by Rae Else
She wasn’t exactly reassured but as Luke smiled, his eyes hopeful, she wanted to go with him.
‘So where’s this meeting, Spidey?’ she said, a smile surfacing.
- Chapter Nine -
Meet and Greet
The red-bricked building on Clerkenwell Close was illuminated by a series of black lampposts that rose up at their approach. Their warm glow drew the eye: gas powered. Adorning each post was an iron snake. El held onto the railings as they proceeded down some stairs, feeling hemmed in as the walls climbed on either side. Her movement and the flickering light made it seem as though the snakes were shifting in the shadows.
‘Clerkenwell Catacombs,’ Luke said. ‘People use the vault space for parties.’
There was a stocky, female bouncer standing in the entrance, who looked like she was about to tell them that they were gate-crashing, but moved aside when Luke’s eyes fell on her.
They bypassed the human party; the kerykeion was already surfacing on one of the stone walls to the left of them. An archway opened, leading to a semi-circular tunnel that stretched out ahead of them. Burning torches were clasped in iron mounts, even more archaic than the lamps outside. El looked uncertainly at the indistinct corridor. The feeling of unease flitted away as Luke clasped her hand and they walked on. She imagined asking Ingrid if attending a meeting of a mysterious organisation in a secret underground lair counted as a date. The torches were basically candlelight so decided that it was fair to call it one.
The arched corridors were vast and seemed to go on and on. They turned right and came to a tunnel that broadened out into a wide, vaulted room. At the far end was a rectangular, stone platform, which El supposed was for the trials. After a moment’s trepidation, she reminded herself that she wouldn’t need to compete. They were only here to talk to Luke’s father.
Around the rest of the room, smaller rectangular stages were set up, with training structures around these – trenches for cover against enemy elements. There were large, circular pits in the centre of the room too: a great pile of rocks in one, a fire glowing brightly in a brazier in the centre of another, a third filled to the brim with dark, ominous looking water. El recalled what she’d read in the molecular biology book that Alex had given her. Arete had to be able to see the element to manipulate it.
She felt the flurry of sensation as other arete glanced their way. The touch of their eyes seemed as distinct as different coloured flames in the dark. One moment a flurry of cold as a water arete’s gaze skimmed her, the next a feeling of heaviness as the eyes of an earth manipulator settled. She felt her breath quicken as an air arete’s eyes flew over her. Each time the flurry of warmth came, she threw a startled look around, worried that she’d find Dan’s dark eyes searing into her like hot coals.
An Asian girl, who looked a little younger than her, perhaps fifteen or so, stared at the flames in the central pit. Her gaze alone drew the fire and wove it in spirals in the air above. El admired the circles she drew; her movement was so deft that she formed enough to paint a blossom. The fiery petals shrank and grew so fast that it looked as though the bud was opening.
The girl's eyes flicked to El. With her concentration disturbed, the flames withered and sputtered out. A cloud of smoke collapsed around her, its soft vapour suiting her more than the bright flame. There was something gentle about her face and delicate figure.
There were other arete standing about the room on platforms, manipulating the elements from the central pits and casting them to one another as if they were playing catch. Others looked less conspicuous and stood around chatting. El had asked Luke for more information about the elemental competitions on the way here. She’d thought arete couldn’t use their power on one another. He’d verified that that was only the case with the power of mental manipulation. In the elemental matches, arete used their manipulation of the elements to compete with one another. El watched the flickering flames in awe, their colours reflected in the surfaces of rushing water, while twisters of wind and rock clouded the air.
Luke had joined a group and was waving to her.
‘This is El, everyone,’ he said. ‘El, this is my brother, Josh.’
El shook hands with a guy whose hair and complexion were darker than Luke’s. His eyes prickled and she noticed their lack of coolness. They were more tingly than Luke’s too.
‘And this is Eva and Will,’ said Luke.
El greeted the girl. Her skin was the shade of mahogany and almost glossy in the glow of the fire pit. With her warm, glowing eyes it seemed as if a fire goddess had been incarnated.
Will on the other hand was unassuming, in a black T-shirt and jeans, his shaggy hair slicked back. El didn’t know where to look however when his eyes fell on her – he was an air manipulator. She suspected he was a harpy, not only because of the effect he had on her breathing, but because of the tattoo winding up his arm. A flock of birds beat their wings as if they were about to fly from his skin. In mythology, harpies where often portrayed as people with bird’s wings and talons.
‘Sorry,’ El said, blushing as she realised she’d been holding onto Will’s hand, side-tracked by his moving tattoo.
‘Takes your breath away, doesn’t it?’ he said with a grin. ‘Got it last week for my eighteenth.’
The others started to tease him.
‘Multiple kerykeion,’ Luke whispered. ‘Each part of the tattoo is done with a different kerykeion worked into it. A kind of layered effect so that it gives the illusion of movement.’
El nodded, still enthralled by the tattoo. ‘It’s kind of distracting, isn’t it?’
Luke grinned. ‘Think he already regrets it.’
She suppressed a laugh.
The click of heels punctuated the hum of conversation – the sound bounced off the stone walls, growing in volume, and suffocated the chatter. A woman entered the space. Everyone turned to look. There was a sharp quality to the sway of her hips, highlighted by the low-slung belt over the black tunic she wore. The heels of her knee length boots were harsh on the stone floor and, rimmed in metal, made a dull, grinding sound. Her hair was raked back into a ponytail, its raven hue, as well as her bronzed skin, sleek in the firelight.
A man followed, wearing a black suit. His brown hair was cropped short. A third pair of heels issued into the room and El looked at the slim, blonde-haired woman in a silk dress. The woman’s face blanched as she caught sight of El, but her eyes were quick to seek refuge in the other arete gathered.
El’s heart pounded. What was Anna doing here? She’d run away from her mother as she’d thought she was a rebel. Now Anna was attending an Order meeting. She felt her breathing quicken and realised the raven-haired woman was gazing at her, relishing the sight of her. The sensation jarred El. She’d just experienced it with Will a few minutes ago but that’s not where she recalled it from. El stared at the woman’s angular features and knew she recognised her from somewhere.
El’s breathing was becoming erratic and her heart raced faster and faster. This woman was an air arete like Will but much more powerful. She felt just like she had last night – when she’d first seen this woman. When she had given the talk at Cobbold House. She knew now it was the residual power of the woman’s gaze affecting her breathing, but nevertheless, its effect was powerful and El had to work consciously to steady herself.
Even before the raven-haired woman opened her mouth, El knew that she was trapped. The woman flashed a wide smile at the crowd. The memory of her sharp grin burned in El’s mind – a knowing smile. The same one that had toyed with her last night at the talk, savouring the fact that she was playing havoc with her emotions. The smile that said she’d enjoyed heightening her anxiety and causing her to lose control of her power. A subtle weapon, which El had learned of too late.
There was nothing subtle about the woman’s voice as it filled the room, ‘This week the Order is having a special recruitment drive. There will be no need for trials tonight. Please come for
ward to present your blood. Every one of you is permitted at the London Olympia this week.’ She fixed her eyes on El. ‘And we trust that each one of you will be happy to support the vigilance of the Order.’
- Chapter Ten -
The Procession
Most arete, after standing in shock for a few seconds, rushed forwards to present themselves as though worried that the offer would be repealed. El hung back. Luke drew her to the end of the queue.
‘This isn’t normal,’ he murmured. ‘I’m going to talk to my father.’
El stared blankly ahead at the rest of the line, wishing that she could fade into the shadows of the catacombs.
Luke murmured something else, but she was barely listening. He still thought a chat with his father would solve things, but one glimpse of the raven-haired woman had told El that that was impossible. This was a trap. The blood in her veins was marred with whatever weapon the rebels were using to dissolve the kerykeion: a fact about to be exposed to the Order.
Just ahead of them, Will was taking the mickey out of Josh and asking how an arachnid would compete in a match without an elemental ability. He spent most of the next few minutes in a headlock as Luke’s brother was eager to prove that – although lacking in elemental ability – he wasn’t shy of a fight. Meanwhile Eva giggled at the pair of them, in between conjuring her own slender flames that hovered above in the murk of the vaulted ceiling like the tentacles of jellyfish suspended in the deep.
A lot of arete seemed eager to practise conjuring their element. They did so with increased regularity and effort as they neared the Order members. The young arete were eager to impress. But the raven-haired woman, despite her simper, wasn’t interested in any of them.
Judging by Anna’s preoccupied look, like El, she was struggling to keep it together. Despite El’s mounting terror, her eyes kept coming back to land on the air manipulator. Each arete presented their hand to her, Anna or the man. A knife was used to pierce their forefinger and a few drops of blood were squeezed into a vial. The raven-haired woman smiled at the arete who stood before her. El interpreted her look: one of anticipation. El felt as if she was part of a sacrificial procession – a victim nearing the altar.
Luke had gone to the front of the line and was now talking to the man. El discerned the older man’s height, his athletic build. She traced a commonality in his chiselled features to Luke’s. This was his father.
‘Just wait…’ Luke’s father said. As his voice trailed off so did the last of El’s hope.
Luke returned looking perturbed.
El listened to a couple of girls talking in hushed voices ahead of them.
‘That’s not true. You can’t even see it,’ said one.
‘It is. My friend met a guy who knew someone who tried it – he got in, but when he got out … he was mad.’
Luke noticed El’s confusion at the conversation.
‘There’s so many kerykeion on the London Olympia,’ he said, ‘hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions. The veiling only settles when your individual blood is mixed into the place. Without having your blood incorporated into a kerykeion there, even an arete can’t see it. It’s become an urban legend. It’s said that some have managed to get into an Olympia without being drawn into the veiling, but because of all the kerykeion, their surroundings never settle. Some claim that arete who have gone in, unable to navigate, never come out. And those who do – go mad.’
El remembered what Alex had said about having to incorporate a human’s blood into the veiling at Endon, to allow them to see the arete section. It sounded similar.
Luke watched the front of the line. Worry marred his face. Did he still think he’d be able to explain things? She fiddled with her plait. He didn’t know about her mother’s presence. He didn’t know that one of the rebels he was about to speak about was right here.
El felt as though she could be in the Olympia now. People’s chatter seemed to spike and then recede as a cold sense of foreboding stole through her. Things were in sharp focus and then slipped away. She tried to keep calm. If the raven-haired woman looked at her, she might take advantage of her distress and quickly cause her panic to spiral. The only blessing was that this time no humans were present.
Her mind kept cycling back to last night – to the facts she knew – trying to make sense of everything that had happened. This raven-haired woman had been at Cobbold House and forced her to use her power. She had orchestrated last night to get her to London. Consequently El had been plunged into this world. But why? What did this woman want with her? Had she got her to use her power last night so that the Order could decide if they wanted her? It didn’t make sense. The air manipulator had been at Cobbold House last night but had just let El leave. She wished that she could ask Anna but knew that singling her mother out would only put her in harm’s way.
Their group was the only one left to give blood. Josh, Eva and Will were donating ahead of them.
El swallowed the lump in her throat and fixed her eyes on Luke. ‘Don’t say anything. Just let me go to the blonde.’
She clutched at the faint possibility that Anna might be able to pretend to take her blood. The way Luke’s father had dismissed him convinced her that they weren’t going to get help from him.
Luke frowned but nodded.
Her anxiety mounted. Could Anna pretend to take it? If she had to take her blood, would she help her? She wished that she’d stayed put earlier, stayed at the lab. Alex had tried to help her understand – he’d given her those books. She longed to be curled up with a book in the canopied area of the safe house, a hot cup of Tia’s tea beside her.
She walked towards Anna, but the raven-haired woman, who was just finishing up with Eva, grabbed her hand. This couldn’t be happening: it was a dream, a nightmare. Her mind reeled. The danger was clearly written in the horizontal slash of the woman’s lips. Her hand felt cold and bony as she grasped hers. Both their eyes were fixed on the knife as it penetrated the tip of El’s forefinger. The woman squeezed and they watched the droplets of blood slide down the glass vial. Upon contact, it reacted with the contents, the shallow pool of blood turned from a dark red to black.
The woman gripped El’s hand harder, her nails digging into her flesh. ‘A rebel – her blood is poison. She could undo a kerykeion with a single drop.’
El shook her head pitifully, trying to back away, but the woman’s hand crushed hers.
‘Did you think we were blind?’ An ugly smile etched itself across the woman’s face as she emphasised the last word.
El thought of her grandma and dread beat through her. This woman knew about her. Her blood ran cold. Was her grandma okay? She fought the urge to look at Anna, wondering if she’d intervene.
‘That’s what we tried to tell you,’ Luke said. His gaze swung from the woman to his father. ‘That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Dad. El came to the Order for help. El, tell them.’
Her face contorted with pain as the woman squeezed her hand harder. El shook her head, her eyes wide, latching onto Luke’s, begging him to stop talking.
‘I gave her the blood, Louisa,’ Anna interjected.
El’s skin crawled.
The woman’s smile fell away. ‘We know, Anna.’ She nodded and Luke’s father took hold of Anna’s arm and marched her away.
El wanted to scream at them or run after her mother. Where was he taking her? She couldn’t move though as the woman still crushed her hand. Luke was the only other arete left in the room – Josh and the others had already gone.
Luke’s father came back in.
Luke rounded on him, ‘El didn’t know about rebels or the Order.’
El’s heart raced with fear, but she didn’t speak. She didn’t understand it all yet, but she knew this woman was evil. El knew that she’d forced her to use her power, that she’d set her up so that both she and Anna got caught. Despite Luke’s pleading look, El was silent.
He lunged towards El an
d almost succeeded in breaking the woman’s grip on her, but his father wrenched him back and restrained him.
‘Enough, Luke,’ his father said. ‘You agreed to report on rebel activity at the lab. You’ve found it, but instead of making me proud, and taking up your reward in a match, you shame me.’
Guilt shone in Luke’s eyes when they landed on El. Cold shock rushed over her: he’d been placed at the lab to watch Alex. He’d wanted to ferret out information on the rebels, on Anna. Instead, he’d found her, and that had successfully led to Anna.
‘Not a bad day’s work,’ Louisa said, her glinting eyes on Luke. ‘Two rebels for the price of one.’
Luke tried to move towards them again but his father was stronger.
‘I suggest you get your boy home,’ Louisa said, ‘or let him cool off in a cell.’
The room was spinning. At first El thought it was the shock that Luke had been spying at the lab. She remembered how he’d only let her go when she’d mentioned Alex’s name. He had followed her and Dan in the hope of getting information.
But, as her eyes withdrew from Luke, she saw that Louisa was staring at her. Clutching at her throat, she realised she couldn’t breathe. The woman had cut off the air from around her. El tried to move, but there was a force pushing against her, holding her in position.
‘El! El!’ Luke’s voice sounded as though through a fog.
‘Get him out,’ Louisa said. Her voice was even fainter.
The stone floor seemed to rise up to meet El. She was on her knees. The sound of Louisa’s boots pounded through her head. At first El was sure they were coming closer and then they grew muffled. Everything faded. A roaring pain burned through her chest and blackness engulfed her.
- Chapter Eleven -
Both Hidden and Clear
