by Tasha Black
For once, I wanted a little space.
The corridor seemed to stretch out for miles as I considered the time I had spent with the king, what it meant to be part of something, what it felt like to bask in his attention.
But everything we were fighting so hard for was exactly what was bound to take him away again.
I was risking it all just to send him back across the veil.
It was where he belonged - we both knew it. But what was I supposed to do when he was gone?
Over the last few days, I’d found myself daydreaming about him taking me with him. But if I wasn’t really fae, it wasn’t just an unlikely dream, it was an impossible one.
The smells of the cafeteria were upon me as I reached the doorway, half-expecting that there would already be chaos afoot.
But everything was perfectly normal. I was the only thing out of place, half-sliding in the doorway like I was stealing second.
“Everything okay?” the janitor asked, leaning on her mop.
“Oh yeah,” I said. “I just really wanted to grab some hot chocolate.”
Her eyebrows went up, but she gestured toward the beverage table. A couple of other students were grabbing dry cereal and snacks while the workers prepared for the dinner rush.
I suddenly felt bad knowing none of the food would be eaten. Maybe I should have asked Cori to make it rain in the lobby instead. Though maybe it was actually for the best, since there was no possibly-priceless artwork in the cafeteria. Either way, it was too late to worry about it now.
I shivered as a cold wind blew through the room. Glancing up, I saw dark storm clouds forming on the ceiling.
It was happening.
But no one else seemed to have noticed yet, so I continued on my way to the beverage station and grabbed a mug.
“Hey,” someone said.
A fat drop of rain hit my head and then another one.
“Whoa,” another girl yelled. “Look out.”
Lightning flashed in the darkening cover that surrounded the rows of fluorescent lights above. One of the cafeteria workers yelped as the clouds suddenly let loose, lashing us all with sheets of driving rain.
I dropped my mug back on the table and took off for the library, figuring that being soaking wet was good enough evidence I’d been here.
My shoes slipped and slid on the wet tile, but I made it to the doorway on my feet, and bolted down the carpeted hall.
“Anya,” the king said in a surprised way as I flew past him with raindrops flying out of my hair and clothing.
I flung open the doors to the library and ran for the nearest figure wearing teachers’ robes.
“Anya,” Headmistress Hart said, turning to me with a concerned look. “What’s going on?”
Guilt crushed me at having to lie to her. But this was the only plan we had.
“I, uh, there’s a thunderstorm in the cafeteria,” I managed to blurt. It wasn’t technically a lie, but that didn’t make it any easier.
“The Order,” she murmured. “We’ve been breached.”
She turned from me, looking so troubled that it almost broke my heart.
“Teachers,” she called out, in her loud, clear voice. “Evacuate the school. Sound the bells. All students and faculty will meet in the courtyard.”
The whole library was suddenly in motion. Teachers were darting from shelf to shelf, their robes flying out behind them, admonishing students to put their books down and move.
“Anya,” Headmistress Hart said. “Come.”
She placed her hand on the back of my arm and we headed out to the corridor again together.
“Headmistress Hart,” a familiar voice wailed.
I turned to see the unusual sight of Kendall looking completely freaked out.
“What’s happening?” Kendall moaned, literally wringing her hands.
“Kendall, it’s going to be fine,” Headmistress Hart said, looking as surprised as I felt.
“But why is everyone running away?” Kendall pleaded.
I was so transfixed by her performance I almost forgot to take advantage of it until Bella grabbed my arm and pulled me away. Together, we slipped back into the library, the doors closing behind us just as Kendall began to openly weep.
“I never knew she had it in her,” I whispered.
“I feel like there’s an Academy Award in her future,” Bella whispered back with a wink.
If they handed out Oscars for distractions, Kendall was definitely due.
We approached the tree. It was only at that moment that I realized our plan had ended here. I guess I hadn’t really expected it to work well enough for us to get this far.
“There are massive bees in the tree that protect the rare books,” Bella said thoughtfully. “We don’t want to upset them.”
Of course, Bella had some experience in this department.
“I’ll talk to the bees, while you talk to the tree?” I suggested.
She nodded in a businesslike way and placed her palms against the rough trunk without wasting any time.
If she was game, then so was I. After a deep breath, I closed my eyes and reached out to the bees.
At first, I felt nothing but the cool air of the room and the scent of old books. I pushed deeper and slowed my breathing, trying my best to focus my thoughts as they struggled to race off in a thousand directions at once.
Suddenly, my awareness expanded, and I could feel the buzz of a hundred odd consciousnesses. Their thoughts were aligned, as if they were soldiers - a true hive-mind.
I pushed myself, trying to find their rhythm, and the buzz coalesced into words:
Protect, protect, protect, protect…
Soon, they would feel Bella’s presence in the tree. If she managed to tease anything from it, they would burst into action. I could feel the fury of protection, coiled in each tiny voice of that chorus.
Allowing myself to sink deeper into their world, I simultaneously turned my thoughts to the Raven King.
Help him, I thought furiously, trying to match the rhythm of the syllables they were already chanting. Help him, help him, help him, help him…
At first there was no change in their tuneless song. And then one bee’s voice joined mine.
He was soon followed by another, and another. I let out a breath of relief when the chorus swelled on the words HELP HIM.
Without removing my hands from the trunk, I opened my eyes to see how Bella was doing.
There was no sign of the blade, but the tree was opening near its base. It looked as if there had always been a large hole in the trunk. But I had visited the library a thousand times and never seen it before.
Bella’s hair blew back from her head with the force of the magic she was exerting. I wondered how hard her price was going to hit her when she was finished and felt a fresh wave of guilt for my own abilities.
A shiny onyx object began to slide out of the hole in the tree. It was rectangular and heavy-looking.
It looked like a coffin, small enough for a child.
As the thing slid out onto the marble floor, Bella opened her eyes, and her hair sank back over her shoulders.
She blinked down at the little coffin owlishly.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“Fine,” she said. “Is it my eyes, or is that a child-sized coffin?”
“It looks that way,” I admitted.
“Well, I asked the tree for the blade,” she said. “I’m sure of it. Whatever this is, it’s the oak’s answer to my question.”
“Then we have to open it,” I told her, my heart sinking.
I knelt and opened the latches. The lid rose with a loud creak. Inside, on a bed of dark satin, there was a flash of silver.
I sighed in relief that we hadn’t found a tiny skeleton.
“It looks so small,” Bella said softly.
She was right, the blade was beautiful, but delicate. The metal shone in spite of having been inside that tree for lifetimes. But the broken end was dull a
nd lifeless.
“We have to get it out of here before Hart realizes we’re missing,” Bella said suddenly. “You go with the blade. Get to the king with it, in case she comes back. I’ll return the box to the trunk.”
“Are you sure?” I asked her, thinking of her price.
“Getting it back in will be way easier than getting it out,” she told me. “I promise.”
I watched as she closed the lid and slid the thing back into the opening in the tree.
The bark began to knit back together as soon as her palms touched the trunk.
There was no going back now.
27
The Raven King
Once Anya reunited me with that bit of my lost magic, I felt better almost immediately.
The blade shivered with delight under my shirt. I had it strapped around my chest, metal to flesh, and my power was already returning.
I felt like an athlete after a grueling challenge, downing crystal-clear water and feeling it spread out to all my cells, rejuvenating me from within.
I wrapped my hand around Anya’s as we headed out the front doors of the castle to do what still needed to be done.
The whole school had gathered in the courtyard behind the edifice, so we could not leave through the backdoors, though the blade was begging for us to head in that direction. We would have to use the woods to go around the school and stay hidden.
I knew Anya felt some guilt about what she and her friends had needed to do to get the rest of the school out of the library, but we both knew that worlds depended on it.
“Is it speaking to you?” she asked softly.
She meant the blade, of course.
I nodded and listened for it again, urging it to seek its other half. Now that we were outside of the castle, I hoped the wards would no longer block it, and it could reach for its hilt more fully.
The metal throbbed against my chest, warm as a lover.
“This way,” I told her.
We headed past the empty fountain, toward the edge of the woods. The blade was tugging at me, its other half must be nearer than I could have suspected.
“What’s wrong?” Anya asked.
“I didn’t expect it to be this close,” I said.
“It’s close?” she asked, looking as startled as I felt.
“I think so,” I told her. “Either that or the pull will be too strong for me to keep hold of it, if it’s far away.”
“Let’s hope it’s close then,” she said, and buttoned her lips.
Our situation was understandably tense. But we had been in tight spots together before. And Anya hadn’t been strange and quiet like this.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her. “About everything?”
She gave me an odd look and shrugged. “I just want to get this over with.”
It was an odd answer, but we were already passing the courtyard with only a few trees between us and the witches.
Deciding to hold off on conversation when we were close enough to be spotted, I buttoned my own lips, and we marched onward through the forest.
We came out on the other side of the labyrinth, the tall boxwood hedges hiding us from full view of the school.
The bushes also hid the member of the Order who stood lazily in the center of the grass strip between the woods and labyrinth, holding the broken hilt of my blade.
The blade at my chest tugged and pulled hard, I had to focus not to run to him.
“Give me the blade,” the robed man said.
“I would sooner impale myself on it,” I said with a smirk. My powers were returning. I had no need to be cautious.
The man circled warily, putting himself between us and the labyrinth. It didn’t matter. He would hardly be in our way, since he wasn’t going to exist in a moment.
I raised my hand to call on my magic.
“Wait,” Anya cried out suddenly, fear in her voice. “Wait. We’ll give you the blade. Just wait.”
She was ripping my shirt open before I could stop her. The eager blade leapt into her hands, desperate to be reunited with its other half.
“Anya,” I murmured helplessly, too stunned by her betrayal to think of anything else.
28
Anya
Archers lay in wait in the trees all around us, iron-tipped arrows nocked and ready, all aimed squarely at the Raven King.
Though the king might have been distracted by the blade at his chest, I was not. I saw it all. And I saw what was sure to happen if we didn’t cooperate. If the iron net had laid him low, these iron arrows would be his end.
I wasn’t willing to sacrifice his life. Not even if it meant saving Primrose.
The look on his face when I ripped the blade from his chest would haunt me forever. But we had only one chance to get out of this alive. And I was going to take it.
“Here,” I said, tossing the blade to the hooded man.
He held the hilt before him and the blade sought it like a magnet, connecting in his hands with an audible pop. Light burst from the weapon, as if it were announcing its joy at being reunited.
The man only gazed down stupidly at the miracle happening in his hands. Which was exactly what I’d been counting on.
I grabbed the king’s arm, hoping that we could run for the cover of the forest while the Order was distracted by the blade. It would be our only chance. I wasn’t foolish enough to think that surrendering the blade would mean they let us go. I’d just handed them what was likely the most powerful weapon in our world. They’d surely be anxious to use it.
And I wasn’t going to be around when they did.
Instead of heading into the trees, the Raven King shocked me by leading us straight at the hooded man, who stood between us and the castle, holding the weapon we’d all been fighting for - the blade that was sharp enough to cut through the veil itself.
But instead of striking us down as we blazed past, the warlock pulled the mighty blade back to avoid hitting the king, almost stumbling down with the force of his effort.
In another few steps, we were back in the labyrinth.
As the hedges roiled and quaked around us, I closed my eyes and pictured the Great Hall at Primrose. Forcing my heartbeat to slow, I envisioned each detail - the artwork on the walls, the colors in the hand knotted rug, the vase of dried hydrangea on the side table…
“Anya,” the king whispered.
I opened my eyes to see the strange sight of the hedges opening up inside the Great Hall.
We walked forward together until there was carpet under our feet instead of grass. I sank onto the grand staircase, head in my hands, as the labyrinth retreated.
“Why did you give it to them?” the king railed.
“The woods were full of archers,” I said simply. “It was a trap, but you were too blinded by the lure of the blade to see it. That’s what they were counting on.”
He went silent.
“Why didn’t he kill you with it?” I asked after a moment. “You rushed right at him, like he wasn’t even armed. He could have cut you down in a thought.”
“That is the last thing in the world he would do. If the sword ever spills fae blood, the pact will be rendered void,” the king said. “All the magic I loaned the blade will go back into me in an instant.”
“You wanted him to strike you,” I realized out loud.
“Anya, I didn’t want to die,” he told me, kneeling at the stairs in front of me. “But you were in danger…”
I looked up from my own hands to the unusual sight of the Raven King on his knees.
“Anya,” he breathed, “I—”
But the rear doors to the Great Hall burst open before he could continue.
“Where were you?” Headmistress Hart demanded, her dark eyes flashing.
“The Order is coming,” I told her, standing. “Ready the castle’s defenses. They won’t be holding back this time.”
She studied my face for a moment, then her own expression hardened, and she hurried off, robes billow
ing out behind her, to warn the teachers in the courtyard.
The king was still on his knees, but whatever he wanted to say could wait. I chose to follow the headmistress back to my friends.
“Come on,” I called to him over my shoulder. “We need you.”
29
Anya
I made it outside just as the bells in the North wing tower began to ring.
Cori turned, narrowing her eyes at the tower as if she didn’t know what the bells meant.
Of course she didn’t. They hadn’t rung since she awoke in Reed’s arms.
Truthfully, they hadn’t rung in generations. But we’d all been taught what they meant.
The castle was under attack. This was the call for every teacher, every student, and even every staff member for miles around to come home and fight.
The fact that we were already sequestered in the courtyard did not at all diminish the haunting sound of the ringing bells. They echoed off the cobblestones and the massive granite walls of the castle as the crowd murmured nervously about the danger headed our way.
The full moon lit the courtyard almost like it was midday. And I could easily see that every face in the crowd was a mask of anguish. I was beginning to realize that this place wasn’t just my home, it was home to all of us.
And it was a place worth fighting for.
“First-years, against the walls,” Professor Waita called out in her low, sweet voice. “Upper classes with me. Bella, you too.”
Luke grabbed Bella’s upper arm, his eyes wide with fear.
“You can’t do this,” he hissed, placing his other hand on her belly and the new life blooming within.
“I have to,” she told him, her hand joining his. “And this is exactly why.”
“Be careful,” he whispered.
She went up on her toes and kissed his cheek, then dashed off to join Professor Waita and the upperclassmen at the edge of the courtyard. I assumed they would be utilizing plant warfare, Bella’s greatest gift. They were lucky to have her.
“Kendall,” Professor Merness said briskly.
