The Flame in the Mist (44 page)

A silver-gray wisp rose from Feo’s body and was sucked into Scagavay. The triplets’ screams melded with Scagavay’s roar, with Nox’s cries of disbelief, and with Shade’s banshee whoop of victory, drowning out the thin thread of song still trickling from Gudred’s mouth.

“And now, in accordance with Twin Lore,” Shade cried, grabbing Feo’s amulet from around his neck, “I take possession of my full Powers!” Darkness thickened around her as if paying her homage, then Scagavay’s murky grayness leapt outward again, filling the room.

Jemma crawled toward Gudred. He was aging with every second, lines gathering on his face, his body shrinking.

“The Releasing Rime,” he wheezed. “Sssay!”

She opened her mouth. But Scagavay was upon her again, spinning mercilessly, and she was lifted off the ground, spiraling upward with the dust and debris. The Bell Tower began booming, each toll juddering through her as she was engulfed in a demonic hiss:
At last, I have you! You are mine, all mine!

Jemma sent a grounding cord earthward, which steadied her slightly. Fighting for breath, she tried to utter the Rime, but the words buffeted back into her throat. Claws of wind whipped into her pockets, siphoning out Noodle and Pie and whisking them beyond her reach. They slammed against the
ceiling, their tiny limbs spreadeagled, her amulet wrapped around Noodle’s neck. She shot a beam of Light around them just in time to prevent them being pulverized by a carved demon head that had been ripped from the vaulting. Then, with a sharp jerk, the grounding cord broke, and she was whisked up and pinned against the ceiling next to the rats, the breath being sucked from her lungs.

You’re mine!
The hiss crescendoed to a roar.
Mine, my sweet thirteen!

Jemma’s thoughts sputtered as her lungs strained for air.
Releasing Rhyme … must say it …

Far below, through Scagavay’s swirling gray, the black globe pulsed back to life. Firelight leapt up, illuminating Shade and Nocturna, who were waving the black altar cloth like a victory flag and dancing together on a lake of red, Rook’s dark wings sailing above them. Nox was lying facedown across Feo’s blood-soaked chest. Digby was holding the triplets’ faces to him so that they shouldn’t see the horror unfolding. Gudred, years galloping upon him again, was on all fours, any remains of the Song coming from him inaudible above Scagavay’s roar. Every word of the Releasing Rime was obliterated from Jemma’s head, whirled and deafened into oblivion, and at any moment she, the rats, Digby, and the triplets would all be whirled into oblivion with it.

Help me, Majem
, she pleaded.
What am I to do?

A soundless voice welled up from the depths of her being.
Scagavay is like the Mist. You know what to do. Blank … counter.… Blank
. For the Mist, that had meant embodying its dampness, its whiteness, to become one with it, but this …

Summoning every ounce of concentration, Jemma closed
her eyes, filling her mind with Scagavay’s tarry evil. Every foul thought she had ever had flooded her, every word of anger, every judgment, and she embraced them all until she was one with the darkness. A vile stillness settled around her. Into it, she threw the full force of her intent. The words of the Rime unjumbled from the chaos, merging with the Song’s Power as she shouted with all her might—

The black globe pulsed once, twice, and then shattered, scattering gray ash everywhere. Scagavay’s howl ceased. For a split second, Jemma heard the celestial chord of voices ringing out again. Then everything went silent in her head.

She was suspended in mid-air, the scene below her slowing as if immersed in syrupwater. The candles went out. Nocturna and Shade released hands and circled to a halt. Digby let go of the triplets. Nox, still lying on Feo’s chest, was shaking with sobs. Gudred, his light now a mere flicker, looked up at her.
Again!
said the voice from within, so again she yelled the words at the top of her lungs, though she couldn’t hear them. All around, the blackness separated into strands, then into particles, releasing hundreds of light orbs as it did so—golden orbs and silver-blue, pink-tinged ones, all sailing through the Ceremony Chamber air and sprinkling the silence with children’s voices, whispering, chattering, laughing. Then one small, particularly bright orb appeared in front of Jemma’s eyes.

Jem-Jem
, said a tiny voice in her head,
Jem-Jem—

“Jamem …” She reached out and touched the orb. It lingered
for several seconds, sparkling with the color of flame, and she felt as though it were dissolving her palm, flowing into her with an airy rush that made her gasp. “Jamem!” she said again. Then the orb spun away and joined the others. They began to combine into larger orbs, and larger still, prismatic colors glinting off them as they rose and gathered into one breathtaking sphere of shimmering, multicolored fire. In an explosion of light, Scagavay was sucked into it.

The darkness was gone.

Jemma felt a surge of pure joy. The celestial voices rang out again, hanging in mid-chord as a cushion of warm air floated her down through tumbling dust motes. Noodle and Pie were floating down too, her Stone scintillating around Noodle’s neck. The three of them were gently deposited next to Digby. His face was ecstatic and he was saying something, but all she could hear was the crystal choir. Slowly, it faded, and other sounds began filtering through, Digby’s words mixing with the triplets’ excited babble and the rats’ squeals.

“Jem!” He let go of the triplets and threw his arms around her. “You done it—look!”

Translucent light filled the room. The triplets, standing behind Digby, stood in wide-eyed amazement. Behind them, Nocturna and Shade cowered into the altar cloth, shielding themselves from the brightness. Nox, now kneeling next to Feo’s body, gaped. And containing them all, almost filling the room, was one enormous Luminal, throbbing gently like a giant heartbeat. Its brilliance sparkled off the walls in all colors of the rainbow, and reflected in the faces it illuminated.

“
We’ve
done it, Dig,” Jemma whispered, vaguely aware of small paws clambering up her leg and a small muzzle nudging
something smooth and cool into her hand. She opened her palm. Her Stone lay there, its aquamarine glow pulsing in time with the Luminal. She tied it around her neck by its broken chain.

“Sssae … Sssaewel …,” a voice croaked behind her. She turned. Drudge was on the floor, reaching for her. She ran to him and knelt by his side.

“Oh, Drudge … Gudred … Thank you.”

He smiled his yellow-toothed smile and laid a chilly hand against her cheek. His touch communicated what his voice no longer had strength for: this was Saeweldar, the combined soul of every child who had been slain at Agromond Castle. Including Jamem. And Feo. And Nox’s sister, Malaena. Each was now released from the darkness—the monster—and united in one glorious sphere of Light, one powerful Luminal. Scagavay was gone. Forever.

The flow of images ebbed from Drudge’s hand. He touched Jemma’s Stone. “Mjjjem,” he muttered. “Hers. Yours.” The furrows on his face softened. “You … ssso like her …”

Jemma could feel Drudge’s heart—Gudred’s—straining toward the one it had missed for all these years. Love welled up in her: hers, Drudge’s, Gudred’s, and Majem’s. “But she was married to your brother,” she whispered, blinking back tears, “so you made this your mission. To come here. For her. For me. For all of Anglavia—”

“Jem!” Digby yelled. “Watch out!”

Jemma looked up. Nox was lunging toward her, his face and clothes streaked with Feo’s blood. Digby tried to grab him but missed. Nox threw his full weight against her, propelling her backward. As she landed, one end of a huge beam crashed
onto his back, pinning him to the flagstones and knocking him unconscious. If he hadn’t pushed her, she would have been crushed beneath it. He had saved her—

Then she saw that the other end of the beam had landed on Drudge’s legs.

“No!” Jemma scrambled to where he lay and grabbed his hand. Digby was there too, struggling to remove the beam, but it was too heavy. He knelt next to Drudge, biting his lips. Flora, Simon, and Tiny, standing behind their brother, clung nervously to one another.

“No pain.” Drudge patted Digby’s knee, then turned to Jemma. “Rime,” he said. “Finishshsh.”

Si ti neto di od nise … Wom styn ob nege …
The Rime instantly unscrambled in Jemma’s head. She tried to speak, but couldn’t.

“Ssssay!” He stroked her hand. “Mussst … mean it …”

“It is done … It is done.…” The words felt empty. “I can’t. Not now …”

“Then sssoon. Loud. Promisss!”

Jemma nodded. “I promise,” she whispered.

“Gooood! My work … over …” Drudge smiled, his cracked old voice becoming soft and clear. “One … more tasssk … Farewell, Jmmmaaah …” He closed his eyes and breathed his last.

Jemma lay across his chest and sobbed. To have lost him now—just when everything he had waited for had come to pass! Why couldn’t he have lived to enjoy it? After three hundred years!

Meant to be
. Noodle and Pie nudged her cheeks.
You’ll see
.

Then Jemma felt the oddest sensation, as if liquid air were
flowing through her from below. She looked up. Light was shining from Drudge’s body, separating from it, rising, and as it rose, Saeweldar began dividing again into thousands of orbs. She, Digby, and the triplets stared, awe-struck, as the orbs followed Drudge’s light-form upward until it stopped just below the vaults. Then two bright new globes shimmered through the broken wall, glinting pink and blue rays around the room as they spun toward the others, as if magnetized by them.

“The two that Shade killed,” Jemma murmured. “Drudge is taking them too.…”

There was a flash; all the orbs merged again into one brilliant sphere, and with a final swoosh, vanished through the ceiling.

A shaft of dawn angled onto the spot where Drudge’s body, now empty of his spirit, lay. He had gone.

“Jemma … Flamehead …” Nox groaned, coming back to consciousness. She looked at him, trapped under the other end of the beam, his arms outstretched where he had pushed her.

“You saved me,” she said. “Why?”

“Feo …” His face was tight with agony. “Didn’t want you to die too. I always loved you, you know.”

Jemma reached over and took his hand. “We’ll get you out, somehow.”

Nox laughed softly. “Don’t bother. All … pointless …”

Jemma looked around the room. Its walls were ripped open, piles of beams and plaster everywhere. The pews were smashed. Nocturna and Shade were on their knees, clinging to the altar cloth. Feo’s body lay behind them, the two blood-soaked weasel corpses nearby. Rook and the surviving weasels
had vanished. Mordrake’s scythe lay on the floor, shattered; both he and Mordana were split from head to toe. The altar was in smithereens, the fire barely smoldering. And Drudge, the wizened old warrior who had dedicated his life to this moment, was gone, the empty shell of his body crumpled like a handless glove, with Noodle and Pie sitting on either side of his head as if keeping vigil. Nox was right. It was all pitifully, murderously pointless.

Jemma let go of his hand and stood. “I hope this satisfies you, Nocturna Agromond!” she yelled across the room. “Was it worth all this death and destruction, and all those poor children’s lives, to get more Power? Sacrificing your own son, even! Tell me, you who thought nothing of killing my brother!”

Nocturna raised her head slowly, her crimson lips spreading into a sneer. “I?” she said. “
I?
Foolish child, still you do not know! Oh, yes, little Jamem was slaughtered in cold blood, the poor lamb so helpless, screaming out for you, his precious Jem-Jem, the sister he knew and loved so well while you were both here at the castle! Oh, the pity of it! But it was not I who murdered your brother, Jemma. No, it was he!” Nocturna’s long-nailed finger pointed straight at Nox.

“You!” Jemma took a step back.

“Jemma … Flamehead … I …”

“Ha!” Shade chimed in. “And you thought he cared about you! But what kind of caring is it that kills one while it coddles the other?”

“Jem,” said Digby, stepping toward her. “Don’t listen—”

Nox looked up at her, imploring. There it was in his eyes, what she had never allowed herself to see before: the bloody
deed, the guilt, the greed, his duplicity, his knowledge of the pain he had caused, all twisted up with the love he felt for her, and for his own dead sister.

“Think of your twin, Jemma!” Nocturna stood, pulling Shade up with her. “Your twin, and the loss your parents suffered for all those years!” Black diaphanous strands of energy began emanating from them and moving toward Nox.

“Jemma,” Nox whispered hoarsely, the black strands snaking around him. “Forgive me.”

Anger and sorrow flooded under Jemma’s skin. She saw the knife nearby, where she’d dropped it, and picked it up.

“Jem!” Digby stepped in front of her and took hold of her shoulders. “Jem, don’t listen to ’em! It’s like when we was in the Mist—if you get caught up in their hatred, you’ll only strengthen ’em again. Look, you can see it already.”

Nocturna and Shade’s mouths were curled into matching snarls. Their dark auras expanded.

“Hold your tongue, boy,” Shade hissed. “Worthless piece of Hazebury dro—”

“Shut up, you!” Digby barked. He turned back to Jemma. “Jem, remember who you is. You’ve waited your whole life for this! Yes, it’s a Mordawful mess. But think what it means: the end of their reign, Jem. A thousand years of it, over!”

“It’s all right, Dig,” Jemma said calmly. The black strands oozing from Nocturna and Shade tightened around Nox, then started making their way toward her. She clenched the knife’s handle.

“Yes, Jemma, yes!” Nocturna shouted. “Avenge your little brother’s horrible death. You can, you must!”

“Jem, don’t!” Digby grabbed her arm. Behind him, Flora and the boys’ eyes flared with alarm.

“Out of my way!” Jemma pushed Digby aside and leapt forward, infusing the blade with Light as she sliced the air, severing the shadowy web entangling Nox. Its sticky sinews snapped back into Nocturna and Shade. Jemma opened her hand, and the knife fell to the ground.