Norah’s lips clamped as she struck a second time. ‘Do it,’ she hissed, just as Horatio’s body finally hit the ground.
I still wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but a switch flicked and I sprinted into the middle of the room. The heat of the artefact was gathered like a cloud around the plinth, trying to thrust me back, but I plunged headlong into it anyway. It had a taste: ashes and iron; a sound: a low hum; a colour: shimmering silver. It wound itself so tightly around me that I lurched over the final few steps.
Seeing nothing, not hesitating, I reached out to grasp the vessel with both hands. It was heavy and hot, and within seconds, a barbed pain was tearing through my skin. Struggling, I squinted against its light. My nostrils filled with the smell of charring as somewhere, dimly, I registered my singed hair. Everything inside me screamed at me to put it back or let it drop, but I gazed spellbound into its depths. Into the gleam that was a whole existence. A soul. A life. A person.
This is murder.The thought darted through my head.You’re killing Victor.Part of me didn’t want to, despite everything he had done. But what I’d said to Cliff before was true: logically, this was the only right thing to do. I had a choice, and every available option made me someone I didn’t want to be. I had to choose the version I could live with.
I narrowed my eyes until the silvery glow was barely more than a thread. I thought of the scar on Cliff’s temple as I tightened my grip on the artefact, raised my arms above my head and flung it to the ground.
The humming cut out the moment the vessel hit the tiles, escalating seamlessly into a shrill noise like a shriek. I didn’t know what had caused it, I just knew that the sound pierced straight into my head, every thought now bristling with thorns. My brain furrowed under every attempt to think, and I gave a muffled groan.
Something was shattering into infinite pieces, and at the edges of my perception I realised it wasn’t just the vessel itself. It was what it had contained. Victor’s soul, perhaps every soul it had ever held, perhaps especially those sacrificed to create it. Perhaps, in that moment, they all felt it: perhaps the wave of light that burst through the room forced that pain into every Starling in existence.
It knocked me back a little, too, more from shock than pain. Briefly all my senses were engulfed in the cloud, which whippedup in seconds into a towering storm before–quietly, abruptly–it dissipated. The silence was almost more painful than the din that went before it. It crept into my brain like a roar, forcing me to my knees. Bracing myself with all my strength against the dizziness, I turned.
Norah was kneeling next to an unconscious Horatio, whose chest rose and fell shallowly. She was doubled over, clutching her body with both arms as if trying to subdue some pain within. Or… to hold herself together?
‘Norah?’ My voice sounded as broken as the vessel, the shards of which were scattered around the room like a carpet of glass. My shoes crunched as I walked towards her and crouched down.
‘It’s really over,’ she whispered, sinking forward until her forehead was resting against my shoulder. Even through the layers of fabric, I felt the cold streaming out of her. My throat tightened, and carefully I held her in my arms.
Only for a few seconds, then she pulled away. Staggering to her feet, she glanced around her. For a moment, her eyes lingered on the corpse–the one she saw in the body, and the one reflected for her in the shards of the artefact. A look of grief flashed across her face, before she hid it again behind the smooth familiar mask of determination and aloofness, which I had never fully understood. At that moment, I thought I did understand. It was self-protection. Norah locked away her true self from the outside world because it helped her cope, both with what was happening inside her and around her. She was playing a part, even now. Only, this time it was one she’d chosen for herself.
‘What about him?’ I asked hoarsely, pointing at Horatio. ‘Won’t he know you hit him?’
‘I took some of his energy. With any luck, his memory will be foggy. It’ll buy us some time.’ Still expressionless, she held out her hand to me. ‘Still, we’d better get out of here before the guards show up. Give ourselves a head start before they start asking questions. We’re going to need some pretty watertight answers.’
Reflexively, I took her hand and let her draw me upright, following her out of the room and along the looping corridors of the building. I didn’t dare ask what answers she had in mind. Cliff and I had talked for ages about what would happen if the League found out the artefact had been destroyed–especially after a ceremony in which I was supposed to die had apparently failed–but we could never come up with a satisfactory answer.One step at a time, I’d said eventually, with more confidence than I felt. I knew that even with Norah’s help, there would be holes in our story.
We could do our best to make it watertight, but they’d try to drown us anyway.
Chapter30
Mabel
Once we’d reached the main road, Norah called us a taxi for the way back. While we were waiting, I texted Cliff to tell him it was done, but I felt none of the expected sense of relief.
It was impossible to relax. What had just happened settled like a cold damp hand on the nape of my neck. The plan had worked, but I knew it was far from over. Norah had managed to get us out unnoticed, but what we’d left in the room would raise questions. The thought of the dead body made me strangely nauseous. One corpse, two dead people. I was thinking mostly of Jess, and I knew Norah was thinking of Victor. The glassy look in her eyes as she stared out of the taxi window reflected memories left unsaid. To me, Victor had been a monster; for her, and for Cliff, he was a friend. Yet they had still allowed me to destroy the artefact. I thought I understood why Cliff had made that decision, but… not Norah.
‘Why did you help me?’ I asked, keeping my voice hushed so the driver couldn’t hear us.
Slowly, she turned her gaze on me. Her red hair shimmered like copper, and the shadows under her eyes were deep. I had never seen her so… tired. At that moment, it was easy to imagine how old her soul must be. ‘Cliff loves you. I know that because we’re so familiar with each other we can see these things. It was obvious he would never sacrifice you like this. He’d have tried to run off with you rather than give up your soul without a fight.’
I blinked, taken aback. ‘Then… you knew what we were planning? So why did you go along with it–why did you help? You don’t even know me.’
‘I don’t have to. No offence or anything, but this isn’t about you. It’s about Cliff. And about… myself.’ She smiled dully, running a hand over the smooth skin of her cheeks, as if she could feel the mask slipping with every word. ‘When you’ve lived as long as we have, eventually you come to realise what really matters to you. For a long time, I thought I wanted all the things the League was created to provide. But after whathappened with Heaven, I realised that wealth, power, eternity– they mean nothing. Not if you can’t spend that time with the people you love.’ She gazed again into the reflection of her own eyes. I wondered how many faces she saw when she looked at herself. If maybe, even after all these years, she sought her own true face in each reflection. ‘When we lost her, I chose friendship,’ she whispered, as midnight-blue billboards swept past outside. Lie after lie, all trying to sell you something, and Norah’s pale features overlaid across them. Her face had never looked more honest. ‘That’s why I did it.’
I had never seen anyone more loyal. Cliff hadn’t told her what he had in mind, yet she’d not hesitated to support him, even though she knew it would change her own life forever. More than that: if she helped him, there would be no forever. I wasn’t sure if I liked Norah, but from that moment on, I felt more respect for her than for almost anybody else.
‘Thank you, Norah.’ I hesitated. ‘I mean, is that your… real name?’
‘Who’s to say. It wasn’t my first, but it looks like it’ll be my last.’ Her smile faltered, and she swallowed heavily. ‘Be good to Cliff, okay? He’s the best soul of us all. He always was. He deserves things to end happily.’
I returned her piercing look, not understanding. ‘What do you mean, end? I know it’s your last life, but it’s only just beginning. You have so much time left.’
She looked at me with strange perplexity. Before I could ask again, the car stopped and the driver turned to us expectantly.
Cliff was waiting for us outside his building, and hugged first me then Norah. His expression was a mosaic of relief, guilt and weariness as he stepped away from her, his hands on her shoulders.
