Still yawning from my unexpected sleep, I followed Naima and Finch out of the hut. Tess was waiting for us in the glade beyond the hut, that same strange smile on her lips. It was pitch black outside, aside from the glow of the treetop orbs and the silvery light of a crescent moon glancing in through the interdimensional pocket. Everything looked creepier in the darkness, the stone statues looming out of the canopy like hulking titans. This place had seemed like paradise in the daylight, but night had transformed it into a Lord of the Flies nightmare.
My boots thudded on the metal walkways, leaving an echoing clang as we made our way to our next destination. If Naima was taking us back to that horrific hexagon, I didn’t know if I’d have the stomach to make it through the second stage of our induction. Bigger picture, Merlin. Focus.
“What’s with the stone giants?” I needed to break the silence between the four of us.
“They’re the guardians of Eris Island,” Tess replied. “They’re depictions of the Children of Chaos, the very beings that allow us to be here, and where Eris will soon take her place as a goddess among mortals.”
“She’s planning on turning to stone?” I flashed a forced smile, but nobody laughed.
“Nice one, Volla.” Finch’s tone held a warning. This wasn’t the time for jokes.
Tess pointed to a nearby titan as we crossed a walkway that came close to its towering height. I looked up toward its sculpted face, and it set my nerves on edge. It had the horns and face of a goat, the torso of a man, and two enormous stone wings folded behind its back, with cloven hooves instead of feet. Ah, so Satan is watching over this place.
“Baphomet, right?” Finch said.
Tess smiled. “It was designed with his image in mind, yes. In our case, it’s supposed to represent the might of Erebus. Katherine deemed it the most fitting example, as it stands for the tradition of a perfect social order. The kind she hopes to bring to our world.”
It sent a chill through me. “Is that really what Erebus looks like?”
“As I said, it’s a representation, meant to encompass more than just Erebus himself.” Tess shot me a withering look that silenced me. Somehow, I’d managed to become the class idiot without meaning to.
“I must pause here for a moment,” Naima said, leading us down a sloping walkway toward the eerie titan. We lingered on the damp grass, watched by Tess. In the darkness ahead, I heard rustling and the screech of an unseen bird.
Naima went right up to the stone giant, pressing her hand to a carved star embedded between Erebus’s hooves. She mumbled something in Latin, and the stone slid away, revealing a secret doorway in the statue itself. She disappeared inside, then returned a few minutes later with two charmed jars in her hands. I recognized the glass and the symbols etched along it; these were jars that held Purge beasts. Taking a closer look at the stone titan, I realized this must be where Naima hid her own version of the Bestiary—the powerhouse that made this entire operation work.
“The second trial is as follows,” Naima said, brandishing the two large jars. “You must tame a Purge monster each. I have specifically selected these rather charming creatures, as I have had some trouble taming them myself. Not all Purge beasts are created equal—I am a testament to that—and, despite my skill in this field, some creatures simply cannot, and will not, be controlled. These are two such monsters.”
So how do you expect us to tame them, if you can’t? I didn’t say it out loud, but I wanted to. It was almost as if these trials had been designed with failure in mind.
“What are they?” I asked instead.
She smirked. “That is for you to discover.” She set the jars on the ground and disappeared back inside her Bestiary. When she returned, she held a large box in her arms.
“These trials aren’t supposed to be easy,” Tess snarked.
I frowned at the box. “Is that another creature?”
“No, this is merely the raw meat you may use to entice the beasts into behaving, though it will not be as simple as bringing a stray dog to heel. They are as likely to eat you.” She chuckled darkly and set the box down between the jars. “You have half an hour, beginning now. If you fail, you will die. Katherine will only accept the best and most powerful into the cult. The rest are merely feed for my monsters. And, while your performances in the arena were exceptional, it is not enough to secure your place among us.”
“Why kill so many good soldiers if you need an army?” I couldn’t hold the question back.
Naima nodded thoughtfully. “An excellent question. Had you arrived with exceptional ability—a rare power, perhaps—these trials would have been tailored differently. Knowing of your reputations, we are aware that you lack any such abilities. You are Elementals only, and while your abilities are very strong indeed, they are nothing that Katherine needs, per se. As such, you must endure much more difficult trials to ensure you are worthy of your place.”
“Quality over quantity, right?” I smiled, keeping up the ruse of Volla’s sharp attitude.
“Precisely.”
Tess nodded. “A lot of ordinary magicals die in these trials, but it’s all for the greater good. That is how Eris weeds out the weak, to have only the most skilled at her side. Why have an army riddled with Mediocrity?”
It made a twisted sort of sense, not that I agreed with any of it. I could only imagine the kill rate in this place, and that wasn’t including the human experiments on the far side of the island.
“Good luck.” Tess grinned at us, lifting her hands. A white light shot out, forming a time-lapse bubble around us. The last time I’d seen one of these was in New Orleans, when Papa Legba’s townhouse had started to crumble. I didn’t exactly have good memories linked to these things, and I doubted that was about to change.
“We must go, Tess.” Naima stepped toward the edge of the bubble and beckoned for Tess to join her. Together, they disappeared through the membrane to safety, leaving Finch and me alone with whatever was lurking in those jars.
“Okay, then. Beast time,” Finch said, carefully approaching the nearest jar. I walked toward the second jar and tried to catch a glimpse of the creature inside. Black smoke swirled and twisted, but I couldn’t make out a distinct shape.
“Can they see us in the time-lapse bubble?” I asked tensely.
Finch shook his head. “Definitely not in this one. It’ll be extra sturdy.”
I exhaled, unsure of whether that made me feel relieved or more nervous. At least it meant we could use all of our abilities to get these beasties tamed.
I reached for the jar and unscrewed the lid. For a moment, nothing happened. And then, a stream of black smoke poured out of the glass, growing limbs and a body, its ugly head appearing as the mist faded away. A gargoyle—my favorite. Only this one looked way nastier than any I’d encountered before, foam frothing at its wet lips, its eyes black and wild, its knotted muscles pulsating beneath its scaly skin.
To my right, another creature was forming after being released by Finch. It was way bigger than the gargoyle, with a huge body that seemed to be made from rock, its torso and arms covered in moss and lichen, while weeds sprouted from its face. A golem.
“Looks like you’ve made a friend,” Finch said, nodding at the gargoyle. It had set its sights on me before I could even ask to switch. It sniffed the air and grimaced, something dark and slimy dripping from its sharp teeth as it spread out its wings and howled.
“Yeah, they’ve got a thing for me.” I flashed him a grin before launching myself at the gargoyle.
“Must run in the blood!” Finch ducked a savage blow from the golem.
I laughed bitterly. “Why couldn’t we have been normal? Like, imagine if our parents had been lawyers and accountants.” I grappled with the gargoyle’s throat, wrapping a lasso of Telekinesis around it and yanking it halfway across the expansive bubble.
“Accountants are way worse than what we ended up with, believe me!” Finch shot back, as he sent his own lasso of Telekinesis toward the golem, swiping it off its feet. It crashed to the ground, sending a shudder through the earth that almost knocked me down, too.
I rounded on the gargoyle and drove a fireball into the back of its head. It yelped in pain and scurried away from me, breaking loose from the Telekinesis. It didn’t get far, as I shot a judder of Earth through the ground, a circle of small trees shooting up around the creature, penning it in. At least, for a moment. I’d forgotten about the wings. It howled again and burst out of the wall of trees, powering through the air toward me.
“You made it mad, Sis!” Finch chuckled as he tackled the golem, his legs dangling over the creature’s shoulders as he rode around and tried to tug its head off with his Telekinesis.
“We’re supposed to tame them, not kill them,” I reminded him as I dove out of the way of the incoming gargoyle. It screamed at me and flapped its way up into the air again, its leathery wings vibrating.
Finch pulled a face. “Killing them would be way easier.”
“But that isn’t always the answer, remember?” I feinted out of the way of another aerial attack and sent up a spiral of powerful Air. With all the work I’d been putting into controlling my abilities, my success rate with Air and Earth had gotten a lot better. The gargoyle got caught in the maelstrom, spinning around and around like a lone sock in a washing machine. It was almost comical to watch, though I was aware this thing would devour me if it had half the chance.
With my focus fixed on the gargoyle, I’d forgotten about Finch’s golem. I didn’t see it until it was right on me, pinning me to the ground with its hefty stone foot. The breath rushed out of my lungs as I fought to break free, but it had me trapped. Turning over my shoulder, I watched Finch try to wrestle with the creature and push it away from me, but he was having some trouble. Meanwhile, I’d lost my hold on the maelstrom, and the gargoyle was about to make a dart for freedom.
“A little help?” I wheezed.
“I’m trying!” he shouted back. “It’s not easy moving a million-ton golem off your back.”
“Well, it’s going to squish me if you don’t!” I felt a rush of air close to my face and turned to find the gargoyle crouched on the ground, staring at me with hungry eyes. I could have sworn it even licked its lips. Here I was, stuck under the golem’s foot with no way out, with a ravenous, wild gargoyle about ready to eat me.
Suddenly, the golem lurched forward, taking its foot off me. It staggered clumsily, kicking out at the nearest thing, which just so happened to be the gargoyle. The winged beast went flying, tumbling backward. Its sharp claws shot out, raking across the earth to slow itself down, while the golem lumbered off in the opposite direction. Finch still sat on its shoulders, tugging harder at the invisible reins of his Telekinesis in an attempt to wrangle the creature.
“Use your neurotoxin!” I shouted, dragging myself to my feet. The gargoyle was on its way back.
“What?”
“Use. Your. Toxin!”
“This rock stuff will break my Esprit!”
I rolled my eyes. “Then put it directly in its freaking mouth!”
“Nice to see your dark side peeking out.” Finch laughed, but I saw him pull his Esprit from his pocket. He reached for the golem’s mouth and pulled back as hard as he could, the monster arching and stumbling around. A moment later, Finch jabbed the tip of the blade right into the golem’s tongue.
The golem collapsed forward, unleashing a wounded groan. It hit the deck with an enormous thud that made everything shake, cracks appearing all around its fallen body as it lay still.
“Is it breathing?” I returned my focus to the gargoyle, narrowly avoiding its sharp claws as it slashed at my head. Finch gave the monster a sharp kick. It groaned in response. “Yep, looks like it. I took the fight right out of it.” “Good for you. You want to give me a hand here?” I whirled away from a second set of claws in my face. The gargoyle was pissed now. As it divebombed me from the very top of the bubble, I staggered back. Not seeing the hunk of rock that protruded from the ground, I sprawled backward, grimacing as a jolt of pain shot through my nerves.
“Give me a minute. I need to make sure this thing is properly down.” Finch turned his back on me, leaning in to open the eye of the golem. It didn’t move, but my opponent was a different story.
The gargoyle seized its opportunity, landing nearby and scuttling toward me like a grounded bat. Before I had the chance to get back up, it crawled on top of me, its sharp teeth dripping as it sniffed at my face. I stared up at it, paralyzed with fear, my gaze fixed on the black pools of its eyes. It wanted to swallow me whole. It wanted to taste my flesh and savor every morsel. It reeled back and opened its mouth wide, preparing to devour me.
Panic flooded my senses. “Don’t! Don’t hurt me!” I screamed. Only, the voice that came out didn’t sound anything like my own. It wasn’t Volla’s Russian accent, it wasn’t my San Diego lilt—it belonged to someone else entirely.
The gargoyle reared back, baring its fangs at me. But it made no move to attack.
I stared at it, wondering what I’d done. I kept expecting it to lean forward again, but it didn’t. Why wasn’t it moving? What did I do? I propped myself up cautiously on my elbows, holding the beast’s gaze. It looked confused but still made no move to attack me. Instead, it closed its mouth and sat there on my legs, as if it were waiting for something.
“Did you do that?” Finch asked, surprised.
I nodded in complete confusion. “I think so.”
“How? Did you use your reverse Empathy thing?” “I… I don’t know.”
“Glad I didn’t have to compete with you in school. Here I am, using neurotoxin to subdue my monster, and you go and get yours to behave by shouting at it.” He folded his arms across his chest, sulking a little.
To be honest, I had no idea what I’d just done. I didn’t think I’d used any reverse Empathy, but then, it was hard to tell when I was panicked. My emotions and energies got all jumbled up, doing their own thing. Still, I had to test the theory, before this gargoyle snapped out of it and smelled the coffee. Gathering the same sensation of panic inside me, I pushed the emotions into my voice and stared at the monster.
“Sit, over there!” I pointed to an empty patch of grass beside me. My voice sounded different again—there was a deep, echoey resonance to it that seemed to erupt from way down inside my lungs. It was such a strange sound, and it kind of hurt to speak like that, my ribs burning with the strain.
To my shock, the gargoyle scuttled off my legs and sat down in the place I’d pointed to. Curious, I got to my feet and walked to the meat box, reaching in and taking out a chunk. The gargoyle licked its lips as it stared at the meat, but it didn’t move a muscle to snatch it from me.
“Roll over,” I instructed, in that same tone of voice. It did as I asked, rolling over on the grass and sitting back up. I threw it the chunk of meat, watching in disgust as it gulped the flesh down in one go. “Now, play dead.” It collapsed on the floor with its wings spread out, unmoving. I threw it another chunk of meat, which it furtively swiped into its mouth with a long, slithering tongue. “And, sit.” It did so, receiving a third chunk of meat. The gargoyle was catching on—if it did something I wanted, it got food. A fair exchange.
“You going to name it and take it on walks?” Finch asked, distracting me. “It’s like watching Katherine play with her gargoyles…”
I glowered at him. “Don’t say that.”
“I can’t help it. I feel like I’m having déjà vu.”
“I mean it, don’t say that.”
“I don’t mean any offense by it. It’s just… well, I’ve seen Katherine do the same thing. And she wasn’t the only one.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe there’s more Shipton blood in you than you think.”
“Yeah, my mother’s.”
He shook his head. “It’s all the same stuff, Sis. You can’t pick and choose. See, Drake Shipton could do the same thing. He could control gargoyles. He had a fleet of them that watched his trade ships, making sure nobody tried to steal his goods. A little-known fact. If a pirate ship or a competitor’s ship went down, he blamed it on bad weather. And, well, there were no survivors left to tell the truth.”
“Could Hester do this, too?” I wanted the answer to be yes. Somehow, I felt that, if my mom had this ability, I wasn’t riddled with all the bad blood from her side of the family.
“Not that I know of, but Katherine didn’t talk about her much.”
I didn’t know whether to be worried or thrilled by this development in my ability armory. In the end, it didn’t really matter right now. We’d both completed our tasks and tamed these monsters.
“That gargoyle on a leash?” Finch eyed it hesitantly.
“I think so.” I chucked another hunk of meat at it for good measure.
“Naima and Tess don’t need to know the gory details. If they ask, we tell them I used Fire and you used Water and Earth, and a bit of Purge beast know-how. That’s all there is to it, okay?”
I nodded. “Got it.”
“When this time-lapse expires, they’re going to expect to find a whole mess of Mazinov all over the place.” He smirked. “Man, are they going to be in for a big surprise.”