaby had shown in the courtyard when he realized what I’d done had been impossible to forget.

  I sighed, wiping at my sweaty brow with my shirtsleeve. There was no point in avoiding this; sooner or later, I had to go in. Rapping on the door with my knuckles, I waited. Parnaby called, “Enter.” I did, swallowing hard.

  Parnaby sat at his desk, leaning back in his chair and looking as if he were bored out of his mind. Sitting across from him was Aden, his skin pale and sweaty. Behind the desk, the walls were lined with bookshelves; each shelf was crammed with book upon book. There were no windows, and the air was stifling.

  “Aden was just leaving,” Parnaby said. The blond stumbled to his feet, shot me a small smile that looked more like a grimace, and dashed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I watched him go, my mouth hanging open. “Oh, don’t look like that.” Parnaby rolled his eyes. “I was nice to the boy.”

  I barely restrained myself from snorting. Parnaby had a slightly different definition of the word “nice” than a normal human did.

  “Aden knows too much, and I needed to remind him of the fact,” he continued, gesturing for me to sit. I did, reluctantly. “He declared his loyalty, etcetera etcetera…” Parnaby waved his hands vaguely. “And now I have another spy on my hands. Not a very promising one, but Leonid proclaims he is very eager to—how did he word it? Oh yes, ‘whip him into shape.’”