Twenty-seven

Stanis

After truly convincing Desmond Locke I was no angel, my instinct was to fly back to the Belarus Building, but that was not my destination. At Alexandra’s request, I sought out another.

I had not been by their building by Saint Mark’s Church since before my disappearance late last year, and there was little chance I would recognize it. Last I had seen the location, it was a ruined pile of bricks that had been the death of Alexandra’s brother. The first time, that was. I did not know what I would find in the ruined building’s place, only that Alexandra said I would recognize it when I saw it.

She, of course, was right.

As I flew uptown from the church of the Libra Concordia, I thought perhaps I had overshot my mark in the East Village. Before me lay the park at Gramercy, confusion setting in until I realized it was not exactly the same.

To begin with, the “park” sat atop the roof of the building. I spied Alexandra reading by gaslight on one of the benches along its cobblestone paths, and I came down in front of her, descending slowly as I tried to absorb my strange and wonderful surroundings.

Alexandra shut her great-great-grandfather’s book of arcana when she heard me land and stood.

“Is it done?” she asked.

I nodded.

She laid the book on the bench and came to me. “How did he react?”

I could not repress a smile. “Desmond Locke might wish to seek out the mysteries of the heavens, but given his reaction, he does not wish to visit them,” I said.

Alexandra laughed, the sound pleasing to me. “He’s afraid of flying?”

“I believe so,” I said. “Although I would also like to think that the fear on his face was due in some part to the show I put on.”

“Show?”

I bared my fangs and twisted my features to appear as demonic as I could. “You told me we needed to convince him he needed to back off from your family,” I said. “He is convinced now.”

“Excellent,” she said, and threw her arms around me. “Thank you for that performance.”

“Of course,” I said, and looked around the roof. My surroundings here were much different from the rooftop at the Belarus Building. The stonework was exquisite and purposeful up here, not the flat and lifeless slabs I was used to seeing atop the buildings of the city.

Alexandra stepped back. “You like?”

“This place,” I said. “What is it?”

“It’s yours,” Alexandra said. “I designed it with you in mind when the building was going up. I always hoped you’d return to us one day.”

“This looks familiar.”

“It should,” I said. “It’s based on Gramercy. It even has a little river running through it.”

I moved around the space among the trees and walkways, Alexandra at my side.

“I do not know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” she said. “I figured you must not get a lot of opportunity simply to enjoy the things I get to enjoy on the streets, so I had this installed. That way, you can use it anytime you like.”

I did not know how long we walked, my mind too taken with the surrounding beauty of it all, but eventually Alexandra stopped and turned to me.

“I’ve been giving this a lot of thought,” she said, “and perhaps we should go back to the way things once were.”

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“The bond we had,” she said. “I was thinking maybe I could restore it. I’m not exactly sure how to do that just yet, but I’d like to.”

The offer aroused something within me, but I did not see the sense in such a thing. “Why would you want this?”

“Because I miss that connection,” she said, looking away from me. “At first I thought I was being selfish, that I simply wanted to know you’d come to my rescue as soon as I felt in danger, but I realized that wasn’t it. I want the bond back because when you disappeared for nearly half a year, and I had no idea where you were . . . that nearly killed me.”

“I was protecting you,” I said.

“Yes, I know, but it was like you were dead. I’d rather have that full connection than no connection at all.”

I thought about her words—her desire—before answering. “I miss it as well,” I said. “When shall we do it?”

Alexandra shook her head. “I need to work out a few things about the ritual,” she said, “but soon.”

I looked out over the park again and smiled at her. “Thank you for this, Alexandra.”

She returned my smile, but there was a darkness in her eyes that I could not quite fathom.

“Don’t thank me just yet,” she said, grabbing my clawed hand. Alexandra pulled me toward the doorway discreetly built into the back of one of the stone pillars along the path. “There are things we still have to do.”

Alexandra led me down through the new building, and I followed her until we reached the bottom floor. I was surprised to see a library there much like the one at Alexander’s studio, and I finally oriented myself to where I was when we went in through the doorway leading into her great-great-grandfather’s guild hall.

Doubly surprising was the fact that the blond-haired alchemist was there as well.

I stopped in the doorway, my wings fluttering with my annoyance. The center table of the room was filled with a variety of glass containers and racks of vials, most of which were being used by Caleb.

“What is he doing here?” I asked.

“Nice to see you, too,” Caleb said, only looking up from his work long enough to catch my eye before getting back to it.

Alexandra turned to me and pressed her hands against my chest. “Don’t freak out on me, okay?” she said.

“He betrayed us,” I said. “He betrayed you.”

“I was trying to save my own ass so I could be of help to you later on,” Caleb said. “You stone types really don’t think about the long game, do you?”

“Caleb . . .”

It did my heart good to hear Alexandra chastising him, but I could not stop myself from attempting to march over to him.

Alexandra tried to stop me, but her strength was no match for mine, and she slid across the floor with her arms held out straight against me. “Stanis . . . don’t.”

“I am not like those others,” I said. “I can promise you that.”

“Can you two stop fighting?” she asked. “There’s too much to do.”

I began to respond, but the sound of activity out in the hallway drew my attention. The voices of Aurora and Marshall arguing filled my ears, and as they came into the guild hall, I saw that their clatter came from both of their arms being overburdened by buckets, plastic containers, hoses, and a host of other implements whose nature I did not fully comprehend.

Marshall stumbled to the far side of the room, crashing along awkwardly as he went.

“Bless the Home Depot on Twenty-third Street,” he said, laying down the equipment.

Aurora followed, laying her armful of equipment down next to his.

“Seriously,” she said, pulling a list from her pocket. “They had everything you asked for, Lexi.” As she handed the note back to Alexandra, her eyes fell on Caleb, standing at the table. “What’s he doing here?”

“I asked the same question,” I said. “In the same tone, even. So far, I have not been given a good enough answer.”

“Everyone relax,” Alexandra said. “I asked him to join us.”

“Why?” Marshall asked.

Caleb continued mixing several vials together, not stopping his work but looking over to Marshall.

“Because I can do more than be sent on shopping errands . . . ?” Caleb said.

Alexandra turned to him, which caused the alchemist to close his mouth, effectively shutting him down.

“Because,” Alexandra said, “we’re going to need his help if we’re going to stand a chance against Kejetan. We’ve got what we need to reproduce as much Kimiya as we want, but I need his alchemical expertise in this.”

“Fine,” Aurora said, but it did not seem she meant the word. She stepped to the wall near where her pole arm rested and leaned back.

Marshall looked at the massive amount of equipment they had come in with, then back to Alexandra.

“This is great and all,” Marshall said, “but what are we supposed to do? I mean, we don’t have an army. Kejetan and his men took most of the statues that were left. I don’t care how many buckets of this stuff we make. We’ve got nothing to use it on.”

“We don’t need statues,” Caleb said.

“Oh no?” I said.

“This is our army,” Alexandra said, gesturing to all of us. “Caleb’s right. We don’t need statues . . . present company excluded, of course.”

“Thank you,” I said, unconvinced. “But I would feel far more positive about our endeavor if there were more of my kind on our side.”

“I’m sure you would,” Caleb said. “But we don’t need that.”

“We don’t?”

“No,” Alexandra said. “Having statues wouldn’t change anything. Kejetan has always ruled by brute force. And I doubt we could have matched his even before he and his servants took their new forms. I’ve been so fixated on handling brutality with brutality that I hadn’t considered much else in the way of handling them.”

“You want to share how five of us are supposed to take on a freighter full of baddies?” Aurora asked.

I, too, was curious to hear an answer to this question. I was also curious what baddies were, but I thought I could figure that one out on my own.

“We don’t need to beat them with strength,” Alexandra said. “We’ll do it with what we’ve got.”

Aurora picked up her pole arm and swung it through the air with such grace, she appeared to be dancing with it.

“I’ll go with what I know, thanks,” she said.

“Don’t be like that, Rory,” Marshall said. He went to the center of the room, where Caleb was working, and began sorting through the glassware there. “Between the five of us, we’ve probably got a pretty good brain.”

Aurora looked at him over the top of her glasses.

“We can outsmart them,” Alexandra said, her voice stern.

“I don’t know, Lexi,” Aurora said, still not convinced.

“Aurora may have a point,” I offered.

Alexandra turned to me, a look of shock on her face. “Don’t tell me you’re on Rory’s side, too.”

“I do not know how you will fare against my father,” I said. “He has not lasted this long by being a foolish creature.”

“Enough infighting!” Alexandra shouted.

Everyone stopped their tasks and looked to her.

Alexandra looked to Marshall, then to Aurora.

“I know I’ve put a lot on you by asking you to help me here,” she said to her friends, the words quick from her lips in anger, “and I know I’ve kept a lot from you. But I need you to trust me on this.”

Marshall set down the vials in his hand. “Why have you been keeping things from us? Maybe Caleb was right . . . Are we just your shopping team?”

Alexandra sighed, then pointed to Aurora. “When Rory got knocked out . . . it made me realize how serious it was that I was putting both of you in danger. More and more. I couldn’t take that. I thought maybe I could do it all. So if there was danger involved, I turned to Caleb. It didn’t matter what happened to him.”

“Gee, thanks,” Caleb said, returning to his mixing.

“You know what I mean,” she said, exasperation in her voice now. “You were a stranger. Arcane things are what you deal in, what you freelance in. You’ve chosen the dangerous life. Marshall and Rory? This was all forced upon them.”

“First of all, nobody forces us to do anything,” Aurora said. “We do things because we want to . . . or in Marshall’s case, because I tell him to.”

“You don’t understand,” Alexandra said. “It’s not just the danger. There are certain things that I don’t want you to have to do.”

“Like what?” Aurora asked, the girl getting heated herself.

I stepped forward. “Like Alexandra’s having to take the life of her brother,” I said.

Alexandra and Aurora both went quiet for a moment, then Aurora spoke. “Is it true?” she asked.

Alexandra nodded. “I killed Devon,” she said.

“No,” I said. “You killed what had once been your brother.”

Alexandra looked serious. “I did what needed to be done. For the safety of all of us.”

Much of the anger fell away from Aurora, and she walked to Alexandra. “So you just beat him down?” she asked, impressed.

“Not quite,” Alexandra said. “I had a little help.”

Marshall and Aurora both turned to me, but I shook my head. “It was not I,” I said.

Slowly, they turned to Caleb, who took a moment to wave, the smile on his face causing me to feel a desire to remove it from his face.

“In all fairness,” he said, “all I did was leave her a little gift. She’s the one who decided to use it.”

“Okay,” Alexandra said. “So technically it was Bricksley who reminded me I had the damn thing on me, but I’m glad it was I who did it and not any of you. If I’m going to be a part of this life, I need to be ready to do such things. I know that now. It’s why I’ve dealt with Devon and Desmond Locke, and now there’s only one other person I need to contend with.”

“Kejetan,” I said.

“And his followers,” I said. “I’m sick of living in fear.”

“Don’t worry,” Marshall said. “I’ve got plenty enough to go around for all of us.”

“You should be scared,” Alexandra said, going to the table. She reached into her coat pocket, threw her notebook down next to a stack of books and mixing vats. “This isn’t going to be easy, but if we play this smart, we can end this . . . tonight. Putting Devon out of his misery was difficult. But Kejetan and his men?” She pointed to the empty containers that Aurora and Marshall had brought with them. “We’re going to have to do a lot of alchemy first.”