Sacrifices (31 page)

A week ago we found out that the reincarnation of Mordred was going to start a nuclear war in a month and a half. Tonight we fought our way out of the school dance—and lost two good friends—and all we know about where we’re going is that it’s a mark on a map. I don’t even know what QUERCUS looks like. Or what we’re going to do next. Or how we can possibly win.

“But I believe we can,” she said aloud. Addie looked over toward her and smiled. Shakily. Wanly. But as if she believed, too.

*   *   *

They stopped once, for just long enough to let Addie get into the back seat. Spirit dug the maps out of her dress during the stop—Addie had to unzip her so she could get at them—because it was a long way to their destination, and she’d only memorized the beginning of it.

It was just before dawn when they finally reached the last mark on the map. It was the middle of nowhere, a rutted one-lane back road. Loch had been counting miles since the last turnoff to make sure he didn’t overshoot it.

The van parked at the edge of the road was the only thing in sight. In the glare of their headlights they could see it was old and decrepit-looking, its body pitted with rust and painted a patchy primer gray.

“Are you sure…?” Burke said hesitantly, turning to look back at her.

“This is the place marked on the map,” Spirit said. “This is where we’re supposed to be.”

After another moment, Loch turned off the ignition. The silence was broken only by the ticking of cooling metal. He opened the door and stepped out of the car, wincing and stretching. Burke got out as well, and then they pushed the seat backs down so Spirit and Addie could climb out.

The four of them stood in the road for a minute, then Burke walked up to the driver’s side of the van. His breath smoked on the freezing air, and Spirit hugged herself, shivering in the cold and staring at nothing. She felt as if she’d been awake for weeks. A moment later Addie took Spirit’s hand—her left hand, her ring hand—and held it out. Loch, catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, turned back to regard them in puzzlement.

“I was right,” Addie said, still holding Spirit’s hand.

Spirit looked down.

When she and Loch had gotten their Oakhurst class rings as one of their Christmas not-really-presents in December, they’d been identical, with stones that were opaque and glittery blue, like artificial opals. They were magic, of course: the stone changed to match the School your Gift was from. The stone in Burke’s ring was green for Earth, and Addie’s was blue—dark blue—for Water. Loch’s stone had turned yellow almost immediately—his Gift was School of Air.

Like Muirin’s had been.

The stone in Spirit’s ring wasn’t pale blue any longer. It was clear and colorless.

“School of Spirit, Spirit,” Addie said with a faint smile. “It has to be, right? And you have a Destiny too.”

“So anyway, what I know is if a Destiny appears in your ring, it means your future is pretty much set. Fixed. Unchangeable.”

Burke had said those words to her on Christmas morning, when Addie had discovered the Destiny in her own stone: the shape of a goblet. Burke had discovered one in his stone soon after, and so had Loch.

Muirin had never let anyone see what hers had been.

Spirit lifted her hand and squinted at the stone in the strengthening light. In its depths was a tiny image, looking as if it had been engraved on the underside of the stone.

A sword.

She slipped off the ring and hefted it in the palm of her hand. It was still as strangely heavy as it had been the first time she’d put it on. On the sides of the band were the broken sword and the inverted cup from the Oakhurst coat of arms. The bezel of the ring said:
absolutum dominium
. Absolute dominion. She bounced it on the palm of her hand a few times.

“I guess I’ll keep the Destiny,” she said. “But not the dominion.”

She turned and threw the ring as far away from her as she could.

“Guess that isn’t a bad idea,” Burke said, walking back to them. He was holding an oak leaf in one hand and a set of keys in the other. “Keys were in the ignition,” he said, looking inquiringly at Spirit. “And the thing is in a lot better shape on the inside than it looks on the outside. There’s another set of maps on the dash.”

“That’s the sign. QUERCUS sent an oak leaf with my first map,” she said, taking the leaf. “Who else would leave a car with keys in the ignition out here?”

Burke slipped off his ring and held it up to peer at the stone. “I guess a shield is a good Destiny,” he said. When he threw his ring away it glittered as it sailed through the air.

Loch threw his after theirs. “Don’t know what a stick means, but I always thought the design was vulgar.”

Addie just tossed her ring gently into the weeds at the side of the road. “Can we get in?” she begged. “I’m freezing!”

Muirin packed clothes for us.
Before Spirit could swallow the lump in her throat to say so, Burke had unlocked the back of the van.

“Hey,” he said appreciatively. “Looks like breakfast—and coats.”

He held up the coats to judge sizes, and then passed them around before shrugging into his own. Down parkas, and the moment Spirit put hers on, she felt warmth enveloping her. In the back of the van she could see a gallon thermos and a cooler—and a pile of blankets.

“You guys ride in the back,” Burke said to Loch and Addie. “I’ll drive for a while.”

“Why am I the only one who doesn’t know how to drive?” Spirit grumbled, just for something to say.

“I’ll teach you,” Burke offered, smiling at her.

Addie and Loch climbed into the back of the van. Loch handed Addie a blanket. Burke slammed the doors shut and rattled the handle to be sure they’d caught. Then he put his arm around Spirit’s waist and walked her around to the passenger side of the van. He opened the door.

“I guess if we’re going off to save the world, I get to kiss my girl first,” he said, looking down at her. Spirit reached up and put her arms around his neck, and Burke held her tightly.

It was only the second time he’d ever kissed her really-for-real, and for a wild moment she didn’t want him to stop, didn’t want to go on and do the next thing, didn’t want this moment to ever end.

But it did, of course. And Burke smiled at her, and put his hands on her waist, and lifted her up into the passenger seat as if she didn’t weigh anything at all. Then he closed the door very gently.

A moment later, he climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door. The engine roared to life the moment he turned the key. Although Spirit didn’t know much about cars, the engine sounded smooth and very powerful. “Ready?” Burke asked.

“No,” Spirit said. “But let’s go anyway.”

Burke’s grin got wider. “Hey. We’re together. We lived. We’ve already beaten the odds. Now let’s try pounding the odds into mush.” He reached across the dashboard and scooped up a thin sheaf of papers and handed them to her, then put the van into gear. “For Muirin.”

“For Muirin,” Spirit said, swallowing hard.

They drove off, leaving Muirin’s car behind them looking lost and lonely.

T
OR
T
EEN
B
OOKS BY
M
ERCEDES
L
ACKEY AND
R
OSEMARY
E
DGHILL

Shadow Grail #1: Legacies

Shadow Grail #2: Conspiracies

Shadow Grail #3: Sacrifices

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

MERCEDES LACKEY is the author of the Valdemar novels. She has collaborated with Andre Norton on the Halfblood Chronicles and with James Mallory on the bestselling Obsidian Mountain Trilogy and Enduring Flame Trilogy. She lives with her husband in Oklahoma.

ROSEMARY EDGHILL writes under her own name and various pseudonyms. She lives in Maryland.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

SHADOW GRAIL 3: SACRIFICES

Copyright © 2013 by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

All rights reserved.

Cover art by Cliff Nielsen

A Tor Teen Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Lackey, Mercedes.

    Sacrifices / Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.

         p. cm.—(Shadow grail; 3)

    “A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

    ISBN 978-0-7653-2825-0 (hardcover)

    ISBN 978-0-7653-1763-6 (trade paperback)

    ISBN 978-1-4299-9719-5 (e-book)

    [1.  Magic—Fiction.   2.  Supernatural—Fiction.   3.  Loyalty—Fiction.   4.  Boarding schools—Fiction.   5.  Schools—Fiction.   6.  Orphans—Fiction.]   I.  Edghill, Rosemary.   II.  Title.

PZ7.L13543Sac 2013

[Fic]—dc23

2012042625

e-ISBN 9781429997195

First Edition: April 2013