Instrument of Peace (Symphony of the Cursed Book 1)

by Rebecca Hall

  “Mitchell... Mitchell,” Hayley repeated when he failed to respond. He shook his head slightly, trying to think or at the very least focus on something that wasn’t the pile of rubble that had buried his brother. “You need to lead the way out,” Hayley instructed. Mitch nodded, even covered in dust from head to foot she looked good, her eyes, so pale they were almost white, shining in the gloom. It seemed almost perverse that he should be so aware of her now when Cullum...

  Her eyes widened, “RUN!”

  Mitch jerked into motion, tugging Adam along behind him as another quake struck. He half ran down the corridor, doing his best to ignore Adam’s cries of pain and his own injured ankle. They would all hurt a lot more if the ceiling came down on them. Thankfully he didn’t trip on the heaving floor though he had to catch himself more than once as he almost fell. He could hear the children and Hayley panting along behind him, guided only by the light of his glowing hand. Maybe she really did deserve that name, Angel Girl, he couldn’t imagine anyone else coming down here for a bunch of children they didn’t know. If it weren’t for Cullum... he pushed that thought away and pounded up the stairs. He would have taken them three at a time if he could have but Adam had a death grip on his hand.

  They made it to the top of the stairs and staggered along the corridor, keeping one eye on the ceiling and the other on the still shaking floor. Surely it would stop soon. A chunk of ceiling fell and he stopped so suddenly that Adam crashed into him with a cry of pain but it was better than being squashed like... no, he needed to keep moving. He edged around the rubble and resumed his staggering run, not noticing when the shaking ceased, not stopping until they were clear of the building and had been engulfed by familiar faces.

  It was only then that he realised Hayley wasn’t behind them.

  CULLUM

  Mitch watched as the Academy’s medical staff bustled about. One of them had fed Adam some sort of Alchemical concoction that had numbed his arm, before they straightened out the bone and gave him something else to help it set. It would still be tender for a few days, and Adam had been fitted with a proper sling, but he no longer had a broken arm. There wasn’t even a cut where the bone had pierced the skin. They’d bandaged Mitch’s ankle as well and ordered him not to run into any more collapsing buildings. As if he would, he’d only done that to find Cullum.

  Someone incredibly brave and stupid and much more successful than he was, had retrieved half the infirmary storeroom and the large marquee that was serving as a makeshift hospital. There were surprisingly few patients. He hadn’t even had to wait to get treatment for the ankle he’d twisted running through a collapsing building like an idiot. Bates and Mindy were here somewhere, they’d given Mindy something to calm her down after he’d told her what he’d found underground. Mitch just felt numb. His baby brother was dead. They hadn’t even been that close but now he was dead and somehow that changed everything.

  The parts of the sky that weren’t blocked off by the marquee were clear and blue and perfect. They were a lie. The world wasn’t perfect, it was dirty and chaotic and perfection was nothing more than a deceitful dream. He shivered as he felt an aura of incredible power flare nearby. He ignored it, all the magic in the world couldn’t bring Cullum back. A second later the power vanished and he heard someone throwing up.

  “How are you feeling Mitchell?” asked the doctor. “Staring at the ceiling is not a response Mitchell.”

  Mitch turned his head to the side and saw that the cot next to his had been filled by Nikola, his golden hair darkened by sweat and his usually-pale face flushed. The doctor was putting a needle in his arm but he still managed to keep one eye on Mitch.

  “My brother is dead, how do you think I feel?” Mitch asked, wishing the doctor would just go away. Surely he had other patients to tend to. Nikola laughed, or perhaps he was coughing. He retched into the bucket the doctor gave him and shook his head when he was offered a glass of water.

  “If you’d drink something I wouldn’t have to stick needles in your arm,” the doctor said as Nikola tried to make himself comfortable despite the drip.

  “I’ve thrown up five times in the last hour, if I drink something it will come up again in the next quake which is entirely too close for my liking.”

  “You know when the quakes are going to strike?” Mitch said, finding the energy to sit up. If he could sense the quakes coming then he could have saved Cullum.

  “No, I just...” he flinched and lay there panting. “Are you sure you have everything you need?” he asked.

  “If we need anything else we’ll get it the old fashioned way,” the doctor replied, “you’re in no shape to be doing any more magic.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Most people’s definition of fine does not include nausea, a severe headache and a slight fever.” Nikola was definitely laughing this time. Mitch couldn’t remember ever hearing Nikola laugh before. He had always seemed so utterly miserable, now he sounded on the edge of hysteria. Maybe the two of them had traded places.

  “You sound like my cousin,” Nikola explained.

  “And do you listen to your cousin?”

  “Of course I do, he’d tie me to the bed if I didn’t,” the laughter in his voice died as did his fleeting smile.

  “Get some rest or I will follow his lead.” The doctor rose to his feet and left.

  “You’ve never mentioned a cousin before,” Mitch said. In fact Nikola had never mentioned any kind of family before. Nikola studied him with over bright grey eyes.

  “Stars curse you,” he finally spat, “I’m not going to be your distraction.”

  Mitch slumped back onto the cot. A distraction. A distraction would be nice right now. Maybe he could get Nikola to talk about something else, though he suspected Nikola had exhausted his allotment of words for the day.

  “What kind of magic do you use?” he asked.

  “Which part of I’m not going to be your distraction did you not understand?” Nikola replied, “I don’t...” he retched, bringing up bile and not much else.

  “Brace yourselves,” a magically amplified voice roared just as the fourth quake struck. Mitch was almost thrown from the cot as the first wave of the quake rushed through the ground and for a second he thought the marquee was going to come down on top of them. Magic coiled around him, rapidly expanding to encompass the entire tent. Cots stopped bouncing up and down, jars stopped shaking and the marquee stopped rattling on its poles. The ground still heaved violently but somehow the marquee and everything it sheltered was protected.

  Mitch stared at the source of the magic; he had known Nikola was powerful, it was the only way he could have transferred to the Academy, but he had never expected this. The ground stopped shaking and the magic vanished as quickly as it came. The doctor rushed over almost as quickly and inspected Nikola.

  “Are you going to rest or do I need to find one of those suppressants you just saved for us?” he asked.

  Nikola shuddered and pressed himself into the cot, his face turning a waxy grey, “I’d settle for a blanket.” Mitch had never taken a magical suppressant but evidently Nikola had.

  “I’d prefer to give you a sedative, you need to rest before you make yourself really sick.”

  “Give me the blanket and I’ll let you,” Nikola said. He was shivering though it had to be almost thirty degrees. The doctor waved one of the nurses over and a minute later she returned with a blanket and a needle. There were some things that science did better than Alchemy. Nikola curled up under the blanket and was soon asleep.

  “What kind of magic does he have?” Mitch asked, genuinely curious now.

  The doctor shrugged, “No one’s entirely sure, I had no idea he could do that.”

  “Belle!” Mindy’s ear-splitting shriek ripped through the air. Mitch and the doctor both flinched, Nikola didn’t even twitch; apparently the doctor had wanted to make sure he stayed asleep.

  Mitch looked at Mindy who was sprinting towards the end of the tent where
Belle and Cullum had just been escorted in by Mr McCalis. Mitch lurched to his feet, almost nosediving before the doctor steadied him, and dashed towards his brother, ignoring the pain in his ankle. Belle clutched a torch in one hand and Cullum in the other. Mitch enveloped Cullum in a bear hug that his brother didn’t return while Mindy inundated her sister with questions.

  “We’re trying to bring Miss Band out now,” Mr McCalis told the doctor, “Miss Lamdon says that her leg was trapped beneath some rubble.”

  The doctor nodded and ordered one of the nurses to prepare while the other succeeded in freeing Belle from Mindy’s grip and examined her.

  Mitch released his brother and took a step back. Under the dust coating him Cullum was dead white and Mitch had never seen anyone’s eyes so wide. It wasn’t like Cullum to be so quiet either and he wouldn’t stop shaking.

  “Cal? Cullum, it’s alright now, you’re safe.”

  Cullum didn’t respond.

  “Let’s get him onto a bed,” the doctor said. Cullum still didn’t react so Mitch was forced to take him by the hand and half drag him down to his cot. A few years ago he would have been able to pick Cullum up, but Cullum wasn’t seven any more so he had to make do with a painfully slow zombie shuffle.

  “He isn’t seriously injured,” the doctor said at last.

  “But he hasn’t said anything,” Mitch said.

  “He’s probably in shock,” the doctor said, “the best thing for him now is rest.” He produced another needle. Surely that would elicit a reaction; Cullum had screamed the house down last time someone tried to inject him with something. It didn’t. Cullum just sat there staring at nothing as the doctor cleaned a patch of arm and plunged the needle in. A minute later, Cullum was asleep.

  #

  It was dark when they were finally allowed inside. They had spent almost eight hours under the blazing sun without any sunscreen. Something that no one realised until they got inside and saw their burnt faces. There had only been one more big quake and as soon as the Academy’s resident earth wizard, Mr Crane, had assured them it was safe to so do they started checking the buildings.

  The infirmary was the first to be cleared and reopened. They’d let Mitch help carry Cullum up to it but refused to let him stay and he’d been forced to sulk back to the field and join Mindy, who was also sulking after being abandoned by Belle in favour of Hayley. It was Hayley who had found her and Cullum trapped in the back of the room after the third quake. They hadn’t been buried after all, just cut off.

  Angel Girl had sent Belle and Cullum out and stayed with Miss Band until the teachers had rescued them, bringing Miss Band to the marquee just as the final quake struck. They had almost been buried when the marquee collapsed on top of them and it seemed like everything that could break or fall over did so. Mitch had concentrated on keeping Cullum in his cot and wondered if the doctor regretted his decision to sedate Nikola. One of the teachers had caught the marquee and held it up until all the lines and pegs could be properly set once more.

  “I see the quake didn’t do much damage,” Bates said, eyeing the clothing scattered across Mitch’s bedroom floor.

  “Guess I got lucky,” Mitch replied. He’d had to close a couple of drawers and pick up the desk chair but so far nothing seemed to be broken or any messier than it had been when he left that morning. Mitch had mastered the art of unpacking but putting things away had always eluded him; why waste time shoving things into drawers when there was a perfectly good floordrobe to use?

  “Want to play cards?”

  “Sure,” Mitch said, picking his way across the room and following Bates next door to his far tidier room. Bates had even made the bed, which Mitch promptly ruined by sitting on it. Bates rummaged through a desk drawer, he hadn’t time to straighten everything, and pulled out a pack of cards. There was a knock at the door followed by Mindy letting herself in. Mitch shuffled across the bed so she could join them.

  “What do you want to play?” Bates asked.

  “Threes,” Mitch said.

  “Presidents,” Mindy said at the same time.

  “Presidents it is then,” Bates said, beginning to deal.

  “I thought you said you would never let a girl come between us,” Mitch said.

  “That was five years ago, I was ten,” Bates said, dealing the last of the cards.

  “What kind of excuse is that?” Mitch said, inspecting his hand. If he didn’t know better he’d think Bates had rigged the deck, his cards were terrible.

  “You’re just jealous because Sam dumped you over the summer,” Bates retorted.

  “It was mutual.”

  His friends laughed and they started to play.

  “I thought you’d be with Belle,” Mitch said, handing his best cards over to Mindy as he had lost the first round.

  “I thought you’d be with Cullum,” she replied. Mitch flinched, he had thought his days of babysitting Cullum were up but he hadn’t enjoyed thinking his brother was dead. It was almost enough to make him envy Bates; his best friend didn’t have any siblings. The teachers had given permission for the children with older siblings to stay together that night. The primary dormitories and classrooms had both been declared unsafe and for now the entire school was staying on the secondary campus, the children sleeping in the gym and auditorium. Bates reached over and squeezed Mindy’s knee gently.

  “Sorry,” she said, “Belle wanted to stay with Hayley and no one could be bothered arguing. She can be someone else’s problem for the night.”

  “Think there’ll be any big aftershocks?” Bates asked. There had been little tremors throughout the afternoon but there hadn’t been any more big quakes.

  “I hope not,” Mitch said, trying to get out of his room in an earthquake would not be fun. Maybe he should shove everything into the drawers after all.

  “I overheard Mr Crane talking,” Mindy said, “he doesn’t think they’ll be any big ones but they were saying something about keeping an eye on Ruapehu.” Great, that was just what they needed, an active volcano.

  AFTERMATH

  His alarm clock went off at 7:15 in the morning. Mitch rolled over and groped across the desk, failed to find it, swore, and groped through the mess covering his floor. He really should have cleaned up a little more last night. He found the infernal thing and hurled it at the opposite wall. It bounced and kept ringing, growing louder by the second. He cursed whichever idiot had thought it was a good idea to give him an indestructible alarm clock for his birthday last year and rolled out of bed, almost knocking himself out on the edge of the desk and getting tangled in his sheets.

  He seized the alarm clock and mashed the buttons until it shut up and he could throw it onto his desk. He heaved himself back onto the bed and had just fallen asleep when the alarm went off again. This time it started at loud and progressed to ear-splitting. He woke up enough to turn it off properly and then there was nothing for it but to pick out some reasonably clean and colour co-ordinated clothes and stagger down the hall to the showers.

  When he made it down to the dining hall twenty minutes later he saw the words ‘all classes are cancelled until further notice’ plastered across the notice board. He groaned; he could have stayed in bed after all. They’d also stuck up a list of out of bounds buildings that seemed to cover the entire primary campus.

  “They could have told us that last night,” Mitch grumbled sitting down next to Mindy. Gwen laughed; she was one of those annoying morning people who got up early to go for a run before breakfast.

  “They probably thought it would be easier to corral us into helping with the clean up or child watching this way,” Bates said between mouthfuls.

  He was probably right, most of the secondary school students were in the dining hall now and the rest would trickle down soon.

  “Well I hope you enjoy cleaning,” Mitch grinned at the flawless Gwen. She took exacting care of her own appearance but she detested cleaning. She had people to do that for her at home. “But I have to visit
Cullum and see how he’s doing after being traumatised yesterday.”

  “Wish I could use that excuse,” Mindy grumbled, “I ran into Belle skipping down the corridor this morning.”

  “Too bad,” Mitch said, finishing the last of his cornflakes and heading for the infirmary.

  “Third bed on the left,” the nurse said when Mitch explained why he was there. As always, most of the beds were empty. The Academy infirmary was far bigger then it needed to be ninety-nine percent of the time but it also doubled as a facility for any magicians who couldn’t go to a normal hospital for some reason. Even now most of the beds were occupied by people who had suffered shock or heatstroke due to the earthquake, not people who had been injured in the earthquake itself.

  The third bed on the left was empty.

  “He’s with the school councillor,” Adam said from the next bed before he could start panicking.

  “Thanks, why’re you still here?” Mitch asked, sitting on his brother’s empty bed. Adam’s arm had been put in a proper sling and cast and an empty bowl sat on the bedside table.

  “I have to talk to the councillor next,” Adam said, swinging his legs backwards and forwards.

  “Good morning Mitchell,” the doctor said, “your brother should be out shortly.” He turned his attention to Adam, “you’ll be able to speak with your parents after your session with the councillor.” The Academy was devising a schedule so that everyone could speak to their families but it hadn’t been released yet, apparently people who’d been injured got priority. He was dreading talking to his parents, he just hoped that no one had told them about Cullum getting trapped.

  “Ah here he is,” the doctor said as Cullum approached. Someone had found him a set of clean clothes though they didn’t look like anything their mother would have bought for him and with the dirt washed away the bruises didn’t look as bad as he had feared.

  “You want to get out of here?” Mitch asked. Cullum nodded. “Can we?” he asked the doctor. The doctor looked over the clipboard at the end of the bed, scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Mitch.