فصل 7

Chapter 7

BREAKFAST THE NEXT morning was served by Chaos-ridden, as though Call and the others were attending the world’s weirdest fancy boarding school. The Chaos-ridden plunked the dishes down hard, as though they were dropping rocks, causing food to occasionally bounce right off and into Havoc’s mouth. Still, the table was piled high, with French toast dripping with butter, bacon and scrambled eggs, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and grits.

Tamara and Jasper were both on their best behavior, apparently in an attempt to convince Master Joseph they were Down With His Plan. Tamara had on a pale blue dress with only some of the lace ripped off, and there were horses on Jasper’s shirt and pants.

Alex was there, too, though he didn’t eat anything and just drank black coffee. Call had a feeling Alex had an Evil Overlord list, too, but his scoring went the other way. He probably gave himself a point every time he dressed all in black or menaced small children. Maybe a gold star if he did both at once.

After breakfast, Master Joseph took Jasper and Tamara off for lessons in the library, while Alex — jittery from coffee — and Call returned to the room where they’d left Aaron’s body.

They didn’t talk on the way. Call had resigned himself to spending time with Alex, though there wasn’t anyone in the world he hated more. Alex had lied to him for years, had killed his best friend, had taken Aaron away from him. Call wouldn’t be sorry to see him dead. He knew that was Evil Overlordian of him, but he accepted it — even as he reminded himself that Alex was also his path back to Aaron. He knew more about Constantine’s methods than Call did.

Call couldn’t decide if he was relieved or not when it turned out that Aaron’s body had been taken away. Instead, there was a different metal table in the room. On it lay something small and stiff and dead.

Call recoiled. “Yerk,” he said. “What’s that?”

“Common garden stoat,” said Alex, pacing behind the table. “We get to raise it. Something to practice on.” He lifted an eyebrow at Call’s expression. “This is necromancy, Callum. It can get messy and dangerous. And once Aaron’s body is damaged, it can’t be repaired.” “How did Master Joseph steal Aaron’s body, anyway?” Call asked as Alex went over to a shelf and took down two pairs of heavy canvas gloves. He tossed one pair to Call and took the other.

“Anastasia was in the Magisterium after the funeral,” said Alex. “She arranged with Master Joseph to release an air elemental who carried the body here.” He grinned as he yanked the black gloves on. “I bet you could have heard those Masters screaming through the whole cave system.” “So you don’t miss it, I guess,” Call said, putting on his own gloves. “The Magisterium. Kimiya.” “Kimiya?” Alex burst out laughing. “You think I’m pining away over Kimiya? You think I feel badly about lying?” “I guess it would have been awkward to tell her you were a murderer in thrall to Master Joseph,” said Call.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t notice you running around blurting your little secret to everyone, Constantine.” “Well,” said Call, “they all know now.”

Alex gave him an odd look. “Yeah, they do. And Kimiya knows about me.” He bent over the stoat. “So.” “So,” echoed Call. “Time to share your wisdom. How do you raise the dead?” “Anastasia said you brought back Jen Matsui,” said Alex.

“Yeah, but she was … Chaos-ridden.” Call shuddered. “She was all wrong.” “She was able to answer questions. Chaos-ridden can’t do that. It’s a start.” Call frowned at Alex. Of course Chaos-ridden could answer questions. They could talk! Did that mean that Alex couldn’t hear them?

Now that Call thought about it, it was weird that Jen had come back being able to be heard by everyone. Did that mean Call had done something different with her, something Alex wasn’t doing with his own Chaos-ridden?

Call held up his gloved hands. “I thought you were the expert here. I thought you’d been ‘practicing with Constantine’s methods’ or whatever.” “I know a lot,” Alex said angrily. “For starters, we’re chaos mages. Chaos is unstable energy. Our instinct is to grab that chaos and shove it into an empty body without a soul. That’s how you get Chaos-ridden.” “Uh-huh.” Call nodded, following so far, although the part about instinct was creepy.

“But every element has access to its opposite. And the opposite of chaos is the soul. The human stuff that makes people who they are. Stoats, too.” Alex looked as if he was amusing himself. “We’ve got to reach out there and find this weasel’s little weasel soul and shove it back into its body, just like Constantine shoved his soul into you.” “Right,” Call said, remembering how it had felt to look for Jennifer Matsui’s soul. He and Aaron had caught traces of it to make her talk, but then it had started to fade away, back into nothing. He had grabbed for it and it had come apart in pieces. How he’d channeled magic into those shining threads to hold on to it.

She had woken up Chaos-ridden.

“Right,” Alex said, like Call wasn’t listening.

“That’s it?” Call demanded. He was realizing, with dawning horror, that Alex didn’t know more than he did about bringing back the dead.

And what did that mean, when Alex was supposed to have been studying Constantine’s methods and Call had stumbled into the same — or possibly even a better — technique? Was Master Joseph right about Call — did having Constantine’s soul make him automatically better at raising the dead?

Alex stared at Call with a superior expression on his face. “You might not think it’s much, but it’s not as easy as it sounds.” Call sighed. “I already tried it.”

“What?” Alex frowned. “You have not —”

Call didn’t care about Alex or his attitude. “That’s how I brought back Jennifer. I didn’t mean for her to come back Chaos-ridden. There just wasn’t enough of her soul left.” For a moment, Call thought Alex was going to hit him. “I know things, secret things,” he said, stabbing a finger toward Call.

It was clear, though, that he didn’t. “If what you’re saying actually worked, then we wouldn’t have to do any experiments. Master Joseph said Constantine was on the verge of a breakthrough, not that he’d had one.” Call sighed. “I want to see Constantine’s notebooks myself.” “Why?” Nothing about this situation was going Alex’s way, but he was clearly unwilling to give an inch.

Call was tired of arguing. “If you don’t let me see them, Master Joseph will.” “Let’s just try to bring back this stoat,” Alex said. “Come on — concentrate.” “I don’t know —” Call said.

“Then I’m going to do it myself.” Alex closed his eyes tightly, as though he were trying to burst a vein in his forehead.

Call could feel the chaos magic in the air, could almost smell it, like a hot wind.

On the table, the stoat began to stir. It shuddered all over. Its back paws pinwheeled. Its whiskers quivered. And then it opened swirling eyes.

Chaos-ridden.

Alex opened his own eyes expectantly, but when he saw what was on the table, he slammed his fist against the wall.

“You should have helped me,” he said. “What we need is more power!”

The stoat jumped off the table and was making for the door when Havoc roused himself from sleep and began to chase after it. Call heard something smash, then a high-pitched cry.

“And a different stoat,” Call told Alex, vowing to never let him anywhere near Aaron’s body.

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They decided to break for lunch, though Call wasn’t exactly hungry. Several hours with a dead stoat will do that to you, he thought.

As Alex headed for the dining room, Call pulled off toward the kitchen to get something quick … and to not have to see Alex while he ate. There, he found a young man putting tea things on a tray.

“Hello,” the young man said.

Call, not wanting to be rude, said, “Hi.”

Seeing Call’s confusion, the young man laughed without guile and said, “My name is Jeffrey and I help out around here. I didn’t pass the tests to get into the Magisterium, but Master Joseph offered to teach me anyway, instead of having my magic bound.” “Oh,” Call said. He had to admit, that was a pretty good way of getting recruits, although Call wasn’t sure how much magic they could learn. But what if the answer was a lot? Call thought of Hugo driving the van, of all the prisoners in the Panopticon, and wondered how many people were on the island.

“You’re Callum, right?” Jeffrey asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Come with me. Assemblywoman Tarquin wanted me to bring you to her when you came out of your lessons.” Call wasn’t sure exactly what Jeffrey thought he’d been doing, but he followed to a small Victorian parlor where Jeffrey set his tray of tea and sandwiches down on a table between two big velvet armchairs.

There was a large bay window that looked out at the green lawn where a Chaos-ridden pushed a lawn mower in a strange pattern on the grass. Presiding over the room was Anastasia, wearing another of her white power suits. She gestured for Call to sit down in the armchair opposite her.

Jeffrey left and Call took his place awkwardly. The silver stand of iced cakes and crustless sliced sandwiches was between them. He took an egg salad one and held it gingerly.

“You must be very angry with me,” Anastasia said.

“You think?” Call took a bite of the sandwich. On the whole he preferred lichen. “You mean, because you lied to Tamara and betrayed us and let Master Joseph kidnap us? Why would I be mad about that?” Her lips tightened. “Call,” she said. “You were in the Panopticon. I had to do what I could to get you out. Do you think there was going to be any freedom for you? No. You would have been pursued by the mages from the moment they realized you were missing.” “I don’t see the difference between them catching me and Master Joseph catching me,” Call argued. “This is just prison with sandwiches.” “In my life,” said Anastasia, “I have learned that allegiances don’t matter. You can be destroyed by those who call themselves good as easily as by those who are more obviously selfish. All that matters to me, Call, is that you remain alive and safe.” She leaned forward. “Do as Master Joseph says. He will help you raise Aaron from the dead. Then, once you have him back, you can go before the Magisterium and show what you’ve done. Do you truly think that they will reject such a gift? Everyone hates death, Call.” “But not everyone has to be its enemy.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand. I’m saying they’ll accept you. They’ll embrace you as their Makar, just as they’ll embrace your magic and use it to bring back their loved ones. You’ll no longer be in any danger.” “I don’t know if that’ll work,” he muttered, but she didn’t seem like she heard him.

“I’ve filled your room with your things — with Constantine’s things,” she said. “I know you’re still fighting who you really are. It’s ironic, because Con was always stubborn.” Her eyes were soft as she looked at him. “You’ve buried what you are for so long. Just let the pictures and clothes surround you — let your soul remember.” She sighed. “I wish I could stay. I’d tell you stories about yourself every day, about what Constantine did when he was a little boy.” This sounded like the worst thing Call could think of. “You’re leaving?” he said warily.

“I must return to the Magisterium and give them a good story about how you were taken and I escaped with my life. Hopefully, I can be convincing enough so that I can keep an eye on their plans a little longer.” “What if I can’t do what Master Joseph wants?” Call asked her, thinking of Aaron’s cold body on the table. Yes, he wanted Aaron back, but he wasn’t going to let Alex raise Aaron as one of the Chaos-ridden. He’d do whatever he had to do in order to make sure that never happened. “Constantine couldn’t bring back the dead — maybe I can’t either. If I fail, Master Joseph is going to use the Alkahest to take my power.” Anastasia gave him a searching look. “Master Joseph needs you. He will use the Alkahest to take your power only if he is forced into a corner. Don’t force him into a corner, Call. He needs us — and we need him.” “You don’t mind him threatening me?” Call said. “You don’t think we should be worried?” “If I thought there was a safer place to go, I would go there,” said Anastasia. “But your soul, your restless soul, Con, was never meant to have peace. It was meant to have power.” She moved closer to him. “You are powerful. You can’t just give up that power. The world won’t let you. It won’t allow you to simply hide and be safe. It may come to this — ruling the world or being crushed under its boot heel.” That seemed grim and dramatic, but Call just nodded, trying to look thoughtful instead of freaked out. Anastasia touched his cheek once, longingly, and then rose. “Good-bye, my dear.” As weird as she acted around him, and as much as he didn’t want her talking about how much he was like Constantine all the time, he was a little sorry to see her go. Anastasia wanted him to be Constantine, her lost son, and that wasn’t possible, but at least he felt like she was kind of on his side.

Master Joseph wasn’t, no matter how he pretended to be.

Call ate the rest of his egg salad sandwich alone, watching the Chaos-ridden push the mower right into the river.

After that, he looked around the house for Tamara and Jasper, hoping he could persuade Master Joseph that they could all learn together. When he didn’t find them, he went back to the stoat room. Alex was there, with two new, partially defrosted stoats.

Call felt a little queasy.

“Here,” Alex said, slamming a black notebook stuffed with extra sheets of loose-leaf paper onto the table. “This was Constantine’s final notebook. And if you want to see the others, you don’t have far to look. They’re in your room, on your bookshelves, just like Master Joseph and Anastasia insisted.” “Thanks,” Call said grudgingly, picking up the book.

“Now it’s your turn,” Alex said, pointing to the small creatures on the table.

Call looked at the stoats. He wasn’t sure he could do it. But he did want Aaron back. And if there was any chance … He reached out with chaos magic, toward one of the creatures. He could sense the cold that still gripped it, could feel the silvery remains of where its soul had been. Something was still there.

He tried to catch hold of it, tried to warm it and grow it to life. But there was too little left. In desperation, he tried to inflate what was there. We need more power, Alex had said.

Call inhaled, gathering up the chaos inside himself, reaching into the darkness and the violence and the swirling movement that only a Makar could see. He grabbed at the chaos as if with both hands, shoving it desperately into the inflated soul of the stoat as if he were trying to light a fire in the middle of an ice field.

He felt the spark catch, and grow —

Alex yelled. Call ducked down as a loud bang echoed through the room. When he stood up again, black spots danced in front of his eyes. He felt weak and exhausted, drained of energy and magic.

Alex looked at him furiously. He was splattered with bits of an unspeakable something that Call didn’t want to dwell on.

“You exploded the stoat,” Alex said.

“I did?” Call was amazed, but the unfortunate evidence was everywhere. He’d missed the worst of it by ducking under the table, but Alex and his designer jeans hadn’t been so lucky.

Alex took off his gloves and threw them down on the table. “I am so done with today.” He stalked out, and after a minute, Call followed. Nobody wanted to be alone in a room with two dead stoats, one of them in pieces.

He hoped Jeffrey wouldn’t get stuck cleaning up.

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“How did it go?” Master Joseph asked that night at dinner.

They were all gathered in the dining room again, though Anastasia’s chair was empty. The table groaned with food: potato salad, coleslaw, barbecue ribs gleaming with spicy sauce, beans simmered in molasses, emerald collard greens. Jasper had already eaten an entire rack of ribs.

“Call exploded a stoat,” Alex reported. He looked freshly scrubbed, as if he’d showered and then showered again.

“One cannot expect to get everything right in the beginning,” said Master Joseph, gnawing a rib. “But I expect you to make steady progress.” “I’m sure someone else could do just as well as Call at this,” said Alex. He was staring piercingly at Master Joseph, as if to communicate his hope that Master Joseph would immediately suck out Call’s powers with the Alkahest and move on from there.

“I’m sure they couldn’t,” said Master Joseph, though his jaw tightened. Call watched him in fascination.

Did Master Joseph ever want to use the Alkahest and have Chaos magic for himself? First, he’d been in Constantine’s shadow, and now he was in Call’s. Did it ever bother him? It was hard to tell; his voice was calm when he said, “We’ve never had two Makars before working on this project. Even Constantine was alone.” I’m definitely alone, Call thought. Alex was worse than no help at all. But Alex just grinned at him across the table in a not-pleasant way.

“We’ll get right on it tomorrow,” Alex said.

After dinner, Tamara and Jasper spilled into Call’s bedroom to swap information about their days. Master Joseph had been teaching them how to form solid and unbreakable surfaces out of air and water.

But as Call had begun to realize after meeting Jeffrey, they weren’t the only ones being taught. There were other mages, with other groups. Hugo taught ten younger students, and Tamara and Jasper had spotted at least four other apprentice groups — apprentice groups larger than the ones allowed at the Magisterium. Jeffrey was probably teaching, too.

“He wouldn’t let us make sharp things, though,” Jasper said. “Though I guess that makes sense. He doesn’t want us armed. We figured out there’s some kind of air elemental forming the protections around the Alkahest — like a guardian.” He forced a smile. “But that’s okay. We’ll figure out a way around it.” “What about you, Call?” Tamara looked at him anxiously. “Was it really bad?” Call paused near the bookshelf. On it were rows and rows of photos of Constantine and his friends. It was hard not to notice that in every one of them, Constantine was laughing at the center of a group. People were always looking at him. “It was fine,” he lied. “I’m just pretending to try anyway.” “I’m going to try to get close to Master Joseph,” Jasper said. “Act like I am getting into his whole evil thing so that I can see if he’ll tell me stuff. After all, their whole plan can’t be to raise Aaron from the dead. That’s not enough to take over the world.” “You think he has an army?” Call asked. “I mean, beyond the prisoners and the students. An army of Chaos-ridden?” “Everyone thinks he’s got an army,” Jasper replied. “But we all thought the Enemy of Death was still alive, creating more and more Chaos-ridden. If the only person who can make more of them is Alex, then maybe his army isn’t that big.” Call looked over and saw Tamara was looking at a picture on his dresser — one of his parents and Constantine.

“It’s funny to look at them,” Tamara said. “You would never know one of these apprentices was going to tear the mage world apart.” Call glanced in the mirror. He hadn’t remembered to brush his hair that morning and there was a barbecue stain on his shirt. He didn’t look like much of a threat either, but had the uncomfortable feeling that the next few weeks were going to define his destiny.

Despite having the meeting in Call’s room, they all moved to Tamara’s to sleep. But as the others dropped off into slumber, Call found himself staring at the ceiling, his wolf cuddled up to his side. Your soul, Anastasia had said. Your restless soul was never meant to have peace.

You don’t know me, Call thought. You don’t know my soul. He rolled over and closed his eyes tightly, but it was still a long, long time before he dropped off to sleep.