by Dannika Dark
An entire month had passed since Keystone had returned. Niko still hadn’t woken up from the spell. No talking in his sleep, no turn of the head, not even a sneeze. But Gem wasn’t deterred. She continued her work and held out hope that the Relic would discover a cure.
“Slow down, Rollergirl!” Wyatt shouted from behind her.
Gem ignored him. She always did, but especially now. She had spent weeks translating the mysterious red book with the ouroboros symbol. Exerting all her focus into that project had uncovered mistakes on her part regarding some of the translated text. The more she learned, the more information she absorbed into her Relic DNA.
In the first week, she had barely come out of her study to eat. Viktor expressed concern, and afraid he might pull her from the project, she’d forced herself to take more breaks and socialize with the team. No one had any idea what she was up to. They just assumed she was still traumatized from the kidnapping or working on a special project.
Lost in her daydreams, Gem got too close to the wide staircase before she realized how fast she was going. She tried to brake, but the rubber stopper on her skate skidded against the stone flooring without slowing her momentum. Gem prepared to throw herself on the floor to keep from tumbling down the stairs.
Just before she went down, Christian appeared out of nowhere and caught her around the waist. Gem’s legs kept going until she was horizontal in his arms. His grip was iron, and she squeaked like a mouse when her wheels finally hit the floor again.
“Jaysus, lass. You’ll break your neck one of these days on those infernal contraptions.”
She clutched a handful of his shirt and used it to right herself.
Christian stepped back and clucked his tongue. “And where are you off to in such a hurry?”
Gem caught her breath and tugged her pink shirt away from her body to circulate the air. “Viktor has news about Niko.”
“Does he now?”
Excitement rippled through her. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s got to be good if he’s calling me down to his office. The Relic must have found something.”
“While you’re down there, tell the old man that Raven and I are still waiting for our next assignment. A man can only sit idle for so long.”
She twirled in a circle before slowly rolling to the steps. “Will do!”
After carefully descending the steps with her hands on the rail, Gem reached the first floor and glided to Viktor’s office near the main entryway. It was his favorite room, the one where he often held private meetings and made important phone calls. He also used another room, but that one had a lot of creepy winged statues.
“Messenger girl!” she announced, rolling into the room.
Viktor was facing the unlit fireplace, hands in his pockets. Lanterns on the right side of the room added a warm incandescence.
She skidded to a stop. “Christian says that he and Raven want an assignment.”
Viktor crossed the room and sat at the small table tucked against the right-hand wall. “Close the door.”
After executing his order, she rolled over to the table and sat across from him. While catching her breath, Gem anxiously tapped her blue fingernails against the table as if there were an invisible typewriter below them. When Viktor noticed her nervous energy, she quickly put her hands in her lap.
By the looks of the open bottle of vodka on the table and the empty glass, Viktor must have helped himself prior to her arrival. Gem had always disliked alcohol, and her Creator emphasized that alcohol displayed a person’s inability to cope with emotions, people, and uncomfortable situations. So Gem was a little nervous that Viktor had kicked off their meeting with a drink.
“Miss Rothchild called me this morning with some news. She told me about another Mage who fell under the same spell. The Relics could not determine the cause, but you and I both know.”
Gem nodded. “She mentioned him during our meeting. I hadn’t thought about how many Learners Artemon created, but I guess there are probably others. Did they find a cure? Marilyn said it might be bad circuitry. She also suggested having a Stealer pull his light and then getting an Infuser to put it back in. Did they try it on the other Mage? I didn’t think that you—”
“He is dead.”
She hugged her middle.
Viktor lifted the vodka bottle and filled the glass halfway. After a swallow, he poured another.
“What happened?” she managed.
“With permission from their local Mageri, they tried many things. There are Mage gifts out there beyond comprehension, and countries like Turkey have fewer restrictions on how they are used. None worked. As a last resort, a Stealer took his light so they could put it back in. As soon as his core light left his body, so did his last breath. They tried to revive him, but they could not. They did not dare attempt sealing light to a dead body. I’m afraid if we attempted such a risky procedure on Niko, he will not survive the procedure.”
Her vision shimmered from the tears in her eyes. “That wasn’t the news you were supposed to tell me. I was supposed to come in here, and you were going to give me good news.” Gem’s emotions bubbled to the surface, but she suppressed them as best she could. “Aren’t there more like Niko? There have to be more. Ask them to call everyone they know. Maybe they waited too long after taking that Mage’s light to give it back. Maybe…”
With a grave look, Viktor folded his arms on the table. “I must now make a difficult decision.”
Gem felt the blood escape her head, and she grew dizzy. “What do you mean?”
Viktor’s pale-grey eyes lowered as he stared into his glass. “I think you know what I mean.”
She adamantly shook her head. “We have time to work out this problem. There’s no rush. He’s an immortal.”
“It is cruel to Niko and everything he stood for to keep him this way.”
“Stands for,” Gem said. “You were using past tense. Niko’s not dead.”
“It is inhumane and selfish to keep him in a vegetable state.”
“Vegetative.”
“You know what I mean,” he growled, his hand gripping his glass tightly. “Do you think this is easy for me? With each day that passes, Niko is withering away. Soon, he will be nothing but bones on that bed. Core light keeps a Mage from starving to death as a human would, but for how long? This insanity cannot continue. You and I both know that he would not want this.”
She flattened her palms on the table. “You can’t euthanize him like a sick dog! He’s a member of Keystone, and we took an oath to protect each other. Remember? We shared blood on it.”
Viktor’s lips thinned, and he made a fist. “I want more than anything for him to awaken, but we have meddled with power that is far beyond our understanding. What is life without awareness? He is a wise and loyal man, and the world will feel his loss. But consider this: would you want to lie in your bed for weeks on end? How about months? What about years?”
“I’m not done translating. There are spells in that book, Viktor.”
“Da. One that put him in a dark place from which he cannot return. Who is to say what curse the next one will bring? What if he becomes nothing but bones and you find a way to reverse the spell? What kind of horror show will that be?” Viktor stroked his silvery beard, smoothing out the hairs so they were perfectly aligned. “It is the humane thing to do. Raven can steal his light to make him mortal again. Then we wait for his spirit to leave. The other man died immediately. Painlessly. Do you know what that means? The fates do not want them this way. This life is no longer where they are meant to be.”
Gem wanted to surge from her chair and rant, but rolling around on these confounded skates would only upset her. “Niko deserves more than just four weeks.”
“Four weeks might be an eternity for him. He’s trapped somewhere, Gem. He’s a prisoner in the dream world where he never sleeps. He is alone and might go mad in his own thoughts. Is this what you want for him? Is this what he deserves?”
Gem fel
t a stab in her heart. “No. Of course I don’t want that. I don’t want him to suffer.” She put her head in her hands, listening to the sound of Viktor pouring another glass. “I just want to make it right. I want to fix it.”
“We can make it even more painless,” Viktor offered. “Crush’s companions combed through Cyrus’s apartment and gave me everything of value, including the silver cuff. I know the power it has to suppress gifts and render a person mortal. We can simply put it on him, and Shepherd can administer a painless sedative to…”
“Kill him?” Gem finished for him.
“That is not the word I seek.”
“There’s no right word for what you want to do. It’s murder.”
Viktor pounded his fist on the table and sat back. “And what kind of existence are we giving him? I have toiled over this, but as your leader, the responsibility falls on me. He cannot participate in this life, and he cannot continue his journey to the next. We are selfishly holding him in suspension over a hope that does not exist. We do not understand this magic or the consequences behind using the spells. What if you save Niko and put more people under a curse? I know you have put faith in finding an answer in that book, but you must search your heart and ask if casting another spell is wise. We have great power in our possession, but we are not gods.”
Gem remembered Niko referring to the book as the alpha and omega. She could almost hear his voice, hear him begging her not to hold on. In her heart, she knew Niko wouldn’t have wanted all this, especially if it meant opening the book and using it. The only thing he would have wanted was for her to destroy it.
Viktor knocked back another drink and pushed his empty glass to the side. “You cannot imagine how this pains me. I am supposed to protect my people, but what can I do? How long before what we are doing is cruel punishment? I have to consider how much time has already passed and at what point the true suffering will begin. He has been without food for a month. Shepherd has given him fluids every few days, but that requires me to change his bedding and wash him. Would you strip a man of his dignity?”
Gem shielded her eyes. Viktor’s plan had struck a nerve, and she found it hard to justify. “I’m trying to hear you, but how can you suggest such a thing after everything you’ve told me about how precious life is? How can you throw away his life so soon? Was everything you told me a lie just to get me to work for Keystone?”
“No, little one,” he said in Russian. “You had hope. You just needed someone to show you.”
“You told me to never give up, no matter how bleak things get—that life always changes and presents new opportunities. You have no idea what could happen in three weeks or three years. I won’t give up on him.”
“I’m not giving up. You did what you thought best to save him, and you saved all of us. Cyrus is gone and we are all safe. Maybe this was how it was meant to be. I only want what’s best for Niko. Sometimes we have to put aside our feelings and desires and consider that they are not the ones that count. I have lost sleep for many nights, trying to decide on the right time. He is suffering in physical and spiritual form. We must be ready to let him go. If the fates have a better plan in store for Niko, who are we to hold him here? It is selfish.”
Gem wiped away rogue tears with her hands and met Viktor’s eyes. “Give me one week. That’s all I’m asking for.”
Her lip quivered at what she was agreeing to, but she had a feeling that Viktor would implement his plan regardless of her opinions. He hadn’t invited her here to ask her permission. Niko had dropped weight, and even though they could keep him alive in theory, the thought of him deteriorating was horrifying. He had already grown a thin beard and didn’t look like himself anymore. His ribs were visible, and if she were in his shoes, what would she want Viktor to do? That was when the answer struck her like a hammer. Gem never liked to burden anyone, not even waitresses when they messed up her order. Humans euthanized their pets to end suffering, and they sometimes turned off hospital machines for loved ones who were brain-dead. Was Niko on the other side, begging them to let go? Or did he want to return? It didn’t seem fair to make such an important choice for someone.
“Why did you tell me first? Why not just gather everyone at once and tell us your plans?”
Viktor reached across the table and held her hand. “I know you, little one. You will always feel like you could have done something more, and this will be an unresolved matter. There are burdens we carry in life that are tragic and painful, and we spend centuries dwelling on how we could have made different choices. If you cannot accept that you have done everything you could for him, you will never move forward.”
“That sounds like something Niko would say.”
“Niko was—is—a very wise man. Letting go does not mean giving up. It doesn’t mean you do not care for or love someone. It means you love them more than you love your love for them.”
Gem furrowed her brow.
Viktor gave a mirthless chuckle when he considered his jumbled words. “You know what I mean,” he said, patting her hand before leaning back. “I am not a man of profound words after many glasses of vodka.”
Gem sniffled and stared at the candle. That little dancing flame seemed as fragile as Niko’s life. “One week. Please, Viktor. It’s all I ask.”
“My dear, you do what you can in one week. But promise me that you won’t ask for another day or another week. I will inform the team of my decision so they can use this time to accept Niko’s fate.” He stood up. “You can remain here if you like.”
Gem stayed glued to her seat long after Viktor had left the room. She couldn’t bear to think of the team’s reaction, especially Blue’s. She and Niko were close partners, and Blue was already suffering from her own recent trauma. Even though they didn’t know the cause of Niko’s condition, Gem couldn’t help but feel like everyone secretly blamed her. Had he not left the mission and returned, he’d still be alive and awake.
That feeling ignited her determination to find an answer. One week wasn’t a lot of time, and every minute mattered. She had so much knowledge packed in her head and even more at her fingertips. What had she overlooked? What should she do differently?
Gem finally stood up and went to see the one person who could give her answers.
Niko.
“Viktor said you might be in here.” Blue lingered in Niko’s doorway, her hand still on the doorknob. “Mind if we talk?”
Gem had spent the past hour in Niko’s room, sitting on the edge of the bed while talking to him. She told him about the weather getting warmer, and she told him about Hunter’s recent antics. Gem didn’t leave anything out, including how attentive Switch was as a teacher. He held lessons at scheduled times, and Hunter absorbed it all like a sponge. He’d even learned to write his own name. Nobody minded that he’d written it on his bedroom door. Niko would want to know all the happenings around the house. Shepherd and Wyatt had been working a case, and Claude overheard gossip at his salon that interested Viktor enough to open an investigation. She even told him about Kira’s botched attempt at making tamales. Viktor had messed up translating a recipe that Wyatt had copied from the internet.
The only part she hadn’t gotten to was asking him what to do about his situation. She had been building up to it but couldn’t bring herself to start the conversation, especially knowing that she wouldn’t get an answer.
Blue closed the bedroom door, grabbed a chair from beside the bed, and spun it around. After straddling it, she rested her arms on the back and stared down at her partner. “He looks peaceful. Sometimes I wonder what he’s dreaming.”
Gem stared at him for a long while. “Maybe he’s not dreaming. Maybe he can hear everything and is just catatonic.”
Blue’s thick eyebrows drew together. “That would be a hell worse than limbo. I hope he’s dreaming.”
“Do blind people see in their dreams? Or do they just hear voices?”
Blue twisted her mouth. “I never asked. I think he probably sees energ
y the same way he does when he’s awake.”
Blue’s voice was steady, but her eyes were bloodshot. It must have been a crushing blow for her when Viktor delivered the bad news. Though Gem hadn’t warmed up to the idea of letting Niko go, how long could this continue? If they fed him through a tube, would he have to wear diapers? Would Shepherd eventually insert a catheter? Viktor had taken on the responsibility of giving Niko sponge baths and changing his bedding. She guessed that he didn’t want Kira involved, but how long could Viktor continue the charade? He had enough on his plate without having to assume the role of caretaker. Gem couldn’t bring herself to think of the harsh reality of how this would affect their lives.
“Viktor said you’re doing some research to find a cure for Niko.” Blue pursed her lips and blew a swath of hair away from her blue eyes. When it didn’t cooperate, she tucked it behind her ear, and it tangled with her feather earring. “I hope you find something, Gem. I really do.”
“I’m close.”
“Is that so?”
Not really, Gem thought, but why dash everyone’s hopes?
Gem tilted her head to the side and stared at the Creator’s mark on Niko’s chest. It looked like a symbol that belonged to an ancient language. “Did Niko ever tell you about his past?”
“Some. Well, enough. He mentioned that he had been a slave. Honestly? I didn’t want to know the details. Whatever demons he carried, they haunted him. Ever notice how he never got drunk in public? He could have leaned on me for help if he wanted, but I think Niko was afraid he might start talking about his past. That’s what people do when they drink; they lose their filter. But he sometimes used to drink upstairs in the library late at night. He chose that spot because he knew we wouldn’t have any reason to go in there and he could be alone. He never saw me looking in on him since his chair was turned toward the fire. Sometimes I thought about walking in, but Niko didn’t want us to see that side of him. He would sit there for hours, twirling light in his hand. He’s old, Gem. Real old. Fifteen hundred years of existence through battles, epic journeys, floods, and famine. And he did it all blind. Try to imagine the kind of man it takes to survive all that.”
