Page 37

Chapter 37

ChimeraTown666

A s we enter the room, darkness swallows us whole. My heart slams into my ribs, reacting to unseen forces.

Natalie’s hand slides around my waist, firm and reassuring. She side-steps behind me, and a torch on the wall roars to life, bathing the room in a flickering glow. It triggers a chain of torches, each one illuminating a moment after the last.

The light reveals a walkway stretching down a long, narrow room, bounded on either side by iron bars. Cages. Left and right, their doors are padlocked shut, the iron gleaming. The walkway stretches into the distance, fading to blackness, giving no hint of how many there are. The cages reach the top of my head and are big enough to house livestock—but inside…

My brain churns like rusty cogs. Even after staring for several seconds, I can’t put a name to what’s inside. I can’t put a shape to them. In the nearest cage, something lies on the floor—an animal? It expands and contracts, breathing, its form in continuous flux. My mind tries to label it a lion, a goat, a snake. It has every feature of every animal, and at the same time, it has none of them .

A pang shoots through my head like I’ve stared at the sun for too long, and I blink, looking away.

“I don’t understand,” I whisper, a tremor in my voice.

“Pure bio magic doesn’t have a form,” Natalie murmurs, her presence sturdy at my side.

“It’s beautiful,” Millie whispers, taking Sebastian’s hand and stepping closer to the nearest cage.

I squint at the creature inside. “Is it an animal?”

“It’s…” Natalie tilts her head, deliberating her words. “You know how our brains fill in gaps in an ambiguous image? It’s one explanation for paranormal sightings. Like, someone sees a vaguely human shape in a graveyard at night and interprets it as a ghost, or—”

“Some burn marks in a piece of toast look like a face?” I supply.

“Exactly. With bio magic, our brains try to fill in what we’re seeing, but it doesn’t quite work… leaving us with a mishmash that we call a chimera.”

“Chimera,” I repeat. Of course—the hybrid creature.

Past the first cage, every other one within sight is occupied. Millie lets go of Sebastian’s hand and walks down the aisle, looking left and right, her footsteps filling the silence.

“Are they asleep?” I ask. They’re all breathing, and the room is very much alive. I run my hands over my bare arms to soothe the prickling sweeping across my skin.

“In a way. The cages are enchanted to subdue the magic,” Natalie says.

Hesitantly, I touch one of the large iron bars. Magic crackles up my arm and into my core, and I take my hand away quickly, shaking out the discomfort. “And if I break the locks?”

“They’ll be free.”

A sharp voice behind us makes us all whirl around. “ No—they—won’t. ”

Adrenaline spikes, and I clench my fists, ready to fight.

Fiona stands in the doorway with her chest heaving and her palms up. She’s even filthier than before, and there’s a wild, furious look in her eye.

“Fiona,” Natalie says, her words clipped with urgency, “the Madsens only need one instance of bio magic in order to put the whole world in danger.”

“And your answer is to set it all free?” she snarls. “To release magic that’s taken generations to contain?”

“It’s better free than in the wrong hands,” I say.

“Don’t you dare talk about magic like you understand it,” Fiona snaps. “The last thing I’m going to do is let some outsider make the biggest mistake CSAMM has ever—”

“Enough, Fiona,” Natalie barks, her voice cracking like a whip. “Katie isn’t some outsider , and she’s got a point. The Madsens will never be able to capture it if it’s feral.”

Fiona’s eyes bulge, her mouth hanging open. Natalie has probably never taken such a harsh tone with her, and the tension between them grows thick.

Something squeezes in my chest. Natalie is really going against Fiona and her oath as she stands at my side.

“Fiona, listen,” she says, softening. “Between Sophia and Oaklyn, they have enough power to steal any of the magic in here. By holding it in cages, we’re as good as handing it to them.”

Fiona scoffs. “And what’ll they do once they have it? They don’t know the ritual.”

“They’ve—” I start, then hesitate. This isn’t how I wanted to share what Freddie told me, but I have to. “They’ve captured Natalie’s dad. That’s how they’ve been getting information about curses, and that’s how they got earth magic. It’s possible they’ll torture him for instructions on how to embody bio magic—or that they’ve done so already.”

Natalie stumbles backward as if punched. “Wh-what? No. I just texted him yesterday! ”

My heart aches for her. Hot tears prickle in my eyes, and I blink, forcing them back. “You’ve been texting Freddie,” I say, barely a whisper. “He told me before he died.”

Natalie’s chest heaves, her expression twisting with rage. She looks past me, her eyes distant, vacant. “I’ll kill them both.”

“And in the meantime…” Fiona lifts her chin, her palms steady in front of her. “All four of you have five seconds to get out of this room.”

“Fiona—” Natalie starts.

“Now!” she barks, her shout carrying strangely through the dimly lit room. “And you can be sure you’ll all face suspension after this. Never have I seen such an oath violation—”

“Would you shut up about the oath for once?” Natalie shouts, stepping forward. “My dad is being held captive. Will is dead. All because someone wanted the magic in this room so badly that they were willing to kill for it. If we don’t get rid of what’s in here, any one of us could be next.”

“ What’s in here is a century of scouring the earth—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Millie growls from the depths of the room, and a flaming torch rips off the wall and hurtles toward Fiona.

Fiona screeches and ducks, the torch soaring past her and out into the corridor, where it clatters to the floor and extinguishes. There’s a split second where she seems to process the attack, and then her face contorts with rage. She raises the broken door handle off the floor and fires it back at Millie.

Sebastian swipes the air, stopping it before it gets there.

The look on Fiona’s face is murderous, her eyes gleaming behind the loose locks that were once pulled back into an elegant bun. It’s quite possible that she’s ready to kill all four of us in order to keep bio magic contained .

She launches another attack, her movements wild and desperate. While Sebastian and Millie retaliate, Natalie grabs my shoulders and pulls me in.

“We’ll hold her off,” she murmurs in my ear. “Do what you need to do. These padlocks won’t break open under ordinary earth magic.”

I nod and clench my fist, feeling the tug of the gauntlet around my finger. A tremor passes over me.

“The magic will be able to get out of here?” I ask, glancing up toward ground level. “You’re sure the Madsens won’t catch it?”

Natalie nods. “Magic always finds a way to get where it needs to go.”

She steps back, leaving a cool draft where her hands were.

While she, Sebastian, and Millie keep Fiona at the door, I spin around and race for the row of cages, my footsteps pounding on the stone floor and echoing through the room. The magic in the air is thick and heavy, pressing down on me like a weighted blanket.

I reach the first cage, my hands shaking as I grasp the bars. The iron is cold beneath my fingers. With a grunt, I raise my hand and smash the gauntlet against the lock, the impact reverberating up my arm.

The lock cracks like breaking porcelain, crumbling into pieces.

Sucking in a breath to steel myself for whatever is about to happen, I yank the door open.

I don’t know what I expected—that the magic inside would stretch like a dog waking from a nap, or that it would drift into freedom like a gust of wind? Instead, in a blink, I’m face-to-face with an enormous cat—thick, gray fur dotted with black rosettes, and fangs the size of my hand. A snow leopard. Its purple eyes glint hungrily, and I instinctively step back.

With a snarl, it bounds past me, its powerful muscles taking it toward the others.

“No!” Fiona screeches, and it’s not just anger in her voice, but fear. She really doesn’t understand that this is the only way .

She aims her palms at the creature, but before she can do anything to stop it, it leaps into the air and shifts into a crow, letting out a loud “caw!” as it rockets by her head.

My heart slams into my ribs. One down… How many to go?

Suddenly, a blast rocks the room, sending dust and debris raining down on me. I cough and cover my mouth.

Yells erupt in the doorway.

“What’s going on?”

“The magic’s escaping! Stop it!”

More people have caught up.

“It’s supposed to be escaping!” Natalie shouts. “Hold back the Madsens!”

Sophia shrieks, her voice rising above all else. “No!”

“What the fuck?” Hayley cries. “What’s wrong with you?”

“They’re traitors!” Fiona yells.

A frenzy of accusations rises.

Great, now we have a civil war happening among the witches too.

This is going to weaken our defenses even further. I’m out of time.

I turn to the next cage, frantic. I smash the lock and throw the door wide. A bay stallion pushes past me and gallops for freedom, its hooves pounding the stone, its dark mane and tail streaming.

Someone screams. Shouts and crashes escalate, but I can’t afford to stall. I have to keep going, to free every chimera before the Madsens plow through our feeble defenses.

I race to the next cage, and the next, and the next. There must be dozens, and every lock takes several seconds to break. Sweat trickles down my temples and back, my lungs aching as I wheeze in each breath. My hand throbs, the muscles in my arms screaming, my bones tender beneath the gauntlet. But with each instance of bio magic I set free, the air pulses with it, fueling me with enough energy to push on .

I smash the next lock, but before I can open the door, Millie appears beside me, making me gasp.

Her face is pale, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead. “Let me take this one,” she whispers.

I hesitate, searching her desperate expression. I want to let her, but I’m afraid of what this means. If we do this, we aren’t just letting bio magic go feral again—we’re allowing someone to embody it. This is exactly what we didn’t want. This is what Fiona’s petrified of.

“C-can you use it to—force the Madsens back?” I ask, my words coming in short, sharp gasps. “Capture them or something?”

If this would help us stop the attack, it would be easier to defend what I’m about to do. Every second the fight continues, someone is in danger of being hurt or killed. Beyond Millie, the clashing grows louder than ever, and the torches on the wall thrash as they threaten to extinguish.

But Millie shakes her head. “Magic takes weeks to figure out. I won’t know how to use it right away.”

I chew my lip, wishing she had a different answer. “Promise me you won’t use it for anything but your health,” I say, touching her wrist. “Please promise me.”

She nods. No hesitation, nothing but a desperate plea in her eyes. “Only my health. Nothing more. I swear on my life, Katie. On Sebastian’s life.”

It’ll have to be enough.

I step back, letting her swing the door open.

There’s no time to stand and watch… but as I race to the next cage, fear for what she’s about to do gets the better of me, and I can’t resist glancing back.

The magic takes the form of a dark gray wolf, its fur shimmering with an otherworldly light. It crouches in the center, its muscles coiled and ready to spring, its piercing purple eyes fixed on Millie as she slips inside with a palm up—as if that’s enough to make this enormous beast stop .

Shutting the door behind her, Millie stands with both hands up in a gesture of peace, looking tiny in the face of the massive wolf. The wolf’s lips curl back into a snarl, and its ears twitch.

Terror seizes me, freezing me in place. This is a bad idea. One bite with those jaws and she’s done.

But Millie stands strong, keeping her hands in front of her—and it’s then that I see the blood dripping from her palms. It splatters onto the stone floor like crimson rain drops. She’s etched a symbol into each palm, the cuts deep and jagged, and is presenting them to the wolf.

The beast’s muscles bunch, ready to pounce, but neither of them makes a move. My breaths heave in and out, a nervous tremor passing through me. I’m witnessing something beyond my understanding—a negotiation between a witch and feral magic.

Forcing myself to move, I smash the next lock with a shaking fist.

A snarl rips through the air, and I snap my attention back to Millie.

The wolf leaps at her, a rush of glinting teeth and ruffling fur.

“No!” I cry, lurching back toward Millie as if I can save her.

But then, in mid-air, the wolf begins to dissolve, its shimmering violet particles drifting to Millie like floating pollen. They enter her body through the cuts in her palms, and she lets out a blood-curdling scream, dropping to her knees.

“Millie!” I stop at the entrance to her cage, afraid to step inside.

She doesn’t answer, stifling her shouts through clenched teeth. But she keeps her hands up, even as she trembles and writhes under the magic pouring into her bloodstream.

“What’s happening?” Sebastian shouts. “Millie!”

Outside us, the sounds of the fight draw closer, panicked yells rising over each other.

Natalie’s yells hit my ears, her words jumbled and frantic. “Amir! Shit! Someone help him! ”

Keep moving! my inner voice shouts—but shock has my feet rooted to the floor as Millie absorbs the bio magic.

I watch, numb, as the wolf dissolves completely. It’s gone—finished fusing with her.

She falls forward on all fours, gasping for breath.

“Are you okay?” I ask, my voice thin as fear grips my throat.

No answer.

Dammit. Do I go to her or continue opening cages? I rock from foot to foot, torn between priorities.

Another explosion rocks the room, and I duck as debris hits my head and shoulders.

“Katie—we can’t hold them back any longer!” Natalie shouts from much too close.

Millie stirs. With jerky movements, she crawls backward, then gets her feet under her and stands. She turns her head to meet my gaze, a purple gleam in her eyes that sends a jolt of adrenaline through me. “Go,” she says, her voice raspy.

She’s done it. Whatever ritual that was, it’s over, and that wolf is part of her.

I turn on my heel. The fight is drawing closer, shouts following us down the aisle, and I can’t afford to waste more time.

Pain slams my leg, and I yell as I stumble, reaching automatically for the source.

Iron shrapnel is embedded in my thigh.

As Sophia barks out a victorious laugh, I stare at the protruding iron, fighting the urge to vomit.

Don’t think. Get it out.

I clench my teeth and grab it. I roar as I yank it out, the hot swell of blood trickling down my leg.

Adrenaline dulls the pain, letting me push onward. I can’t stop now. My breaths ragged, I limp to the next cage .

Footsteps pound closer. “Stop her!” Sophia shrieks.

A clump of roots slams into the cage beside me, sending a haunting chime through the room as it hits the bars.

“Katie, hurry!” Natalie shouts.

My head is spinning like I’m on a fairground ride, threatening to knock me off my feet. Every muscle and bone in my body screams for relief as I reach the final chimera. With a grunt of effort, I bring the gauntlet down on the lock.

Something wraps around my ankle and tugs, and I cry out as I hit the unforgiving floor on my stomach. A jolt of pain shoots up my wrists.

A hand grabs my shoulder and roughly turns me on my back. A weight presses down on my thighs, and Oaklyn’s face swims into my vision through the dim lighting.

“What did you do with Freddie?” she asks, her voice rough with exhaustion.

She’s straddling my hips, holding me down, her dagger ready to pierce my throat.

I open my mouth but choke on the words. There’s a vulnerable glint of fear in her eyes, and I can’t help putting myself in her shoes for a moment—the shock and terror that must come with knowing a loved one is dead. Her sibling . The emptiness, the refusal to believe it until you hear it spoken aloud.

I might feel sorry for her if she wasn’t in the middle of a murderous rampage. I raise my arms in front of me, a sickening uncertainty as this feeble gauntlet becomes my only hope.

Her dagger glints in the dancing flames, her chest heaving.

I swallow hard and force the truth out. “His body’s in Alchemy 8.”

Oaklyn’s shriek of rage fills the room, and her eyes turn wild.

Then she lurches as something slams into her.

Natalie has landed on her, scrambling to put her in a chokehold. Oaklyn roars and elbows her, and they scrabble for each other’s faces, throats, hair, holding nothing back.

I tamp down the instinct to jump in and help. Not yet. I flip over, clambering, reaching for the final cage with my last drop of strength.

As I wrap my fingers around one of the cold bars, Oaklyn’s hand closes over my calf.

She pulls me back, but I keep a firm hold, letting the momentum wrench the door open.

A fox bounds into freedom and leaps over my head, its delicate paws quiet on the stone floor.

“Grab it!” Oaklyn shouts.

Sophia shrieks.

I bark out a triumphant laugh, relief flooding my veins. Shaking, I get my hands and knees under me. Empty cages surround me, their doors swung wide, their shattered locks on the ground.

“It’s done!” I shout, my voice ringing beneath the cavernous ceiling as the fox transforms into a dove and flies away.