Chapter 7
THE ORIGIN OF THE CURSE
“That’s completely unacceptable. The Knights cannot declare independence.”
Harvey, Knight Commander of the Metamorphs, looked at the General and smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile. “You don’t have a choice in the matter.”
“You are the Knights of Gaia. You answer to the Gaian Government.”
Harvey grunted. “Not anymore. The spirits chose us to protect this world. It’s about time we got around to doing that, instead of chasing after so-called Rebels or being used as pawns in the Government’s political games.”
The General’s gaze pierced the crowd of Knights, honing in on me. His eyes narrowed. Oh, great. He thought this was all my fault.
“Escort the Iron Wolf and his soldiers out of the Castle.”
The Knights moved quickly to carry out Skye’s command.
“Wait.”
Alisha, the Alchemists’ Knight Commander, folded her arms over her chest. “You aren’t welcome here, General.”
His mouth tightened into a rigid line. “You’ve made that quite clear. Before I go, however, there is one final matter to be settled: Melanie Meyer.”
“You want us to turn her over to you.”
“She’s a member of the Government, and she betrayed us.”
“Her crimes against us are far greater,” Alisha said. “She worked with Fenris. She sold him Apprentices: our own people, our own friends and family.”
“And what do you plan to do with her?”
The Knight Commanders looked at one another. They didn’t say anything.
The General smiled. It was an unsettling sight to behold. “You haven’t thought this through, have you? It’s one thing to fight battles. You are all quite skilled at that. But what do any of you know about holding prisoners or the justice system at all, for that matter?”
Again, the Knight Commanders said nothing.
“You can’t just throw prisoners into your dungeon and forget about them. You need to feed them, clothe them, and above all, ensure they receive a fair trial. That is, after all, only chivalrous.”
That word drew a few winces from the Knights. The General had really hit home there. The Knights followed a strict code of honor and chivalry. They always did the right thing—or at least they were supposed to. That’s exactly what the General was getting at here.
“And if we turn Melanie Meyer over to you, she will receive a fair trial?”
The question came from Linden Lance, Knight Commander of the Sorcerers.
“Of course,” replied the General. “Hate me all you like, say what you will about me, but you know I always follow procedure. I always follow the law.”
Jasmine, the Elf Knight Commander, watched him very, very carefully. Maybe she was reading his thoughts. Some Elves could do that.
“We will consider your offer,” said Jasmine.
The leaders of the six Tribes drew into a tight huddle to discuss the situation. They reached a decision far sooner than I’d expected.
Adrian, the Dreamweavers’ Knight Commander, delivered it. “We agree to your proposal.” He looked at Orion and Jareth. “Bring the prisoner here.”
We all waited, Knights on one side of the ballroom, Government soldiers on the other.
If friendliness could be measured in numbers, the temperature of the room would be hovering around minus forty.
I decided it was the perfect time to hit the ice cream bar the Knights had set up for the Ball, and Nevada joined me.
“Wow. So that happened,” she said.
“Yep.” I ate a spoonful of chocolate brownie ice cream. It was so good, I devoured the whole tub on my own.
Nevada watched me eat, her eyes twinkling. “Hungry?”
“Famished.”
She didn’t say what we were both thinking: a lot of really stupid crap had happened, and now I was drowning my troubles in ice cream.
“The Knights declared independence,” Nevada said. “Do you think that means the Rebels will come back to the Castle and be Knights again?”
“Probably.”
“That’s nice. The Knights were divided, but now we’re united. Friends can be friends again.”
Not all friends. Kato and Conner were gone. For a few blissful seconds, the three of us together had been the Polymage Tribe. I’d been part of a team. I’d belonged. I’d been with others just like me. And now I was all alone in a Tribe of one.
Orion and Jareth returned to the ballroom. Melanie Meyer was not with them.
“She refuses to leave her cell,” Orion said.
Harvey gave him an annoyed look. “And you two together weren’t up to the task of removing her from her cell?”
“We could have, but she claimed she has crucial information for us about the Government. She said if we want to know it, she’s willing to share, but she will only speak to Savannah Winters.” Orion looked at me.
Everyone looked at me.
“I wonder what Melanie Meyer knows,” Nevada whispered to me.
“I don’t know, but if we want to find out, I have to speak to her.” I set down my empty ice cream bowl, then crossed the room to where Orion and Jareth were standing, watching me with an odd mixture of amusement and trepidation. “Lead on.”
I followed them up the same beautiful staircase I’d descended just a few hours ago.
From there, we went up, up, up—to the very top of the High Tower.
I’d been in the Spiral Tower—Kato’s tower—and the Twisted Tower—the General’s tower—but I’d never set foot in the High Tower.
I guess it’s because it was the prison tower.
Bolts and chains decorated the stone walls of the winding stairwell.
Iron bars, reinforced with glowing magic wards, covered the tiny windows.
Jagged metal fangs protruded from the arched opening between the first and second stories.
Wow, a portcullis. There was one between the second and the third stories too.
The third and fourth, the fourth and fifth…
and so on, all the way up to the very top of the tower.
We passed through the final archway, and then we were in a large room.
It wasn’t dark and dreary like the prison Prince Fenris had kept me in.
It was bright and modern, with tall ceilings, clean white floors and walls, and glass doors on the cells instead of metal bars.
It smelled like cleaning chemicals and lavender air freshener.
All of the cells were empty—save one. At the moment, Melanie Meyer was our one and only prisoner. Her dark suit was clean but slightly wrinkled, and her red hair was spilling out of her bun. When she saw us, her sharp eyes locked on to me like a hawk who’d spotted a mouse.
“Savannah Winters.” Her lower lip twitched, like she was amused by some inside joke. “I have a secret to share with you.”
“Make it fast. We’ve been ordered to turn you over to the General,” Orion told her.
She didn’t even look at him. “Savannah.” A calculating smile twisted her mouth. Her lipstick was smeared, but her mascara remained flawless. “Savannah Winters.”
If she was trying to creep me out, she was doing a stellar job of it.
“So you’ve come to say goodbye.”
I took a step closer to the glass. “No, I came for your secrets. You said you have information about the Government?”
“Actually, I have information about the people who work for the Government.”
“Ok, fine, I’ll bite. What do you know?”
She laughed. “Oh, no, Savannah. That’s not how this works. Before I tell you what I know, I’m going to need some assurances from you.”
I gave her a flat look. “You sold Apprentices to the Order of Kings. We’re not going to just let you go.”
“What I have to tell you is bigger than that. You want to know this, Savannah. More than that, you need to know it.”
“Nice try, but I’m not falling for your tricks. Not this time. So you have dirt on some people in the Government. Whatever. The truth will come out eventually.”
“Not if I don’t tell you this secret. A lot of people went to a lot of trouble to bury it.”
“Whatever these people have done, it can’t be worse than what you’ve done.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that, young Knight.” She shifted position on the bench in her cell, then crossed one long leg over the other. She braided her fingers together, smiling at me over her hands. Then she waited.
“You sold Apprentices to the Order of Kings, a criminal organization,” I reminded her. “It doesn’t get much worse than that.”
“What I did was try to solve the problem that the Government created. Haven’t you ever wondered how the Curse came to our world?”
We both grew very still.
“The Government brought the Curse upon us,” she told me.
“I know that already.”
“You know part of the story, not the whole story.”
I leaned forward, smiling. “I’m all ears.”
I thought she was going to insist on negotiating her release before she told me anything else, but for some weird reason she didn’t.
And that had me worried. It meant that whatever she was about to tell me, I wasn’t going to like it.
And, moreover, this was all part of her plan.
But I couldn’t exactly say no to potentially-important intel, so I stood there and listened.
“Seventeen years ago, a Spirit Tree appeared on Earth. Scientists found it hidden deep inside a Californian forest. Along with it, they found a box which contained two things. One, an Alchemist device programmed with the symbols for one particular realm. And two, a notebook that told of a great treasure in that other realm, a treasure more valuable than gold or diamonds or technology. That treasure was magic. Intrigued by the promise of power, world governments sent an expedition—scientists and soldiers—through the Spirit Tree in search of this great treasure.”
“I know all of this already.”
“Yes, you clever little snoop. You really can’t mind your own business, can you?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “No, I really can’t. Now get to the point. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“I was a member of this expedition.”
“I know. The mercenary you hired to abduct me told us.”
“And here’s something you don’t know. Back then, I was a scientist employed by the military, and I worked on all kinds of secret projects.
Of course, all of those projects paled in comparison to an expedition to another realm.
Our mission was to find the magic that the notebook had described: a tree of special golden apples, apples that bestowed magical powers on anyone who ate them. ”
I knew this part of the story, but I didn’t interrupt. If I did, she’d never get to the point.
“The people of that realm consider the tree of golden apples sacred. It’s heavily protected.
The local priests warned us not to approach it, but the soldiers in our expedition didn’t listen.
They had their orders from their governments.
They tried to steal some of the apples from the sacred tree.
And when they were discovered, the priests sent us away.
They told us to leave their realm and never come back.
“When we returned to Earth empty-handed, our governments were not pleased. So they assembled a team whose sole purpose was to find a way to steal apples from the sacred tree. It took them many months, but eventually we were confident that our plan would work. Our governments organized a second expedition. They sent us back to the realm with the sacred tree. We’d planned everything so carefully.
We were so sure that we would succeed. But we were discovered.
And this time, the priests didn’t only chase us away from their sacred tree.
This time, they promised us that our whole realm would be cursed. ”
The Curse.
“We didn’t know what form the priests’ curse would take.
After we got back to Earth, we waited and waited, frightened that it would come at any moment.
Many weeks passed, but the curse didn’t come.
And just when we were starting to think it never would, the Curse hit.
And it was far, far worse than anything we could have imagined.
It decimated the world’s population in a matter of months.
We thought our entire species would go extinct. Until the spirits came.
“The spirits gave some of our children magic. That didn’t end the Curse, but it did slow it down.
Still, our world is in ruins. We’re nothing but a shadow of our former selves.
And it’s all because of a few people: leaders of the world’s former countries.
But they weren’t punished for what they did.
They were rewarded. They became the new Gaian Government. ”
“There’s a reason you’re telling me this story now.”
“Because you need to remember what kind of people you’re sending me off to,” she replied angrily.
“They don’t deserve to pass judgment on me or anyone else.
They’ve committed the worst crime of all: they brought the Curse to our realm.
They ruined the world and the lives of everyone in it.
Their actions have killed millions of people. ”
“You said you were part of the expedition. That makes you just as guilty as they are.”
She jumped to her feet. “They made the decision to send us back. We didn’t have a choice.”
“We are all in control of our own actions.”
“Tell that to your mother,” she said tightly.
“My…mother?”
“Dr. Alara Winters. I knew her, you know. We were both members of the same expedition. The expedition to steal magic from another realm. The expedition that cursed the Earth. So if I’m guilty, so is your mother.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Melanie Meyer smiled at me. She wore victory like a perfume. “Of course you do. Use your magic, Savannah. See if I’m lying.”
I already had. The answer wasn’t one I wanted to face. Not now. Not ever.
“And here’s the best part of all, Savannah. Your mother wasn’t just one of the scientists on the expedition. She was the head scientist. She led the team. She made the calls. She caused this disaster. She is the origin of the Curse.”