فصل 10

Chapter 10

WHEN HE OPENED the door with a wave of his wristband, Call saw that the wall of stone was on fire. For a moment he just blinked at it, until he saw that the fire was spelling words.

MEET IN THE PLACE AT THE HOUR OF YOUR AGE.

The letters turned to ash and then vanished, leaving nothing behind.

“More weird stuff,” said Gwenda glumly.

“It’s a message from Ravan,” said Tamara. “She communicates with fire. It’s her language. And her handwriting.” “Okay,” said Jasper. “But how are we supposed to know what she means?” “’The place’ is probably the place I met her last year,” Tamara said. “On the grounds of the Magisterium.” “Outside?” asked Gwenda.

Tamara nodded. “But ‘the hour of your age’? Does she mean my birthday?” “Or the time you were born?” Jasper put in. “How would you know that? Unless you call your mom or something.” Sixteen-hundred hours, Aaron said. Military time.

Call opened his mouth to say that Aaron had figured it out when he remembered that would be a mistake. “Four in the afternoon,” he said instead. “Because she’s sixteen.” “That only gives us twenty minutes!” said Gwenda, and they charged back out.

Call brought Havoc. Havoc might not be Chaos-ridden anymore, but you never knew when you might need a loyal wolf.

They raced through the corridors of the Magisterium, heading for the Mission Gate. As they left the Magisterium, Call couldn’t help thinking of Alex’s arrival with the dragon, especially because in the distance, his stupid tower was being built. Mages flew through the air, lifting blocks of stone with their magic, each resting on top of another as the edifice grew. It might be ridiculous, but it was being made and Call was running out of time.

“Here we are,” Tamara said as they arrived in a grove. She climbed up on a rock and sat down.

For a moment, they waited, drinking in the smell of pine needles. Somewhere in the distance a wolf howled and Havoc pricked up his ears.

Then, all at once, like a spark flying up from kindling, Ravan was there.

She looked as much like a girl as Call had ever seen her. She was surrounded by a nimbus of flames, and her left hand was all fire, like a burning Alkahest. Her eyes were full of fire, too, and her hair shot sparks. But she was still girl-shaped, and, unnervingly, Call could see her resemblance to Tamara. It made him uncomfortable for reasons he couldn’t articulate to himself.

Because the thought of something like that happening to Tamara freaks you out, said Aaron. Because you like her. You’re in like with her.

Do you MIND? Call thought. It’s none of your business.

It is as long as I’m stuck in here. Besides, I’m hoping you crazy kids make it work.

“Ravan.” Tamara had stood up, appearing to understand she was the unofficial spokesperson for the group. “Thanks for coming.” “You’re my sister,” Ravan said, sparks flying from her mouth as she spoke. “You wanted me to come, so I came. What is it?” Tamara reached up to fiddle with her necklace. “We need to know how to kill a Devoured.” Ravan started to laugh, which sounded like fireworks going off. Jasper scuttled back a few feet, clearly nervous that sparks were going to land on his clothes. “Why would I tell you that?” “Because otherwise Alex Strike will kill me, and Kimiya, too,” said Tamara.

Ravan stopped laughing. She hovered, burning, as Tamara explained what was going on: the building of the tower, Alex’s requests, Call’s inability to hurt him with chaos.

“We don’t want to hurt any other Devoured,” Tamara finished. “But we need to get rid of Alex, Ravan. He could kill a lot of people otherwise.” “I see,” Ravan said. “I can tell you now, I have never heard of a Devoured of chaos before. A Devoured is killed the way elementals are killed — they are destroyed by their opposing element. I could be killed by a Devoured of water, or by an enormous amount of water magic, my fire put out forever.” She sounded as if she were full of dread. “But chaos …” “The opposite of chaos is the soul,” said Call. “There’s no such thing as a Devoured of the soul.” “There cannot be,” said Ravan. “A person cannot be Devoured by their own soul. It would be like being murdered by life.” “Well, what are we supposed to do, then?” said Gwenda. “We can’t send souls at him.” “I don’t know,” said Ravan. “I would help you if I could.”

Tamara looked bitterly disappointed. “If you hear any other elementals or Devoured speaking about a way to get rid of Alex, please, please tell me.” “I will, little sister. Stay safe. If you need me, I will come again.” And with that, Ravan burst up into a tornado of flame, whirling in the air and then dispersing into sparks as though she’d never been there.

The four of them who remained sat in silence, their hope dashed. Call’s mind raced — surely there had to be some other option, some other idea, someone else they could ask. Havoc barked when one of the sparks drifted too close to his fur. Call thought even he sounded depressed.

In the distance, a howl echoed through the woods.

“What’s that?” Jasper said, sitting up straight.

“It’s probably one of the Chaos-ridden wolves …” Gwenda said, letting the sentence trail off. From the beginning of their time at the Magisterium, the woods had been full of Chaos-ridden creatures. The Order of Disorder had even moved to study them. Then the Assembly had rounded them up, and even though Call had rescued them from that fate, they weren’t in the woods anymore.

“Maybe they came back,” said Tamara, hopping down from the rock and walking to the edge of the woods.

Another howl came, this one much closer. Then, from the opposite direction, one of the wolves slunk into view. It was a dark shape, like it had been cut out from paper, with nothingness occupying where it should have been. The fur on Havoc’s back lifted. These weren’t Chaos-ridden wolves, at least not anymore. These had come back from the void with Alex and now they were chaos elementals, far more powerful and far more terrifying.

Fire ignited at the center of Tamara’s palm, a ball of it that grew as she stood. Havoc bared his teeth and ran toward the beasts.

“No!” Call shouted, racing after his wolf and then stumbling. He fell painfully onto his knees as Gwenda leaped to stand beside Tamara, raising her hands. Little jagged pieces of iron and nickel began to rip their way out of the earth as Gwenda summoned metal, then flew toward the chaos creatures that were coming out of the woods from every direction.

A few howled and fell back, the metal tearing holes in their smokelike bodies. Call could see through their wounds into the woods beyond.

“Stand back-to-back,” Jasper shouted.

Call pushed himself to his feet, ready to send these elementals back into chaos. But they’d crept too close to Tamara for him to be sure that opening a portal wouldn’t pull her through the way it had Master Rockmaple.

Havoc had made it to Tamara and was standing between her and the chaos creatures, growling.

We’ve got to do something, said Aaron, which was not particularly encouraging.

Call sent out a bolt of chaos energy, targeted toward one of the wolves closing in on them. It disappeared, dispersed by nothing into nothing.

Two of the wolves rushed toward Gwenda from opposite directions at once and she pulled up metal to send at one of them. It struck the creature in the throat, sending it flying back. Jasper threw himself in front of the other wolf, creating an enormous snap of wind, one that broke the branches of trees behind the wolf and sent it flying against a rock.

Tamara sent fire at the wolves near her, but more gathered around. Call started to panic, shooting bolts of chaos toward the wolves. Gwenda was still flinging metal, and there were deep holes in the ground all around her, but she was starting to look desperate. She’d run out of metal eventually, Call knew. Both Tamara and Jasper were tight-faced with exhaustion.

There were too many of them, too close to Tamara, Gwenda, and Havoc. There was no way he could send them all to the void in time. One lunged for Tamara’s throat, teeth snapping against her skin.

The memories, he thought in a panic. If he had Constantine’s memories, he would know what to do. Constantine was the Enemy of Death. He could have handled this situation.

Call took a deep breath. Aaron —

Are you sure? Aaron wanted to know.

“Unlock them,” Call said. “Do it.”

All right.

It felt as if something inside Call’s head was tearing. He dropped to his knees, clutching at his temples. Havoc ran to him, putting his paw on Call’s arm; Call ducked his head, aware that fire and metal were flying all around him. His leg sent stabbing pains through him, matched by the pressure and pain in his head.

Aaron, he said. Aaron, whatever you’re doing, I don’t think I can —

The block in his mind crashed open like a gate, flooding his brain with images. He was aware of Havoc making a terrible noise, a sort of wailing bark as he leaped away from Call, cowering.

Power surged up inside Call, brutal and terrifying. He was propelled to his feet, even as the woods around him seemed to shift and waver — other memories overlapped these woods, of ancient forests deep with trees, dark paths winding through them, lined with ferocious elemental monsters.

And through all of that, Call could see something he had never seen before. Chaos, living chaos, like black lines running through the world. The sky and earth were dark with it. This was why chaos had such power, he thought — because it was a part of everything, of every rock and tree and cloud; it was in and around all things. It was the spinning heart of the world.

He reached out with his hands as if he were reaching to pick up something simple like a cup or a stone. He caught the twisting coils of chaos that wound all around him and pulled them together, weaving a massive spinning black flame between his hands.

He could hear the others screaming his name. It didn’t matter. He knew exactly what he was doing. Somewhere in his mind, Aaron was shouting. Call flung his arms out, and the black flame exploded from his fingers, striking the elemental wolves, tearing them to shadowy pieces.

Jasper had flung himself in front of Gwenda and Tamara. They all watched, stunned, as the wolves blasted away to ash, and black fire raced up and down Call’s arms, crackling like lightning.

“Call!” Tamara screamed. “Call!”

But Call couldn’t hear her. He could only see and hear black fire, only remember burning. In fact, memories were pouring into his head, in an uncontrollable tide. As he tumbled down into darkness, he could hear himself screaming.