When Copper Suns Fall (36 page)

Chapter Twenty Eight – Skeletons

The deer cackled.

Would this venture get any odder? It did.

The fawn’s jaws sank in, forming heart-shaped
lips. Its head stretched into a human-shaped face. Blonde hair
cascaded down the body and tightened into ringlets. I’d remember
that hair anywhere. Soon, a girl of mesmerizing beauty stood there
dressed in the same white pantsuit she was wearing at the Falling
Lights Festival.

“No way. The doll girl?” I said.

“Actually, they call me Rabia.” Her voice
was light and soothing. “Even though Doll Girl is a name I could
learn to appreciate, I prefer my real one.” She inched closer,
giving me a hard smile as she studied my necklace.

“You can’t have it,” I said, thinking back to
the time when Sanakim had mentioned a Rabia. Faris and Seth had
spoken her name, too. Guess I was about to find out how she played
into so many lives.

“Oh, I don’t want your silly necklace,” Rabia
said in an accented voice. “Let me explain why I had my Tainted
friends set this show up for you.”

“I don’t care about any of the Tainted’s
schemes.”

“Would you rather care about people who lead
you on, or lie to you? People who trick you into using your powers
without worrying about your safety? That is the life you face with
the Caduceans. I know you feel these things in your heart.” Her
smile widened. I fell deeper into her spell. “I’ve got a gift for
you. Hold out your hands.”

I didn’t want to obey her, but I did.

Rabia stepped forward, held her hands over
mine, and dropped a copper scroll held together by a red ribbon
into my palms. I unrolled the soft paper and found a golden knife
covered in rubies and seraphinite on the hilt.

“This is Uriel’s dagger,” I whispered, an
uneasy feeling creeping into my chest.

“That it is. Reunited with its companion,
your necklace.”

“But, but why?” She shrugged and beamed her
bright smile. She was like a small child but with a deadly aura
surrounding her. Falling for her illusion would probably mean my
death. “Maybe because I’m in a happy mood today? I’m not the enemy
they’d all have you think I am, my sister.”

“Sister?” I said, feeling anxious.

“You’re not the only Epiclesium. You see,
either one of us could take control of the Balance, being the last
of our kind.” She studied me with those clear blue eyes. “That
silly good versus evil doesn’t apply now. This is about control
over the humans and their mirrorlands. My control, or maybe yours,
it could go either way. But for now, you’ll use it to kill the
Beast. Or your people will all die…again.”

“You’re insane,” I said. “No way you can make
me kill Far—the Beast.”

Her smile didn’t falter a bit. “If I were
crazy, then you’d be dead. I would’ve crushed you in the medroom
that night at the Falling Lights Festival. Or simply had Hagan to
call you out after he saw you using celestial magic on those
stores. And I wouldn’t be wasting time by trying to persuade you to
the right path.”

“I don’t—I can’t think.” An intense heat
grazed my skin. Everything hit me hard, making me feel dizzy. I
glanced at my arms. The silver lines of Dcarsii, my Protector’s
bond, appeared on them which meant I was in a void where Faris
could talk to me.

“The Caducean Protector calls. So romantic.
But I can’t help but to wonder which one of your Protectors it
could be, though.”

“I won’t listen to you because you’re a
liar.” I covered my ears, squeezing my eyes shut. She had a point.
True, I’d heard Faris’s voice in my mind, but Seth’s pains had
waved through me, too. I thought I had stopped his attempt to bond
with me. “You’re not real,” I said to stay sane.

“Yes, I am. You should be glad I brought you
here,” she said.

I uncovered my ears. “Faris would’ve
told—”

“No such. They tell you what they want. And
you listen to Caducean lies like all the naive Epiclesium before
you.” She moved closer and lifted my necklace with something that
looked like a crystal twig. Was she afraid to touch it?

“Know this. If you give me the memory to the
Grace, I’ll help bring life back into the cities—doves, owls, even
seagulls. The grime will be gone. Commoners can live among you
freely.”

“What about the hurricanes?” I said.

“You’re a smart girl. You know how to rid
the world of those. I’ve already given you the dagger, so use it.”
It was hard to believe this doll of a girl could cause so much
misery and pain. “No more silly babble. Let us hold hands.”

“No. Not yet. What about the kids you helped
that hawk face, Camden hurt? You have to stop taking them, and you
have to tell me how to save my brother.” She baited me with
everything, every wish I ever held close to my heart.

“Some of those kids joined us of their own
free will. Micah was one of them.” Her face was calm as she
delivered the news that weakened my knees. I shook my head. “How do
you think I knew all about your family and that fortress of a
house, Cornice? I didn’t look your information up in the Maze, of
course.”

“You’re lying. I saw him fall,” I
whispered.

“You did. And he landed in my Protector’s
talons. Remember, sister, you’re not the only one who can bond with
a Caducean,” she said, beaming with her creepy smile.

“Seth.” Now I understood what Faris meant
when he said I didn’t know the whole story.

“With the help of my Tribunal allies, I kept
your brother near me a little while and studied him. With the good
Dr. Van Meter’s support, you and your family never knew any
different. But over time, we saw Micah wasn’t the one with the
Memories. He does have something else, though.”

I didn’t believe the story about Micah
joining her. If what she said was true, I was sure he did it
because he thought Rabia and crew would hurt me. “By siding with
the Tainted you’re going against everything we stand for. Can’t you
see that? You might look all sweet and everything, but you’re a
monster,” I said.

“Certifiably, yes. Time to repay me for my
gift to you.” Unable to tear my gaze away from her face, I
shuddered. She glided forward, her index finger aimed at the space
between my eyes. I opened my mouth. Silence. Closing my eyes, I
listened to her voice echo in Dcarsii, felt her fingers trying to
break the wall erected around my secret power.

I stared upward, unable to move. My forehead
burned, as if I were being branded. Had Faris heard what Rabia
said? Was he going to keep me from burning? Fire surged through me.
I screamed and tried to flap my wings, but they weren’t there.

“Your wings can’t help you here. You’re in my
world, on my land. I have your brother’s soul trapped here, and now
I have yours. If you fall from the cliff, you’ll die. Accept the
rage buried inside you. Together, we’ll find others like us. We can
use the Grace to create a new race of seraphim,” she said. And for
the first time I saw her calmness disappear into a slight frown as
she watched me inch backward. “Don’t be stupid like Micah.”

“Micah didn’t do it, did he? He didn’t turn
away from the Light the way our mother did. So you trapped him,
somehow. You thought because he was so young that he’d join you.
And if you took him far away from his reasons to live, he’d be easy
to control. But he chose something else. Something you and the
Tainted will never be able to understand.” I moved back toward the
cliff’s edge.

“You don’t get what’s going on, do you? By
accepting the dagger, you have to choose, now. The way I had to
choose. My father, the angel your mortals call Gabriel, took my
Grace. He said I wasn’t worthy, even though my mother had seraphim
blood. What does he know about worth? I guess he knows better, now,
since I’ve brought shame on his beloved Caduceans, especially his
perfect Indrail clan. They were his favorites. See, I was the one
who put the hurricane curse on the Beast. I was the one who put Asa
into a trance, so now she sleeps over Lake Tezrith. No man will
ever see her. She’ll never know love, or be able to provide an
ancestor for Zanas Indrail. Oh, I think I’ve proven to my father
that his dark-hearted daughter can still make her mark. Even
without the Grace.” Rabia was practically hissing, and the glow
around her was like golden fire.

“And then we found you and your brother,
relatives to the First Order of Seraphim, the ancients. Leezra
Konkrin’s blood runs through your veins. Did you know that? We
figured one of you inherited the Memories. My mother thought it was
your brother. But you were the one I wanted. I knew you’d be the
one to inherit them. Part of me despises you and your royal blood,
dirty with human filth.” She trembled as if she were a volcano,
waiting to erupt and cover me in her lava.

I understood her position, now. In her
twisted mind, she wanted to get back at her father, the archangel
Gabriel, for taking her ability to reach the Grace. She’d spent her
life searching for relatives of the seraphim hiding among the
gifted humans, hoping she’d eventually find the Epiclesium who
could restore the Grace to her.

“This is where you get to be the unlucky
girl. First Order Epiclesium can’t accept Uriel’s dagger without
giving something in return,” she said.

“I didn’t accept anything.”

“You didn’t reject it, either, did you?” She
gave me a dark smile, because she was right.

The undines in the waters below us began to
sing, filling me with a strange calm. Silver lines crept further up
my arms, closer to my face, burning me with knowledge, marking me
with my Protector’s love. Faris’s voice said, “Believe the way
you’ve taught me.” I almost fainted when I heard it.

“My sweet sister, you have no choice. I will
make you give me what I want,” Rabia reached out a hand, smiling
with her doll face glowing under the sunlight she’d created.

The temptation hurt. Was this how she trapped
my brother’s soul? Did he have copper colored wings like mine? And
when he fell, did he shine like the sun? The same way Faris said I
did the first time he convinced me to fly. Below me, the ocean
waited, its shores sprinkled with rocks jutting through white sand.
Suddenly I knew what to give in return for the dagger.

“I won’t embrace the Silver Light,” I said.
She yelped a bit and beamed at me, until I said, “But I won’t give
in to my rage, either. Let my brother’s soul go, Rabia. And I’ll
release the Grace.”

Her smile turned in on itself. “You tricky
person. You can’t do that. You can’t reject both the Light and rage
and then force me to do what you want.” She pointed her crystal
twig at my eyes. Pain surged into my forehead.

“Yes, I can. Because I choose to…believe. Lac
Sal Lente Themel.” The silver scrolls on my arms brightened to a
glow as coppery and bright as the sun, radiating from so much love
inside me. “Micah if you’re here and you can hear my voice, go now.
Run away from the dark. Find your way back to the light.”

“Shut up, stupid girl. You have no idea what
you’re doing. If you fall from this cliff, you’ll break every bone
in your body.” Rabia shoved a hand toward me just before she
screeched like a mad hatter. “Stop! It burns my eyes.”

Of course, the light shining from inside me
hurt. The Grace represented everything Rabia didn’t. Echoes of her
voice sounded all around us. The world she created pulsed, blinking
in and out as if someone used a switch to control her sun. The wind
swirled around me, tickling my skin. I knew what to do.

I closed my eyes, lifted my arms, leaned
back.

And the same way my brother did a year ago, I
fell through misted clouds surrounding the cliff before I hit the
waters below, and sank. No bird caught me. No wings sprouted. No
hands reached out to pull me up from the water. High above me,
Rabia’s screams echoed. She shouted some phrases in Dcarsii I
couldn’t understand, didn’t want to hear. I’d outsmarted her by
giving her exactly what she wanted...my life in return for the
dagger.

The Tainted can’t use me to hurt anyone
else.

Now, I was the second copper sun that had
fallen.

Chapter Twenty Nine – Earth Songs

Somewhere in my foggy mind, I recalled
reading about the call of the undines. If you listen closely,
you’ll hear them sing. And if you wait long enough, they’ll ask to
serve the seraph who calls them. So I waited, sinking through water
cradling me like a baby in a liquid quilt. I closed my eyes and
listened until their songs filled my ears.

When I opened them, a girl, fair-haired and
bronze-skinned, smiled in her watery blur. She fingered my cheek
and spoke in my mind. “Our High Mistress has chosen well.”

“Am I dead?” I said, feeling warm even though
I floated in water.

Giggling, she took my hands in hers. “No more
fears of us, or our waters. We’re here for you, now.”

“Why do you call me Mistress?” I said.

“Because you are the keeper of our memories,
just as Mistress Helena was before you. She kept our secrets even
in her last days. Use the memory of our water’s power wisely,” the
girl said.

My mother did have good in her. I knew it.
“You’ve made me so happy by telling me that.”

She moved closer to me, planted a kiss on my
lips, and glanced up. I did too. An anchor floated down into the
water between us. The girl moved my hands to the iron and yanked on
it. Something pulled me up, away from the memory of Rabia and her
terrible smile, away from the undine’s watery bed. On the way to
freedom, I glanced down. Twenty or so girls floated under me. I
waved until they faded.

Faris pulled me out of the water and steadied
me on my feet. I was in a swampy part of the island where I’d been
before I was pulled into Rabia’s world. Light filtered through the
trees, a rich sun and not like the flickering one I’d left behind.
Faris stood before me, his bare skin glistening in the sunlight,
his wound fully healed.