We were already grabbing our things before Lucien’s message had finished, strapping on weapons, yanking on shoes. All of it was done in near silence, as though speaking would break some barrier erected between us and the horrible possibilities of what awaited us when we returned home.
Colson left the room first, presumably to call Dragon. There was nothing I wanted to do less than fly for hours, hoping the entire time that my home and friends and family were safe, but there was no helping it. I gritted my teeth as I secured the last of my shoe laces, then joined Asher and Mia as we ran down the hall and toward the open field where Dragon slept.
“Bad news?”
I hadn’t seen Radell emerge from the back of the castle, where the crumbling foyer met the courtyard. He looked concerned.
“We have to leave. The New York Academy is under attack,” I said without slowing. “Thanks for the hospitality. Again. And thank you so much for everything you’ve shown me.”
I blinked and Radell was running beside us, his long strides eating up as much ground as we were, completely silent as only the Fae could be.
“I imagine you plan to return on Dragon.”
“Only if he’ll stay still long enough for us to get on his back,” Mia huffed.
Radell nodded. We made it outside the castle, under the western archway and into the meadow. Colson had indeed managed to wake Dragon and was muttering to him while stroking his snout, hopefully relaying that this wasn’t a time to act like the rambunctious child we’d all tolerated until this point.
“Might I make another suggestion for travel?” Radell said.
I felt a slight twist in the air, the space rending and tearing. I turned and my mouth fell open.
Radell stood beside a completely open Farcast portal he’d summoned. “This will be far more efficient. And…” He gave Dragon a wry grin, “I imagine far more comfortable. While I am not one to knock the merits of Dragon travel, I have heard it’s not for those wishing to arrive at their final destination less banged up than when they started.”
“You heard right,” Mia said in an awed voice.
“You’d do that for us?” I said. Then nearly smacked the side of my head. “Of course you would. You just did. Colson!”
Colson looked over. The second he saw the Farcast portal, understanding washed over his face. He placed his forehead against Dragon’s, eyes closing for a brief moment as he muttered his goodbyes. My heart twisted a little. If all went well, we probably wouldn’t have another reason to see Dragon again. And if all went poorly…Well, we definitely wouldn’t be seeing Dragon again. Not in this life.
Colson pulled himself away. “You all want to say goodbye?”
“Goodbye!” Mia said immediately, waving but staying far back.
Colson grumbled something, but I stepped over, cautiously sticking out my hand. “I wish you could fit through the portal, buddy,” I said as Dragon bounced up and down, only barely restrained by Colson. “We could really use someone like you in a fight. Even if you’re just as likely to hurt our friends as our enemies.”
Apparently Dragon’s bouncing became too much for Colson because the scaly creature broke free and attacked me with slobbering licks. For once I didn’t mind.
When Dragon had finished mauling me with love, Asher reached down and helped me up. He flicked his hand and, like before, the saliva immediately vanished from my hair. “Shame,” he said. “It’s a good look for you.”
“Try it out for yourself. Maybe I’ll feel the same.”
Asher gave Dragon a brief pat on the only part of his scales he could reach without jumping, and then all of us hurried back to the portal.
“Thanks again,” I said to Radell. “For everything. Maybe one day I’ll get to come back and thank you in person.”
“Perhaps,” Radell said. He smiled sadly. “Do not look too much into the future. Even if it turns out well, it may not be how you believed it would.”
And with that nugget of wisdom to chew on, we approached the Farcast portal. Colson and Mia clasped hands. I saw Mia take in a deep breath before the pair of them stepped into the black.
I grabbed Asher’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Ready?”
He squeezed back. In his face I still saw a trace of how lost he’d been last night, but with the morning’s light it’d been painted over with fierce determination. Radell might not have believed we should look into the future, but that didn’t mean we weren’t going to try our hardest to fight for its best outcome.
“Ready,” Asher said.
Together we stepped into the portal. The second my foot crossed the threshold there was the usual moment of disorientation. Then we were plummeting like a freefall from an airplane, minus the wind tearing at my hair and cheeks. I could feel my body being dragged along by the force of the magic and I moved my feet out in front of me, preparing for when it spit us out back in New York.
Only, that moment didn’t come. Instead, my body jerked to the left. At first I thought I had somehow moved wrong. But no, the jerking movement came again, nearly pulling my hand from Asher’s.
“Skylar?” Asher said, his voice muffled through the portal’s magic. “What’s happening?”
“I’m not sure—”
I was jerked again, harder than before. I felt myself thrown off the Farcast’s path, hurtling to the side before I could make a sound. Asher screamed my name, but then even that was cut off as I hit solid ground and went sprawling.
It took a moment for my mind to catch up with what had happened. I’d gone through the Farcast portal, but not with the others. Someone had tampered with the end destination. Someone had been able to pull me out.
“So you really were stupid enough to come back,” said an achingly familiar voice. “I put up charms thinking that there was no possible way you would ever be foolish enough to return here, that you would be too afraid at what you’d find.”
I pulled my head up and found myself looking at Prince Zephyr, leaning casually back in a makeshift metal throne. He gave a toothy smile, but there was no warmth in it. “But lo and behold, here you sit before me.”
“Zephyr?” I gasped. I nearly cried out as a sudden wave of sharp pain struck my chest. A residual moment of disorientation from the Farcast portal hit me, and I had to tuck my head in between my knees for a moment until it was clear enough to sit up.
“Look at you,” Zephyr said. “You’re a broken wreck of your former self. Barely able to function without the crutch of a god. Pathetic.”
“Zephyr, I don’t understand…”
Then I finally got a good look at him. The body was Zephyr; the same cold, impossibly beautiful shell of the Fae prince. But his eyes…They were golden and terrifyingly familiar. They were the surface of the sun, blazing with such intensity that my chest stabbed with pain again; blazing so bright that for a moment I thought I could see through them, to a Realm with an endless sky and a city in the distance floating on clouds.
“The Dark Prince,” I said. I couldn’t help letting out an ironic laugh. “So you got your body at last.”
“No thanks to you,” the Dark Prince sneered.
“But…how? Kasia, she…”
“Tried to use me, as you tried to use me.” There was no hiding the pure hatred oozing from his voice, a hatred I hadn’t heard even when he’d spoken to me before. “When she removed me from you it was…Ah, it was pure, blissful agony. I was nothing. I was purely a thing, floating without mind or body or spirit.”
I almost opened my mouth to agree with him. That was close to how I’d felt for the first couple days without the Dark Prince.
“She tried to use me then,” the Dark Prince went on. “Those foolish Fae were strong, yes, far stronger than even she anticipated. She tried to call on my power to drive them off.”
At this his eyes flashed. I held in a groan as the pain in my chest flared brighter. “I wouldn’t have it. I was done being a puppet. And so I sought a new host. Something, anything. And…”
He gestured to Zephyr’s body. “How convenient for me that this one was available. Lifeless, and as unmarred as I was likely to get. You let him die, I can see that much from what memories remain of his past life. I must thank you for that. In that way, I suppose, it was you who gave me a body after all.”
I sat back, still too weak from the portal to make any sort of move, trying to process all that was happening.
“Do you like my new castle?” The Dark Prince swept his hand out. “It’s not as grand as my last home, but it’s mine. Just as this body is mine.”
It was a warehouse, the walls blackened as though gutted by fire, or maybe used by previous Supes with a penchant for setting things ablaze. I guessed we were somewhere near water. Maybe the docks at the east river? Wherever it was, I could hear waves slapping the shoreline and the lonely cries of seagulls. Beyond that rose the usual New York City hum.
“But I’m curious,” the Dark Prince said, turning his attention back to me. “Why did you come back? Why didn’t you stay out there to die?”
“I found a way to defeat Kasia,” I said. “It sounds crazy, I know,” I went on as the Dark Prince’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch. “But I did. I found a way to sever her connection to the Realm of the gods.”
“And you thought it’d be a good idea to return and use this power by yourself.”
I looked straight at him, the crazy idea that’d floated around in my head the last few days coming to the forefront. I wasn’t sure if it was pure desperation driving me or the hope that this might actually work, but I said, “Not by myself, no.”
It took a moment for the Dark Prince to catch my meaning, and when he did he threw his head back and laughed. Maybe it was because he was in Zephyr’s body, but this laugh sounded more real than any time before. Not evil at all, but the sound of someone finding something truly funny.
“I have to give you credit, Skylar. Out of all the stupid, foolhardy plans I’ve watched you do, this has to be the dumbest by far. Tell me, what do I care about that woman? She was no different than you, simply trying to use me as a source of power. I am whole now, I have a body. What do I need to destroy her for?”
“You’re lying,” I said.
The Dark Prince sat forward, his voice pitching dangerously low. “Excuse me?”
“You’re not whole. You feel it, too, don’t you?” I touched the aching part of my chest. “You’ve felt it from the moment we separated. There’s something missing, right there.”
I waited for the Dark Prince to laugh again, but his eyes remained firmly on me, the set of his jaw tight. “You—”
“I spoke with someone who knows about us. He said we didn’t separate completely. He said there’s still a small part of each of us inside the other.”
“You lie.”
“That’s why I feel this loss. That’s why I’ll never feel whole without the part of me you still carry with you, just like you’ll never feel whole without the part of you I have—”
“LIAR.”
The Prince flicked his hand and I screamed as searing pain erupted through my entire body. It felt as though metal clamps were squeezing on my every bone, screwing ever tighter the longer it went on.
“I do not feel that loss!” the Dark Prince shouted over my screaming. “I am stronger than you weak humans! I am free, I am my own and you…You will never convince me otherwise.”
At last the pain mercifully subsided. I tried to suck in deep gulps of air, though every breath hurt. It hurt like fire and so much more. But it still hadn’t hurt as much as the aching hollowness in my chest. His pain was temporary, but that pain was eternal. The Dark Prince could torture me all he wanted, but I would make him see that. I had to make him see that.
“You feel that loss,” I said, sitting up again. The Dark Prince had stood from his chair and I managed to stand as well. I tried to move closer to him, as though that would help him see that I was right. “And it doesn’t make you weak. I thought the same thing for a long time. I thought that because I couldn’t handle this problem on my own that I was somehow lesser.”
“Get back,” he warned as I took another step forward. “Skylar, I’m warning you…”
“I understand the pain you must have been in for so long. How much you must have hated me for not listening to you sooner. I’m sorry, really I am. I was scared and unsure and I didn’t really understand you. I didn’t even try. But I do now. You’re lost, just like me.”
“Skylar, if you take one more step…”
I reached my hand out. “This isn’t your world. We both know you belong somewhere else, and I want to help you with that. We have to beat Kasia. We have to destroy her hold on the Realm of the gods for good. I can’t do that without you. I need you, for real this time. And as soon as we stop her I promise, I promise, I will find a way to send you back.”
I was nearly to him. I could see the hesitation in his eyes.
Then he sneered. “You must think I’m an idiot to fall for your same old lies!”
He waved his hand, and the pain returned, worse than before. I bit my tongue hard enough to stifle my screams. I nearly collapsed to the ground, but at the last moment braced my knee against the floor. That shooting pain gave me something to focus on other than the burning in my bones. The throbbing ache in my chest gave me a center point to funnel all my agony. I didn’t let it break me. He could torture me all he wanted. But no matter how much pain he inflicted on me, it was nothing, nothing, compared to knowing that if I didn’t beat Kasia I’d continue to live like nothing more than a shell. I’d live knowing that Asher and my loved ones would have to watch me wither away, knowing that I had a chance to stop all of it and failed.
I pushed myself to my feet again, shoving the pain down as far as it would go.
“You will never be happy here!” I said, taking another step closer to the Dark Prince. “You might have your body, but I know it’s not enough. We have to destroy her! We have to destroy her! Together!”
“Get back!” the Dark Prince snarled as I took a step closer. He waved his hand again and the pain intensified.
“That’s all I want,” I gasped, staggering. “Your help. For real, just this once. To end this. To put the pieces of ourselves back together and then—”
The greatest wave of pain yet hit me. My body completely shut down and I collapsed to the floor. Only then did the pain stop. The warehouse was silent save for my ragged panting and the Dark Prince, pacing back and forth over me.
“You dare come back now,” he seethed. His hair was askew, his eyes wild. “After all the times I begged for us to work together, after all the times I wanted more. Now you need my help.”
“To be fair, you always acted kind of evil,” I croaked, my throat raw. “All the dark promises and power. And flirting. You were such a big flirt, it’d turn any girl off.”
I waited for him to torture me again. I couldn’t resist anymore. He had me at his mercy.
Instead the Dark Prince turned away with a snarl. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him return to his makeshift throne, but he didn’t sit in it. His fingers brushed the lip of the seat.
“I should put you out of your misery,” he said at last. “And yet…for a time you gave me a home. As trapped as I was in it, you gave me a home. That is the only reason you’re still alive.”
“I’m sorry for what Kasia did to you,” I said. “But she did it to me too. I’m the only one who understands. And you know that.”
He looked back at me. In his half profile I thought I saw a flicker of resignation. Or maybe I was so desperate for him to agree with me that I simply imagined it.
He raised his hand. I closed my eyes, waiting for a fresh bout of pain.
“It’s not worth keeping something dying around.”
I opened my eyes. I was outside, in the middle of a vacant lot surrounded by equally vacant buildings. From what little I could see from barely raising my head, the warehouse the Dark Prince might have been in was nowhere in sight.
I let my head fall back with a sigh. My heart was thumping so fast it was a wonder it didn’t beat right out of my chest. That had been the biggest gamble of my life, and I was pretty sure I’d blown it. The Dark Prince had no desire to work with me, and I understood. But surely he had to feel the same hollowness I did? Surely he had to understand?
Yet he also had a point. He had gotten everything he’d wanted: a body of his own. True freedom. A somewhat dilapidated kingdom he could completely rule. I understood him not wanting to trust me. I’d kept him bottled up inside me for a long time, too scared to use his power or even try to empathize with what he wanted. I’d waited until it’d gotten so bad that there had been no turning back for either of us.
I stared up at the gray, misty sky. The air had grown decidedly chilly. I tried wiggling my fingers and they grudgingly responded. Feeling was slowly starting to return to me. It seemed, as much pain as the Dark Prince had put me through, he hadn’t caused any lasting damage. I supposed I should have been grateful.
I lay there, between waking and sleeping, gathering my strength until I felt well enough to push myself to sitting. From there I slowly rocked to my feet, then, still a bit wobbly, stood. My vision tilted and I had to put my hands on my knees until it passed. Eventually I could see straight. I felt about as well as I could hope to given the situation.
Only when I felt well enough to straighten up fully did my fear at meeting the Dark Prince recede, and I realized what I still had to do. Asher and the others had likely already arrived at the Academy hours ago. The same Academy Kasia was supposedly attacking.
I had no time to waste.
I took off away from the water, limping slightly as the ache in my bones was slowly replaced by the normal burn of my muscles working as they should.
I soon arrived at 11th avenue, the banks of the Hudson River at my back. It seemed the Dark Prince had taken residence in Hell’s Kitchen. I was too classy to point out the irony in that, so instead I sucked in another deep breath and headed straight toward the Academy.
I could tell something was wrong, even before I reached the Lincoln Center plaza, where the Academy blended in amongst the rest of the Norm buildings. The air tasted off. The buzz of the city’s energy—usually a magic all its own—was dulled. I picked up the pace, dread growing in my stomach, chest stabbing with every ragged breath of air I took.
An unnaturally thick fog began to creep in. I didn’t see any cars or people. Even if they were out, I doubted the now impossibly thick fog would reveal them. This had to be Kasia’s doing. First the fog to obscure everything, and then some kind of spell to deter any Norms. I could feel that last charm across my skin. It struck me as odd that Kasia would care enough to shoo away any Norms. Maybe she didn’t want witnesses. More likely she didn’t want a single distraction from our destruction. I could only guess what the Norm news was saying about our neat little circle of obscurity.
I dashed across the street and then slowed again. I must have passed through some kind of barrier in her spell, because at once the fog lifted, leaving me in a strange, hazy space between. I couldn’t hear the sounds of anything else, save for my breathing and careful footsteps. Every so often, a thick bout of fog would roll through and I’d have to stop to avoid running into something.
As soon as the nearest cloud cleared, I found myself up against one of the Academy’s outer walls. Scorch marks scored its face. Residual splashes of spells colored the usual white stone in dark greens and red. Enormous chunks of the stone had been gouged-out and littered the ground around my feet. This had been an all-out assault. Nothing but immensely strong magic could even make a dent in the Academy defenses. Lucien had made sure of that.
Panicking slightly, I put my hand against the nearest intact part of the wall. My fingers grew warm. A familiar tingle ran up my skin, soothing my worry. The defensive charms and barriers were still in place. That meant Kasia must not have made it in. The fog had to have been a distraction while she tested the extent of what she was up against. I had to admit, I felt a swell of pride for my home. Despite all her new power, Kasia still couldn’t take this place down in a head-on fight. Not yet anyway.
I saw the dark flash of something behind me and yanked my hand off the wall to face it. Nobody stepped out of the fog, but my light grey surroundings were now tinged with darker shades. Shapes. Shadows. The same kinds of shadows I’d seen Kasia wield against me before.
All at once I had a horrible realization: if Kasia hadn’t made it into the Academy, that meant she was still out here.
I pulled out Valkyrie but didn’t draw the blade. I had no doubt that any bit of light would draw the shadows to me like demonic moths to a woefully unprepared flame.
Keeping one hand on the Academy wall, I hurried to follow the curve of the building, keeping my eyes on the shadows. They only seemed to be able to manifest in the darker clumps of fog. I skirted around those before crouching and holding my breath as another passed over my head. From within, I could make out the shadowy shape of a hydra craning its necks to look for me.
The second it floated past, I slipped past a looming griffon and dashed as quietly as I could to where the wall ended. The Academy’s hidden entrance was just ahead. I squinted as the nearest fog cleared for just a moment and, if I looked just right, I could see the small symbol of the Academy marked on the outside wall: a triangle with a single peering eye, a crescent moon hanging over its right side.
It looked sealed and shut tight. I’d known that was a likelihood, but seeing it still put a damper on my spirits. Sneaking into the Academy wasn’t going to be an option. Not with General Zell locking things down so tight. Even the tunnels that ran throughout most of New York and into secret passages that ghoul and Vamp students of the ‘other’ Academy used, were undoubtedly double-sealed and guarded. There was a chance Lucien would have ‘forgotten’ to tell General Zell about them so Asher and the others could get out. But with the threat of Kasia so immediate, I had no doubt those, too, were now impassable without detection.
My only option was to try to go through the front. And pray they let me in.
The fog briefly cleared and I took a step out of cover, anxiety trailing in my wake.
I made it five feet before I felt a sharp sting on my wrist, like a batch of needles being driven straight to the bone. I stifled a scream as my arm jerked. I’d brushed too close to one of the foggy shadows and one of them—a manticore—was holding me fast.
The pain only grew as I tried to break free. Now my movements were drawing the other shadows’ attention. They slithered closer, writhing from cloud to cloud, closing in on me. The manticore growled, and as the opening between me and the Academy’s entrance began to shrink, I knew I had no choice.
I pushed magic into Valkyrie and she sputtered to life right before I sliced the blade straight through the manticore. For a moment, I was terrified it wouldn’t work, but then the manticore vanished with a trembling whimper. My arm was free, and I immediately lunged for the gap between the nearest shadow. It lunged at me, but I slid beneath and stabbed up. As it died it let out a screech I knew would alert every shadow within a mile. If I stayed out here much longer I’d be dead.
A chimera leapt at me as I ran. I swung Valkyrie without thinking, forgetting how much strength I’d lost. Valkyrie’s blade cut out for only a fraction of a second, but it was enough for the chimera to slam into me before the blade dissipated it. I was thrown sideways, sliding across the fog-slicked stone. My shoes failed to grip right away as I scrambled to regain my footing. I made a final desperate dash for the Academy doors and finally slammed against them. Though the outside felt like solid stone as I pounded my fists against it, I knew they could hear it clearly on the other side. If there was anyone on the other side. Fae, student, I didn’t care. Just as long as I was let in before—
My leg burned as something bit it. I swiped the shadow away without looking, not daring to stop my pounding for even a second.
“Let me in!” I yelled. “I’m a student of the Academy. Please, let me in—”
Something grabbed my arm before it could come down. I was yanked around, realizing that I was surrounded. The fog had turned a deadly shade of dark, all of it teeming with shadows.
I gritted my teeth and brought Valkyrie up. With my magic this low, I could probably take a half dozen of them. Maybe more if I risked using a blinding spell. I gave the Academy door one final, solid kick.
“Open sesame. Please.”
Then I raised my sword high and swung.
Light exploded.
For a second, I thought Valkyrie had somehow caught a second wind (if swords even had first winds), but the light was too bright and too unearthly. My eyes watered, even as I shaded them. I heard a multitude of animalist screams, and then the shadows dissipated in a final blaze of glory. The light started to fade, but I was already backpedaling, taking this chance to try to force my way inside. Instead of hitting the Academy doors, I fell backwards and inside. Suddenly, I was looking up at the familiar arched ceilings of the entrance hall. A feeling of immense safety enveloped me as I heard the doors slam solidly shut.
I must have lain there for a full ten seconds before I rolled over to my knees. My arms shook so bad Valkyrie sputtered out and fell from my grip. I looked up into the disapproving faces of the Fae guards.
Of course it would be them. I wasn’t sure why I’d expected any different.
“You’ve returned at last.”
The guards stepped aside as General Zell approached me, a triumphantly furious look on his face. “You’ve returned to face judgement.”