The leader pointed towards the other teachers. “You too.” Together they shuffled past the fallen Mr Hanley. Miss Cleveland wailed as she looked down at where his lifeless body was slumped. They gave us a horrified glance as they passed.
The room fell quiet. I scanned around, searching for a way to gain the advantage. I could tell Gabriella was doing the same. We were trapped, outnumbered and defenceless…the situation was hopeless.
The rogue leader pushed back his cowl, completely exposing his face. He was bronze skinned. Dense stubble covered his chin and his eyebrows were thick caterpillars crawling above his dark eyes. I hadn’t ever seen him before, but yet there was something familiar about him.
“Don’t recognise me?” he asked
“Should I?” I retorted.
“Well I wouldn’t expect you to in this skin.” He made a mock high voice. “But I’d hoped you’d be able to see past how I look on the outside.” His voice reverted and he grit his teeth together. “I remember you well. If memory serves correctly, the last time we met, you skewered my head to the floor.” A wave of shock washed over me. “Bargheist,” I choked. He gave an exaggerated bow. “The one and only.” “But how? You were deported!” gasped Gabriella. He tapped a finger against his nose. “Oh but that would be telling, and I don’t want to reveal the big secret just yet.”
The other Rogues laughed. It was a cruel noise which caused fresh sounds of fear from the crowd. I glanced at Gabriella. She seemed just as confused as me. Bargheist checked the clock hanging on the wall by the Christmas tree. “Time to go. Grab someone for insurance.” A Pixie leaned in to grab Lucy, but Tim pushed her behind him. “Take me instead,” he pleaded. His selfless bravery took me by complete surprise. “Whatever,” said the Rogue and yanked him to his feet. She pushed my friend towards us and was joined by two of her comrades.
Bargheist addressed his remaining followers. “As for the rest, if any of them so much as sneeze the wrong way, kill them.” He turned and walked out of the door. I felt the sharp sting of a blade prod into my back. The same happened to Gabriella and Tim. Together, we were forced out of the room at knife point.
The doors closed with a resounding echo. The hallway was desolate. The money collecting desk was empty. The photo area was bare. The stand had toppled over, the camera reduced to shards of broken machinery scattered across the floor. The emergency light continued in the hub. It gave the whole place an eerie vibe.
I looked over at Tim. His face was panic stricken. I could barely imagine what he must have been thinking. Gabriella’s expression gave nothing away. Her lips were a tight line. I could tell that even though her face was serene, inwardly her mind was whirring. A sharp pain in my back reminded me to keep moving.
“Listen, if we don’t make it through this…” I whispered.
“Alex don’t. We’re both making it out of this alive.”
I shut my mouth and fought against the dread which grew with each step. I was furious at myself. I’d known something was wrong. I’d felt it after we won the battle. I’d missed something. Deep down, I knew it. And now, the whole of the school were in danger. Damn it! I should have at least hidden some weapons here!
“This way,” growled Bargheist, turning down a corridor. We followed behind.
The shifter jerked to a stop.
He stayed motionless as if someone had removed his batteries. Then a welt of blood bloomed in the centre of his back. He dropped to his knees, exposing Rachel, sporting a blood soaked dagger. Without questioning how or why, we seized our chance. I spun around and down, sweeping the Bloodling’s legs from under him. Before he had even hit the ground, I wrenched the sword from his grip and brought it down, severing his head. A swipe of blades told me that Gabriella had taken care of the other two Rogues. We turned back to face out saviour.
“Rachel!” Gabriella cried, giving her a relieved hug.
“Are we glad to see you,” I breathed.
“Isn’t that… your Science teacher?” gasped Tim.
I had to resist the urge to laugh. “I’ll explain later,” I promised.
“Rachel, what are you doing here?” asked Gabriella.
Rachel looked confused. “Didn’t Faru tell you? He sent me to keep an eye out, just in case. Easy considering I technically work here. I’ve spent most the night circling this bloody school.” She nodded down at the bodies. “Saw this lot arrive.”
At least someone was prepared, I thought glumly.
“Listen, we can’t stay here,” she said sheathing her blade onto the fully armed Kapre belt that hung around her suit trousers. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but the place is crawling with SOS. I’ve called it in. The rest of the HASEA are on their way. I told Faru to meet us at the Gymnasium. Come on.”
“Will someone tell me what in the name of god is going on?” moaned Tim.
“Sorry mate, explanations later, running first.”
Rachel turned and sprinted down the corridor, with us hot on her heels. We broke out of the side door, into the torrent of rain. The booming of thunder was so loud, I could hardly hear myself think. The rain was coming down in droves. It hit the ground with such force, it bounced. We splashed our way through, heading out of the main school section. Gabriella had to bunch up her dress so that she could run properly. Her hair had come undone and thick strands were plastered down the side of her face. My heart was thrumming in my chest as we headed around the main area and into the Gymnasium. We entered together, apart from Tim, who arrived over a minute later. I’d forgotten he couldn’t run at our speeds. When he got inside, he almost collapsed. “H-how, can you r-run that fast?” he wheezed. Looking around, I noticed it was dark and gloomy. Only one emergency light was working. I turned to Rachel. “What now?” She pointed to the main hall. “Let’s wait in there.”
We opened the door. The gym was filled with more shadows and darkness. Decrepit old foam mats lay stacked at the far end. Climbing ropes hung from the ceiling like old nooses. I could smell stale sweat. It seemed to pour out of the very walls. The room was deathly silent.
It was at that moment that I saw that Rachel was wearing the ring I’d seen her drop all those weeks ago. I noticed the crest on the top.
A pyramid of 3 stars sitting inside a crescent moon.
It was the same symbol as the one on the front of the derelict mansion in my nightmares.
Moonstella. The word written above the mausoleum. I hadn’t been able to understand what it meant, because it didn’t actually mean anything — it was a family name.
The dread I’d felt began to leak to the surface. We’d got it wrong. Lafelei’s words hadn’t been referring to the Coven.
Betrayed by the moon and stars.
Moonstella.
My blood turned to ice.
Rachel drew her gun and pointed it at us.
33
Rachel, don’t do this.” “It has to be this way, I’m sorry,” she said in a hollow voice. Gabriella shook her head in disbelief. “All this time?” “All this time.”
“Will someone please tell me what’s happening?” squeaked Tim. Gabriella answered in a tone of sadness mixed with anger. “People like Alex and I protect other humans from evil things. We thought Rachel was one of us. Turns out she’s an evil thing.”
“But why?” I asked.
In a flash, Rachel’s voice became full of rage. “Because of humans like you. Chosen,” she hissed. “Your kind slaughtered my entire family as if they were nothing more than dogs! Not just my parents. My grandparents, sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins. All of them dragged into the streets and burned alive. You think you know grief? I found everyone I have ever loved in a charred heap at the edge of our estate.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “So mutilated, I couldn’t even mark their graves properly, because I couldn’t work out who was who!”
Gabriella took a step forward, which made Rachel swing the gun in her direction.
“Rachel, I’m so sorry. What those Chosen did to your family
was unforgivable. But the Purge was a long time ago. Those people are gone. We’re not the same as them. Rachel, we’re your friends. Please let us go.”
The Pixie shook her head. “I’m sorry but this is bigger than you both. It’s taken me centuries to create a new persona and establish myself as a trusted Guardian of the HASEA. I’ve had to hide who I really am for so long; I almost let myself get caught up in it all.” She grit her teeth. “God, I’m so sick of all the lies!”
“What are you trying to achieve?” I asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? My entire lineage was wiped out without so much as a second thought. Cast into oblivion. Well I didn’t forget! And I’m going to make damn well sure that no one ever forgets me! I’ll be the person who brought down the Alliance.”
“Rachel, there are thousands of Guardians all over the world,” Gabriella pointed out. “How can you ever hope to bring down the Alliance on your own?”
Rachel looked surprised. “One person? I don’t think you quite understand.” She lifted up her top lip with the barrel of her gun. The Eye of the Abyss had been tattooed on the soft underside.
My brain started spinning. “Wait, you are a member of the SOS,” I said in a confused voice.
“Not just a member Alex. I’m a leader.”
Gabriella and I exchanged a horrified glance. I felt my legs go weak. It was all I could do to keep from collapsing.
“I don’t understand,” choked Gabriella. “You’re a Luminar. Hades hates them even more than humans. He barely tolerates them being members of the SOS. Why would he allow one to become a leader?” “Because I have something that he needs.” “What could you possibly have that Hades needs?” “A hidden section of the Veil, sealed and under my control.” Gabriella’s face went ashen. “How…where?” “It’s on her estate,” I answered instead. “Inside a Mausoleum.” The Pixie turned to look at me, sweeping the gun with her. “How do you know that?” “Call it an educated guess,” I said.
Rachel began to pace up and down the Gymnasium, all the while aiming between me and Gabriella. “It was a family secret. My ancestors sealed a section of the Veil and hid it away. Only someone of my bloodline would be able to unseal it. The idea was to use the doorway if ever they needed to escape from danger.” She pulled a grim face. “Only your kind got to them before they had a chance to do so.”
Above, I heard the sound of something louder than rain fall onto the roof. Gabriella looked at me. Rachel didn’t react; she was lost in the past.
“I waited until the first time I was sent to Pandemonia. I went straight to Hades. Told him that I wanted to bring down the Alliance and that when he chose to invade Earth, I had a doorway he could use that was completely unknown to the HASEA. In exchange he made me the leader of my own group of Rogues, so that I’d have the support I needed to weaken the Alliance in preparation for that day.”
“You’re working directly for the Demon King? Have you lost your mind?” shouted Gabriella. “He is the worst kind of evil! You blame Chosen, but as we speak, Hades is killing hundreds of your kind!”
Rachel pressed the gun against her forehead for a moment, as if trying to squeeze out a bad thought. “Don’t you think I know that? It kills me to have to work for that sick son of a bitch. But I can’t allow myself to become concerned with any of that. I have to stick to my plan.”
The traitor turned to me, continuing her speech as if a robot returning to her original programming. I could tell that this was a confession. Her way of achieving absolution.
“Then Hades learned that one of the Elemental’s had spoken of a new Awakening, one that could bring about the Chosen to stand against him. So when he was delivered the news about Alex, he immediately ordered The Sorrow to start tracking him. He wanted to use my doorway to send it through to Earth straight away. But I knew the moment I unsealed the Veil, Faru would sense it, investigate and my cover would be blown. Everything I’d worked so hard to put in place would come undone because of one little boy.”
Rachel stopped moving, letting the gun linger on me. “You’d be dead, The Sorrow would return to Pandemonia and I’d have to go into hiding or on the offensive. I didn’t want that. But still, it was an opportunity for me to advance my own plans. What I needed was a way to distract Faru and keep my cover in place. After I found out about Faru’s plans to seal the Warren’s Veil, I came up with the idea of the fake siege.”
“Fake siege?” I said incredulously. “I was there. That siege was real. Midnight died in that siege.”
“The siege itself was real, but the reason for it was false. I also ensured that you found out about it.” Gabriella and I looked at each other, lost. “Think about the attack at the Black Tap. Out of all the Coven, who exactly had the premonition?” said Rachel. “Sylvia,” replied Gabriella and then covered her mouth as if she’d sworn. “Exactly, and she works for me.”
Something clicked in my brain. “The attack in the bar was a setup. You wanted me to follow Dakin.”
Rachel smiled. “Exactly. Poor Dakin genuinely believed he was there to recruit new followers. He also believed the siege was real. I couldn’t trust him with the full truth. You killed his maker — he was too volatile. I just had to take the chance that someone would notice him leave the bar.” She gestured towards me. “Which the perfect person did.”
“But what about those girls? They were real and so was what almost happened to them,” I countered.
“That was easy. All it took was a few attractive young Bloodlings to mention about a secret bar they were supposedly heading to. Malachi despises humans — seems to have forgotten he used to be one. Plus he’s a supporter of the SOS. There was no doubt in my mind that if we sent the drunkest, loudest girls in the area into his bar, he’d do the rest.”
For the first time I saw the real Rachel. A woman so consumed with revenge that she teetered on the edge of madness.
“But what about all of the other SOS who attacked me?” I asked. “Surely that’s going against your plans?”
Rachel shrugged. “Hades wants you dead. He didn’t care how it happened. The Sorrow was a failsafe. He gave orders for you to be killed. Sage Asmund sent in his own followers — including Rahuman — to take you out. Others did their own thing so they could fall into favour with Hades. Like Sylvia who faked a premonition without my knowledge and organised a group of Rogues to kill you, or Bargheist who acted without my say so and got himself caught.” She smiled. “Which is why they had to go.”
I thought about Sylvia. How she’d been found dumped in an alleyway with her throat opened. It was Rachel.
Gabriella had one hand closed around the pendant on her necklace. The other was wrapped around the nape of her neck. At first I thought it was a position of grief. Then I noticed almost imperceptibly, that she attempting to undo the clasp with her fingers. It dawned on me. The necklace has diamonds on it!
“But why let us know what was happening; why not just attack us unprepared?” I said in an effort to keep Rachel distracted. “If you’d done that, then the SOS might have won.”
Rachel shook her head as if I should understand her twisted logic.
“I already told you, the siege was a fake. I didn’t want the SOS to actually succeed in unsealing the Veil. Although, Dakin almost managed to get Faru to do it, which is why I had to stop him. In fact it was the perfect cover. He needed to be dealt with anyway; his hatred for Alex was making him a liability.” She nodded her head as if that justified her act. “I’d managed to convince Hades that opening the doorway and unleashing The Sorrow inside a Guardian base would be seen as an outright declaration of war against Earth. One that he wasn’t yet in a position to deal with. So he agreed for me to pretend to the rest of the SOS — apart from my own followers of course — that there would be a real siege on the base to force Faru to open his section of the Veil. All the while it was just misdirection to keep the HASEA and Faru distracted…whilst I opened mine.”
“No…” breathed Gabriella.
“You mean The Sorrow is here?” I choked.
A dark grin appeared on Rachel’s face. “Not just here Alex… here. And you don’t have the Crimson Twins.”
More loud bangs hit the roof. It was followed by the sound of dozens of feet scrambling about. Then I heard the unmistakable scream of The Sorrow’s demented Unicorn. “Not long now,” said Rachel. I looked at Gabriella. She was still struggling with the clasp. “So you’re going to offer me up to get into Hades good books? Is that it? Very original Rachel.” I said sarcastically.
Rachel banged the gun against her head. “No, no no. You don’t understand! Hades is merely a means to an end. My end. I just needed him to trust me. I told him that if he gave me command of The Sorrow whilst it was on Earth, then not only would I get it to murder the boy Lafelei spoke of, I’d give it the hybrid baby that it missed the first time around.”
Gabriella’s jaw tightened. I could see she was trying not to lose her composure. She had also managed to get the clasp undone.
“So what’s the plan after we’re dead?”
Rachel turned to me. “That’s the beauty of it. I’m going to unleash The Sorrow on the Warren anyway. Then everyone will know it was me and that I was working directly for Hades.” She leaned forward with a huge smile on her face. “I’m going to start the war.”
“How could you?” shouted Gabriella. “People we care about died because of you! And you want to kill more? What about all the people who you’re betraying? Faru, Sophia…Delagio?”
The corners of Rachel’s mouth turned down. “I don’t want any of you to suffer, but this is the only way to get my revenge. You think I don’t care but I do.” She stared at us. “I care about all of you, but this is the only way.” I took a step forward and the gun was instantly aimed towards my head. “You’ve got funny way of showing it!” I shouted. “Stay back!” Rachel ordered. The howling grew louder. I could hear footsteps closing in from somewhere nearby. Each one sounded like the beat of a death drum. “Or what Rachel? We already know you’re going to have us killed. So go ahead!” “I said stay back!”
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