School of Swords and Serpents Boxset: Books 1 - 3 (Hollow Core, Eclipse Core, Chaos Core)

by Gage Lee

  I winced at that. Elder Ariana hadn’t exactly endeared herself to me during our first meeting, but the news of her death still stung. That thought reminded me we weren’t out of the woods, yet. First had warned me something else was coming. Something to do with the Empyrean Flame’s Grand Design.

  “Is it safe to talk here?” I asked Sanrin. “There’s something you need to know.”

  Elder Sanrin flicked his fingers, and a script around the room’s ceiling ignited in a burst of jinsei.

  “It is, now,” he said.

  “When I was on the other side, with the Locust Court,” I said, “the Lost’s leader told me something else is coming. Something big.”

  “Did they give you any other information?” Sanrin asked, his eyes burrowing into mine.

  “I don’t know,” I said, dejected. “She said to watch the Design, whatever that means.”

  Sanrin looked down at his steepled fingers for a long moment. As powerful as he was, he seemed smaller to me. His shoulders were slumped, and his head was bowed in concentration. He looked old, tired.

  “We’ll figure it out,” he said at last. “There’s still the matter of the heretics to deal with.”

  “I’m ready,” I said. I was dangerous, to myself and others, but this was a lifeline for me. I could do real work for the Shadow Phoenixes.

  “I’m not so sure we should do that,” Sanrin said. “You’re not the same as you were before you went into that portal, Jace.”

  “I’m stronger,” I said. “I’m whole, for the first time. You have no idea what I can do.”

  “I do not.” The Elder leaned forward. “Do you?”

  “Not exactly,” I admitted.

  “And you can’t hide what you’ve become any longer,” he said.

  “The veil’s broken.”

  “Yes,” Sanrin said. “You won’t be able to hide from the core detectors. And, let me say, you are quite unique.”

  “Kind of makes it hard to be a secret agent,” I sighed.

  Sanrin chuckled and patted my shoulder. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the edge of my bed. When he pinched the bridge of his nose, he reminded me of my mother after a particularly hard day of work. Worn thin by her labor, so exhausted all she wanted to do was lie back and sleep. And knowing it wasn’t yet time to rest.

  “No, you’re fairly distinctive with that core,” he said. “And those eyes. Contacts might do something for them, though I’m not sure that’s terribly feasible as a long-term solution. You’re a rather remarkable person these days, Jace.”

  The thought of being stuck with those black eyes for the rest of my life was far from thrilling.

  I wrestled with telling Sanrin the whole story, though. I didn’t know everything about the contingency plan the New Moon sympathizers had put in place. If I was wrong, I’d look awfully foolish.

  But, if I was right, we could save a lot of kids from feeling miserable and growing up confused. We might even be able to stop the Lost from coming back.

  “I’m not unique,” I said. “I think there are others like me.”

  That got Sanrin’s attention. He pursed his lips and stroked his beard.

  “That is an interesting piece of news,” he said at last. “Care to elaborate?”

  “The Eclipse Warriors,” I started. “Not all the Empyreals agreed that they should be murdered.”

  “It was a very contentious decision,” the elder said. “The five sages and the Council of Dragons eventually decided they were too dangerous to keep around. I imagine from your earlier statement that you agree with that sentiment.”

  “Yes,” I said. “And no. I mean, the Eclipse Warriors are incredibly dangerous. The things they can do are straight out of a nightmare. But if there’s something dangerous headed our way, couldn’t we use more people like me?”

  “That is a question that borders on the heretical, young man,” Sanrin said. “The Empyrean Flame agreed with the destruction of our weapon at the end of the Utter War. Why would it have done that if we would need them in the future?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But we still need to find anyone else like me. The Lost, if there are any of them left, can use them to return. Like they did with me.”

  Sanrin and I chewed on the problem until he leaned forward with his head in his hands.

  “I’m too tired to make sense of this,” Sanrin said. “If there are others like you, how would we find them?”

  “I think I know someone who could help,” I said.

  The Farewell

  THERE WERE STILL A few days of school left when the doctors got tired of my whining and released me from the Shadow Phoenix hospital. Other than a headache that seemed destined to stick around for a while, I’d mostly recovered. I had some wicked new scars on my arms from my fights with assassins and the Lost and an ugly patch of discolored skin on my stomach that no amount of jinsei had been able to fix. None of the doctors knew what had caused that damage, and I wasn’t going to tell them the truth.

  That was the mark I’d earned when I fused my core. I was sort of glad it was still there. It reminded me that I was more than I thought I’d ever be. And of the price I’d paid for that power.

  “Look who it is,” Clem said as I joined them in the breakfast line. “If it isn’t the hero of Kyoto.”

  “As if.” I chuckled. “The freak of Kyoto is more like it.”

  Abi glanced at me, then shook his head. He put one arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to his side.

  “All heroes change,” he said. “They are marked by their experiences. You are no different, my friend. You’ve seen things most cannot even imagine. Your eyes will now tell that tale for you, so you will not have to speak of it.”

  That was a surprisingly profound way to look at things, and it wasn’t what I’d expected from Abi. I’d worried he’d be afraid of me, afraid of the darkness that had taken root inside me. He wouldn’t be the only one.

  Stories about the Eclipse Warrior terrorist attack had spread to the news like wildfire while I was laid up in my clan’s secret hospital. I’d spent a lot of time worrying about what people would think when they saw my eyes after that. Even without the attack, all-black eyes were pretty freaky.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I just wish it wasn’t quite so scary.”

  “Who would be scared of you?” Eric said with a smirk. “You’re a big old teddy bear.”

  “This teddy bear’s got fangs and claws,” Hagar said from behind us. “I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side.”

  My handler looked like she’d been through the ringer. One side of her head was bandaged beneath the shock of red hair that ran down the center of her skull. Both of her eyes were ringed by shadowy bruises, and she was still on crutches.

  “You look like you recovered all right,” I said and made some space for her in the line. “Let’s get you some breakfast.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole pig.”

  “You’ll fit right in here, then,” Clem said with a grin.

  She and I worked together to get Hagar a heaping tray of bacon and sausage, a trio of fried eggs, and what looked like half a loaf of heavily buttered toast. I carried the warden’s tray back to our table, and the five of us all sat down together.

  “Sounds like Grayson’s going to recover,” Eric said. “The spirits almost got him, but I guess sages are tougher than they look.”

  “He might have survived, but I wonder if he really wanted to,” Clem said. “From what I read he’ll be laid up for months. The Locust Court did a real number on him. Siegfried didn’t fare much better. Both the Suns and the Titans will be without their sages for a while, now.”

  “I’m just glad we all made it,” I said. “You guys really shouldn’t have come to Kyoto, you know.”

  “It’s a good thing we did,” Abi said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been around to save the world.”

  That was true, though I didn’t like
to admit it.

  “You cut it awfully close,” I said. “But, thank you. I really couldn’t have done it without you guys.”

  “We know,” Clem said with a grin. “If it hadn’t been for me and Rachel, Abi would never have found you.”

  “So, what did Eric do?” I said, nudging my friend with an elbow.

  “Look good for the cameras,” he said. “Somebody had to talk to the press, and it sure couldn’t have been any of you three.”

  Abi and Clem glanced at one another, then stared at Eric with openmouthed surprise.

  “What’s wrong with how I look?” Clem said.

  “Other than the fact that you’re the color of cotton candy?” Eric shot back. “And Abi’s so serious he’d depress everyone. They needed a pretty face, like mine, to lighten the mood. Keep people from freaking out.”

  The rest of breakfast passed easily, and I felt my mood lifting. Hagar was the first to leave the table, and Eric offered to help her with her tray. Abi left not long after, saying he had to report for Portal Defense Force duty. That left Clem and me alone, and we fidgeted with our food in the awkward silence.

  “I was really scared,” Clem confided in me. “When Abi came and found us after you’d gone to Kyoto, I didn’t know what would happen. I didn’t know what I’d do if...”

  She let the words trail off and stared down at her plate. Her hands trembled on the table.

  “I’m sorry I put you through that,” I said. “There wasn’t time to think. I was the only one who could stop them.”

  “I know,” Clem said, her voice strained. She sniffed, then lowered her utensils to the table.

  “I didn’t want any of you to get hurt,” I said. It was my turn for my throat to tighten. “That was my fight, not yours.”

  “You should’ve,” Clem started, then shook her head. She looked up at me, her cheeks streaked with tears. “You could have told me. About what was happening to you.”

  “I had to keep it a secret,” I said, my voice low. “No one knew. Not even my clan elders. Hahen warned me that if anyone found out, it would be the end for me and everyone else who knew about my secret.”

  Clem chewed at the inside of her lip. A single tear rolled down her face and splashed onto the edge of her plate.

  “I wouldn’t have told anyone,” she said. “I would’ve helped you. Somehow.”

  “Clem,” I said, trying to placate her, “it’s not that easy. People died to keep me safe. The Eclipse Warriors didn’t care about anyone around me. If you’d known, they might have killed you. And I—no. I couldn’t live with that.”

  “Me, either,” Clem said, forcing a smile. She reached across the table, took my hand, and squeezed my fingers tight. “We made it, though. But if you ever lie to me again, you won’t.”

  I laughed.

  “I won’t,” I said. “No more secrets. No more lies.”

  “Good,” she said. She took her hand back and sawed off a big bite of pancake with her fork.

  “Hey, guys,” Rachel said as she slipped in next to Clem. “You look terrible, Jace.”

  “You don’t like it?” I asked. “I thought black eyes was the hot new style these days.”

  “Hardly,” Clem said. “Let me give you guys some space.”

  “No,” Rachel said, her hand closed over Clem’s. “Don’t go. I want you to hear this, too.”

  “Okay,” Clem agreed. She took another bite of her pancakes to hide her embarrassment, then glanced away.

  “I’m leaving the School,” Rachel said.

  “No,” I said. “You worked so hard to get here. If it’s because of me I’ll—”

  “Not everything’s about you,” Rachel said with a snort. “Though this kind of actually is.”

  Clem raised an eyebrow in my direction, then nudged Rachel with an elbow.

  “Don’t keep us in suspense here. What happened?”

  “I got a job offer,” Rachel said. “Working with kids in the undercities. There’s a new outreach program the Shadow Phoenix clan put together. The School of Swords and Serpents will have annexes all over the world to help find promising new students. Elder Sanrin said someone recommended me as an ambassador. So, technically, I guess I’m still going to school here, just not here here.”

  “That’s clear as mud,” I said.

  “Don’t pretend you weren’t the one who suggested me to your clan elders,” Rachel said with a grin. “Not that I’m not happy to do it. It’ll give kids a chance to get a good education without getting their butts beat in the Five Dragons Challenge.”

  “If somebody had practiced their martial arts, their fight might have gone differently,” I said.

  “I think we both know that’s probably not true,” Rachel said. “Somebody had advantages the rest of us didn’t.”

  Her words stung more than I knew she intended, and I struggled to keep the pain off my face. No one knew everything I’d been through, not even my closest friends.

  “Point taken,” I said. “When do you leave?”

  “After the last day of classes,” Rachel said. “I’ll be porting over to Dallas for three months. Then London. I’m not sure what’s after that.”

  Rachel looked at me, a faint, sad smile on her lips. She started to say something, stopped, and found something interesting on the back of her thumbnail. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she reached over and held my hand. Gingerly, as if she were afraid touching me might hurt.

  “I just wanted to thank you for this,” she said to me. “It really is perfect for me. I’ll finally have a chance to be myself and show other kids there’s a better way. They can be themselves and still make it.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I feigned ignorance. “But congratulations again.”

  “Yeah,” Rachel said. She stood, leaned across the table, and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Take care of yourself, Jace.”

  She left us without another word, and I felt a searing jolt of loss. I wished things could have gone differently. I wished I hadn’t lost control in the library and nearly killed Rachel. But, without those experiences, I wouldn’t have been able to make the right choice at the end of the day. Whether she knew it or not, Rachel had helped me save the world.

  “She’ll never get over you,” Clem said quietly.

  “I think she already has,” I corrected. “I think she’s been over me for a while.”

  “About the library?”

  “I scared her half to death,” I said. “I lost control. There’s no telling what might’ve happened.”

  “You scared her?” Clem scoffed. “That’s not why she ran.”

  “She told you about that?” It was bad enough that I’d scared Rachel. It was infinitely worse that Clem knew the gory details.

  “We were friends. I mean, we still are,” Clem said. “She scared herself, Jace.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. She didn’t do anything,” I said.

  “When you went all Eclipse Warrior on her, that was scary,” she said. “But what scared Rachel wasn’t that you slipped. It was that she liked the darkness she saw in you.”

  “That’s not—”

  “It is,” Clem confirmed. “You should remember that the next time you decide to hide yourself from your friends. You’re not as scary as you think you are.”

  Clem leaned forward and brushed my lips with hers. Then she picked up her tray and walked away.

  The News

  THE Manual of the New Moon was missing from my desk. I’d tucked it into the top drawer after I’d gotten out of the hospital and forgot about it until the last day of school. It just didn’t seem all that important anymore. I wasn’t really one of them, and my history wasn’t the same as theirs.

  I was rooting around for it in the closet when I heard footsteps on the stairs.

  “Who’s there?” I called. The last person who’d arrived in my cottage without knocking was an assassin.

  “Elder Hirani,” a melodious voice answer
ed. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

  “Not at all, honored Elder,” I said. “I was looking for something. Gathering up my stuff to move back into the regular dorms.”

  “Ah,” Hirani said. “Your time as the School champion has come to an end. How did they pick one this year?”

  “The headmistress did it based on grades,” I said. “Not a terribly popular opinion, especially since it had nothing to do with fighting ability. The Five Dragons Challenge is going to be very interesting this year.”

  “Anyone you know?” she asked.

  “Nope,” I said. “A fourth year, I guess. Should be a bigger batch of new initiates next year, though.”

  We both had a laugh at that, and Hirani’s voice sent shivers down my spine. She possessed an ageless, effortless beauty that was enthralling. Spending time with her made me feel warm and giddy.

  Also nervous. She was, after all, one of my clan’s four elders.

  “I have news for you,” she said. “Let’s have some coffee, and we can talk about it.”

  “My mother?” My heart leaped into my throat.

  “Coffee,” Hirani said. “Then talk.”

  I followed the elder downstairs and sat at the kitchen table while she busied herself with the coffee set. After filling the pot with water and setting it on to boil, she glanced in my direction.

  “Does it always take this long?” she asked, deadly serious. “It feels like it’s taking a very long time for this water to get hot.”

  “Well, yes,” I said. “It’s not a quick process.”

  “Oh, for Flame’s sake.” She snapped her fingers and a pair of mugs filled with steaming coffee appeared on the table in front of me. “Don’t tell Sanrin. He hates that trick.”

  “How did you do that?” I’d never seen anyone make something out of nothing. As far as I knew it violated all kinds of metaphysical laws.

  “Somewhere in France, there is a very angry couple who want to know why their French press was not delivered to their room.” Hirani’s smile reminded me of a cat’s feral grin. “Like I said, don’t tell.”

  I hid my urgency to continue our conversation behind a sip of coffee from the mug. It really was delicious.