فصل 14

Chapter 14

IN THE MORNING, Call washed up and, butterflies in his stomach, went to the Refectory to eat breakfast. Tamara, Jasper, and Gwenda went with him.

“I thought your dad was going to meet you back at the Magisterium,” Jasper said.

“I’m sure he will,” Call told him, trying to put faith in it. Maybe Alastair was here already. They’d gotten in late; maybe he was staying in another part of the school. Maybe they just hadn’t seen him.

Call piled his plate with mushrooms and lichen but after he sat down, he wasn’t sure he could eat any of it. He was worried about confronting Alex, worried about giving what he promised to Greta, worried about everything.

That was when Colton McCarmack strode up to their table, red hair bright as a new penny. Two of his friends followed, but they stopped before they were too close. “We were taking bets on whether you all ran off.” “I hope you didn’t lose too much money,” Call said. “Wait — actually, I hope you did.” He should have been upset about Colton coming to bother him, but when Call was nervous, he got testy, and it helped to have someone to vent that testiness on.

“We were all talking and we remember how Alex used to be. Cool. A nice guy. He would have never done anything like this.” Colton sneered.

Tamara gave him a look so scathing that Call was surprised Colton’s hair didn’t catch on fire without any magic being involved.

“Why don’t you go talk to your old pal Alex then?” said Call, standing. “If you’re such good friends, maybe he can make you his number one minion.” Jasper laughed.

Colton looked more incensed. “If he is the way you say, I know you had something to do with it. You did something to him. You corrupted him. You’re the evil one.” “Oh, stop it,” Celia said, walking over to them and putting her arm on Colton’s. “Call is doing a brave thing tomorrow.” Colton gave her a look. “Not you, too,” he said, and stomped off.

“Good luck,” said Celia to Call softly, and then followed Colton, with a single weird look in Jasper’s direction.

“What was that about?” Tamara asked.

Jasper shrugged, looking embarrassed. “She came to see me this morning. Maybe we’re not going to work it out.” Call was too distracted to make sense of Jasper’s love life. He was thinking of Alex, of the way he’d thought of him as friendly and funny and nice. He’d thought Alex was a good person, like Aaron. But all of that had been surface, acting. In his soul, Alex had been terrible the whole time.

We all thought he was nice, Aaron said. That’s what he wanted us to think.

Of course, Call had an evil soul, too. And maybe Colton was right about Call’s villainous ways, because he suddenly knew how he was going to win. And it wasn’t a plan that anyone could describe as good.

“Tamara,” he said, “can I talk to you for a second?”

Just then, Master Rufus walked up to their table. “I’m relieved you’re all back. I got a message from Call’s father that he’s delayed. He’ll be here tomorrow. But today, the Assembly wants to see you. All of you. They want to go over the final plan. If you’re done with breakfast, come with me.” Tamara, Gwenda, and Jasper stood. As they followed Master Rufus out of the Refectory, Call put his hand on Tamara’s arm.

Are you sure about this? Aaron asked.

“I need to tell you something,” Call said to her. “Because we’re not going to have any secrets.” On the way to the Assembly, he whispered to her, explaining the whole thing he’d thought out. She didn’t contradict him, even when he thought she would. She didn’t tell him it was wrong.

All she asked was, “Do you think it will work?”

“I hope so,” Call said, and they walked in to face the Assembly.

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The Assembly always looked serious. Now they looked like they were at a funeral. Call looked up and down the long wooden table, recognizing faces — the Masters of the Magisterium, people from important families like the Rajavis, and Graves presiding over it all.

“Mr. Hunt,” said Graves, gesturing for Call and Tamara to come and stand before the table. It was on a raised dais, so the Assembly looked down on them, some impassively, some with pity. “We understand you’ve been orchestrating a plan.” “That’s right,” Call told him, trying to project all the authority that he’d never thought of himself as having. “We’re going to pull Alex back from chaos.” “You think you can make him un-Devoured?” said Master Milagros. “That’s never been done.” “Actually, it has,” said Call. “It requires four Devoured, representing each of the other elements.” “And you want us to provide you Devoured from our cells?” said Graves. “That’s impossible.” “You don’t need to,” Tamara cut in angrily. “We’ve already assembled our own team.” “Though you did promise you’d cooperate with us and help us,” Call added.

“We promised not to stand in your way,” said Graves. “And we have not.” “Then you’d better not now,” said Call. “Because this whole plan depends on me and Tamara and Jasper doing what you want. And in exchange, we want something.” “What is it?” said Master North.

“We want to let Alex Strike live,” said Call.

A murmur ran through the room. Call heard traitor and never and, as always, enemy. Anger swelled inside him, and he let himself feel it. It was better than being afraid.

I’m not who you think I am, he thought at the Assembly. I’m worse.

Tamara spoke over the hubbub. “We’ve learned that maybe Alex isn’t in control of himself. Maybe he is in thrall to someone else. Maybe he never chose to do any of those things.” Jasper whipped his head toward Call. Gwenda frowned. So did Master Rufus. All of them clearly wanted to interrupt, but they didn’t.

“Who could he possibly have been in thrall to?” Graves wanted to know. “We all saw him on the battlefield. We all saw him lead an army of the Chaos-ridden. And had he been in thrall to Master Joseph, the spell would have ended when Joseph died.” Call took a deep breath. “His stepmother, Anastasia Tarquin.”

They all goggled, looking around at one another. Anastasia Tarquin had been one of them, an Assembly member. It was only after the last battle that they’d discovered her betrayal and realized who she truly was — the mother of Constantine Madden, working behind the scenes to help Master Joseph get hold of Call, in the hopes Call would remember his past.

“All we want is for you to agree that if he’s defeated and it turns out that he wasn’t acting on his own, he won’t be thrown in the Panopticon,” said Call. “I know what it’s like to be misjudged. I know what it’s like for people to think you’re evil when circumstances pushed you in that direction and you didn’t have any good choices.” “And you really believe that of Alex?” Master Rufus’s expressive eyebrows were raised.

“I know what it’s like to feel like you can’t go back, that you have no hope of a second chance.” Call tried to look his most sympathetic and heroic, but he was afraid that what he actually looked like was someone bugging out his eyes. On the other hand, he couldn’t look more bug-eyed than Jasper did.

“If you believe you can defeat Alex and leave him alive,” said Graves, “then you believe he can be taken prisoner?” “That is ridiculous,” said Mr. Rajavi, staring in disbelief. “He will still be an out-of-control Makar — ” “No, he won’t,” said Call quickly. “Stripping him of all chaos will strip his Makar powers, too. He’ll be an ordinary mage.” Graves shook his head slowly. “This is madness.”

“Think of what he knows,” said Tamara suddenly. “All Master Joseph’s magic, Anastasia’s secrets. If he died and we never learned any of those things …” Graves’s eyes sparked. “You understand,” he said, “that if he seems rebellious or resistant, we will have to kill him.” “Of course,” Call said. “We get it. We just think there’s a good person in there, trapped under Anastasia’s commands.” “Once he’s been subdued, we will have to have him come before the Assembly and give an accounting of all of his misdeeds and Anastasia’s role in them. Then we will decide what to believe,” said Graves.

“I understand,” said Call. “Thank you. But there’s one more thing. I want you to change your policy on the Devoured.” “You can’t be serious!” Master North said.

“I am,” said Call. “If they’re going to help us defeat Alex here, then they’re going to want to be treated fairly. Not like criminals and monsters.” “Most of them live quietly among the elements,” Jasper added suddenly. “No one’s saying you shouldn’t arrest a Devoured who does something wrong, but it’s wrong to assume that they’re evil without giving them a chance.” “This is about your sister,” said Graves, staring narrowly at Tamara. “Isn’t it?” “Ravan is a good example,” she said stubbornly. “She’s never done anything wrong.” Jasper coughed a cough that sounded like jailbreak. Call and Tamara ignored him.

“She helped defeat Master Joseph,” said Tamara. “And for that, she’s being hunted.” “She’s dangerous,” said Graves.

“Many things are dangerous,” Mrs. Rajavi said, voice dry. Her husband looked at her as though there was something he wished to communicate, but she was looking straight ahead. “Although the Assembly may conclude that my decision is biased, I would like to say that knowing Ravan has revealed to me that though the Devoured are not as they were, they are not elementals either. We should treat them better and we might find better allies in them.” Graves cleared his throat. “This is most irregular.”

Call waited, unwilling to back down.

“We will discuss and inform you of our decision,” Graves finally said, unhappily. “And now we want to wish the three of you good luck tomorrow. We stand ready to assist you once Alex is … subdued. We will be there, shields in place, to make sure that Alex cannot call on any more creatures of chaos. We will be witness to your bravery.” But we’re not going to be coming to help you. “Uh, thanks,” said Call. “Great. And when we’re done, we’re going to come back and discuss our reward.” “Reward?” Graves sputtered. “What reward?”

“We’ll let you know,” Call promised, grinning in Jasper’s direction. If they managed the rest of this, getting Jasper’s dad out of prison was going to be a cakewalk.

Then, together, they left the Assembly. As they did, Call heard Master Rufus getting grilled and felt a little bit bad. But it was hard to feel too guilty when he was still so nervous about his plan coming together.

“What was all that back there?” Gwenda asked.

“What do you mean?” Call asked innocently.

“You really think Alex is being controlled by someone else?” She put a hand on her hip and gave him the sort of look you give someone when you believe you can tell if they’re lying by some physical tic. Call hoped that wasn’t true.

“Maybe,” he said.

“Fine,” she said. “Don’t tell me. I’m going back to the room. Jasper, come on.” She stomped off. Surprisingly, Jasper followed without comment.

Tamara sighed, looking guilty.

You know we’re not done, right? Aaron said in Call’s head.

What do you mean? Call asked.

Well, you’re not going to like it, but there’s one more person you’re going to have to get on board.

Who? Call asked, although he had a bad feeling he already knew.

Anastasia Tarquin. You have to convince her to back up your story.

She’s not going to do that.

Call explained to Tamara about Anastasia Tarquin and how Aaron thought they should contact her. “But I don’t even know how to do that.” “We should call her,” said Tamara. “On the tornado phone.”

“That can’t work!” Call said. “Alex is probably off doing evil with her. I don’t think she’s just hanging around, waiting for phone calls.” “Well, if it doesn’t, then we’ll try something else,” Tamara said, changing direction and heading toward Rufus’s office.

I don’t want to do this, he thought. I never know what to say to her.

Look, said Aaron, I was in foster care for a while. I know how to talk to people who want you to call them Mom.

Call couldn’t dispute that. He followed Tamara to Rufus’s office, a path that took them along the underground river. He remembered the first time he, Tamara, and Aaron had ever traveled on this river together. They’d been in a boat with Rufus, and had watched in wonder as Rufus had summoned water elementals to propel the boat along. Call remembered the sound of Tamara and Aaron’s laughter bouncing off the cave walls.

Misty water-colored memories of the way we were, said Aaron.

Call snorted. They’d reached Master Rufus’s office, and Tamara held the door open so he could follow her in. The tornado phone was on Rufus’s desk, and for the first time Call noticed a photograph propped up next to it of Rufus standing with his arm around a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He looked like a nice guy, the sort who might own a bookstore or a movie theater. Call wondered how he was going to feel when he found out he was married to a secret magical ninja.

Tamara put her hand on the glass containing the whirling tornado of the phone. “Anastasia Tarquin,” she said.

The smoke inside the glass spun and coalesced. Call saw the outlines of what looked like a modern loft — a big space with lots of wood and chrome and big windows looking out onto what he guessed was New York City. Anastasia, standing at a big metal sink, looked up in surprise as the smoke focused on her face.

“Who is it?” she hissed, glancing around.

“It’s me. Callum Hunt.”

Anastasia’s expression changed. She hesitated, then said, “It isn’t safe to talk. He could be back any second.” “She means Alex,” Tamara muttered.

Tell her you missed her, said Aaron.

“I missed you,” Call said. She wasn’t going to believe it, he thought. He’d refused to visit her in prison. But her expression softened.

“Meet me at the abandoned village of the Order,” she said. “We can talk there.” In the distance came the sound of a door opening. She waved her hand frantically at them. “Go! I’ll see you in an hour!” Tamara took her hand off the glass and the image inside spun away to smoke, but not before Call caught a glimpse of Alex walking into the loft. He seemed to radiate darkness, even through the mechanism of the phone.

“I feel gross,” Call said, staring at the smoke.

“Not as gross as we’re going to feel after we talk with her,” said Tamara matter-of-factly. “The village is pretty far away — we should get going.” “I don’t think you should come,” Call said, knowing she wasn’t going to like that.

“Of course I’m coming,” she said. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“This could be a trap,” Call said. “I don’t think it is. I believe she meant what she said, but Anastasia could decide that she needs to keep me safe by kidnapping me again. That’s always a possibility.” “Then I’ll be there to help you get away,” Tamara said.

“But if Anastasia does come, she’s going to be more likely to be convinced if I’m by myself.” Call sighed. He didn’t want to go alone any more than Tamara wanted him to, but he knew he should.

At least you’ll have me, Aaron said.

“Fine,” Tamara said. “I won’t go all the way with you, but I am going to stand at the top of the ridge and make sure nothing happens. If Anastasia does kidnap you or betray you, at least I can let people know. At least we can come after you.” Call sighed. “Okay.”

He still felt rotten.

They snuck out through the Mission Gate. When they passed other students on the way out, Call noticed there was some whispering, but it didn’t seem bad. They weren’t frowning and didn’t look scared. They looked like Call once had, watching older students head out on an important mission.

They walked together through the woods, Tamara taking Call’s hand when one of them had to cross over a rocky portion or jump over a log. Call thought of the night she’d come to his hotel room, about the conversation they’d almost had. Maybe he should say something? But maybe this wasn’t the best time to bring up Their Relationship, since there was every possibility Anastasia was going to try to pop his head off with wind magic the moment he saw her.

He was still trying to think of what to say when they came to the ridge.

Tamara leaned over and kissed his cheek. “For luck,” she said to his surprised expression. “Good luck to Aaron, too. You’ll do great.” Which was a little weird, but still made him happy to hear. “If you hear a terrified, reedy scream, that will be me,” Call said, then headed down the hill.

Anastasia was already standing in what was left of the Order of Disorder’s village, an air elemental floating behind her. The houses looked even more dilapidated and the land even more overgrown than it had the last time they were here, when they’d fought Alex and Aaron had died. It was unnerving to be in the same place again, with the players in such similar positions.

You’re telling me, said Aaron. There was a jitteriness in his voice that worried Call. They were in the place Aaron had died, after all. He tried to push the thought away so Aaron wouldn’t have to share it.

Anastasia smiled when Call came into view and he smiled back at her. He tried to feel sympathy. After all, she loved Constantine, despite everything he’d done. She loved him enough to bring him to the Magisterium and to work behind the scenes to make sure he was safe, even after he’d become a monster and another person entirely.

She loved Constantine sort of the way Alastair had loved Call, except that Call didn’t think that Alastair would have put up with quite so much of all the Enemy of Death stuff. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe Alastair would have loved him even if he was an Evil Overlord.

Call wasn’t sure what he wanted to believe. But it did make him feel a little bit bad for Anastasia.

Tell her we unlocked some memories, Aaron said. Just don’t tell her which ones. Tell her you’re sorry you didn’t remember her before.

“I have something to tell you, Anastasia,” he said.

She looked at him with a mixture of hesitation and hope.

“I really didn’t remember you, and I’m sorry,” he said. “But I realized after Alex came here that Constantine had locked away his memories inside my head. He was worried a baby wouldn’t be able to withstand an adult’s memories. He arranged it so I wouldn’t remember until I was ready.” “And you were ready?” Anastasia demanded.

“I guess,” Call said. “We were attacked by wolves, and the memories just opened up. I could see myself pacing back and forth in front of Jericho’s tomb.” Tell her you could see her. Aaron’s tone was firm.

“I could see you, Mom,” Call said. “I know how much you loved me and how much you cared about what happened to me.” Anastasia’s face began to crumble. Her carefully applied makeup ran as her tears streamed down her cheeks.

Tell her it’s not her fault.

“Nothing that happened to me was your fault,” Call said.

“Oh, Con,” she gasped, and threw herself at him, seizing him up in a tight embrace. Call dug his heels into the soft dirt to keep from being yanked off his feet. He was as tall as Anastasia, but she had the strength of hysteria.

“I need your help now, though,” Call said.

Not so impatient. Kindly.

“Please,” Call added. “It’s about Alex.”

She drew back from him, troubled. “I know he’s very angry,” she said. “He blames you and he shouldn’t. He doesn’t understand that you didn’t remember. I’m sure when you explain it to him —” Explain it to Alex? Call choked back a laugh.

“I won’t be able to do that,” he said. “The Magisterium has set it up so that Alex and I are going to have to fight. They want me to kill him.” “Savages!” Anastasia’s face darkened. “To force brother to fight brother.” She can’t seriously think of us as brothers.

You can’t contradict her, said Aaron. Make her understand the danger. You and Alex could both die.

“You know how strong I am,” Call said, trying to look at her the way Constantine would have. “If Alex and I fight, we’ll kill each other.” She looked fearful. “He is a Devoured of chaos.”

“I don’t think either of us will survive. That’s why I need your help.” “We could run away,” she said. “All three of us. Live together, me and my two sons.” She looked at him mistily.

“Not as long as Alex is a Devoured of chaos,” said Call. “Think of it as a disease we have to cure. As long as the chaos is eating him up, he’ll hate me, and then one day he’ll start to hate you.” “The Devoured cannot be cured,” Anastasia protested.

“They can.” Call tried to project confidence and assuredness as Aaron spoke to him silently. “I’ve set it all up. The Magisterium insists we meet in combat, and I know how to draw the chaos out of him. Once that happens, we’ll be all right — as long as you tell them Alex only ever did the bad things he did because you asked him to.” “Because I asked him to?” She drew back. “How will that help?”

“It’s what they think anyway,” said Call.

Don’t tell her they think it because you told them so.

Call ignored that. “They need to believe it wasn’t him. Otherwise they’ll track him to the ends of the earth and execute him. But you can take the blame and escape.” Tell her it isn’t really blame. Tell her she’ll be a hero. So many people will think she did the right thing.

Call took a deep breath. “A lot of people don’t agree with the mage world’s decisions about things,” he said. “The way they kill Makar in Europe. The way they treat the Devoured. The way they blamed Constantine when all he — all I — was trying to do was to end death and suffering.” Anastasia nodded, her eyes fixed on his. Call felt as if he was giving the most important speech of his life.

“I’m sure that when you stand up and speak, many will sympathize,” said Call. “And you can flee on your air elemental. You can make sure it’s standing by.” Tell her about the future, Aaron said.

“The Magisterium will pardon Alex,” Call said. “And then we’ll come to you, and we’ll leave the mage world behind. We can spend our lives traveling.” He thought of the similar words Alastair had spoken to him when he’d begged him to leave the Magisterium. “We can be together.” Anastasia’s cool gray eyes glowed. “Very well,” she said slowly. “You’d better fill me in on exactly how this plan is going to go.”