by Ben Reeder
You can’t save them.
“You can’t have them!” I screamed in defiance.
Yes, we can. Alone, you might save one, but you’re too weak to make the hard choice. You’re too weak, you’re going to fail them both.” Desiree struggled to her knees and looked down at Kiya, then got to her feet. The wind screamed around us, forcing Shade and Hoshi to the ground.
“Circumvare! Circumvare!” I yelled as the energy tendril burned across my palm and into Desiree’s body, but she looked at me as if she didn’t feel it. She slowly pulled one of her gloves off and stepped close to me.
“They’re right, you can’t save both of us,” she said as she slowly raised her bare hand. “And you love too fiercely to choose.” She turned her face to look at a place over my shoulder and raised her voice. “You think you’re going to break him by making him choose or fail, you miserable piece of shit? Well, I’m not going to let you!”
“Des, no!” Kiya cried. She clutched at Desiree’s leg as her friend closed the distance between us and put her hand out toward my face.
You can’t stop us. We’ll take who we want.
“To Hell with you! I choose who you get,” she said as her hand caressed my cheek. “I choose me. Save Kiya, Chance. Save Kiya.” She pulled her foot free of Kiya’s grasp, then took one labored step outside the circle, then another. The energy filament was ripped from my hand as she turned to look at me, the wind whipping her hair back from her face for a moment. She smiled at me, and in that moment, I knew what she’d just done. Her body glowed, her soul suddenly visible for a moment, then it was ripped free of her mortal form, whipped away by the strand of unholy energy. She gasped, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp. Time seemed to stretch out as I watched her body fall to the ground. I couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t see anything but my friend in that moment.
Time roared back into place and hammered my senses. My left hand was in agony. “Circumvare!” I roared, and this time, the circle held. The energy strand hammered against the shield and I could still feel the other presence on the far end.
You can’t beat us. Stop interfering, or the next attack will be far more personal.
“It’s already personal,” I snarled. The pain searing across my palm helped me focus on the circle, and I took the agony and channeled it into the my magick. Suddenly, the attack stopped, and the wind died down to a stiff breeze seconds later. Shade’s head came up, and she rolled off of Hoshi as I knelt by Kiya.
“Oh, God, Des,” Kiya sobbed as she stumbled to Desiree’s limp form. “What have you done?”
I didn’t say anything for a moment, but I knew. I’d seen it in when she smiled back at me.
She had let herself be taken because she knew what I’d do. In the end, she knew I was going to come for her. She knew that when I did, I’d bring the wrath of Hell with me.
“What did you do?” Kiya repeated, her voice raw as she knelt over her friend.
“She doomed them all,” I said, my voice sounding flat in my own ears. “Hoshi, go get the Sentinels.”
“They’re already on their way,” he said.
“Chance!” Stewart called out as he ran up from one side. “Are you all o-” he stopped as his feet went still a few feet away. “Oh, no. Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”
I looked over at him as the anger in me seemed to flicker and die out, along with every other emotion. He stood there, his hair sticking out, flecks of green sticking to his pant legs, and it barely seemed to register in my head that I knew who he was. I looked ahead of me, to Jefferson Hall. Only yards away. If we could have made it there, would I have been able to stop the attack? Could I have stopped it at all? The sound of feet pounding up behind me brought me back to the here and now, and I looked over my shoulder to see a trio of Sentinels run up. The lead pulled a pair of spellbinders out as he got closer, and I just held my hands out.
Stewart’s protests were just so much empty noise as the silver manacles closed around my wrist, and Hoshi’s objections died when I shook my head. Even Shade’s gentle touch on my arm couldn’t break through the numb static that was shrouding everything. Even the throbbing in my hand was a distant sensation. I let them lead Shade and me away, with Hoshi and Kiya being escorted by the other Sentinel. More people came, two with a stretcher, and a tiny bit of comfort blossomed for a moment. At least they weren’t going to leave Desiree laying in the grass.
Nothing seemed to matter until I got to the Blockhouse, and found myself facing Sentinel Dearborn.
“How many?” I asked as she opened the spellbinders.
“Six,” she said. Her voice sounded as flat as my emotions, and that alone stirred something. She looked as numb as I felt. “I guess we can count ourselves lucky it wasn’t seven.”
“Were they all…” I started to say, but I wasn’t sure of how to ask the question.
“All of the attacks were the same. Multiple victims, away from thresholds, on terrain where it would have been impossible to draw a strong circle.”
“Are they all … dead?” Shade asked.
“No,” Dearborn said. “So far, all of them are alive. As far as we’ve been able to tell, the attacks were very precise. Not as much psychic damage as previous attacks. As much as I hate to say it, they learn fast. They knew the best time and the best way to strike.”
“This was a show of strength,” Shade said as she looked around the room. My head came up and I followed her gaze. The Sentinels, while still moving with purpose, all seemed to have closed in on themselves. Their backs weren’t as straight, and the all moved a little slower. They had been beaten, and they knew it. So had I.
Shade took a slow breath, then brought her head up. As she did, her shoulders came up, and her back straightened, lending her an inch or two of height. Her chin came up, and even though she was an inch or two shorter than me, it was as though she was looking down at me from a much greater altitude.
“They need you to think they’re stronger than they really are,” she said. “They need you off your game to buy time for whatever’s next.”
“In case you missed it, they pretty much kicked all our asses out there. I’d say they’re exactly as strong as we think they are,” Drummond said, his voice heavy.
“If they were, they wouldn’t have stopped with six, or seven or ten,” Shade said.
It took me a minute for my brain to catch up to her, but when it did, I had a hard time containing my enthusiasm. “The Battle of Britain!” I said. The whole room turned to look at me with varying levels of confusion showing. “After France fell, Hitler’s warlocks couldn’t break the British sea wards, and he still needed the Tunguska Artifact to finish the Grand Summoning. So he tried to make everyone think that Britain was beaten. He basically kept hitting them with his newer air power to make them surrender without having to actually invade! That way he could turn the bulk of his army and his warlocks toward the Russian front and ignore Britain. It’s the same here. They must have hit some kind of limit, or need to do something else!”
“Or both,” Shade said. “If they were as strong as they want you to think, they wouldn’t have stopped. They would have kept on until they had everything they needed, and we’d be watching something a lot worse happen right now.”
“This isn’t bad enough?” one of the Sentinels next to Dearborn asked.
“Evidently not,” Dearborn said. “And I’m not going to give them the chance to show us what worse looks like. Miss Cooper’s right, this was a display of strength. It was meant to demoralize us, to put us off balance and keep us from interfering with something important. Our job is to find it.”
“Ma’am,” another Sentinel said slowly. “With all due respect, she’s just a kid.”
“No, Jaspers,” Dearborn said. “She’s an alpha werewolf. She understands threats and displays of force a lot better than most people. And she’s right. If they were as strong as they want us to believe, then they wouldn’t still be hiding. Drummond, get those patrols b
ack out there. I want every inch of those woods scoured before daybreak. Coordinate with the sprites.”
“Um, can I go?” I asked, holding up my manacled wrists.
“No,” Dearborn said. She pulled out a metal rod and tapped the manacles. They opened with a click, and I felt my skin tingle as magick coursed through me again. “You’re still officially a suspect. Miss Cooper is free to leave, though.”
“Boy, do I know how to show a girl a good time or what?” I asked as I took her in my arms.
“Well, it’s never boring with you,” she said. “But I should go. I’m supposed to be staying at Wanda’s tonight, and if I know my Mom, she’ll call around my normal curfew to make sure I’m actually with Wanda. Besides, I need to make another stop on the way back.”
“Okay,” I said, disappointed that our night was being cut so brutally short. “The carriage driver will take you back. I’m going to miss you.”
She leaned in and kissed me deep, her hand reaching around to grab my butt cheek. “I already miss you,” she said as she took my right hand. We walked to the door, and she slipped her hand around mine and put my palm to her own bottom for a split second, hiding the movement between our bodies. Every other thought left my mind as she let me know exactly what she was wearing under her dress.
We stopped at the door, and she turned to face me again. “Love you, baby” she whispered. “Be careful. Please.”
“I will be,” I whispered back. “And I love you.” We kissed again, then she stepped back, leaving cool night air where her body had been pressed against mine. I watched her disappear into the darkness, and slowly regained the ability for coherent thought. I turned back to the room and recovered more sanity with every step I took toward the table.
“So, how long am I staying with you guys this time?” I asked.
“Long enough to have that left hand taken care of, and for the Headmaster to approve your release.”
“I thought you guys only answered to the Council,” I said.
“It’s an advisory role, but one that the Council wants us to take very seriously.”
“As if having Polter for a boss wasn’t bad enough,” I muttered. Dearborn didn’t answer, and I didn’t blame her. Another Sentinel came over and inspected my hand. There was a red streak across my palm, and my fingers were swollen and pink, but other than that, the damage didn’t seem to be too bad. She pulled a tin from her pouch and smeared a thick, green ointment across my hand, then wrapped my hand from just above my thumb to the tips of my fingers in white gauze.
“Keep this hand immobilized like this for the next two days. That should take care of it. Have the infirmary change it tomorrow afternoon and Monday morning,” the Sentinel medic said. “You might see some streaks under the skin. Those are normal, and they’ll fade by Monday night.” I nodded and wandered over to a bench along one wall while she put her gear back in her pouch. Since I had the bench to myself, I stretched out and tried to relax a little. I wasn’t sure how long the emotional numbness was going to last, but I figured when it wore off, I was going to be hard to get along with.
Somewhere along the way, though, my body decided ‘relax’ meant ‘take a nap.’ The next thing I was aware of was Professor Kenneson’s voice nearby. “It’s telling enough that he didn’t save a more deserving student, like Winthrop, but he only managed to save one of the two,” he was saying quietly. “That practically begs for sympathy while making him look like a hero. The truth is, the boy is barely competent, and we both know his loyalties have never truly shifted. These demon lovers aren’t capable of changing. Once a demon’s thrall, always a demon’s thrall. That’s just reality, and no amount of political correctness is going to change it.”
“I’m not convinced that you’re right,” Caldecott’s voice replied. “The boy has proven himself through an Ordeal and his conduct. He may not be a model student, but he’s certainly not involved in this.” I opened my eyes and slowly turned my head to see them standing a few feet away from me, both in their school blazers. They were facing away from me, and everyone seemed to be giving them a wide berth.
Kenneson sighed and shook his head. “Sir, demons only take thralls from those who already hate the rest of humanity. They reinforce that hate in them from the moment they accept their oaths. They’re fundamentally incapable of integrating with civilized society. Whether this boy is directly involved in this or not, he has an agenda that runs counter to everything we hold dear here. He may not be a part of this plot, but I can assure you, he supports it. If you can’t charge him with something, at the very least, for the sake of our benefactors’ peace of mind, expel him.” I sat up and made my way over to them, letting the sounds of the rest of the room cover my approach. Caldecott had his hand to his brow, his eyes closed and his lips pursed.
“When did you become an expert on what demons teach their slaves?” I asked. Both men started, and Kenneson took a step back.
“Mr. Fortunato,” Caldecott said. “I’m not sure how much you overheard, but you can’t take things out of context here.”
“I heard enough. Don’t worry, it’s nothing I haven’t heard before. I’m used to it. So, can I go now, or are you going to kick me out to make the important people happy?”
“You’re not going to be expelled, son,” Caldecott said with a smile that bordered on sincere. “You’re free to go. And I want to commend you on your efforts last night. Miss Marlin’s parents were very grateful.”
“I can’t take credit for that, sir,” I said. “Desiree stepped out of the circle so I could save Kiya. If you’re going to be saying good things about anyone, then Desiree is your hero.”
“You did your best son,” the headmaster said. “No one can ask more.”
Except my best wasn’t good enough. If there was one thing I was learning from my first semester at the Franklin Academy, it was that there was no A for effort. Only results mattered. So far, I was coming up short in that department.
Chapter 14
~ Make your friendship such that no man regrets knowing you, and your wrath such any man would regret wronging you. ~ Master Ben Franklin, “Wisdom for the Magi”
“Mister Fortunato,” Professor Kenneson said, forcing me to look up from my textbook.
“Yes, Professor Kenneson,” I answered.
“If we Miss Marlin was not able to afford yellow orchid petals for her summoning, what cheaper substitute might she use?” he asked, putting a less than subtle emphasis on the words that reminded everyone in the class that Kiya was poor.
“Sunflower petals would be ideal,” I said. “But any yellow flower petal would do, sir. The color is what is most important.” I thought about telling him that sunflowers should have been the first choice in the formula he gave us, not an alternative. I wanted to point out to him that fire elementals would have found the symbolism more appealing. But I’d grown either wiser or weaker in the three weeks since I’d overheard his conversation with the headmaster, and I kept my mouth shut.
“Correct, but only just. I want one thousand words on what would make sunflowers an adequate substitute on my desk by Wednesday. You can all thank Mr. Fortunato for this little exercise in expanding your minds. Dismissed.” There was a collective moan as we put our books away, but no one seemed ready to take it out on me. I didn’t even catch so much as a dirty look on the way out.
“Mister Fortunato,” Kenneson said as I walked toward the door.
“Yes, Professor?”
“I understand you checked out several books regarding conjuration last week.”
“Yes, sir, I did,” I answered.
“Do you have any of them with you?”
“Yes, sir,” I said as I pulled the two I had from my pack. He took them from me and set them on his desk.
“Let’s see what we have here…Foundations: A History of the Grotto…and Spirit Allies: A Biography of Silas Caldecott, Esq. I believe I’ll be holding on to these. I’ve already suspended your library privileges.” He leaned f
orward as the dull fire of anger fought to rise inside me. “I don’t know what your agenda is, young man, but I will personally see to it that it fails. It’s a foregone conclusion that you will never graduate from this school, so checking out library books relating to my class will do you no good. In your shoes, I would quit sooner rather than later, and save myself the time and embarrassment that overstaying my welcome further would inevitably bring.”
“May I ask you a question, sir?”
“You can ask,” he said with a smug smile.
“Does that ever work? The veiled threats, I mean.”
“Every time,” Kenneson said.
“And it would have a few weeks ago,” I said. “But not today. And especially not now.” The professor stood up and narrowed his eyes at me.
“You’d do well to take me seriously, young man.”
“I’ve been threatened with worse by things a lot scarier than you,” I said, my voice calm. “Most of them are dead. I’m pretty sure you don’t want me to take you that seriously.” I turned and kept going to the door, with Junkyard trotting at my side.
Ren flew up almost as soon as I cleared the entrance to the Grove. “I got what you need,” he said. His wings were gold with excitement and he bobbed in place instead of hovering steadily. “But we only have a couple of hours. If that.”
“I won’t need it for that long,” I told him as I headed for my dorm. “What about Hoshi and Kiya?”
“I just saw them heading into the woods. I figure they’ll be consoling each other for a few hours.”
“At least,” I said. “Two less people to keep a secret. Okay, meet me in the tunnels at eleven. I still some appearances to keep up, and I need to talk to Lucas and Dr. C.”
“Okay,” Ren said. He flew away, then stopped after a few yards and flew back. “I know that this whole situation is bad. If I seem…enthusiastic, it’s because I finally feel useful again. I just wanted you to know that. Because…I’d like to consider myself your friend, if that isn’t too much.”
