22. Cress
For the next few hours, I toured the hospital, quietly showing Braza around. She was fascinated by the modernity of the facility, even though much of the beauty of the place was stripped. File cabinets and couches cluttered the first floor, turning it into a maze and blocking most of the windows.
I introduced her in a one-sided way to the people I knew, speaking with her in my mind so I didn’t startle anyone with a two-layered voice. I was happy to catch Mom, who was pushing a cart in the hall on floor four.
“Have they given you any time off?” It felt like she was running around whenever I had time to visit the hospital.
She shrugged. “You know what they say. Time waits for no one. I’m choosing to invest it making what difference I can.”
“Have I told you lately that you’re my hero, Mom?” I asked earnestly.
She ruffled my hair and moved toward the nurse’s station. “I’m not that impressive, baby. The doctors around here…I’d give my left arm for the kind of healing magic they wield.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like…” I coughed, choking on the name. “…like Carly.”
Mom’s eyes flicked my way over her mask, concern creasing her brow. She’d always been able to read the shifts in my mood like her own kind of magic. I’d as good as told her there was something wrong.
“Well, you had best confide in her,” Braza commented.
“Can I tell you something?” I asked more quietly.
Mom took a fifteen-minute break and drew me into an unoccupied room, where I spilled everything I knew. Phaeron’s admission was enough to scare her, and Braza’s supplemental knowledge seemed to make it worse. “Torchbearers were ghostly servants during the height of Myuna’s power. It sounds like she’s not strong enough to enslave souls like that anymore, so if we can capture Carly, Phaeron can try to remove her from Myuna’s control.”
“What are the chances of us catching her alive?” With her mask set aside, her face looked aged a decade, deep lines marking her nose and cheeks. Tears sheened her eyes, but she kept them contained by pure force of will. “I shouldn’t think that way…but I know the men and women protecting the hospital are treating anyone touched by Myuna as a lost cause. We have the morgue filling up with these so-called torchbearers.”
I felt my skin go cold all over. “Like, how many people?”
“It’s grim business. I’m not sure you really want those details,” she answered.
“An estimate, maybe?”
She considered me hard, and I saw when her will caved to what she saw in my face. “Dozens. The wounded guardians talk about how the corrupted animals and supernaturals all throw themselves heedlessly into fights. There are a lot of bodies left behind,” she told me in a hush.
“We’re lucky the hospital has a good relationship with the closest funeral home. At the moment, any body we can salvage is being stored…just in case we come out of this situation. There will be loved ones who will want a say in what happens to those remains.” It was clear that was all she wanted to say on the matter. That was fine, as I was reeling.
“If dozens of torchbearers have already died in this area, Myuna must be corrupting them left and right. It sounds like she’s using them as if they’re disposable,” I said to Braza.
“She will be pressing each new servant to bring her more and more people to consume or turn,” Braza replied.
“We have to do something about this.”
“Mom, I have to go,” I said aloud, rising to give her a hug farewell. “Thanks for telling me all of this. I will find Carly personally if I have to.”
A thread of eagerness spun from Braza, crackling with the restless energy of lifetimes stuck in one spot. “Well, we are unstoppable together. Shall we go find her?”
I liked the sound of that quite a bit. “Shouldn’t we tell someone that we’re leaving? And Phaeron…” The only reason we’d felt safe to let him leave the aura of her powercore side was because I was carrying half of her with me.
She tugged on my powers, guiding me through the process of turning into shadowy mist. I may have startled Mom, passing her as a sudden breeze, but hopefully I didn’t leave behind an impression of my exhilarated laughter. We reached the first floor conference room in record time and reformed in a seat. I felt the weight of eyes on me during the dizzy spell that followed.
I looked around and blanched. Phaeron and Auric had pulled the maps off the conference room wall and were conferring over them, while Madigan and Hana had obviously paused mid-explanation to stare at my sudden entrance.
Hana broke the silence first. “Hello, Cress and Braza. We were about to talk about the ocean gate.”
“Braza?” Auric echoed in disbelief.
She greeted him in Soiluirian through my lips, further baffling the old Vrassorm man.
“I didn’t mean to barge in,” I added sheepishly. “I just wanted to find my sister.”
Phaeron’s lips pressed into a fine line of disapproval.
“And I wanted to point out that A Little Wicked Coven has no job now that the library is cleared internally. Myuna moves to take over the supernatural population. I know I can speak for my friends when I say that we can’t sit idle.” I flexed my hand, overlaid with purple-black claws.
Madigan propped her chin on a gauntleted fist. She’d placed her helmet aside for this meeting and shot a bemused glance toward Hana. “Well, you called it. What do I owe you?” she sighed.
“Let’s call it good if you say yes. This way, you can assign them a few protectors,” the augur said.
“What of protecting the library?” There was a dangerous edge to Phaeron’s question.
Braza barely had to warn me. Fury blazed in his otherworldly eyes as I aired her suggestion. “You can hold it singlehandedly with the powercore’s support.”
He switched languages seamlessly, the hisses and rolls of Soiluirian made crisp by his anger. “And when darkness falls and Endaeron comes for you both, I am to…what, sit idle?”
“Unless Myuna herself shows her face, you will be safe from her control this way,” Braza answered.
It felt like I was double-teaming him as I added in English, “This also protects you from whatever hold the Hunger has on you.”
I heard the agitated snap of his tail. “He will change the subject to buy time to think of a way around our logic,” Braza said privately.
“Let us speak of the ocean gate,” he said. Well, she’d called that. “It is surrounded by unnatural sightings and skirmishes. It’s a guarantee Myuna has figured out something valuable is in the lake, but she will not know what an ocean gate is unless one of her creatures gets the opportunity to use it.”
“That’s only a matter of time,” Hana said. “Especially with the number of unnatural hunters coming and going.”
Auric loosed a displeased growl. “Those kids are pretending at being heroes.”
“I know it seems that way, but we simply don’t have the people to rescue everyone.” Madigan drummed her fingertips on the table, weighing our options with a pensive expression. “If there was a way to communicate with all of the people still trapped in their homes, we could gather them up for one big push.”
“We could use Wren’s stream?” I suggested.
She tilted her head back and forth with a hum. “My understanding is her audience is all supernaturals on the outside, watching for our fall with baited breath.”
“Not necessarily. She’s really tried to show that there’s hope on this side of the pocket dimension. I bet you there have been several people who’ve come to the hospital for protection after seeing it on her stream,” I argued. She seemed to consider it and nodded to herself.
“For better or for worse. Who knows how many supernaturals were dragged in front of Myuna because they were trying to get to us?” she pointed out. “And broadcasting our plans would only make that problem more severe. Not to mention someone locking the ocean gate from the outside if it becomes common knowledge.”
“I don’t think they will yet,” Hana said. “We will have to talk to the mer representative when he arrives tomorrow.”
I interjected before they could switch to another topic. “You’re right that a lot of people on the outside are watching Wren’s stream too. What if we used it as a platform to call for help? If there’s a future where we try to evacuate all the people we can.” My gaze landed on Auric, whose expression was cynical at best. “We cleared out the most dangerous creatures in Cerris City Library with the help of a couple unnatural hunters. They’re competing, not trying to be ‘heroes.’” I put up air quotes. “But there are people who will come to help us if they know it’s possible. Real heroes who will know what’s at stake because of Wren’s stream and come anyway.”
“I question the wisdom of dragging anyone else into this conflict, bright soul,” Phaeron replied quietly. “The fewer supernaturals around for Myuna to corrupt, the better it will be for us. However a small river can help, it…is not possible to share her evils without firsthand experience.”
“Fuckin’ hell. The first thing you asked was if I brought reinforcements,” Auric grumbled.
“Of our kind, who understand the magnitude of a soul’s death,” he said.
“Who says they won’t come when they see the Sudair fighting?” A sharp grin took over the blue dimensional’s face. “I have an idea that will keep you away from sitting on your ass in a library. You just have to appear on camera.”
“Back on Soiluire, we called this clearing a path,” Phaeron said a little later, at the head of our armed group heading away from the hospital.
“It’s not like we’re going to get very far on foot,” Braza grumbled in my head.
We’d all kind of gotten what we wanted. Braza seemed the most disappointed, as she’d initially wanted to strike out on her own. It was the impulsive teenaged side of her, I thought. Traveling in a big group was much slower, but this way, we were present to keep Phaeron sane. In the same breath, he was here with me, and that seemed to put him more at ease than staying in the library.
“That’s not the point of why we’re out here,” I replied to her. In a way, I knew we were being humored. We had one objective for this trip, and that was to free one torchbearer of Myuna’s control. We had to see if Phaeron could do it.
Our group’s spirits seemed high. Roe and her familiar, Tank, wore identical smiles, faces lifted toward the sun. Bianca and Grace were nearly attached at the hip, muffling the occasional laugh. Ben and Geo were doing much the same, actually, from where they flanked me. I was relieved to see Geo smiling again, even in gargoyle form.
There were a couple guardians and Crystal fae with us, all familiar faces who’d been assigned to the library. Absent from our group were Jordan and Auric, who’d both stayed behind to plan; áine, whose magic was needed at the hospital; and Grant, who seemed quite shy of Wren’s camera. The blonde stood at the center of our group with her phone panning the scene. More often than not, it was focused on Phaeron, a new star to the “small river,” as he still didn’t quite understand what a stream was.
As I hadn’t wanted my hybrid status broadcast to the supernatural world, I’d left Wren’s staff behind. She didn’t seem to care much about its fate, still having the moon scepter tied to her hip. Walking next to her was Willow, also on her phone but for a different reason. She had our map and wore Grace’s microphone to coordinate with Tish.
“We’re taking a left two blocks from here,” Willow said.
“Got it,” Phaeron said.
Meanwhile, Wren narrated our walk and the information flashing on Willow’s phone as the map refreshed in real time. “The survivors have ransacked everything of value from these stores already. This road will lead us to a location where several skirmishes have been fought against Myuna’s creatures. They’ve wrecked enough cars here after dark…”
Phaeron shot an annoyed glance over his shoulder. I spoke up to distract him. “Just pretend she’s not there. It’s for the stream.”
“Right. Where others can watch what we’re doing,” he repeated dubiously.
“A lot of others,” Ben pitched in. “And they give us money for the cause.”
“Well then. Perhaps with the donations, you will stop trying to spend mine for me,” Phaeron said.
Ben covered a surprised laugh. “Nah, Big P. I still think you need to buy a car.”
“What use do I have for a car?” Phaeron put his palms up in exasperation. It was like they’d picked this argument up from where they’d left it before we were ever trapped here.
“Or a phone,” Geo rumbled.
I held my breath when there wasn’t an immediate reply. The dimensional took a breath and flashed a smile toward me. “I’ve promised to buy four of them,” he said more quietly. “Though I still don’t see why I need a phone too.”
“You do,” the three of us said practically on top of one another.
“Very well,” he chuckled. “Perhaps our task will be brief and we can take a couple detours. I am in want of new armor.”
I’d insisted on him donning a shirt for the sake of the stream. The hospital had a plain black one that fit him well enough. If he hadn’t still been simmering from me suggesting he stay behind, he might’ve teased me about covering up. There’d been the glimmer of the idea in his eyes, at least, before he’d silently shrugged it on.
“If we can find a shop that still has something in stock,” I murmured. As Wren had suggested, the storefronts we passed were completely looted. Most windows were smashed in, displays empty or turned over. We stopped at a corner mart to scavenge for crumbs, just to find a trio of rat-like unnaturals already in the process of doing just that.
We killed them without much issue, but Phaeron dragged their corpses out by their tails and lit the match to burn the pile of them on the sidewalk. “Leave nothing behind that she can consume,” he muttered when Wren panned her camera from the spreading fire to his profile.
He turned away, beckoning for the group to follow him. “Now that we’ve encountered her creatures, we can be sure there are more nearby. Stealth is of the essence,” he said.
“I’m great at stealth!” my handbook piped up next to my ear, startling me. It’d been so good on this trip until now.
I turned toward it, putting a finger to my lips. Together, we went “shhhhh.”
“See, I know the routine,” it squeaked smugly.
“Your shouting is going to get me killed one of these days,” I whispered at it.
In reply, it alighted its spine on my left shoulder. “You love me, Cressie-poo,” it replied, actually lowering its voice too.
Geo’s wings opened with a scrape of rock. He cleared a small area and took to the sky, hopping from rooftop to rooftop above us as we headed for the place where our allies had had several skirmishes with the enemy. I knew it on sight due to the wreckage of a few cars sitting in the middle of an intersection. Judging by the number of lanes, this would be a busy thoroughfare if circumstances were different.
“Incoming,” Geo announced. We bristled with spells and weapons, waiting for the space of a few quickened heartbeats before several humanoid figures poured out of a gaping car repair shop across the street, alongside many more unnaturals that used to be various animals.
I was merging with Braza’s power all the while, clothed in her purple-black shadows and wearing a wolf-like visage over my face. “We want to keep the people alive, if possible,” Phaeron said before taking his own shadowborn form and leaping forward.
His shadows speared the nearest torchbearer, slamming him on his back and wrapping him in a layer of dark ropes. While struggling and gnashing his teeth, the man had his eyes wide open, staring at us. I could see why those who’d fought torchbearers thought they were zombies. His irises were bleached under a sheet of glowing white, unnatural and dead-seeming.
I cast Lux on my sword and joined the melee, warding away the bulbous birds dive-bombing my friends with a few swings of my light. The monsters were afraid as ever of my power, so I cast Luminaire with a warning shout, aiming to dazzle our enemies.
Monsters screamed, and torchbearers cowered, but words formed on their lips, dry whispers. “My lady,” rasped one. Another begged for mercy.
I froze, my mouth hanging open for one dumbfounded moment. They thought I was Myuna?
“Shake it off,” Braza warned. They quickly realized I wasn’t the soul-eating goddess and stumbled back into the fighting. Something hit me from behind, and I fell face-first to the pavement, my sword clattering out of arm’s reach.
A fist struck the back of my head, and stars danced in my vision. The same person who’d stunned me grabbed under my armpits and started to drag me away from the group. I realized it was the first torchbearer. My light had melted away the shadowy ropes that’d bound him.
Braza wanted to lengthen my fingers into talons and slash him, but I had an idea to try first. I called silently to my handbook, and it flew into my palm. I circled my fist in a figure-eight and held it up over my shoulder, willing the Lux spell to pass through it.
The handbook flared open in my grip and emitted a spotlight of concentrated parchment-colored light into the torchbearer’s face. He released me, and I stumbled back.
“Hah, take that! Tis I that is luminous now!” the book exclaimed.
A different figure nudged me aside. I saw the flash of Phaeron’s sword, the attack checked just in time for the torchbearer’s sake. He reached into midair over the man’s chest, and he went very still.
Braza’s shadows flowed over my eyes, letting me see the knotted white ball he was pulling from the man’s chest. Phaeron passed me the hilt of his sword and took a deep breath. With both hands, he unraveled the mess of tangles the man’s soul was tied in until it was a white globe being pushed back into his body.
The man collapsed in a boneless heap. I eyed him for a moment. “Did that work?” I asked dubiously.
“Later,” Phaeron grunted.
The fighting was dying down around us, and he had a few more souls to disentangle. There wasn’t much else for me to do except to gingerly grab one of the bird corpses by the edge of a wing to drag it toward the burn pile being formed on the street corner. Geo took it from me and lobbed it on top of the pile.
“Look, I’m a UFO!” my handbook exclaimed, hovering itself halfway open over a broken feather. A scorching ray emanated down from it, setting the feather’s edges on fire.
My brows rose. “Well, that’s useful,” I said. I tucked the smoking feather into the burn pile for it to spread.
“Thank you. I pride myself on being quite useful!”
Braza cut off its Lux spell, to its great disappointment. With our merge, I didn’t feel how much power my spells drew, but she shared how depleted my natural reserves would be just from having the handbook lit for a few minutes.
“This is why we don’t set random tools alight,” she said. I had the feeling she’d scold me if the effect wasn’t so impressive.
I turned toward the stretch of street where Phaeron had laid out six people in total. He stood over them quietly while Wren filmed him, patiently waiting for him to say something. When I joined him, looking at them with Braza’s soul sight, I saw what had him hesitating. Braza told me, “Thebright white color of the souls within these supernaturals is highly abnormal.”
“Do you see them?” he asked me.
“I do, but I’m not sure I understand what I’m seeing,” I admitted.
He beckoned for me to kneel with him by one of the former torchbearers. “Do you see the cracks?”he asked, switching to Soiluirian in a hush.
I nodded. If this person’s soul was a piece of pottery, it’d been dropped from a low height and was barely holding itself together.
“That is soul damage. Myuna’s work is crude. The process of binding this person’s will nearly tore their soul in several places.”He frowned, the picture of troubled.
“Does that mean they’re going to die?”Braza spoke for me in Soiluirian.
“Probably. If they wake, it will be to great pain. All of these people will have died briefly and been reborn, so they are unnatural, Myuna’s will or no. They will either succumb to their wounds or their hungers.”
“No. My sister…” I whispered.
“If they are lucky, there’s a small chance they will recover. In that case…we will have to study them before releasing them back into the community.”When he looked over at me, I saw the serious prince, the man who’d led his people safely to another world. “Braza, we must contain them until we know where their fates land.”
“Yes, my prince,”she said.
“In the meantime, Myuna is probably improving on her soul binding skills. If she takes her time, the future torchbearers may have enough intelligence and presence to use their magic again,”he said, shaking his head slowly. “If that happens, we will be overwhelmed.”
He looked up at Wren and her camera. “Our mission is successful. Cress and I will use shadow magic to take these people to a safe place, then we shall return to the hospital,” he said.