Chapter 23

A MOUNTAIN OF DARKNESS

 

Jack ran toward the mammoth coliseum. He’d been following the roars of a screaming crowd ever since he’d entered the City of Shadows. The gates had been left unguarded, and every street was as still and quiet as the grave.

When he’d been with Time in the garden, he’d seen a vision of this place. He knew this is where he would find Alexia, Arthur, and the others. Even as he ran toward the sounds of bloodthirsty cries, there was peace inside him. Jack didn’t know what he was meant to do, but he knew he was meant to be here, and that was enough. It wouldn’t be possible to stop what was happening. He was just a boy. Yet this is where the poet had sent him.

He wasn’t just the poet! Jack thought. He was the Author! His heart still pounded at the memory. And as he ran toward a fight he knew he could not win, Jack smiled.

 

Arthur wanted to cry as he stared at his burned hand. He’d tried multiple times to grab the small box from its dark prison. His fingers were blistered, and the smell of seared flesh made bile rise in the back of his throat.

He circled the box that hovered above the enormous throne. He wanted to leave it. But he could not. He felt foolish as he reread the words on it. “ARTHUR GREAVES: LOYAL. COURAGEOUS. WARRIOR.” They seemed to mock him.

Arthur squeezed his eyes shut. What am I doing here? I’m just a boy. I don’t even know why I’m trying to get this stupid box! He wiped a tear from his eye and remembered the last thing Elion had said to him. “Arthur Greaves, you are powerful and courageous.” Her eyes had blazed with a golden light. They had been standing in the chamber below Buckingham Palace as the World Portal spun behind her. “And something tells me that if this mission has any chance of success, it will be because you were there.”

Arthur straightened his back and stepped toward the box once again. “I am not here by accident,” he whispered. “I am Arthur Greaves, and I am one of the Awakened.” After a moment he smiled and added, “And I am the Lightning Dancer.” Without thinking, Arthur began to move his feet in a way he had never moved them before, though it felt perfectly natural. Before long, a tornado of electricity had formed around him, and where he moved, liquid light moved with him.

The electricity called to him, wrapping him in its embrace. Again he reached for the box, and this time the darkness imprisoning it shrieked and exploded away. And just like that, the box dropped and tumbled down the golden stairs.

Arthur stopped his dancing and began to laugh as he ran down the stairs and picked up the wooden box.

 

As Alexia ran toward her friends, the Drogule roared and yanked the cord of electrified light. All nine Awakened groaned as the cable tightened around them. They watched her helplessly.

Alexia took the last steps and hurled her body into the light that bound her friends. The moment she touched it, electricity blasted through her body, causing her to stiffen and jerk uncontrollably. Yet as the cable wrapped itself around her, it ceased to bind the Awakened.

Andreal dove at the Drogule, wrestling it to the ground and ripping the sizzling cable from its hands, freeing Alexia. She lay flat on her back, trying to catch her breath.

Wild stood with his arm outstretched. “There’s no time to nap.” He smiled. “Now is the time to fight.” He pulled Alexia to her feet just in time to turn and face the swarm of tens of thousands of Shadow Souled.

Alexia wanted to talk to her friends, to apologize for not standing with them sooner, but she didn’t even have time to meet their eyes. The horde of dark servants was upon them. A moment before the flood crashed into the Awakened from every direction, a shield of blue light sprang up around them. The shield was the only thing between the Awakened and a crushing death.

The dark servants howled as they slammed into the shield. From every side the Shadow Souled pressed against the wall of thin blue light. The snarling faces of monster, beast, and human were everywhere. The sky was no longer visible as winged creatures pummeled the shield from above.

“I can’t hold it any longer!” Mrs. Dumphry shouted. Her shield buckled inward, splintering into a thousand pieces, and the mountain of dark servants was on them.

It wasn’t fighting—there was no room to fight or to move at all. The dark servants were consumed with bloodlust. Both Awakened and dark servants began to scream as the pressure built, those in the center being crushed to death in a melee of bodies pushing in from behind and above.

Alexia couldn’t find the breath to scream. There was too little room to draw breath. This is it, she thought. This is where we die. It was a cold thought. The pressure became unbearable, squeezing from every direction. She looked at the crazed beasts, humans, and monsters, gritted her teeth, then closed her eyes, trying to stay conscious through the pain.

Suddenly, a burst of wind exploded from somewhere nearby and ripped through the crush of bodies. And the immense pressure stopped growing. Alexia opened her eyes—at least five out of every seven dark servants looked as if they’d fallen unconscious. They hadn’t dropped to the ground because there was no room for them to fall. Alexia still couldn’t draw a breath, but at least the pressure wasn’t growing.

“What just happened?” Josiah groaned.

“They’re sleeping!” Juno gasped.

“It canna be possible!” Andreal rumbled from somewhere beneath the mountain of flesh. Alexia could hear him shoving against the bodies, yet even Andreal wasn’t strong enough to shift the mammoth heap.

The dark servants who hadn’t fallen unconscious still snarled and howled, but they, too, were trapped in the crush of bodies.

“What’s that?” Wild said.

Alexia also heard it. A crackling and snapping sound, growing louder by the second. The air became electric; her skin pricked and her hair began to rise.

The mountain of dark servants was being shoved aside by a wall of liquid electricity, clearing a path to the small band of Awakened. Alexia dropped to her knees and gasped for breath. Spinning round in the clearing path was Arthur Greaves, electricity flowing from his outstretched hands.

He’s dancing! Alexia realized.

When Arthur met Alexia’s eyes, he blushed. “It seems to work better when I dance,” he said sheepishly.

She stood and limped over to wrap him in a fierce hug. “I missed you!” Alexia said. “And your dancing is splendid. Truly it is!”

“I missed you too,” Arthur said.

“Well done, Arthur,” Mrs. Dumphry said as she strode toward them. “Well done, indeed! Before this war is over, you may be one of the most powerful Awakened to ever walk the earth!”

Arthur turned a deep shade of red. The look on his face was a mixture of pride and embarrassment.

“We have no time to waste,” Mrs. Dumphry said. “The enemy is already stirring. We must be out of the arena before they awaken.”

“It’s only the animals that are unconscious,” Josiah said, looking around.

Alexia stared dizzily at the mountain of Shadow Souled. Josiah was right—anything that looked even remotely like an animal was unconscious. The humanlike dark servants were still conscious but trapped beneath bodies or behind the wall of liquid light. That wouldn’t last long.

She had a memory of standing in the ruined central market of Belfast. “I think I did this,” she said. “Though I have no idea how.”

“Let’s not worry about it now,” Mrs. Dumphry said. “We are running out of time. Arthur, you mustn’t—”

Arthur dropped his hands, gasped, then fainted as the wall of fluid light evaporated, and the mountain of dark servants crumpled.

Mrs. Dumphry sighed. “You mustn’t let go of your Soulprint too quickly,” she said. “I feared this might happen. Young Mr. Greaves has exhausted himself beyond what is safe. Andreal, would you mind?”

Andreal threw Arthur over his shoulder as Mrs. Dumphry turned and sent streams of fire into a few dark servants who’d wriggled free from the crush. As the Awakened ran toward the arena exit, Alexia donned her cloak and inserted a stone into her sling. It felt so good to have them back.

“They’re waking up,” Aias warned.

“We need to free the others!” Juno called as they entered a darkened passageway. “There are at least five thousand Awakened in the dungeons below.”

All eyes turned to Mrs. Dumphry. The old woman glanced into the arena as she assessed the situation. Thousands of the Shadow Souled were now awake, though most still wore a dazed look.

“What do you say, Alexia Dreager? The prophecy says you and young Jack Staples will lead the armies of the Awakened into the Last Battle. If it has truly started, then it is time for you to begin taking this responsibility. Shall we mount a rescue and face impossible odds, or shall we flee and live to fight another day?”

Alexia didn’t want this responsibility. Yet when she met Josiah’s eyes, she knew what they had to do. “We can’t leave them behind,” she said quickly. “We must try to free them at least!”

Mrs. Dumphry smiled. “You are showing the signs of a true leader, child. I told you once that the line between foolishness and courage is razor thin. In this case I do not know where it lies. Aias, Andreal, Wild, and I will hold this corridor for as long as we can. The rest of you go and free our people!”

Alexia turned to her old gang. “I let you down; I know that. And I was wrong. Will you forgive me? And will you follow me into the dungeons?”

“No,” Josiah said. “I will not follow you because you have no idea where you’re going.” He broke into a wide grin as Juno chortled. “But I will forgive you. Now, follow us!”

Alexia turned and followed her gang into the dungeons.