by Mana Sol
Her nostrils flared. “When are you getting out of here.”
“Tonight. If you can figure out a way to get us past the wards around the Academy and out past the gates, too.”
“Both of you,” she said menacingly. “Both of you are going to leave.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t ever fucking come back.”
I nodded, but with a frown. “So you know a way to get us out of here? How?”
She laughed, and it was a derisive, hissing sound that raised goosebumps on my arms. “Anyone who makes it past First Form knows how to do it. There are ways. Meet me by the entrance of the Arena an hour after Third Form’s curfew and don’t fucking get caught. Professor Octavius stays up late and walks every night.”
“All right. We’ll be there.”
“I’m not helping you,” she said emphatically. “Don’t get it twisted.”
“I’m not. We’ll see you after midnight.”
I didn’t say thanks. I’d never been the superstitious type like some of the elderly back in the Tenements, the ones who still believed in hanging iron horseshoes over their doorway to keep the fae out or the ones who slept with their babies by their chests in case the fae crept in to replace the infants with twisted changelings, but I’d make an exception tonight: never give thanks to a fae; never acknowledge a debt. As far as we were concerned, we were both getting what we wanted and that was that.
My face was still burning when I made it back to Addy, but before she could shout and hiss, I grabbed her by the arms.
“We’re leaving,” I said shortly. “We’ve got an out.”
33
So this was how they entered and left the Academy, I realized only after Iaife and two others with her pushed the doors open into the Arena. I almost called them her friends in my thoughts, but it became apparent it wasn’t so once Addy and I followed them down the steps through the chilly night. Iaife would have giggled and snickered with friends, her posse, whatever, even if it was about something as serious as this. Fae things. But the one on the right was a vampire, a lanky young man with red eyes and a slightly hooked nose that reminded me of a bird of prey. Third Form, if I had to guess; I’d never seen him in any of my classes before and he looked a little too old to pass for First. Then again, vampires aged strangely. They kept to themselves so I had little enough experience with them, but regardless, I couldn’t see someone so stoic and standoffish being ‘friends’ with someone like Iaife.
The other one, she was fae. But not quite Light nor Dark, though my eyes could have been deceiving me in the darkness. She had the shimmer of the Light when I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, but she had the earthier, calmer coloration of Dark fae from the gray-tone tint to her skin to the gray-black of her hair. A hybrid, maybe, one that was careful to keep to herself and crossed her arms as she walked so she wouldn’t brush hands with Iaife on accident. Interesting.
It was only when she spoke in a low murmur once we reached the bottom step that I recognized her, or rather her voice. She had been there yesterday with the others who had ambushed me in the hallway and thrown me into the closet. But she had been the lone dissenting voice, the tremulous one that had been somewhere between sympathetic and anxious. I’m just saying. That probably hurts.
Interesting. She was the one who had been the least enthusiastic, so why had she come here, breaking more rules and wandering around after curfew? Did she want me gone so badly? Moreover, Iaife had brought her along on purpose, too. Seemed like a risk to bring along someone who wasn’t all-in. I narrowed my eyes.
“Don’t forget you owe me,” the vampire drawled when we reached the center of the pit. “I’d rather not remember myself, but I know your sort takes that sort of matter seriously.”
“That sort of matter,” Iaife mocked in an obnoxious sneer. “Shut up and just do it.”
“As you say. You two, come here. Divieka, go ahead.”
The hybrid fae girl was already on her hands and knees, parting the earth and churning it up in a growing circle beneath our feet. I stumbled; Addy caught me.
“Quiet,” Iaife hissed, and although I knew her sharp tongue was for all our sakes, I still narrowed my eyes, half-tempted to tell her to be quiet instead. The hybrid fae only lowered her eyes and hunched her shoulders more before resuming with less gusto, until at last a large hole opened up in the ground before us. I stared. It wasn’t just a hole. It was a wide tunnel, packed dirt lining an old stone passageway. And it was dark down there, no light at all. No ladder to hop down either, but then again, soldiers would be fully capable of hopping down on their own.
That was what this was, wasn’t it? I’d wondered a few times how students could file in and out of the school in large groups undetected whenever they were needed beyond the Wall, especially in recent times if the forces were as depleted as we’d been told. This must be one of the ways, if not the way they concealed it. Students climbing through some discreetly hidden tunnel right from the middle of the Academy itself, concealed by earth magic. Which explained the need for Dark fae manipulation - the hybrid girl. And the vampire?
“We’ll have to fly without touching the ground or the sides so we don’t alert Octo.” The young man smiled, white fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Primal fear shot through me at the sight, but I tamped it down with a firm mental push. I hoped Addy would be just as graceful. “Come on then, ladies.” His white uniform shirt was already unbuttoned, and now he shrugged it off to reveal pale, toned flesh. He let the fabric flip and fall about his waist just as two black bat-like wings slid and stretched out behind him.
“Nice,” said Addy.
“Why, thank you. I’d like to think they’re on the above-average side. What about you?”
She raised and lowered one shoulder. “I’ve seen bigger. Come on, stud. Let’s get this done.”
I wasn’t going to ask why she was flirting with a vampire when we were in the middle of executing a daring getaway in the middle of the night. I wasn’t even sure if she was aware of it herself, but even if she were, I could already hear her pointing out how I’d tumbled out of a closet with a Nephilim a day ago.
“As you command, human.”
“It’s Addison.”
“Princess Addison.”
“That’s better.”
Great. I hoped the flight wouldn’t last long.
* * *
At least this one didn’t hate us, but then we didn’t run across enough vampires to know whether it was actual tolerance or general indifference. I’d seen a fair few of them cast me haughty glares in the hallways whenever I dared to accidentally look at their space, so…
“Good luck,” he said as he dropped us to the ground past the end of the tunnel. “Don’t worry about the smell. Just ward magic. It’ll wear off soon enough.”
I didn’t care about the smell. “How do we get to the Wall from here?” I asked.
“The Wall? Interesting…”
“I’d explain why we want to go there, but you have more important things to do.” I gave him a pointed look, fighting past the thrill of prey-fear still swimming in my veins at the sight of his red eyes. Of course he had to be a pureblood, too.
“Sorry, ladies. My help ends here.” He smiled and beat his wings, rising back into the air. The swirl of dark magic left a chill on my skin that had nothing to do with the nighttime temperature. “If it’s any consolation, you’re out past the Inner Citadel. You’re probably close enough to the human districts that you can figure it out yourselves.”
I couldn’t be bitter. I’d known help didn’t come free, and Iaife had only helped us because she wanted us out of Jupiter Gate just as badly as we had wanted to leave. But now that we were out, stranded in darkness with no clue where we went next to find Genie, I hesitated.
“No clues?” I tried one more time, tossing aside my pride yet again. I’d already done so much of that in the last two days that I was numb to it now, almost. Or so I told myself.
He lifted o
ne delicate brow. “Just a straight line that way for us, a bridge over something of a pass between two human sub-districts.” He pointed. “But that’s because we’re usually not hiding. Can’t say the same for you. If the Wall guards catch sight of you -”
“We know.” Addy thumped my back. “See you never, dude.”
“Farewell, Princess.”
I shot her a look as he replaced the vertical grate with his superhuman strength and disappeared into the darkness. “We should have gotten everything we could out of him. We’re on our own now.”
“We always were. Come on, I know this area. I didn’t live too far away from here.”
“We can’t afford to go on guesses -”
“What happened to winging it? That’s what you did with your genius plan to get us out here. Now you get to follow my lead.”
I had no choice. With a sigh, I shouldered my satchel more firmly and followed her through the darkness.
34
I didn’t know these streets. I’d spent so much time at school trying to outdo everyone else that I’d never played on the dirt paths and run around the Tenement buildings playing hide-and-seek or tag with the other children. This place might as well be the Inner Citadel for all I knew how to navigate its twists and turns, but Addy seemed to know where to go with almost preternatural instinct. It was so dark I could hardly tell how tall the buildings were, much less whether we were heading into dead ends and fenced alleyways. Every time, though, she guided me onward, ever onward, long after my feet had gone sore and my calves throbbing.
“How much longer?” I hissed. “It’s been hours. If we don’t make it to the Wall by daybreak, they’ll send her out again.”
“I’m trying my best. It’s not like I’ve ever had to go to the Wall before. Have you?”
Fair enough. “I’ve never been this deep in the Tenements,” I admitted as we wiggled around a rusted chicken wire fence… Strange, those were supposed to be rare since metal fences were a waste of resources, but that was the second one I’d seen in these back alleyways since we’d left the storm tunnel.
“What?” exclaimed Addy. “We’re not in the Tenements anymore. We left those ages ago. No one lives here because of all the dumped magic hexing everything.”
I looked around again. It was too dark for me to tell the difference. But I’d heard about them, the corners of the human districts left deserted because of pipes bursting without cause, withering grass, spoiling food… I frowned. “No guards? How can there be no one between the Tenements and the Wall?”
“There will be. I think, at least. The Wall guards don’t need to patrol here since even the troublemakers don’t want to mess around too long in these parts.”
I asked nothing more. I didn’t like the unnerving sensations rising from the ground either, although I knew better than to think ‘dumped magic’ was to blame. Arcane aftereffects didn’t feel nearly so blistering and sinister. I rubbed the Nephilim mark on my wrist at the thought before I realized what I was doing, then shoved my hand away with a snap once I did. Stupid of me to seek comfort as we wound around the dilapidated buildings, especially that. Goosebumps rose all over my body at a sudden breeze.
“Here,” Addy said after far too long. Her teeth were chattering, as were mine. Our black stockings did nothing now to warm us, and our blazers were so chilled I swore I could hear them crunch every time we swung our arms. “There it is. Damn it. Guards.”
“We knew there would be.”
“So what’s your plan now? Knock ‘em out and rush in?”
It looked like a gatehouse of sorts, but it had to be a barracks. It looked small and homey at the foot of the enormous pale wall of stone that rose fifty feet over our heads, too small - how could they possibly fit more than a dozen soldiers in there? But when I peeked my head out past the barrels we’d hidden behind, I saw that there were several more of the structures along the Wall to either side, all built at regular intervals.
“Get back here.” She pulled me back by my blazer. “We’re going to be seen. Haven’t you ever sneaked out before?”
“No.”
“You’re so bad at this,” she sighed.
“Sorry I’m not a delinquent.”
“Don’t snip at me. We’re deserting and we’re taking Genie with us, which is basically kidnapping, so grow a pair and start delinquent-ing.”
I threw her a simultaneously disgusted and exasperated glare. This was not the time to quibble. Or maybe I was just bitter because I had nothing to retort with. I shook my head and peeped past the barrel again, more carefully this time.
“We can’t stay in one place for long, either,” she added with a testy huff. “Someone’s going to eventually walk this way. Look for somewhere closer we can - back!”
We cowered for a few seconds, trying to shrink back into ourselves like shriveled grapes when the shadows appeared. Soldiers. I’d never seen them up close, but now they were within earshot and close enough for me to have caught the gleam of vibrant hair. Bright purple was Light fae, no doubt about it, and there were six others following so quietly we hadn’t noticed them until it was almost too late. Even more alarming was the shape that swooped down upon them from the top of the Wall, lean and sharp with unmistakable bat-like wings. Vampire.
“You’re back already?” the Light fae demanded, breaking the silence and bringing his retinue to a halt. “The morning patrol’s gone out?”
“Answering a distress call. We lost contact with the Seventh Platoon somewhere past Yonwhite Quarry.”
“Dead?”
“We hope not. The last thing I heard was Marius saying they thought they found the lost squadron. But the Nether closed in, cut off the telepathy. They only had the one vampire in their platoon, so no contact since then.”
The fae cursed. “What about the firemouth?”
“They sent her out hours ago once they had a real trail to follow. But the vampire in that platoon has gone silent, too.”
“Damn it! How are the Nether beasts doing this? We’ve lost half a dozen in the last month.”
“Two of them were in my clan. I know better than most, Captain. They’re deliberately targeting the vampires attached to any platoon or squad to cut off communication, I have no doubt about it.”
“They haven’t confirmed -”
“They were my people, Captain. I assure you the Nether beasts are acting intelligently. Otherwise, this would never have happened. And that’s seven vampires dead in a month, not six.”
More cursing. Addy and I sent each other piercing looks, alarmed by everything we were hearing. Intelligent Nether beasts? They were supposed to be dumb, barely dangerous except in numbers. And vampires dying - they were the most slippery and agile of all the races. But most of all, that mention of the ‘firemouth’ could be none other than Genie. I didn’t want to believe in coincidences.
But that meant she had already gone out past the Wall. It was only just now the breaking of dawn, but we were too late. I clenched my fists, frantically cobbling together another plan that kept falling apart in my thoughts over and over again -
“Let’s go,” Addy hissed in my ear. “They’re gone, we need to get out there.” She dragged me up and began towing me toward what I now saw in the dawning light was a gate. A large archway barred with a thick wooden portcullis, right in the middle - we were going to be seen! I tried to stop Addy, but I was trip-sliding after her while casting wild looks around in case anyone else came by.
“Now’s our only chance!” she snapped before I could say anything. “It’ll be too bright for us to get anywhere without being seen if we wait any longer.”
It was true. Already the sky was lightening. A few minutes and there would be a gray pall in the clouds bright enough to make us stand out even in our dark clothes. We hurried to the gate and stopped short, searching for an opening mechanism.
But of course, there were none. They weren’t humans. They had no concept of the preservation of magic, on mechanical dependenc
e. “Magic,” I muttered. “They warded the gate. Both sides.”
“Then un-ward it! You’re a Thaumaturgist.”
“A Thaumaturgist in training.”
“Oh, now she’s modest and shit -”
“I’m not saying I can’t, it’s that we don’t have the time! Without the key to the array, I have to do computations to pull these algorithms apart.”
“You aced your Combinatorics crap! Get it done!”
There was no point trying to explain this wasn’t a short-answer quiz. I brought glowing fingertips to the wood, summoning forth the magic so I could read it, and all I found was a tangle of script I couldn’t read. No, I could read it, but my vision blurred and the blood rushed louder and louder in my ears, drowning my wits and burning them down to cinders at the same time.
“Hurry up!”
I doubled down, forcing my eyes to focus. Genie was on the other side. She’d left already and she would be on her own, and something out there was strong enough to hunt down vampires one after the other, veteran soldiers who were far stronger than us. Focus, focus, focus -
“You there!”
Shit. Fuck! I redoubled my efforts, hands a blinding white because what did I care about being detected now? We’d been found, and if I didn’t figure out a way to get this gate open before that man reached us, we were going to get dragged back to Jupiter Gate and Genie would face the Wastes all alone. Symbols swirled along the wood, and I extracted several, duplicating them as quickly as I could while Addy braced herself for violence behind me. For once, I didn’t object. If she had to punch someone’s lights out for us to get out of here, then so be it.
“You need supplies first, are you insane! First-timers, honestly.”
The impatience in his voice was so genuine that I let my magic fade without thinking, and I turned around to see a young man in a blue and black uniform approaching. He wasn’t a Wall guard, then. But he was definitely a soldier, and Addy and I tensed as he jogged closer. A vampire? He had reddish eyes, though they were mixed with a swirl of warm brown. His face wasn’t so unforgivingly angular either, blessed with a touch of earthier grace. Not one of the elite, then. I hoped that meant his ability to detect my frenzied paranoia was that much weaker, and with every step he took, it seemed that was the case. There was no other explanation for his casual acceptance of us otherwise:
