The Tragedy of Knowledge (20 page)

“Ladies, I’d like you to meet Isadora. She’ll be my new queen.”

Scarlet gasped, spinning back around to face Gérard. “You … you
used
me! You bastard!”

“Oh come now, honey.” Gérard strolled down the throne steps to stand next to me. Isadora waltzed past Scarlet to join him, taking his hand with a smug smile. “Think of all I’ve taught you, all the fun we’ve had. You picked up a few conjure lessons, traveled the world, and now … helped assist me in building my new kingdom. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a ritual to attend to, and then Isa and I will be on our way to our new realm once this one is destroyed. The sight of this place is such a bore.”

Their new
what?
I couldn’t contain my gasp, and neither could Scarlet.

Her eyes darting around wildly, she began to stutter. “This isn’t … no. No, this isn’t happening. You couldn’t possibly … you
wouldn’t
!”

Gérard didn’t respond, only positioned himself behind me and slipped an arm around my neck, tipping the potion bottle to his lips to drink. My eyes snapped shut at his nearness and he began to chant in my ear, in a language I couldn’t understand and one I was sure I didn’t want to.

“No!” Scarlet shrieked, dashing toward him. Isa stepped back in surprise, but Scarlet didn’t get far. An invisible shield stopped her before she reached us, and she cried out again, her anger sprouting higher at the obstacle.

My eyes flew open again, frantically scanning the floor for the box of matches. It was too late. Soon Samira’s power would be gone. That, I couldn’t control. But before Gérard did away with me, I still had a role to play. The book ordained it. I’d have to beat him at his own game.

Scarlet’s hollering echoed through the room. She banged tirelessly on the invisible barrier, letting it take the brunt of her rage, and the walls began to crack again, the witches behind her repeating Gérard’s chant. He continued to keep me tight beneath his grip, encasing me against his warm, hard chest, and I swallowed, waiting for the right time to dart away and grab the matches. I’d have seconds if I were lucky.

The rear doors were blown open and Dali and Akim blasted into the room, Samira gliding in behind them, her body levitating from the ground. She zoned in on Gérard, then Scarlet, and finally, the woman in white who was now standing patiently at Gérard’s side. I squirmed under Gérard’s grasp as his chanting grew louder. The walls around us shook and sent clouds of dust around our feet.

Gérard’s head snapped in Dali and Akim’s direction but he continued to work his magic, his words gaining steam, flowing quicker from his lips. Samira, Dali and Akim were thrown backward, landing flat on their backs, but they recovered instantly, flipping to their feet and joining hands. Shooting gazes in the witches’ direction, they began a chant of their own, Samira breaking free from their link to send a blast of light toward them. The witches let loose a unified, shriveled scream, and as it erupted, Samira was once again thrown back and off her feet. Dali and Akim eyed the witches with fierce determination as they struggled to maintain their chant, and a guttural growl began to brew at my ear, breaking through Gérard’s words.

The beam of light Samira had directed toward the witches reappeared and Dali and Akim manipulated it with their fingers, locking it on them, and then harnessing and pushing it toward Gérard, causing him to jolt and wail in fury. His arms loosened on me, and I didn’t waste the opportunity. I dashed left, where I’d spotted the matchbox, and then leaped to the altar in search of something to start the fire with, my fingers skittering over the table for something, anything.

A glance over my shoulder revealed Samira, Dali and Akim, banded together at the foot of the throne in front of Gérard, still linked to the witches’ beam of light, their fingertips shooting the light’s rays straight into his chest as they closed in on him. The witches’ arms and fingers twitched behind them as Dali, Akim and Samira took over their magic.

My head was about to snap back to the altar when the front doors slammed open and a herd of bodies poured in, a mixture of surviving Amaranthians and an influx of frozen-soul guards, all crashing into the witches’ backs, forcing them forward, on Samira’s heels. My heart twisted in my chest when I spotted Arianna, Gavin and Josh, charging forward with the crowd, armed with an array of silver daggers. Still no sign of Audrey and Gabe.

The Book of the Ancients warmed my back and I jumped, ripping the backpack from my arms and dragging it out to set it on the altar. The pages flapped violently, revealing the last page, and a golden illustration sprang up and began to paint a near-blinding arrow that pointed toward the rear doors. My gaze shot to them.

Erica, Gabe and Audrey pummeled through the doorway, and Erica’s eyes immediately found mine. Tears pricked my eyelids at the sight of my friends, who I’d thought I’d never see again. Dali, Samira and Akim continued to war with the witches’ magic at the front of the throne, and the hordes of bodies that had filled the room were now partaking in one massive brawl, the remaining Amaranthians and members of the resistance grappling with the guards while ghastly apparitions leaked from the cracks in the walls, charging down into the crowd to join the battle.

I backed up against the altar and gripped its sides in terror when the cracks in the walls deepened, unleashing even more spirits from their depths. The ghouls descended into the battle in droves, drifting into bodies of the resistance and possessing them, turning them on their own kind one by one, infusing their pupils with the same red glow that filled the witches’ eyes. Isa was cowered behind the throne chair, curled up, chest heaving in panic, and Scarlet, no longer caught behind the invisible barrier Gérard had put in place, dueled with the guards herself, throwing fierce strikes with her dagger. I had no idea who she was fighting for this time, but by the look of vengeance on her face, I guessed it wasn’t Gérard.

All of the commotion made for an unnoticed entrance for Erica, Gabe and Audrey, and I struggled to return my gaze to them as they slipped along the back wall and up to the altar to meet me.

Samira’s voice broke amidst the room’s chaos. “Camille!” She wrestled the light in one hand and wrenched a small bottle from her corset with the other. “Now!” Pitching the bottle at Gérard’s feet, it shattered and released a shiny, oily-looking liquid. With her free hand, she used her magic to spread it into a ring around him, and I flipped open the matchbox and darted down the stairs to reach that circle.

Gérard roared at the sight, and static shocked the rays of light, causing a power bump in Samira, Dali and Akim’s magic. The bump resonated all the way to the line of witches behind them, and the witches stumbled back a few feet. Gérard thrust his forearms forward and sent a bomb of magic toward them, blasting them off their feet and farther back, into the heart of the room’s combat. He surged forward and lifted Samira from the ground with his power. Fearing what might happen if they came face-to-face, I lit the match and tossed it to the ground.

The circle around him ignited, the flames rising and spreading wildly around the ring, trapping him inside. He shouted and tried to dash through it to reach Samira, but it ricocheted him back, sending him to the ground. I heard my name again and snapped my head around. Erica was rushing down the throne stairs to meet me, the Book of the Ancients in one hand, a dagger in the other. Her hair whipped around her face as she pointed to the illuminated page and I took it from her, studying each line and groove in the illustration.

This time there were words, smooth and simple, lighting up across blots of blood. The blood poured from an image of a shattered bottle and spread and saturated the page, the words still just visible beneath its color:
A drop of loyal blood before it’s too late
.

I glanced up to find Erica’s eyes locked on mine, her hand dragging her dagger across her palm. Gabe and Audrey rushed up from behind her with a bottle from the altar and she grabbed it, at once filling it with drops of her blood. Before either of us could say a word, she raced down the throne steps and chucked the bottle of blood into the fiery circle, where it smashed next to Gérard’s heels. His frenzied eyes widened, and his uproar’s vibrations could be felt from the tips of our fingers to the soles of our feet. He charged forward again, attempting to penetrate the fiery barrier, but it was no use.

His power was already diminishing, the evidence scattered across the room.

The apparitions began to fade, their banshee cries screeching in the air as they vanished, and the reanimated witches’ bodies sagged to the ground, their eyes’ red glow dulling to a faint orange. I gripped the Book of the Ancients tighter and glanced down at it, euphoric at the realization that we’d completed two parts of the spell, and that meant one thing: there was only one part remaining to finally annihilate Gérard’s reign.

A sacrifice of will awaits

The last one standing behind the gates

12

OMEGA

“A sacrifice of will, what does that mean?” I shouted, turning to face Erica, Gabe and Audrey.

“Camille!” Dali’s voice echoed over Gérard’s roars from where he linked hands with Akim and Samira, eyes darting between me and the circle of fire in front of him. “Any day now would be lovely!”

I glanced down at the book again in frustration, waiting for the next illustration to light up and guide the way, but nothing appeared next to the golden arrow. Next to me, Erica screamed when frozen souls from the resistance and handfuls of guards began to take over the altar platform, moving up the throne stairs toward us, fighting one another as they did. Daggers were lodged into torsos, chests and necks, strikes and kicks thrown in every direction. Erica snatched Gabe and Audrey’s hands and yanked them beneath the altar for cover. “Hurry, Camille, what does it say?” she yelled, covering her head.

“Nothing!” I shook it and grabbed my knives from my belt, tossing the book to the floor. Combat couldn’t wait. I caught a glimpse of Samira, Dali and Akim. Their eyes were shut, the light they’d been manipulating reappearing and growing brighter as they resumed their hold on Gérard. The circle’s fire flared as their power grew, but I could tell by the struggle on their faces they wouldn’t be able to hold him for much longer. The witches were lost in the shuffle in the center of the room, and as I scanned the floor for my friends, a guard slammed into me from the left, and then another, until I was taking them both on, my arms and daggers swinging from side to side in calculated swipes. One hand plunged a dagger into one’s chest, and the other into another’s thigh, my head ducking as one of the assailants retaliated, taking aim at my neck. I backed up and crashed into another enemy, and he spun around to take a stab at me, his strike even and focused. I dodged him and planted my boot into his midsection, then delivered a swift thrust into his heart with my dagger, just as Gavin had taught me. Smoke sizzled from his chest and the blade lodged deep, forcing me to yank and pull hard to release it.

Gavin’s voice appeared from behind me, and then Arianna’s.

“Camille, on your left!” he yelled.

“I got your right!” she hollered.

They saddled up to my sides and their knives smashed into the attackers while I confronted another who’d snuck up on me from behind. The three of us were now back-to-back, forming a small circle, knees bent and arms out, eyes darting everywhere. Frozen souls soared above us, pouncing and pummeling their enemies below, and Scarlet had swooped down in flight to attack Isa, first sinking her fangs into her neck and then shoving her blade tight into her side. Isa dropped to the ground in a pool of blood and Scarlet stared down at her in rage, nostrils flaring and stance like stone.

“The book!” Audrey shrieked from beneath the altar, pointing to the Book of the Ancients on the floor. She crawled out from beneath the table and scooped it up, squinting as its bright, golden light came to life. Josh appeared at the far side of the altar, charging a group of guards, but I didn’t dare let my sight linger on him for long. I darted and crouched near the altar’s edge to meet Audrey, Gavin and Arianna launching full force into another attack, their blades clacking and colliding with the enemy’s blades while they continued to maneuver back-to-back.

“A sacrifice of will awaits, the last one standing behind the gates,” Audrey read the words aloud to me as they danced across the last page. “Damn it, we know this already!” She threw her hands up in the air, shaking her head and flipping the pages. A shadow descended upon her, causing her head to snap upward and her eyes to bulge, her sight glued to something behind me.

“Cam …” she choked, raising her finger to point at the shadow. I swallowed and turned, raising my gaze, then gasping and rising to my feet.

A cloudy, near-transparent apparition stood before me, the outline of its body fading in and out as it hovered off the ground. I’d recognize those discerning dark eyes anywhere.

“Vivienne,” I mouthed, voice barely a whisper.

“It’s called a sacrifice for a reason, nah, child,” she said, her lips bunching, accentuating those familiar, faint wrinkles around her mouth. The sound of her voice was thin and distant, yet clear, each word that rolled from her lips annunciated and distinct. “It is the final retaliation of Gérard’s magic against those who wish to defeat him, his last opportunity to exert control over his creations.”