“Oh yes. I’ve rounded up all the remaining Magi. They believe unequivocally that I’m one of Isaiah’s most trusted advisors and on their side. They suspect nothing.” The smile in his voice and the half lie he tells make my stomach roil.
“At dawn the day after tomorrow, be sure to have them at the southeastern corner, near the plains. We’ll be ready and waiting,” the queen says.
“It will be done,” Darian says.
“Then you’re dismissed,” the king says with a note of finality. I don’t have to watch to know that Darian bows before them and puts his cloak back on before leaving the house. I quickly release the amplification spell and recast my shield to ensure he won’t see me. I don’t dare move until the royals leave the house too. I’m shocked they’re out here at all. I always thought they remained in the Palace and never ventured into the city. To see them here . . . this is very serious indeed.
I wait for several long minutes, but I don’t hear any noises. Finally, my curiosity gets the better of me, and I risk a peek—under my cloaking spell—through the window.
They’re gone.
But they definitely didn’t leave through any of the doors of the house. There must be a hidden entrance. Maybe this is a safe house they keep to meet with their spies. I shiver. I can hardly believe what I’ve just overheard, and yet the awful feeling in my gut leaves no doubt of the truth.
Darian is playing both sides, even more effectively than before.
Despite the cold sense of dread seeping into my bones, I hurry back to our base in the tunnels. I must alert the others. If my suspicion is right, I must find a way to warn the rest of the Magi as well.
Most importantly, my sister and Remy. I can’t let them fall into another trap.
I watch my back, taking a roundabout route just in case Darian caught on that someone was eavesdropping. When I’m satisfied I’ve lost my imaginary pursuers, I finally return to the tunnels.
The first thing I do when I get there is wake Catoria.
She rubs the sleep from her eyes. Then frowns deeply at me. “What are you waking an old woman for?”
“Haven’t you slept enough over the last hundred years?”
Catoria laughs, then gets to her feet, wrapping her cloak around her thin frame. “True enough. What do you need from me?”
I bite my lip. “Did you bring the scrying stones?”
She tilts her head, curious. “I did. Do you need to check on someone?”
“I need to know where Darian Azul is right now.”
She gives me an odd look that says I’ll have to explain this more fully later, while she opens her pack and pulls out a pouch that clinks as though stones rest inside. My anxiety rises, spooling and spinning and carving me hollow.
We move into the war room, where Catoria picks up a canteen from the table and pours water into a bowl. Then she drops one of the scrying stones into it and begins the spell. The water shimmers and swirls, and in a few moments settles into a placid state, just like glass. An image of a man walking in the woods appears. His cloak is pulled over his head, and we can’t see his face. My body vibrates, frustrated with having to watch and wait. Catoria regards me curiously but doesn’t ask questions yet.
If she sees what I fear we’ll see eventually, she’ll have more questions than I can answer.
The figure approaches an area that appears empty until he passes through it. Suddenly it’s filled with people. The Magi camp. The hood lowers and the bottom drops out of my stomach.
The person the scrying stone follows for the Azul family line looks exactly like Isaiah.
Catoria grunts. “Strange. That’s not Darian at all. That’s never happened before . . .”
“No,” I manage to croak out from a throat lined with knives. “It is Darian. Of that I’m absolutely positive.” I sink into a chair at the table beside Catoria. This time the unspoken questions are clearly written across her face.
“While I was patrolling this evening, I saw someone sneaking around and realized it was Isaiah. Or, rather, I thought it was Isaiah. I followed him to a house in the city—the same place where I spied him before. That was when I saw him do it. At the time I couldn’t tell whether he was casting a spell or undoing one, but now I understand. It’s been Darian all along. He’s only pretending to be Isaiah. He removed his disguise and entered the house. When I peeked inside . . .” My breath begins to rattle at the memory. “He was meeting with the Technocrat king and queen.”
I grab a hold of her wrists. “Catoria, they’re plotting to capture or kill all the remaining Magi. The royals are building a new wing of prisons just for Darian and his experiments.” I shake my head. “I should’ve guessed something like this was happening when Leon told me he’d received a large order for more of the Magi suits.”
I wrap my arms around my middle and shudder as Aro walks into the room.
“I thought I heard voices,” he says. Then he takes one look at my face and immediately is at my side. “Aissa, what’s wrong? What happened?”
I quickly fill him in on what Catoria’s scrying pool confirmed: Darian has been pretending to be Isaiah, the Technocrat king and queen know all about it, and they plan to use it to their advantage to get rid of the Magi for good.
“I have no idea how long Darian has been keeping up this ruse,” I say. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Isaiah died in the bombing of the Chambers and Darian has been the pretender ever since.” As soon as I say the words, I’m certain of their truth. “Yes, that must be it. Isaiah hasn’t behaved as I’d expect from a man who’s just seen what his son warned him about come to pass.”
Aro sits back on his heels and runs his fingers through his pale hair. “No wonder he was determined to kill me,” he says.
I give a half-hearted laugh. “He certainly was, wasn’t he?”
Suddenly, I realize why Aro had a tracking spell on him when we rescued him from the Magi camp, and why it was so easy to free him. Darian was trying to use him as bait. As an Alliance member, he would’ve at least heard rumors of the Sanctuary. We thought we were being coy, but he must’ve realized what we’d discovered. And he hoped to use Aro to lead him to it.
“Poor Remy. He doesn’t even know his father died.” Aro shakes his head sadly. My heart begins to ache. I know what it’s like to lose your parents. Remy may have had differences with his father from time to time, but he’ll still be devastated.
Now Darian is making a play to control both sides of this war. He’s killed the Magi leader and taken over the leadership of our faction under his disguise. And his plan to wrest control of Palinor from the royal line has been in the works—with the Magi’s help—for a decade. All he needs to do is kill Aro and arrange the deaths of the king and queen. I’m sure he has something fittingly tragic in the works that will rally the Technocrat populace to his side and bolster his claim to the throne. Then he’ll make a new army out of the Heartless to suppress any potential rebellion and ensure his reign lasts as long as he sees fit.
Catoria has been considering her scrying pool where Darian still masquerades as Isaiah for the Magi camp. “We have to stop him.”
I get to my feet. “Yes, we must warn the others immediately.”
Aro puts his hands on my shoulders. “Hold on,” he says. “It’s the wee hours of the morning. I assume you’ve been out all night?”
My cheeks redden. “Possibly.”
“You need to rest before you can save the world.”
“Right now I just want to save my sister and Remy. I can worry about the rest of the world later when they’re safely back where they belong.” I feel sick to my stomach knowing my sister is in that camp, under the sway of our enemy. The man who’s determined to use us and our magic with or without our consent. The man who betrayed the Magi in every possible way. The man who murdered our parents.
I can’t let her stay there another second.
But Aro holds me fast. He’s insistent that I rest, at least for a couple of hours before tak
ing off again.
“It’s dangerous out there. You must be at your best. And you can’t be without sleep.”
Finally, I acquiesce. He’s right, even though I don’t like it.
I settle on the cushions laid out in our little room, and Aro lies down next to me.
“I need to talk to my parents,” he says. “If I could just try to reason with them again, especially now that we’ve healed a Heartless—”
“They’re fully aware of what Darian’s doing. They approve of his work. And to be honest, I don’t think they’ll care that we healed a Heartless. The Heartless are useful to them as they provide a reason to hate Magi.” My words are not as measured as usual. I’m exhausted and my head is too focused on my sister. They slip out before I can think better of speaking them. “I’m sorry, I can’t have this argument again right now.”
I turn on my side, avoiding the look on Aro’s face. He sighs and then, to my relief, wraps his arms around me, a comforting warmth that soon lulls me off to sleep.
CHAPTER 37
WHEN I WAKE IN THE AFTERNOON, I’M annoyed at Aro for letting me sleep so long, but he’s insistent that I needed that more than anything.
“You’ve barely slept since Zandria and Remy left,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “You’ve been burning yourself out and were in no condition to take on Darian and the entire Techno army without rest.”
Begrudgingly, I have to admit that he’s right. But now I waste no time assembling our allies. We meet in the war room that evening, and I share what I know.
Needless to say, they’re as horrified and disturbed as I am.
“It’ll be a massacre,” Vivienne says, her face pale and drawn. “Remy and Zandria have no idea what they’ve walked into.”
My stomach twists. “I’m heading out there tonight to ensure they do.” The idea of Zandria being under Darian’s control, obeying his orders, makes me want to vomit. And rip something apart.
I clench my hands into fists, then release them. “Vivienne, Leon—are the Heartless confined solely to their hospital, or are they elsewhere too?”
Leon frowns. “There’s an orphanage here in the city, but some of the Heartless live at home with their parents.” He glares at the ground. “Though not many, I’m afraid.”
“I need you to warn the Heartless hospital and the orphanage and anyone else who cares for the Heartless to get out of Palinor now. Be sure they avoid the northwest sector and woods beyond the city. The Magi are in the forest there.”
Leon raises an eyebrow. “There’s another Heartless hospital near the seaport. They might be able to shelter them temporarily.”
“Perfect,” I say.
Confused, Vivienne glances between us. “Why do only the Heartless need to leave?”
I swallow hard. I haven’t shared this with everyone yet. But now is the time. “Darian wants to use them. He’s draining the Magi he captures with the end goal of powering hearts for the Heartless. He believes they’ll be indebted to him and will become his own personal, nearly invincible army. He’s plotting a coup. It starts with killing Aro and ‘curing’ the rest of the Heartless. We must get them out of Palinor before he can make his move.”
Vivienne looks like she’s about to be ill. But she nods. “I’ll take the hospital, and you can take the orphanage,” she says to Leon.
“Also, this would be a good time to bring the Technocrats you’ve been grooming on board—at least inform them of what we now know. We’re going to need them soon,” I say.
Vivienne and Leon quickly leave to set about their tasks.
I turn to Catoria. “I need your help.”
She raises an eyebrow. “And my scrying stones?”
“Exactly.”
She pours some water into a bowl and dips the Donovan stone inside, then casts the spell. In moments, two images appear, one of me staring at the bowl and the other of my sister. Catoria whispers a few more words I don’t quite catch and only the image of Zandria remains, now filling the bowl. I startle when I realize she’s no longer in the woods.
She’s already in the city.
The brick-and-steel buildings are unmistakable. My heart slams into my throat. “What’s she doing here?”
“Could Darian have moved up his schedule?” Owen asks.
“I must intercept her. Hold on . . .” I glance closer to see if I can determine which direction she’s going and see she’s heading for the square. I grab Catoria’s arm. “If we leave right now, we can catch up to her.”
“What about us?” Aro asks hopefully.
“You stay here. Owen, warn our Magi allies. If all goes well, we’ll be back soon with my sister.”
Aro’s expression hardens. “So you have a task for everyone but me.”
Frustration rises in my chest. “I’m not going to fight with you about this right now, Aro. There isn’t time. I have to get to my sister before she makes a horrible mistake.”
Before he can object further, I drag Catoria out of the room. Arguing is wasting precious time we don’t have.
We hurry into the tunnels, then head for the square under our magically made disguises. The face-changing spell has come in handy on many occasions. It’s the only thing I’m grateful to Darian for—he gave my sister the spell book that contained it. We don’t need anyone to recognize us but her. I know the face she’s wearing, and she’ll recognize mine too. Catoria doesn’t need to change hers, but for the sake of not attracting strange glances, she’s made herself appear about thirty years younger, so she could pass for a mother rather than a grandmother.
When we reach the square, we split up to cover more ground. We agree to meet back at the southern corner in twenty minutes. When I pass by the center of the square, I spy my sister in disguise, headed in the direction I just came from. I rush to intercept her. When she sees me, surprise flits across her face, then, strangely, relief.
“Zandy,” I say. “I have important news you must hear.”
“Not as important as mine,” she says. Every trace of the animosity she displayed the last time I saw her has melted away. I almost wonder if I imagined it. But no, her expression that night isn’t one I’ll ever forget.
She sits me down on a bench at the edge of the square with a grave air about her. “Aissa, Isaiah is almost ready to carry out his plan. The negotiations officially fell through as of last night. The Magi will strike and sink the city as the first rays of dawn appear.”
“And they’ll be at the southeastern corner, just inside the tree line, yes?” I say.
Zandria is taken aback. “Yes. How did you guess?”
“I didn’t guess. I knew.”
She frowns, then her eyes widen. “Were you spying on us?”
I shake my head. “Only to find you once we learned of the plan. When we discovered you were in the city, we came to intercept you.”
“I don’t understand,” she says.
I squeeze my sister’s hands. “Isaiah is not who you think he is.”
Zandria is beginning to get annoyed with me. “What are you talking about, Aissa?”
“Last night I saw Isaiah enter the city through one of the hidden entrances. I followed him to learn more about what he was doing here.” I swallow hard. “He went to the same house where I first spied him before. But this time, I saw who he was meeting.”
“Well, who was it?” Zandria says impatiently.
“The king and queen. And just before he entered the house, he removed a face-changing spell.”
Zandria’s breath hisses sharply between her teeth. “What?” she whispers.
“Zandy, Darian has been parading around wearing Isaiah’s face. The Isaiah we knew is either dead or captured, which is as good as dead right now.”
My sister recoils, then glances up as Catoria joins us. The old woman sighs sadly. “I’m afraid she’s correct. We verified it with the scrying stones. The Azul stone brought up a man with Isaiah’s face in a camp of Magi. There is no mistaking it.”
&nbs
p; “I’d be willing to bet that Isaiah died in the Chambers catastrophe. And that Darian was there to swoop in to gather up any survivors and use them for his own ends,” I say. My sister’s hands quiver in mine, but I hold them fast.
“That explains so much,” she says. “Isaiah—Darian—has gone too far. He has the entire camp in a frenzy. Everyone has been practicing the spell all the time. He’s wearing them ragged. He even has children who’ve barely learned to control their magic preparing to cast it. If he isn’t stopped, he’s going to destroy them all. We thought something had broken in Isaiah after the Chambers, but now . . .” She shudders. “What’s Darian planning? Did you hear?”
Zandria’s description of the Magi camp gives me chills. “He has no intention of sinking the city. He’s bringing all the Magi to one central location to make it easy for the Technocrats to capture them. His behavior in the camp must be to purposely weaken the Magi. The king and queen are turning one of the Palace storage levels into prison cells, and Leon recently received a large order for the mechanical suits. He’s delivering them, of course, to avoid arousing suspicion. But he isn’t happy about it, now that he knows more about how they’ve been used.”
Horror twists Zandy’s face. “Darian will drain them of their magic, one by one, to build the Heartless army he’s been dreaming of.” She leaps to her feet. “Remy! He’s still in the camp. He has no idea.”
“I know, that’s why I was coming to warn you.”
“You don’t understand.” Desperation crosses her face. “He’s not working with Isaiah. Nor was I. We left to sabotage Isaiah’s plan. That’s why we had the confrontation with you out in the open, and why we didn’t tell you first. We needed Isaiah to believe we were sincere. Remy still believes his father is in charge and that even if everything goes awry, he’ll forgive him eventually. But if that’s actually Darian, and he discovers what we’ve been up to . . .”
“He’ll kill Remy,” I finish for her.
“We can’t allow that to happen,” she says.
“We won’t,” Catoria says. “But right now finding Remy cannot be our first priority. We need more Magi on our side if we want to defeat Darian and the king and queen. We need assistance now. You two were doing quite well freeing Magi before from what I hear; now is the time to go all out. We know Darian is at the camp and likely will remain there to keep up appearances. That means we only have guards to worry about, and they’re no match for our powers. We should get Owen, and then we can divide into pairs to free as many Magi as possible tonight.”
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