Fated

movement. Violence isn’t in her nature. She was lost here, out of her depth, and I knew her instincts were telling her to flee. One word and she’d take me with her.

‘Sorry, Starbreeze,’ I told her. ‘I can’t run this time.’ I pulled up the hood of my mist cloak and disappeared into the shadows.

As I circled the room, I reached out with all my senses, keeping tabs on the other mages. Onyx was watching and waiting, a spider in his web. Rachel and Cinder were creeping around towards him, and as far as I could tell Onyx hadn’t spotted them. I knew I wouldn’t see Thirteen until she struck, so I didn’t waste time worrying about her. Most of my attention was focused on Luna and Griff. Once I’d circled far enough I stepped into the open, trusting to my mist cloak and my magic to keep me unseen.

I could make out the outline of the fateweaver through the barrier, and for the first time in days, I was calm. All my decisions were made. I would take the fateweaver and use it. If I succeeded, Luna and I would live. If I failed, both of us would die. As I walked softly forward, I wondered if Abithriax was watching us, pieces on the chessboard all fighting for the same prize.

My circling had taken me behind Griff, and as I crept across the open stone I could see that he was focused on Luna. ‘Put the cube in,’ he ordered.

‘I don’t know which!’

There was the thud of a blow landing, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I heard Luna gasp. ‘Figure it out,’ Griff said.

‘I don’t know!’

Another thud, and Luna cried out. I sped up, pushing the limits of how fast I could safely move. Griff knelt down next to Luna, giving me a clear view of her. Luna’s lip was cut, drops of blood staining her skin. She looked up at Griff, afraid, but Griff’s voice when he spoke was suddenly gentle. ‘Luna,’ he said. ‘I really don’t have anything against you. You’re obviously in over your head here, and it looks to me like you don’t have any idea what you’re dealing with.’ Griff looked at her, his voice steady. ‘But you see, I need that barrier opened, and if you can’t do it, you’re no use to me. So I’m just going to keep hurting you until you try.’

‘You said it’d kill me if I pick the wrong one!’

Griff raised his eyebrows. ‘Then you’d better make sure you get it right.’

I’d covered half of the distance to the centre. Across the room, I could sense Rachel and Cinder closing in. Onyx hadn’t moved. Luna was lying awkwardly on the stone chains that trapped her, breathing quickly.

Then Luna’s head came up, and I caught my breath at the look in her eyes. ‘I always hated my magic,’ Luna said quietly. ‘It’s taken away my life. But it’s what I am. It’s part of me and I’m not hiding from it any more.’ She stared up at Griff and spoke softly and clearly. ‘Die.’

I felt something shift, and I realised that all of a sudden I could actually feel Luna’s curse radiating from Griff, an aura of doom that was almost tangible. I reached the dais, swift and silent, as Griff looked down at Luna and the futures flickered and changed.

Then the futures settled as Griff made his decision. ‘You know,’ he said, and his voice was quite calm, ‘you don’t need to be healthy to use that cube. You just need to be alive.’

I saw then what Griff was going to do. Normal people, when something bad happens, get to tell themselves that they couldn’t have known. Diviners don’t. I knew what Griff was about to do, and I knew that if I tried to stop him he would swat me like a fly.

I held still.

Griff broke Luna’s wrist.

Luna’s scream was physically painful, like knives scraping down my spine. Griff waited for it to trail away into sobbing, then spoke again. ‘Try the cube.’

‘I-I-I—’

‘Try the cube.’

‘I won’t. I won’t. I—’

There was the sharp crack of another bone and Luna screamed again, a heartbreaking sound. I clenched my fists, a fine tremor going down my arms. ‘Try the cube,’ Griff repeated.

Luna only sobbed.

Griff made an exasperated noise, and I felt him channelling earth magic. I couldn’t see what he was doing; the pedestal was in the way. All I could see was the faint brown glow. Then Luna shrieked, and kept on shrieking. It was ear-splitting, but underneath it I could hear a grinding, scraping noise, like rock grating against rock. Griff spoke again, but this time I couldn’t make out his words. I dug my hands into the stone until they bled. I knew Cinder and Rachel were right on top of Onyx’s hiding place. Come on, I prayed, come on, come on, come on—

There was a roar and a flash of flame. The glow from the other side of the pedestal snapped out, and Luna went silent. Griff whirled, searching for the noise, and for an instant his back was to me. It was long enough.

Griff felt me coming. You don’t catch a battle mage totally off guard, no matter how quick you are. He was turning back towards me when I reached him, a shield of energy coming up to block my attack, but I wasn’t using a weapon. I slammed into him in a bull rush, and as I did I felt Luna’s curse suddenly take, hard. Looking into the future, it was as if every strand but one was extinguished. The one strand that led to Griff’s fate pulsed brightly, becoming real.

Griff staggered backwards, off balance, on the edge of falling but not quite going over. He kept going far further than he should have, and was halfway across the room before he came to a halt.

The shadows around Griff moved. Onyx strode out to his right, Rachel to his left, Cinder behind. The three Dark mages formed a triangle with Griff at the centre. Sea-green light flowed at Rachel’s hands; fire burned around Cinder’s. Onyx showed nothing at all. All three noticed Griff at the same time, and turned to stare at him.

Griff looked up, and there was just enough time for his eyes to go wide. ‘Oh, shi—’