Chapter Fifty-Four
FIFTY-FOUR
‘Tilly, I need you to run and find who we spoke about. I need you to run and not look back,’ I whisper in a shaking voice, reaching into my pocket and shoving the crumpled-up map into her good hand. ‘Get out and send help!’
Her eyes start to well with tears, but I need her to do this.
I need her to get out because one of us has to and it needs to be her.
I know that I won’t leave, I can’t. Not until I get answers from him about my brother.
Answers to questions I’ve been collecting like badges along with the information that’s been helping me to piece together my puzzle.
I must know why Bartollo Zain killed Lukas, even if it means trapping myself down here with him.
‘Now, Tilly!’ My voice pitches louder, needing her go before it’s too late. I help her to her feet, mindful of her hand, biting back the heat pricking my eyes as she spins on her heels and takes off sprinting past the two dead women and out of the tunnel.
To my surprise, Bartollo doesn’t stop her.
In fact, when I return my attention to him, he seems barely fazed that she’s left.
But seconds later I hear it. The sound of ragged breathing and footsteps.
There are more crones in the tunnels. My stomach sinks and all I can do is hope that Tilly makes it out before they find her.
Bartollo’s milky eyes fall to my face, filling me with more dread.
Slowly I crouch down, keeping my eyes on him as he prowls closer, and yank my dagger out of the crone’s head.
It releases with a sickening wet pull. I drag the blade along the fabric covering my thigh, staining the grey robe with deep crimson.
Out of the corner of my eye I spot something silver and shiny hanging at the waist of the lifeless body at my feet.
Before I have time to reach out and see what it is, Xavier speaks, snagging my attention. I rise from the ground.
‘Headmaster.’ His head bows in subservience. ‘I tried to—’
‘Hush.’ Bartollo places a placating hand on Xavier’s shoulder. ‘I know you did.’ I see Xavier’s shoulders sag. His relief is so raw, so naked. My insides twist witnessing such devotion to this man … thing … monster.
‘Don’t touch him!’ I yell. The need to run and yank Xavier away from Bartollo propels me forward. One step – two.
Bartollo’s head tilts, his eyes narrow into thin slits. Xavier doesn’t even glance my way. His eyes are solely focused on his headmaster, as if he’s in a trance.
‘I’ll do whatever I please,’ he says, and to make his point a hand snaps out and grasps Xavier by the chin. His fingers gripping so tight that they turn white as bone. ‘Isn’t that right, Mr Davis?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Xavier’s voice cracks, he winces, and I can see the pain on his face, yet he doesn’t pull away.
My stomach drops and rage fills my veins. Something isn’t right.
‘And why is that?’ Bartollo asks him, though his eyes remain glued to mine. Making his point loud and clear. Xavier isn’t on my side any longer. Bartollo wants me to see how much control he has over my friend.
‘Because you’ll take away the pain,’ Xavier states, devoid of … anything him. ‘You’ll make them stop.’ My heart fractures.
‘What did you do to him?’ I ask, disgusted. ‘What have you done to my friend?’
Bartollo doesn’t answer me though; instead, he finally turns to Xavier. The hold Bartollo has on Xavier’s chin shifts as he brings both hands to rest on either side of his victim’s face. What looks like affection dances across Bartollo’s expression.
‘That’s right.’ He nods. ‘I can take away the pain. But you see, I was counting on you, Xavier.’ Bartollo’s voice deepens, losing the warm and placating tone. ‘You had a job to do and you failed me.’
Xavier’s eyes lift. There’s a small divot in between his brows as confusion takes over. ‘I tried—’
‘Trying isn’t good enough,’ Bartollo interrupts, tutting at him as he pats his cheek.
And then in one quick second, far too quick for me to react, Bartollo grabs hold of Xavier’s head.
One hand near his jaw, the other at the back of his skull.
With a viciously fast twist, a sound that will haunt me for the rest of my life reverberates through the tunnel.
A sharp crack.
Xavier’s lifeless body hits the floor with a thud, his limp head bouncing against the stone. His last moments, the last vestiges of light in his eyes are stolen from me as his face is tilted away from my sight.
My stomach drops. Time fractures. My breath stills. My chest spasms, and then I scream.
‘No!’
My voice is raw, cracked open. Bile rises up my throat.
My legs stumble forward, desperate to run to him and shield his body with mine.
To scream at him to wake up. To tell him it’s okay and that I know he was just scared and grabbing onto whatever hope he could find.
That I forgive him and it’s not his fault.
That I didn’t want this ending for him. But Bartollo’s voice halts me mid-step.
‘I really didn’t want to do that. His mind was quite exhilarating to be inside of.’
Inside of? ‘W-why … ?’ My words get stuck in my throat as my eyes shift from Xavier to Bartollo and back. ‘You were in his head?’
‘It’s just a little trick that keeps me from getting my hands dirty, but it seems this time, I’ll have to.’ He scowls down at Xavier, using the toe of his polished shoe to tilt his chin up.
‘Don’t touch him!’ I snap and now, I do lunge forward. Unable to stop myself, I run toward Xavier. Bartollo controlled his mind. He somehow got inside of his head and manipulated it. I want to cry. No. I want to tear him apart.
Bartollo’s hand snaps out before I can reach Xavier and a surge of ice-cold air slams into my chest and sends me sprawling back several feet. ‘You cry for him even after he betrayed you?’ he asks, as if he cannot fathom the notion of my grief.
‘He didn’t betray me. That was you. Xavier was my friend,’ I bite back, hating how my voice quivers. I clamber back to my feet.
‘Friends don’t exist in this world, Miss Nocthare. There are only those who need you, so they keep you close. And when they no longer need you …’ he glances at Xavier’s lifeless body again, ‘… they discard you. Unless you get the chance to do it first.’
‘Maybe you’ve just had shitty fucking friends,’ I snap, anger bubbling to the surface, heating the sorrow in my veins and turning it to rage. ‘Let me guess, you killed all of them too.’
A faint smile tugs at his lips, but his milky eyes remind cold, detached – hollow, like there’s nothing behind them but a predator. ‘You speak so brazenly. Do you have no self-preservation?’
‘Must have left it in my other robe,’ I snap. My hands shake at my sides with barely contained rage.
‘Have you always had such a smart mouth?’
‘Yeah. Got it from my brother,’ I let my words hang heavy in the air, hoping he feels the weight of them.
His eyes narrow as if the mere thought of Lukas displeases him. ‘Ah, yes. Your desperate endeavour to prove his innocence. Mr. Davis told me all about it. Tell me, what did you find while snooping around down here?’
Something I hope Tilly is relaying to Nicks as we speak, because I refuse to believe she hasn’t made it out. I refuse to lose another friend down here.
‘Enough to have you imprisoned by the Council. More so now that I watched you murder a student.’
A sharp laugh erupts from his throat, chilling me to the bone. Why is that funny?
‘The Council?’ He chuckles again, slowly regaining his composure. ‘I created the Council. I am the Council. I am untouchable.’
‘No one is untouchable,’ I say. ‘Not even a thief like you. Tell me, Headmaster, how many sessions a week are the healers working on your deteriorating sight now?’
He reacts before I can blink, sending a slash of wind so sharp it slices across my skin like a blade, cutting into my cheek. I feel my flesh split open and blood start to trickle down to my jaw.
‘You will mind your tongue!’ he growls.
It’s me who chuckles without humour now, using my shoulder to wipe at the blood. I ignore the sting and curl my hand tightly around the hilt of my dagger. ‘Touchy subject?’ I huff.
‘Your insolence knows no bounds and I’m growing weary of it.’ He steps toward me. My stomach pitches and I know despite the brave face I have on, with the sheer amount of power he emanates, I stand no chance against him.
‘Why’d you do it?’ I blurt, determined to keep him talking because I have no plan on what I’m doing down here with him.
Not after what I just saw. I just need to hang on until Nicks or Sebastian can get down here and face him with me.
I need time. ‘Why’d you kill all of them?
The names, the people written in the book. ’ Lukas … Xavier.
He stops, his brows rising in surprise.
‘I know it was you. I know about the spell you use to sacrifice them. I recognised your handwriting from my acceptance letter and the ones on your desk.’
‘Well, well, well. Aren’t you clever?’ He starts patronisingly slow clapping. ‘There’s only been six people over the years that detected what I was doing. So, colour me impressed that two of them happen to be siblings.’
I try not to let my surprise show on my face, tamping it down by biting the inside of my cheek.
‘Is that why you killed Lukas and blamed the murders on him? Because he discovered what you were doing?’
‘I wish it were that simple. But no. You see, your brother was supposed to be my next host, only things didn’t quite go to plan when he found out what I intended to do with him.’
‘Why?’ The word comes out on an exhale. ‘Why him? Why do all this? Why destroy people’s lives and kill innocents?’
‘Because I wasn’t ready to die. I wasn’t ready to give this up.’ His arms gesture around us. ‘I built it. It was mine long before it became an academy. The magic inside it. The people. The power. It’s all mine.’
‘One of the Stars built the academy,’ I argue, disbelief evident in my tone.