فصل 9

Chapter 9

CALL MADE IT all the way back to their rooms before his burst of fearlessness deserted him. They found Gwenda waiting nervously in the room for them, and there was something about the look on her anxious face that knocked the last of Call’s strength. He collapsed onto the couch, face in his hands.

“I can’t do this,” he said. “I can’t.”

Tamara climbed onto the couch next to him and reached for his hand. Call noticed Jasper noticing the gesture, but didn’t care. What did it matter what Jasper, or anyone, suspected about his relationship with Tamara at this point?

“We’ll help you,” Tamara said. He was glad she hadn’t said everything would be okay. But Tamara was too smart to say that. She knew those kind of promises didn’t mean anything; she made the kind she could keep. “You won’t be alone.” She looked up. “Right, Jasper?” He nodded. “Yeah. Of course.”

And I’ll be here, said Aaron. Remember when it was me on this couch? Remember me throwing my shoe because I knew being the Makar meant I’d have to die for the Magisterium?

Yeah, Call replied.

“And I’ll help, too,” Gwenda said, then paused. “Wait, what did I just promise to help with?” Jasper told her quickly about the meeting, and the message from Alex.

“You mean you have to figure out how to defeat a Devoured of chaos?” Gwenda said incredulously. “Actually, wait, we have to figure out how to defeat a Devoured of chaos, since I just promised to help? I can’t believe it. I always wondered how you got sucked into these things, Tamara and Jasper, and now I know.” “No kidding,” said Jasper. “How do we wind up saying these things? Who wants to be involved in this kind of stuff?” “You don’t have to be if you don’t want to,” said Call.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Jasper. “Of course I do. I mean, I don’t want to, but you get the point. What’s our first move?” “Do you think Alex has allies?” said Gwenda, sitting down on the table. “Besides Anastasia Tarquin, I guess.” “Not like Master Joseph did,” said Call. “Alex isn’t the Enemy of Death. He doesn’t care about ending death and grief. He only cares about power. So a lot of the people who followed Constantine and his group probably won’t follow Alex.” “What was up with the dragon?” Gwenda asked. “It must have been a chaos elemental, but it was huge. Was that Automotones? Do you think that was what Warren was warning us about?” “Automotones is a different huge elemental, but since Alex came back, who knows what else came with him,” said Tamara. “We have to assume that even if he doesn’t have followers, he can still control enough monsters that a direct attack would be chancy.” “No one knows how to stop a Devoured of chaos,” Call said. “I mean, I don’t even know much about the Devoured. Mages don’t seem to like to talk about them.” Tamara sighed. “Yeah, when Ravan became one of the Devoured, my family pretended she was dead. They thought it was better that way. But when I needed her help, she was there for me. She still considered herself to be my sister.” “Is she … human?” Gwenda asked, looking uncomfortable.

Tamara shook her head. “She doesn’t have to be human to matter.”

The last time Call had seen Ravan close up she’d been ushering him and Jasper out of the Panopticon, a pillar of terrifying fire. The last time he’d seen her from a distance, she’d been helping Tamara and Jasper escape Master Joseph. She’d been a plume of flame.

Don’t forget the battlefield, Aaron said. She was there, too.

“Alex seems like exactly the same jerk he was before,” said Call. “But Ravan — wait, can you still get ahold of her?” “What do you mean?” Tamara asked.

“We could ask Ravan about being Devoured,” Call said. “About strengths and weaknesses. Maybe she could help us figure out how to defeat Alex.” “The mages are still looking for her,” said Jasper. “They don’t like to let Devoured just walk around loose. If they caught her, they’d bring her back to the Magisterium and lock her up again.” “We’re not going to get her caught,” said Call. He looked at Tamara in what he hoped was an innocently hopeful manner.

She sighed. “Yeah, I can contact her, but Jasper’s right. She would be taking a chance sending back a message. She might not try.” “Everything’s a long shot right now,” Call said.

“In the meantime we should try to find Warren again,” Gwenda said. “I bet he knows more than he’s letting on.” “He always knows more than he’s letting on,” Call admitted.

“Well,” said Jasper. “It’s time we got it out of him. We need to interrogate that lizard. Get a bright light and tie him to a chair and tell him he will be sleeping with the fishes if he doesn’t tell us everything he knows.” Tamara’s eyebrows went up. “He’s always sleeping with the fishes,” she said. “At least he is when he’s not eating them.” “We could lure him out with a plate of food,” said Gwenda. “What do you think he’d like to eat?” They debated that for a while and wound up using magic, a trip to the Refectory, a net, and a rummage through their own junk drawers to come up with a plate they were sure had something to appeal to Warren. On it were cave crickets, eyeless fish, gems, coals, and lichen that tasted like cotton candy.

The four of them, Havoc trailing behind, walked through the parts of the cave calling “Warren!” and finally set the plate down to wait.

Nothing happened. Jasper started to whistle. Gwenda started a game of tic-tac-toe with Tamara.

“The time is closer … !” Call said loudly, hoping the little lizard would be unable to resist finishing his favorite sentence.

“What?” Gwenda said, and then yelped as Warren scuttled out of the shadows. He made a beeline for the plate and devoured a cricket.

“Delicious,” Warren said. “Many thanks for food kindly provided.”

“Warren,” Call said. “We need your help.”

“Warren guessed that,” Warren said, discarding the lichen. He snapped up a few more crickets. “You have seen the Devoured of chaos, yes? You know why Warren warned you.” “Yeah, we know,” said Call.

“Though in the future we’d appreciate more concrete warnings, you know?” said Jasper, totally failing to grab Warren and interrogate him. “Less of this beating around the bush. Just say what you mean.” The lizard regarded him darkly and ate the last cricket. “Come with Warren. I have something to show you.” “Does he always refer to himself in the third person?” Gwenda whispered as they followed Warren out into the corridor.

“Not always,” said Call. “It’s inconsistent.”

Gwenda muttered something about not being able to believe they were doing this. It was late, and the corridors were dimmed with low light. No students were around as they hurried after the bright lizard, who turned corners so swiftly that they were soon all lost. Call could sense his companions growing uneasy as the ground slanted down and down, and the walls became more splotched with damp. He felt as if he could sense the presence of the weight of the whole mountain above him, pressing down.

They came at last to a passage that was more like a crack in the rocks. It was horribly narrow. Warren scuttled into it, clearly expecting the rest of them to follow. Havoc, unable to fit, hovered worriedly by the entrance.

Call glanced toward Tamara, who swallowed hard and slid into the space after the lizard. They had to shuffle sideways to push themselves along, the stone pressing against their backs and stomachs. Call could hear Jasper complaining that he should have eaten less lichen at dinner. Please, please, don’t let me die stuck here, Call prayed, and I’ll do everything I can to defeat Alex.

He heard Tamara give a gasp of relief, and a moment later he popped out of the narrow space like a cork out of a bottle.

All around them were walls made of hardened volcanic rock, black and craggy. The heat was intense. Both Jasper and Gwenda gasped as they emerged into it. Fire was audible in the distance, crackling like thunder.

“Where are we?” Jasper looked around. A wide corridor led between two long rows of cages, whose bars were made of glimmering gold carved with fire symbols. Call had been here before, though he’d come through Anastasia Tarquin’s offices.

“This is where they keep the Devoured,” said Tamara quietly. “Those who have been consumed by elements. This area is for fire.” “Warren?” said Call. “Warren, what are you doing? How did we get in here?” “There is a secret way into every place,” said Warren. “And someone here wants to see you.” He began to scamper down the corridor. After a moment, the four students followed. It was so hot that Call felt as if every breath were searing his lungs. Tamara and the others looked miserable, too. He was glad Havoc hadn’t come — a fur coat was the last thing anyone needed down here.

Most of the cages were filled with what looked like roaring bonfires; some were blue or green, most red and gold. In one cage, lava dripped from the ceiling like fiery rain. A wheel of fire spun in the air.

Tamara paused in front of an empty cage. The inside was blackened stone. Her lip trembled. “Ravan,” she said, touching the bars.

“Your sister is free.” The voice crackled like fire itself — Call knew immediately who it was. The students turned to face the cage opposite them.

Marcus, Devoured of fire, sat on a burning throne inside his cage. He was all black smoke, except for two burning eyes made of fire. He had been Master Rufus’s own teacher, until he had let fire control him.

Warren ran squeaking into Marcus’s cage and scampered up one smoky leg. He perched on Marcus’s knee as the Devoured scratched his scaly back. Warren half closed his eyes and purred. Call had seen a lot of weird things, but he had to admit this was one of the weirdest.

“Wow,” Gwenda whispered.

Privately, Call agreed. He went up to the bars of the cage, as close as he could without getting burned. “Marcus, we need your help,” he said. “You’ve helped us before.” “And to what benefit to myself?” Marcus inquired. “I am still here, inside this cage.” “You’ve done good in the world,” Tamara said firmly. “You helped us defeat Master Joseph.” “And now his apprentice rises, more powerful than ever he was,” said Marcus. “Perhaps there is no victory, Rufus’s children.” “He actually only became my Master fairly recently,” said Jasper. “I mean, for the record.” “Marcus,” Call said firmly. “What do you know about Alex Strike? The Devoured of chaos?” “I heard rumors such a creature had risen,” said Marcus. “At first, I did not believe. To be Devoured of chaos is to be overcome by the void. That which is not. The emptiness at the heart of the whirlwind.” “Well, believe it,” said Tamara. “Is Automotones back?”

“Many have returned,” said Marcus. “The Devoured One was consigned to chaos. But he was able to tear open a door into our world and return. He brought with him those he thought might help him here — Azhdaha, the Great Dragon. Automotones. The most savage of the Chaos-ridden ever to be hurled into the void. All have returned at his side.” “What about Stanley?” said Jasper.

“Who the heck is Stanley?” said Gwenda. Even Marcus looked puzzled.

Call sighed. “He was a Chaos-ridden who was loyal to Constantine. Me. Whatever. I don’t think Stanley was his real name either; it’s just what I called him.” “Stanley?” said Gwenda.

“Forget him,” said Tamara. “Marcus, we need to know how to kill a Devoured of chaos.” “Yes, you do,” Marcus said.

Call was frustrated and sweaty. “Why did you want to see us? Warren said you got him to bring us here.” At the sound of his name, the lizard scuttled up to Marcus’s shoulder and began kneading it the way a cat would, flicking his tongue out at the hot air. Call guessed they were closer than he’d thought.

“It was you who sought Warren,” Marcus reminded them. “I had him lead you to me because of Rufus. Had I not become Devoured, Master Rufus might have been less distracted, less willing to allow Master Joseph to get close to Constantine. We all bear a share of the responsibility for the Enemy of Death, and I would like to discharge mine by aiding the defeat of this new threat.” “Great,” Call said. “Then help me. Help us!”

Marcus looked at him with burning eyes. “Everything you need is already with you.” Does he mean me? Aaron asked.

“That’s not helping!” Call said. “Just say what you mean for once. No more riddles!” “Good luck, mages,” Marcus said, then burst into a column of flame. When it died down, no one was there but Warren, the gems on his back gleaming brighter than ever.

“I will take you home now,” the little lizard said, racing ahead before waiting for a response, leaving them to scramble after him.

“That was Master Marcus,” Gwenda said as she followed. “I can’t believe you know him. I can’t believe we just talked to him. He’s a legend. And terrifying. A terrifying legend.” “Yeah,” said Jasper, looking a little pale. “We’re really cool like that.” Call’s leg was hurting as he scrambled through the tunnels and he felt the opposite of cool. In front of the Assembly he’d acted like he was capable of finding a way to stop Alex. But as they headed toward the less stuffy parts of the Magisterium, he started to despair.

We’re going to be fine, Aaron said, but he didn’t sound entirely sure himself.

Warren paused, alighting on a rock above a wending stream that flowed through the caves. They were back in the familiar part of the Magisterium.

“The time is now,” said Warren.

“Wait,” said Gwenda. “I thought it was closer than we think.”

“The time is now,” Warren repeated, then scuttled away into the shadows.

Gwenda turned to Call. “Does he always say that? Please tell me this is normal.” “Uh,” Call said. “No.”

“Forget Warren being cryptic,” Tamara said, dusting off her uniform and tucking a stray strand of hair behind one ear. “Maybe we’re overthinking this. Maybe what we need is a weapon.” Jasper looked back at her. “What kind of weapon?”

She gave them all a fierce look. “That’s what we’re going to find out.” image

A few hours later, they had covered the table, the couch, and a large chunk of the floor in their common room with books they’d borrowed from the library. Each of them had a stack and were skimming through, looking for weapons that might be useful against Alex.

It turned out that mages had made a lot of things over the years, though very few of them measured up to something like the Alkahest, which could kill chaos users with their own magic and which Alex had modified to steal Aaron’s Makar abilities and which had been, thankfully, destroyed. Most were useful but kind of dull things like knives that returned to the hand of the person who threw them. A few were just weird.

“I found a hatchet that cuts the heads off three pigeons with every single throw,” Jasper said, looking up from his book with a frown. “Who would want to make something like that?” “Someone who really hates pigeons,” Gwenda said with a yawn.

Just then there was a knocking on the door. Call went over and waved it open to find a bunch of First Years including Axel and the girl who’d been carried into the air by the dragon.

“We just wanted to thank you,” said Axel. “Because you’re awesome.”

“I’m Lisa,” the girl said, thrusting a drawing at Call. “We just wanted you to know that we will never believe anything bad anyone ever says about you. You’re cool and you saved us and I drew a picture of it.” Call took the picture and goggled at it. He couldn’t deny that it was actually very well drawn. The face really looked like him, but the body was much more built and also featured his shirt ripped open over six-pack abs. “Uh,” Call said, embarrassed.

Tamara grabbed it out of his hands. “This is amazing,” she said with enthusiasm that Call was sure came from mockery. “You’re really talented. We’re going to hang this on the wall.” “We are most certainly not,” said Jasper, who would have loved the drawing had it been of him.

Thank them, Aaron said. Tell her it’s a great picture.

With Celia telling people that Call was evil, he supposed he couldn’t afford bad public relations. Maybe these Iron Year kids could help him get back in the good graces of the rest of the students.

“Thank you,” he told Lisa. “It’s great.”

“It definitely is,” Tamara agreed.

“We just wanted you to know,” said Axel, “whatever you want, we’re there for you. We’ll help. Really, anything.” “You guys are so sweet,” said Tamara.

A wicked grin grew on Call’s face. Now here was a gift he knew what to do with. “Great!” he said. “As you can see, we’re really busy, so how about you go to the Refectory and get us some of those lichen cakes that taste like pizza. And then I need some more books from the library —” “Call!” Tamara said, interrupting him.

He gave her an innocent look. “Maybe just the lichen cakes for now,” he said to the Iron Years.

They nodded and headed off to do Call’s bidding.

“They’re not your personal servants,” Tamara said.

“I think you will find that they are,” said Call, then admitted, “I guess I get an Evil Overlord Point for that.” “What?” Tamara asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” he said, realizing that maybe he didn’t want her to know about the Evil Overlord list. And he definitely didn’t want Jasper and Gwenda, who were looking at him oddly, to start tallying up points for him.

If there’s no weapon in these books, we’re going to have to get serious, Aaron said. I know you don’t want to look at the memories, but they might be our best hope of defeating Alex.

It won’t help anyone if I go full E-o-D, Call thought back. He missed the days when he believed that cheating on a test or taking the last slice of pizza was enough to make him into a bad guy. The memories were dangerous and dangerously tempting. What if he could save the world but it meant losing himself?

But if he became Constantine, would he even want to defeat Alex?

Call went back to the books, but with every page he flipped, he felt his options shrinking.

image

By the time they got through all the books, the lichen cakes were a distant memory. They were frustrated and hungry. Finally, Gwenda stood up and stretched her arms over her head.

“Okay,” she said. “We need a break.”

“Do you think Alex is taking a break?” Jasper demanded. “Evil never takes a break.” “Well, Gwenda’s right. We need one,” said Tamara. “Let’s go down to the Gallery and go for a swim. We need to let our minds rest and see if we get any new ideas.” “Sugar might help,” Call agreed. “Sugar and caffeine.”

“Fine,” said Jasper, realizing they were all against him. “But we are still not hanging that picture of Call on the wall.” “That’s right,” Tamara agreed. “We’re hanging it on the fridge.”

And she did.

image

The Gallery was surprisingly full of students. Call would have thought that after the traumatic events of the past day, especially the death of Master Rockmaple, it would have been a dark and subdued place. But it was stuffed full of people, raucously yelling and having a good time.

Tamara shrugged. “Denial,” she said as he glanced around, taking in the kids jumping in and out of the hot and cold pools in the rocks. They’d put in a bunch of squishy gold velvet sofas, and a ton of students were sprawled on them, sipping drinks in bright colors: blue, green, orange, and pink. “People need to be distracted. It’s normal.” Gwenda and Jasper were already over at the long stone snack bar, filling plates with candy and crunchy dried lichen flavored like nacho cheese. Call grabbed a frozen sugary tea and Tamara a glass of something with raspberries and huge lychees.

They all headed over to the squishy couches, when Call suddenly stopped short. Celia was sitting there with Charlie and Kai, wearing a flowered yellow shirt and laughing. She looked pretty and lighthearted — at least until she turned to see him, and her face went still.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else,” muttered Call.

“Well, would you look who’s got the nerve to show himself in here,” someone said. It wasn’t Celia. It was a boy in a denim shirt and swim shorts, with red hair and long skinny legs. Call thought he recognized him, but he wasn’t sure.

That’s Colton McCarmack, said Aaron’s voice in his head. He was friends with Jennifer Matsui, before she died.

Call felt a cold lump in his stomach. He had brought Jen Matsui back to life as a Chaos-ridden. It hadn’t been his choice to do it, but it had still been horrible.

“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” Call said, holding up a hand. “We’ll go sit somewhere else.” “As long as you’re in the Magisterium, you’re trouble,” said a girl sitting next to Colton. She had short black hair with bright dyed blue bangs.

Yen Ly, said Aaron. Colton’s girlfriend.

Did you know EVERYONE in the Magisterium? Call thought with exasperation.

Just trying to help. Aaron sounded annoyed.

“You were close to Alex,” said Colton, leaning forward. “Weren’t you?” “What’s this about, Colton?” Tamara demanded, her hands on her hips. “Alex faked being our friend. He killed Aaron, who was Call’s counterweight. Surely you’re not going to suggest we’re big fans of his.” “Leave Call alone.” It was Kai, looking a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat. “We all saw him save those kids this afternoon. And destroy Alex Strike’s chaos magic. He’s obviously on our side.” “Too obviously,” said Colton. “Alex had already gotten what he wanted. I figure it was all staged to make it look like Call was fighting off the Devoured, when really he’s in league with him.” “’In league with him’?” echoed Jasper. “Who talks like that?”

“And you.” Colton turned on Jasper. “Didn’t your father join Master Joseph? You talk as though we have any reason to believe you’re loyal to the mages, but somehow when Call was broken out of prison, you and Tamara were there. Tamara, whose sister Kimiya is Alex’s girlfriend. Everyone knows you’re both as corrupt as he is.” At the mention of his father, Jasper seemed to shrink.

Rage sprang up in Call. “Back off,” he said sharply. “No one is in league with Alex. Jasper doesn’t even like me that much, and we’re about to risk our lives again to save you, so unless you’d like to take my place fighting the Devoured, maybe you should leave us alone.” “Celia’s right about you,” Colton says. “You’re not to be trusted, and anyone who can stand being around you can’t be trusted either.” With that, he walked off, his girlfriend and friends following.

Call and the others walked back to their rooms with heavy hearts. Gwenda, who hadn’t spoken to Colton and hadn’t been accused of being evil either, was probably weighing the potential benefits and drawbacks of being their friend. Call was pretty sure the math wasn’t on his side.