“No,” I cut off Sofia’s objection before she makes a sound. “We need you, Sofia.”
“As if I’d miss out on the fun after all this.” Sofia chuckles as she shrugs.
Ren tugs her by the hand playfully. “I knew you’d be the death of me.”
Sofia pouts to mock him. “Well, would you prefer to go back to my father and explain how come you took me on this trip instead? He might not be thrilled to discover the connection we share.”
Ren snorts, then checks how many bullets are left in his clip and slips it back into his gun. “Fair enough. But I’m going to need ammunition.”
Seff bumps a fist against Ren’s shoulder in approval. “Don’t worry. We’re stock piling at Elmwick Academy.” He walks over to give Willa a hug. “I’ll send Fillan back with news as soon as possible.”
Fillan nods to accept this role. No questions asked, no doubts. This is what will save us—that unwavering loyalty. I tuck away that sneaky hope again, afraid to let it manifest and anger the darkness. Instead, I move my gaze from face to face. Mason, Seff, Fillan, Sofia, Ren.
“Let’s go.”
We trek through the forest at a brisk pace, Ren taking care to guide Sofia. Through my link to Seff, I sense the darkness rising as if to claim his soul, but I won’t let it. Quick. We need to be quick.
We hurry to Jester’s castle. He receives no briefing about our plan, and though that must irritate him, he sees the gravity of the situation and takes us to the tunnel in the dungeons without hesitation.
From there it’s another few hours in the musty, dark tunnels with our feet shuffling in the dirt. Only Jester whistles to himself as we walk, setting me on edge with that devil-may-care attitude of his.
When we finally get to the cold ones’ training room at Elmwick Academy, the dull sounds of someone going through an obstacle course greets us. Jean’s blond hair is a tangled mess as she zooms in super speed, almost a blur to me.
“Shouldn’t you be saving your strength?” Jester drawls.
Amid a gust of wind, Jean comes to a halt in front of us. Her gaze flashes to Jester first. “I need the distraction, unless you want me to explode like Seff.” She softens when she regards me. “Are you all right? Did you free your grandma and the rest of the banshees?”
I sidestep to widen my stance. “We did. I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Yes, later, please,” Bryar’s voice sounds from a dark corner of the room. “Seff already lost it—no offense,” she adds in his direction. “And Jean has been unable to stop for hours now.”
Mason steps forward. “What about the others?”
“They’re upstairs, turning over every last book in the library to find a way out of this, which if you ask me also means they’re about to snap.”
Bryar rolls her eyes in a brave attempt to keep up her usual thorny composure, but Mason crosses the distance between them and draws her into a hug just long enough to kiss the top of her head.
“Good to see you too,” Bryar says.
“Let’s go.” I incline my head to the door, signaling Ren over.
“Who’s that?” Bryar eyes Ren and Sofia.
We’re already past her when I answer, “Some new friends.”
Elmwick Academy’s corridors and lobby are full of legacies and their families. Some I recognize from school and the Friday dodgeball games. Others I’ve never seen before. They quiet when they see us, but Jean must have compelled them to let us be so we can figure this out without having to constantly justify ourselves. And I absolutely appreciate it.
Undisturbed, we take the stairs to the second floor and enter the library. Charity, Eddie, Vanessa, and Awan sit at our usual table—the biggest one right at the center of the reading area. Charity squeals when she sees us. Awan hurries to Mason’s side, clapping a hand on his back. Even Vanessa tries to smile, though the swirl of darkness I sense coming from her tells me that effort costs her.
My friends gather around me and wait for instructions, for me to finally dig up that hope I’ve been burying out of fear that the darkness would swallow it whole.
“Listen up, everyone,” I say in a hoarse voice. “I think we can do this.”
Eddie’s gaze flicks to Sofia, then back to me. “You’ve seen her in action, haven’t you? Now do you believe in the power of the internal anchor?”
I press my lips together, wishing we could do things the way he suggests, but it’s still too dangerous for us to trust our minds right now. That’s where the darkness reigns.
“Not exactly,” I admit. “Eddie, you know firsthand the darkness that plagues an incomplete circle. I wish we could muster the utter belief in ourselves that the anchor requires, but I don’t think we can. And that’s all right.”
That gives him pause and darkens his eyes. “Then what’s your solution?”
I take in a deep breath, fishing for that hope Mason’s words birthed inside me. “We may not have much faith in ourselves with the darkness taking constant shots at us from within, but there’s one thing, one belief the darkness can’t touch—our trust in each other.”
Seff meets my expectant gaze, recognition flashing in his blue eyes. He remembers the words too.
“If we don’t trust ourselves enough to make the anchor work, can’t we believe in each other instead?” I look around at the rest of the circle and our friends in this room. “Can’t our belief in those that love us be the anchor?”
Eddie evaluates me for a breathless moment that seems to drag out forever. “It might work.”
“Wait, what?” Bryar jumps in, her forehead wrinkled in disbelief. “How will that keep the five of them alive?”
Eddie shakes his head. “No charm can magically keep them alive, regardless of the anchor. Charms can’t break the laws of nature.” Eddie smiles at me. “But what a charm like this could give you is time.”
“Limbo...” Charity whispers in numb shock.
“Oh, I don’t like the sound of that.” Awan makes a face befitting someone who’s about to be eaten by a sea monster.
“What’s limbo?” Jean glares at him for the unnecessary theatrics.
“It’s the condition between life and death.” I’m envious of the calm with which Eddie is able to deliver the explanation. “It usually takes a single moment for the soul to transition between these states, but with a powerful charm, we could extend that to a few minutes.”
“So, we anchor that charm to our belief in each other?” Vanessa looks incredulous. “And instead of dying, we enter limbo?”
“Exactly.” Eddie swallows and clears his throat. “If we take Charity, for example. She’ll spend all her charmer magic to take down the shield around the fire drake. If we anchor a charm to her belief that one of us will save her, she’ll stay in limbo long enough for us to do it.” He eyes his daughter with caution. “Can you believe, without reservation, that I’ll keep you safe and find a way to bring you from limbo and back to life?”
Charity gapes, her lower lip trembling. “Is that even possible?”
“If the charm works and you stay in limbo longer than a fleeting moment, I will create another charm, anchored in blood, and tie your life force to mine. It will only work for a few minutes, but it should be enough to pull you out of limbo and back to life.”
There’s a dead beat of silence as we all try to fathom the complexity of this exercise. I can almost hear everyone’s brains click like shifting gears.
“Is it just me or is that the long way of saying, one down, four to go?” Bryar looks at me and Mason.
“Right.” A breath clenches in my chest, but I force it out. “Then what about Seff?”
“Same thing,” Eddie says. “He will have to give all his wolf powers to undo the mark in the hidden legacy’s blood, right?”
Seff pulls himself out of the darkness long enough to clarify, “It’s my venom. If I inhale all of the Wolfberry powder, it will pull every last drop of venom out of me. So, I’ll have to bite you and transfer the venom into yo
u,” he says apologetically to Mason.
“And without a drop of wolf venom left in you, you’d normally die.” Eddie makes a gesture to the group like he’s our teacher. “You see where I’m going with this? Seff’s belief that someone else...err...” His eyes scan the group.
“Me.” Fillan raises a hand. “It has to be me.”
“Right, so Seff’s belief that Fillan will save him will anchor a charm that will keep Seff in limbo long enough for his twin to...”
“Bite him.” Fillan nods at Eddie, then at his brother, finally understanding. “That will reintroduce wolf venom back into Seff’s body.”
“What about Jean?” Bryar asks, moving on a little too abruptly, but my mind is so full of darkness that I welcome the haste.
“You’re removing the compulsion from the fire drake, right?” Eddie turns to Jean.
“Right.” Her entire back goes rigid. “It will require all my power. All of it.”
“But, again,” Eddie explains patiently, “if we create a charm, anchored in your belief that one of your friends will save you, you’ll stay in limbo long enough for them to do so.”
“Believe in me,” Bryar says at once. “What will you need?”
But Jean only shakes her head. “Don’t you remember Cami’s vision?”
“That only proves it has to be me.” Bryar rolls her eyes with the attitude that just won’t quit.
“It proves I’ll be a threat to you!” Jean turns to Mason, her stone-gray eyes wide. “Back me up here.”
Mason’s face twists into a pained grimace. “I hate to sound insensitive, but how long would you be a danger to her before you’re pulled into limbo? It can’t be very long.”
Bryar gives him an appreciative, wide grin. “Exactly. Then, all I’ll have to do is cut my finger, drop a few drops of blood in your mouth to help you restore your strength, and a cold one like yourself should bounce back like a racket ball.”
“Let’s hope so.” I clench my jaw, breathing through the onslaught of the darkness whispering in my ear that this is all in vain. That we’ll fail.
“And what about me?” Vanessa’s interjection smacks us into the imaginary wall of our next obstacle. “To remove the curse that anchors the shield around the fire drake’s abilities, I’ll have to sspend all my legacy power. I’ll have to give the blood of a viper. Even if I believe that one of you would ssave me and that gets me into limbo, then what? There’s no one to bite me, feed me blood, or bind their life force to me.”
“No, but a determined sslithering ssister always finds a way.” Sofia’s lips, painted a luxurious red, twist into a confident smile. “How about we sskip that whole limbo part, ssister?”
Vanessa glares at Sofia, dark eyebrows squelched in confusion. “And who are you exactly?”
“I’m your viper ssister,” Sofia says. “Tell me, for as long as you can remember, has our kind ever let you down? Do we not show up for each other, whatever the cost?”
A shadow falls across Vanessa’s face, but her dark eyes seem to gleam. “Always.”
“That’s right.” Sofia turns to Eddie with all the finesse of a movie star at a high-end restaurant. “Could you please alter the charm for the two of us. You can still use her belief that I’ll be able to save her as an anchor but spin the charm so it links my blood to hers. Once Vanessa gives all her legacy-powered blood to undo the joint spell, she’ll still have my blood to live off without ever crossing into limbo.”
Vanessa gapes in awe. “And your blood won’t leave me?”
“It doesn’t carry legacy powers,” Sofia explains. “Yet it is viper blood all the ssame. It should keep you alive long enough for your own powers to replenish.”
Another dead beat of silence.
“Okay...” Charity folds her arms around her, gaze drifting to the side. “What about Awan?”
He seems to be chewing on the inside of his cheek when he glances up at me instead of Charity. “There’s no way around my fate. I’m guessing that’s why I received a warning about my role in undoing the joint spell. None of you got a warning, which proves there are ways to avoid your deaths.”
The darkness unfurls inside me as if trying to claw its way out of me, but I harden my resolve. This is not how it ends. I’m not losing anyone tonight. “What does your note say again?”
Awan sighs and pulls the ancient, yellowish scroll out of his pocket. “Charms and curses fall. Venoms and compulsions can be reversed. But the mind and body will heal only when the protector falls.” Awan’s voice quavers at the end, despite his best efforts to sound matter-of-fact.
Dangerous determination crackles in Mason’s tone. “If this is true, then all of this was in vain. We need to think of other opti—”
“There’s no other option,” Awan cuts him off. “The hunters are breaking down the haze and the charm protecting Elmwick Academy as we speak. What life will future legacies lead under their rule? We have to make our stand now. One doomed life is the price we need to pay for a better future.”
“Damn it, Awan!” Mason shakes Awan by the shoulders. “We don’t trade lives.”
Defeat and acceptance swim in Awan’s warm brown eyes. “When it will bring tangible change and save the lives of countless legacies in this town, we do.”
Mason shakes his head in numb shock and denial. “Any particular reason why you’re so set on sacrificing yourself?”
I close my eyes when Awan doesn’t answer, letting my banshee intuition retrace the answer. What did Awan say just a moment ago?
One doomed life.
“One doomed life...” I whisper as another piece of the inexplicable story of Mom’s circle clicks into place. It’s a wild guess, but I find confirmation in Eddie’s stormy expression. “Awan was the reason Mom bound the circle in the end, wasn’t he? Even though she knew it would lead to Sydney’s death, she must have bound it to give his mother her extended powers...”
“It was the only way she could save me,” Awan finishes for me, crestfallen. “It’s all my fault.” He peeks up at Charity. “Your Mom’s death... It’s on me.”
Charity’s beetle-black eyes redden, brimming with tears. She pulls Awan to her, cupping his cheek with a trembling hand. “How can you say that? The hunters killed her, not you. And dying as some sick form of cosmic justice is not how we win.”
The darkness inside me abates as I drown in the genuine sorrow of this revelation. Mom must have fought against binding the circle, like I did. Much harder than I did, even, because she wanted to save her friend. But in the end, she bound the circle willingly to save Awan. I will not allow her actions to be undone.
“At The Ravenna, I told the hunters I won’t come willingly anymore—a lamb to the slaughter. And neither will you,” I tell Awan. “Otherwise, we’re no better than the most vicious among them.” A stray tear rolls down my cheek, but I wipe it away before it reaches my chin. “I will find a way to save you, Awan. Whatever it takes.”
Awan stares at me as I push the darkness away from my link to him as much as I can. I need him to believe. At last, he issues a small nod.
“Anchor the charm to his belief in me,” I ask of Eddie. “And I swear I’ll find a way to save him.”
My stomach roils at the thought of their impending questions, but a powerful ripple wooshes in the air, shaking the entire Academy.
“The shield protecting Elmwick Academy is down,” Charity breathes.
Eddie signals us to huddle closer together. “The legacies will hold off the attack as long as they can, but we need to do this now. And we’d better go to one of the training rooms instead. I wouldn’t want our new fire drake to burn the Elmwick Academy library on accident.”
Mason’s jaw clenches, but he nods. “Everyone who doesn’t have a part in the joint spell, go help our friends outside.”
Jester looks from face to face and grins at Ren. “I suppose that means us, human.”
Ren plants a kiss on Sofia’s lips. The others make their way to the library door i
n a haste, but Jester heads right for me until there’s but an inch between our faces.
“I’ve been an infinitely better ally than you deserve.” His quirky smile remains stone cold. “Don’t make me regret it.”
“We all want the same thing here,” I only manage in response.
His lips twist in a sullen frown. “Yes, though that rarely means we’re going to get it.”
Like a sudden gust of wind, he whooshes away in super speed, taking Ren with him. I lick my lips, the nervous beats of my heart pounding through my entire body. I try and fail to pay no attention to the booms and shouts coming from outside. I only hope the rest can’t hear those horrifying noises as clearly as I do.
We decide on using the banshee training room, since it’s the least flammable. We pair up—Vanessa and Sofia, Jean and Bryar, Seff and Fillan, Awan and I, and lastly Charity and her father. While Eddie performs the charms we discussed, I feel the pressure of Mason’s gaze. I don’t have to wonder about the question hiding in his brandy-colored eyes. How will you save Awan?
But I only grit my teeth and push the darkness down. It’s the true enemy we’re fighting today, and once we force it out, we’ll be unstoppable. I have to believe it, despite the waves of darkness sloshing like an unruly sea in the depths of my soul.
The five couples and Mason, standing alone, spread out, loosely forming a hexagon. I force out a deep exhale as Awan pulls out the old booklet he caught Zach and Mason stealing from Elmwick Academy.
“I guess we should start in this order.” Awan reads out loud the first passage, “The good protectors erected a barrier, never to be seen through. The slithering sisters hissed a curse to bind the shield, independent of any anchor.”
I turn to Vanessa and Charity, hoping to sound optimistic, “You’re up.”
Vanessa empties the bag of salts, drawing a circle big enough for her to step into. Eddie cuts Vanessa’s and Sofia’s palms to establish the charm that will give Vanessa enough viper blood to live through this. Then, Vanessa takes the knife and slits her wrist in one smooth motion, lips pinched to keep her from crying out in pain. She repeats the movement on her other wrist, living up to the exact details of my first vision.
Heritage: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Elmwick Academy Book 3) Page 22
