Going off of nothing but memory, I traced the glyph for End.
It was an old spell, Maeve had told me. It was, I was certain, my father’s spell.
I didn’t know it. Not really. I hadn’t been trained in it. But I cast it with a certainty, a gut knowledge once.
I didn’t aim at the gate, because that wasn’t what needed to End. I aimed at Sedra and Mikhail.
And threw the spell with all my strength. End slammed into them. Sedra yelled and turned toward me, her hold on Mikhail, or perhaps his hold on her, broken.
For a brief second, I could see them both clearly. Two handsome people, filled with rage.
Not exactly a Hallmark moment.
And then Mikhail lifted his hand and tore my End spell to ribbons.
I wove it back together as fast as he unraveled it, but it was clear I was losing ground.
“Not even your father could stop me, Allison Beckstrom,” he intoned, his voice so loud, the wings against the rafters trembled.
He traced a spell. Sedra stared straight at me, unable or unwilling to stop him. And I knew that spell was my death.
A hand brushed against my fingertips. I jumped and looked down.
Beside me stood Cody, or rather, a ghostly version of Cody. My brain went blank a second. Cody wasn’t dead. Zayvion had Closed him, but he wasn’t dead.
“Cody?” I said. “Why are you dead?”
Tact. I got it.
He seemed older somehow, his sunny sky blue eyes calm. Even though he smiled, I could tell he was sad.
“Not dead. Just. . separate from myself. When Zayvion Closed me, my mind was already broken in two. It’s been that way for a long time. But now that I’m Closed, I can’t. . reach myself anymore. It’s okay. The part of me that is still alive is happy.”
This was one of those moments when I just wanted to call a time-out. This didn’t make sense.
“Promise me you will make this right,” he said. “All of this.” He lifted his hand, long, artistic fingers pointing at the room, and somehow also taking in just Sedra and Mikhail, the Hungers in the gate. “The fight over magic, over who should rule it. The light and the dark. Promise you’ll make it right. For all of us.” He tipped his head in question.
“If I can,” I said, not knowing what I was promising. Because, hey, I had about three seconds left to live, and then I’d probably be a ghost like him, and who wanted to spend their last seconds of life making someone sadder?
“I think you can. I think you were born to do this.” He nodded, solemn, as if we’d just sealed a deal.
Then he turned. Looked at Sedra, who stood silent outside the gate. Looked at Mikhail, who stood silent within the gate.
“Don’t take too long, okay?”
Cody smiled.
And ran. Ran past me, past the beasts, past the people who fought the beasts. He ran past Sedra. Images of fields, of summer sunlight and kittens, flashed before my eyes. Then Cody jumped, flew, arms wide, back arched, a specter, a ghost, the soul of a broken man-child, laughing as he fell inside the gate. He somehow held himself there, between life and death, his soul outlined in silver, gold, copper magic that wrapped him in satin ribbons. Cody became fire, became magic, as he stretched to bridge the space between life and death, burning and sealing the gate, his laughter fading, fading into a childhood song.
Beyond his fire, I could see Mikhail’s eyes, blue, so blue, eyes just like Cody’s, wide with shock, with sorrow. I could see Sedra yell, “No!” her fingers stretched out to the flame as if she could reach Cody and pull him back to her. But it was too late.
The gate closed. Light snuffed. Ashes fell to the black stone floor.
And the room was just a room again.
Cody was gone. Mikhail was gone. The gate was gone. The beasts fell like toys whose batteries had gone dead, faded into shadow, then nothing more.
Sedra, her hair a little mussed, but not much-I totally had to find out what kind of hair spray she used, because, damn-looked over at me.
I swear I saw tears.
Then her bodyguard rushed up beside her, and other people-Maeve, Victor, Liddy-approached. Sedra pulled the pale, brittle, beautiful mask over her face, and brushed their concerns away. She walked into the center of the room.
“Allison Beckstrom,” she said, her voice soft and surprisingly musical, a little like Cody’s. No, a lot like Cody’s.
I might be dense, but I wasn’t stupid. She had to be Cody’s mother. And I bet Mikhail was his father.
Poor kid. I thought I had it bad.
I pushed away from the column, took a step. Winced. Every muscle hurt. Even the bottoms of my feet. I was so going to pay for tapping into the magic in the well.
“Zayvion Jones,” she called.
Zay appeared from somewhere toward the front of the room, looking a little bruised, bloody, burned.
But whole. A wash of relief flooded through me.
We walked together but not touching, and stood in front of Sedra.
“There are no laws written to guide me in my decision of your test today, except the law that states that if a user of magic causes harm to others or violates the laws of magic, he must be Closed.”
Was she kidding? We’d just fought nightmares, dealt with a whacko from the other side of death, and watched as part of her kid’s spirit sealed a gateway to death. And she wanted to go over my test results? Talk about focus. Or denial.
“Allison Angel Beckstrom, you have done harm, broken the Wards, attacked members of the Authority standing witness to your test.”
Holy fuck. The woman knew my middle name.
“But we are too few. .” Her voice caught. She swallowed. “We are too few. The gates between life and death have been opened, even here where it should not be possible. This is just the beginning. I am afraid. . aware. . the war will now follow. We will need all who are strong to fight for this world’s fate. To keep the innocent safe and magic true.
“You have shown your strength, your innate talent to use magic. Allison Angel Beckstrom-”
Would she quit using my middle name already?
“-will you accept your place among the Authority?”
Would I have gone through all this just to say no? “Yes,” I said.
“We welcome you. Learn well and quickly.”
She stepped back and looked around the room. The Hungers were gone, not even their black blood left on the floor. Magic and the ashes of old spells still clung to the room. Sedra gestured to several people to come to her side.
Zayvion and I were clearly not among the group she wanted to talk to. I’m not even sure the people she called to her wanted to talk to her. To me, it sounded more like they wanted to argue.
I had good ears. I heard Victor demanding an investigation to find out who opened the gate, heard Liddy tell him that was unnecessary. Mikhail’s name was bandied about and so was Cody’s. Someone who sounded like my dad’s accountant, Mr. Katz, suggested contacting other branches of the Authority in other cities to warn them of the breach, and to make them aware other gates may open. Greyson’s name was brought up, and it was decided Sedra would search his mind to see who he might be working for and who had implanted the disk. Jingo Jingo said he was almost sure it had to be someone like Frank Gordon-a doctor and magic user who dealt in Death and Blood magic.
Even my name was brought up. Was I Zayvion’s Soul Complement? About a fifty-fifty split, yea, nay, on that. I was apparently a boon and a danger, and my continued training, under Maeve for a while, then Victor, Jingo Jingo, and a name I did not catch, would help them define how I fit into the organization.
