Page 19 of Cry of the Damned
At first, he stared directly at my face, but after a moment, his gaze traveled down the length of my body, taking in my clothes. His chest pumped up and down, and air hissed through the cage of his teeth. I’d hoped that recognizing me would help him calm down, but he looked downright terrified of me, and I was afraid that, at any moment, he would start screaming.
To assure him that I meant no harm, I put my hands up in the air and retreated a couple of steps. “I just want to talk to you.”
“They… they said you were dead. They said you killed Val.”
Oh, shit!
I’d made a mistake. I’d hoped to gain an ally inside of the Academy, but what if he went straight to Magistrate Novus and told her I was here? If he wasn’t on my side, I couldn’t let him go back. I would have to… kill him.
But I couldn’t. I needed to convince him I wasn’t an enemy.
“Well,” I spread my arms out, “I’m not dead.”
He lifted a hand to his neck and rubbed it. Slowly, he rose to his feet, his dark eyes darting from left to right as he assessed his escape options. He looked like a trapped animal ready to bolt. I needed to change that.
“I promise I mean you no harm,” I said, my words coming quickly. “I heard you talking to… that girl.” I didn’t want to use her name because that would only freak him out. “You think something strange is going on at the Academy, and you’re right. I don’t know what you’ve learned and how, but I know exactly what they’re doing, and if you want, I can tell you everything.”
He shook his head, looking curious and conflicted at the same time. I had piqued his curiosity, no doubt, but he had no idea if he could trust me.
“I’m not supposed to be here, right?” I went on, still speaking fast. “I’m either supposed to be dead or living a different life. They promised us that if we didn’t get selected to be apprentices, they would send us wherever we wanted to go so we could start a new life, right? But it’s all lies, Rob. Instead, they killed everyone. Mary, Richard, Katherine, they’re all dead. I’m only here because I was able to escape. That’s why they went looking for me. You must’ve seen Magistrate Magnus and Val go out. Then only Val returned. After that, Val went out again, with Magistrate Novus this time. But he didn’t come back either. They want me dead because I know too much.”
Rob shook his head again. He didn’t want to believe it, but there was a flicker in his eyes that let me know he was considering all the possibilities.
“I… I heard Novus talking,” Rob started tentatively. “I was in the stables, and she didn’t know I was there. She was talking to other magistrates and told them…” He ran stiff fingers through his cropped brown hair and grabbed his head as if he wanted to squeeze out the memory of the words he heard.
Rob went on. “She told them that the raid on the Mesickek and Ashoona packs had been a success, that they killed almost everyone, except the Ashoona’s new tetrad. She said they’d taken thirty or so children, new initiates.” As he said the last word, his voice broke.
I thought of Nirliq and Terit in the hands of those monsters, and my heart squeezed. Taking a deep breath, I focused on Rob.
“New initiates?” His pleading eyes met mine, as if he expected me to tell him he’d heard wrong.
“Yes, Rob. That’s how they get new initiates. They usewildlings. They always have.”
“That means we…” He couldn’t finish.
I nodded gently. “They killed our families. They orphaned us and made us their tools.”
His eyes wavered. He might try to deny what I’d told him, but would he try to deny what he’d heard with his own ears from the lips of a magistrate? I waited. He didn’t.
One of his eyes twitched. “So you… you’re a shifter?” he asked, an edge of fresh fear cutting across his features.
“We all are something. Val was a mage. It’s the codas.” I stuck out my wrist and showed him that mine was gone. “They use them to keep our magical powers blocked inside our bodies. That’s how apprentices acquire magic. A fraction of that magical power is unleashed. Though it can only manifest itself as fire and lightning, instead of shifting or all the other things witches can do.”
“But… why kill the initiates that aren’t selected?”
“Because the magistrates need to steal the initiates’ magic. That’s how they remain as strong into old age. If they didn’t do that, their magic would run out.”
Rob slumped against the wall, looking defeated. As he stared at the ground, I could tell my words were sinking in. He pulled his sleeve back and stared at his coda. His tattoo was complete, circling his entire wrist.
“Richard was my friend,” he said. “When he wasn’t chosen to be an apprentice, I… I tried to console myself by thinking he would do well elsewhere, maybe even see some parts of the world. But he wasn’t that lucky, was he?”
I shook my head. “None of them were. I watched them die, Rob, and I wasn’t able to do anything. I was a coward, afraid for my own life. But I vowed revenge. I vowed to expose the Academy, and I won’t rest until…” I stopped as my emotions got the best of me. Swallowing thickly, I composed myself.
“What do you intend to do?” I asked him. “Will you run away?”
His gaze flicked to mine, then it fell back to the ground. I saw the fear descend on him like a heavy shroud that made his shoulders slump. He understood that if the magistrates realized what he knew, they would kill him. But if he kept his mouth shut and didn’t do anything, he might one day become a powerful magistrate, leading a way of life that would involve comfort and debauchery, if he was so inclined.
“Not every apprentice becomes a magistrate, Rob,” I said, in case he was contemplating such ideas. “The ones who don’t agree to kidnap and kill children aren’t so lucky.”
