Rampant

by Diana Peterfreund

  Of course, it didn’t help that Ursula and Melissende had started squabbling about Melissende’s archery stance. I couldn’t really make out much of the German, but judging by body language the younger girl had a problem with the way her older sister was placing her feet. Since Ursula had been the one hitting all her marks of late, it would probably behoove Melissende to listen, but I doubted that would happen. Ursula, in between moving her rooks and pawns, was calling out suggestions to her sister, and Melissende was shouting back something I didn’t need to understand the language to know was shut up.

  I laid my head against the armrest of the couch and tried to concentrate on Rosamund’s music—the clear, frosty high notes and rumbling lows—but I couldn’t get the image of that painting out of my head. Diana stared, stern and triumphant, from the backs of my eyelids. The men in the bushes awaited their doom. The hunter beckoned, smug and knowing. I lay here, trapped under the earth in a cage of unicorn bones.

  Couldn’t Rosamund play something else? I couldn’t take it anymore. The longer I listened, the more the music seemed to blend with the way the walls rang. That awful chord echoed in my skull, even sharper now, as if the addition of Phil’s horn had added to the clamor.

  I opened my eyes and looked at the wall. How strange was that? I’d noticed nothing last month, when they added Valerija’s horn. I stood and walked over to the wall, cringing slightly as I got closer. I traced my hand over femurs and jawbones, ribs, and pelvises, each resounding with the same vibration. I closed my fingers around the kirin’s horn with Phil’s name. All the same. I let my fingers trail further, and closed my hand over Valerija’s trophy.

  And felt nothing. Dead space. I lifted it from the spikes on the wall and examined it, turning it over in my hands. This one made no noise, no vibrations, either on the wall or off. I returned to Phil’s horn and weighed them both in my hands.

  Odd. I looked up and caught Valerija staring at me. I waved and quickly replaced both horns. Why were they different? Was there some process the old hunters had performed on the horns that Gordian might have inadvertently stumbled upon? If only I knew what kind of tests they were doing.

  Was I the only one who noticed it? Phil had unhooked Bonegrinder from the chain that attached her to the masonry hook in the wall, and they had departed for points unknown. I longed to kidnap the horn to show her, but Valerija was still watching me, suspicion flaring in her eyes. Fine, have your stupid horn. There would be time later.

  Instead, I wandered up to the courtyard to find Phil grooming Bonegrinder. The zhi was currently in her equivalent of heaven, pressed close to Phil’s side, while tiny tufts of unicorn coat fell from the brush and drifted across the courtyard like little white tumbleweeds. I sat down nearby.

  “So,” Phil said brightly, “I’m an official unicorn hunter now.” She cocked her head. “Feels…pretty much the same.” She resumed brushing the zhi. “Which I guess is good. That I don’t feel like a murderer or anything.”

  “How much longer do you think you’ll stay here?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You don’t like hunting, you don’t like the philosophy, you don’t like sharing your room with Valerija…”

  “How long will you stay?”

  “I’m out of here the moment I turn eighteen,” I said with surety. “Or sooner if I can get your dad to sue for custody.”

  “Yeah, but you’d ruin all the fun for both me and your mom. My dad would flip if he knew either of us was here,” Phil said. She pulled hard at a snarl in Bonegrinder’s coat, and the zhi bleated in protest. “I don’t hate everything about hunting. I could do without the part where we actually kill the unicorns. But this little monster isn’t so bad. And, to be honest, I like when we chase them. I like how that feels.”

  “You like the powers, then.”

  “You like them, too, Astrid. Don’t lie.”

  I couldn’t deny that. Since arriving at the Cloisters, it had almost become second nature to sense the unicorns. In the park with Giovanni, I wasn’t sure what he was making me feel and what were my hunter powers springing to life. I loved that snapping-band feeling, right as everything slowed down. I loved how strong I felt whenever I chased a unicorn. I even loved how Bonegrinder bowed before me if I gave her half a chance. I could, however, live without attracting the monsters to me. I could live without the vibrations in the chapter house walls.

  I changed tactics. “I bet Seth wouldn’t like to see you flirting with Neil like you do.”

  Phil tossed her head and looked at Bonegrinder. “Seth and I aren’t all that serious.”

  I practically choked on my own tongue. No denial? No I wasn’t flirting with Neil? I’d been half joking before, but now I was in shock.

  “Does Seth know that?” I asked, even as I was wondering what Neil knew.

  Now she looked at me. “Does Giovanni think this is serious?” she asked. “Can it be, if you’re going to stay in the Order for another two years?”

  “He’s going back to college in a few months, anyway.”

  “Well, so’s Seth.”

  “And you?” I pressed.

  Bonegrinder squirmed as Phil started tugging on a particularly stubborn knot. The zhi nipped at Phil’s fingertips, and she swatted the unicorn’s muzzle. “No bite!”

  Bonegrinder’s limpid blue eyes were filled with contrition and adoration, and Phil melted. “Monster,” she said with a chuckle. The zhi’s coat glistened in the sunlight. No wonder people had been fascinated with these creatures for millennia. They were so beautiful and so terrible all at once. Such an amazing source of strength but capable of such horror.

  Like the virgin hunters themselves.

  “Phil,” I said, “I noticed something downstairs on the Wall of First Kills.” I told her briefly about Valerija’s alicorn.

  “Weird,” Phil said. “Let’s go check it out.” She brushed zhi hair off her pant legs, looped Bonegrinder’s chain around a column, and accompanied me inside and back down the stairs.

  We stopped dead on the threshold. Grace had Ilesha pinned to the weapon wall, holding a giant sword pointed at her throat, while Melissende was backing Ursula ever closer to the alicorn throne.

  “Stop it!” Phil shouted.

  “Or what?” Grace said. “You’ll tattle to Neil? I’m trembling.” Actually, she was, for she could barely keep the sword upright. Ilesha whimpered. I swallowed hard and started to edge toward the two of them.

  “Go on,” Melissende coaxed the younger girl in a voice as cold as ice. “You aren’t afraid to just sit down, are you? Aren’t you as brave and strong as your friend Ilesha over there? Don’t you both have dozens of trophies on that wall? Just do it. Stop being a baby.” She took another step forward. Ursula flinched, stumbled back, and put her hand on the armrest, then yelped and leaped away as if burned.

  “Guess you are a baby,” Melissende said. In English, no less. Humiliating her sister in front of everyone, showing off for Grace.

  “Get away from them,” Phil said, rounding the couch and closing in on Melissende.

  Melissende didn’t even turn around. “Why? She’s my sister, and she thinks she’s hot stuff as a hunter. So I asked her to prove it.”

  Ilesha began to slide down the wall as Grace’s arms wavered. The sword was clearly too big for her. It was practically taller than she was. Grace seemed to be having trouble holding it aloft, and lowered the point to the floor as she turned her attention to Phil. I sidled over to the Wall of First Kills and grabbed the nearest alicorn off its stand.

  In the corner, Rosamund wrung her hands, flummoxed, but there was no time to be freaked out. Grace had pulled a sword on another girl. If she took another step toward my cousin, I’d pull the alicorn on her.

  Valerija stared impassively at the scene, apparently too strung out to even notice what was going on. Dorcas and Zelda were nowhere to be seen.

  “Get away now,” Phil repeated.

  “Make me,” Melissende said.
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  Phil grabbed her arm and swung her away, placing herself between the two Holtz girls. “Don’t get near her again, or you’ll deal with me.”

  “Tough words from the don’s pet. How sweet.” Melissende rubbed her arm. Phil glared at her.

  But I was still watching Grace, who’d narrowed her focus to Phil’s back. The tip of the sword dragged on the ground. “Phil,” I warned.

  Grace looked at me and gave a tiny shake of her head. Apparently, I was no threat. My fist tightened around the horn, but I knew I’d never be able to use it. Grace was right.

  Phil turned toward Grace. “Mighty big sword for a little thing like you,” she said softly. “Really think you can wield it?”

  Grace sneered. “It’s the claymore of Clothilde Llewelyn.” She struggled to lift it again. “Do you think you can?”

  Phil shook her head. “Don’t you get it? This isn’t a competition.”

  Grace laughed. “Of course it’s not. After all, you’re winning.” She took a deep breath and began to lift the claymore. My hesitation shattered.

  I rushed at her and slammed my foot down on the blade. The hilt was torn from Grace’s grasp and clattered against the stones. Grace staggered backward, and even Valerija seemed to shake out of her stupor as the metallic din echoed from wall to wall, caught and magnified by every bone in the chamber. All the girls stared.

  “If this was Clothilde’s,” I said, “I doubt she’d want it aimed at one of her own.”

  16

  WHEREIN ASTRID REVELS IN THE NIGHT

  “YOU’RE A BADASS, CUZ,” Phil said, when we were standing in the chapter house alone. Somewhere upstairs, Melissende and Grace were being lectured at, threatened with calls to their parents, made to feel the full weight of their “irresponsible and violent actions.” Ilesha and Ursula had been hustled to their room by a shaken Rosamund and were probably being cosseted and fed bonbons this very moment. Cory, no doubt, was listening at Neil’s door. And I couldn’t calm down. My foot still tingled from hitting the sword. I can’t believe I did that.

  “I’m not.” I rubbed one ankle against the other and cast a glance at the claymore, now lying still and silent on the stones. “I was just trying to stop her.” A badass move would have been actually using the alicorn I’d been holding in my hands. So I kicked a sword. Big whoop.

  “Well, you stopped her!” Phil said. “Stopped everyone. I think Neil even heard you upstairs.”

  I shrugged. That would be another miracle to chalk up to the acoustic anomalies of the chapter house. I restored the alicorn in its rightful spot on the Wall of First Kills, wincing slightly as the vibrations grew stronger. The bones on the wall seemed to ripple in place, and I turned away before I felt sick.

  “Let’s put this room in order and then go back to the courtyard.” I needed sunshine, and air untainted by the scent of fire and flood.

  “You got it.” Phil gave a little giggle and righted a chair. “After all, I wouldn’t want to get on your bad side.”

  “Why do you keep saying stuff like that?”

  She shook her head and started reassembling the chess set. The pieces had scattered during the altercation. “Because you should have seen your face, Astrid. Like Judgment Day had come and you were an avenging angel about to sock Grace Bo into hell. I was even scared of you for a second.”

  “I don’t know what came over me.”

  “I do. They were threatening the youngsters. Llewelyns don’t roll with that.”

  I dismissed her with a sniff. “So then you’re tough, too.”

  “You bet I am.” She flicked a lock of hair behind her shoulder. “Watch.” She tiptoed over to the throne of bones and poised her finger over the armrest.

  “Don’t do it,” I said, smiling.

  Her hand descended in slow motion, while Phil kept up a running commentary. “Will she do it? Can she?”

  “Is she a moron?” I asked.

  “Closer…clooooooser…”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “ZAP!” Phil shouted.

  I flinched, and Phil started laughing. “Yeah, we’re both real tough.”

  I shook my head and went to pick up the sword. It was much heavier than I’d expected. How had Grace held it aloft at all? I tried to lift the sword entirely off the ground twice before I managed to get it horizontal. Straight up, with the point against the stone, the hilt of the claymore rested right below my chin. I had newfound respect for good old Clothilde, if she could wield this monster sword on a regular basis.

  “Hey, Phil, come help me hang this up.” She bounded up the steps to the weapons wall, and together we wrestled the claymore back into its stand.

  “Still pretty sharp,” Phil said, examining the edge of the blade. “You have to admit, seeing this stuff is unbelievably cool.”

  I cast my eyes over the other weapons stored here. “I think I prefer our newfangled bows, with their state-of-the-art sights and levels and release aids.”

  “True.” Phil twanged one of the bowstrings on the wall, which set off a whole new wave of vibrations from the bones opposite. “Lino did say that finger releases could throw off our aim.”

  Below the claymore hung a small, highly curved dagger made from a single piece of carved alicorn. It was a curious piece, different from almost every other weapon on the wall.

  I looked back at the Wall of First Kills. There was no trophy for Clothilde Llewelyn. Could this alicorn knife be from her first kill? I lifted it from the wall, surprised that the hilt felt so warm in my palm.

  “I say we get out of here tonight,” Phil said, still running her fingers over the weaponry.

  What would such a small dagger be good for? In my fist, the blade curved like a scythe. Maybe skinning a dead unicorn? “You mean call the guys?”

  Phil shrugged. “Eh. Not unless you want to see Jo.” Phil had taken to calling Giovanni that, in imitation of Seth. “But maybe we can convince Neil that we all need a night out. Clear the air, so to speak.”

  I took a couple of practice swipes with the blade. “Like a Cloisters field trip?”

  “Sure! I think we’re all going a little stir crazy in here. Melissende just feels left out. She didn’t get to go with us to Tuscany; she’s stuck being a bitch while the rest of us are fabulous all the time. That’s got to be depressing.”

  I laughed, then switched hands. “But all those hunters in the same place are bound to draw in some unicorns.” I shuddered, remembering the scene in the park. Why had the unicorns fought each other? Why were they there to start with? Had they been coming for us when they started to fight? Had it been a battle for rights—who would get to eat the unarmed hunters? And if so, why did the surviving unicorn retreat? I stared down at the alicorn blade. There were no markings on the hilt or pommel to indicate the name of the hunter to whom it had belonged. I wondered if, like the sword it hung beside, it belonged to Clothilde. I liked the way it felt in my hands.

  “I think we’ll be fine if we stay in populated areas. No dark, quiet make-out spots. No unicorn is going to come at us in the middle of a piazza.” Phil put the arrow she was examining back on the wall. “Come on. Let’s go ask Neil.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure this whole scheme didn’t revolve around Phil having a night on the town with Neil, but I didn’t know how to ask her that, so I simply followed as she headed up the stairs toward his office. It wasn’t until I passed the tableau of Clothilde and Bucephalus that I realized I still held the dagger in my hands. I hid it beneath Clothilde’s billowing skirts, then caught up with my cousin.

  Neil showed zero interest in squiring a bunch of teenage girls around Rome’s night spots, and Cory worried that an evening out now would be tantamount to rewarding bad behavior.

  “Well then how about just Ilesha and Ursula?” Phil asked. “Cheer them up?”

  “Then who will police the others?” He shook his head. “I’m the don here. I have to have some rules.”

  Yes, his supervision had been marvelously effective
down in the chapter house.

  “Besides, they’re children, Pippa. Not coeds. I can’t allow these girls to go running about the streets of Rome at will.”

  I snorted. They all looked at me. “Please,” I said. “Valerija was a homeless addict before she showed up on our doorstep. I doubt she needs protection from you.”

  “What about Ilesha and Dorcas and Ursula?” Neil asked. “What about Grace?” He shook his head. “Parents put me in charge of their children. I have to do what I think is best for them.”

  “So it’s okay to endanger their lives by sending them off to chase man-eating unicorns, but you can’t risk letting them go out for gelato?” Phil asked. “It may be time to rethink your system.”

  “It’s not safe,” he said. “Every time you and your cousin go wandering around the city, you get attacked by a kirin.”

  Phil threw her hands in the air. “And left to their own devices, these girls almost sliced each other up with swords right here in the Cloisters! What’s more dangerous? I’m talking about a movie or something. Get some fresh air.”

  “Things have been a bit slow around here,” Neil admitted, “what with the loss of our trainer. I suppose boredom is part of the reason the girls have taken to picking on one another.”

  “We still haven’t gotten a new assignment from Gordian?” Cory asked.

  “No,” Neil said, his tone clipped and frustrated. “It’s aggravating, to say the least. We need more equipment, more training. The hunters have been doing phenomenally well by themselves, but we had an agreement with Gordian, and it’s not keeping its end of the bargain. I don’t know how far Cory and my resources will stretch without the company’s assistance.”

  “Marten Jaeger’s a jerk,” Phil said.

  “Don’t say that,” Cory said. “He’s made it all possible. He’s responsible for everything we’re doing.”

  “‘Everything we’re doing’ amounts to driving an endangered species back into extinction so he can get his hands on a drug that will make him richer than he already is,” Phil replied. “If he really wanted to do some good, how about finding a sustainable way to deal with the unicorn problem? He’s as bad as those poachers hunting tigers in Asia.” Phil stopped. “Actually, we’re as bad as them. We’re poachers.”