The Whispering Echoes (Smoke and Mirrors Book 3)

by Melissa Giorgio

I could only hope she was right.

  THE RAIN CONTINUED ALL DAY and into the evening, as did Michel’s persistent questions. We were at our wit’s end, snapping at one another and Michel, and I knew if we didn’t leave soon, someone would end up telling him something just to get him to leave us alone. The magic was reacting to my anxiety, as turbulent as the storm overhead, and I tried all of Jaegger’s exercises, but nothing calmed me. Eventually, as a last resort, I reached out to Vernen, who responded at once. I filled him in on everything before begging him for some news about Leonid. Something to distract me, I said.

  He got out of bed today, Vernen said, surprising me.

  He can walk now?

  Gingerly, and West wouldn’t let him overdo it. We could see Leonid wanted to head to the stables and saddle a horse, and he probably would have if we hadn’t barred his way to the stairs. West let him walk around upstairs before sending him back to bed. Now we’re taking turns sitting by his bedside, making sure he doesn’t get up and do anything reckless.

  I shook my head. I’m sorry.

  Don’t be sorry. We all knew he was going to act like this. But don’t expect him to listen to West for very long, Vernen warned. If the rain continues to delay you, you might as well wait for us to arrive, and then we can head to Dusk together.

  That particular thought filled me with such happiness that I began grinning like a fool. I was thankful I was sitting alone in the room; the others were downstairs, lingering over dinner. Even though I wanted Leonid to rest, a larger, selfish part of me wanted him here on the road with us. Maybe it’s a good thing it started raining, I told Vernen.

  Maybe. Although being stuck with Michel doesn’t sound very pleasant.

  My good mood slipped away. He’s horrible, Vernen! How did Claudette and Emile stand his company all this time?

  I don’t know. A pause, and then Vernen’s next words came out hesitantly. How… is he?

  Knowing he meant Emile, I answered, Fine, but I felt guilty over my vague answer. The truth was I hadn’t talked much with him during our trip. In fact, I was actually avoiding him, now that I thought about it. Not because I disliked him, but because we’d both left someone we cared about behind, and I was afraid if we started commiserating, I would lose what little sanity I had over the situation and become entirely useless for the rest of the journey.

  But that wasn’t fair to Emile. Neither was keeping the bond from him. We hadn’t told Leonid about it because we knew he’d hound Vernen. But what would Emile do? Claudette said he wouldn’t pester me, and I believed her. So why had I kept this a secret from him?

  Do you want me to tell him anything? I asked Vernen.

  Surprise mixed with a tinge of shyness passed through the bond. I…

  I imagined the look of indecision on Vernen’s face and stayed quiet, letting him figure this out.

  Tell him… I’ll see him soon, Vernen eventually said. It probably wasn’t precisely what he wanted to say, but with me acting as an intermediary, he was too shy to say much more. After promising I would, we broke the connection and I rose, going to the window. Outside the darkness was punctuated by candles flickering in the windows of the other buildings, giving Tyne an eerie feel to it. Again I thought of Jaegger. Had he found shelter? Was he with Senia? I hoped wherever he was it was both warm and dry.

  I turned away from the window, jumping when I saw Emile standing there, watching me. How long had he been there? I hadn’t even heard him enter the room. The candle on the small table between the beds flared up and we both looked at it, knowing I was the reason the flame was hissing and sputtering.

  Flashing back to Dusk, when Vernen had done the same thing without even realizing it, I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed the magic out of me. When I opened my eyes, the flame was back to normal and Emile wore an apologetic look on his face.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said. “Claudette sent me up here to find you. She was worried. And she said… you might have something to tell me?”

  She was giving me an opportunity to tell Emile about Vernen. Taking it, I spoke softly about the bond, and how I could use it to contact Vernen right now if I wished. “He said he’ll see you soon,” I ended, watching as Emile’s face brightened.

  “He mentioned me?”

  “Of course!” It was so sweet, the way they danced around each other, shy, but at the same time interested. “You’ll wait for him in Dusk, won’t you?”

  Emile nodded. “That’s what I promised.”

  “Good. I know we don’t know each other that well yet, Emile, but Vernen is a great person. I want him to be happy,” I said. “I want you both to be.”

  Sitting down on one of the beds, Emile rubbed his left calf absently. Noticing me watching, he said, “An old wound. It bothers me when I sit still too long.”

  “What happened?” I asked, imagining him falling off his horse and breaking his leg as a youth.

  “A burn, courtesy of Aeonia.”

  I gasped, the flame next to me reacting with my shock. Claudette had mentioned a fire that had nearly consumed everyone, but she’d left out the part about her brother being burned. And yet she still wanted to give Aeonia a chance? Would I do the same, if it was someone I cared about who’d been hurt?

  “I would have died that day,” Emile said. “We all would have, if Claudette hadn’t talked Aeonia through her fear. I’ve spent all this time thinking she’s the only one who can make Aeonia see sense. That if we ever caught up to her again, instead of killing her like Michel wished, Claudette would get Aeonia to join us. Help us find the ones responsible for destroying Ayres and…” His face tightened. “You probably think we’re the worst, embarking on this quest for revenge.”

  “If I watched someone destroy Dusk and everyone I cared about, I would hunt down the ones responsible,” I said. “Even before I had this power inside of me. You’re not evil, Emile. Neither is Claudette. You both did the right thing that day, stopping when you could have killed Jaegger and attacked Vernen. That’s something I’ll never forget. I’m sorry if I never thanked you for that. For that, and for everything you’ve done since then. I know this journey hasn’t been the easiest because of me and my reaction to the stone, but you’re still here. The both of you are still here, seeing it through to the end.” I leaned against the wall, pressing my face against the cool pane of the window. “Thank you for coming with us to Dusk. Thank you for helping us. If those magicians were released from the stone…” I gave a nervous laugh. “I don’t want to even finish that sentence.”

  Emile’s fingers tightened over his calf. “You don’t have to thank me for going with you to Dusk. How could we not help, after what happened to our own city? This is so much better than tracking down magicians to murder them, Irina. This is a chance to do good. To save another city.”

  “And it has nothing to do with a certain blue-eyed soldier, right?” I teased.

  His cheeks went red as he laughed softly. “Maybe a little.”

  From the hallway came the creak of a floorboard. We both glanced out the open door, Emile getting up off the bed and looking out into the hallway. “No one there,” he confirmed. “Must have been the building settling.”

  I raised my eyes to the ceiling. “I hope this place doesn’t start leaking.”

  “Why not?” Emile joked. “That would be the perfect end to an already perfect day.”

  As we shared a laugh, I mentally chastised myself for not speaking with Emile earlier. No wonder Vernen was so charmed by him. He was as sweet and kind as Vernen and Claudette had said, quick to smile and even quicker to show his loyalty to you.

  Vernen, I sent through the bond, I’m so happy you met Emile.

  So am I, he said, his response throbbing with emotion.

  THE NEXT MORNING I EXPECTED more of the same weather but was instead surprised with a sky that was a crisp, deep blue without a cloud in sight. The roads, however, were still a soggy, muddy mess, but Claudette was determined to leave.

  T
he sooner, the better.

  “Michel’s gone,” she said when I joined her and Emile for breakfast in the main room of the inn. “I don’t know where, nor do I care, but now is the perfect time to go.”

  “But what if he’s waiting to follow us?” I asked.

  “Irina.” Claudette looked at me in exasperation. “We have a dragon on our side. A dragon who has my permission to eat Michel if he’s stupid enough to follow us.”

  I waited for Emile to protest Claudette’s violent proclamation, but he simply lifted his cup of tea, tilting it toward his sister as if saluting her. Sitting back in her seat, Claudette crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, signaling the end of the conversation.

  As soon as we finished eating breakfast, we grabbed our satchels from our rooms and left the inn. Claudette and Emile went to get the horses while Elyse, Quinn, and I picked up some supplies for the second leg of our trip.

  We met up at the southern end of Tyne, our boots and the horses’ hooves squelching in the mud. “I talked to a group who arrived this morning,” Claudette said as she led her horse by the reins. “The roads are better two miles down; we’ll walk until then because I don’t want to risk injuring the horses.”

  I agreed, only half paying attention as my eyes scanned the field for any sign of Jaegger. But people were milling around, enjoying the sun and the clear skies after a day of being holed up inside their homes, and it was too risky for the dragon to show himself. Readjusting my grip on my satchel, I followed the others, whispering, “Come find me, Jae.”

  The first mile was slow-going. Between the muddy ground and fallen trees blocking parts of the road, we had to keep taking detours until finally we gave up on following the road at all and led the horses off of it. The plains were muddy as well, the ground littered with branches and stones, and by the time we stopped for a break, we were tired, sweaty, and filthy. While the horses drank deeply from a stream, I shaded my eyes with my hand, scanning the plains. When a familiar black shape caught my eye, I heaved a sigh of relief.

  Jaegger joined us, grinning at the expression on my face. “Did you miss me, little bird?”

  “Were you all right during the storm yesterday?” When he continued to grin without answering me, I began to grow suspicious. “Jae. What were you doing yesterday?” A pause. “Did it happen to involve a certain red dragon?”

  He hummed, delighted at my question. “Perhaps.”

  Should I cheer for him, tell him how happy I was that things seemed to have worked out between him and Senia? But what if that lead him to tell me exactly what’d transpired between the two of them? Deciding I didn’t want to know, I acted indifferent, which made him growl.

  “Some things are meant to be secret,” I said. “I’m sure Senia would agree.”

  He opened his mouth to argue with me, but then closed it and nodded his head. “You are right, little bird. You’ll have to leave it up to your imagination.”

  “Which isn’t nearly as vivid as yours, I’m certain—” I ducked as his wing lashed out, smiling when it missed me, only to be knocked over by his tail. I landed in the mud with a loud plop, yelling at Jaegger while he laughed uproariously. But his laughter stopped the moment a giant ball of mud hit him square between the eyes, and he lunged forward, pinning me down with one massive paw as he loomed over me, much the same way he’d done with Parnaby.

  I was still smiling, but my heart skipped a beat as I remembered the way Jaegger had looked at Parnaby, had looked at Bantheir, and wondered if some day he’d look at me that way too, if I did as Senia said and learned how to use my powers.

  Maybe some fear shone in my eyes because Jaegger lifted his foot immediately, grabbing the hood of my coat between his teeth and lifting me to my feet in one solid movement. “Little bird,” he said, serious now. “I will always be your dragon. No matter what happens.”

  Nodding, I hugged him, letting him know by my gestures rather than words that I felt the same way.

  And then I pegged him between the eyes with another ball of mud.

  TWO MILES SOUTH OF TYNE the horses were restless, breaking out into a gallop the moment we mounted them on the clear, dried road. Jaegger took to the skies once more and I relaxed in my saddle for the first time since we’d left Fairfield. Just a few more days, and we’ll be home.

  We pushed the horses hard to make up for lost time. When Claudette finally pulled her horse to a halt, Elyse looked like she was ready to argue, but I caught her eye, shaking my head slightly. Claudette and Emile were the travelers, not us. When they said it was time to stop, we needed to listen to them.

  Quinn and I gathered firewood; the storm that had plagued Tyne hadn’t reached this far south, so the wood was dry and perfect for kindling. With Jaegger’s help we got a fire going and we hunkered around it, eating dinner and speaking little. Elyse and Emile volunteered to take first watch, so I curled up on the ground next to Jaegger, not realizing until I shut my eyes how exhausted I was.

  A sharp cry jolted me out of my sleep. Reaching for Jaegger, my stomach dropped when I saw he wasn’t there. “What’s going on?” I heard Claudette call, followed by the sound of her sword being unsheathed. My fingers went to my pocket and I pulled out Leonid’s knife as I got to my feet and glanced around the camp. The fire was still lit, illuminating the figures before me and I blinked once, twice, not comprehending what I was seeing.

  Emile was crouched over Quinn, a knife in one hand and the amplifier in the other. The girl was the one who’d cried out, and now she cowered under Emile, the knife inches from her throat. To their right Elyse was slumped on the ground, her eyes closed and a thin line of red dripping down from her forehead.

  And Jaegger—

  I felt sick to my stomach, the magic roiling inside of me, begging to be used.

  Jaegger must have gone to Quinn’s defense, but the amplifier had reduced him to a tiny mass, his wings pressed tightly against his body and his head held at an awkward angle. For a moment I thought—feared—he was dead, but then he made a pathetic noise and shuddered, launching me into action.

  Claudette, taking all of this in at the same time, yelled, “Emile!” Her voice was horrified as it rang out across the plains and then she too stepped forward, her sword gripped tightly between her hands as she approached her brother slowly, cautiously.

  There was no caution in my movements as I hurled myself at Emile, my magic lashing out of me uncontrollably. It struck Emile and he went flying, the knife falling from his fingers while his other hand continued to grip the amplifier. Then Claudette was there between us, shouting, “No!” as she held one hand up to me, the other aiming the sword at her brother.

  But I wasn’t going to attack Emile again. Already I felt spent, dizzy from using all of that magic at once, and I sank to my knees, picking up Jaegger’s ice-cold body and wrapping it in the folds of my coat. “Jae. Jae! Say something, please. Jae, speak to me.” All the while I was backtracking on my hands and knees, forcing my body to move even as it protested.

  When I put enough distance between us and the amplifier, Jaegger said, “I am… all right.”

  I shakily got to my feet and hugged him tightly. The world tilted under my feet, but I ignored it. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” My worst nightmare had come true: seeing Jaegger suffer the effects of the amplifier yet again.

  Claudette, meanwhile, was trying to get an explanation out of Emile. “What are you doing? This isn’t you, Emile. You would never…” The hand holding the sword was shaking visibly. “Why did you do this?”

  “Give me the amplifier back,” Quinn said bravely as she got to her feet and stood next to Claudette. “You hurt Jae and Elyse, Emile. Why would you hurt them?”

  Up until now, Emile’s face had been blank, free of emotion, but as the two questioned him, I could see in the flickering firelight how he reacted to their questions. He was confused, and he was struggling against something as he opened his mouth and said, “I… I don’t… know.”

  “
Emile.” The word came out as a plea as Claudette took a hesitant step forward. “What’s happening? Tell me. Tell me how to fix this!”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” As we jolted with surprise, Aeonia stepped into the circle of light from the campfire, smiling coldly. She raised her hand; it was glowing with a harsh, white light that made Emile flinch and take a step back, away from Claudette and into the darkness. The amplifier in his hand burned bright blue, intensified by Aeonia’s sudden presence.

  “What are you doing to him?” Claudette screamed, turning her sword on Aeonia.

  “Oh, there’s nothing to worry about. He’s just being controlled,” Aeonia said matter-of-factly, “by me.”

  CLAUDETTE SNARLED, “AEONIA, YOU PROMISED—”

  Aeonia cut her off. “I know what I said. But the stone has been talking to me all this time, Claudette. You won’t understand because you don’t have magic, but the voices… They won’t leave me alone.”

  I shivered, knowing exactly what she meant. With Jaegger weakened, the voices were a constant roar in my ears, impossible to block out.

  Free us now!

  “But the things they promised,” Aeonia continued, smiling brightly. “Everything will work out now. You’ll see, Claudette.” She threw the glowing orb in her hand up in the air and it flared, illuminating the plains like a miniature sun. “Emile, finish this.”

  “No.” Claudette took a step toward Aeonia. “Emile, don’t listen to her.”

  “He doesn’t have a choice,” Aeonia said as Emile locked his eyes on me. No, not me, but Jaegger, who was hissing weakly for me to go, to leave him, but I was still weak from attacking Emile with magic and I couldn’t get my legs to listen to me.

  Then someone grabbed one of my arms and twisted it sharply behind my back. Crying out, I dropped Jaegger, watching in horror as his small, feeble body bounced against the ground, his limbs and wings spread out at awkward angles. He lifted his head once before letting it drop.