And I don’t hate her, I realize. I should but I don’t. Maybe I’ve used up all my hate on Cemmy, or maybe I just find myself more intrigued by Raya than I am annoyed. A little impressed, even, given how much trouble she’s managed to court, and how, in every instance, her first impulse has been to fight, not run; to scheme, not surrender; to hurl insults like she didn’t care if they would hurt her cause. It’s not every day that an acolyte breaks with the Council’s edicts in an effort to prove their worth, and no normal Shade would ever work with a Hue no matter what a vision showed them or how dire that future looked. There’s something else driving her, and despite mybetter judgement, I want to know what. Which is why—instead of abandoning her at her lowest—I allow the fledgling plan in my head to form.
“The Meridian is our biggest problem,” I say, conscious of how every part of Raya is still shaking. “Since we don’t know what he is yet, we don’t know what he’s capable of in the Gray, so you’ll have to be the one who phases him out of there. I’ll stay to take care of Alara and free your friend.”
“No, absolutely not.” The thunder in her refusal is pure steel. “I’m not leaving her.”
“Raya, if he can shimmer, I won’t last three seconds against him, and while I’m willing to help you, I’m not willing to die for you—or for her—so it’s this, or nothing.” I deliberately turn my words cold. She needs to know that a bitter pill is the only kind I’m offering and that her choice is to swallow it or not. And though that message takes a few seconds to fully register—to cut through the fog of worst-case scenarios her mind has surely decided to concoct—when it finally does, Raya bats me away angrily and pushes off the wall.
“I swear to all three Gods, Ezzo, if you’re lying to me—”
“What would be the point in lying when I could have already gone?” This time, my words are sincere, and Raya believes them because she wants to believe them—because she needs to believe them—and because they ring true. She may not understand why I’m choosing to help her, but she will accept my help. When it’s someone you love strapped to a madman’s table, you’ll do whatever it takes.
By the time we phase back into the physical realm, both the Shade and the typic are screaming. Though where her cries speak of fear and helplessness, his are of an entirely different sort.
Pain.
Potent and acute.
By my colors . . . what did they do?While we were sequestered in the Gray, a giant needle was shoved into the Shade’s arm, as well, connecting her to the boy via a curled length of tubing. I think they’re—oh Gods, they’re draining her blood into him, and it’scausing his skin to sear black and blister, writhing him with indescribable pain. Of all the sick tortures I’d imagined, this one didn’t even make the list, a cruelty so bizarre it borders on insane.
What in the world are these zealots trying to achieve?Beside me, Raya pales to snow, her whole body tensing with the need to act, now, and to do it recklessly, forget the plan she’d just agreed to follow.
On three, I mouth, keeping a lid on her urgency until we’re in position and ready to go.One . . . two . . . three.
With a purposefully obnoxious war cry, Raya charges at the Meridian and tackles him into the Gray at a run. Once they meet the shadows, she’ll get in a good hit, if she’s able, and then quickly shimmer away in the hopes that he’ll shimmer after her, that he won’t allow a Shade to abscond with the knowledge of his secret haunt. Hopefully, Raya is faster than he is, or else she’ll probably end up right back here, lying prone on his table with a needle buried in her arm. But that’s the risk she agreed to take so that I can get her friend—Akari—to safety.
The moment they’re gone, I spring out from beneath the stairs, speeding straight towards Alara, who spots me a split second too late. We collide with a grunt and a sharp exhaling of air, my momentum propelling us into the iron cage in the corner, where she won’t be able to phase. Without that ability, she’s at the mercy of my height and weight, struggling to hold her own in a fight she didn’t see coming.
A fight she cannot win without magical aid.
“Oh no, you don’t.” I remember her taste for pre-spelled charms in time to stop her reaching for one herself, keeping her pinned down while I lay claim to the crystals and render her docile with a flash of Red. All the while, the screams coming from the table continue to echo around the cellar in panicked waves, the typic’s pain growing in anguish, Akari’s fear rising in pitch.
“Hold on.” I lock the cage behind me before rushing to her side. “I’m going to get you both out of here. Just hold on.”
Her protests immediately intensify beneath the gag. For while her eyes might be wide with terror, they’re also clear and they’re focused, and there’s no mistaking the fact that she’s recognized me for theHue I am. I recognize her, too, come to think of it. The bobbed, black hair, and the sharp-cut features, and the hidden fold to her eyelids. She was the one standing next to Raya during my execution, but unlike her friend, when it came time to enact my sentence, she didn’t look away.
She wanted to watch me die in that court chamber.
She’s a scared, hungry tiger and I’m about to snap open her chains.
“You can trust me, okay? I’m with Raya.” The name appears to calm and confuse her in equal measure, as though she understands my words, but not this turn of events. “Now, I’m really sorry, but this might hurt,” I say as I grab the base of the needle protruding from her flesh. It’s a crude, cruel thing, and judging by the burgeoning flush of bruises, it took more than one clean stab for the point to pierce the vein. And though I tease it out as gently and quickly as I dare, Akari still bucks on the table, her hands clenching and unclenching, her muffled moans sharpening to a wail.
“Done, it’s done.” I toss the bloodied needle to the floor and take stock of her restraints. The iron has left a series of bitter burns along her skin, blistering it the way her blood blistered the typic’s—albeit to a lesser extent.
A problem for later.Since I didn’t find a key on Alara, I start searching the walls for something I could use as a pick.
“Sparing the Shade will only delay the inevitable,” she seethes from inside her cage. “You cannot stop the will of the divine. He will cleanse the world of magic.”
Oh, good, she’s not just a fanatic, she’s a fanatic who doesn’t seem to realize that the rapture she’s preaching would affect her, as well, that she’s as tied to her color as the rest of us. Or hells, maybe she does realize it and that’s actually part of the appeal. It’s not uncommon for a Hue to grow self-loathing.
“Once these are off, I’ll take you to Raya,” I tell Akari, ridding her mouth of the gag.
“What did you do to her?” Her voice is weak and stripped raw from the yelling, but the fire in her question is all hate.
“I didn’tdoanything to her—and before you ask, she’s fine.” I hope. For both our sakes. “Her job was to lure the Meridian away, mine is to get you out of here, so please, don’t try to kill me when I’m done,” I say, getting to work on the cuffs. Cemmy’s always been better at picking locks than I am, but I do okay when it comes to jail breaks, even if my skills are rusty. Knowing the theory is half the battle—the rest is muscle memory, luck, and a little patience. It only takes me a few seconds to release Akari’s legs.
“Raya will explain everything properly,” I add as I move onto the next fetter. “But until then, she said to tell you that she fucked up and asked an open question. She said you’d know what that means. Do you?”
“Yes, I know what it means,” Akari growls, though there’s no hiding the sudden storm in her expression, the flash of shock and the spark of anger, the stab of hurt that causes her pupils to dilate. “Will you hurry up?”
