“He said there was enough power left in there to activate it.” I held up the cantrip in my hand. “I have the cure. I thought you lost the battle. This place was empty…”
“Hawker fled,” Ryan said. “Along with what was left of his army.”
“So did Roth,” I said. “He hopped through the transporter. Lex was in a bad way, but she’s probably run back to the house by now.”
“Adair did the same,” Miles said. “Once the sprites had finished picking at him, anyway. We’d have gone after him, but I was worried when I couldn’t find you. I ran into Ryan…”
“I was on my way from the Death King’s castle,” Ryan said, holding up a cantrip. “Got this from Devon.”
“It’s a magical neutraliser which will block the node,” Miles said in explanation. “It should be enough to cut off the link with London.”
“Damn, nice going,” I said. “So—r”
“Ah, shit.” Miles looked down at his hand, which had begun to break out in blisters.
“Dammit.” I grabbed for the cantrip in the slot on the machine, tugging it out with my fingers, but the damage was already done. Ryan’s face had begun to blister, too. They’d already been exposed to the virus.
With frantic movements, I turned to the cantrip Tay had given me and flicked the switch on the side of it. When I thrust it into Miles’s hands, the marks began to fade immediately. I then grabbed Ryan’s hand and did the same, releasing a relieved sigh when the rash vanished from their palms.
“Thanks,” said the Air Element. “Damn. I didn’t see anyone outside, but if they were out while that cantrip was active…”
“I know,” I said, with a grimace. “But even if not, anyone who picks up any of those cantrips in the streets is liable to fall under the same effects. I’ll do it.”
I shoved the cure cantrip into the side of the machine, but the light was dead. It had powered down. Worse, the blisters were creeping onto my own hand. I slammed my palm onto the button which turned on the machine, but to no avail.
“It’s dead?” said Ryan.
I swore. “I can’t turn on the machine without a power source, and Roth… he hinted that it’s powered by life energy. Human or sprites. But there’s nobody here but us.”
“Did you say sprites?” Dex flew up to me. “There’s a few of us here.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You sure?” Miles said. “I don’t think they have to be trapped in a cage to power the transporter.”
Not like I had anything to lose by asking. “Okay, Dex. Can you check with the others?”
He flitted over to another transparent figure hovering in the corner, and a glowing water sprite zipped over to join us. “You want us to power the machine?”
“Only if you don’t mind,” I added. “I need a power source to activate the cure for the virus. It won’t help the people who’ve already died, but it’ll stop anyone else getting hurt and give them time to get those cantrips off the streets. Can any of you lend a hand? I promise I won’t hurt you.”
“Don’t worry,” Dex told the sprites, several of whom had gathered to listen. “We can trust her.”
The group of sprites grew larger, gathering above the glowing machinery. Magic spun around them, forming a kind of shield which ignited the buttons on the machine almost immediately. Bolstered, I hit the button again. The instant I did so, the air ignited with magic.
The blisters faded from my hand. As the cantrip’s effects spread, I noticed Tay had fallen to the ground, the effects of Lex’s magic finally giving out. It was too late to save her, but with her final moments, she’d saved countless lives.
Now we had to make her sacrifice count.
“We have to get the rest of those cantrips off the streets,” I said. “Once we do, we’ll bury them where they can’t be found. Then we’ll put in that neutraliser spell of yours, all right?”
“I’ll hang onto it,” Ryan offered. “Once we put it in here, we’ll have to leave it there in case Hawker’s people come back.”
So they’d survived. “It’s not over, then.”
“No, it isn’t over, but you still saved everyone,” said Miles.
My eyes burned with tears as I looked at Tay’s body. “She’s the one who gave me the cure. She saved us all, in the end.”
24
Upon our eventual return to the Spirit Agents’ base, we burned Tay’s body along with the others whose lives had been lost in the battle. I knew she would have preferred it that way. She’d hated the idea of being buried, and it seemed fitting to scatter her ashes in the city where the two of us had made our home.
The other Elemental Soldiers didn’t kick up a fuss about me staying behind for her cremation rather than joining them back at the Death King’s castle after we’d finished helping with the clean-up in Elysium, which I appreciated. While we’d helped to clear every infected cantrip we found off the streets, the Houses of the Elements remained in a state of shock and would do for a long while yet.
Upon my return to the castle, I half-expected the Death King to call me in to berate me for failing to stop the Family’s plot. Instead, he didn’t ask to speak to me at all. The following day, Miles showed up at the castle with the news that the node linking the citadel with London had been officially turned off.
“The Order’s not happy, though,” he commented. “They’re trying to pin the blame for the attacks on us. The Spirit Agents.”
“They what?” I said. “How’d they figure that one out? Didn’t anyone see Hawker was the person who massacred everyone?”
“There were few surviving witnesses,” said Miles. “The Order hates spirit mages. I know they’re under the control of the enemy at the moment, but blaming us for everything has always worked for them
