The Bronze Key (Magisterium #3)(66)

“Let them sit up.” It was Alex’s voice. Call struggled to his knees to see Alex walking toward them. A massive copper glove was on his right arm, covering his hand, reaching to the elbow.

The Alkahest. The Makar killer.

Call had used it himself to destroy Constantine Madden’s body. He couldn’t imagine what its power could do to a living person. It would take the chaos inside his soul, or Aaron’s, and use it to rip them to pieces from the inside.

“Scared, Makar?” Alex moved the metal fingers of the Alkahest and then laughed at Call’s expression. Call exchanged a quick look with Aaron, who was kneeling beside him. There were twigs in Aaron’s blond hair, but he didn’t look hurt. Thankfully.

Not yet, anyway.

Keep Alex talking, Call thought. Keep him talking and don’t panic and don’t let him hurt Aaron.

“Tamara?” he asked. “Did you hurt her? Is she here?”

That made Alex laugh harder. “You really are an idiot, you know that? I have no idea where Tamara is. I didn’t bother kidnapping her. Why go to all that effort when I could just tell you two that I did and you’d believe me? She and your stupid wolf are probably asleep. I guess they’ll be pretty sad when they wake up and find out what happened to you two.”

“Does Master Joseph know you took the Alkahest?” Aaron asked. “Did he tell you to do this?”

Alex threw his head back, but this time his laugh sounded forced. “He doesn’t know anything about my plan — I took the Alkahest and left an illusion in its place. It won’t last forever, but it will last long enough,” he snarled. “Ever since he started teaching me, I’ve heard him talk about you. About how the glorious Constantine was returning and how we had to prepare ourselves. The amazing Constantine Madden, who was so important that Drew had to fake his way into the Magisterium, pretending not to even know me. And then it’s you. What a total disappointment.”

“Sorry to hear it,” Call said acidly.

“So how come you wanted to kill him? Revenge?” Aaron asked. Call was glad that he was on the keep him talking train, because Call was so freaked out that it wasn’t easy. “Wouldn’t that make Master Joseph angry?”

“He just needs a Makar,” Alex said, lifting the Alkahest. “And now I’ve figured out how to become one. I reconfigured the Alkahest. It won’t just rip your chaos magic from you. It will channel that ability into me.”

“That’s not possible!” Call said, but he recalled how the power had come to him when Constantine Madden’s body had been devoured by the Alkahest. Maybe it could be done.

“Says the boy who’s been dead for fourteen years,” dismissed Alex. “Do you ever think about him? Poor little Callum Hunt, dead before he even got to say his first word. Murdered by you, Constantine, just the way you killed the closest thing I had to a brother. Just the way you killed your own brother. You were never meant to have this power. And now I am going to take it from you and be a better Enemy of Death than you’ll ever be.”

“Fine,” said Call. “Just don’t hurt Aaron.”

Aaron made a strangled noise. Alex rolled his eyes. “That’s right, Aaron, your precious counterweight. Is that what you threw it all away for, Call? Your friends?”

“Threw what away?” Call demanded, panicking. He had to believe that someone was going to come from the Magisterium. Someone was going to find them. Alex was crazy; he was out of his mind. “Being Constantine? I never wanted that.”

“You shouldn’t hurt Call,” said Aaron. “You should take the magic from me.”

“All this nobility is really nauseating,” said Alex. His gold wristband gleamed as he flicked back a strand of brown hair. He looked spectral in the moonlight. Like an evil spirit. “But if it makes you feel any better, that was my plan. Kill Call, make it look like an accident, and then take your Makar ability, Aaron, killing you in the process. But now that you’re both here, in front of me, it’s hard to choose.”

“Master Joseph will kill you if you hurt Call,” Aaron argued. “He jumped in front of Call to protect him in the Enemy’s tomb, did you know that? He would have sacrificed his life for him!”

“He always believed Call would come around and want to join him,” Alex said. “Want to fight back death, but the truth is, Call, you’re too much of a coward. Someone who doesn’t want this power shouldn’t have it. Really, I’m doing Master Joseph a favor.”

He moved toward Call. Aaron started to struggle up but was shoved back down. Black fire started to grow in his hands. “Stay away from Call!”

Alex whirled toward him with the Alkahest. “Don’t you get it?” he said witheringly. “If you make a move toward me, I’ll kill you, and then I’ll kill Call anyway. And I’ll make it slow.”

Aaron clasped his hands into fists. Call felt his whole body tightening as he prepared to jump up, to try to run —

“Stop!” A voice rang out through the clearing. It was Tamara, Havoc at her heels. Havoc’s ears were back flat against his head and he was growling. Tamara had her hand out, and red fire was burning in her palm. “You can’t hurt me with that thing, Alex,” she said. “I’m not a Makar.”

“Tamara!” Call shouted. “How did you find us?”