The Tragedy of Knowledge (12 page)

“What do you mean, he’s not alone?” Glancing up toward the horizon again, I could make out the trees with their dressings of swaying moss, their leaves shaking and bristling against some kind of force. Crouching next to Arianna, I followed her gaze as she worked to peek through the crowd.

“Witches!” she whispered. “Witches everywhere, there must be at least twenty … wait. More than that, oh my God …”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Frantic, I glanced around. “Their magic doesn’t work on us, what good will that do—?”

Gérard’s voice was clear, and loud enough to address the entire crowd.

“My dear children, some friends have accompanied me to ensure this whole process runs as quickly and efficiently as possible. I’ve linked our powers together, you see. So although their magic would have no effect on you by itself, when tuned into mine,” a haughty laugh escaped his lips, “well, you get the picture. Now, you can all do this the easy way and allow me to escort you through the portal, or my friends and I can simply take care of that ourselves.”

My shaking knees dug into the dirt as I stooped to the ground next to Arianna.

“I’m right here, Gérard.” Gavin’s voice sounded from the center of the resistance’s formation. “But you won’t be escorting any of us anywhere.”

Every muscle in my body clenched at hearing Gavin’s voice, heard it moving, shifting in direction as the vampires cleared a path straight down the middle to make way for him. I was only able to manage one glimpse, but it was enough to send new tremors down my body.

A row of witches lined the perimeter next to Gérard, hands locked to form a wall, and Gavin was making his way through the others straight for them. I shifted my gaze up, zoning in on the crescent moon, and I nudged Arianna.

What happened next transpired so fast, my mind didn’t have time to catch up with my body’s reflexes.

Arianna signaled the next frozen soul in command to signal the vampire at the magical oak. The branch snapped on cue, and the bayou’s watery vortex began swirling behind us, the violet light emanating from its magical depths. A volley of tormented screams erupted from the front lines and rolled its way backward toward us, and bodies of frozen souls soared upward and outward, catapulting in every direction as Gérard’s force propelled them from the ground. Some darted and retreated into the trees, their faces full of terror, while others poured into the water behind us and surrendered themselves to the portal’s pull.

“Come on, come on, come on!” Arianna cried, pulling me to the edge of the water, ready to fling us straight into the portal opening to follow the others. Complete chaos all around us, my gut dropped when I craned my neck around to get one last peek at Gavin before we plummeted into the water. I had to know if he was among the growing casualties. My heart shuddered at the thought while my eyes searched. No sign of Gabe or Audrey, either. My attention was taken by Gérard. Most of the shield the frozen souls had created around Arianna and me had been broken up, bodies scattered everywhere, creating a path that placed me clear in his view. His gaze locked onto mine.

Before Arianna could jerk my hand forward to launch us into the water, Gérard’s force seized me, freezing me in place then flipping me around so I was facing him. The same heavy, thumping pain that had appeared the day he confronted me at Gavin’s house radiated in my chest. Ribcage rattling beneath my skin, I reached for my heart, cried out and squeezed my eyes shut from the pain, opening them briefly to catch his stone-cold glare burning a hole in my chest, eyes narrowing when they lowered on my necklace. One hand raised in front of him, he reached out and gripped at the air, his fingers clenching into a ball so forcefully his knuckles whitened.

“Father! No!” Arianna screamed beside me, and the witches, still hand in hand, tightened their link next to Gérard, their sets of beady eyes burning into my skull, chanting so loudly the battle cries of the frozen souls around us were drowned out. Everything moved in half motion then; a slow, wicked smile rolled across Gérard’s lips, his force shooting me forward across the muddy ground, sending me straight to him. The toes of my boots skimmed the earth and my body surged forward, jerking to a stop a few inches in front of him. I slumped to the ground with a hard thud and gasped when I peered up to find that the same unseen force he’d used to pull me to him had blasted him backward into the trees.

Not even he could hide his surprise, which turned to outrage when he realized what was happening. The witches continued their chanting, but now their focus was directed at him, their furious expressions zoning in on him as they shifted their linked wall to watch him fly over their heads. I didn’t get a chance to see where he’d landed or what the witches were about to do to him next, because a few of them broke away from the link and powered toward me, lifting me and rushing me back in the other direction, straight toward the water, where—oh, thank the sweet, sweet Lord—Gavin, Arianna, Audrey and Gabe all waited.

“What’s going on?” I shouted to the witches who guided me. The wind sent my long tendrils into a flurry, whipping at my neck and cheeks.

“We’re taking back what’s ours,” one of them called out. “Hurry, now go!”

Handing me over to my friends, they helped push us all into the bayou’s muck-ridden, purple abyss, and Gavin and I latched onto one another as the watery cyclone tugged at our knees and swallowed us. The last thing I saw before my head went under was the row of witches who’d helped us, their bodies simultaneously dropping to the ground in lifeless, ghoulish lumps beneath the moonlit sky.

7

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

Everything ached, even as the warm water soothed and swirled over my skin, its force pulling us more strongly, relentlessly toward the bayou’s muddy floor. My eyes were screwed shut, only sensing the rays of blinding purple light around us as we descended to the bottom, and finally, through the portal hole that would lead us to the other side, to the Amaranth exile.

The bayou’s floor swallowed us up and pulled us down through the tunnel, and a head rush accompanied the aching feeling when I dropped from the end of the tunnel and smacked onto the familiar black-and-white-tile floor, Gavin breaking my fall as best as he could. We darted away from the spot, knowing, at any second, more frozen souls would be falling through the portal hole from above and landing on top of us. Drenched and covered in muck and leaves, Gavin swiped dirt from his eyes and pulled me down the long underground hallway toward the door that led up and out, into the beautiful sea of green toward Samira’s castle. There were no words, no time for any exchanges, only rapid action to reach our next destination.

Sure enough, those left of the resistance charged the tunnel behind us as each dropped from the portal hole, rushing with us to the door at the end of the passage, Arianna, Gabe, and Audrey thankfully among them. The candlelight flickered, casting an eerie glow through the underground walkway. Our friends coughed to expel the water and dirt from their noses and throats. I wondered how many more times I’d have to cross through that dreaded portal, the one that always seemed to throw my life into full-on crisis mode, bringing with it a multitude of dangers and certainly no guarantees.

That musing halted when Gavin cracked the jagged door wide open, and it welcomed us with a cascade of gloomy sunlight and a dust-ridden cloud of air. Once outside, Gavin and I stepped aside with Arianna, Gabe, and Audrey, while the other frozen souls poured past us and into flight, up and above the vibrant maze toward the castle.

I turned to my friends. “What the hell is going on? Did I just imagine that, or did all of those witches just …
turn
on Gérard? How is that possible?”

“No idea.” Arianna grabbed hold of my forearm and pulled me into an embrace. “My God, I thought I was going to lose you there for a second.” She squeezed me tight, her breathing as shaky as mine. “All I know is, they saved our asses and bought us some time.”

“Not much,” Gavin said, sizing up the frozen souls as they flew in droves over our heads. When their trail seemed to dissipate, he turned and swiftly slammed the portal hole’s door shut behind us. Not that it would deter Gérard, but I could tell it made Gavin feel better to shut it.

“You’re right,” Arianna said, glancing over at Audrey and Gabe, who were leaning against the green labyrinth wall, still catching their human breaths. Gabe nodded and gently helped Audrey straighten up. “Gav, you take Aud. Lover boy,” Arianna pointed to Gabe, “you’re with me. Cam, you lead the way.”

“Right away boss,” Gavin quipped, kissing me on the cheek before scooping Audrey up. Arianna and Gabe locked into a tight embrace and I shot from the ground, glancing behind to see them follow my lead. We soared over the maze and emerald-green hills toward the castle, its cathedral’s shadow stretching out and covering a patch of bright green before us, where throngs of Samira’s monstrous guards awaited us. We landed gracefully, albeit the adrenaline rush, sending grateful nods to the resistance as they parted to let us through. Gavin and Arianna remained at my side, keeping tight rein on Gabe and Audrey.

“Go ahead, baby,” Gavin said, encouraging me forward through the sea of monsters. It was the strangest feeling, to be spurred ahead by him, when I knew exactly how concerned he was for my safety. Yet I knew why he was doing this: He believed in me, in this, whatever my role was in this production. He didn’t need to say it, and that thought sent my heart reeling. With a warm glance in his direction, I turned toward the wall of guards stationed at the front of the moat, where they begrudgingly rotated their formation to lead us inside. We crept forward, the resistance on our heels, through the bizarre rose conservatory and into the main foyer.

The tall wooden doors opened to reveal Samira seated comfortably at her throne.

This meeting felt instantly different from our prior confrontations. Her relaxed demeanor didn’t fool me, though. The moment her eyes landed on mine, my energy-reading radar went on red alert, the burning sensations stinging the sides of my temples like tiny electric shocks. I winced. Gavin caught my elbow at the sign of my pain.

“Cam?” he whispered, moving closer.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Blinking and returning my focus to the statuesque queen before us, I vaguely wondered how I was able to read her well-disguised anxiety. Hadn’t she told Gavin that her magic prevented that ability the last time we were here, when she assumed he’d been trying to read her desires? And the day Gérard drained me, Gavin only mentioned that Gérard was able to drain whomever he wished because of who he was—another reason reading Samira’s energy seemed even more unlikely: who was I to be able to read this all-powerful hybrid creator’s energy?

That vague wonder transitioned into a desperate curiosity.

The last time we were here, in this very throne room, asking her to join us in our mission to destroy Gérard, I’d had a hunch that Gavin’s suggestion to form an alliance was a good one. I’d silently encouraged that idea while he challenged her with it, somehow sensing she was unsettled, and that although she would never admit to it, agreeing to the alliance would help diffuse her fear.

I stalled in my tracks, my friends pausing behind me as I planted myself in front of the throne steps. Gavin and Arianna were speaking to me, but their voices were muffled as the memories bombarded me: of the innate empathy I’d harbored for Samira, even before I’d become a frozen soul. When Vivienne and Gavin had shared her history with me, I’d considered the idea that we should somehow try to see things from her point of view, sympathize in some way. It came so naturally, to feel compassion for her. And yet I stuffed that feeling down, forced myself to extinguish it because I knew no matter how natural it felt, it was downright crazy.

Samira stood, carefully clasping her hands together in front of her gown. “Arianna, I’m so glad to see you again—”

“We have news,” Arianna cut her off. “And not much time. My father will be here any second. Hurry, Camille. Tell her.”

Before I could open my mouth, I buckled over from the pain in my forehead; Samira’s fear was flying off the charts. “Samira,” I spit out, allowing Arianna and Gavin to hold me up. “Stop, stop!”

“Leave her alone!” Gavin shouted at Samira, latching onto me.

“What are you doing to her, Mother?” Arianna cried.

“I am not doing anything, my child.” Samira’s eyes flared, bouncing between the three of us in confusion.

I forced my gaze up to meet her, gritting my teeth. This was unlike the little boy—my beacon—unlike my mother, and the earlier fiery pains. This was intense, too intense. “I know it’s hard, but I need you to calm down. I can read your fear, can feel it.”

“You what?” Arianna and Gavin said in unison, their heads snapping in my direction.

“Samira,” I squeezed my eyes tighter, “I know you’re afraid of Gérard, but I need you to relax so I can think clearly.”

“Camille?” Gavin put his mouth to my ear. “What’s going on—?”

“You heard her, Mother!” Arianna shouted. “Relax, because we don’t have much time. You need to focus.”

Slowly, the pain unraveled in delicate, concentrated layers. Straightening up and keeping my gaze on Samira, I could tell she was working exceedingly hard to rein in her anxiety. Nothing but pure shock registered on her face at the realization that I could, in fact, read her energy. A glance at Gavin and each of my friends told me they felt the same way.