Fated

Starbreeze set me down behind one of the columns, hidden in the darkness. As I scanned the area I felt other presences. We weren’t alone.

‘Alex,’ Starbreeze whispered.

‘I know,’ I said quietly. I peered around the column. Griff and Luna were on the dais at the centre, just visible in the gloom. Luna was standing stiffly upright, as if she was being held, and Griff was close. Too close. There was a small cage of force over the pedestal’s surface, and something was inside it.

‘Men,’ Starbreeze whispered.

‘I know,’ I said again. Griff and Luna weren’t the only ones here. I could sense three more: two hiding in the columns to the left, and one opposite. A moment later, I knew who they were. Cinder and Rachel to the left, and Onyx up ahead. From where they were standing, they could see Griff and Luna, but they couldn’t see each other.

‘Three more,’ I whispered to Starbreeze.

Starbreeze shook her head vigorously. ‘No!’

‘What?’

‘Another.’ Starbreeze pointed towards the ceiling.

I looked up and saw nothing. I scanned the area and again found nothing … and then had a sinking feeling as I realised who it was. ‘Oh. Right. Her.’

‘She’s wrong.’

‘You can feel her?’

Starbreeze shivered. ‘Wrong.’ She swept in a tight circle, looking distressed. I looked into the futures in which I moved forward towards the dais, getting a closer look.

The pedestal on the dais was three feet high, and resting on it was a plain, slim, ivory-coloured wand. A cube of unbreakable force topped the pedestal, just barely visible against the darkness. A moment later, I saw why Griff hadn’t opened it. On the rim of the pedestal, just outside the force barrier, were square holders exactly the right size and shape to place Luna’s cube into, just like the one at the entrance. Three of them.

Griff was up on the dais. He was holding Luna’s arm twisted up behind her back, forcing her onto tiptoes. ‘Think harder,’ he was saying.

‘I don’t know!’

I focused on Griff with my mage’s sight and saw that the silvery mist of Luna’s curse was crammed in so brightly around him that he looked like a searchlight, the glow so intense that it actually made it hard to see. I’d never seen the curse so concentrated, and more and more was pouring in. Griff twisted Luna’s arm a little higher, and she gasped; the silvery mist flowing from her into Griff seemed to intensify. ‘Think harder,’ Griff said again.

‘I don’t know!’ Luna’s voice was high, laced with pain. ‘How could I know? I’ve never been here!’

Griff pushed Luna sprawling to the floor. He lifted a hand, and pale brown energy glowed. The stone of the dais flowed and reshaped itself into chains, locking around Luna’s ankles and binding her to the foot of the pedestal. ‘Well, then,’ he said calmly. ‘We’ve got a problem.’

I snapped back to the present. ‘I’m going to get her.’

Starbreeze looked upset. ‘No!’

I shook my head. ‘Let’s go,’ Starbreeze urged. ‘Away.’

‘Griff’s going to kill her.’

Starbreeze shrugged.

‘You don’t care. I know.’ I looked at Starbreeze. ‘But I do. I need you to send a message. Whispering wind.’

‘Who?’

‘Cinder and Rachel. The two over there.’ I pointed, then leaned close and whispered into Starbreeze’s ear. ‘Cinder, Deleo. It’s Alex Verus. Onyx is waiting in ambush behind the column at the north side of the chamber, ten pillars to the left of where you are now. He’s expecting you to come from the middle.’

There was a moment’s silence as Starbreeze carried the message, then a whisper floated back. ‘Verus, you bastard! How the hell are you still alive?’

I smiled. ‘Hi, Cinder. Before you ask, we’ve still got a common enemy.’

‘You think we owe you anything?’

I didn’t reply. After a second, I heard Rachel’s voice through the whispering wind. ‘Is he moving? ’

‘No.’

‘Tell us if he does.’

Then silence. Starbreeze looked at me. ‘Gone.’

I nodded and started to plan my course.

‘Alex!’

I turned to see Starbreeze floating in the air, gazing at me imploringly. She looked miserable, and even with everything else, I felt a sudden stab of pity. Starbreeze is a creature of whim and freedom and ever-changing