CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Present Imperfect

When we’d visited Warrengate before, the door to Malcolm’s office had borne a stern warning to unwanted guests, and had opened on a magical portal to a volcanic cavern deep beneath the earth. Now, the door merely read, “Headmistress Cassandra Levesque,” with no warning. Apparently her name was enough.

I kicked the door open to reveal a boring, ordinary office. It was quite large, but not remotely the size of Malcolm’s cave. The walls were bare of any decoration, and the furniture was spartan. An enormous desk made of dark wood took up a large portion of the room.

Levesque rose from behind the desk. Her face was pale, though I got the impression this was from anger, not fear. “What,” she spat, “are you doing here?”

I grinned. “Hello there. We’re back. Job done, evil fairy godmother defeated. You’re welcome.”

“I imagine you weren’t expecting us to succeed,” said Cordelia. “That’ll teach you to underestimate us.”

“It’s impossible!” Levesque spluttered. “No one can escape from…from…” She lapsed into bewildered silence.

“Ah.” I chuckled. “Having trouble remembering, aren’t you?”

“Time. Something’s wrong with time. History’s changed somehow.” She gave us an accusing glare. “You changed it.”

“We fixed it,” I said. “It’s Cinderella’s fairy godmother who fiddled with it. You remember her; you told us all about her earlier today.” I scratched my head. “It was earlier today, right?”

“Technically, yes,” said Cordelia. “Though after what we’ve been through, it feels like longer. After the castle was destroyed, it appears everyone caught up in its magic got…spat out back into the times and places where they first disappeared.”

I guffawed. “Spat out?”

“It’s been a long day. Literally. Don’t expect me to be poetic.”

“All I know,” said Levesque, “is that I sent you away somewhere, never expecting to see you again, and now you’re back barging into my school!”

“Taking it over, actually,” I corrected. “And it’s Malcolm’s school, not yours.”

Levesque slammed a fist onto her desk. “I should have killed you when I first captured you.”

“Probably,” said Cordelia. “But you were never able to resist over-complicating things.”

“Oh,” I said, “and that plan of yours to invade Neverica? All off, I’m afraid. Not happening.”

She was astounded. “How could you possibly know about that?”

“No need to trouble yourself with the details,” said Cordelia. “They’ll give you a headache, trust me.”

“You’re not getting away with this,” said Levesque. “You honestly think you two can challenge the Council of Scions?”

“We seven, actually, not we two,” I said. “And one of us is a dragon. The gang’s all here.”

“Even Malcolm isn’t powerful to stand against the full strength of the Council,” said Levesque. “He should know that.”

“I got the impression he didn’t care,” said Cordelia. “He wants to go down swinging—or, in his case, incinerating.”

“If you’ve been foolish enough to attack Warrengate, the rest of the Council will already have been notified. Everyone is on high alert because of the time distortions. I’ve cast spells to warn the whole Council if a sudden crisis happens at any of our strongholds.” Levesque’s mouth twisted into a grim smile. “You’re not going to survive this.”

“Thank you for your opinion,” said Cordelia. Fast as lightning, she flung a spell at the desk. It burst into charred pieces of wood, leaving no barrier between us and Levesque.

Levesque was only taken aback for an instant. She stepped across the remains of her desk and rushed toward Cordelia with an angry snarl. I tried to head her off, but she made a quick motion with her hand in my direction, and chains appeared out of thin air, wrapping around my body and binding my limbs. I fell facedown on the carpet with a thud.

“Stay out of this, you hairy oaf,” she snapped.

Cordelia aimed a series of runes at Levesque, but she responded with her own spell. Her magic and Cordelia’s met in mid-air. They both stood with their hands raised, each trying to push back the other’s power. Cordelia’s red runes hammered against the blue symbols cast by Levesque, but the older woman’s magic slowly began to extinguish hers.

“Face it, Cordelia,” sneered Levesque. “I’m better than you.”

“I know,” Cordelia grunted. “That’s why I’m cheating.”

She lowered her right hand, and the runes around it vanished. Then she balled it into an ordinary, non-magical fist, and swung it up against Levesque’s jaw. The other enchantress’s runes died in an instant, and she crumpled to the floor.

Cordelia rubbed her hand. “That was for Thomas, you miserable old bat.”

“Nicely done,” I wheezed, as the chains around me pulled tighter. “Erm, I don’t suppose you could—”

“Oh, right, sorry.” She waved her hand, and the chains vanished. “Are you okay?”

I rubbed my arms, trying to get the blood circulating through them again. “I’ll live. What now? If the other Council members are on their way, I don’t know how much more we can do.”

“I still like our original concept of using her as a bargaining chip.” Cordelia poked the unconscious Levesque with the toe of her shoe.

“Yeah, that might work on the dungeon guards, but how can we be sure it’ll work on the rest of the Council? They might be willing to sacrifice her life in order to take us down.”

“Let’s hope they’re not that committed.” Cordelia motioned to the prostrate woman. “Bring her.”

“But how are we going to find Crispin and Molly?” I asked, as I hoisted Levesque over my shoulder.

“They’ll probably be in the same area where Levesque had us imprisoned before,” said Cordelia. “It’s a part of the hospital wing where they used to keep experimental subjects, before Malcolm took over and closed it down.”

The words “experimental subjects” filled me with dread. I knew that from Crispin’s point of view, we’d only been separated for a short time…but still, I hoped we weren’t too late to save him from whatever that future Crispin had suffered.

 

Our destination lay at the far end of the hospital wing, beyond a door that looked as if it had been plastered over at one time and then uncovered. We found ourselves back in the dark hallway where my cell had been. This time, I paid attention to the labels on the doors.

“Jekyll,” I read. “Hook…Moriarty…Harker…not in alphabetical order, clearly…Liddell…Frankenstein…”

“Over here!” Cordelia had run ahead, and now pointed to two of the doors. “Beaumont and Beasley. Right next to each other.”

“Crispin!” I deposited Levesque on the floor like a sack of coals and hurried to the door marked “Beasley.” Cordelia was already calling Molly’s name and magically dismantling the lock. I slammed my body into Crispin’s door. “Can you hear me?”

There was a long, horrible moment of silence.

“CRISPIN!”

“All right, all right!” The sound of his voice nearly caused me to collapse with relief. “Calm down! I was taking a nap.”

“I’m coming in! Stand back from the door!” I smashed into it again. Cordelia had succeeded in opening Molly’s cell, but I was in too much of a hurry to wait for her to magically free Crispin.

“Wait!” he said. “Look, before you come in, there’s something I need to explain—or at least try to—”

The door splintered and fell apart. I bounded into the room and threw my arms around my brother. “It’s okay,” I whispered, tears starting in my eyes. “I’ve got you.”

“Ugghk—yeah, I noticed that.” He pounded on my back. “Could you maybe stop hugging me before I suffocate?”

Reluctantly, I loosened my grip. “I am so sorry I couldn’t stop them from taking you, and I am never, ever again letting you out of my—what happened to your hair?”

Mid-sentence, I’d finally realized what Crispin had been trying to tell me.

His hair was white. Not just one lock, all of it.

“What did Levesque do to you?” I snarled.

“Nothing! I’ve been locked up, but that’s all. All of a sudden, this—happened. I only knew it because I saw my reflection in the window.” He indicated the glass on the inside of the bars. “She said something about wanting to do experiments with us, but she never actually got a chance to do that. Molly and I have been talking back and forth through the wall, trying to figure it out, but it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Did you try to use your powers?” asked Cordelia. “Did you do any magic that could have made your hair change all the way?”

“I can’t do any magic! See?” He pointed to his neck. I hadn’t noticed the metal collar there before. It was dull grey, and carved with runes.

I reached up to pull it apart. It took some effort, but at last the metal gave way with a shower of blue sparks.

Crispin rubbed his neck. “Thanks.”

Cordelia, meanwhile, was removing a similar collar from Molly. As soon as hers was gone, she ran into the cell and embraced Crispin. She touched his hair and smiled. “I think it looks very handsome.”

He grinned. “Really?”

I couldn’t stop staring at both of them. Faces were flashing through my mind. The White Rabbit, Lara, Alice…

“Do you remember anything?” I asked Crispin.

“Remember what?”

“The castle,” I pressed. I didn’t want to say too much, but I had to know. “The Mythfits?”

“What castle? And what about the Mythfits? I haven’t seen them.”

“Malcolm and Melody?”

“Who’s Melody?” He stepped out into the corridor. “Look, maybe we should talk about all this lat—OH MY GOD, it’s Madame Levesque!”

“Don’t panic,” said Cordelia. “She’s unconscious.”

“Not for long! She’s waking up!” He cracked his knuckles. “Don’t worry, I’ll shapeshift into something that’ll stop her. A gryphon should do the trick.” He shut his eyes, and instantly transformed…

…into a white rabbit.

He wiggled his nose in confusion for a moment, then shifted back and laughed nervously. “Well, that was embarrassing. Let’s try again. Maybe I can manage a hippogriff.”

A moment later, he was a rabbit again.

“This is ridiculous!” he said, once he’d gone back to human form. “What’s going on?”

“It’s just like Alan’s leg,” said Cordelia. “Things from the time loop are persisting, even though the timeline has changed. Not everything’s been erased.”

“That’s why all evidence of the castle having existed hasn’t been wiped out,” I said. “You and I still remember everything, and other people recall bits and pieces. Plus, Levesque still sent us to investigate the castle, even if she doesn’t remember what it was now.”

“But why are you and I the only ones that remember all of it?” Cordelia wondered.

I shrugged. “No idea.”

Crispin stared at me in bewilderment. “Could someone please explain to me all this is about?”

I heard a groan from the corridor and left Crispin’s cell to look. Levesque was indeed waking up.

“Should I hit her with something?” asked Molly.

“That won’t be necessary,” said Cordelia.

Molly was disappointed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Cordelia took the collar she’d removed from Molly’s neck and clicked it into place around Levesque’s throat. “There,” she said. “That should keep you from doing something we’ll regret.”

Levesque curled her lip at Cordelia. “You—”

“None of that.” I pulled the woman to her feet and started marching her down the hallway. She tried casting spells at me, but the runes fizzled and died every time. “Let’s go,” I said. “We need to get back to the courtyard and see how Malcolm and the the Mythfits are doing.”

“Oh, are they here?” said Molly. “Lovely.”

“I still don’t understand!” Crispin looked down at his hands. “What happened to my powers? I’m supposed to be a pooka, not a were-rabbit!”

“I’ll look into that later,” said Cordelia. “Right now we need to get safely away from here.”

“There’s nowhere in the Afterlands you can hide!” said Levesque, as we headed down a corridor leading through a dormitory wing and back to the main hall. “You can’t run from the Council forever!”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I said brusquely. “Keep moving.”

Levesque chuckled. “It’s already too late. Can’t you hear them? They’re here.”

I tried to ignore the thrumming of engines from somewhere overhead. “Whatever. We’ll manage.”

“Who’s here?” asked Crispin.

“The Council of Scions,” said Cordelia. “Specifically, their fleet of airships, if that noise is anything to go by. They’ve come to rescue Levesque and stop us from taking back Warrengate.”

“Right,” said Crispin slowly. “And do we have a way of escaping them?”

“Not exactly, no,” I admitted.

He fell silent for a moment. We emerged into the main hall and marched toward the huge doors opening on the courtyard. “Are you telling me this is it?” said Crispin.

“I’m not telling you that we’re all about to die, if that’s what you mean.” I pushed the doors open and steered Levesque through them. “We’re hoping to use Madame McNasty here as leverage.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” said Molly.

“Then we may possibly die, yes. Could we cheese the questions for a bit? Things are about to get intense.”

The sight we found outside wasn’t pretty. Malcolm, still in dragon form, had been felled by some kind of huge net that now pinned him to the ground. Blue light sparked along its cords as he struggled in vain to escape. Alan was sprawled on the cobbles, his prosthetic leg twisted and broken. Bryn stood protectively over him in the form of a huge dog, snarling and barking. Gareth was holding Sylvia in his arms. Green blood trickled from a gash on her forehead, and her eyes were closed, but her limbs moved slightly. Water was splashed across a wide area of the cobbles—probably all that was left of Gareth’s nixie.

The evening sky overhead was filled with airships. Ladders dangled down from each one of them, all the way down to the courtyard. A steady stream of people in crisp uniforms climbed down these. Once on the ground, they took up a defensive stance. Rune-shaped insignias glinted on their chests, and magic crackled around their fingers. The entire courtyard was rapidly filling up with them.

Cordelia’s face had gone pale. “We can’t fight that many Charmbloods.”

Levesque smirked at me. “Would you like me to accept your surrender now?”

I hooked an arm around her throat. “Stay back, all of you!” I told the soldiers. “If even one of you tries anything, you can say goodbye to your leader.”

“Ma’am?” a man at the front of the company called to Levesque. “What are your orders?”

“Stand down. For the moment.” Before I could stop her, she wrenched free from my grasp and turned her haughty gaze on me.

“Mr. Beasley,” she said, in a condescending tone, “the fact is, you don’t have it in you to kill me in cold blood.”

“Don’t be so sure. Given what you were about to put my brother through, perhaps I do have it in me.”

“Perhaps. But I very much doubt it. What example would you be setting for him, after all? Murdering me right in front of him?”

Naturally, I’d never intended to kill Levesque, but I’d hoped she wouldn’t push me far enough to find that out. Now, she was taking away my one last scrap of bargaining power.

“So,” she continued, “here is what will happen now. I’m going to walk away, and you’re not going to stop me. Then you’ll all be arrested, and I can finally rid my life of a few stubborn pests.”

“And then you’ll go back to your usual pursuits. Hoarding magic and ruling the Afterlands via shadow government.”

“That’s one way of describing it, I suppose.”

I seethed. “You know what? I used to think it was a good thing that the general public doesn’t know about magic. Sure, they also don’t realize they’re being manipulated by you, but at least they’re spared the burden of knowing that magic and monsters are real.”

“A sensible conclusion,” said Levesque.

“Except that it’s wrong,” I snapped. “You’re profiting from their ignorance. It’s pretty much the source of your power. So long as people don’t know you exist, they won’t bother fighting back against you. They’re not better off that way.”

“Is there a point to any of this?”

I growled. “Yeah, there’s a point. Your secret reign ends today, Madame Levesque. I’m putting a stop to it.”

She laughed. “Oh, really? And how do you intend to do that?”

“With my brother’s help.” I turned to him. “Crispin, take us to Talesend. Right in the middle of Challenger Square.”

Crispin gaped at me. “What are you talking about? I can’t just…”

“Yes, you can.” I grabbed his hands. “Crispin, you need to trust me. You have an amazing power you haven’t even tapped into yet—and instead of stifling it, I think you should learn to control it. Starting right now.” I pointed to the ground. “Open a rabbit hole.”

He leaned over to Molly. “Okay. He’s lost his mind. I knew this would happen eventually.”

“Crispin, trust me. Think about Challenger Square, and take us there.”

“Really, Mr. Beasley,” said Levesque. “Don’t be ridiculous. Teleportation magic is mmmph…”

Her voice gave out as runes swirled around her throat. They had been cast by Cordelia, who smiled in triumph. “Silencing spell. Carry on.”

Crispin looked into my eyes. Something in his expression changed. Maybe he’d had a sudden glimmer of memory from the time loops. Or maybe he’d decided it was better to play along with my delusions. In any case, he squeezed his eyes shut and appeared to concentrate very hard.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then a rabbit hole opened beneath us and swallowed us up.