The Whispering Echoes (Smoke and Mirrors Book 3)

by Melissa Giorgio

  “You fought,” Claudette said. Reaching out, she patted her brother on the thigh. “You’ll fix it. No one can stay mad at you, Emile. It’s actually impossible.”

  Sighing softly, he didn’t respond and the rest of the journey back to Fairfield was spent in silence. The pain was returning, bit by bit, changing from an ache in my limbs to a fire running through my veins, threatening to ignite me from the inside. Is this what magicians felt all the time? And Vernen? How can they stand it?

  Each step the horse took rattled through me, and I was on the verge of begging Jaegger to put me back to sleep when the city gates rose into view. Unlike Dusk, with its severe stone walls encircling the entire city, the gates were more for ornamentation than protection. No guards waited by the entrance, and people came and went as they pleased. The hour was late, so we didn’t pass too many people on our way through the winding streets to the house where Leonid and the others were staying. Even so, Jaegger disappeared into the folds of my coat, out of sight from any prying eyes.

  Emile led the horse to a two-storied home with a decent-sized piece of property. Not as large as any manor from Rise, it was still more spacious than I expected. The homes weren’t built on top of each other like they were in Way and the slums. It was like the designers of Fairfield had all the land they could want and planted homes at random intervals. Close enough that you could fit five buildings on a block, but wide enough that they had their privacy.

  Privacy was definitely something we’d need.

  Emile slid off the horse before helping me down. When my legs gave out under me, he scooped me up, carrying me to the front door. Claudette opened it for him and he stepped inside, calling out for West.

  He came immediately, wiping his hands on a white towel. His face was gray with exhaustion, but upon seeing me he straightened, alert, as his eyes went wide. “Irina, what did you to do your hand now?”

  Vaguely, I realized it’d started bleeding again, staining the wood floor, and I felt bad for the owner of the house. I’d been here for less than a minute, and I was already making a mess.

  “Bring her back here,” West instructed. He led us to a sterile-looking room with a large, flat table in the middle. A narrow counter cluttered with medical equipment took up one wall; other than the counter and the table, the room was empty. It didn’t even have a window in the wall. As West lit a few candles, he glanced searchingly at Claudette, who was hovering in the doorway as Emile placed me gently down on the table. “You all right?” His voice was gentle, as if he was afraid of scaring her off.

  She nodded slightly, looking sick. “I… think so. It’s been a long day.”

  West let out a quiet chuckle. “Tell me about it.”

  “I’m going to see to your horse,” Claudette told Emile, disappearing before anyone could respond. Emile followed her wordlessly, telling Quinn to come with him.

  After watching Claudette go, West turned his attention back to me and my hand. “Honestly, Irina, I’m going to get you a pair of gauntlets to wear.”

  I reached for him with my good hand, stopping him before he could unwrap the soiled makeshift bandage from my left hand. “Leonid?”

  “He’s upstairs sleeping.” Something flickered in his eyes—pain? “He was roughed up pretty badly, but you know our captain. He’ll be fine. I imagine he’ll be even surlier when he wakes up.” Squeezing my good hand gently, West continued, “He’ll be happy to see you tomorrow.”

  All I could manage was a small nod. As West began unwinding the bandage from my hand, Jaegger slipped from the folds of my coat, causing West to yelp. “What are you doing here?”

  “What do you think?” Jaegger sneered. “You take care of her, or you’ll answer to me.”

  “No pressure,” West muttered. “You might want to make yourself scarce, dragon. The brothers that live here don’t know about you.”

  Jaegger jumped out of my lap but remained on the table, leaning against me. Again, some of the pain inside of me lessened and I knew Jaegger was doing something to calm the magic. “Can you trust them?”

  Removing the bandage from my hand, West winced at the bloody mess underneath. He went to the counter and picked up a clean towel and a bottle of clear liquid before coming back to me. “The driver helped us out even though he didn’t have to. And his brother, the doctor, won’t take any payment for what he did today. They’re good men, both of them.”

  “Good, because I’m not leaving her side,” Jaegger said. “That wound on her hand isn’t her only injury.”

  West cursed as he began cleaning the stab wound. “Why am I not surprised to hear you say that?”

  There was a commotion at the doorway as Elyse and Aden raced in. “She’s back!” Elyse ran over and went to hug me, freezing in horror as she took in my hand. “What happened?”

  I slid my eyes to Jaegger, who nodded before launching into the tale. There was a lot of cursing from West, Aden looked pale, and Elyse was shaking her head in disbelief. “Oh, Irina,” she said. “I’m so sorry. We wanted to come after you, but Leonid and Vernen…”

  “No,” I whispered. “You did the right thing.”

  “I can fix stab wounds. I can bind broken limbs,” West said. He was sewing up the stab wound with neat, efficient stitches, but he paused in his work. “But magic? I can’t… I don’t know…” He looked at me helplessly. “I’m sorry, Irina.”

  I met his eye and implored him to realize that I didn’t blame him for not being able to quench the fire that raged inside me.

  “She knows that, dummy,” Elyse said. “Jae, can you help her?”

  “I will teach her how to control the magic, yes,” the dragon answered. “But not tonight. Tonight she needs to rest.”

  “Leonid,” I said again.

  “How did I know you were going to say that?” West asked, finishing with the stitches. He grabbed a roll of bandages and began wrapping it around my hand neatly. Footsteps came from the hallway and West looked up. “Oh, sorry,” he said to the figure standing in the doorway. “We’ve got another injured friend.”

  “I see that.” A man in his mid-thirties came into the room. He had a round, open face, dark brown eyes, and brown skin and was gently smiling at me. I found myself relaxing in his presence. Then his eyes skipped to Jaegger and he stumbled back, cursing.

  “Jack,” West said, holding out a hand.

  “Is that—”

  “Yes,” Jaegger interrupted in a bored tone of voice. “I am a dragon. We’re not actually extinct. This human is mine and she’s hurting, and I must stay with her or else she’ll be in even greater pain. As a doctor, you would not deny your patient treatment, would you?”

  “He would if the treatment came with very sharp teeth and claws,” West muttered.

  Jack had a hand over his heaving chest. “I think I’m going to faint. There is a dragon sitting in my examining room and its talking to me.”

  A growl emanated from Jaegger’s chest. “It? It? I am most certainly a he!”

  Elyse clapped her hands and everyone turned to her. “All right, enough. Right now helping Irina is our priority. Let’s get her comfortable and we’ll worry about everything else tomorrow. It’s late, it’s been a long day, and everyone is exhausted.” She turned to Jack and lowered her voice. “If you want us to leave in the morning, I understand. We’ll find someplace else to go.”

  Jack looked horrified at the thought. “I’m not throwing injured patients out of my house! You’re all welcome here. Even…” His gaze slid to Jaegger and he swallowed noisily. “Even dragons.”

  “Good.” Jaegger flicked his tail, looking pleased with the situation. “Do you have a private room for her?”

  The others exchanged glances and Elyse said, hesitantly, “I guess the rest of us can room together. Some of us will have to sleep on the floor...”

  As they started discussing the rooming situation, I turned my head to the right so I could look at Jaegger. He raised his eyes to the ceiling, huffing his impatience. �
��We’ll be here all night at this rate.”

  “Thank you,” I said softly, knowing he was doing everything in his power to help me.

  Nuzzling my good hand, he said, “You will survive this, little bird. I’m not sure how I’ll manage to keep my sanity around this group, but I will try, for your sake.”

  I gave him a weak smile, which seemed to satisfy him.

  JAEGGER WAS RIGHT; THE DISCUSSION did go on for far too long. I mustered all of my energy and said as loudly as I could, “Leonid.”

  The conversation came to a halt. West, who’d finished bandaging my hand and was gathering up the medical supplies he’d used, paused. “Fine, I’ll take you to him. But he’s sleeping and… you don’t care, do you?” he said, noticing the stubborn look on my face. “Just let me clean up—”

  “Go,” Jack said, waving him away. “I’ve got it.”

  “Thank you.” West clasped a hand to his shoulder. “You’re a good man. You and your brother.”

  “My brother.” Jack rolled his eyes. “Who is sleeping peacefully upstairs and unaware of what’s happening down here. Oh, to live such a life…”

  As West picked me up, Elyse and Aden left to see to the new room arrangements. Emile, Claudette, and Quinn were sitting in the main room when we emerged from the examining room; they stopped talking and stood when they saw us.

  “How is she?” Claudette asked.

  “I’ve stitched up her hand. The rest is up to Jaegger,” West said. The dragon was trailing behind him, the size of a dog now, keeping a close eye on me. “I’m taking her up to see the captain, and then she’s going to sleep.” He eyed me sternly. “Right, Irina?”

  “Yes, doctor.”

  Satisfied, he mounted the stairs carefully with me balanced in his arms.

  “Are you sure you can manage?” Claudette asked. “You look like you’re going to drop her. Emile can carry her if you want.” To her brother she said, “Go help him.”

  “If he drops her, I will eat him,” Jaegger said plainly. “So he knows not to drop her.”

  “Can everyone please be quiet? I’m fine. I don’t need anyone’s help, but I swear if you keep on distracting me, I’ll end up falling.” West swore under his breath as he slowly inched up the stairs. When he made it to the top, he heaved a sigh of relief. “I swear they wanted me to drop you.”

  The long hallway was lit with candles, making it easy to see. There were four doorways and West headed to the second one on the right, nudging it open with his foot.

  And there was Leonid, lying in bed.

  Up until that moment, I’d been terrified of what I’d see, but stretched out in bed, on his back, Leonid looked peaceful. His left shoulder was bandaged, the white cloth a startling contrast to his copper skin. Candles lit the room, throwing shadows on his face and the walls. Next to the bed Vernen sat, his mouth parted in surprise. When I tried to meet his gaze, he turned his head away abruptly.

  West carefully sat me down in the room’s only other chair. Besides the bed and chairs, there was a chest and a table. Resting on the table was a pitcher and a pair of drinking glasses; other than that, the room was devoid of ornamentation. No pictures hung on the walls, and only plain, white curtains decorated the windows.

  “Jack uses this room for patients,” West explained, noticing as I glanced around the room. “For the ones who require extra attention. Like Leonid.” He gestured to Leonid’s wounded shoulder. “It was a clean cut. He lost a lot of blood, and he’ll be complaining when he wakes up, but he’ll recover.” West’s hand moved downward, hovering over Leonid’s stomach. “His ribs are another story. Aurora broke at least one when she kicked him.” He paused to mutter a foul oath. “Ribs take time to heal, and he won’t be on his feet anytime soon.”

  My stomach dropped. We had the stone now. Our next course of action was to return it to Dusk. But if Leonid couldn’t move—

  “Enough,” Jaegger said, as if sensing my thoughts. “Little bird, you have to worry about yourself right now.”

  “Wait.” I reached for Leonid’s hand, covering it with my uninjured one. After watching his chest rise and fall steadily, I looked over his prone form to Vernen.

  My friend was covering his face in his hands while his shoulder shook with silent sobs. Stunned, I turned to West, who said, a little frantically, “Vern, she’s fine.”

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I couldn’t protect you in the hedge maze, and I couldn’t help you today, either.”

  Today. Had it really only been a few hours ago that I was riding in the coach with Leonid and Vernen, teasing Vernen about Emile and playing cards? It felt like a lifetime ago, and that it’d happened to a different person. Maybe it did. I stared down at my hands, only able to clench the right one into a fist. Fire continued to drum through me, and suddenly I felt the need to leave the room before I started screaming.

  “Shh.” Jaegger pushed his head into my lap. “Little bird, look at me. Look at me.”

  Staring into Jaegger’s eyes, I vaguely registered Vernen jumping to his feet. “What’s wrong with her? Why… Why do I sense magic?”

  West crossed the room and put a hand on Vernen’s shoulder. “I’ll explain everything. Let me get her settled first and then—”

  “No.” Vernen shoved his hand away. “I need… I need air.” Without another word he pushed past West and left the room. We could hear his feet on the stairs. Someone said something—Emile, maybe—and then the front door slammed shut.

  Exhaling loudly, West pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. “That went wonderfully.” Rousing himself with a shake, he came back to my side and said, “Ready?”

  I nodded, allowing him to pick me up again and carry me to the room across the hall. It was similar to the one we’d just left, although my friends’ satchels were piled in the corner. I felt a stab of guilt at displacing them and wondered how they’ll manage to all sleep in the same room.

  West laid me down on the bed, fussing with the blankets and the pillows until he was certain I was comfortable. Then his attention returned to my hand. “How does it feel?”

  “Like fire.” When he frowned, I explained, “My body… feels like it’s on fire.”

  His mouth tugged downward, displaying his unhappiness. To Jaegger, he asked, “What can I do?”

  The dragon shook his head. “Right now, I’m the only one that can help her. Tomorrow, she will work on helping herself.” Jumping up onto the bed, he circled once before lying down next to me, his head resting on my stomach. “She’s strong. She will master this.”

  West nodded slowly, still clearly displeased. “All right. If you need anything, anything, just come find me.” He turned when the floorboards behind him creaked.

  Jack stood in the doorway, holding a glass. “I brought something to help her sleep.”

  “Thank you.” West made to give it to me, but Jaegger shook his head.

  “Not yet.”

  Setting the glass down on the nightstand next to the bed, West touched me briefly on the shoulder. “Get some rest, Irina.”

  “Thank you…”

  The two men left the room, closing the door behind them. For the longest time, the only sound in the room was the dragon’s loud breathing. He was watching me, his gaze solemn as I struggled to contain the fire within. “I meant what I said, little bird. You are strong. You will survive this. I know it doesn’t seem like that now, but I will teach you to work with the magic. You will control it, instead of it controlling you.”

  I rested my hand on his head, feeling his rough scales beneath my fingertips. He arched into my touch, his presence continuing to soothe me. I wondered what he was doing to help me, and how I’d feel if he wasn’t here. Remembering how it’d felt right after Aeonia’s blood mixed with mine, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle the pain on my own, despite Jaegger’s insistence that I was strong.

  “Right now you are brimming with magic,” Jaegger continued. “Too much of it. It needs an outlet. If you hord
e the magic, it ends up corrupting you.”

  Like with the magicians of the old wars. Noticing my expression, Jaegger nodded. “Yes, I spoke with Vernen about this already. The two of you are now in a similar situation. After you recover, you can practice together.”

  The thought of practicing magic with Vernen was so bizarre I couldn’t even begin to comprehend it.

  “Close your eyes,” he instructed, standing. I did as he said, allowing his words to wash over me. “Picture the magic inside of you as a tangible, living thing. That’s a mistake most make; they don’t think of the magic as alive. But it is. Not only that, but it’s in everything and everyone, even those that don’t possess the talent to wield it. It’s always been there, inside of you, but now you have the means to control it.

  “I know this isn’t what you wanted, little bird,” Jaegger said. “I know after Bantheir, you wished for a life without magic. I feel this is my fault.” My eyes flew open in surprise. “You asked once, when I was growing weak, if you should cut the Essence out of your hand.” His voice grew soft. “But I was selfish and said no. I wanted to see how things played out—I wanted to see you best both Parnaby and Aeonia. They’ve lived their lives thinking they’re stronger than everyone else, and I wanted to see them proven wrong. I knew from the moment I met you that you were destined for great things. But look at what’s happened to you…”

  “Jae…” My hand curled around the side of his face. His confession wasn’t something I expected, but I was grateful that he’d told me this. “I don’t blame you.”

  His eyes reflected his sorrow. “You should.”

  “No. It’s their fault. For not controlling the magic.” I struggled into a sitting position, swallowing a gasp as pain took hold of me, blurring my vision for a moment.

  “Little bird—”

  “Teach me.” I poured my energy into my words so that they rang out across the room. “Show me how to control it… so I don’t end up… like them. Show me, Jae.”