“I won’t let you take them,” I swore. “You know what happened in Kyoto. If the Lost couldn’t defeat me, what chance do you think a bunch of monks will have?”
The shadows that surrounded Rhône’s face faded away to reveal the stern features of a man that had led a dangerous and painful life. Scars crisscrossed his cheeks, and an eyepatch covered his left eye socket. The right side of his mouth was pulled up into an ugly sneer by a wormy pink scar that crawled from his lip back to his temple. His unscarred skin was covered in a network of wrinkles and pockets of gray stubble that made him look far more than simply old. His unwavering stare was cold and deadly.
“I’ve seen things you can’t even imagine, boy,” the inquisitor said. “You have until the end of the year. Save those you can. The rest are mine.”
My stomach tightened into a painful knot, and my knuckles cracked as my fists clenched. Anger and frustration boiled inside me, a toxic brew that poisoned my thoughts. An old glimmer of my Eclipse nature clawed its way to the surface. It wanted me to strike out at the man in front of me. He had more experience, but he wasn’t strong. My serpents would rip the aspects from his aura, and my pure fusion blade would—
No. None of that would happen. Starting a war with the Church wouldn’t solve this problem. The only answer was to teach my students everything I could and hope they found a path that would lead them to heal their cores.
“Never come to my class again.” My voice was as cold and hard as the stone that surrounded us.
“Very well.” The Rhône bowed to me, then crossed his arms at his waist and backed away. “You won’t see me again until the end of the school year.
“But I’ll be watching you.
“Always.”
The War
TIME SLOWED TO A CRAWL after Inquisitor Rhône’s surprise visit to my classroom. I kept expecting him to reappear at any moment, his scarred face peering at me through a veil of shadows. It was a constant struggle to hide my worry from the hollows. Adding stress to their already confusing lives wouldn’t help any of us. The best I could do was to remain calm, train them to the best of my ability, and urge them to push themselves harder and further than they’d thought possible.
They could heal their cores. But they had to find their own paths. If I pushed them to become Eclipse Warriors, they might share my fate. I promised myself I’d do everything I could to help them avoid falling into that trap.
Unless we ran out of time. I wouldn’t let Atlantis have them.
Hagar didn’t return before winter break. I checked her room several times a day, hoping that she’d return with news from our clan elders. But, when she didn’t materialize, I knew I was on my own. If I wanted answers, I’d have to go and get them.
I rose bright and early on the first day of winter break and rounded up the hollows from the initiates dormitory. We shared breakfast together, then headed down to our secluded classroom, where I gave each of the students another vial of jinsei from our supplies.
“You can do whatever you want with the first vial I gave you. This one is for your training,” I told them. “Drink a little and hold it in your core for as long as you can. I want you to understand what it feels like to have pure jinsei inside you. After lunch, Hahen will come down with more tainted sacred energy for you to purify, and you can use what you purify from that to keep practicing and strengthening your core. We need a large supply of it to help you all advance.”
“How can we advance without healing our cores?” Christina asked.
“Everyone said it was impossible for me to survive here,” I said with a shrug. “Look how that turned out. Do your best. That’s all anyone can ask. You’ll find it’s usually enough.”
The students didn’t seem to agree with me on that, and I didn’t have time to argue with them. Hahen would whip them into shape if anyone could, and I needed to speak with my clan elders.
I’d once tracked Hagar to a secret meeting room in the School. I willed myself to retrace the steps that eventually led me up a narrow, crooked staircase to a heavy wooden door. I gave it a sharp knock with my knuckles, and when no one answered, pushed it open. To my surprise, it swung inward easily, and I found myself in a room that looked nothing like the one I’d remembered. The last time I’d been there, the circular chamber had been entirely empty. Now, it was filled with machinery that hissed and groaned, shooting sparks of jinsei into the air. The door swung closed behind me and settled into its frame with a faint thump that was almost entirely drowned out by the sounds of the surrounding machines.
“Great,” I grumbled to myself. I hadn’t been sure what I’d do once I reached the secret meeting chamber, and I certainly wasn’t any clearer on the subject now. Somehow, Hagar had used this room to contact our clan’s elders. I’d hoped it would be obvious how I could do the same.
No such luck.
I studied the auras that surrounded the machines and split them into four groups based on what I found. The first group swarmed with aspects of listening and awareness, as well as notes of distance and focus. Though I had no idea how they operated, those were clearly listening devices of some sort. They could be radios, I guessed, though the awareness and focus
