“I’d be careful with that thing,” he said. “You could take someone’s eye out.”
They were the first words he had spoken, and his accent threw me. It was Scottish, but it wasn’t. Another twang hid in there, though I couldn’t figure it out.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t send you back to Hell,” I demanded.
“Only one? I can give you a thousand.” He smirked.
He began to move, and I forced my blade towards his face, but he ducked, avoiding the blow too fast for my liking. I pirouetted, arcing a full three-sixty degrees, only to slam my sword on the other side of the chimney stack, blocking his path again.
“Okay, okay,” he said, holding up his hands as silver sparks danced across the roof.
“Start. Talking.”
“I’ve got no fight with you, Natural, but I can’t be caught here.”
I narrowed my eyes, my gaze piercing his Darkness. That’s when I saw it—something I recognised from a long time ago. I knew what to look for, because I’d had the same thing growing inside me—a mutation. “You’re not entirely Dark.”
He smirked. “Takes one to know one.”
I hesitated, and that split-second gave him an opening to strike.
He pushed me backwards with a pulse of Darkness and wrenched my blade from my hand. My boot slipped on the tiled roof and I was falling.
Air rushed past me and I let go of my Light, the burst of energy softening the blow as I landed flat on my back in the garden. My sword speared the ground next to my head, the blade imbedding so close, I felt the breeze flutter against my cheek. My heart leapt into my throat and I pushed to my feet, cursing.
Son of a…
I wrenched my arondight blade free and took off after the man. I was not letting him get away.
Human Convergence was dead. It’d ended forever the night the rift had closed. Scarlett and Wilder—the Twin Flames—had killed Mordred, the source of all demonic mutations, and we’d been cured. We’d been cured.
I jumped off the end of the row of terrace houses and landed on the footpath of Islington High Street. I stood on the corner, watching as a red double-decker bus zoomed past, and threw my hands into the air.
The man was gone.
2
The Light and the Dark. Capitals and all.
The Light was the power wielded by the Naturals, handed down by the celestial being known to us as the Lady of the Lake. Who she was or where she’d gone to, was unknown.
The Dark was the essence that made up all demonic life. Where it came from was a mystery. The only truths known were that the Dark had swept over countless parallel universes, consuming and destroying all life in its path. When Camelot was torn apart by the celestial power held within the swords Arondight and Excalibur, they had unknowingly opened the way to let them through.
Since Arondight and Excalibur had been reborn into two Natural warriors—Scarlett and Wilder—the balance had tipped in the Light’s favour. They’d closed the rift, defeated the One—the leader of all demon-kind—and the world was now recovering from eight hundred years of war.
Still, the reality of who we were and what we still faced was hidden from humanity, as it always had been, which was why I was now standing in front of the leader of the Naturals.
The Inquisitor. Wilder Pendragon, aka Excalibur himself.
I felt my cheeks heat as he glared at me. So, it wasn’t the friendly reunion I’d been hoping for, but at least I got to see him, right?
Famous last words.
“I read your report,” he said, his voice echoing through the empty assembly chamber.
“Yes, uh…” I didn’t know what to call him anymore. Wilder, Mr. Pendragon, Excalibur…sir.
“Abandoning your partner, following a demon into a crowded area, confronting it.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked tired, and it might’ve been the fact that he was the Argent Flame—silver by nature—but he had more grey hairs than the last time I saw him. All the bureaucracy must weigh him down. “And you lost your cloak.”
“It must have been when the demon burned,” I said. “I uh… I didn’t notice I was uncloaked before that.”
The Inquisitor grunted, unimpressed. “You didn’t notice?”
I shook my head. Sheepish had nothing on how I felt.
“Fortunately for you, no one saw anything,” he went on. “All those humans saw was a woman sprawled on the floor.”
“How do you know?”
“Romy and Alo were in the vicinity. They arrived at the scene not long after you left and cleaned up your mess.”
I didn’t know what was worse—being torn to shreds by the Inquisitor or disappointing your hero’s best friends. Scarlett was going to find out what I’d done eventually and…and nothing.
I hadn’t seen or spoken to Scarlett Ravenwood—aka Arondight—for almost a year. She was off being all important and didn’t have any time for me anymore. Even my parents were out of communication range.
Wilder’s brow furrowed. “What’s going on with you, Madeleine?”
I asked myself the same question daily.
After I’d graduated and became a Natural warrior, things were great…for a while. Soon it became clear my past was going to be a hurdle too high for some people to overcome.
While a senior at the Academy, an Infernal infected by Human Convergence had possessed me—the Dark’s attempt at creating an army out of humanity—and mutated me to the point I’d almost lost my Light. It’d all been a plot to bring down a horde of demons on the Academy to destroy the entire next generation of Natural warriors.
Scarlett and everyone told me the attack wasn’t my fault, but how could I believe them? I’d been stupid enough to get myself compromised. I’d opened the metaphoric door and let
