Instrument of Chaos

by Rebecca Hall

“He prefers boys.”

  “I suppose you know his favourite colour as well.”

  “Green,” Mitch replied, looking around the entry hall and trying to remember the way to Tartarus. He hadn’t paid that much attention last time.

  “And you wonder why people think that you’re in a relationship.”

  Mitch shook his head and stalked over to Sieg’s office, raising one hand to knock on the door only to freeze when it opened and a young damphir stepped out. Karen had been Rana’s assistant and Sieg had concluded that she was the best person to take over with a little more training.

  “Master Siegfried asked that I escort you to Tartarus,” she said, stepping out into the entry hall and closing the door behind her.

  “Tartarus?” Miriama asked.

  “Where else would we keep a criminal?” Karen asked blandly.

  “She’s seventeen,” Miriama said.

  “Old enough to understand what she was doing then,” Karen replied.

  Mitch was beginning to suspect that between the two women was not a good place to be standing. He didn’t even know what kinds of magic they specialised in. Fortunately, nothing more was said until they reached Tartarus. Miriama relaxed when she saw the bright lights and sterile white walls instead of a Victorian dungeon.

  Sieg and Amelie awaited them in a small conference room, watching Aroha through an enchanted mirror as she sobbed on a narrow bed.

  “What did you do to her?” Miriama asked. Sieg cocked his head at the table. It was littered with crime scene photos and Mitch looked away hastily.

  “That’s it?” Miriama asked, looking away almost as quickly as Mitch had.

  Amelie rolled her eyes. “We do have rules you know. We don’t want to give you clowns any more reason to hunt us down.”

  “Her magic has been suppressed and she has been informed of the conditions of her release,” Sieg said. “Your parents have already been contacted and will arrive in the morning.”

  Miriama looked at the pictures again and swallowed. “Are they alright?”

  Sieg shrugged, “They’re alive. The hospital hasn’t disclosed any more than that yet. I believe this is what she’s crying over,” he sifted through the pictures until he unearthed one of a young boy playing with a toy train and threw it down next to a picture of the same boy with his leg at an awkward angle.

  “Can you do anything for him?”

  “Use magic on a human?” Amelie asked sharply. “Covering up the storm will be hard enough.”

  “But–”

  “If you want something done do it yourself,” Amelie said. “Maybe start by teaching your sister to be a better person.”

  Miriama gaped at her and Mitch slunk to the back of the room, glad that he no longer had to participate and wondering why Sieg wasn’t taking the lead. Maybe he thought that it would go better if someone human looking took the lead though that still left Karen.

  “What does any of this have to do with you anyway?”

  “Amelie was a witness,” Siegfried said, “and a representative of the Seelie Court.”

  The ground rocked and Mitch swore. Miriama braced herself on the table as the pictures fluttered down around her feet. Even Sieg and Amelie staggered. In the mirror Mitch could see Aroha’s eyes widen in fear as she slithered to the ground. The bed looked pretty sturdy but imprisoned underground was not where you wanted to be during a quake.

  Mitch shuddered, remembering the last quake that he’d been in, and hoped that Nikola was ok. At least he didn’t have any demons to worry about this time.

  “I think that was our cue to leave,” Amelie said when the shaking stopped.

  “See them out Karen,” Sieg said, “we have other matters to discuss.” A chair slid out for Miriama and the photos floated up and settled in an orderly stack, the smiling boy on the top.

  #

  Mitch went straight to Nikola’s room when he got home.

  “Are you ok?” he asked, softly.

  “I will be when my head stops pounding,” Nikola said, his voice hoarse, raising his head from the pillow.

  “Do you want dinner?” Mitch asked. It looked like Nikola had cooked everything already and just put it in the warming drawer when he went out. It also looked as if he hadn’t eaten anything himself. Nikola shook his head.

  “You sure?” Mitch asked, crouching down beside him. There were flecks of blood around his nose and more on the tissues in the bin and his breath smelled of toothpaste.

  “I’m sure,” Nikola croaked.

  “What about tea?” Mitch asked, reaching out to brush his hair from his face.

  “Tea would be nice.”

  “Ok,” Mitch smiled, slowly relaxing after Tartarus and the quake. “Do you want anything else?”

  Nikola shook his head.

  “You make for a pretty good distraction you know,” Mitch said, remembering a long ago conversation.

  Nikola smiled, “So do you.”

  “I’ll make your tea,” Mitch said. “Try not to fall asleep before I get back.”

  Birthday Surprises

  Mitch clutched his coffee in one hand. It was almost enough to convince him that Monday mornings weren’t some kind of torture. Almost. He didn’t think that anything would convince Nikola of that.

  “You should have stayed home,” Mitch said, patting him on the back.

  “It’s just a cough,” Nikola said between sips of hot chocolate.

  “If you carry on like this you’ll be sick on your birthday,” Mitch said. Not that Nikola had been not-sick since the first three days of the semester. The Host and the Fallen seemed quite determined to fight the Eternity War over Dunedin and Nikola was slowly crashing under the strain.

  He opened the door to the lecture room, holding it open for Nikola before following him in. The only good thing about eight am lectures was that they could just go straight in instead of waiting for the earlier one to finish.

  “I’m always sick on my birthday,” Nikola said, his voice smoother now. “Why break with tradition?”

  “It’s a sucky tradition,” Mitch replied, sliding into a seat. “Birthdays are meant to be enjoyed.”

  “That takes too much energy,” Nikola replied, leaning against his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, he’d spent more of the night coughing than sleeping.

  “Well maybe if you stayed in bed and rested…” Mitch said, patting him on the back when he started coughing again.

  “I can’t skip all of my classes.”

  Mitch snorted, Nikola was damned close to skipping all his classes already.

  The door opened and Miriama came in. Mitch suddenly wished that he’d decided to skip class. He hadn’t seen Miriama since he left her in Tartarus, she’d been absent for the rest of the week. She didn’t appear to share his reservations, instead she walked around and sat on his other side.

  “Hi,” Mitch said awkwardly.

  “Hi.”

  “So… er… how’s things?” he asked. For a fraction of a second he considered apologising but for what? He hadn’t done anything and ‘I’m sorry’ wouldn’t magically fix things. If it did he would have spent all of five minutes as a vampire.

  “Aroha is back in Auckland and grounded,” Miriama said. “Mum’s already rabbiting on about how this is a great opportunity, we don’t usually have a lot of contact with… with people like you,” she finished in a whisper. Mitch shrugged, dislodging Nikola who glared at him before settling back into place.

  “I’m Miriama,” she said, awkwardly extending a hand. Mitch belatedly realised that they’d never actually met properly.

  “He doesn’t shake,” Mitch said. Particularly not with everyone using hand sanitiser. He was miserable enough without a rash.

  “Does he talk?”

  “Not if he can avoid it,” Nikola croaked.

  “You can can’t you? You didn’t have any problems with it the other day.”

  “I had plenty of problems with it,” Nikola snapped and doubled over cough
ing.

  “Leave him alone,” Mitch said, rubbing Nikola on the back. “Are you sure you want to stay?”

  Their lecturer was fiddling with the computer but no one expected to see Nikola in class anymore and he sounded dreadful.

  “I might as well, I’m here now.” He settled against Mitch’s shoulder once more, copying down the equations that they were working through without even looking at the page. His notes were still neater than Mitch’s.

  “You’re staying home for the rest of the day,” Mitch said. Miriama made a muffled sound that might have been a laugh and Mitch pointedly ignored her. He had equations to solve.

  The image on the projector flickered and vanished and their lecturer stopped, trying to coax the system into cooperation. If the blue screen that appeared was any indication she wasn’t having much luck.

  “So what do you specialise in?” Mitch asked. He didn’t want to discuss Nikola any further and he could hardly pretend to be working while their lecturer was on the phone to tech support.

  “I’m a cryomancer,” he said when she stared at him blankly.

  Miriama blinked. “Do you share that with everyone you meet?”

  “Why not?” Mitch asked.

  Miriama shook her head. “We never talked about it at home. You do realise that you’re playing with his hair again right?”

  Mitch made a non-committal noise; he hadn’t.

  “I’m an empath,” she said after a moment. “I know, I know, it’s pretty useless but what can you do?”

  “Our old principal was an empath,” Mitch said, recalling how he’d last seen her.

  “Mitch?” Nikola croaked.

  “It’s nothing,” Mitch said, squeezing his shoulder and checking on the lecturer. She was hovering while tech support tried to get everything working.

  “You know you can study something else right?” Mitch said. “There are a few things close enough to empathy that you should be able to make the switch.” Technically she could switch to anything she wanted but something close to her existing speciality would be easier.

  “Like what?”

  “Err…” He’d liked the equations that they used to work out the specialities, not the long lists of tables detailing them.

  “Perception,” Nikola said. He cleared his throat and continued. “Psychometry. Talking to animals.” He coughed.

  “I think I still have the reference book around somewhere,” Mitch said. “I’ll bring it tomorrow.”

  “Thanks,” Miriama said. She glanced at the front of the room and then stared at her book. “I er… I thought it was impossible to turn people like us.”

  Mitch winced. “Freak accident,” he said, thumbing his ring. “Stay away from angels and you’ll be fine.” Not that anyone really could stay away from them. He wished that they’d go fight over Mars or something.

  “Angels are real?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And demons?”

  Nikola jerked, his heart racing, and coughed.

  “Yes,” Mitch growled, turning to hug Nikola. “What is this, twenty questions?”

  “No, I have a lot more questions than that.”

  Mitch sighed. He suspected that the speciality reference book wouldn’t be the only one he lent her in the near future. She’d probably wants the ones on magical theory as well, and Teratology though Mitch was discovering that they weren’t as accurate as he’d first thought.

  “Just promise that you won’t try and stake me in the middle of the night,” Mitch said.

  “Would that work?”

  “It would make me scream like a little girl,” Mitch said. The Twisted Curse would probably step in to ensure that he survived to sire the next generation of curse bearers and Amelie would take a dim view of anyone trying to stake her boyfriend.

  “No staking then,” Miriama said. “And no more questions.”

  Mitch rolled his eyes; he knew she was only letting him off the hook because the projector was up and running again.

  #

  Mitch hesitated in the doorway. For what felt like the first time in forever Nikola was sleeping soundly. Mitch was reluctant to wake him but he’d timed this carefully for when Amelie was out and he wouldn’t get a second chance. Besides, if he didn’t wake Nikola now the yelling when Amelie got home certainly would.

  He padded across the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Nikola’s birthday present cradled in one arm. He shook Nikola gently with his free hand, deciding that he’d leave if Nikola was too deeply asleep for that to wake him. Of course by leave he meant get his books and study in Nikola’s room until he did wake but that never disturbed him.

  “Mmm, Mitch?” Nikola blinked up at him, his eyes ringed by dark circles.

  “Happy birthday,” Mitch said, setting the squirming armful down on the bed.

  “A puppy,” Nikola cried. He sat up and pulled the black and white border collie into his arms, laughing when it licked his sleeve. It made him sneeze but he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to put it down.

  “Does it have a name?”

  “Check the collar,” Mitch said, indicating the green ribbon loosely tied around its neck, he hadn’t wanted to tie it too tightly.

  “Fluffball,” Nikola laughed and sneezed again.

  “Sorry Fluffball,” Mitch said, taking the puppy and setting it down by Nikola’s feet. Nikola gave him puppy eyes.

  “You’re already sick,” Mitch said.

  “I know,” Nikola leaned forward and hugged him before nodding to the other side of the bed.

  “If Amelie asks I’ve got no idea where you got her from,” Mitch said, climbing over Nikola. Amelie had been against a present that Nikola was allergic to but Nikola loved dogs and he’d been miserable all semester.

  “I don’t think she’ll believe me,” Nikola said.

  “Probably not,” Mitch sighed. The puppy pounced on his foot, growling as it wrestled with his sock.

  “Thank you,” Nikola said, leaning into him.

  “Don’t mention it,” Mitch said, wrapping an arm around him. “Where have you been keeping Fluffball I’s stuff?”

  “It’s all under the bed.” Nikola sneezed and blew his nose.

  “Sorry,” Mitch said. “I should have waited until you were feeling better.” Or followed the example set by his family and not got him a dog.

  “Christmas then,” Nikola said. “I think the sock’s winning.”

  “So do I,” Mitch said as the puppy’s teeth slipped free and it pounced again.

  “You’re getting freakishly good at that,” Nikola said when Mitch handed him a tissue just before he sneezed.

  “You’re giving me too much practice,” Mitch said. He could read Nikola like an open book. “You’re not really getting better are you?” Mitch asked. Some days were better than others but on the rare occasion that Nikola did make it to a lecture it left him utterly exhausted.

  “Not really,” Nikola slumped and then sat up when it made him cough. “Mitch, do you think I should stay?”

  “What?” Mitch’s grip on Nikola’s arm tightened and he forced himself to relax. Nikola was his best friend, he wouldn’t leave him.

  “Gawain and Morrigan think that I should drop out and go home,” Nikola said. “One of my lecturers has suggested it as well.” He coughed. “They’re right aren’t they?”

  Mitch gulped. “Yeah,” he forced himself to say. “I think they are.”

  “I don’t want to leave you,” Nikola said, his eyes filling.

  “I don’t want you to leave me either,” Mitch said. “But I’m ok now. I think I’ve got this university thing sorted out.” The girlfriend thing still needed work but that might actually be easier without Nikola. “And even if I didn’t… You need to be healthy more than I need a degree in maths.”

  “But–” Nikola buried his face in Mitch’s shoulder and cried.

  “No buts,” Mitch said, holding him tightly. “You’re sick and you’re not coping with anything. You don’t even care
about the degree. You just came here to stay with me and Amelie.” He took a deep breath. “Go home Nikola. Look after yourself.” Gawain and Morrigan would insist on it, they were a lot better at it than he was too.

  “And when you are better you can come back,” Mitch said. “No university. You can just… I don’t know. Something that won’t make you sick.”

  Nikola laughed, his sobs subsiding.

  “Bake,” Nikola said. “Teach myself to read dead languages.” He took a deep breath and sat back, closing his eyes as he breathed in and out. Mitch grimaced. Nikola had been struggling to meditate lately and the impressions were becoming more active.

  “Do you really think I should?” Nikola asked, opening his eyes.

  “I think it’s the best thing for you,” Mitch said. “I’ll visit as often as I can.” Maybe he could even learn how to open the way into Faerie himself once they were past the Spring equinox.

  “Ok,” Nikola said. “Ok.”

  Mitch made himself smile. It might be the right thing to do but he was going to miss Nikola.

  #

  Mitch’s mouth started watering as soon as he stepped through the front door. A second later Fluffball barrelled into him and he had to shuffle across the floor to avoid kicking the excitable puppy.

  “Welcome home,” Nikola said from the kitchen where he was writing happy birthday on a large, ornately decorated cake.

  “You sound better,” Mitch said, putting his bag on the table out of chewing range and creeping towards the kitchen in the hopes that there would be some baking he could swipe.

  “Gawain’s here,” Nikola beamed at him and nodded towards a platter of fresh cookies. “He figured that since he had to come and get me he might as well come for Amelie’s birthday as well.”

  “And you looked so pathetic that he healed you,” Mitch said, taking a cookie and biting into it. He wanted one of the muffins as well but Nikola always scolded him if he took one before they were decorated, even though still warm muffins were the best.

  “I think he got tired of my coughing.” Nikola yawned. “Too bad he can’t make me less tired.”

  “At least you’ll be able to sleep now,” Mitch said, his hand creeping towards another cookie. “Have you told Amelie that you’re leaving yet?”