The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2)(71)

Master Rufus sighed. “He chose not to come back, Call.”

Call bit his tongue.

“Lying certainly won’t help your parents’ bid to get back on the Assembly,” Mrs. Rajavi said to Jasper in a low voice, then turned to Alastair. “And where is the Alkahest?” she demanded. “Why don’t I see it on the table?”

“Master Joseph has it,” Alastair said flatly. Call winced. If he wasn’t particularly charming, he knew who to blame for not teaching him better.

“Master Joseph?” Mrs. Tarquin spoke coolly. “The Enemy of Death’s second-in-command? The one who first led him down the path of evil?”

Graves rose to his feet. “You children let this traitor deliver the Alkahest to the Enemy? We should lock up Alastair and lock up all of you with him —”

“The Enemy of Death doesn’t have the Alkahest,” said Call. “He doesn’t have anything. No thanks to all of you.”

Graves narrowed his eyes. “How do you know so much about what the Enemy has and doesn’t have?”

“Callum,” Alastair cautioned.

But Call wasn’t going to stop. He’d prepared for this moment. He reached into his backpack and gripped a handful of hair. Choking back rage and nausea, he pulled Constantine Madden’s severed head out of his backpack.

He slammed the head down on the table in front of Master Graves. There was no blood; the wound in Constantine’s neck looked cauterized where Call had sliced it with Miri. The Enemy’s face was smeared with ash, but it was still very recognizably Constantine Madden.

“Because my dad killed him,” Call said. “He used the Alkahest.”

The Assembly was entirely silent. Mrs. Tarquin made a choked noise and turned her face away. Master Rufus looked uncharacteristically shocked. Assemblyman Graves looked as though he was about to have a heart attack, and the Rajavis were both staring at Tamara as though they’d never seen her before.

Into the silence, Aaron spoke, his voice higher, cracking a little. “You cut off his head?”

Call supposed it wasn’t exactly charming. The head was faced toward the Assembly members and they were staring at it with a mixture of horror and trepidation, as though they were expecting it to speak. Call noticed that an orange Life Saver and a piece of fuzz were stuck to the Enemy’s cheek, but he didn’t want to draw more attention to them by reaching over and flicking either off.

“I thought that maybe we’d need proof,” Call said.

“I touched that backpack!” Tamara said. “That is the grossest thing I have ever —”

Alastair began to laugh, and once he started, he couldn’t seem to stop. Tears rolled over his cheeks. He wiped his eyes and sagged against the table with the force of hilarity. He tried to talk, but he wasn’t even able to get out words.

Call hoped that the sight of Constantine Madden’s head hadn’t permanently unhinged anyone, least of all his dad. Lots of people in the room looked a little bit unhinged.

“Callum,” said Master Rufus, recovering himself first. “How did Alastair come to slay the Enemy of Death?”

“He tricked Master Joseph into bringing him to where Constantine was,” Call said, careful not to lie. “Then he used the Alkahest on the Enemy. After that, Constantine was dead.” Call didn’t mention he’d also been dead before that. “There were a bunch of Chaos-ridden around. We helped fight them off, but when we did, the tomb was destroyed.”

“And the Alkahest was lost?” Master Milagros asked.

Call nodded. He was pretty sure the Assembly was supposed to be asking more questions, but they looked too shell-shocked to interrupt. “We think Master Joseph escaped with it as the place was falling apart.”

At least Alastair’s laughter had finally trailed off.

“What happened to the Enemy’s body?” asked Master North.

“It disappeared with the rest of the tomb. Chaos, uh, devoured it.”

Master Rufus nodded.

“That’s not what happened,” Jasper said, shaking his head. “You’re leaving important stuff out.”

Call felt his father tense, Alastair’s fingers digging into his shoulder. He could see Tamara had caught her breath and Aaron was looking daggers in Jasper’s direction.

“And what is that?” asked Assemblyman Graves, looking as if he was reeling from innumerable shocks.

“The reason the tomb was destroyed is because of Call,” Jasper said. Because Call is the Enemy of Death. Because Call is Constantine Madden reborn and just as Constantine destroyed the Magisterium, Call destroyed the tomb. Bind his magic; kill him. Call stared in frozen horror as Jasper went on. “Call used void magic to keep back the Chaos-ridden. It got kind of out of control, because it was the first time he’d ever used it.” Jasper gave them all a smug look, like he knew how much they’d been panicking. “That’s right. Call is a Makar, like Aaron. Now we have two.”

Call let out a sigh of relief. The Assembly members were staring at Jasper as if he’d grown a second head.

Finally, for real, Jasper had surprised him.

At that moment, Anastasia Tarquin rose to her feet. Her back was straight, her silver hair glimmering. She stared directly at Call as she spoke. “The Enemy is dead at last,” she said. “Thanks to you five” — her hand swept out, indicating Call, Alastair, Tamara, Jasper, and Aaron — “Verity Torres and the many lost in the Cold Massacre have finally been avenged.”