by Mana Sol
“Besides the fact that we’d have to avoid capture,” I said after a moment, “we’d have to figure out a way to get food and shelter without being detected. You want our families to get watched and dragged into this? We couldn’t ever go to them for help. And that means we’d need to get everything we need without ration tickets, without a roof over our heads, all without money. In case you forgot, we’re stuck in a walled city with no place to run. We can’t do that, so we’re not going to try. Not yet.”
“So we sit here like chickens in a coop waiting to get our necks wrung.”
“Fed chickens. Clothed chickens. Sheltered chickens. And more importantly, educated.” I frowned at the dubious look on Addy’s face. “Yes, education. It’ll teach us skills that might come in handy. Waste nothing. We don’t get access to this knowledge otherwise.”
“And you’re not just saying that because you’re a nerd who lives for her GPA.”
“I’m saying that because all three of us know this is a better life than we had before, minus the false imprisonment. We need to take advantage of it while we can. They were going to take care of our families too, remember?”
“You really believe that?”
“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But either way, you can’t just make snap decisions without planning and drag Genie along after you. Genie, do you even want to leave?”
“Of course, she does!” Addy straightened in her seat and stared hard at the other girl. “Right?”
Genie puckered her lips in a thoughtful expression. “Maybe not yet.”
“Why not!”
“Because it’s nice here. And it’s not nice out there. I’m tired of being hungry and not being allowed to go anywhere and being stuck in a block forever.”
My stomach lurched. I’d forgotten group home children weren’t allowed out, not after that debacle ten years back when the Tenements had a rash of petty crimes and traced it back to displaced children running around without supervision. It was easy to forget when they were all so…out of the way now.
“So that’s it,” I said decisively. “We wait until we’re more prepared. In the meantime, we should talk about what we’re going to do this afternoon.”
“What do you mean? We have the training thing. Hello.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, obviously. Can we drop the attitude and try to make a plan that works this time?” Addy made a sour face but said nothing else, so I forged on. “Whatever happens today, don’t stick out. Do what they say and don’t make a fuss. But don’t do it too well, either.”
“What? So we’re supposed to do our homework and ace our tests because you don’t want us to get their attention, but we’re also supposed to slack when -”
“This isn’t an essay assignment, Addy. The better you do in whatever combat exercises they have planned, the sooner you’ll get shipped out past the Wall to be useful.”
A surprised look flitted across her face, then a bitter one. “I can’t believe this,” she said finally. “We worked our asses off to prove we’re good enough to be here, and now we have to be mediocre. If we do amazing, we get put into the slaughterhouse. If we do badly, same thing.”
“And being mediocre means that the Otherkind students here will all think we just aren’t up to snuff,” I added. “It’s almost funny.”
She sent me a strange look. “That’s what you’re worried about? Out of all of this?”
“I can be worried about all of it at once.” I bristled when her eyebrows rose. “I care what people think about me, Addy.”
She looked at Genie, who looked back as she munched away on some God-awful mixture of peanut butter and crushed lima beans. “Yeah. I can see that.”
I refused to rise to the bait, but I could still make a statement. I picked up my plate with a clatter, turned on my heel, and left for my room.
* * *
“Don’t we have a perfectly good arena to practice in?” Addy gestured around the tree line that we had gathered by. “Why are we hiding out here in secret where nobody’s around? What’s the point of having a practice field if we can’t even use it? Or is it because we’re too special and not allowed.”
Zedekiel had only just arrived and she was already being belligerent. She hadn’t even given him a chance to glare at us yet, which he did now. At me, in particular, although I chose that moment to tie my hair back in a ponytail and ignore him. The mark he had left on my wrist was long gone by now, but I thought I could still feel the skin tingle as if brushed by a cool breeze, or perhaps a breath…
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, hard. Addy was having zero problems looking past Zedekiel’s good looks and passive Nephilim aura to give him a thorough stink eye. Addy, the one who’d been all but drooling over him the first time they met. It should be me. I should be the one holding my emotions in check, the ice-cold one. Yet here I was, struggling to keep my pulse from racing as my heart threatened to crash out of my chest as the Nephilim took off his blazer and twisted open the first three buttons of his shirt.
“You’re wearing that?” Addy asked, audibly disgusted. “Guess we won’t try to scuff your shoes or something, I guess.”
“Defend.”
“What?”
He didn’t repeat himself, and in a blur of movement so fast I missed everything but the white of his shirt, he rammed into Addy and sent her flying. She leaped back up in an instant, nose bleeding and eyes flashing, but he turned on me next - too soon.
“Defend.”
18
Magic. I had to use magic. I didn’t know how to throw a punch or block one, and unlike Addy, if I took a hit like that I was going to stay down. I wasn’t stupid enough to think otherwise. Suddenly, I wished I hadn’t been so quick to exempt physical education, but it was too late for regrets now and too late for any pretense at bravery, either. As soon as I saw his eyes land on me and heard the single hard word he uttered, I turned tail and fled. There was no way I could outrun a Nephilim on my own, but maybe if Addy did something in time, I could slip away and save my skin -
I swear he hit me harder than he had her. I didn’t just fall to the ground; I went careening backward and twisted like a sheet of metal thrust in fire, stopping only when I crashed backward into a tree. Ten feet, I thought blankly. Ten feet, he had sent me, and he wasn’t even breathing hard. And I’d hit the tree so violently I was sure he had broken something, but I couldn’t tell what between the horrific throbbing in my head, neck, ribs, and down my spine. I didn’t even realize I folded and sank to the ground, not until I figured out how to breathe again first. By then, Addy had launched herself at Zedekiel with a fist bathed in bright golden light that sparkled and dazzled, giving me a chance to crawl away from between the tree roots digging into my rear and the backs of my thighs. Bruises. Bruises everywhere, and I was still cross-eyed from the impact. But I had to get my head on straight, there was no time to limp and cry. One good thing: at least the brutal hit had banished all traces of the Nephilim aura’s passive influence. His gorgeous blue eyes and the tantalizing glimpse of skin peeking out from the popped buttons of his shirt were still there, but something about nearly getting my abdomen blown open made him a lot less attractive.
“You’re a prick!” Addy raged as she pummeled - or tried to pummel - him with both of her fists that were now bathed in the same yellow light. Augmentation magic, I thought as I scribbled a Shielding sigil with my right hand and half-etched one to Dispel with my left just in case Zedekiel tried to turn up the intensity of his aura. It was going to be difficult fighting back with one hand only, but I didn’t have a choice. I detached the sigil from my fingers and let it take shape as a large circle of solid red and blue light. No, wait - stupid! I slashed a modification through the sigils, trying hard not to panic and make more stupid mistakes.
“Catch!” I shouted, even though the last thing I should have been doing was attracting the Nephilim’s attention. And for an instant, I was afraid I would distract Addy and harm rather than
help, but she leaped back in time to avoid a vicious kick to her knee and caught the glowing spell just as it came whizzing above her head. I activated the array, allowing it to latch to her and activate.
Zedekiel turned to glare at me, but Addy wasn’t the one who took advantage of his distraction. It was Genie, who chose that moment to burst into flames with a feral scream that sent a paralyzing shiver down my back. Holy shit, was that her?
It was, but the only reason I could tell at all was because that was the exact spot she had been standing in a second ago when I’d looked over to check that she was still in one piece. Otherwise, I would never have recognized the human-sized flame crackling and expanding there. Her clothes were no longer visible nor any part of her skin, just a pair of radiant white eyes staring out where the head should be. And god, they were so big; she didn’t seem even remotely human anymore.
She lunged at the Nephilim, still screaming, and he beat a swift retreat to avoid the scorching tongues of the fire that covered the entirety of her arms. She followed him just the same, however, even when he deliberately moved back toward Addy. Was he trying to force Genie to withdraw so she wouldn’t burn the other girl? Maybe. That would be the smart thing to do, force either friendly fire or a temporary withdrawal, if only it had worked. It didn’t. Genie didn’t even notice as Addy made a squawking sound and rolled out of the way as the flames crackled and spit out enormous sparks that fizzled out on the damp grass. Or should have fizzled out. I too drew back and stared at the thin wisps of smoke rising from a dozen places at once.
“Control yourself,” Zedekiel said coolly. “You’re not meant to burn everything around you. Or are you going to send your friends to the infirmary to get skin grafts because you couldn’t help it?”
Genie made another furious sound, this one even more animal than the last, and I pulled in a deep breath that made my battered ribs ache with resounding pain. Zedekiel was right, but right now, I was more concerned about making it out of this so-called training session in one piece than I was in efficient tactics. We had just started, and I was already winded. It couldn’t go on like this, and if I had to take advantage of Genie’s growing instability to dig in with my foothold, then so be it. I would be a good friend later when I had the chance and try to reel her back in, but as it was, even a deranged pyromancer wasn’t enough to shove the Nephilim off-balance. There she went, lunging at him again and flames darting out to eat at him, but he ducked under her arms and kicked at her belly, sending her sprawling on the ground.
“Genie!”
“Worry about yourself, Blair Kaine. Try staying on your feet this time.”
And that was what I needed. He still backhanded me across the face and I failed to follow his derisive order, but that self-important, scornful tone set my scattered thoughts aright even as I groaned in the grass. ‘Try staying on my feet’? Me, a Thaumaturgist, never meant to step an actual foot in battle, and him, a damn Nephilim stronger and faster than me in every way and he had the nerve to look down on me? When he had been the one to create this situation in the first place?
I gritted my teeth and pushed myself up to my hands and knees. Blood was rushing too loudly in my ears for me to hear exactly what Addy was snarling at him, but whatever it was, it was enough to make him turn around and exchange blows with her again. And Genie had gotten up too, clearly worse for wear but just as stubborn, which might give me all of three seconds to figure out what to do. Three seconds. I could etch a perfect array in less than that, but I needed to know which one. Which one could I use to put Zedekiel down and make him eat his words?
I didn’t have the time to stand back up, so from the ground I released my half-drawn Dispelling sign and sat back on my heels so I could use both hands to draw a two-layer array. The inner circle, three signs: one for stability to anchor me where I sat, one to draw the trajectory, and one to shield me from the blowback. The outer circle, two signs that were opposite one another: one for propulsion, the other to twist. I dragged the arrays into each other and locked them, feeling the glowing white light warming my fingertips from where it poured forth. Try staying on my feet, he had said. Screw him. He could take his own advice.
With a clench of my jaw, I pointed the circular array at him and let loose.
19
It would hit him, good and true. I’d always been an excellent marksman, aided by arcane intuition instead of having to rely solely on my physical senses to land my spells. Besides, he wasn’t but ten feet from me; no matter how hasty my attack, I would have been disappointed if it had been even slightly off-center. But it wasn’t, and when the ball of white light expanded in the center of my array and torpedoed straight for the middle of his back, I couldn’t help the smug smile from twitching at my lips. A millisecond more, and he would go spinning like a frisbee, twisted up and groaning on the grass while we dusted ourselves off -
It was only a hair’s breadth from impact when something exploded out of Zedekiel’s back, tearing through his uniform shirt with a loud rustle and deflecting the magical projectile with a burst of dark feathers.
I stared open-mouthed at the black wings, and I remembered almost too late to turn my head. “Look away!” I shouted, panicking. “Don’t look at them -”
Damn it! Addy, stunned and blank-faced, fell to the ground with a thump when Zedekiel punched her squarely on the chin with no resistance from her. I didn’t dare look up at him lest I get an eyeful and get feathered down just like she had been, but I saw her crumple and hit the grass like a sack of bricks. She stared at me across the way, and it took me half a second too long to realize she was out cold. Shit, shit, shit -!
The roaring of flames saved me. Genie’s flames, that is. Somehow, she was not only back on her feet but attacking Zedekiel even more savagely than before with not an ounce of hesitation. How was she doing that? His wings were still glowing void-black and exuding a hypnotically oppressive power that I knew would suck me in the instant I looked up, yet somehow Genie was launching herself over and over again at him with no repercussions. Cold sweat formed on the back of my neck at the idea of joining her, but I didn’t have a choice. He’d been about to walk over to me and finish me, too, and once Genie was down, it would be my turn again. I had to help her while I could, while she was still fighting and we could try to hold it together with the two of us. God, if Addy could regain her senses and even just hold his ankles - but I didn’t trust Zedekiel to not crack the heel of his shoe into her mouth and knock her teeth out. Today should have been nothing like this, I thought, teeth grinding as I furiously etched more symbols in the air, but I should have known he would be like this. Why wouldn’t he?
Again, his wings shifted and deflected the magic I sent at him while he dealt with Genie from the front, but this time, I was ready. I’d already seen how his wings flared back to block attacks from behind, and I had spelled binds at the ready to hold them in place. Before he could spread them back out, I fired off the glowing white ropes and let them fall over the top of his folded wing joints. Would they hold? How could I know? I had never fought a Nephilim before today - before three minutes ago. All I knew was that Nephilim were strong and my magic had to be stronger. So I didn’t question it, didn’t hesitate. With a fierce sound that whistled out between my teeth, I yanked hard on the binds that had now knotted around the top half of the folded wings.
He didn’t even budge. Shit! In a heady rush, I realized he was struggling to free himself as he walked backward in my direction, keeping his eyes on Genie who prowled after him despite half her flames being extinguished. So I wasn’t strong enough to pull him, but he couldn’t break the binds, either. Yes! I scurried back while keeping the array intact in front of me, ignoring the pain radiating up and down my bruised legs. I couldn’t fall like this. Addy was only just now stirring, and Genie had spent so much of her strength just to keep the Nephilim off of me. I had fired two spells, and that was it.
I refused. I wouldn’t go down this way. Egotistical, yes, selfish, y
es, but the thought that I could be the weakest link terrified me. I would have to come to terms with the guilt later for even thinking it, but for now, all I cared about was that I put up a good enough fight that I wasn’t the most disappointing of us all. I couldn’t handle that. Not like this. Not ever.
I’d never been more grateful I was spectacular under pressure. By the time he grabbed Genie by the throat and bashed his forehead into hers right through the flames that still swirled around half her face, I was primed and ready. The new spell in front of me was far from elegant, but considering how this was my first time trying to simultaneously hold a continuous Dispelling sigil on top of a two-layer combination, I couldn’t hope for better in the heat of the moment. I had only the time to etch an anchoring sign and a pulling one, and that was just going to have to do. I spun the inner array as fast as I could, feeling the magic flow burn my fingertips as I pushed and pushed and pushed, and the spell answered my command: the loop still knotted around the top of Zedekiel’s wings tightened until it dug in past the feathers. Was it painful? Probably. I could imagine having my arms forced behind me until the elbows touched was probably about as painful. But he hadn’t worried about our comfort, so I wouldn’t worry about his.
I spun the inner array again, sweating with the effort. He was fighting back with sheer strength as he rolled his shoulders and attempted to shrug off the glowing rope, but his struggle only made it easier for me to slip it all the way down so that his wings were trussed up tight. Much better. This way, he couldn’t flare them out and use their hypnotic nature on me as he’d done with Addy, who had now sat up and was fighting her way back to unsteady feet.
