The Golden Tower

by Holly Black

  The elemental lizard made a wheezing hiss that might have been laughter. Then he crawled down from the ceiling and with each movement, he got bigger. The gems on his back shone with a fiery light as he grew and grew and grew. By the time he was done, he was larger than Havoc, with a mouth full of gemstone teeth.

  “Uh,” said Call. “Whoa. I didn’t know you could do that. How come I didn’t know you could do that?”

  “In your past is your future,” Warren said. “And in your future, your past.”

  Call sighed, realizing there was no chance that Warren, no matter his size, was going to give him an honest answer. “Can you take us the secret way to where Aar — I mean Alex is being held?”

  “Another secret? Yes, Warren will keep another secret. Warren will take you to the place. But you will owe Warren and someday Warren will ask for something, too.”

  “I thought saving the world was what we did in return,” said Tamara tartly.

  Ignoring her, Warren set off. It was actually easier to follow the larger version of him. He still was able to climb along the ceiling, which made Call a little nervous. He was afraid he was going to get dropped down on.

  They made it through the secret entrance into the elemental prisons, through the chamber of fire and then into the chamber of air, where strange whooshing elementals were enclosed in cages of clear crystal that reminded Call of his time in the Panopticon.

  They spotted Aaron easily. He was sitting on the floor of a small cell.

  Master Rufus was pacing in front of it. “We’re going to the Assembly meeting in a few minutes,” he said. “But first, I want you to tell me what’s going on.”

  Aaron looked at the wall. It was shocking how much he looked like Aaron now to Call, and not Alex. As if the shape of his face had subtly changed. Call knew he’d never answer Master Rufus, not when the answer could get Call and Tamara in trouble.

  “What do you mean, what’s going on?” Call said. “You heard what Anastasia said. Alex was in her thrall before. Now he’s free.”

  Rufus’s expressive eyebrows rose. “And just what are you doing here? A place you’re absolutely not supposed to be. I am sure there’s no mystery to that either.”

  “Uh,” Call said. When Aaron wasn’t in his head, it was a lot harder to come up with the kind of answers that teachers liked.

  Rufus shook his head. “I don’t believe it anyway,” he said flatly. “Controlling someone is powerful magic, the kind that requires constant supervision. Yet Anastasia Tarquin rarely visited the Magisterium.”

  “She was here during our Bronze Year,” said Tamara. “That was when Alex started to go evil.”

  “Even if he were being controlled,” said Rufus, “even if her death freed him, he would still be Alex Strike. But Havoc approached him and treated him as if he were one of you. Someone he knew and loved.”

  In the cage, Aaron shook his head very slightly. Call wished he could still read Aaron’s mind and knew what he was trying to communicate.

  “When you said you wanted to give Alex a second chance, I wondered what you knew,” said Rufus. “I knew you would never forgive Alex for killing Aaron. But you were insistent that he live. And here he is, seemingly unharmed. And seemingly no longer Alex.”

  Tamara swallowed. “What do you mean?” she whispered.

  “I think you know what I mean,” said Rufus. “But I want you to say it. Let me make one thing clear: The Assembly meeting that will determine what happens to Alex is about to start. If you tell me nothing, I will oppose his freedom in every way I can. If you tell me the truth now, I may help you.”

  “Those aren’t great terms,” said Call.

  Master Rufus crossed his arms over his chest. “They’re the only terms you’re going to get.”

  “Fine,” Call said, casting all caution to the winds. “That’s not Alex. That’s Aaron.”

  Aaron looked at the ground. Master Rufus didn’t seem surprised. “Aaron didn’t die on the battlefield.”

  “His soul went into me,” said Call. “I carried him in my head. But we knew he needed a body. And Alex killed Aaron! He murdered him, for no reason! It was only fair he should be the one to give Aaron back a body and a life.”

  “And you knew about this, Tamara?” said Rufus.

  Tamara slipped her hand into Call’s. Even in the tension of the moment, Call noticed the warmth of her fingers; her touch gave him confidence, and he stood a little straighter. “I knew about all of it,” she said. “I agreed to protect Call and Aaron. If Aaron hadn’t taken over Alex’s body, Alex would have kept on fighting until Call was dead — and he would have hurt a lot more people than that. You saw what he did to Graves. Now a good person is alive because of what we did.”

  “Doling out life and death as if you were small gods,” Master Rufus said. “What did I teach you? What is it about my methods that encourages my students to such heights of arrogance?” The last part came out a lot louder than Rufus usually spoke to them, even when they were disappointing him.

  Call was taken aback, but it was Aaron who spoke. “It wasn’t your fault. Or I guess if it is your fault, then it’s because you keep picking Makars.”

  Rufus gave him a long look. “Go on, Mr. Stewart.”

  Aaron sighed. “Chaos magic isn’t like other kinds. I bet there are lots of kids at the Magisterium who’ve used their magic for all kinds of weird stuff. Faking precious gems and selling them, enchanting magical things to make non-magic people hop on one foot or whatever, showing people movies with faked endings. That’s what testing the limits of regular magic gets you. Testing the limits of chaos magic gets you … this.”

  “You sound like yourself, Aaron,” Rufus said. “If I wasn’t so angry, I’d be amazed.”

  “We don’t want more trouble,” Call said. “I didn’t want any of this trouble. I didn’t even want to come to mage school, if you remember.”

  Rufus looked like he was about to object, but Call cut him off. “I wasn’t right about that — but what I’m trying to say is that we’re not going to play with life and death anymore, or anything like that. We’re going to the Collegium and we’re going to keep our heads down.”

  “Very well,” said Master Rufus. “I will think about what you’ve said and I will make my decision at the Assembly meeting.” He waved a hand and the sheer wall keeping Aaron locked away came down. “Even if you can’t tell the whole truth,” he advised Aaron, “speak from the heart.”

  Tamara went over and hugged Aaron tightly. “I’m so glad you’re back,” she said, and Call felt a tremor of familiar jealousy. He pushed it away, just glad to have his friend back in the world.

  Aaron walked over to Call and hugged him just as tightly as he and Tamara had embraced. “Thank you,” Aaron said, his voice soft. “For everything. For my life. You’re my counterweight, my balance. You always will be.”

  “Come along,” said Master Rufus, guiding Aaron to walk in front of him. With a wave of Rufus’s wrists, Aaron was wearing restraints. “Before we’re late for the Assembly meeting.”

  Call and Tamara followed Master Rufus out of the halls of elementals and through a few echoing chambers, until they came to the same large room the Assembly had used before. There was the same table and this time Aaron was placed in the center, so that he stood there, with everyone staring at him. Call remembered what that had felt like.

  “Alex Strike,” Mrs. Rajavi began, and Call could hear the anger in her voice. “You have murdered one of our members in front of us. You are responsible for many more deaths and much disruption. Yet you claim you were under the influence of Anastasia Tarquin. Do you have any proof of that?”

  “She confessed it,” said Aaron. “Everything I did was under her influence.”

  “Do you remember being controlled?” demanded Master North. He was sitting in the place Graves had once sat. “Do you remember what you did?”

  Aaron shook his head. “I don’t have any memory of being a Devoured of chaos,” he said —
which, Call figured, was the truth. “Or of betraying the Magisterium. I’m loyal to the Magisterium, and I hate Master Joseph.” He spoke with a venom that would have been hard to fake.

  “You understand it isn’t easy to believe you,” said Master Milagros, but her voice was gentler. “We all saw you burn the woods around the Magisterium. We saw you torture children and murder Master Rockmaple.”

  “That was Anastasia,” Aaron said. He looked more nervous now, probably because he actually was lying, which always made him uncomfortable. It hadn’t been Anastasia, it had been Alex.

  They’re both dead, now, Call thought at him as hard as he could. For once, he missed the time he’d been able to speak to Aaron silently. You’re not hurting them. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about them, it just matters if you’re okay.

  “Why did she do all of that?” said Master Rufus. His expression was impossible to read. “Why use you to try to bring down the school, the Assembly?”

  “She blamed and hated all mages for the death of her sons,” said Aaron. “I thought at first I would be like a new son to her, but I was just something for her to use. She’d learned a little from Constantine’s books. She was able to hold a small piece of my soul, to control it, like the Order of Disorder controls the animals in the woods. When everyone found out about Aaron, that’s when she acted. She took control of me and made me murder him and take his Makar powers. I don’t remember anything after that.”

  Tamara bumped Call’s shoulder with her own. “That was pretty good,” she whispered. Pretty good lying, she meant.

  Murmurs went around the room. “She did confess,” Call heard someone say, and “But what if he’s not telling the truth? What if they were in on it together?” said someone else.

  “I think it is time to put this to a vote,” said Master North. “All in favor of accepting Alex Strike’s story as true and allowing him back at the Magisterium, raise your hands.”

  Call knew he and Tamara weren’t allowed to vote. Tamara was staring at her parents with mute appeal: after a long moment, both raised their hands. It seemed to Call that a lot of people had raised their hands — but, he saw to his horror, Master Rufus’s hand was down. Aaron stared at his Master, pale with shock.

  “All right,” said Master North, making a note. “Now, everyone in favor of sending Alex Strike to the Panopticon, raise their hands.”

  Just as many hands went up, now Master Milagros’s among them. But Master Rufus still kept his hands flat on the table.

  “Rufus?” said North, pausing with pen in hand.

  “I abstain,” Rufus said in a voice as dry as gravel.

  Master North shrugged. “Then it’s a tie,” he said. “Rufus, you’re going to have to vote. We need a tiebreaker.”

  “He has to,” Tamara whispered. “He has to vote for — for him.”

  She looked at Aaron. Call was barely able to keep his seat. His fingernails were digging into his palms so hard it hurt.

  Master Rufus rose to his feet. “There is one thing that can determine the truth here,” he said. “Rather than a vote cast on intuition alone, I would like to see Alexander Strike and Callum Hunt pass through the Fifth Gate.”

  The room exploded. Master Rufus remained expressionless through it all, like a rock in a churning stream.

  “Call is my apprentice,” said Rufus. “Alex was my assistant. I can tell you they are both ready. The Fifth Gate, the Gate of Gold, is about doing good works in the world, about genuinely intending to do good. If the gate opens for them and allows them through, then they have learned that lesson. Note that Constantine never walked through that gate; he left the school before he could be asked to do so. If Alex can walk through the Gate of Gold, then I believe we should accept that whatever he’s been forced to do by circumstance, he has a pure heart.”

  The mages quieted down, listening to Rufus speak. When he was done, there was a long silence.

  “Very well,” said Master North finally. “I would very much like to see these two tested by the gate. In alchemy, gold is considered to be the purest of metals. The Gate of Gold will test the purity of your hearts. Fail, children, and be locked away forever. There will be no more chances. Go back to your rooms, don your uniforms, and prepare yourselves.”

  “If they’re walking through the gate,” Tamara said, “I am walking with them.”

  “And if you fail, you will share their fate?” asked Master North. Master Rufus did not look pleased.

  “No,” said Mrs. Rajavi, standing. “Of course she won’t. No one doubts that Tamara has been acting on the behalf of the Magisterium and the mage world. Her fate is not in question.”

  Mr. Rajavi stood with his wife. “Leave our daughter out of this.”

  “I broke Call out of prison. I believe in Alex,” Tamara told the mages. “Enough to share their fate. I am walking through the gate with them. And if the gate rejects me, then I don’t deserve anything different from what they get.”

  “Tamara —” Call started. He believed she’d make it through the gate, but he didn’t like even the specter of her and the Panopticon anywhere close together.

  “Very well,” said Master North, cutting Call off. “You three go and prepare. I will see you in the Hall of Graduates.”

  Call’s whole body was trembling with half-released tension as he made his way back to their rooms in the Magisterium. Tamara held his hand. Aaron was heaving shaky breaths, like he was fighting down a panic attack.

  “I think we did it,” Call said finally, as they walked into their rooms. “All we have to do is walk through the final gate. We’ll have completed the Magisterium and avoided prison.”

  Aaron nodded slowly, letting out a long sigh and sitting down on the sofa. “Let’s just hope this Gate of Gold lets us through. And thank you, both of you, for bringing me back to life. That’s a little awkward to say, but it was a lot more awkward to pull off.”

  Tamara hit him on the shoulder. “Welcome back,” she said, and he folded her into a hug. Both of them smiled and Call was grinning, too.

  “How does it feel?” Call asked. “To be all the way back.”

  Aaron turned to him and even though it was Alex’s face, it was easy to see Aaron’s spirit shining through. “You mean not rattling around in your noggin? It feels a little weird, like this body is a suit that doesn’t quite fit yet. But it’s nice and quiet. Living in your head was like living in some kind of maelstrom of self-recrimination, stubbornness, and ridiculous ideas.” He turned to Tamara. “Seriously. You should see the ones he doesn’t say out loud. He was toying with one way of beating Alex that involved chewing gum, paperclips, and —”

  “Okay,” Call said, interrupting as he steered Aaron toward Jasper’s room, where he hoped there would be an extra uniform. “We better go get ready. Can’t keep the mages waiting!”

  He and Tamara both headed to their own rooms to change. Havoc was asleep on Call’s bed, paws in the air. Call felt a pang — who would take care of Havoc if he didn’t make it through the final gate? He rubbed his hand over his wolf’s head, trying not to think about anything else, and went to his wardrobe.

  A clean deep red Gold Year uniform hung there. Call’s previous clothes had been destroyed, covered in mud and blood. At some point their actual graduations had started to become very blurred. This wasn’t the first gate they’d walked through at a different time from the rest of their classmates. It would, however, be the last.

  He changed and went to get Miri, lying on his night table. He strapped her to his belt. He was ready.

  Except not quite. There was a knock on the door and Tamara slipped into his room. She wore her Gold Year uniform, too, her cheeks flushed, her hair coiled up in a braid at the back of her head. Call thought she looked beautiful, and was relieved that for once there was no one in his head to make fun of him. He could just look at Tamara and think about how much he liked her, and even if someday she didn’t like him back, even if that someday was now, as long as she was alway
s his friend, it would be okay.

  “I came because there was something I wanted to tell you,” she said. “Something I couldn’t tell you before.”

  Call was instantly alarmed. “What?”

  “This,” she said, stepping into his arms and kissing him.

  For a second Call was worried he might be too shocked to move, but that turned out not to be a concern. He flung his arms around Tamara and kissed her back, and it felt like flying. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her even closer, and the kiss was incredibly soft and sweet and at the same time like having stars and comets explode in his brain.

  She drew back just a little, and there were tears in her eyes. “There,” she said. “I couldn’t do that while Aaron was in your head.”

  “You mean it?” he said. “Like, you mean that — that you like me? Because I love you, Tamara, and I want to be your boyfriend.”

  So much for it being okay if she was just his friend, Call thought. He must have been temporarily insane. He stared at her anxiously as her eyes narrowed — oh God, she was going to say no. She was going to say she’d only kissed him for closure, or because she felt sorry for him, or because she assumed he was going to die shortly.

  “I love you, too,” she said. “And I really hate the idea of anyone else being your girlfriend, so I guess it had better be me.”

  This time, Call was the one who kissed her, and she went up on her toes to kiss him back. They were still kissing when Havoc started barking, and when they drew apart, giggling, Havoc was scratching at Call’s bedroom door.

  “Ugh, that means someone’s here,” Tamara said, drawing away from Call reluctantly. “I guess we’d better go see if it’s Master Rufus.”

  They went out into the living room, holding hands. But it wasn’t Master Rufus — it was Gwenda and Jasper. Jasper looked at their linked hands and raised his eyebrows. “Could it be love’s young dream?” he inquired.

  “Shut up, Jasper.” Gwenda hit him lightly on the shoulder.

  “Yeah,” Call echoed nonsensically. He could make fun of them for kissing, too, but at that moment, he didn’t feel like making fun of anyone. He was both too happy and too scared, a strange combination.