Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(22)

One strike. Two. He dodged well, grabbing my wrist with his metal hand and squeezing it tight.

“Relax, Maia. Don’t you notice?”

Releasing me, he shoved me back, not too hard, perhaps, because Nick was still trying to pretend to be a gentleman. But when he pointed to the bed, I finally noticed—the flames were eating at the gray covers, licking the walls. And for a moment, I was paralyzed. For a moment, all I could see was my house in Buffalo up in flames, the bodies of my family being carted out in bags. Mom. Dad. My twin sister, June . . .

No. I could handle this. I’d been training for two months for this. I could handle this. But the scythe had already vanished into the air, my hands trembling as I watched the fire spread.

“Banish the flames, Maia. Go on. Don’t be afraid.”

Saul was too close to me. I could feel his hard body against the dark curls spilling down my back, his chest a breath away from my head. If he wanted to kill me, he could have done it already. I had to concentrate. This time I would do it.

I breathed and raised my arms. It was like the reverse of trapping and releasing. I drew the energy back inside my body, like depriving the flames of oxygen. Releasing a deep, shuddering breath, I collapsed back—into Saul’s arms.

I stayed crumpled in them, too shocked to move at first, even with my brain screaming at my muscles.

“Good. Good.” Saul’s heavenly face beamed down at me, his sea-blue eyes glinting in the moonlight. “The better control you have over your powers, the easier it will be for you to find Marian.”

A sudden spurt of adrenaline shot through my limbs. He didn’t just have the power to disappear. He could take me with him if he wanted. Like last time.

I pushed myself out of his arms, but Saul grabbed my wrist before I could back away. “I’m not here to hurt you. I can’t take you yet. I have too much to do before then. You can rest easy for now.”

“Yet,” I spat. “So you’re still after me.”

“It’s not me you’ll have to worry about, Maia,” he said, sliding down his hood so I could see the long, loose silver hair that had been dark in the picture Director Chafik had shown us. “Truthfully, I was in an awful state after you hurt me in France,” he said. So Sibyl’s theory was right after all. “But I did gain control of myself. Control. Focus.”

His gaze wavered strangely, but for just a moment. Or did I imagine it?

“Right now there are other things I have to take care of before we can see each other again,” he continued as steady as ever.

“What do you mean?” A hard rhythm pounded against my chest.

“Alice and I are going to achieve what we’ve set out to for many years. Decades.”

He sounded as eerily calm as the night I’d faced him in France. It’d frightened me more than Alice’s murderous frenzy.

“I told you before. We both have a wish to grant. With Marian’s help, we’re going to reshape the world.”

With his hood down, I could see his face in full, long and slender, beautiful with its high angles and sharp edges. The smile playing on his lips was gentle, unassuming—Nick’s smile. But I knew better than to trust it.

“This is a world of shadows, Maia,” he told me, leaning so his silver hair fluttered over his shoulders. “And the secrets hide themselves there in the dark. You’ll understand that soon enough. I’ll give you a sign.” His breath was hot on my skin as he spoke, his melodic voice dancing in the heavy, spiced air. “You won’t miss it.”

Then he walked backward a few steps before disappearing, leaving me alone in the dark room.





6



WE WERE TO REPORT TO Sibyl immediately. Between Saul reemerging suddenly in Morocco and the mysterious man we’d found instead of him at the desert hideout, there were already too many variables to sort out. Still, I had to be careful. Some things we couldn’t share with the Sect.

The Sect van took us from the streets of London down the phantom-proof highways to the facility. As I watched the dying evening sun through the window, I thought of Saul gripping me in his arms and shivered.

“Maia? Are you feeling better?” Lake asked for the thousandth time and leaned in from her seat beside me. The other girls hadn’t stopped looking at me sideways since we’d left Africa. “That scrying session was pretty intense. Then Saul shows up in your room.”

Chae Rin smacked the side of my head when I didn’t answer. “Hello? We’re asking you if you’re okay.”

Rubbing my head, I shot her a glare. “I’m fine. I’m still breathing, anyway.”

“What about the scrying?” Over the months, Lake had gotten comfortable enough with me to poke me in the arm, the cheek—it was annoying, but I didn’t tell her not to. “What did you see when you were in there?”

I noticed Belle’s head shift from the passenger seat.

“Not much,” I lied, stifling a sudden nervous thump in my chest. “What matters is that I am okay now.” I can’t tell you here, I wanted to say. Not with Sect agents around.

Natalya’s death had too many imprints on it. Saul. The Sect. And—

My hand twitched against the car window ledge. Forget him, I ordered myself. He wasn’t even here anymore. He’d gone back home. He was gone. He didn’t matter.