فصل 6

Chapter 6

CALL HEARD TAMARA’S awful gasp. She staggered back, and Jasper caught her arm. Call couldn’t have done it. He was completely frozen.

It was definitely Aaron on the table. He lay on his back. His blond hair had been brushed. His green eyes were open and blank.

Havoc put his head back and gave a single, awful howl of loneliness, abandonment, and horror. It was like he was making the sound Call couldn’t make. It rang and rang in Call’s ears as he stood there, his body beginning to shake.

“God, stop that noise —” It was Alex Strike, appearing in his black silk pajamas behind them. He looked rumpled and sleepy and annoyed, but the look turned quickly into a smirk. “Oh. I see you decided to show them what’s really going on here.” Tamara, Call, and Jasper watched with horror as he walked up to the table and yanked down the sheet. Aaron was wearing what they must have planned to bury him in — his Bronze Year uniform. Alex picked up one of his wrists. His wristband gleamed on it. Stones for heroism peppered the band, along with stones for his Iron, Copper, and Bronze Years. And the black stone of chaos, because he had been a Makar.

Much good it had done him, Call thought bitterly. Alex had stolen his magic and now he was only a shell — a shell that had once held life and animation and chaos and Aaron. “Don’t touch him,” Call growled.

Alex let go of Aaron’s hand and it thumped lifelessly against the table. “Dead,” he said, cheerfully. “Muerto.” “I think we’ve got the message,” said Jasper. “Thanks.”

“What’s going on?” said Tamara in a choked voice. “Why is Aaron here? The Magisterium is going to notice his body is missing!” Master Joseph had been standing at the door, watching them with an eerie stillness. He came toward the center of the room now, his eyes flicking over Aaron’s body as if it were something in a petri dish. “Oh, they already know. He was taken some time ago. They haven’t said anything because it would hardly behoove them for the mage world to know they’ve messed this up, too. Losing the body of a dead Makar, after not noticing they had the Enemy of Death among them for three years? The Assembly would explode.” “To be fair to Call,” said Jasper, “it really wouldn’t have been very easy to guess he was the EOD. He’s very wily.” Havoc had been pulling against Call’s grip. Call let go. He felt too numb inside to care whether Havoc launched himself at Master Joseph and tried to bite his face.

But he didn’t. Instead, Havoc went over to the table where Aaron’s body lay, gave a heartbroken sniffle, and curled up under it.

“I don’t understand,” Tamara said, fighting tears. “What’s the point of this? Nobody can raise the dead! Constantine couldn’t and that’s why we have the Chaos-ridden.” “Constantine could have,” said Master Joseph. “He was but days away from that breakthrough when the Third Mage War broke out. Then, because of the Cold Massacre, he was forced to start again. But he — you — can do it now. The knowledge was in his soul, and his soul is here, in you, Call!” Call looked at Aaron on the table. For the first time, what Master Joseph was saying didn’t seem so crazy. Death was terrible — Alastair was still mourning Sarah and it had been more than a decade since she’d died. Call would have liked to have had a mom, even if she had some reservations about him. And all the people who hated him did so because Constantine Madden had taken someone from them. If he, Callum Hunt, could really bring people back from the dead — not halfway back, as with the creepy Chaos-ridden, but actually, really back — they would forgive him. They’d forgive him for anything.

And he could have Aaron for a best friend again. Aaron, alive and laughing. Aaron, reborn. Tamara wouldn’t have to worry about making the wrong choice in saving him. Call could stop missing him. Everything could go back to the way it was.

“Here’s the bargain I am prepared to make,” Master Joseph continued. “Callum, you stay here and work to bring Aaron back from the dead. Alex will help you, since he is the architect of this unfortunate accident.” Call started to point out that Aaron’s death was no accident and Alex was a murderer, but Master Joseph kept speaking.

“You will have access to Constantine’s notes and my experience. Once you bring Aaron back, you can decide to take up your destiny to end death … or you can depart for good. If you choose to go, Callum, I will let you. I will accept that there isn’t enough of Constantine Madden in you and I will release you from his destiny.” For a moment, Call wasn’t sure he was hearing Master Joseph right. After all this effort, he would just let Call go?

“What about Tamara and Jasper?” Call asked. “And Aaron?”

“All of you,” Master Joseph promised. “Tamara, Jasper, Aaron, Havoc. You can all leave. All I ask is this — you bring Aaron to the Assembly and let them see what we’re capable of. If they still want war, so be it. But I have a feeling that seeing a loved one brought back to life will change their minds. Because if you can bring back your friend, you can bring back their friends, too. Their husbands and wives. Their parents. Their children. Everyone has lost someone. Everyone, deep in their hearts, wishes they could have a little more time to live.” Tamara cleared her throat. She had stopped looking over at Aaron on the table, although Call could tell she wanted to. “That seems fair,” she said.

Call felt a wave of relief. He was glad it wasn’t just him. If Tamara wanted to do it, then it must be okay to want it, too.

“But, Callum,” Master Joseph went on, “if you find your heart stirred by what you’ve done, if you find the Assembly to be the cowards they are, afraid to plumb the depths of chaos magic and afraid to let anyone else do it either, then you must stay with us.

“Tamara and Jasper, I will train you while you are here. We need smart young mages like yourselves. You’ve heard a lot of things about the Enemy of Death’s followers. You’ve probably been made to think that we’re villains, but once you’ve been here for a time, you might come to see us differently, just as you’ve already been able to separate Call from the terrible stories about Constantine Madden.” “You’re going to train us?” Jasper asked. “In what?”

Master Joseph smiled at him. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten that I taught at the Magisterium once. I turned out many fine apprentices, most of them completely uninterested in chaos magic. I taught the parents of some apprentices in the Magisterium today.” Call imagined those parents weren’t exactly bragging now about having been Master Joseph’s students. He wondered if their children knew.

“Do you accept this deal?” Master Joseph asked Call.

Call looked at Aaron’s body and wanted to say yes. If there was any chance to bring back Aaron, he wanted to take it.

But this wasn’t just a lot of points on his Evil Overlord list. This pretty much was the list. The whole thing. Saying yes to this made him an Evil Overlord. And not any Evil Overlord. It made him the Enemy of Death.

Still, Tamara hadn’t objected and she wasn’t objecting now. Even Jasper wasn’t saying anything against it. They wanted Aaron back, too. Call knew they did. Constantine had wanted to bring his brother back but that had been different. Aaron was a good person. Aaron shouldn’t be dead.

“Yes,” Call said. “I’ll do it. I’ll bring him back.”

Master Joseph’s smile was electric. Alex, meanwhile, glowered menacingly.

“There is one complication I didn’t mention,” said Master Joseph.

“You can’t change the deal,” Tamara insisted.

“Oh no. Nothing like that.” Everything friendly had gone out of Master Joseph’s demeanor. He looked hard and cold and terrifying, like he had when Call had first met him. “It’s only this — if you run again, I will destroy Aaron’s body so that there’s no chance he will ever come back. And if you run after that, I will kill one of you. I will stick to the terms of our deal, so long as you three stick to them as well.” Jasper drew a sharp breath. “You can’t kill Call,” he said. “You need him. He’s your chaos mage.” “Alex also has the power of chaos now,” Master Joseph replied in the same frightening voice. “And we have the Alkahest. Not only will I kill Call if I must, I have the means to do it. And to take his power.” He thought of Master Joseph’s grim words at dinner: Let’s give Call an opportunity to find who he is — if he doesn’t, I will strip the power from him myself.

“I’m sure, however, that it won’t come to that. Now, go to bed.” The terrifying look was gone and Master Joseph was back to normal. At least, normal for him. “We will begin our studies in earnest in the morning.” With that, he ushered them away from Aaron’s body, locking the door behind him.

With a last look back, Call headed toward the stairs. As he climbed them, he felt thoroughly exhausted. He’d started the day in prison and had ended it agreeing to do the one thing he’d thought he’d never do, try to raise the dead.

When he got to the top, he started toward the door to his room but wasn’t sure if he could face it. He turned to Tamara, who was heading into the pink room.

“Can I sleep on your floor?” he asked. “Your room is the only non-creepy one.” “Me too?” asked Jasper, seizing on this idea.

Tamara gave a small smile. “Yeah. That would be good.”

Jasper disappeared to get his sleeping things. Call did the same. After changing into pajamas, he dragged his mattress into Tamara’s room, settling it against the legs of her footboard.

She was standing by the window in her own pajamas, which were white with lace ruffles. She looked up as Call came in and he saw how deeply shaken she looked.

He stopped dead. Tamara looked like she’d lost every ounce of her fighting spirit.

“W-what is it?” he asked.

“Aaron,” she said. “It’s awful enough that he died, but for Master Joseph to have stolen his body — the way he looked, all white and cold on that table —” Call’s feet moved without his conscious will. He couldn’t just let her stand there looking so miserable. He went across the room toward her and reached out his hand, meaning to pat her shoulder. But the moment he got close to her, she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.

Call stood stunned, barely breathing. His heart felt like an untethered balloon, bouncing around in his chest. He folded his arms around her carefully. She was small and warm. Sometimes he forgot how small she was, because her bravery loomed so large in his mind.

She smelled like soap and sunshine. He wanted to breathe her in but recognized that this would be seen as weird and possibly creepy behavior.

He thought of Anastasia’s words and, despite the horror they’d just come from, his pulse began to beat so hard he was afraid Tamara would notice it.

“Call,” she said, her voice muffled. “I worried that once Aaron was gone you wouldn’t be my friend anymore.” His heart thumped. “I was worried about the same thing.”

“It’s not true, though, right?” She looked up at him worriedly. “We’re still friends. We’re always going to be friends, no matter what.” He found himself gently patting her hair. Stroking it, even. He felt like he was someone else, not Callum Hunt. Someone who deserved to have Tamara Rajavi care about him. “Yeah,” he said, surprised and slightly panicked by the words coming out of his mouth. “Ever since I first met you …” The door flew open and Tamara and Call jumped apart as Jasper hastened in, wearing horse-covered pajamas and dragging a blanket. He curled up in it at the side of Tamara’s bed as she walked back over to sit on the edge of her mattress. Call, looking nonchalant, sprawled on his own makeshift bed.

“I was just telling Call,” Tamara said. “We have to be careful. Really careful.” “Is that news?” asked Jasper.

“Master Joseph is considering taking Call’s power with the Alkahest,” said Tamara. She turned to Call. “Think about it — then Master Joseph could be the Enemy of Death. He wouldn’t need to try to make Call do what he wants; he could do it himself.” “But he values Constantine’s soul,” Jasper pointed out.

“I know,” said Tamara. “He definitely thinks Call has a better chance of raising the dead,” Tamara said. “Otherwise he would have taken Call’s powers already. Which is why Call was smart to play along with Master Joseph about raising Aaron.” Play along? Call had been feeling as if he were floating; now he crashed back down to earth. Tamara had thought he was playing along with Master Joseph, that he hadn’t meant anything he’d said about bringing back Aaron? But that had never crossed his mind. He’d thought they were in agreement. He’d thought that, for once, he wasn’t doing the wrong thing.

They’d been so close just a moment before. Now it seemed all wrong, as though he’d tricked her somehow.

“We’ll find a way out of here,” Tamara told him now. “And we’ll try to figure out how to get to the Alkahest. If we could steal it — or even better, destroy it — you’d be a lot safer. You just have to pretend to be trying to raise Aaron in the meantime.” “Yes!” Call said, more forcefully than he intended. “Pretend. Definitely. That’s exactly what I was going to do.” But as he allowed himself to relax into sleep, with Havoc warm beside him, he already knew he was lying. He was still going to bring Aaron back from the dead.

Maybe it wasn’t the right thing, but if everything could go back the way it was before, if Aaron could be alive and they could all be happy, he didn’t care about right or wrong.