But the wards were down.
Had Leland known? Or had good intuition? What did he mean byMeeting’s not going to go well?
Leland wasn’t shouting for me, though I somehow knew he was still there. I thought maybe it was better to not call out, to hide my identity and play along, like I’d never expect him to help. I moved silently through the writhing darkness, fighting thick tendrils of smoke as they snaked up my face and wormed their way into my eye sockets. The shadows were living, breathing, desperate things I charged through, waving my hands out to guide me as I frantically searched for Leland.
I heard a piercing scream. Ari’s, quickly followed by Aila’s. Then both screams died out suddenly, and I went cold.
Arms grabbed me, but fueled by adrenaline and a call to be useful, I broke from his grip, shoving aside the shadows pawing at me as I headed to where I thought I’d heard Aila and Ari scream from.
Then his arms found me again, this time pulling me tighter, and Leland hauled me away from the shadows. I thrashed, fighting him all the way through the dark and up the stairs. I’d told him I’d cooperate, but an inner voice was telling me I needed to be back in the cellar finding Ari and Aila.
In a bubble of Privacy, Leland said, “They’re gone, Ember. I checked. The shadows took them. The second their screams cut off, their presences left the room. And no. I don’t know who was behind it.” The way he said it was so even and accepting. And the truth. Aila and Ari were gone. “We need to get you home.”
I blinked into the bright light of upstairs and winced at an icy headache developing. Were these shadows what took Trist away? Was Jaxan responsible? And how had Leland known the meeting would go so badly that he’d have to take me out of there?
“Put me down,” I said.
Skye met us in the hall. I hadn’t known she was coming, and Leland, in all his efforts to keep me from trusting him, never mentioned this was the kind of thing where we might need help. But I was too shell-shocked to ask him what we just saw, if he thought the shadows looked like Jaxan’s, or if I was the reason two more witches might be gone. If he was making the connection that I was. I was the last witch to be seen around Trist, and now I was there when the shadows took Ari and Aila.
The rest of leaving was a blur. I vaguely remembered Leland muttering he needed to go to Odessa Hall, and Skye walking me to Helen’s without him.
I sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch, my head pounding. I didn’t know if it was shock or something else, but the headache was as bad as the ones I got after waking up from my nightmares.
When the evening paper arrived, Skye and I had a small fight about whether I should be allowed to read it.
The headline on the cover explained why: “Half Witch Summons Shadowrealm.”
Shadowrealm was a new term, but I guess Farrah couldn’t sayJaxan, so she had to come up with some other name for the giant, swirling shadows that looked and sounded just like his.
I read on:
Two Allwitch Aspirants missing after Shadowrealm sighting in the cellar of the Blacklight club. The half witch, present at the time of the incident, likely responsible, per a report by the Truth-Teller. The Echelons expect to eradicate the half witch by tomorrow.
Per a report by the Truth-Teller? Leland wouldn’t do that. If not for me, but because it wasn’t true, and he’d already told me he wouldn’t lie to the Echelons. And not only that, but because of his Death Bond, the fact that if Ididn’tmake it to Selection, Leland was going to lose someone he cared about. I didn’tbelieve for one second that he’d tell the Councilanythingthat could potentially eradicate me.
Not that that gave me any comfort. All it meant was Farrah could print whatever she wanted. And no one was stopping her.
“They’re framing me,” I said. “They’re framing me for taking them. Trist and Aila and Ari. They’ve wanted me gone all along. This is how they’re going to get me out.”
Jaxan was the shadows; I was sure of it. But what didn’t make sense was why. Why frame me if he wanted me in Everden? Unless that changed after I refused to work with him.
Skye reached down and took my hand. “Papa wouldn’t do this. I think it’s mostly Helen. Farrah Prolix is her evil minion.”
“I’m going to beeradicated.”
“No,” she sighed. “There will be a trial. The Echelons need a majority vote to eradicate, and they haven’t been able to agree on you since you broke the Circle of Seven. Papa, Jaxan, and Starvos will vote for you. Luna, Ledoux, Gallatine, and Eldridge will vote against. It will be a split.”
My transmitter buzzed with a new message.
Messenger to the Council of Echelons:Ember Blackburn, you are hereby ordered to report to the Trial Room at Odessa Hall for a hearing on your Fitness. Your trial is set for noon tomorrow. Failure to report will result in an automatic verdict of Unfit.
“Told you,” Skye said.
I set the transmitter down, returning to our conversation. “You forgot Helen.”
“She was with Eldridge. They had the majority, but then she switched to voting with Jaxan, and it’s been split decisions on everything for eight months. When there’s a split, they either work it out, or the ruling goes to the Allwitches.”
“The ones in Alchemia?” I hadn’t thought they mattered here.
