Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6

by Elizabeth Kirke

  I stared at it in horror and tried not to panic; it was the same spell she used to destroy Mystic Cay. When Alaria said she wanted to destroy the evidence, she meant the entire castle and the island itself!

  I knew what would happen now, she would evacuate with her followers and let the island crumble. I’d be safe and I’d still, maybe, have a chance to kill her, but it would mean leaving Thomas and the others to die. They couldn’t possibly escape like this.

  But then something different began to happen, the black circle condensed instead of spreading out, whirling around itself until it became a black, floating sphere, emitting an eerie glow.

  “There,” Alaria said in satisfaction. “We will deal with these miserable creatures and then depart.”

  She turned back toward us and studied us thoughtfully. I tried to stand still and look unconcerned, hoping I wasn’t trembling. Was she about to kill me or Kayla just like she had Brendon? Would I have any time to even try to defend myself?

  “Have you both restored your blood magic?” she asked.

  “I have, Mistress,” Kayla said. “Although, I confess I don’t have much left.”

  Alaria nodded and turned to me. “And you?”

  Did I lie and say yes? Would she know? I swallowed nervously; I supposed the truth had gotten me this far…

  “No, Mistress. I’m afraid I haven’t had the opportunity yet,” I said. Her gaze hardened and I turned away. My eyes landed on my friends and I forced myself to keep my expression neutral, I couldn’t afford a reaction. TS was still slumped on the rocks and Thomas and Charlie were leaned heavily against the wall, with Dani sprawled between them, still struggling to breathe. His brow was furrowed in pain and it looked like he was staring at me, but I wasn’t sure if he was even aware of what was going on around him.

  “You haven’t had the opportunity?” Alaria echoed in annoyance.

  “No… I um… you know I haven’t been a witch for very long…” I said, hoping she wouldn’t just kill me outright for being incompetent. “I’ve never been in any sort of… thing… like tonight…”

  “Ah, yes, of course,” Alaria said, fixing me with one of her strained almost sympathetic smiles. “I can imagine it must be frightening, weak and inexperienced as you are. Especially without blood magic to call upon. Let us remedy that…” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re the one who hates vampires, yes?”

  I froze.

  “Yes,” Kayla answered. “She is.”

  Alaria nodded once. “Very well.” She thrust out one arm and used air magic to drag Thomas across the floor to her hand. I dug my fingernails into my palm, trying to keep my face from betraying me as she grabbed him by the neck. TS let out a ragged howl of rage and struggled in vain against the stones.

  “No!” Charlie choked weakly. He looked down at Dani, then back at Thomas, obviously torn on what to do; it didn’t look like he was in any condition to help either one. His eyes flared for a moment, then dimmed and he bowed his head, shoulders shaking with repressed sobs.

  Ignoring them, Alaria strode over to the wall and slammed Thomas against it, then turned to me. I expected him to do something to fight back, but he hung almost limply from her grasp. He raised one hand and tugged weakly at her arm, before giving up with a pained groan.

  “Come, Abigail,” Alaria said, beckoning with her free hand.

  Trying desperately not to show how horrified I was, I obediently crossed the room to her. Then, I was standing just a couple of feet from Thomas, closer than I had been to him in months, but he didn’t even know it was me. His nose was bleeding again; I could hear a rasp in his breath and realized Alaria was slowly choking him as she held him there.

  “Retake your blood magic,” Alaria ordered, turning a sickening smile to me. “And end the life of a worthless vampire while you’re at it.”

  I slowly drew my wand, shaking, trying to draw it out as long as possible. I couldn’t kill him. I wouldn’t. I would die before I hurt Thomas… but if I didn’t we’d all die anyway and there would be nobody to take down Alaria. Unless…

  It was now.

  My chance had come.

  If I could just pull it off…

  I took a long, deep breath and raised my wand. “Skal-ven-resh.” I drew it across my palm, bracing myself for the pain and trying to act like I had done it a thousand times before while Alaria looked on approvingly. “Skal-ven-resh.”

  I met Alaria’s eyes and smiled, raising my wand above Thomas’ heaving chest. “Ayer-grash-kren!”

  Alaria’s eyes narrowed slightly at the unexpected words, then widened in shock as she realized what I had said. But it was too late. I twisted and plunged my wand as hard as I could into her chest.

  Black light and smoke began twisting around the wand, hot and cold, pleasurable and painful, horrible and somehow beautiful all at once. Alaria screeched in pain and I knew I had only moments to decide.

  All this time I knew what I would do: destroy the wand.

  But…

  I looked at Thomas, staring back at me with wide, confused, terrified eyes without a hint of recognition. The whites of his eyes were almost completely red from burst blood vessels and up close I could see they really had been bleeding. Judging from the way his nose and ears were still slowly dripping blood, whatever Alaria had done to him wasn’t healing.

  I could just barely see the others out of the corner of my eye. Wounded, helpless… maybe dying…

  If I destroyed the wand, Alaria would still have one. She would still be a witch, one with much more experience and power than I had. Kayla was here too. I couldn’t fight them both, especially since I’d be left without a wand.

  Alaria would kill me, if not just take back her power. Thomas and TS and Dani and Charlie were as good as dead already, but she’d be sure to kill them when she was done with me.

  Even if, somehow, I could stop her and Kayla, there was still the matter of what she had done to my friends. Blood magic could only be countered by blood magic, after all… If I sacrificed Alaria’s power instead of her, Thomas and the others could still die. There was a chance I wouldn’t have the power to save them… and wasn’t that what I had always wanted?

  From the very beginning I was the weak one, the new witch, not even thirty yet. Tagging along with a bunch of experienced magics, most of them MES agents, acting like I ever had a chance in hell of helping them or protecting them.

  Suddenly, Alaria dropped Thomas. She staggered into the wall – my wand slid out of her chest as she did – with a gasp of pain, raising her hands to stare at them.

  “What… have you done?” she gasped.

  Thomas groaned in pain as he slid to the floor, then started coughing, splattering the floor with blood.

  I clenched the wand in my fist, eyes focused on Alaria. It had to end here. She had to die, she was evil. And I had to save my friends. I hadn’t come this far just to lose now…

  But did it mean losing myself?

  I raised the wand and took a deep breath. Then, I whirled and tossed it, rolling it across the floor to Charlie.

  “Destroy it!” I screamed.

  Charlie looked at me in confusion while Alaria struggled to her feet, face twisted in rage.

  “Now!” I yelled.

  I don’t know why I expected him to just trust me, for all he knew I was another blood witch trying to take over.

  “C-char!” Dani gasped weakly. “Do it!”

  This time, Charlie didn’t hesitate. It obviously took every ounce of strength he had, but Charlie lunged forward and grabbed the wand. Alaria shrieked and flung her hands toward him, but nothing happened.

  Sparks began to fly and fade and for an instant I was afraid Charlie didn’t have the energy. Then, the wand caught and began to burn.

  Alaria came to her senses and yanked out her own wand. She aimed it at Charlie and started to scream a blood magic spell. I did the only thing I could think to do: I jumped at her and tried to grab her wand away.

  Out of the corner o
f my eye I saw Kayla pointing her wand toward Charlie. I couldn’t possibly stop them both.

  “No!” I cried as Kayla began to cast her spell.

  Black energy burst from Alaria’s wand we struggled; it shot across the room and struck Kayla in the back. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground writhing as her veins turned black.

  Alaria spluttered incoherently with rage and threw me off her. Helpless to do anything else, I braced myself as she let loose another blood magic spell. It didn’t work! Her eyes widened with rage and I gaped. She was out of blood magic.

  “Ahn!” she snapped angrily.

  The normal spell was still enough to hurl me across the room. I crashed hard into the wall and frantically tried to stand back up as she crossed the room toward me.

  “Skal…ven…resh,” she snarled as she advanced.

  I looked all around desperately and my eyes landed on Brendon’s wand! It wasn’t that far away… but grabbing it would take me even closer to Alaria; I’d never get to it in time.

  All at once, she dropped to one knee and plunged her wand into Kayla to finish the sacrifice spell. It may not have been arcanism, but it wasn’t much better. The dark swirl of magic curled around her and faded as she turned toward me once more.

  I stole a quick glance at the fallen wand as she stepped over it. There was no chance now.

  She aimed her wand at me and took a deep breath. “You,” she spat, “will die slowly for this treachery… Skal—” The spell turned into a scream and she jerked back a step.

  For a moment, I just gaped at the small knife that had suddenly embedded itself in her wrist. We both turned in shock. Dani’s arm dropped and he slumped heavily against Charlie with a weak cough.

  Alaria yanked the knife out of her arm, then whirled, face contorted with fury, and pointed her wand at Dani. “You have interfered for the last time!” she shrieked.

  I threw myself around her, grabbed Brendon’s wand and rolled onto my back, flinging my arm out in her direction. “Mar!”

  Alaria turned, shooting me a look of pure hatred as the wand burst into flame. I knew it wouldn’t be enough to destroy it, but suddenly the flames climbed higher, engulfing the wand and most of her arm. It burned out quickly as Charlie sagged against the wall, panting from the effort, but it was enough.

  “Dyn!” I cried.

  The spell wasn’t enough to knock her out, but it sent her off balance for a moment. I lunged at her and grabbed her wand away, tossing it behind me. It skittered across the floor to Charlie. This time he didn’t hesitate, he grabbed it and burned it as Alaria screeched. She dove to the ground and snatched up Kayla’s wand, then whirled back to face me.

  “Skal-mar!”

  The wand in my hand exploded. I barely turned my head aside as splinters of wood and iron flew everywhere. I was sure several hit me, but they were nothing compared to the pain in my hand. I cried out and clutched it to my stomach. After a moment the excruciating pain faded – although it was still throbbing – and I eased my arm up to examine; my veins were blackening and swelling up my forearm, although it didn’t seem to be going any higher. I sucked in a pained breath and pressed it back against me.

  “Why?” Alaria demanded, wand aimed steadily at me. “You destroyed the wand, it can’t be the magic you’re after. I don’t understand.” Her eyes narrowed. “And I want to understand before I destroy you.”

  There had to still be something I could do. “I did it to protect people. I don’t think you’d ever understand.”

  “Then you have failed. What will you do now? Kill me?” Alaria laughed.

  I remembered what Serana said about Alaria being prone to mistakes when she was angry, as long as she wasn’t enraged enough to kill. Well, it wasn’t as if she didn’t already want me dead… If I did it right, there was a chance I could even, finally, let the others know it was me.

  “I’ve beaten you before,” I said.

  “Oh, have you? When?” she sneered.

  “When I found my way in and out of your labyrinth.” Her grin faltered. “When I killed Donna,” I added, bluffing. Alaria’s eyes widened, so I took a deep breath, hoping I wasn’t making a huge mistake. “I’m the witch you couldn’t find when you destroyed Mystic Cay!”

  Alaria’s jaw actually dropped as she stared at me. Slowly, her face began to contort with rage as it all sank in. She raised her wand up above her head.

  I pressed back against the wall with nowhere to go.

  “Skal-“ she began to scream.

  Thomas crashed into her from behind and they tumbled to the ground; Alaria’s wand went flying from her hand. It was obvious the sudden attack was all Thomas had in him; he rolled off her and barely caught himself on shaking hands and knees. Blood dripped down onto the floor from somewhere as he moaned in pain.

  I dove for her fallen wand, frantically thinking of what spell I could use. As my fingers wrapped around it I realized it was a blood casters’ wand; I didn’t need a spell at all. Alaria rose to her feet and turned to face me, then lunged for the wand. I jumped back and slashed the wand across her throat.

  Alaria screamed and reeled away from me, clutching her neck. She sank to her knees as her screams turned into gasps. I spotted a discarded knife on the ground and grabbed it, then plunged it into her chest, just in case.

  She collapsed and lay still.

  I stood slowly, shaking. Was it… over?

  After a surreal moment of waiting, I realized she really was dead and dropped to my knees beside Thomas.

  “Thomas?” I said, putting a hand on his trembling shoulder.

  He slowly raised his head and stared at me with wide, bloodshot eyes. “J-Jen?” he whispered. “Is…”

  I nodded. “Yes. It’s me.”

  He started to laugh in disbelief, but it turned into a cough.

  “You need blood,” I said, rolling up my sleeve.

  “We have to… help them first,” he said. “I’ll be okay.”

  I hugged him, carefully, and he weakly put an arm around me and heaved a sigh.

  “Jen?” came Dani’s hoarse voice. I turned, ready to tell him yes, it was me, but I saw he was looking across the room. “Problem…”

  I followed his gaze and gasped in horror. The glowing black orb had lowered to the floor and was slowly spreading in a large black circle.

  “Oh no!” I cried. I grabbed Thomas and tried to pull him farther away. He could barely stand.

  The spreading black glow covered the floor like tar, then abruptly shattered, with an earsplitting crack, destroying the ground beneath it. Black tendrils began whipping away from it, cracking and breaking everything they touched. I screamed as one went straight for TS and another for Dani and Charlie.

  Somehow, Dani and Charlie managed to both shove themselves to the side, letting it harmlessly shoot by. The other bolt narrowly missed TS, but shattered the side of the stones encasing him as it went!

  He started bucking and struggling; to my shock, he wrenched himself free. Thomas gasped in pain as TS lunged out of the rocks, collapsing with a whine.

  “We have to get out of here,” I said. “The entire castle is going to collapse!”

  “We think there’s a labyrinth entrance,” Thomas said.

  “There is… I just don’t know where…” I said.

  TS shifted into a human and stood, cradling one arm against himself. “What about the courtyard? The bus must go through it.”

  Here, I had assumed it would be in the lower levels. Of course there was one in the courtyard!

  “You’re right!” I cried as a loud rumbling sound echoed around the room. For a moment it felt as if the entire castle was shaking. “We have to hurry.”

  As I spoke, it occurred to me that TS might have been the only one with any hope of standing. Thomas needed blood, Dani desperately needed water, Charlie needed wood… and that I could help with! I ran across the room and grabbed as many shattered pieces of wood as I could carry. As I did, I spotted a bathroom beyond the t
hreshold of the broken door. I rushed it back and dropped it all next to Charlie, then hurried back into a bedroom.

  I spotted what looked like a small cauldron and grabbed it and hauled it into the bathroom. I filled it with water and rushed back out. Charlie was already starting to look better and TS was just setting another bundle of splintered wood next to him.

  The castle rumbled again and shook, nearly throwing me off my feet. We were running out of time, but none of them had any hope of escaping without a chance to recover a little. I adjusted my grip on the cauldron and just dumped the entire thing on Dani.

  For a moment I was worried I had made things worse. An appalling amount of steam rose off him and I swear I actually heard it sizzle.

  “Ow! Oh fuck!” he cried, as the water splashed down and steam billowed around him. Then he let out a sigh that sounded relieved and sagged back.

  I rushed for one more bucketful. This time, I set the cauldron next to him and he considered it for a moment, then just dunked his entire head in.

  Satisfied he would be okay, assuming we could get out of here, I hurried back to Thomas and sat next to him, holding out my wrist. He studied me for a moment, almost as if he still didn’t believe it was me. Then, he numbed my wrist and gently bit and began to feed. His shoulders heaved in a silent sigh and he let out a weak chuckle.

  “It is you,” he murmured, before sinking his fangs back in.

  The castle shook again and he pulled back out, giving my wrist a few quick licks. “We can’t wait, we have to get out of here.”

  I helped him to his feet. For a moment he just looked at me, still somewhat stunned. I kissed him and it was over far too quickly.

  We hurried to the others. Charlie and TS pulled Dani up, but he obviously needed more time to recover. They all did.

  The way down the stairs was agonizingly slow. Several times we had to wait as the entire castle rumbled, clinging to the walls and each other. We made our way through the carnage, listening to terrible crashes as things collapsed all over the castle. The ground shook beneath us as we struggled to reach the courtyard.