Chapter 45
Silhouettes
ANNA
Istaggered back at the shock.
“Saryna!” Blake shouted. “Get Riya and Eli out of here! Caelan, get Anna, I will hold them off!”
“Little busy, Blake,” Caelan gasped, his sword in hand over his head, the blade in the other as he held back his opponent in a dangerous clash.
Blake was surrounded but holding his ground.
I caught a glimpse of Saryna helping Riya and Eli out.
She was watching me, looking for a way to get over here.
My body tightened as I slipped into my stance. Knees bent, blade forward, palm out.
“Just go, Saryna,” I shouted.
I caught her eye, urging her to go, before I focused back on Everson. I couldn’t risk them staying to help me. Or Blake being unfocused.
“There’s no way,” Saryna shouted, watching me. “I will not leave you here.”
“Yes, you will.”
Adept Corinya stepped from the shadows, her sword in hand. “I’ve got this, Saryna. Take the Initiates.”
Riya looked at me shaking her head. “You can’t be serious. Come with us, Anna.”
“No way I’m leaving Blake and Caelan in here with these monsters,” I said. “Get out of here. I’ll see you on the other side.”
Saryna grabbed her, and Eli and I watched Everson. He was glaring at Corinya.
“You weren’t supposed to be here,” he said, his voice low.
“I forgot to give some paperwork to Lady Cressida,” she said. “When I found her dead, I realized something was wrong.”
I gasped. Lady Cressida was dead?
Her haunting words stirred in my mind.
The flame you seek is not the flame of creation you desire.
I still had no idea what it meant.
“I had no choice,” Everson said. “Only she knew the way to turn off the barrier gate around Nightfall.”
“So you tortured her to death to get it?” Corinya asked, her voice shaking with anger.
She launched an icy blast of everi from her palm, skimming Everson’s cheek as he dodged it.
“I didn’t have a choice!” he shouted, recovering his defensive stance. “Corinya, please, get out of here. I sent you out of Nightfall for a reason.”
Corinya nodded, tears on her cheek. “I see that. That is what makes this even harder. I have lost you twice tonight. The first time was when I realized what you had done, and the second time was when I realized that you tried to spare me. I loved you, Jaden.”
I stood motionless, shocked by her revelation. This was coordinated and well-planned.
Corinya thrust forward, her blade clashing with Everson’s. I moved to assist when the wind of a blade forced me to dodge roll. I tumbled across the debris, finding my assailant moving to strike again. Swiftly, I parried and launched my own attack.
I growled as I fended off the masked blood mage, seeing Corinya fight with all of her might. She was skilled but where she excelled intellectually, she lacked strength and endurance. I plunged my foot into the blood mage's chest, knocking him onto his back, where I plunged my sword into his heart.
The strange feeling of my sword piercing flesh stayed with me long after I pulled out the blade. So many times I’d imagined killing someone with my sword, but until tonight, I’d never truly aimed to kill. While battle was like a drug, death was the end of that high.
I found Corinya and Everson locked in a tense struggle. He had her pulled to his chest, his sword at her throat as she struggled to free herself.
“Look at what you have done!” he shouted. “This is because of you! You should never have come here! You have ruined everything.”
His everi moved through me in shockwaves. I stared at him, disbelief clawing at my mind; he was crying.
“I don’t understand,” I said, careful to move closer slowly. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to hurt Corinya. Whatever you think I’ve done, I swear to you, I never wanted any of this.”
I’d never seen him so broken. His stoicism surpassed even Blake’s and as I saw his expression shatter, I didn’t know what to do. He shut his eyes, pain shattering his mask as he ran the blade across her throat.
I flinched as Corinya hit the floor.
“You should have left when you first realized Cody was missing,” he said, his voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear him. “I blocked the mind curse for you, leaving you unaffected. I let you figure it out. You had every chance to run, yet here you are. You are a fool.”
The room was starting to move. What was he saying? He blocked a mind curse?
“You mean it never affected me like everyone else? But Isabella… she remembered them too,” I said.
Everson shook his head, unrecognizable to me in his grief.
“No, she could not have. I only shielded you from the memory curse. I did everything I could. And as if Malakai wasn’t threatening enough to you, I framed him for the disappearances,” he said.
“I even ensured one of my guards slipped it to your friend so you would be convinced the Realm was not a safe place. So you would leave.”
“The cuff link?” I asked. “You—”
The image of Malakai with his forearm against Everson’s throat came to my mind.
“You took it off him,” I muttered.
Everson’s eyes narrowed. “I did everything I could to get you out of here. To stop this. But I underestimated the lure you were for the Aurkai. They coveted you, protected you, and gave you the false impression that you were safe.”
I clenched my fists, my confusion blurring into anger.
“What does any of this have to do with me?” I shouted.
“I made an Oath to help fill the stone in exchange for passage to the Realm,” he said quietly.
“I was a fool to make a deal with those who had already betrayed me once.
You see, I was Selected once, just like you.
Then they rescinded my invitation to the Realm.
I was too dangerous to be allowed to return home so they forced me to stay here.
“What does that have to do with the Initiates? What stone?” I asked.
“I do not know anymore,” he said. “All I know is that you cannot be allowed to live because it is what they want.”
Everson’s eyes flashed as he launched himself at me with a battle cry that only drew my everi from my veins faster. There was no one around us to swoop in and save me and fear paralyzed me. What could be so threatening about me that he was willing to kill Corinya to get to me?
The crushing power of his blade snapped me into action.
He came at me with his sword head-on which I roll-dodged to the right, knocking his feet out from under him along the way.
He went down, his large form and weight making him slow to rise.
I didn’t wait for him to recover and gathered everi into my fist, striking his side ribs where his armor was the weakest. It knocked him back but also made him angrier.
He sliced horizontally through the air and I jumped backward, narrowly missing what could’ve been a terrible cut across my midriff. He came for me relentlessly and I twisted and turned with agility he didn’t possess, but I couldn’t do this forever.
Sensing someone behind me, I dropped to the floor. Another blood mage was attacking me from behind. Everson was there over me and the blade came faster than I could dodge. I blocked with my blade but he was stronger than me. The other blood mage kicked my hand, knocking my blade away.
I watched as Everson’s blade came down for me.
I pulled at the everi within, summoning it with all my might and felt it pooling into my hand.
A strange feeling overcame me and I heard a whisper in my mind.
It was her—it was my mom’s voice.
“For my daughter, the only light I’ll ever need.”
I watched as the silver bracelet on my wrist glowed—the gift she never got to give me. My everi threaded around it as it expanded into the sleek blade Derrick made for me. I stared at the bejeweled blade, feeling its weight in my hand.
Calm. Control. Focus.
I braced myself, holding the blade over my head as Everson’s clashed against mine, the steel ringing loudly in my ears. The air thickened as our everi bled into the blade, mine a golden glow, and his a dark red mist.
I screamed, my voice cracking with adrenaline.
His weight was forcing me back and down, arching me at an awkward angle until I shoved him, hard. My breaths were ripping through my lungs as I fought to regain my equilibrium.
“How did you…” he muttered, glaring at me as he recovered from the blow.
I slipped into the familiar stance I used to spar, stretched my left arm forward, palm out, and my sword ready to pierce in my right.
My stance was firm. My pulse beat with purpose. I wasn’t afraid. Not anymore.
I glared and said, “Power isn’t found in stolen everi, it comes from within.”
He lifted his sword, his eyes flashing malevolently. He charged at me, his fury charging his blade with crackling sparks of red electricity, but he never made it to where I stood.
Caelan appeared before me like a ghost, his blade drawing blood before I realized he was there. It cut deep into Everson’s torso.
I flinched as his eyes flew open, stunned by the unexpected shock of the blade that was now buried in his chest.
I stood there, unmoving, as Caelan pulled his blade out and glared down at him.
“You,” Everson whispered.
Everson fell to his knees, dark red blood pooling on the floor. His eyes tightened and his hand reached forward, blood trickling from his lips. He tried to speak but choked, unable to get the words out before he collapsed.
“Anna!”
I saw Isabella running to me, her dress in tatters and filthy.
“You look awful,” I whispered, choking back my tears.
A horrible cry drew our attention as Blake stabbed a blood mage trying to stand. He yanked the blade out of his chest, the body now still. He looked up at me, his face flecked with red.
“We need to get to the rift,” Blake said, looking at Caelan, “before any more show up.”
Blake was about to come over to us when a dagger glowing with red everi seared past his head.
He dropped to the ground, dodging it as several more blood mages entered.
They were in sparring gear, and I recognized one of them—he was one of the Adepts’ Raicanya instructors.
I’d seen him with Malakai in the Catacombs—Draknir.
Blake seethed. “If you do not stand down, I will spare none of you.”
Draknir raised his right hand beside his head, two fingers in the air before he brought them down. They moved in a flash, so much so that I took a step back.
The sound of their blades crossing rang, sending alarm coursing through me as I tightened my stance. The other blood mages were moving toward us, far more cautious and steadier than the others.
“Caelan!” Blake shouted. “Get them out of here!”
“I’ll stay and help Blake,” Isabella said. “I’ve been wanting to try out a new move anyway.”
My heart was slamming into my chest as I watched her.
“Bella, there’s no way I’m leaving,” I said.
“Anna,” she said, her back to me. “Everyone knows the truth, but you—there’s something special about you. You can’t die here. You have to go.”
Draknir and Blake’s blades were screeching loudly, like nails on a chalkboard.
I couldn’t hear anything else. The room was alight with flame and electricity, powerful vibrations shaking the ground.
The everi pulsed through me like radiation.
I tried to block the everi swirling in physical manifestations but I couldn't; its power was so intense that I could barely stay upright.
“Anna!” I heard Caelan yelling at me and I looked for him.
His arm was outstretched as he reached for me.
Isabella was engaged with some of the blood mages while the others were struggling against Blake’s curse.
He was doing it again—ripping their veins from their skin, all while still fighting Draknir. I couldn’t track their movements.
“Come on, Anna,” Caelan said. “Take my hand, I’m getting you out of here! We’ll get help!”
I tried to move against the raw energy swirling as the glass was picked up in the wind and cut into my skin. I reached for him, using all my strength to get ahead of him and as my fingers grasped his, he pulled.
A violent burst of everi threw us against the wall. Caelan pulled me along, shielding me as we found a corridor out of the ballroom.
It was mostly dark except for an odd, hazy light from windows further down the corridor. Mist filled the air from the rain, making it hard to breathe.
I dragged in the humid air, breath after breath.
“We have to go back,” I said.
“No, we have to get you out of here, now,” Caelan said.
I followed him blindly, trying to keep up. As it got colder and colder, I realized we were descending into the depths of the catacombs.
“Are you sure this is the way to the rift?” I asked, noticing a strange smell. It was putrid, like a compost pile, but with hints of something metallic and minty trying to overpower it.
“Yes, it is not much further,” Caelan said.
As I followed him, the stench worsened, and I stopped. “Do you smell that?”
He glanced at me and stopped. “Yeah, it is awful.”
My stomach twisted and I covered my face. It was strange. I recalled the smell but couldn’t quite place it. “It’s almost like some kind of…”
I paused and stared ahead at Caelan.
“…cleaning agent,” I whispered.
My entire body was going numb as the blood drained from my face. I didn’t move, breathe, or think as I watched the shadows move across Caelan’s face.
The moment I turned to run, he caught my wrist, pulling me against his chest with such power I screamed.
“Sorry, Anna,” Caelan muttered, catching me over his shoulder. “I cannot let you go.”
A pointed and potent blast of everi to my head ended my next break attempt before it got started.