AER:
Thick stone surrounded her. She felt stripped bare without her winds. Not that it would have mattered. She had no energy to control them, listen to them, talk to them. Everything hurt. At least one rib had to be cracked, and she was trying not to breathe deeply enough to figure out if anything else was out of place. Her eye was swollen and starting to close. There wasn’t much to do but sit.
She stared out at the darkness that must have been a ceiling, but she couldn’t make out any details. At least they hadn’t taken the jacket from her. She could still feel the remnants of her powers even after so much work. They should have been depleted, but with the jackets, they should have been unstoppable.
“How did the Watchers know we were coming?” she whispered into the darkness, not expecting a response to come.
“Because I told them before I told you,” an icy voice said from the other side of the door. She jumped. There was a jangle of metal as the key scraped its way into the small keyhole. The door scraped against the floor as it opened. Aer scrambled up to a standing position.
“There’s no need to stand, Aer,” the voice said with a laugh. She knew that voice. She squinted.
The Ice Man.
“You?” Aer moved, but her eyes almost blacked with pain. “You said you were with us.”
“I beg to differ.”
“You’re a liar.”
“You’re an enemy of the state, a danger to society, and a good-for-nothing Magic. Does it really matter if I lied? Which I still do not believe I did. I don’t like to leave loose ends like that.”
“But you knew Kor.”
“I did and do. He was a special guest of mine before he escaped his cell. Which you will not be doing. So don’t get any ideas.”
“Who are you?”
“Korvo may have mentioned me. The General of Hadran?”
If there was color left in Aer’s face besides the budding bruises, it drained into the ground. Kor had talked about him. The General. The man—how could she have been so dumb—the man with the ice-blue eyes.
“I was hoping to see our good friend Korvo, but it turns out he’s gone soft. I doubt he will even try to rescue you.”
Aer didn’t want to admit that she had hoped Kor would come sneaking into the cell and steal her away in the night. That he could use the cards to find her even when her winds couldn’t, but the General had just taken that last shred of hope from her. He hadn’t bothered to close the door behind him. He knew she couldn’t get past him.
“Kor wouldn’t be that stupid,” she said finally.
“No. That’s why I had to send the boy.”
“The boy? Was Sid a spy?”
“That pathetic creature? I wouldn’t waste my time with someone like him. The little Fire Magic. I let him go so he could put all of this in motion.”
“Tiernan?” Aer gasped.
“Was that its name?” the man looked at his fingertips rubbing a bit of dirt from them and flicking it toward Aer.
“But these jackets?” she said. She was leaning now against the back wall. Her legs were starting to give out, and she wasn’t going to last much longer before she slumped onto the floor.
“Oh, the jackets. They were genius. I’ll leave that for a surprise for the real show. It won’t be long now.”
“Why are you even here?” She spat at him. Her anger gave her the energy to stay standing.
“So many questions from the prisoner, but this one I’ll indulge. Your Council asked me to come.”
Aer’s jaw dropped, causing her split lip to start bleeding again.
“Does that really surprise you? Didn’t you see the writing on the wall?” He paused.
Aer struggled with something to say. She had seen it. She had warned Kor. She wasn’t wrong. She took a deep breath, ignoring the pain, and called any wind that could hear her with her last amount of strength. At least she would take out this man. She could do that for the cause. For Kor and Tiernan.
The wind came whipping to her, bringing bits and pieces of stone with them. They slammed into the room, hitting the General with all kinds of debris. A sizable rock struck him in the temple. He reared. Aer smiled. His hand went to his head and came away streaked with blood.
“You’ll regret that,” he said.
“Doubtful.” She tried to smile, but her swollen face wouldn’t allow it.
She called for more wind. More debris. But even with the help from the jacket she had, she was spent. Her legs gave out the same moment he shut the door, plunging her back into darkness.
BRYCE:
With the guard’s hands still on his shoulders, Bryce looked around the new room. It was empty except for a simple chair in the corner. He took a deep breath and unclenched his hands. He had been worried they were taking him to the re-education room. He ran a hand along his wrists. The lack of a table with leather straps helped him feel brave.
“My own private room?” he asked with a smirk. The men didn’t respond and only pushed him further into the room.
“Have fun,” said one of the guards. Bryce turned his back to them. They shut and locked the door behind them.
The room was the same size as the re-education room. The walls were covered with smooth fabric, and the level of cleanliness and lack of smell made it obvious that whatever this room was for, it was new.
“Hello?” Bryce called to the empty room. No one answered. He thought about sitting in the chair. After all, the day had drained him of his physical and magical energy, but he was skeptical. The chair might not have had any straps to hold him down, but that didn’t matter. Nothing in the Refuge could be trusted.
The re-education room had looked different each time he had gone. Every time, there was only a single flat table. Every time, though, it was in a new place, a new position. Sometimes he was strapped vertically or horizontally. Sometimes they poured water over his nose and mouth until he couldn’t help but breathe the water in. Other times they switched the bare soles of his feet until they were swollen and misshapen. Always, there were men sitting on the side taking notes.
Once they had strapped him down on his stomach and lashed him through his clothes. He still bore those scars. He had seen Merin’s eyes wander over them, wanting desperately both to know their story and make them disappear, but he wouldn’t let her. This darkness didn’t need to be shared, but this darkness couldn’t be forgotten. Or forgiven.
“It’s about time we met,” a voice said, coming in through a door Bryce hadn’t seen.
“I’m a very busy person,” Bryce said. He kept his back turned toward this new voice. “I haven’t got all day.”
“No, you certainly don’t. I would say your kind has barely a day left in this entire country.”
The chair squeaked as the owner of this new voice settled into it. Bryce turned to look now. A man with bluer eyes than he had ever seen was staring back at him.
“Forgive me for being late, but I was just in a meeting with your friend Aer.”
“Where is she?” Bryce asked. He had been trying to avoid thinking about anything that was happening outside of the Refuge.
“I think the more pertinent question, Bryce Segal, is where are you?”
Bryce took a deep breath and strolled to a corner of the room.
“That’s a pretty dumb question, General,” Bryce said. The man grinned. Bryce was right. The man with the blue eyes was the same man that had held Korvo captive. Now that Bryce had his back firmly against the walls, he felt a little less afraid of him.
“You know who I am? Good. This will make things easier.” The General got up.
“You’re a bastard,” Bryce said.
“I’ve heard you’ve been in the Refuge before.”
“Once or twice. I’ve been around.” Bryce tried to sound unconcerned, but with the General walking toward him he knew better than to wipe the sweat away from the edges of his hair. It would only show his fear.
“You’ll find this room is different than the ones you’ve seen before.”
“Now that you mention it, it seems rather roomy,” Bryce said. The General was only a few feet away. In two quick steps, he could have his hand on Bryce. Bryce tensed. That was not a fight he would win.
“This room was one of the first things I requested when I came to Kaybrum,” the General explained. He ran his boxy fingers over the fabric that lined the walls. Bryce glanced at it. Thin bands of cloth wove around metallic strips. It reminded him of the jacket Aer had given him. Bryce risked moving one of his hands behind his back so he could feel the fabric. It felt the same as the jacket, too.
“A great new invention in Hadran,” the General explained. “It conducts magical current more efficiently than the human body.”
“Conducts? I hate to admit it, General, but I wasn’t really allowed to go to school. So if this is something you want me to pay attention to, you’re going to have to sum it up for me.” Bryce flashed a smirk toward the General. Surprisingly, the man smiled.
“When magic runs through all of your filthy bodies, it uses energy that’s connected to the elements around us. Earth, water, air, you know the drill. When it interacts with those elements it creates a channel. This fabric bypasses that channel and makes a shortcut between you and the elements of the world. Makes it faster, makes it use less energy.”
“You made a fabric that would make it easier to use my powers and wouldn’t tire me out. Then you lined the room with it?” Bryce knew he was missing some very large portions of his education, but he was pretty sure even Merin wouldn’t have been able to explain why the General would do that in a way he understood.
“This channel, however, does come with a few flaws.”
“Flaws?” Bryce asked.
“Once the fabric helps bypass the system, it also bypasses the system controls. That means it makes it harder for you to control. It makes it harder for you to stop. And eventually, your own magic will consume you.”
“Consume me?”
“That is the general idea. Unfortunately, we haven’t really gotten a chance to test them. I thought Aer’s little ragtag army would have put up a bigger fight. I guess I should have told them to hold off on sending in the heavy artillery. So, you will have to suffice. You are doing a great service for our respective countries.”
“I won’t let you do that,” Bryce said. “I won’t use my magic. It’s not like I have plants in here anyway.”
“I came prepared, Bryce. I just hope you’re prepared enough to give this a real try. I need proof it will work before tomorrow. Now then,” he reached into his pocket and removed a key, “let’s do our best.” He returned to the same door he had come in from, the one hidden in the wall, slipping out for a moment to grab the plants he’d mentioned along with some dirt, before he secured the door again and returned to his chair.
Bryce smiled. Just because the plants were in front of him didn’t mean he was going to use magic. The General could sit and watch him all day, but he didn’t have to do anything.
Bryce sat in the corner of the room, farthest from the plants. He crossed his arms, let his head roll back, and closed his eyes. He might as well let the General watch him get some sleep. Of all the strange possibilities, that he might actually get a decent night’s sleep in the Refuge was not what Bryce had expected.
With his eyes closed, he let himself remember what had happened during the day. He tried sorting through it like Korvo would. But the look on Tiernan’s face when he had run toward him was haunting. The boy’s face was a mixture of terror and anger that should have been beyond such a small person. Bryce’s memory switched quickly to the fire that had lit up the sky. Tiernan had such power. It had ripped through his plants and had caused everyone to freeze. If Tiernan hadn’t come—Bryce didn’t want to think about what might have happened. To him. To Aer. To Merin.
Merin’s face floated into his consciousness. The feeling of her lips on his made his blood sing. How could he possibly think of such a positive thought while he was in the Refuge? When he still had to find Tiernan and fix the mess he had created? Bryce shrugged. It wouldn’t kill him to think about something good for just a moment. He let himself think about Merin. The way she walked. The way she smiled. The way her hand felt smooth and soft and warm on his cheek.
He drifted into a pleasant dream where there was no Refuge and no one to interrupt him and Merin. His dream shifted then. He was standing in the garden. It must have been late spring because all the flowers were blooming, and he trailed his fingers over every petal trying to find the right one for Merin. The flowers grew at his touch. Not just the leaves, or the stems, but the entire flower grew. Each one expanded until they were like trees. Bryce abandoned his search for a flower, and, instead, investigated the massive garden. Already the flowers were overgrowing their beds and moving through the pathways. He moved on to the trees. This time he held on to them as they grew. He shot up in the tree watching the city disappear below him. Even the Refuge became something that wasn’t imposing. The roots cracked the garden walls and spilled out into the city. Bryce felt powerful. He didn’t feel afraid. He was on top of the world.
“Where is everyone?” He climbed down the tree trunk quickly, but no matter where he searched in the city, he could not find his friends. He couldn’t find anyone. Just greenery.
Bryce’s eyes shot open. The corner of the room that had held the small potted plants was now a jungle. The plants were lush and mature.
Bryce glared over at the General. He was inspecting one of the leaves with his thick square fingers.
“I didn’t do this,” Bryce said, trying to convince himself more than the General.
“I know. That’s the beauty of this. You have no control. The part of you that tries to control the magic isn’t even in the conversation. It’s bypassed.”
“But I was asleep,” Bryce said, staring at the garden in front of him.
“Must have been a good dream.” The General laughed, reaching over to smell one of the fresh blooms.
“Then I’ll stay awake,” Bryce said standing. “I’ve gone days without sleeping in this place. Who knew I might be thanking them someday for teaching me that.”
“It won’t make a difference, but at least you’ll make better conversation if you’re awake,” the General said. He chopped off the flower he had smelled. Bryce cringed. It felt like something had stung him. He checked his arms, but there was no sign of any bug.
The General stripped the leaves from one of the vines. Again, Bryce felt a sting. This time it radiated across his body.
“The connection this makes also means that you can’t shut yourself off from the plants,” the General said, peeling apart a budding flower petal by petal. Bryce shuddered. He tried to shut them out. But the stings kept coming.
He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. They were only little stings. He could stand them. He had been whipped. He had been tortured. He could stand these little annoyances until the General got bored. Then he could plan his way out.
Bryce waited. He paced. The plants slowly grew, and the stings came in random bunches as the General toyed with him. But Bryce wasn’t going to let him win.
For hours, Bryce wandered around the room looking for anything to do to keep him busy and away from the plants. He tried exercising but using that much energy just seemed to make the plants grow more. He tried the meditations Korvo had tried to teach him. He regulated his breathing, but couldn’t quite shut out the needle-like feeling of the thorns the General was removing one by one from the roses.
“While this is enjoyable,” the General said, finally leaving his chair, “I’m needed elsewhere.”
This is my chance, thought Bryce. When he moves for the door, I’ll use the plants to hold it open and escape. And then—but his thoughts were cut short by a direct blow to his lower jaw. Bryce was not unaccustomed to taking a punch, but this one included a gold ring that caught him right on the cheekbone. He flew backward.
Without thinking, he called for the plants. He threw his energy into the plants, and they rose to his bidding. The plants encircled the little chair where the General had stood. The thorns grew long and pointy. He was one with the plants again, like he had been on the battlefield. He could feel their energy mixing with his own. He wasn’t sure where he ended and they began. It didn’t matter. They just needed to grow. To protect him.
A flick of light caught his eye. The General was holding a match. He did not seem concerned at all that the vines covered in pointed, hungry thorns were headed toward him. In fact, he smiled. Was this the plan? Bryce tried to jerk himself out from the plants, but they wouldn’t let him go. His energy was mixed with theirs.
With a flick of his wrist, the General dropped the match, and despite the plants being lush and green, the fire began to consume them. Bryce screamed. His whole body was on fire. He dropped to the ground in pain. He checked his arms, but the flames hadn’t reached him. Just the plants. They drew on his power to try to escape the flames, but the more they grew, the larger the lapping flames rose. Bryce tried to pull back from the plants like he had when Tiernan had lit a fire at the Council, but he was too far gone. He withered on the floor as the next set of plants caught fire.
“I’ve seen enough,” the General said, taking a step toward the door. Bryce thought he might douse the flames, but he just left the room. Bryce was alone. The pain was beyond his ability to comprehend. The plants continued sapping his energy, his life force. They were all he could see. The green and the flames were everything. No people. No General. He was going to burn to death without ever touching a flame.
MERIN:
Merin went straight for Aer’s apartment. That was where Korvo would be. She didn’t bother knocking on the door. She just let herself in.
Kor sat with his back to the door. The cards were spread out on the table in front of him.
“It’s happening soon?” he asked without looking up.
“Tomorrow. Well, I guess at this point today. Korvo, do you already know what’s going to happen? Did the cards tell you?”
“The cards have been telling me nothing but bad things for weeks. And now they seem more urgent. I just can’t quite figure out what it is.” He rubbed his hand. “I’m only getting pieces.”
“Well, I got some pieces, too.” She laid out all the different things she had found in the files.
“So, something is going to happen tonight.” Kor leaned back in his chair. He ran a hand over his black hair, knocking it out of place. “And the Hadranian General is involved.” Kor swallowed hard.
“What do we do?”
“I … I don’t know,” Kor said, putting his head in his hands. “There is no time for playing nice with politics, and with so many people with the medics there are no people left for war.”
“What if it’s just us?” asked Merin. “Maybe we just need a few people to stop whatever is coming, and then there will be time for other things. Maybe it just needs to be us and Bryce.”
“We’ll need to get Bryce out of the Refuge.” Kor looked up at her finally. “Are you ready for that?”
It was her turn to swallow hard. She nodded, but Kor’s hesitation told her he didn’t quite believe her.
She nodded again more forcefully. She could brave the Refuge.
Kor nodded, picked up the cards, and put them in the pouch on his side. She couldn’t imagine he would need them for anything other than comfort, but she could use a little more comfort now, too.
They walked quickly in silence. The sun had already crested the wall, and its rays were causing the Refuge to shadow everything else around it. Merin stared at it and wondered if she was seeing it for the first time like Bryce saw it. Sinister, haunting, looming. She had always hated the building, of course, but to know its horrors and to be a part of them were very different. Her hands were sweating; she rubbed them on the blue dress that had crumpled from her haste during the night.
People went about their daily morning routine without any care that others around them were being treated so terribly. It made her blood boil.
How had she not realized this before? Is this what Bryce had been trying to tell her all along? She shivered. All this time she had been incapable of understanding him. She hurried to catch up with Korvo.
“We have to get to him,” she said. People looked at her as she passed. Suddenly the eyes of the city felt like they watched her wherever she stepped. She urged Korvo faster. The weight behind those eyes seemed like chains, but it didn’t matter what people thought of her. Bryce was more important than what people thought of her.
Merin rushed forward until she almost ran into Korvo, who had stopped. The Refuge.
“I can go in by myself,” Korvo said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She smiled weakly back at him.
“I have to go,” she said, leading the way toward the door. This time she wouldn’t use her ability to pass as a non-Magic to get what she wanted. This time she would use her magic.
The first guard came up to them two seconds after she had stepped over the threshold.
“What are you doing here?” he sneered looking the two of them over. He barely gave her more than a glance. The guard’s eyes lingered on Korvo.
“Sending the Council to the Refuge was low,” said another guard, coming to stand next to the first. Merin took a deep breath and held it. She was happy not to be their center of attention. “I suppose we should show him the real hospitality of the Refuge,” the guard said.
Kor stood without flinching as the men started toward him. Merin reached out a hand to the nearest one. He turned and grabbed for her, but already her magic was flowing. sleep. sleep. She calmed the blood in the man’s veins and sent a healing river through his body. He dropped his hand. His shoulders slouched.
“What did you do to him?” the other man shouted. Clenched in his hand now was a short club. She knew those could do damage. She’d seen enough of the dark purple bruises clustered together on the Magics she had tended to in the Wall. Kor stepped forward, intercepting him and letting the blow from the club strike him in the shoulder.
“Merin, do it now,” Kor said with a grunt.
She tried to send waves of peace and serenity toward the man, but he struggled under her power.
“Concentrate,” Kor said, trying to hold the man still. The guard had gotten the club free and was coming toward her. She moved, releasing her magic. Korvo struggled to keep the man twice his size under his control.
Merin took a breath, thinking of her inner light, her magic, and when the blue stream was no longer rippling with her jagged breath and rapid pulse, she reached for the man again. She let the magic rush into him. He dropped the club mid-strike and collapsed onto Korvo.
“Good.” Kor shrugged the man to the floor, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Do you know where he’ll be?” Merin asked, looking at the tight spiral staircase that seemed to go on and on.
“I know where to start,” Kor said. He dashed to the staircase. At every window, he looked around him, but Merin didn’t know what to look for, so she just followed. Every time they hit a landing, she hoped she would see a perfectly fine Bryce just waiting to find Tiernan, but after every disappointment, she became more and more worried.
“Here it is,” Korvo said suddenly, turning off the staircase and weaving his way through beds covered in children. Merin shuddered.
“Did you see him?” Merin asked hopefully.
“I talked to him out of this window last night,” Kor said, looking around. Merin looked around too, but she couldn’t sense anything other than darkness and disease. There were no hints of Bryce here.
Kor moved toward a broken bed. Its leg was shattered and the whole piece buckled under the awkward weight of a small child. The broken leg was covered in vines. Bryce.
“Have you seen Bryce?” Korvo asked the child, waking him from his sleep.
“He was just here,” the little boy said, rubbing his eyes.
“Where would he be now?” Korvo asked.
The boy’s eyes began to water. Merin moved closer. She held the boy’s hand.
“It’s very important that we find Bryce,” she said, trying to not let the things around her distract from the smooth flow of magic between her and the little one.
“He was with me last night, ‘til some guards took him,” the little boy said. His fingers went into his mouth, and his eyes drooped back into a sleepy state.
“Too much, Merin,” Kor said. Merin stopped the flow of magic, but she kept holding the boy’s hand.
“Which way did they go?” Merin asked. The boy shook his head.
“I don’t know. If he’s not here, he probably got taken to the bad place.”
The bad place, Merin thought. What could be worse than this? But then she knew. She knew there were places that Bryce didn’t talk about. Not to her. Not even to Kor.
“Where are the bad places?” she asked.
“You don’t want to go there,” the little boy said.
“I know. But I need to get to Bryce,” Merin said.
The little boy pointed and quickly returned his fingers to his mouth. Merin gave him another soothing burst of her magic and stood.
Korvo was already heading back to the stairs. She followed after him.
The first room was empty except for a chair with leather straps. They were obviously there to pin the hands and feet of whoever was unlucky enough to be in the chair. Merin didn’t want to stay too long in the room. Bryce wasn’t there, and they were running out of time.
The next few rooms were also empty.
“They must have him someplace else,” Kor said after the fourth empty room. All of the rooms had the same awful smell, and Merin wished she could give herself a little calm, but her magic never worked for her.
“But where? It will take all day to search this whole place especially if we have to avoid the guards.”
“Maybe we need to find them,” Kor said. His brow furrowed.
“Find them? You want to find the guards?” Merin asked.
“Find them, and then you get them to spill where Bryce is being kept.”
“And how do we make sure we find them?” Merin asked. The furrow in Kor’s brow deepened. He was working through a plan.
“We start a riot,” Kor said.
“A riot? Kor, isn’t that the opposite of the plan? Fighting doesn’t help.”
“Fighting doesn’t, but pretend fighting might. If we tell all the kids in the Refuge to start fighting at the same time, it will bring all of the guards out. We tell the kids as soon as one comes within five feet they are to just sit down silently. No one will get hurt and we take the guard closest to the edge and have him guide us to Bryce.”
“You think no one will get hurt?” Merin asked, the memory of the club coming toward her was still fresh in her mind.
“I’m not positive, but it will lessen the likelihood if they all sit down. It’s the best option.”
“How will they know to start the pretend fight?” Merin asked.
“We’ll give them a signal. We could hit the furnace like a gong,” Kor said.
Merin was satisfied with the plan. They split off to tell as many kids as they could.
“Pass it on,” Merin said to the last kid on the floor. The girl scampered away, and Merin moved to meet up with Korvo. He was coming up the stairs. His eyes gleamed. He looked like he finally had the bounce in his step that he had been missing for the last week.
“Time to go,” he said. He held up the broken leg of the bed Bryce had tried to fix. With a small smile, he hit the furnace pipe with the bed leg as hard as he could. The sound echoed through the whole building.
Yelling erupted from everywhere. The kids were going crazy. Piles of kids wrestled around on the ground. Some chased each other from bed to bed, and others threw whatever they could find down at others below them. It was chaos. Everywhere Merin looked there was some sort of fight happening.
Kor pulled her into the shadows. They had to sit and wait. The guards streamed in blowing whistles and banging clubs onto anything that made noise, but it didn’t stop the kids. Merin hoped they would stop when the men got too close. As the guards approached, she could see the kids were looking at them through their peripheral vision. When one came within a few feet, the kids dropped to the floor, legs crossed, hands in their laps, silent. The guards didn’t know what to do. They whistled for backup.
“That’s our cue,” Kor said, sneaking out of their hiding place. “Grab the last one that goes by.”
Merin nodded. She snagged her fingers around the belt of the last guard. He was young, probably a new recruit. He stared at her for a moment before reaching for his whistle. She sent rapid magic towards him. He hunched over.
“Where is Bryce Segal?” she whispered into his ear as she led him toward Korvo. She could make him tell the truth, but she figured it was better to ask first. She might need all of her power later.
“I don’t know,” he said. His eyes flicked back toward the fray still unfolding on all the other levels.
“Should I force him?” Merin asked. Kor nodded. She closed her eyes and placed her hand on the man’s neck. She imagined her magic covering the man’s brain. Brain work took effort and concentration. “Only the truth,” she whispered.
“Where is Bryce Segal?” Kor asked forcefully.
“I don’t know,” the Watcher said.
“Where would they take someone they wouldn’t want anyone to find?” Merin asked.
“Maybe the new wing. They just finished a few days ago,” the man said.
“Where is it?” Kor asked.
“The next hallway on the right,” the man said. His eyes were glossy now, and Merin wouldn’t be able to hold on to him for much longer.
“Kor, we’d better go,” Merin said.
Kor looked at her, as if he was apologizing, and then he struck the man on the head. She flinched as the guard crumpled at her feet. Instinctively, she reached for him.
“Leave him,” Kor said. Merin nodded. She spared one last glance at the chaos and the crumpled guard and sped up to match Kor’s pace.
The last door in the hallway was obviously new. It was ornate. It was clear that few were to go into this door, and even fewer were to come out.
“How do we get in?” Merin asked.
“We pick the lock,” Kor said, reaching down to pull at the handle. The door came open easily. They looked at each other and then back at the door.
“It could be a trap,” Kor said. Merin nodded. They entered the room. It was a small waiting area. There were bits of paper and a small window that peered into a bigger room. A door sat open to the left of the window.
“Be careful,” Kor mouthed as he shuffled into the room. Merin followed close behind.
Kor reached for the other door handle. It too came open easily when he touched it. Merin peered over his shoulder into the room.
“BRYCE,” she yelled, forgetting at once about the possibility of a trap.
Bryce was lying on the ground. His cheek was bleeding and bruised. His arms and fingers were splayed at random angles, and Merin couldn’t immediately tell if he was breathing.
“Is he …?” Kor asked from a few steps away. His cheeks had dropped. The fire in his eyes had disappeared. Merin shoved her ear to Bryce’s chest.
“I think he’s breathing,” Merin said. She was already pulling up his shirt. She could support his lungs and his heart if she had to.
“Merin, I don’t hear anything out there,” Kor said, leaning on the edge of the door. “Can you move him?”
“I think so.”
She tried to get Bryce’s arms to relax enough that she could move them easily. He’d been reaching for something. She looked around. There was only ash around him. She smudged some on her fingers. They left a dark black mark.
She put more of the ash on her fingers and drew a Raven’s head on her chest. Then she picked up Bryce.
Kor looked at her drawing and nodded. He shouldered Bryce’s other side and the two of them dragged Bryce out of the room and into the hallway. Now they just had to get out.
“Kor,” Merin said as they headed back toward the main hallways, “hit the furnace again.”
“Do you think they’ll do it again?” Kor asked. She could tell he was trying to calculate odds as they limped along.
“It’s that or nothing,” Merin said. Kor nodded. When he found the broken bed’s leg on the ground, Kor hit the furnace. There was a few seconds’ delay. Merin’s heart dropped. Maybe they were too scared of the guards.
But then chaos erupted once more.
Now they just had to stay on the edge of it until they were free.
AER:
There was nothing but silence. Nothing but darkness. Nothing but hatred and guilt that felt like a black fire consuming her.
Then a sliver of light cracked into her world. Her heart leaped, but it wasn’t Bryce or Merin. It certainly wasn’t Korvo.
“It’s time to go,” a guard said, wrenching her to her feet. One clamped something around her neck. Another tied a gag tight against her mouth. Her hands were bound next. They pulled the rope so tight it burned.
She struggled, and they just pulled it tighter. She stumbled after them into the lit hallway.
“I hope you’re ready to watch the world burn,” the man said. She mumbled through the gag. The guards just laughed.
BRYCE:
He knew he was being moved before his eyes opened. Bryce settled into the idea that he had somehow survived, only to rot away in the Refuge. He felt like he deserved it. A sob came to his throat. He had failed everyone. He let the tears fall.
“Kor, I think he’s awake.” Merin’s voice drifted into his ears. Bryce tried to block it out. There was no reason to try and recall the beauty of her face and the softness of her skin. He was going to die in the Refuge.
“Bryce,” Kor said. “Bryce, are you awake?” Kor shook his shoulder. Bryce finally opened one eye. He was greeted with a soot-streaked Raven’s head on Merin’s chest. He closed his eyes again. He was back in dreamland.
“Bryce?” Merin asked, leaning her forehead down to touch his. The warmth exploded into his consciousness.
“Merin?” he croaked. His throat was ragged from the smoke and screaming.
“I’m here. Kor, too,” she said, rubbing his cheek with her thumb.
“You have to get out of the Refuge,” Bryce said. His eyes flew open.
“We are out,” Kor said quietly. It was almost a whisper.
Bryce looked around him. They were limping toward Aer’s apartment.
“Is Aer?” Bryce asked, but Merin shook her head before he could finish his question. “Tiernan?” he asked. Merin turned away.
“We’ll get to them,” Kor said, “but first we have to get you back on your feet. Merin won’t be able to heal you too much, but she can help with some of the pain.”
“Don’t bother,” Bryce said trying to stand up. He wavered, but Kor didn’t grab him, and Merin didn’t put her hands on him.
“Bryce, I can help,” Merin said. Bryce moved his hand to her face. He was relieved to see that they bore no marks from the flames.
“I don’t think anything is physically wrong with me, except too much smoke,” he said, steadying himself and checking himself all over. “Besides, you should be ready to help Tiernan or Aer.”
“What happened?” Kor asked, setting a hand on his shoulder. Bryce shrugged. He wasn’t sure he could explain the pain of being drained of his magic and set ablaze at the same time.
“The Hadranian General is here,” he said finally.
“We know. He is planning something with the Council today,” Kor said.
“They have this stuff. Some sort of fabric,” Bryce said. He crossed his arms around him. “It affects our magic. It drains us. It gives us no control. They were testing it.”
“I’m sure it’s connected,” Kor said, but his eyes were deep in thought. “Bryce, can you walk a ways?” he asked.
Bryce thought about it for a minute. He took a tentative step. Merin reached to grab him, but his legs held steady beneath him.
“I’ll be fine. What do you want me to do?” Bryce said. He could make it up to Korvo.
“I want you to go to the Council,” Kor said.
“The Council?” Merin asked. Bryce mirrored her shocked expression. If there was one thing he hadn’t ever gotten right, it was how to talk to the Council.
“Why me?” Bryce asked.
“You’ve lived through their terrors. They may actually listen. Just stay calm,” Korvo said. Bryce nodded.
“Merin, I want you to go to the Wall District and Uptown and gather as many people as you can.”
“What do you want me to say?” Merin asked. Bryce could tell she was nervous. He held out his hand. She smiled at him and grabbed his hand.
“Whatever it takes to get them to the Refuge.”
“The Refuge?” Bryce stammered.
“The school is gone. The Council has been attacked. The Refuge is the place,” Kor said. His face was settled. He had decided.
“Meet back in a few hours?” Merin asked. Kor nodded and turned away.
“Where are you going?” Bryce asked.
“I’m looking for the rest of our friends,” Kor said. He didn’t say anything else.
“Merin,” Bryce said after they watched Kor walk out of view.
“Yes?” She turned to him. They were still holding hands.
“It looks good on you,” he said running his finger over the Raven’s head. “But shouldn’t you get rid of it if you’re going uptown?”
“I think I’m going to keep it. It’s time everyone knew who I was,” she said with a smile.
Bryce squeezed her hand. He was still too tired to throw his arms around her like he wanted. He wanted to hold her close to his chest and see if her heartbeat could help him feel like he wasn’t still trapped in the room with the dying plants. But they didn’t have time for that.
“I better get going,” Bryce said finally. “It’s going to take me a while to walk to the Council.” He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead.
“Stay safe,” Merin said.
“You, too.”
KORVO:
Kor rubbed his hand as he half-jogged to Bethlem’s. He needed to get to Aer and Tiernan, and the only way to do that would be to get the General to bring them to him.
“Bethlem,” Kor called, opening the door to the bar. Bethlem smiled at him.
“You look a little worse for wear, my friend.”
“I need the best messengers you can find.” Kor sat at the bar. He was tempted to order a drink, but he needed to keep his wits about him.
“What’s so important?” Bethlem asked.
“I need to spread this message throughout the city. Hopefully to as many Watchers as possible.”
“You want to send a message to the Watchers? I have to say I normally follow your plans pretty well, but—”
“If the Watchers don’t know we’re creating a disturbance at the Refuge, they may set up for their plan elsewhere. I need the General to bring Aer and Tiernan to me. Otherwise, I might never find them.”
“Slow down, Korvo. Take me through this slowly. What plan do the Watchers have?”
“They’re planning something today that’s going to turn everyone against Magics for good. It involves Tiernan and probably Aer,” Kor said, taking the glass of water Bethlem handed him. He downed it in two big gulps.
“What general?” Bethlem asked after a moment of consideration.
“The Hadranian General. The one who kept me captive and destroyed the Magic resistance in Hadran.”
“This is heavy,” Bethlem said, pouring himself a glass of something much stronger than water. It was not like Bethlem to drink on the job. “And you want him to bring them to you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?” Bethlem asked. His eyes stared into Korvo’s like he was looking for an answer. Kor nodded. “Then it’s done.” Bethlem went into the back and Kor could hear him whispering orders to some of the boys who could always be found scurrying around the bar.
“What’s your next move?” Bethlem asked, returning to Kor.
Kor took a deep breath. “Wait for everyone to show,” Kor said. “Hope we don’t all die. The usual.”
Bethlem nodded and went about his normal duties at the bar. He wiped clean glasses and put them away. He counted money more than he needed to. Kor knew this was causing the poor man stress, but he had no other ideas. No other alternatives.
Kor lifted all of the cards from his pocket. He rippled the edges over his thumb. They hadn’t been much help. But before something like this, he needed to look at them thoroughly. He spread them out face down on the bar and shuffled them around. It wasn’t very often all of them were out at once. Finally he selected five cards. It felt like the right number. One for each of them.
Five of Swords: self-destruction
Strength: courage and self-control
Two of Wands: determination
The Emperor: protection
The Hanged Man: sacrifice
He stared at the cards for a long time before he traced the images etched into the front of the cards with his fingers. The future that had been haunting the cards was finally starting to break through. He just hoped it would be in time. He tapped each card once more, letting the fates of his friends sink into his skin.
He gathered up the cards and placed them back in their leather pouch.
That’s when the sky lit up with flame.
MERIN:
“Why should we listen to you?” a heckler called from the Wall District.
“You’ve avoided us until now,” another called. Merin wished Bryce were here beside her. But she was alone, and she could handle the crowd. Her drawn-on Raven’s mark was starting to drip down her chest with her sweat.
“I am not afraid anymore. And I will not let them sacrifice my friends. Your friends. Your neighbors. To make us seem evil.”
“And how in the Twelve God’s light will we stop them?” someone in the back asked.
“Korvo has a plan.”
“So did Sid, and he’s long dead. I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt.”
“No one is asking you to fight. Just come to the Refuge.” Merin looked at the faces around her. They were thin and gaunt. The stress and anxiety from increased Watcher patrols, missing children, and death hung about the crowd like a stench. These people were well aware of the horrors that had caused these things to happen. She didn’t need to stand there and tell them.
They didn’t need to understand how Bryce had looked so broken and that she didn’t know if he would make it. That she had felt helpless and alone when Tiernan was taken by watchers. They understood these things in a way she never could.
“What do you want most of all?” she asked the crowd.
“To be treated like people,” an older woman said from the sidelines.
“Then show them your, our, humanity at the Refuge today,” she said. She still needed to get uptown.
She set off at a run. There was no time for decorum and people stared at her as she ran. She was dirty now. She didn’t even notice. Kor had given her a job to do.
She headed to her old school. It had only been days since she had last been there, but it felt like years. She reached the foyer and stopped, hunched over and out of breath.
The kids were eating. The dining hall shined as if it had been polished that morning. Nothing had changed for them.
Merin imagined the rats crawling over the tables in the Refuge. She closed her eyes and gathered herself into the most presentable way she could before walking into the great hall.
“What makes you a person?” she yelled over the lunchtime din of students. Only a few students turned to look at her, and they instantly turned to whisper to each other. Merin felt the need to cover herself with her arms, but she resisted the urge. Instead, she raised her hands above her head. Her chest heaving up and down with her breath. The Raven’s mark was fading, but she could see it reflected in the shine of the wood polish. It made her look dangerous, wild.
“Merin? What are you doing?” a voice squealed near her. Merin ignored it. She yelled again.
“What makes you a person? What proves your humanity?”
“What are you getting at, Merin?” a boy asked. His blue coat was cut to fit him. His hair sat straight against his head.
“With that mark on her chest, and her filthy clothes, I’m betting she’s been rolling around with that Magic that chases after her like a dog,” a boy said, giving Merin a disapproving glance. The girl looked her up and down and turned her back to her.
“Merin, think of your reputation,” the girl who had squealed earlier whispered. The hall was quiet enough now that it was clear everyone was listening.
“You are a person because you can think and feel. What makes a Magic any different?” Her eyes narrowed. She demanded an answer.
“They have no control. No decency. Just like your little boyfriend. He’s always trying to pick fights. I heard he’s a criminal.”
“Do you know any Magics?” Merin yelled. She waited for their response. “Do you know their names? Their stories?”
“Why would I want to?” the first boy said. These were people she had grown up with. People she had played with her whole life.
“And if I told you I was a Magic?”
“I’d say, sure, I’d believe that just as much someone one would believe I’m from Hadran,” the girl nearest her said. She forced a laugh. “Merin,” she whispered, grabbing a hold of her hand, “you need to stop.”
Merin didn’t need to think twice. She let her magic flow into the girl who had gripped her arm. It rushed through the girl. She was still pulling on Merin’s arm. She hadn’t noticed. That was exactly what Merin wanted. Her magic surrounded the girl’s mind.
“I’ll show you,” Merin said. But then Bryce’s face flashed in her mind. Taking control of someone would only make them fear her. She let her magic fade into the girl’s system.
“How?” the girl asked, trembling.
“Who here is hurt? Has a headache? A twisted ankle?”
“I do,” said the boy who had called Bryce a dog. Merin swallowed the anger that was begging to be let out.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. He pointed to his shoulder. Merin closed her eyes and put his hands on his shoulder. She could imagine her magic spreading over his shoulder like water over a riverbed. She found the problem quickly. She solved the problem even quicker.
“So?” she said.
The boy rotated his arm around.
“I hate to admit it but—”
Merin cut him off. “You have known me your whole life. I have always had these powers. I never lost control. I was protected from the Raven’s head by my parents. So I was never forced out of school to be on my own. We have played together. I never attacked you. And society has kept you from knowing anyone else who has magic. They are people just like me. They are being hurt. We can stop that. We have the power to help them.”
“Merin?” the girl beside her asked. “How can we help them?”
“We listen. Right now. At the Refuge. We listen. I’m going now.”
She turned and left the room. She wasn’t sure if anyone was following her, but this was her best bet. She was running out of time to go anywhere else. But these kids were the next generation of councilors, lawyers, and teachers. Even if a few of them came, it would be a start.
She refused to look behind her. She wasn’t sure what she would see. Would they have listened? Did they hate her now because she had told them her secret? Would anyone come?
Slowly, she heard the scrape of chairs pushed back from tables, the swish of well-oiled doors opening, and—yes—the patter of feet behind her. She smiled and picked up the pace toward the Refuge.
BRYCE:
People were scurrying around the Council Building. Bryce’s footsteps echoed as he walked. Everything made him jump: the sound of the messengers turning corners too fast, the ruffle of paper, his own breathing.
He followed the signs in the building. It took him a few minutes to figure out the letters, and even longer to try to sound out what they said. But once he had found the directions to the “Council Room,” he turned down another hallway.
Raucous voices were all competing to drown the others out.
“Order, order,” came the loudest voice. A gavel slammed down on a table. Bryce followed the sound. He entered the room. The Council members surrounded him in a circle. They had all donned their official robes. They weren’t all sitting in their chairs, and Bryce wondered for a second what they had been arguing about. But it didn’t take him long to realize that they were talking about whatever the General had been talking about.
“What are you doing here?” the Council member with the gavel in his hand asked. Bryce turned to look at him. He looked like he could be Merin’s grandfather. Bryce bowed his head.
“You’re Korvo’s friend? Bryce, right?” Jacqui asked. Bryce recognized his voice. Kor had taken him to hear Jacqui speak once before on the treatment of Magics.
“Hello, sir,” Bryce said bowing his head again.
“Now isn’t the best time,” Jacqui said, the smile fading from his face.
“I know,” Bryce said, taking a step further into the room. “That’s why I’m here.”
“You impertinent fool. We have no need for you. Be gone with you, Magic,” one of the councilmen yelled. Bryce didn’t even bother to try to figure out which one.
“You do need me.” Bryce let his hands drop to his sides. “You need to listen to me.”
“And what could you possibly tell the Council?” another Council member asked.
“The Refuge. I assume by now Council Member Jacqui has told you what he saw in the Refuge. But I have seen it, too. Six times. Every part of that horrible place. Every time the floors were covered in rats and roaches. There aren’t enough beds to fit the children you pluck from the streets. The education we get is only pain. I was whipped and nearly drowned. I have nightmares where I wake up screaming. I am angry. I know I get into fights, but nothing in the Refuge has ever helped me be a better person. But my fellow Magics? They took me in. I am here today because they taught me to read.” Bryce stopped for a second. Jacqui nodded at him. He motioned for Bryce to continue.
“I know that you are working with the General,” Bryce said. Murmurs erupted across the room. The same arguments that had been brewing broke out again.
“Why do you think you know this?” the Council Member with the gavel asked. His face was flushed red. Bryce tried to remember his name but couldn’t think of it. His head was still too swimmy.
“I know because he tortured me in the Refuge. He experimented on me.”
“I can guarantee that the Council—” the leader started. Bryce lifted up his hand.
“I forgive you. I forgive you for being afraid. I’ve been afraid in my life. When the men I didn’t know came and held me down while they tattooed the Raven on my ankle, I was afraid. When I left my family for the city, I was afraid. The nights I spent in the Refuge, I was afraid. I understand fear. It can cause you to do things you wouldn’t normally do. I fought. You called the General.”
“As I said before, I can assure you that the Council has no idea what you are talking about,” the Council member choked out.
“Let the boy speak,” Jacqui said.
“I want to hear this,” another said. “Maybe it will clear up some of the questions we’ve been having.” The man glared across the room. The man with the gavel gripped it tightly and leaned back in his chair.
“I will not forgive you,” Bryce continued, “if you let my friends be hurt because you are scared of who we are. If you are scared of children learning to read, or a six-year-old who has seen his share of torture and darkness. If you are willing to use this city’s fear of us to get rid of us, then I will not forgive you. Because that is not the result of someone who is scared. Those are the actions of someone who wants power over others and will make themselves more powerful by stripping others of what little humanity they have left.”
“Tell us more about how the General is involved,” said a Council member.
“He can’t,” the leader shouted, “because there is no such conspiracy.”
“If you want to know more, come to the Refuge. And see it with your own eyes.”
Bryce turned then, his body shaking, and walked out of the room. Tears ran down his cheeks. Once he turned the corner, he leaned up against the wall and sobbed.
When it felt like his body had given all the tears it could, he continued on his way toward the Refuge.
He had expected there to be people there. Merin never failed in any task she had been given, but the fervor in the crowd was intense. It felt like the first day in the marketplace. Bryce scanned the crowd trying to find Merin or Kor. He needed to be near his friends. He was a shell of a person and wanted a familiar face for an ounce of comfort.
He didn’t expect a much different face.
Aer was standing at the front of the Refuge. Her winds whipped around her. Her hair was loose and flying. The wind nipped at her jacket. The same jacket she had been wearing when they had attacked the Council. The same jacket that was made of the fabric from that room.
“Aer!” He called to her and ran toward her. “You have to take the jacket off.”
She turned and looked at him. Her eyes were wide. Her brow was pinched together, and for the first time, Bryce noticed the slight chain around her wrists.
“Bryce, stay back,” she commanded, but Bryce pushed through the remaining people in the crowd. He had almost made it free when a hand grabbed him by the collar. Another familiar face: Korvo.
“Let me,” he said. Fire crackled from the edges of the Refuge. Both Bryce and Kor turned to look at each other. Tiernan. Tiernan was here.
“You get to Tiernan,” Bryce said. “I’ll get Aer.”
Kor nodded. Bryce shifted his attention back to his friend. The winds had only picked up. Merin was running from the other side toward Aer. Maybe together they could get the jacket and chains off.
The crowd was beginning to pull away.
“They brought us here to kill us,” a member of the crowd screamed.
“Can’t they see she’s tied up?” Merin yelled to Bryce. He knew fear was blinding them to what was in front of them.
The Watchers were beginning to move in now. Bryce watched them hesitate, like they weren’t sure how to follow their orders. They must be in on it. They were waiting for something to go wrong.
“We have to stop Aer and Tiernan,” Bryce said. “They’re using them to turn the rest against us.”
Bryce reached the platform Aer stood on first. She was beaten badly. He could tell standing was torture and having the magic drained from her was only making it worse. There were large bags underneath her eyes. It was only a few more steps until he could get to her. Lightning cracked across the sky. Bryce stumbled backward, but Merin kept going.
KORVO:
The plan had worked. The General had brought Tiernan and Aer to the Refuge for the crowds. Crowds that, hopefully, were full of Council Members and non-Magics. They would see the injustice happening right in front of them.
But he had to get to Tiernan. Tiernan might have had more control than anyone he had ever met, but he also had more magic bubbling inside his body. He was the flame. And without any control … Kor didn’t finish that thought. He pushed closer to the little boy.
The heat got more intense as he got close to the flames. Tiernan’s eyes glowed. Korvo looked away, only to find himself looking at the General. His piercing blue eyes twinkled when Kor came to an abrupt stop.
“Seems my little Magic family is all together now,” the General laughed. Kor reeled. He thought it wouldn’t bother him to see the General again. It had been years. He was grown now. Instead, Kor felt like the small child that had been paraded around the campground like an animal. He couldn’t move. Tiernan sputtered another shot of flames, causing another explosion. Even the heat coming close to him was not enough to melt the stare the General had for him.
“Why did you come here?”
“It’s my duty to see that Magics are eliminated.”
“This isn’t Hadran.”
“I know, but soon it will be just as great. After the people out there believe that there are Magics like your dear Aer and Tiernan that cannot be controlled, they will outlaw magic. I’ll see you in chains once more.”
“Why? Why do you hate us this much?”
“I don’t hate Magics,” the General said, taking a step closer.
“You don’t hate Magics? How can you say that? You have a six-year-old boy withering in pain. You tortured Bryce.”
“Why would I have feelings about Magics? They are not something to spend time thinking about. It’s like dirt on your floor. You don’t hate it. You just get rid of it. No questions asked. No complicated feelings necessary.”
“We are people!” Korvo yelled now. He wasn’t sure if it was to be heard over the crackle of the flames or because he couldn’t contain his anger.
“No, you are not.” The General moved back toward safety, away from the rising flames. “You are an abomination.”
“Tiernan, you have to come with me,” Kor said in Hadran.
Tiernan shifted. His eyes glanced toward Kor’s and for a moment, Kor thought it would all be over. But Tiernan’s eyes fell away, and the fire began to change in color. Blue flames were the hottest; Kor knew that. He was forced to take a step back.
He needed a plan, and he needed it fast. He thought over the cards he had seen. There were only a few options, and one was sacrifice. He took a deep breath and pushed his hand into the fire to grab for Tiernan. If he could touch him, he might be able to bring him out of whatever trance he was in. Bryce had said they found a way to force a Magic to bypass their own control systems. Tiernan needed to regain it.
His hand plunged into the flame. At first he felt nothing; then the fire burned him. It was so hot Kor wasn’t sure it wasn’t ice. He could feel his skin puckering as he kept it there. He reached Tiernan’s hand. He pulled on it. He pulled Tiernan toward him. The fire turned orange, almost pleasant after the blinding heat that had lapped at his skin.
“Korvo?” Tiernan asked. His voice seemed distant, like he was stuck in a dream. Bryce had sounded the same way.
“We need to get out of here,” Kor said. His clothes were singeing from the flames still crackling around Tiernan. What were a few pieces of clothes if he could save Tiernan?
“I can’t go,” Tiernan said. “I’ll hurt all those people. They’ll be afraid of me. Like that book Merin read me.” Tiernan’s eyes began to lose focus, and Kor knew he had limited time.
“Tiernan, together we can help you.”
“Collar,” Tiernan said. Kor raised his eyes to the woven collar around Tiernan’s neck. Is that what was making him do this?
“We’ll help you get it off,” Kor said.
“I don’t think that will be happening any time soon,” the General said from the safety of the entrance desk.
“Tiernan, you have to trust me,” Kor said. He wasn’t sure how to get the collar off, but he needed to. And he needed to do it fast before he lost Tiernan to the flames again.
Tiernan allowed him to pull him out the front door. He was still encapsulated in flame, but it was no longer hurting Kor. Kor hoped that meant Tiernan was regaining control and not that his skin was burned enough that the nerves were no longer picking up pain signals. But there was no time to worry about that.
“That boy is on fire,” a crowd member said. Tiernan tensed. He pushed Kor away as the fires began to rise around him.
“They’re out of control!” a Watcher cried. Kor looked around at the crowd they had brought here. There were a few Council members in the back. The winds grabbed the edges of clothes and the Councilmens’ robes with hungry fingers.
“See,” the General said coming from the inside of the Refuge. “We couldn’t contain them. They have no control. This is why your city isn’t safe. Until we get rid of them, there is no way I will sleep at night.”
The General played the sympathy card well, and in a normal Watcher’s uniform no one knew his secret agenda. His blue eyes blended in with the upper class. Only Korvo, and maybe Bryce, were feeling physically ill by his presence. To everyone else it would only look like Tiernan had lost control.
The whites of Tiernan’s eyes were bulging out of his head. Bryce still hadn’t quite gotten to Aer, but Merin was trying desperately to break the thin chains around her wrists so she could get the jacket off.
This was the time to think. Kor ran through scenarios that could play out. He ran through what he knew.
“Tiernan, you can’t stop?” Korvo asked, although he thought he knew the answer.
The little boy shook his head.
“Can you play?”
Tiernan looked at him. Kor saw how tired he was. Tiernan’s chest was heaving.
“If you can shape the flames, you won’t scare anyone,” Kor said. The boy nodded.
He squeezed his eyes shut and the flames started jumping. They pulsed in and out. They spiraled inward, and then burst into spectacular explosions. But slowly they were taking shape. They were wings. Big wings that looked like they were coming from Tiernan’s back. They flapped a few times, unfurling to be bigger than Korvo. The crowd gasped. Tiernan dropped to a knee. Kor ran to him. With the flames behind him, it was safe to touch him once more.
Holding Tiernan’s hand, Kor felt how clammy the boy’s hands were. He held them in his hand.
“You’re doing good. Do you think you could make flowers?” Kor whispered. Tiernan barely nodded.
“If he has no control, how can he do this?” Kor yelled to the crowd who had silenced as the wings unfurled. He turned and winked at Tiernan who managed a weak smile. The fire slowly turned into a rose. It looked exactly like the ones that Bryce took care of in the garden.
Someone in the crowd clapped.
“Hold on, Tiernan,” Kor said, letting go of the boy’s hands. Kor chanced a glance over at Bryce and Merin. They had ripped the jacket with a knife they had gotten from someone in the crowd, and they were working on the top of the jacket. Aer’s face was gaunt. Her breath was more ragged than Tiernan’s. They didn’t have much time.
“Magics have control of themselves,” Kor said to the captivated audience. He pointed to Tiernan’s rose petals, slowly dropping to the ground and disappearing. “What we don’t have is control of our lives. Children are denied an education. Children are forced into the Refuge. People like the Hadranian General here are trying to take even more. You are afraid of us, but we are even more afraid of you. Afraid that you will never see us as people. Afraid that we will end up in the Refuge or a labor camp for simply being who we are. We can control ourselves,” Kor was almost yelling now. “But can you control your fear?”
The crowd murmured. Tiernan dropped to his hands and knees. Aer was only being held up by Bryce. They were near their limits. If he took much longer, they wouldn’t make it.
The General was trying to blend into the crowd.
“All we ask is for help. Ask the General to let this little kid go. Tell him his hatred has no place in Kaybrum. Save them.”
The crowd began shouting. A few of the Council members came forward.
“What is hurting them?” Jacqui asked, coming as close as he dared. Kor breathed deeply, relieved that Jacqui hadn’t abandoned them.
“See the collar around his neck, the jacket she is wearing? This fabric limits their control to stop. If they don’t stop soon, they will die.”
A pitiful moan escaped Tiernan, and Korvo leaned down to put his hand on his back. Trying to control the fire was weakening him faster than Aer. Bryce and Merin supported her enough so she could come over. Kor placed his hand on hers without thinking.
“We can’t get the knife through the metal,” Bryce said, kneeling down next to Korvo.
“What do we do?” Jacqui asked. He had come to kneel next to them. Another crowd member approached cautiously. The looks on their faces said it all. They were horrified. They finally saw the Magic’s plight. Kor looked up to yell at the General that it was over. But there was no trace of the man with the ice-cold eyes that haunted his dreams.
It was too late; Tiernan was dying, and they were going to watch without being able to do anything. He placed his hand on the top of the boy’s head.
“Everyone move,” Aer said through gasps of breath.
“Aer—” Korvo started to tell her to relax, but when he looked into her eyes he knew. He pulled Bryce backward.
Aer teetered onto her feet. She was unsteady, and it took her a moment to get her balance before she raised her arms above her head. Kor watched her every move. Even though Bryce and Merin had gotten through the sleeves and part of the jacket, it only revealed she had the same collar. It rubbed against her jagged tattoo.
He closed his eyes, understanding settling in him. He wasn’t the sacrifice card. The cards were never wrong.
“What is she doing?” Bryce asked.
“She’s not going to attempt anything big, is she?” Merin shook Bryce’s arm. “She doesn’t have the strength. I gave her everything I had left, and it’s not enough. We need to stop her.”
Korvo put out his hand and held Bryce so he wouldn’t run when he saw what came next.
Aer began chanting in the language the winds had taught her over her short seventeen years. They swirled and gusted. They could feel what was happening, too. Kor could feel the hair on his neck rise. Aer was calling the weather. She was calling lightning down.
“Aer—” Kor said. It was almost a whisper, but the wind brought her the words. She looked at him.
“It’s my fault. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.”
“Can I stop you?” he asked.
“Could you ever?”
The lightning was cackling now above them. Tiernan had lost any shape of the flower and the flames had gone back to consuming him.
Kor shook his head.
“Goodbye, Aer.”
“Kor, no. You can’t. You have to stop her,” Bryce yelled, but there was no stopping her. She nodded at the three of them once, and, with a secret message to the clouds, released the lightning in one single bolt that went straight to the collar around Tiernan’s neck. The bolt shattered the thin strip around his neck.
Aer sank to the ground. Kor let go of Bryce. He ran to Aer, calling for Merin. Merin walked to Aer’s side, tears streaming down her face.
“Is she?” Jacqui asked. Korvo nodded.
“She’s gone.” He rushed to Tiernan and picked him up. The boy was limp in his arms.
“Korvo?” Tiernan said. His voice was faint but there.
“Tiernan. Are you going to be alright?” Kor asked.
“Love?” the little boy asked, putting his hand on Korvo’s chest.
“Love.” Korvo said, laying his mangled hand over the boy’s. He started to cry. “Safe.”
BRYCE:
The Refuge was closed for an official investigation. Bryce walked by it every day at least once. He refused to feel scared of an empty building.
He was still not feeling like himself. Even though a month had gone by, he still felt weak. He could swear Tiernan was feeling the same way, but Kor and Merin had him running around learning the common tongue and how to read. Merin had gotten some of her classmates to help volunteer at a new make-shift school. It left Bryce on his own to deal with the shadows of the past.
Jacqui had been put in charge of the Refuge investigation, and he was listening to the Magic community. Kor and Bethlem were away a lot now. Bryce had been asked to give testimony, but he wasn’t ready to go back into the building. Instead, he had started teaching the little kids skills around the garden or anywhere else their talents might be needed. Things that could help them get a job. It made him move around the city a lot, but even though he walked by the Refuge, there was one place he couldn’t quite go.
He wasn’t ready for Aer’s grave. Kor and Merin went at least once a week. Bryce figured Kor may have gone more than that. Bryce just couldn’t face the fact that he couldn’t save her.
Today was the day he was going to attempt it. He circled the block that led to the graveyard multiple times before he finally decided to go in.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” he said to the stone.
“She never needed to be saved,” Kor said, coming to stand with his arm around Bryce. Merin slipped in and held his hand. Bryce leaned his head against hers. “She saved us.”
“We did it together,” Merin said.
Bryce sighed. “What did I do?”
“Is that what you’re feeling guilty about? You made them listen,” Kor said. “If the Council hadn’t come, none of this would have been possible.”
“I guess.”
“That’s something I was never able to do. Aer was never able to do. Merin either.”
The three of them sat in silence, watching the clouds pass over.
“When are the next meetings about the Refuge?” Bryce asked.
“You mean the newest Kaybrum School for Magics?” Kor said. He clapped Bryce on the back.
“It’s over?” Bryce asked.
“The Refuge, yes,” Kor said, resting his hand for a moment on the stone tablet, “but there is still a long way to go.”