by S. J. West
“The same way you did. I came up the elevator,” I say sarcastically as I make my way over to her.
I stop in my tracks when I witness her teleport from where she is to only a couple of feet in front of me. Now that she’s so close, I can see her entire face and immediately wish I had been spared the sight. Her eyes are sunken and yellowed not only from age, but also from malnutrition. The texture of her skin reminds me of a shriveled apple.
She gasps when she meets my eyes.
“I know you,” she whispers, taking a step back as if she’s scared of me.
“I’m Thorn Cin d’Rella,” I tell her, “and you are under arrest for unlawfully entering Shadowspire and breaching the chamber of Briar Rose.”
The woman cackles as if I’ve said the funniest thing she’s ever heard in her life. The sound of her mirth sends chills down my spine.
“You’re spunkier than I expected you to be,” she says thoughtfully. “It’s a shame Darcy didn’t kill you when she had the chance. I don’t relish performing the deed myself.”
“Why do you want to kill me?” I ask.
“Because you never should have been born!” she says as her eyes darken with anger. “You’re an abomination that shouldn’t exist in this world. The first time I laid eyes on you, I knew you would upset the balance between life and death.”
“I don’t understand,” I say. “When did we meet?”
“After you were born,” she says. “Even then, I could feel the evil inside your tiny little body.”
“If I was only a baby, how could you possibly know anything about me?”
“I knew enough!” she screams. “Your mother was a fool for falling in love with Oliver. They were both fools! Fools who brought an abomination like you into the world under the misguided belief that love could conquer all.”
“Stop calling me an abomination!” I yell back.
“What’s wrong, girly? Am I hitting a little too close to home for you?” she taunts me. “Haven’t you always felt this nagging doubt in the pit of your stomach that you’re not good enough? Isn’t that why you get those panic attacks when you enter a room full of strangers?”
“How . . .” I start before needing to swallow hard. “How do you know about those?”
“I know a lot more than you might think,” she tells me. “There isn’t much that escapes my notice. Even though Maximus tried to shield you from me, I could still see you when I was locked inside that prison cell.”
“How could you possibly see me if you were locked up?” I ask. “And who are you?”
“Names are arbitrary things. Mine isn’t important.” She silently considers me for a moment before saying, “Has Briar Rose connected with you yet?”
To say I’m shocked that she knows about my secret communications is the understatement of the century. My surprise must be clearly written in my expression because she begins to laugh again.
“So young and naïve, you are. It must be nice to live in such a world,” she tells me condescendingly. “I suspected she was using astral projection to enter your mind and communicate with you. That’s how I first communicated with Darcy when she was a little girl. Her heart was inherently dark and easily manipulated by my will. She tried to get rid of you when you were children, but then Maximus whisked you off to safety. I suppose her end was fitting though. She sacrificed herself without much prodding from me. Death was the only way she could finally find true freedom from the shackles of this world.”
“Why won’t you give me your name?” I ask.
“If you must call me something, you can call me Suri,” she says testily. “But I don’t think you’ll have much time to use it or tell anyone else what it is.”
“Why?” I ask apprehensively. I grip the crystal heel in my hand tighter because I believe I know where this is going.
Her response is to throw a dagger at my head. Luckily, I was anticipating an attack of some sort from her and easily dodge the blade, but why didn’t she try to use magic on me? Does she believe I’m immune to her spells since I’m not affected by the one she’s cast over Shadowspire?
“I don’t want to hurt you!” I tell her.
“Of course you do,” she replies with a sneer. “If you knew who I truly am, you would want to end me before I can hurt you and the ones you love, but make no mistake, Cin, there’s no escaping me. You’ll meet your fate just like everyone else in this world.”
She disappears from my sight like she did when she left the platform by the doors to approach me earlier. She grabs my hair from behind me, and I realize she’s momentarily taken the advantage. I put my free hand on the one she has in my hair to trap it in place before swiftly stepping underneath her arm and twisting it until I have her pinned. Before she can disappear on me again, I jab the narrow end of the crystal heel into her right shoulder, which causes her to cry out in pain. I smell the stench of burning flesh as she writhes on the floor.
I grab the magic nullifying bracelet from my jacket pocket, but before I’m able to place it around one of her wrists, she vanishes again. I perceive movement coming from the elevator and turn around in time to see her press one of the buttons on the control panel before the doors close and the elevator descends. I try to use my com bracelet to warn Commander Ford that Suri is coming down, but I can’t seem to contact her. Whatever magic the dark mage is surrounding the spire with seems to be affecting communication with the outside. There’s nothing left for me to do except check on Briar Rose and make sure she’s safe.
I walk up the steps to the platform where the gold doors leading to her chamber are. I place my right hand on the seam between the doors and watch as a pinkish light illuminates it from underneath. The physical and magical locks on the chamber disengage, and the doors slide apart to reveal Briar Rose floating peacefully within the incandescent light surrounding her. I breathe a sigh of relief at the sight. It didn’t appear like Suri had breached the chamber when I arrived, but I wasn’t sure about that until now.
“Cin . . .” Briar Rose says to me, even though her lips remain motionless. I feel a warmth on my right arm, which makes me look in that direction. Standing right beside me is Briar Rose.
“How . . .” I begin but stop because I’m not sure which question I should ask first.
“How can you see and hear me, and how did I touch you?” she asks, looking amused by my confusion. “As Suri told you earlier, what you’re seeing is only an astral projection of me, and I didn’t physically touch you. I projected some of my soul’s energy so you would know I’m real.”
“Why are you showing yourself to me like this?” I ask. “Am I the only one you can connect with?”
“You and my sisters,” she says. “You met them in your dream.”
“Where are they?” I ask. “And why do I need to find them?”
“You are on your way to finding one of them,” she tells me, which doesn’t actually answer my question. “And you need to find them because each of us safeguard something precious that you need to obtain in order to defeat the monster you just fought.”
“What do I need to take from you?” I ask. “And how will I know what to take from the others?”
“Each of us will be holding the item,” she tells me. “Walk over to me and see for yourself.”
I walk the short distance to Briar Rose and reach through the pillar of light to take hold of her right hand first. For some reason, I thought her flesh would be cold to the touch, but I find her skin to be warm and silky smooth. As I hold her fisted hand with both of mine, I gently pry her fingers away from her palm and feel something thin and metallic in her grasp. I grab the item and hold it up. It looks like a large gold needle that’s six inches long with a sharp, pointy end that gradually widens to the width of my pinky finger on the opposite side. I turn around and show it to Briar Rose.
“What should I do with it?” I ask.
“Keep it for now,” she tells me. “When you have all the pieces, they will form a weapon that you can use on Suri. Once y
ou plunge it into her heart, she will be placed into a deep sleep, and my sisters and I can finally awaken from ours.”
“Are you telling me that this is how we awaken you?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“Yes,” she says with a smile. “But you must not share this knowledge with anyone but those you trust the most.”
“Why?” I ask, finding this an odd condition to place on a riddle that people have been trying to solve for almost a hundred years.
“If you fail in your mission, this city will devolve into chaos and people will lose hope. You must not let that happen, Cin. Sometimes hope is all we have.”
“Can’t you just tell me where your sisters are?” I ask. “It would make it a lot easier to locate them.”
“I have faith that you will find them on your own,” she says, adding to my frustration. “As I said, you are on your way to locating one of them without any help from me. Your search for the golden apple will lead you to the first one.”
Briar Rose turns her head toward the outer chamber.
“I must leave you now, Cin. If I were you, I would hide the item you found me holding until you’re ready to tell the others what I told you.”
Briar Rose fades from my sight as the elevator doors open and Commander Ford arrives.
“Is she safe?” the commander asks as she strides purposefully toward me from across the room.
“Yes, she’s secure,” I reply. “How did you get inside the building?”
“The spell surrounding it vanished a couple of minutes ago,” she replies as she comes to stand beside me and examine Briar Rose for herself. “Did you see the creature?”
“Yes,” I say.
“How did you get her to leave?” Commander Ford asks.
I hesitate to respond as a strange feeling of foreboding warns me that I need to withhold the truth from the commander in this instance. I don’t like to lie, but something is telling me I need to keep the fact that I used the heel from my mother’s shoe a secret.
“We fought, but she wasn’t as strong as me,” I reply. “For whatever reason, she didn’t try to use her magic on me. She used a physical attack. I injured her shoulder, and she broke free from me and ran into the elevator. That was the last I saw of her. Did you see her exit the building?”
“No,” Commander Ford says. “We didn’t see anyone leave.”
“She must have teleported then,” I say. “It could be that she teleported herself out of the building, and when she left, the magical energy powering the spell left with her.”
“Why do you think she tried to attack you physically and not with her magic?”
“I have no idea,” I reply with a small shrug of my shoulders. “It didn’t make a lot of sense to me either, considering her old age.”
The commander looks over at Briar Rose as she contemplates my words. Finally, she looks back at me, and I can practically see her next question in her curious expression.
“How did you know you would be able to breach the spell she had around the building?” she asks me.
I have two options here. I can either come up with a lie or I can tell her the truth. I settle on telling her half of the truth because lies are often hard to keep track of.
“I realize this is going to sound impossible,” I begin, “but I had a vision of Briar Rose after we left the hospital to come here.”
“A vision?” Commander Ford eyes me skeptically. “What did she say to you?”
“She told me that I was the only one who would be able to breach the mage’s barrier. That’s how I knew I would be able to walk in here.”
“Did she say anything else to you?” she asks eagerly.
“No,” I say, realizing I’ve been forced to lie to her anyway.
“Well, I suppose we’re lucky she did that much. I’ve never heard of anyone having a vision of her. What was it like to speak with her?”
“Magical,” I reply, unable to think of a better word to describe it.
“And you’re sure she didn’t at least give you a hint about how to end the curse she’s under?”
I slowly shake my head. “I’m sorry. She didn’t.”
Commander Ford tugs at the bottom of her jacket as if she’s trying to hide her disappointment in my answer. “If she contacts you again, I want you to tell me right away.”
“Yes, Commander,” I reply, even though I know I won’t.
“Go down to the lobby and find Isabel. She’s got enough to worry about today. We shouldn’t let her fret over your safety any longer than we have to. I believe she intends to go back to the hospital to wait out the rest of her father’s surgery. I suggest you go there too for moral support.”
“Are you sure you don’t need me to go out on patrol and help with the recovery efforts?” I ask.
“No. We have it covered,” the commander assures me. “Once most of the dead are taken care of, we’ll send out repair teams to start putting things back together. It’s going to take some time, but we’ve weathered a supernova before. We can get through this one too.”
“What about Vivian?” I ask. “Has anyone told her that Darcy is dead yet?”
“I’ll handle that,” she assures me. “Don’t worry about anything except Isabel and Maximus, Cin. Everything else will sort itself out in time. Now go. I’m going to stay here for a little while longer to make sure nothing was damaged.”
I look back at Briar Rose before I turn to leave and wonder if she plans to visit me again with her astral projection trick. To be honest, I’m not sure if it would be helpful or not. She doesn’t seem to want to lead me by the nose to where I need to go.
When I step into the elevator and press the lobby button on the control panel, a glint off to my left catches my eye. After the doors close, I look over and see the crystal heel I plunged into Suri’s shoulder. I pick it up, expecting it to be covered in blood, but it isn’t. All I see are flakes of ash. I wipe it off and stick it back in my jacket pocket for safekeeping.
The lobby of Shadowspire is filled with Thorns, but some of the senior ones are giving instructions on what needs to be done for the area of the city affected by the supernova. I find Isabel being consoled by Rachel Hood, Scarlet’s grandmother. Over the years, she’s become a grandmother to all of us girls and a great source of encouragement when we needed a motherly figure in our lives.
“Cin!” Isabel says, seeing me first. She practically launches herself into my arms when I get close enough.
“I’m fine,” I reassure my friend as the other Thorns openly gawk at us. I’m sure they all want to know how I was able to get through Suri’s spell and what happened in Briar Rose’s chamber, but it’s not my place to answer their questions. The commander will if and when she wants to.
“Are you hurt?” Rachel asks as she gives me a quick once-over.
“No,” I tell her as Isabel takes a step back from me to do her own inventory of my well-being. “Commander Ford asked me to take you back to the hospital so you can be with your dad.”
“That was uncharacteristically kind of her,” Rachel states. On more than one occasion, Scarlet’s grandmother and the commander have butted heads. There’s obviously not any love lost between the two women. “I wish I could go with you, but I need to get back to my post. Anytime something like this happens, it upsets the werewolf population. I need to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t make a bad situation worse with their behavior.”
Isabel gives Rachel a hug around the neck. “Thank you for staying with me. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime,” Rachel replies, patting her on the back.
We walk out of Shadowspire with Rachel and say our goodbyes to her once we’re outside. In a matter of minutes, Isabel and I are on our way back to the hospital. I want to tell her everything that happened with Suri and then with Briar Rose, but I don’t want to overwhelm her. She seems lost in her own little world, and I can’t blame her. For so many years she’s wanted to be reunited with her father again, but I’m sure in
all of her childhood fantasies she never imagined it happening like it did today.
“Your father will be all right,” I tell her. “He lived through a supernova. Not many people can say that.”
I don’t actually know if Henry will pull through or not, but it’s one of those things you say to people when they are worried about someone they love. Plus, what I said is true. It’s a miracle that her father survived being so close to Darcy when she released all of her magic. If he hadn’t been in a padded cell with a lead door, he wouldn’t have lived.
“I hope so,” she replies as she stares out the passenger side window.
I leave Isabel to her own thoughts because my mind is swirling with enough of them to drive me insane. I feel like every time I learn something new it leads to more and more questions that need to be answered. When will it end? I’m bursting at the seams to tell Isabel that I know how to break the curse, but I don’t want to burden her with my knowledge. Once her father is out of surgery and on the mend, maybe she can handle it, but until then, I’ll have to keep what I’ve learned to myself.
After we get to the hospital, I walk Isabel to the surgical wing where Gus is waiting for us.
“Have you heard anything?” Isabel asks him anxiously as Gus stands from his chair to give her and me a quick hug.
“Not yet,” he tells her. “I’m sure it’ll be a while before they’re able to tell us anything.”
Gus looks over at me. “Have you been to see Maximus yet?”
“We just got back from Shadowspire,” I say. “I’ll be heading up to the fifth floor next.”
“I assume you Thorns were able to get things under control since the two of you are back.”
“Yes. For now,” I tell him before turning to Isabel. “Call me on my com bracelet if you hear something about your father before I come back here. I’m going to go upstairs and check on Maximus and Coltan.”
Isabel nods absently and sits in the chair beside Gus in the waiting room.
I go up to the secure floor where Maximus is and find Thorn Stone still on duty. I have a quick conversation with her about what happened, but I tell her the bare minimum. I don’t want to get into a lengthy conversation with her about what took place. I would much rather go check on my godfather and see how Coltan is doing.
