Page 6
His grip on my arm slackened, and it was only then that I noticed that Bastien had been holding me in place. My skin ached from the touch, a dull throb.
“I was with Lynette,” I explained, turning around and half-expecting her to be there, waiting for me with outstretched arms, her lavender dress glowing brilliantly in the daylight. But there was just a topiary and an empty path weaving its way towards the clubhouse.
Bastien’s golden eyes were wide when I turned around.
“What do you mean you were with her?”
“Did you find him?” Lorelei poked her head over a rosebush—a feat for one as vertically challenged as she—then rounded the corner to meet them. “Oh, thank the gods.”
“I saw her,” I answered Bastien’s question with a huff, heated frustration burning behind my eyes. “I don’t know how I did it. Nothing here is making sense. One moment, I was staring at a blasted rosebush, and the next, Lynette was pulling me through a sea of faceless shadow people, chattering on like nothing has changed.”
Lorelei tensed at Bastien’s side. “You saw her?”
“Yes. And no. I don’t think she was actually here. Or maybe I wasn’t actually here. It was like I was?—”
“Reliving a memory?”
Lorelei and I both turned to look at Bastien.
“You know what this is?” I asked, ashamed that I was still letting myself be surprised. “Let me guess, now you’ll tell me it’s a death thing, right? Then you’ll warn me about how dangerous it is, and blah, blah, blah. Can we skip to the part where you explain whether or not this is going to help us find Lynette?”
The edges of Bastien’s mouth twitched as he held back a smirk. “I actually have no idea if it’s dangerous, but I do know there’s a name for it.”
My eyes rolled back in annoyance. “Is it ominous?”
Bastien’s teeth sunk into his lower lip—another sign he was holding back laughter.
“Call it whatever you want,” Lorelei interrupted, “does this mean you can recall what happened that night? Can you go through the details?”
“They’re fuzzy,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t get that far before I was pulled out.”
“You were about to walk head-first into a topiary,” Bastien defended himself. “Was I supposed to let you impale yourself on a sword made out of boxwood?” He motioned to the sculpted knight figure behind me, its weapon drawn and pointed down at chest level.
Lorelei exhaled, a deflated sound like an exasperated mother whose children had worn her down to the last nerve. “With every wasted moment, the odds of us finding Lynette dwindle.”
“I don’t need reminding,” I sniped, rubbing an irritating pain from my temple.
Lorelei stepped in front of me, planting herself before unleashing a baleful stare. “Obviously, you do. Now stop gawking at me like a petulant child and get on with it. This may be the last chance for you to do something good with what’s left of your life. I’d hate to see you squander it.”
Bastien winced, but Lorelei’s words didn’t strike me anywhere deep enough to cause lasting damage. I didn’t need reminding of my inadequacies. Mother seemed to take enough enjoyment from doing that herself when I was alive.
Instead of rising to her goading, I turned to Bastien and asked, “You know something about this magic, yes?”
Bastien nodded slowly.
“Can I take the two of you with me? Into the memory, I mean. I have enough going on trying to piece together the details as I go. Like I’m trying to cross a bridge while building it. It would be helpful to have others there to help keep things straight.”
“It’s theoretically possible,” Bastien said, folding his arms. “But I can only guess it would take a significant amount of magic to hold together?—”
“Save the warnings,” I interrupted, holding a hand up. “Just tell me how to do it.”
“There’s no telling how much of a strain it’ll place on you,” Bastien answered, his voice tight. “I could only put a finite amount of magic into that gem. Should it run out completely, you’ll start to die again.”
How fitting that my existence in this world would be tied so directly to the magic I held. After all, it was my family’s magic that made my life what it was. Without it, I was nothing. A husk of the person I was before the grave. But I would use every bit of what I held to save Lynette if that’s what it took.
Even through the jumbled chaos of my mind, I knew the sentiment was true. And someplace deep down inside me knew that if my life must be forfeited for hers to continue, it was still an exchange of astronomical disparity.
Lynette had always been more important.
“Let’s give it a go,” I said, a certain boldness flooding my veins as I looked to Bastien. “What should I do?”
“Extend your aura to Lorelei and myself,” Bastien said, stepping closer. “Then, we just have to make you sink again and hope for the best.”
“Sink?” I repeated, raising a brow at him.
“I told you there was a name for it.”
“Well, forgive me for thinking it would be a cooler name.”
“I’m not in charge of naming magical phenomena, Tobias.”
I sucked in a breath as a heat flared in my chest. I wasn’t sure if it was only because I’d reached for the magic in my veins or if Bastien’s banter was stirring something deeper. I pushed those thoughts away, focusing on the task at hand. It was odd, flexing the intangible muscles of my power for the first time since my resurrection. Normally, my aura was wrapped around me at all times, a blanket of power to keep me shrouded from prying scryers and fending off the magical influence of others. It was the first application of magic I’d learned from Mother—a way to protect myself and the secrets that she used me to collect.
Now, as I dug into the pitiful reserve of magic seated in my chest, what once felt like liquid lead wrapped around my body was a fragile sheet of lace. What’s more, I could feel that invisible thread connecting me to Bastien twinge, as if someone had reached out and plucked it.
Sweat beaded on my brow as I finished weaving the aura around me, my breaths coming in rasps from the effort. If Mother saw me now, she’d have more than a few choice words to share.
“Take your time,” Bastien said, reaching out to steady me.
I shrugged off his touch. “I’m fine. Ready to project.”
Bastien nodded, looking over to Lorelei, who was once again tapping her shoe against the sidewalk.
“Any day now.”
If this idiotic idea didn’t kill me, I was going to rip those shoes from her feet myself.
Pulling at the edges of the shroud I’d managed to conjure, I pushed the boundaries of the magic outward, focusing it first over Bastien. The air between us shimmered like a heat wave as it made contact. The warmth of Bastien’s skin was a calming presence as my aura settled over him.
The taste of honeysuckle danced along my tongue—a familiar sensation, I realized.
“Good job, you’re nearly there.”
Bastien’s voice caused a shiver to shoot down my spine. The connection between us thrummed with another intangible pulse.
I wanted to linger in the moment, with Bastien’s warmth washing over me in waves. It was the gentlest sunlight, his presence. Not harsh like summer noon, instead the first caress of springtime coaxing open the buds of roses and lilies alike.
But I knew that Bastien’s sunlight no longer shone for me. I couldn’t even be certain it ever truly did, if I was being honest with myself. Would Bastien have kept his true self hidden if I had been a better lover? A better person? I understood the need to hide the fact he was a Reviled to others in the Magi community, but had we not shared our deepest secrets with one another, wrapped in silken sheets?
I couldn’t be sure. Not now, at least. And the thought that itched its way through my conscious was this—would things be any different if I weren’t already dead?
“Okay, now Lorelei.”
She bristled at Bastien’s instructions, taking a step back from me.
“Are we sure this is the only way? I’m not too keen on the idea of?—”
“We could always leave you behind,” Bastien interrupted, raising an eyebrow. “I understand if you’re scared.”
Lorelei leveled a cold stare at him, her lips pursed. “Just do it.”
Pushing the boundary once more, I willed the shroud of my aura over her. The woman recoiled at first contact as the magic brushed against her consciousness, but then she lowered her guard long enough for it to envelop her.
Lavender filled my nostrils, followed by an acrid smoke on my tongue. I had to force myself not to gag.
I’d experienced hundreds of auras in my first life, but hers was the most repulsive by far.
“I’m ready,” I told Bastien, swallowing back the bile that rose in my throat. “Now, how do I ‘sink’ or whatever it was?”
“We need to identify the trigger from the first incident,” Bastien said, moving till he was all I could see.
“It wasn’t anything special,” I admitted, thinking back. “I was just looking at the roses.”
“But it was a place you’d been before,” Bastien confirmed. “That’s what drew you down. Try looking around again. Let your mind wander till you’ve found something to latch on to.”
I did as I was asked, though not without a touch of skepticism. I allowed my mind to drift as I turned in place, taking in my surroundings. We were standing in the center of the gardens now, flanked by hedge walls on either side of the path. Topiaries broke the sidewalk at regular intervals, each meticulously shaped into unique characters or objects of striking detail. A green knight stood closest, its helmet and armor seamlessly sculpted from twisting branches and verdant leaves. Further down the path, a dragon rose up above the scenery, wings of scarlet leaves stretched toward the sky and a maw of sharp, thorny teeth.
“Nothing feels familiar,” I confessed after a moment.
“Then we’ll keep moving,” Bastien replied, staying close by. Even though he wasn’t touching me, through the aura wrapped around us, I was under the near-constant barrage of sensations radiating off of him—pulsing their way down the thread.
The sweet smell of coffee. The dulcet tones of wind chimes. The calming comfort of a blanket warmed by the fireside.
Shaking off the fuzziness, I started down the sidewalk in the direction of the looming building, feeling more like a disgruntled tour guide with every step as Bastien and Lorelei fell in line behind me.
Even though I was supposed to be letting my mind wander over the landscape, I couldn’t help but be drawn back to Bastien, a moth to the flame of his magnetism. Did he notice the way my eyes kept drifting over him? He paused by another topiary—a full-figured woman holding a tipped urn that spilled clean water into the pond at her feet—and my gaze lingered on the way the light seemed to bend around the contours of Bastien’s body. Like even the sunlight wanted to embrace him.
I halted my steps, squinting to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. The light really was bending around Bastien. Darkening above, the sun’s light was extinguished, and torches illuminated the pathway once again with flickering green light as we sunk into the folds of my memory.
Lorelei hastened to my side, her heels now muted against the pavement. “Is this it?”
I nodded as Bastien joined us, and a faceless shadow emerged in my periphery. Before I could speak, my body went rigid, limbs seizing, then propelling me forward on the path. The others hurried after me, keeping stride with the forced pace. One of the faceless shadows—this one in a billowing dress—materialized in front of me, my hand raising to meet theirs.
Layers of black smoke peeled away from the figure, revealing Lynette’s pale face.
Lorelei and Bastien sucked in a synched breath.
“There you are,” murmured Lorelei, closing the gap between us as if she feared Lynette would slip away again.
“So, you’re coming tonight, right?” Lynette asked, dragging me along behind her as she weaved around more faceless figures. “To Amelia’s.”
A groan built in my throat. “Why does that dullard always get to play hostess? She’s so plain it hurts. A rice cake has more personality.”
“Because she is a dear friend,” Lynette reminded me, a twinge of attitude creeping into her voice. “And I do think that you’d find tonight’s activities very entertaining.”
I felt my posture straighten as I placed a hand over my chest in a dramatic flair. “A thousand apologies, but I’m afraid I must decline. I’m dreadfully busy tonight, so you’ll have to enjoy the blandness of Amelia’s all by your lonesome.”
Lynette snorted a laugh. “You’re an awful liar, Tobias.”
Lorelei made a choking sound to my right.
“At least when you’re lying to me,” Lynette continued. “You should know that by now.”
And maybe I did know it once, this connection between Lynette and I that made it impossible to hide the truth from one another. Why was it then, looking back at this memory, that I ignored the shadow of something darker behind my sister’s smile?
What was she hiding?
“Fine, but if she brings out those hideous dolls of hers, I will gnaw off my own arm if it means escape.”
“Who is she talking about?” Lorelei asked, her voice echoing over Lynette’s chatter as she continued to pull me toward the looming stone building.
“Amelia VanDoughten,” I answered, my voice reverberating against the shadows that lurked in the periphery. A dull ache thrummed behind my eyes, but I dismissed it as merely a strain from my concentration. “She’s one of Lynette’s oldest friends. Another Adored nepo-socialite.”
Lorelei nodded, her lips pursing into a straight line as she scribbled a note, muttering to herself. It sounded like she was shoring up the timeline. So far, she didn’t seem surprised by anything discussed between me and Lynette. Maybe she was better informed than I had first thought.
We reached the bottom of a long stone staircase leading up to the pavilion attached to the stone building that overlooked the gardens. Lynette hesitated at the bottom stair, and her attention pulled to a recess tucked between the pavilion’s support pillars where a tall, handsome gentleman lurked, his dark eyes trained on us.
Familiarity pawed at my mind as I watched the man, but between Lorelei’s muttering and the throbbing ache in my head, it was hard to focus long enough to figure out why. The angles of the man’s face and his stern posture stuck out like the details of a long-forgotten dream. His hair—the color of crimson autumn leaves streaked with strands of white sunlight—was pulled back tight from his face, his thin frame lending itself to a life lived in libraries and his complexion to hours spent indoors. He was dressed in finery like the rest of the guests, a tunic of pale blue complete with a golden half-cape draped across one shoulder and down the small of his back. But it was his eyes that held my attention, two dark orbs that drank up the light around them, drawing you in like the hypnotic stare of a viper.
“Is he here for you?” my memory asked Lynette, nodding my head toward the voyeur. “I have to say that I approve, but I don’t think there’s enough time for the two of you to get very far if that should be your intention?—”
Lynette’s snorted laugh cuts me off, her eyes drifting over to the stranger. “He’s not my preferred flavor, dear brother. But I’m afraid he is here for me. If you’ll excuse me for just a tick, I’ll be right behind you.”
“Are you certain?” I asked, not yet relinquishing the grip on my sister. “How do we know he doesn’t have nefarious intentions?”
Lynette grinned up at me, gently pulling her hand away. “I’ll be fine, Tobi. Wait for me at the landing above. I promise it won’t be long.”
I wanted to stop her. To pull her away from whatever shadowy game began on this night, but I was powerless as the Tobias of the past let her go, ignorant to the dangers that lurked in the near future. The memory turned from her to continue climbing the stairs, taking me along with him.
“Who is she speaking to?” Lorelei’s voice bounced off the smooth stairs, piercing and too loud. The stabbing pain behind my eyes intensified.
“I don’t remember,” I replied as the three of us crested the top of the staircase. There were more faceless figures here on the balcony, but they didn’t approach the group, keeping a polite distance. “I know him, but I can’t put a finger on it.”
“He’s part of the Hallowed,” Bastien interjected, suddenly standing very close to me.
“How do you know that?” I asked, willing the memory of my body to move further from Bastien.
Bastien pointed at the collar of his shirt. “The pin on his lapel. It was the crest of the Cardinal, Saint Sancha. Didn’t you see it?”
“I guess not. But what are the Hallowed doing here?” I asked, curiosity spinning. It wasn’t commonplace for the upper echelon of the holy church to be seen fraternizing with those outside of their congregates. Plus, this wasn’t just some party they were crashing. Every Adored family in the Magi City was in attendance to witness Lynette’s ceremony, so it wasn’t like Mother to have been lax in restricting the guest list.
“There are only two Hallowed on the guest list,” Lorelei said, flipping through her tiny notebook. “Including the Cardinal herself.”
“The Cardinal was here?” Bastien questioned, brow furrowed. “That can’t be a coincidence. Do you think she’s involved somehow?”
“I can’t rule anything out,” Lorelei muttered, marking something down with her golden pen. “Our mysterious friend’s name is Cirian. He’s?—”
“The Cardinal’s acolyte,” I finished for her, the name triggering a flood of memories alongside my throbbing headache. That’s why he looked familiar. I’d first met Cirian nearly two decades ago when we were mere boys.
Lorelei nodded, continuing, “If rumors are to be believed, he will soon inherit the Cardinal’s position. They say he was chosen by the Source itself.”
“How convenient,” Bastien scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. “To be chosen by something no one can see or hear. Makes it kind of difficult to disprove, doesn’t it?”
“What would he want with Lynette?” I asked, trying to piece together the scraps of knowledge about the Hallowed fluttering around my head. It was like trying to wrangle a bird with my bare hands.
“He’s one heir apparent speaking with another. Maybe he’s simply assuring that alliances carry over to the next generation?” Lorelei tapped the end of her pen against her chin, seemingly not convinced of her own theory.
“Here she comes,” Bastien interrupted, motioning towards the stairs.
Lynette crested the landing, the lavender fabric of her dress settling around her as she spotted me. She was smiling once she rejoined me, the tips of her cheeks slightly ruddy, though it could have just been a trick of the light.
“Did you miss me, dear brother?”
“Like one misses their own excrement after the flush, dear sister.”
Her smile widened, crinkles surrounding her emerald eyes. “If only Mother were here to witness your quick wit. You know how she adores your low-brow touches of humor.”
“The night is still young, Lenny. I’m sure I’ll find ample opportunities to offend Mother dearest.”
Lynette took my hand once more, seemingly no longer in a rush to reach her destination, as she meandered us across the balcony at a lackadaisical pace. Maybe she wanted to savor these last few moments of normalcy between us, or perhaps she knew even then that there was something sinister lurking in the shadows ahead.
“Speaking of ways to torment Mother, it’s a shame that your mortal boy toy isn’t around any longer to?—”
Her words were drowned out by an intense pressure building bearing down on my skull. The scene flickered around me, sounds muffled and distorted as the shadowy figures who danced around us slowed to a stop. I glanced over to Bastien, only to find the space he and Lorelei had been occupying empty. It was just me and Lynette now, the shadows at the periphery of my vision pulsing was the only movement in sight.
“What’s happening?” I asked Lynette, my own voice swallowed up by the encroaching darkness. It smothered my words like I was trying to speak underwater.
Lynette turned to me then, her eyes wide. The lavender dress shredded from her body, the encroaching shadows wrapping around her pale form. She opened her mouth to speak, but a wave of noise filled my ears, blotting out all other sounds.
“Lenny?”
The shadows crept closer, but I surged forward, grasping at Lynette’s hand. It was ice-cold in my grip.
A heaviness seized my limbs, and my knees nearly gave in as the ground swayed under my feet. The pressure in my head spiked again, my vision blurring.
Her lips were moving, more soundless words, her eyes pleading as she clung to me.
“I can’t… I can’t hear you.”
The shadows were nearly on top of us now, swallowing my lower half in a chilling embrace. I held onto Lynette as best I could, but with a final tug from the dark, she was ripped from my grasp, and I tumbled backward into endless shadow.