Page 131 of Architecti
“Sorry,” he says.
I rub the back of his hand trying to give him some reassurance.
“It’s going to be okay, bud.”
He tilts his head at me and mouths, “Is it?”
Probably not, this is wildly dangerous, but thankfully I don’t have to answer him because Lucy stops dead at the end of the corridor and says, “This is the one.”
Mortem materialises, chewing on a translucent tail.It’s honestly beyond me how that floof ball keeps finding mice tails.He’s never managed to catch a moth let alone a rodent, at least not to my knowledge.Makes me wonder where he’s getting them.
Lucy seals us in the room, just to make doubly sure that Bastien’s sister can’t escape, and then calls her magic.It zips away from the walls in thick, shadowy wisps.She places them around the door frame almost like Sellotape, ensuring there are no gaps.When she’s done, she turns to us.
“No one in, no one out.That means you too, Mortem.I know you can materialise, but I don’t want any out routes for Calyx.”
“Meow.”Mortem dips his head.He’s been far better behaved since the library, and quieter too.I don’t know if it scared him into behaving.But I miss the grumpy bastard and all his quarrelling.
He sits at my feet while we wait for everyone to get ready.
“Lex, you’re on salt and demonic runes.Bastien, we need your blood on the mirrors,” Lucy says, jostling everyone into position.
Lex makes the circle large enough that trapped-in-the-middle Calyx won’t be able to reach us, but also small enough that we have room to step back and her not touch us if she lashes out.
Bastien steps into the middle of the circle and places the mirror in the centre.
“Wait,” Lucy says, holding her hand out as Bastien has the serrated edge of the blade millimetres from his skin.“You don’t have to do this.”
Bastien rolls his eyes.“When are you going to let your friends look after you?”
Lucy’s lips part.Her eyes go glassy.Then she lowers her head and nods, stepping back.
Bastien slices his hand and lets it drip onto the glass.He takes a vial out of his pocket and opens the lid.
He mumbles words under his breath, sprinkling Calyx’s ashes onto the mirror.Then he hops out of the circle, his skin looking as grey as his features are grave.
I open my arms and wrap them around him.Lex jumps in on the other side and Lucy, to my surprise, throws hers around him, too.
“We believe in you,” I mumble into his shoulder.
We step away to give him space.He takes three long, deep breaths and calls his magic.
Dozens of gnarly dark ribbons peel off the walls and wrap around his fists and arms, making him look like a swollen thundercloud.
He throws the first thread of magic towards the circle, using his hands to coax them into spinning.
Another goes, then another.Until the salt circle is no longer visible.The black shadows spin and swirl around so fast, they become a seething mass.It’s a fucking tornado in my mind.A tornado of magic and chaos.I edge back, both impressed with Bastien’s magic and mildly concerned we’re all about to die.
Bastien buckles to his knees.
“Keep going, Bastien,” I shout.I want to go to him, to slide my hand in his and give him my energy, but it’s impossible and it wouldn’t work anyway.I’ve mastered resurrecting the rodents and small mammals needed to get a good grade, but it isn’t my speciality like it is his.He’s on his own.
He bares his teeth, his brow glistens with beads of sweat, but the ribbons of magic keep spinning faster and faster.
Resurrecting family isn’t just forbidden, it’s also difficult.Our bodies and minds fight doing it subconsciously because we know it’s wrong.
Bastien lurches forward and throws up, the pile of liquid far too bloody.
I glance at Lex, her face wrinkling.Bastien holds his hand up.
