by Natalie Grey
“Why the hell not?”
“Because he’s dangerous!”
In the clearing, heads turned at the sound of Daiman’s voice, and he pulled me farther into the trees with a frustrated look.
“You’re not in this alone,” he said carefully.
“I know that.”
“Do you?” He shook his head. “It doesn’t seem like it.”
I’m trying to make sure that when the dust settles, you can go back to your old life without too much fuss. I opened my mouth to say the words and couldn’t bring myself to do so.
Saying it felt like it would make it come true.
“I need to know they’re safe,” I said instead. “And the Coimeail said maybe Terric has taken shelter with Philip. Whether we deal with Terric or Philip first, we can’t just ignore this. Okay?”
I thought he might argue, but after a moment, he just nodded. “Okay.”
I looked back at the group out of the corner of my eye. “And if you want to come along as a ladybug or something….”
“No.” He sighed, and took my face in his hands. “They don’t want me there. You were right about Tom, but … you were wrong about me. They’re not going to trust me, Nicky. Ever.” He kissed me softly. “Go. I’ll be here.”
I went, doing my best not to look back at him. A man was lingering in the trees, blond hair glinting in the low light, a ready grin on his lips.
“I’m Lawrence,” he told me. “You ready to go?”
Again, I fought the urge to look back at Daiman. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.”
Chapter 7
Lawrence, it turned out, was a talker. He chattered most of the way to the hideout, throwing out stories and making sly jabs at Daiman.
I let the jabs slide. I hoped Daiman was wrong about them never trusting him, but on the other hand, it was clear even to me that they were never all going to be best friends.
“So how did it happen?” Lawrence asked finally.
“Huh?” I had been zoning out, following him through some dimensions I wasn’t quite sure were even the domhan fior, down underground into passageways that branched into the darkness, but sometimes had the sky above—this world didn’t seem to follow the rules at all.
“How did you….” Lawrence waved his hands. “Wake up?”
“Oh. I, uh….” The story flashed through my head: Sarah, Daiman chasing us down, me trying to run away, the Acadamh, the test … Terric.
Eshe. My throat began to ache and I looked away, blinking rapidly against tears.
“The Acadamh found me and took the blocks off my memory,” I said simply. It was close enough.
Lawrence was gaping, though. “But—but why would they do that?”
“Long story. Look, I….” I sighed. I probably wasn’t making a very good impression, and I didn’t want these people to hate me on top of everything. “Let’s just say it was a surprise to everyone?” I tried, with a smile.
He gave a laugh. “Wow, I hadn’t even thought about that. You know, you’re really not like I expected. I mean, you hear the stories, and—”
“Enough,” Harry’s voice said from somewhere along the tunnel.
Lawrence went bright red. He led me the last few yards in silence, until we emerged into an underground cavern lit with lanterns and hanging orbs of light. I could hear the trickle of water somewhere, and smell growing things.
And there, perched on one of the boulders, was the child Tom had mentioned. Her hair was honey-and-wheat-and-sunshine, falling heavy over her shoulders, and her eyes were the deepest blue I had ever seen.
I thought of the wave Eshe had summoned from the depths of the sea and I shuddered slightly.
This girl was going to be powerful. I could see why the Acadamh wanted her.
I could see why it feared her.
I tore my gaze away and looked around at all of them: Harry, Darcy, Lawrence—still red-faced—and a dozen others whose names I couldn’t remember or had never known.
“So what happened?” I asked them quietly. “When Philip came.”
“We still don’t know how he found us,” Harry said. “But he knew. He knew how many of us there should be, and he knew about….” His gaze strayed unconsciously to the child.
She saw the worry, and her little chin came up.
“I’m not scared.” She sounds fierce, a little fox kit backed into a corner.
“I know you’re not.” I went to hold my hand out to her. “I think you’re very brave. I’m Nicky.”
“Darcy said you came with a Hunter that might take me away.” Her voice was clear and high.
I shot a look at Darcy, who shrugged again. “Was I wrong?”
“In this case, yes.” I looked back to the child. “Listen to me. Daiman would never hurt you or take you away, and I will protect you from any other Hunter, too. Deal?”
She considered this. “A deal means I give you something back.”
“I suppose it does.” I shrugged. “But I can’t think of anything. Just, uh … when you find out who I used to be, don’t do anything like I did, okay?”
There was an awkward silence.
Okay, not my best moment.
Then I realized there was more to it than just me being terrible at talking to kids. “What’d I say?”
“The blond man told me I could be like you,” the girl said. Her voice was horrifyingly clear, echoing off the rocks. “He told me the world didn’t like powerful sorcerers like me and you. He said he did, though, and he’d help teach me if I wanted. He wanted me to come with him.”
I managed to keep my face straight, although I found myself suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to murder Philip then and there.
“Why didn’t you go?” I asked her.
“Harry kept me hidden,” the girl explained. She tilted her head. “And I didn’t like him. He seemed like … like….”
I waited.
“Like he’s never really happy,” the girl said finally. “Like he’s made up all of want. It’s all he knows how to do.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I had never heard such a good description of Philip in my life.
“You’re right,” I told her. I cleared my throat in a bid to stop laughing, but didn’t quite manage it. “He wants to rule the world, and when he does, he still won’t be happy, because he always wants something more than what he has.” I leaned in. “And just between you and me? He doesn’t actually like strong sorcerers.”
“I didn’t think he did.” She frowned. “He looked at me like people look at guns sometimes.”
I wanted to hug her, but I’d never met her before in my life. “He’s never going to get you,” I told her fiercely. “Not ever. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said. She looked about halfway to rolling her eyes, like adults were always getting really intense about this, and she wasn’t quite sure what all the fuss was about.
I straightened up and cleared my throat. “Uh … sorry. So he came for … sorry again, what’s your name?”
“Ari.”
“Ari. Pretty name.” I looked at Harry. “He came for her?”
“No.” Harry shook his head regretfully. “He came for Jo.”
I remembered Darcy saying that all of a sudden. I looked at her, and around at the others.
There was no humor now. They were terrified—and grieving. They didn’t think they would ever see their friend again.
“Who’s Jo?”
“You knew him,” Harry reminded me. “He ran this cell. Uncle Jo, we called him. Little bit ridiculous now that I look like his grandfather, mind, but he was a hundred long before I was a twinkle in my father’s eye.”
I looked away, trying to remember. Uncle Jo. What could I remember?
“You might not remember him, girl, but the fact that you don’t is his doing if it’s anyone’s.” Harry’s voice was soft. “And Philip said that’s why he was there, see. He wanted to know what Jo had ‘done to you.’ He kept saying that: ‘What did you do to her?’”
There was a silence.
“He didn’t hurt you,” Harry said. “I believe that. He didn’t hurt you.”
I hadn’t even been worried about that. I shook my head. I was struggling to breathe all of a sudden.
“I know he didn’t. But….”
Oh, God.
“You said he has Jo now, right?”
They looked at me.
“Yeah,” Darcy said finally. “And I keep telling them….” Her voice trailed off.
“What?” I was going to throw up. I really was.
She bit her lip. “I kept telling them there’d be no way to get him back.” She looked around defiantly at the others. “There wouldn’t. He’s Philip Allaire, he has people with him, you can’t just….” She shook her head, and her face changed. When she looked up, she was so hopeful that I wanted to cry. “But we didn’t have you when I said that. With you … I think we have a shot at taking him down.”
“Are you crazy?” Harry demanded.
The room devolved into yelling a moment later and I held my hands up with a yell.
“Hey!”
Everyone stopped.
I sighed. I was getting tired of interrupting things this way.
“She’s right.” I looked around at them. They were all gaping, even Darcy.
“But….” Lawrence swallowed. “It’s Philip.”
“And I’m Nicola Beaumont.” I threw the words out. “I may be just getting back to my old self, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit here and let him do whatever the hell he wants with this world. He wanted to kill the humans in another plague, and I shut that shit down. Now he wants to take your friends and family to find out what was done to me, and you know why? So he can get the crazy bitch back.”
None of them knew what to say to that.
“Well, he’s not gonna get her,” I said, with a shrug. I held up one hand, and red power sparked and swirled.
Darcy drew in her breath sharply and a few of the others backed away.
“He’s going to get me, instead,” I explained. “And it turns out I’ve picked up a few new tricks since he saw me last time. You see, I’ve been practicing. I’ve been reading up on all the things I used to think were beneath me. Now…? I’ve got blood magic.”
Chapter 8
“You have what?” Daiman demanded a scant few minutes later.
We had trekked our way out of the cavern and the rest of the Monarchists that would accompany us were milling around, trying not to stare too obviously at the Hunter.
The Hunter, of course, had larger concerns. Such as….
“Blood magic.” I held up my hand for him to see the light playing around my hand. “You know, I don’t think I used this much back in the day, and I actually can’t remember why.”
“Are you—you cannot possibly—maybe you didn’t do it because blood magic is banned everywhere!” He turned away, his back rigid. “I cannot believe this,” he said, to no one in particular.
I sighed.
“Yeah, but the part people hate is the one with the ritual sacrifices and the killing innocent people,” I pointed out.
“Yes. That part.” He was looking at me like I was crazy. “That’s the one I mean.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I’m not planning to do that.”
Although the Aztecs had really been onto something with all those—
No, that was the old Nicola talking. Building empires on the blood of innocents was … what was the term for it?
Sociopathic. Right.
Daiman narrowed his eyes at me like he thought I was lying. “So … what are you planning to do?”
“Do you really want to know?” I leaned back against a tree and crossed my arms.
He seriously considered it, which made me feel better.
“Yes,” he said finally.
“All right.” Shoving aside the thought that this was probably just him trying to evaluate whether or not I was sliding back into my old ways, I shrugged my shoulders at him. “Blood magic uses life force, right? Because life force is one of the most powerful forms of energy, and can feed magic?”
He nodded. He didn’t even want to speak to agree with me.
…Not a great sign.
“Well, the way I see it is, the rule is, you get to kill people who are trying to kill you. Right?”
He clearly thought this was a trap of some sort. He nodded, but hesitantly.
“So if someone is trying to kill me—or, say, all those people in there—it would be totally justified to use their life force in my spells to kill them … right?”
Daiman considered this. “So you’d only use it on people you were already fighting. Like … Philip.”
“Exactly like Philip,” I said promptly.
He managed a shadow of a smile. “I guess that’s okay … although I’m sure the Chief Druid would disagree.”
“Why? Seriously, why?”
“Well … I mean, it’s just….” He spread his hands helplessly. “It’s blood magic, Nicky.”
“Yeah, and?” I shook my head at him. “I don’t get it. Killing innocents with magic is always bad, but no one goes around saying, ‘well, I guess that water magic is fine, as long as you don’t drown anyone with it.’”
“It’s not the same,” Daiman said instantly. “What else would you use blood magic for?”
“As I recall, it was you who gave me a big speech about how death was a natural part of life.” I bit the words off. “It was you who told me to get over myself and use my magic. Blood magic is the manipulation of life force, just like death magic. It can kill people. Just like death magic. Just like any magic. But I could just as easily give someone my life force as take theirs, didn’t that ever occur to you?”
From his silence, it was clear that hadn’t actually occurred to him.
I looked away, trying to keep my temper down. “So what is this about, then? Are you worried I’m turning back into my old self?”
Lord knew I was.
“No!” His answer was instant. He met my flat gaze and his shoulders slumped. “Maybe? I don’t know, Nicky. I don’t. I want to say no.”
“But … you can’t.”
“You said … you were working with blood magic.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Can’t you understand the associations that has? Of course I worried.”
“And of course I hoped that, after everything we’ve been through, after every chance I had to turn into that bitch and I didn’t, you might think better of me.” My tone was sharp.
It wasn’t fair. I knew it wasn’t fair. Wasn’t I worried about the same damned thing?
But Daiman had been the one who believed in me, believed that I could be someone new.
It hurt to find out he didn’t anymore.
And as he opened his mouth, I found that the last thing I wanted to hear was an apology.
“So are you coming with us?” I asked, before he could say anything.
He stared at me for a long moment, and I wondered if he was wondering about the word us, or if he was insulted that I had asked him in the first place.
But he surprised me. He came to brush a loose strand of my hair into place, and his eyes were warm.
Close to the heat of him, I shuddered.
“Come away with me.” His voice was low. “Don’t tell them. I won’t tell Tom. Let’s just go, Nicky. I want.…” His thumb traced my lower lip and I could feel his yearning. “To be back on that island,” he finished. He dipped his head, lips hovering near mine. The air between us was electric. “I want it to be just us again.” His voice was rough.
“I want that, too.” Along with a lot of other things I was imagining pretty vividly right about now. My arms wound up around his neck and I bit my lip, smiling to see his eyes darken. My body was on fire where it was pressed up against his.
“Uh—” Lawrence’s voice was awkward, breaking on the word like a teenager’s. “Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude.”
Daiman and I je
rked apart, and I suppressed the urge to tell Lawrence to go jump in a well and die. From the look in Daiman’s eyes, his thinking was running along similar lines.
Lawrence stepped backwards. “I just, uh … Darcy wanted to know if you were ready to go.”
“Yeah. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I stared at him until he left and then I groaned, rubbing at my face with my hands.
When I looked up, I met Daiman’s eyes wearily. “So, you coming?”
He bit his lip and looked away, crossing his arms. “Can’t you let them handle it themselves?” he asked finally.
“They can’t do this on their own!” My annoyance spiked. “God, I know you don’t like them, Daiman, but….”
“I call bullshit.” He was looking back at the clearing, in the direction Lawrence had disappeared.
“No, I’m … pretty sure you don’t like them.”
“Not on that.” He gave me a look. “They can do it themselves, Nicky. They don’t need you.”
“Excuse me, they do. They can’t take on Philip on their own.”
“They could if they wanted to. You took out most of the people he worked with, and they’ve got 8 sorcerers they could use, easy. They have more than a fighting shot to take him on.” He looked back at me. “They don’t need you,” he repeated. “You’re either a crutch to them, or….”
“Or what?” I asked dangerously.
He considered before answering.
“Has it occurred to you that they now have something Philip really, really wants?” he asked finally.
“What? They’re trying to get Jo back.” And then it hit me: “You mean me?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. They didn’t have anything they could trade to get their guy back … until now. And now, they have the exact thing Philip was looking for when he took that guy to start with.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s absolutely true,” Daiman said dangerously. “The question is whether or not they’ve realized it.”
Gorgeous trees and a carpet of moss flickered around us, and I realized he’d taken us into the domhan fior.
He didn’t trust them enough even to air his suspicions in the same world as them.
