EMIL
I’ve lost all track of time without windows. Sleeping while strung up by chains has been near impossible, but my body continues to shut down until acolytes wake me up for meals of crackers and dirty faucet water. I begged an acolyte for a chair at one point, and he laughed at me. Could’ve been Ness in disguise again, getting off on his winning mind games. The only mercy I was shown was an acolyte bandaging me, but I’m sure Luna didn’t want me to bleed out.
I’m fading when Stanton enters the room and pulls the chain from the ceiling, making me drop. Stanton drags me across the concrete halls, my bandages coming undone. He carries me up a flight of stairs to a loading dock where he hurls me into the back of a van. Everything is blurry as I fade in and out, but I can clearly see Ness looking unaffected among acolytes. Wands are aimed at me even though I haven’t been able to cast any fire. Ness is holding the infinity-ender, and the blade hasn’t been cleaned. No point wiping it down when I’ve got more blood to spill.
The ride is bumpy, but at least my legs, which have been so numb, finally get a chance to rest. I want to sleep too. I always prided myself on being able to nap in noisy auditoriums at school and drift away on the train, but now fear keeps me awake. Not because of all the weapons that’ll kill me if I make a wrong move, but because of where I’m being taken to and why I’m more useful to Luna alive than dead.
The van stops, and I breathe in the fresh air, feeling pulses of strength under the Crowned Dreamer, so close to its final form in the night sky. I recognize the parking lot of the Museum of Natural Creatures immediately. I wish Kirk weren’t so stubborn and would cancel the entire thing, but maybe the Halo Knights will be enough to combat the Blood Casters and protect Gravesend. June phases through the back door and opens it from the inside, welcoming everyone in. I’ve never been through this hallway, but June leads the way with confidence. Smart money is on June having spent time in the museum, unseen and unheard, studying the ins and outs to become a walking map. I can’t believe I’m back, and I don’t know why, but I’m curious how long Kirk will wait until he updates the Sunroom to reflect my history as the gray sun specter who accomplished nothing but misery for his family.
There’s a flicker of hope. The Spell Walkers know the Blood Casters will be making a move on Gravesend’s egg, and I’m counting on them being here. Every corner we turn, I fantasize about Atlas popping out and pinning everyone down with his winds long enough for Wesley to zoom in and carry me to safety. Eva will have to go through hell if she wants to heal me, which pains me on a whole other level.
We lose some acolytes before we enter the staircase, where a lovely phoenix melody can be heard coming from the gala. Right as I think we’re heading up to the Sunroom, praying to every damn star in the sky that the Spell Walkers are fully united and in place to protect Gravesend and rescue me, we all go downstairs. The lights in the Hydra House are off for the night, and we approach a see-through vault that’s heavily guarded by five people.
Halo Knights.
The fiercest warriors are here to protect Gravesend. They’ll consider me a traitor for possessing phoenix powers, but it’s all good as long as they can stop the Blood Casters. They’re dressed in their clay masks with golden beaks, and sun-dust armor with feathered sleeves that are midnight blue and scarlet. Two are wielding iron crossbows while others are carrying axes and swords.
“Strike, my children,” Luna says.
June sinks through the floor while Stanton and Dione charge, using their advanced reflexes to dodge arrows with flips and slides. Ness squeezes my arm, like I have any chance of making a run for it. Dione snatches the ax and spins it into the gut of a man. Right as she swings at another, a short Halo with long dark hair jumps through the air with such epic distance that she could be flying and slices her bronze blade across Dione’s neck. Ness’s grip tightens, and I fight back every impulse to throw up, but my throat stings as Dione’s head rolls off her shoulders and her body crumples like an abandoned marionette.
The four Haloes pile on Stanton, and I relive my own pain as they cut him with their blades. Then June reappears and steps inside the body of a muscular knight with dark hair, using his sword to stab two of them in the back before the last catches on. It’s one thing to hear about possession, but a much greater horror to see it in action.
The dark-haired Halo who decapitated Dione holds her shoulders high. “Nimuel, what are you doing?”
“He’s possessed!” I shout, and Luna personally backslaps me.
“Get out of my husband or I’ll end you too,” she warns. June approaches her, and the Halo Knight grips the obsidian hilt of her bronze blade. “In another life,” she vows, running her sword through her husband’s heart, but not before June can step out of his body. The Halo Knight is too distracted by the horror she’s committed, and Stanton rises and snaps her neck.
Hope was short-lived.
Ness guides me through the hall, and I gag as we avoid the blood and Dione’s head. Luna doesn’t seem particularly worried about Dione, and I wonder if she’s ever actually seen her regrow her head or doesn’t care that she’s dead.
“Stay away,” Kirk says from inside the vault. A generator whirs, and a dome of yellow energy surrounds him and the egg. June reaches a hand in, and she’s thrown off her feet. “No one is getting through.”
“We don’t want to go inside,” Luna says. “We’d like you to come out.”
“This phoenix isn’t yours to mutilate,” Kirk says. I’m proud of him for standing his ground. “Enforcers will be here any minute.”
Luna laughs. “We’re standing in the blood of Halo Knights. Enforcers won’t hold us for long.”
“I only have to hold you back long enough for the Crowned Dreamer to go away.”
“It’s tempting to burn this entire museum and its rare collections to the ground,” Luna says. “But the aftermath doesn’t interest me. I have a proposal for you. I understand you’re familiar with Emil. He’s a promising specter, one who recently flew, a power neither Keon nor Bautista exhibited. I’ll give you this scion to study for your own sciences, to write about in your own journals, in exchange for the phoenix.”
Yeah, only Luna can mock me for being a nobody and still make me sound promising.
“Don’t do it! You know she wants to kill the phoenix to become immortal!”
“Ridiculous theory,” Luna says. “The purity of the phoenix is what’s necessary for my health and will prove to be a marvel to the rest of the world should I succeed.”
“But . . . the gala is ongoing, and the tickets . . .”
“Tell everyone the phoenix died. Refund everyone. There is more money to be made in the journals of a phoenix specter than a viewing party. This is a sign from the universe—the boy phoenix was under your nose all along. Unlock the answers you’ve always wanted. Creatures are going extinct, and you know specters are the next step of evolution.”
Kirk looks curious. “And you don’t want Gravesend for immortality?”
“Immortality is impossible. The greatest hope anyone can have is to live as Keon has relived. To exact the science of rebirthing and to maintain the memories through each cycle of life. I require the phoenix to attempt this.” Luna pulls me by the chains around my wrists. “We’ve lessened his powers with an infinity-ender for the time being, and I trust you’ll have your own methods to keep him grounded, to tame him like the phoenixes of your past.”
Tears are forming in my eyes. I can’t believe this is how I’m going to go down. “Kirk, this is insane! I’m a person, a human person!”
Kirk never looks me in the eye, and I know my fate.
“I always honor my word,” Luna says.
“You said he was flying? Fascinating. I wonder if he can slip into previous lives or—”
Luna holds up a hand. “You can perform all the experiments you want. Do we have a deal?”
“Deal,” Kirk says.
The shield comes down, and Kirk exits the vault with Gravesend’s egg. Every step he takes, I’m surprised there isn’t some head shot. He doesn’t appear as disturbed by the dead bodies as I would expect, and who knows what other shadiness he’s been up to in order to get where he is today.
Up close, the egg is truly beautiful and unlike any I’ve ever seen before. The shells we showcase are aged and spotted. This feathered egg has life inside of it and glows as if it’s resting above a fireplace. I can hear Gravesend’s song, a melody that’s both beautiful and chaotic, like a bunch of keys in a piano that are all being played at once. I can sense that Gravesend isn’t simply battle-hungry, but war-hungry. If Gravesend is given the chance to live, she could grow into a killing machine. The last thing the world needs is Luna walking around with this blood inside of her, escalating her violent instincts to dangerous new heights.
Ness pulls me back by the arm. “Where would you like him, Kirk?”
“The storage room down the hall, for the time being. I’ll sedate him there.”
“I’m a human, Kirk, come on!”
I know he isn’t falling for any of Luna’s lies. He’s just doing what’s best for himself.
Ness drags me. “Stay close, firefly. I’m going to get you out of here,” he whispers.
There’s an uneasiness in my stomach. I don’t want to trust him, but hope ignites again when he relaxes his grip around my arm and his thumb brushes circles against my skin.
“Please, please get me out of here.”
I don’t care if begging makes me look stupid if he plays me again; I’ll do whatever it takes to not be locked up in some cell or killed.
Stanton calls after Ness. “You passed the office.”
Ness turns to me. “You said it was past this room. You lying, Emil?” Then quietly, he adds, “Make Stanton pay for everything he did to you and your brother.”
I wait and listen to the song thrumming within me, fight past the pain that flares when I reach for the fire, and when Stanton is close enough, I hold up my hands and shoot fire-darts into his chest.
“Run!”
My wrists are still tied, but Ness carries the chains, and this is it, we’re running up the steps. I guide us through the museum, leading us all the way to the Sunroom, where enforcers will be better equipped to protect us. My chest aches from using my power, my heart is speeding and my legs aren’t strong enough, but adrenaline drives me through into the gala where countless guests are dressed up in outfits that are so fancy I’d probably punch a wall if I found out how much they cost. Spellwork explodes behind us, charge after charge. Winds lift us into the air, and Atlas is standing by the balcony, struggling to carry us over until he succeeds.
“He’s good,” I say, nodding at Ness. “I think.”
“You look like hell,” Atlas says.
“I’ll be better now. Luna is downstairs and has the egg. Are you alone? Maribelle here?”
“She’s here, and we’re not alone.”
Wesley is dashing into acolytes while Iris guides patrons to a safe escape. Maribelle is locked in combat, and Prudencia telekinetically snaps the suspended phoenixes down from the ceiling so they rain down on the people pursuing her.
And there’s Brighton. He isn’t holding a camera. He’s armed with a wand.