by Holly Hook
"Thorne!" Leon rasped. "Stop them."
But Thorne's footsteps didn't hit the ground for the first few seconds. He was trying to let us escape. But I was fast, so fast I could almost drag Xavier along with me. He didn't complain but ran like a dog attached to a leash, panting and doing the best he could. We ran past the Garden that still glowed green inside, where they were probably going to drain Xavier's power and maybe worse.
Xavier had saved my life. I was saving his.
We reached the end of the corridor and Xavier seethed. Thorne was still coming. He was halfway towards us, pumping his arms, shaking his head and giving us a silent warning to keep going.
"I'll carry you," I said. "Unless you can transpose or whatever that is again."
"I'm drained again after the fight," he said. "I can't open a portal."
I had never carried someone before. But Xavier couldn't run as fast as I could and the air around us was getting hot. Leon must be doing something. He was an Elder War Mage. He must have better use of his power if he scared everyone like this.
So I hooked my arms under Xavier's knees and back and hoisted him up.
It was awkward on so many levels. I burst into another run. Xavier felt no heavier than a couple sacks of flour. I had drank right before this. This wouldn't be possible in the middle of the day.
I hoped it was still night outside because that was where we had to go.
A burst of magenta light flared behind us. Leon rasped Xavier's name but I didn't dare look back. He was transposing. I turned down the corridor where the laughing was coming from and Xavier put his hand over his eyes like he was trying to block everything out. I ran faster while everything ahead took a sharp focus. There was a dead end.
I swore. "We have a problem."
Another flash of magenta light blew up behind us, followed by the heat. Leon was keeping pace. He could transpose more than once. He knew we were headed into a trap. I stopped and carried Xavier through the double door of the dimly lit pub, hoping there wasn't an age restriction down here like there was on the surface.
The place was full of both men and women, packing the round, wooden tables with oil lamps hanging above them. The reek of alcohol filled the place and I bumped past chairs towards a back door that may or may not lead to an exit. I set Xavier down in the middle of the room, next to a man with green-flecked eyes. A Normal bartender yelled at us that we weren't supposed to be in here. Yep. Some of the Normal laws still applied down here.
"Sorry!" I yelled, waving and running for the back door.
"Yeah. Sorry!" Xavier shouted.
The back door was locked but I pulled hard enough to break it, which made the bartender yell at us even more. There were stairs leading down into an area so dark that my gray vision snapped into existence.
"Xavier," Leon rasped. He wouldn't have any trouble passing the age limit. I glanced back to see him hobbling through the pub at us. People scooted out of the way for him. Chairs squeaked and oil lamps swung as Mages and shifters and other Abnormals left their seats and moved to the sides of the bar.
Xavier pushed me forward into the stairwell and closed the door behind him, not that it would do much good against a powerful War Mage. "Go," he hissed. "Lead me."
I grabbed his arm and my full gray vision came. These stairs spiraled downward, into ever deeper parts of the Underground. Everything smelled like stone and I caught more reek of wine and other really old drinks down here.
"I'm trusting you, Alyssa. I hope he's getting drained up there."
That was our only hope. Leon had transposed twice. Xavier could only do it once every few hours. How much power did the guy have?
The stairwell exploded in magenta light and heat slashed at my back, at the part of my tank top already destroyed by Allunna's sword. He was still in pursuit. A hand raked my back and I picked up the pace, yanking Xavier down the stairs. He was still with me.
"I don't want to destroy you," Leon rasped in a voice so low Xavier might not be able to hear it. "Do not make me do that."
I wanted to turn around and stab that sicko but I wasn't sure how that would go. He was confident enough to chase us. So I stayed silent and pulled Xavier through the bottom of the stairwell and into a large room filled with casks of booze, wine bottles and archways that led to more corridors. The air heated and I smelled dust igniting. The alcohol fumes got stronger. A fire in here would be bad. My skin burned like I was standing in the sun and I yanked Xavier through an archway on the left, which turned out to be a narrow, damp tunnel with standing water a bit further down.
It was our only hope. I bolted for that and Xavier cried out in pain. More magenta light, hotter than ever, licked at our backs. Leon was going to burn us to death.
I shoved Xavier into the puddle and lay down over him.
The world turned into heat and purple flames. My just-healed back shouted in agony. Blisters rose. My skin swelled as the fire rushed over us, trying to burn and destroy everything it touched.
I closed my eyes. This would be a horrible way to die. All I could think of was Dad, trapped somewhere and maybe dead. Or worse--he was on his way to turning into a Shadow Wraith. Or Bound to Thoreau. There would be no happy endings for any of us.
But at last, after what felt like a millennia, the heat died down.
I wondered if I was dead at first as a bit of cool relief washed over my back, but then my flesh tingled as it tried to pull itself back together, patching blisters and closing open wounds. Xavier struggled under me and in a moment of panic I remembered he was in water. I sat up as my skin protested and screamed, but I bit my lip so hard it bled. I still held my sword and best of all, Xavier got up from the puddle and coughed.
He was alive. I hadn't drowned him.
The tunnel smelled of smoke and the puddle was lower than before, some of it evaporated. Steam curled around us. Nothing had caught fire, though. My back tingled harder--I was healing thanks to the meal Trish had provided--and I stood, grabbing Xavier's arm.
"We're alive," I said.
Leon had tried to roast us.
Me and his own grandson.
I was going to kill him. I clutched the sword and wondered if he was drained of power and still out there, ready to grab a bottle of wine and celebrate his victory. But then I heard a foot shuffle. That might be him. My smell couldn't tell me since he and Xavier smelled the same.
But then I caught the whiff of McDonald's.
"I think they're dead," Thorne said with a deep sadness.
"I must see," Leon said. "This is a sad day, indeed."
"You didn't have to do that," Thorne said. Emotion welled up in his voice and his heart rate must be increasing, because his smell got stronger. "Alyssa was my best student. The best one I've had in a long time, in fact. I care about my students!"
The grief in his voice made me want to stab Leon even more, but Xavier took my shoulder and pulled me back.
"He needed to go," Leon said.
"He was a kid!" Thorne shouted. "And Alyssa--she was innocent!"
"You don't know anything about magical honor," Leon rasped. "I have been stung. Scorned by my peers."
"What has gone on down here?" the bartender asked. He was storming down the stairs.
"Leave," Leon rasped.
Xavier pulled again. I wasn't sure if he could hear what I was, but I was transfixed.
"My casks," the bartender said. "Some of that wine was from the forties. You can't find that anymore!"
"I ordered you to leave," Leon said.
The bartender's voice deepened into a growl--a real animal growl. Maybe he wasn't Normal after all. "That was thousands of dollars worth of inventory."
"We had better go," Xavier whispered in my ear.
I thought of Thorne. I didn't want anything to hurt him and things were getting ugly out there. But I smelled the air and there was the tiniest breeze coming through the tunnel from the direction we needed to go in. Somewhere distant was an exit.
Leon ra
sped something else but I wasn't paying any attention. More magenta light flared from the main room but by then, I had taken Xavier's arm and was leading him further down the half-flooded tunnel about as fast as I could.
And next to me, Xavier hung his head and didn't say a word.
Chapter Seven
The tunnel was very, very quiet. Not even the creepiest denizens of Abnormals Underground were down here. Everyone was up with the oil lamps and the light. We passed something that looked like an open crypt with legit coffins, one of which was open a few inches. I rushed past. I wouldn't be associated with this.
The fresh air got a bit stronger but no light showed itself. "There must be a way out," I told Xavier. "We'll find one. Worst thing is we'll have to backtrack."
"He's back there," Xavier said.
Of course. Once Leon was done arguing with the bartender and dealing with what I thought might be a werewolf, he'd check to see if our roasted bodies were lying there. Well, Xavier's. It took everything I had not to rush back and stab the guy through the heart. War Mages could die like everyone else, right? They were technically human.
I didn't know what to say to Xavier. I knew what it was like to have your own family hate you. I couldn't even remember what Mom's parents looked like, but at least they hadn't tried to kill me. But the pain of it, of knowing that you couldn't talk to them or even see them again without watching them recoil in horror, I knew very well.
"I'm so sorry," I managed at last.
Xavier glared at me but didn't wrench out of my grip. "That's what everyone says."
"No, I mean it. I'm so sorry. That was beyond wrong. Who'd treat their own flesh and blood like that?"
"My grandfather would. I ruined the family honor and now he's the laughingstock among all the Elder War Mages. When that happens in the Mage world, someone has to pay and it's usually the person who screwed up. What happens is honor killings."
I'd heard of those. They happened in some Normal families too.
"You were brave, marking me when you weren't supposed to," I said.
"I had to do it. I didn't want to see you get murdered by that succubus. When I brought you in and you were still out on Trish's table, I pulled Elsina in. I'm glad that I did what I did. No candidate's ever had to fight a demon," Xavier said. "That's what she is. A demon. There are different kinds. All of them are bad news. The only way to fight them is through War Magic. There are rumors that angel magic can fight them, but no one's seen any of them for thousands of years."
"They're legends, like dragons," I said. "My dad used to tell me about them. His grandfather came here from China where they used to be. My mom hated the stories. She was raised in a proper English family where there used to be nobles. Well, that wasn't why she hated the stories. Her family's always been obsessed with appearance. Who has the best house and car. That kind of stuff."
"Anyway, we were both set up for failure," Xavier said.
"Why?" I asked, regretting it right away. "Why did your grandfather want you to fail?"
"Because it isn't the first time," Xavier said. "We're a family of very strong War Mages. There are hundreds of families around the world, but mine, the Lovellis, have the record of slaying the most demons especially back in medieval times. Grandfather's all proud of this even though it happened hundreds of years ago. That's why he wants to keep the line as strong as he can. It's all about the status to him. I don't know why. I wasn't even supposed to be given the chance I had."
"There has to be a reason. Maybe his dad wasn't there for him?" I asked.
Xavier shook his head. "That was about a hundred years ago. Literally. Or maybe he just has his head up somewhere."
So he was a hundred. He could almost date Trish. "No, really," I said. "Something really screwed up must have happened when he was a kid. I'm not making an excuse, but it seems like everyone down here has a story."
"What's yours?" Xavier asked.
I smelled the air. The freshness was getting a little stronger, but it was still far off, too far. I heard nothing behind me but a rat skittering around the catacombs. It smelled like whatever garbage it had eaten but at least I didn't hear Leon following. He must have worn himself out doing the magic fire and transposing about three different times. Good. We had time to get out.
"I don't want to talk about it." It was clear that Xavier didn't want to talk about his past either.
"You'll have to someday. We're linked," Xavier said.
"How linked?" I felt like my privacy had been invaded even if he had done it to save my life.
"Well, if one of us dies, we both die. So that's one thing."
"Really?" I stopped in the tunnel. "How long are we linked for?"
"The rest of our lives," Xavier said.
"What?"
So I was the first person he had marked. I had to be. I had been beginning to wonder if there had been another one, one he had lost or who had gotten killed. Maybe his last choice hadn't passed the test and he had to beg for a second chance.
Either way, I was so, so not happy about this.
"I had to do it to save your life," Xavier said. "Allunna would have killed you. She's my grandfather's battle partner."
If I were drinking something I would have spit it out. But instead I let my jaw fall open, aware that Xavier couldn't see it in this pitch blackness. "She's into really old men?"
"It's not like that," Xavier said. "Battle partners don't have to be, you know, involved with each other. My grandfather was married to my grandmother who was a Normal. Allunna became his battle partner over eighty years ago when she decided she was done with the demon world. I don't know what happened to her that made her turn her back on her own kind, but they're still linked together and now she's facing death as soon as my grandfather dies. Demons normally live forever unless something strange happens or war magic takes them out."
I let go of Xavier's arm. "This world is getting stranger and stranger. So I'm going to have a normal lifespan now that I'm linked to you?"
"Well, not quite. You influence me, too, so that will help me live longer. You might have another hundred years or so. Well, unless you were to bite me, then just maybe..."
"That's rare. Only one out of every few hundred people turn when bitten."
I wasn't that upset about the news. I wondered what Xavier would look like really, really old and how it would feel to know we were both going to die any day now. I'd still look like this, maybe just a few years older.
Either way, Xavier and I were bound to each other.
We were stuck.
We had to protect each other. I was trapped in this magical prison all because I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Everyone seemed like our enemy. Dad was still missing and we had no community behind us, plotting to rescue him. Things couldn't get any worse.
* * * * *
"The sun's coming up," Xavier announced, peeking out of the manhole cover.
"Great," I said.
Already the pinkish light was filtering through the little holes in the cover, making dots on the sewer floor below. We had emerged from the catacombs fifteen minutes ago, breaking down a boarded-up barricade and emerging into a large sewer with flowing water. Thankfully there had been walkways and we hadn't had to get our feet wet, but there had been the smell of some drunk, passed-out person somewhere and we'd gone in the opposite direction of that.
"People are heading off to Normal work," Xavier said. "It's not going to be easy to blend in."
"I'll need my Migraine Blanket to go out there before too long," I said.
That reminded me of Janine. I knew her better than Maisha, enough so that I'd been to her apartment a couple of times, but I wasn't sure if we could crash there for the day.
"The sun's not quite up yet," Xavier said. "It's early morning. We're on the edge of the business district. There's a cafe across the street. I could use a coffee but we can't linger or we'll be trapped there all day."
"You drink coffee?" I asked.<
br />
He smiled down at me, still clutching the ladder. "What do you drink?"
"Shut up," I said. He was really getting on my nerves. "What's the weather? It doesn't feel too bad to go out on cloudy days."
"Partly cloudy," Xavier said. "Big clouds, so the sun's going to be in and out."
I thought about it. Janine's apartment was across town in the Marsh Building, not far from the school. It was quite a hike and I was sick of being underground, especially since Leon was still down there. I didn't know how long it took War Mages to regain their power--maybe it was something as simple as a big breakfast--but Leon would come back after us and find us at the end of this tunnel sooner or later. I was counting on sooner.
"My sword," I said. "That's another problem. There's still, like, some demon blood on it." I held it up to show the dark flecks all over the blade. Most of it had burned off when Xavier's magic flowed through me, but not all of it. "Plus, I don't think it's a good idea to walk around downtown Cumberland with a real sword or anything that even looks like one."
"Good point," Xavier said. "I can glamour that real quick. It's simple magic. We have to hide our weapons all the time, so we all learn it."
He scrambled down the ladder and stood on the bottom where I was waiting. I handed him the sword and he ran his finger down the blade, careful to skip the spots that had Allunna's blood, and muttered a few words under his breath. I couldn't even make them out. Some ancient language, I decided. I might ask about it later.
A flare of purple light followed and instead of a sword, Xavier held an old person cane, the kind you'd find at the pharmacy.
"What?" I managed.
"This is the most non-threatening thing I could think of," he said. "Pretend that you're sick and people won't suspect you of anything. I'll be the guy helping you along. Heck, you can even pretend you're blind, even though you'd need a different kind of cane than that. Just walk with a limp. Oh, and hold the cane on the opposite side of the one that's limping. That's actually the right way to do it. My dad was a Normal doctor so he used to tell me these things."
