The Golden Tower (Magisterium #5)(48)

The Devoured of fire burned her way closer. You could see the shape of Ravan now, her long hair and young face, shaped out of flames. She spoke. “My little family, made of wax and tinder. Do you fear me?”

Mrs. Rajavi shook her head. “I can’t look.” She turned away, her face tearstained.

“Mother, do you not see me?” Ravan said, flickering. “Will you say you do not know me?”

“Ravan,” Mrs. Rajavi said, an immense sadness in her voice, “we knew you before, but we are not sure we know you now.”

“Perhaps I am unknowable.” Ravan flickered once. “But I will burn for your sake all the same.”

“My daughters.” Mrs. Rajavi began to sob. “Oh, Ravan. Oh, Tamara and Kimiya, am I going to lose you all? How could this happen? Why our family?”

Tamara and Kimiya came forward to comfort their mother. Call had always had mixed feelings about the Rajavis. They had been cold to him, though kind to Aaron, and they struck him as stern and cruel. But the realization that they were facing losing all their children today made Call back away to give them space.

He was immediately buttonholed by Master Rufus. “Call,” he said. “It’s time to summon the last two Devoured.”

Call followed Master Rufus to the center of a loose circle of mages. Jasper and Gwenda were there already. The mages watched in silence as Jasper summoned a small pool of water, which bubbled up around his feet. He knelt down and touched it.

“Lucas,” he said, and jumped backward in surprise as the pool shot upward in a column, forming into the shape of Lucas, Devoured of water. The mages gasped and several of them backed away.

It was Call’s turn. He took Greta’s geode out of his pocket, bent down, and brought it down with as much force as he could muster against the side of a rock.

It smashed apart into glittering fragments. They all stared at the fragments expectantly. Nothing happened.

“Is it working?” Jasper hissed into Call’s ear.

“Yoo-hoo,” said a bored voice, and they all turned to see Greta, a rumbling pile of rocks, hovering around the edge of the circle. “I’m here.”

She and Lucas waved at each other. Alastair walked over to them slowly, and Ravan drifted along, trailing sparks. The mages all moved away to give the Devoured space, or perhaps to give themselves space from the Devoured.

Hearing shouting, Call turned to find Gwenda in the middle of a fierce argument with Master Rufus. “But I should go,” she said. “I’m part of the apprentice group! I helped collect the Devoured!”

Master Rufus shook his head. “Absolutely not, Gwenda. Call, Jasper, and Tamara are going because Alex demanded they go. I will not sacrifice the safety of another student for no good reason!”

“It is a good reason,” Gwenda said. “I can help protect them!” She whirled around and saw Call. “Call, tell him I should go with you.”

Call hesitated. “Gwenda, you’ve been a really good friend, and you’ve saved our butts a bunch of times since Gold Year started. I’m sorry if I ever underestimated you. But there’s no way Alex would let you come with us. The minute he saw someone he didn’t ask for, he’d unleash chaos.”

Gwenda’s eyes glittered angrily, but Call could tell she knew he wasn’t lying.

“I don’t want to be left behind,” she said.

Call looked at Master Rufus. “Can’t she come in with the teachers and the Assembly?” he asked. “It would only be fair.”

Master Rufus sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Everyone, listen!” It was Assemblyman Graves’s voice, amplified and echoing. “Callum Hunt. Tamara Rajavi. Jasper deWinter. Please come to stand before me.”

Tamara moved reluctantly away from her family. Jasper peeled himself away from Lucas, and a few seconds later they were all standing in front of Assemblyman Graves, along with Havoc, who’d snuck in next to Call.

“That Chaos-ridden wolf —” Graves began angrily.

“He’s not Chaos-ridden,” said Call. “He’s a regular wolf.”

Graves stared at Havoc, who blinked normal, wide, greenish wolf eyes at him. “I could have sworn —”

Tamara giggled, and immediately stifled the sound. Graves glared. “Bind their hands,” he said.

Master Milagros and Master North came up behind them. Call and the others put their hands behind their backs, and the teachers began to wind strips of flexible enchanted metal around their wrists. Call knew it was necessary, but anger was still boiling inside him.

“These will come off when you tug against them three times in rapid succession,” Graves told them. “But they will also be destroyed, so please don’t test that in advance.”

Tamara looked over at him guiltily, clearly having been just about to do that.

Alastair whirled into the air, becoming only wind, whooshing around Call’s head. “I’ll be with you,” he promised. A moment later, a metal whistle dropped into Call’s bound hands. He closed his fingers tightly over it. When he looked at Jasper, a bottle of water was tucked into his pocket. Tamara had an acorn, and Kimiya, a pack of matches that looked scorched on one end, as though Ravan hadn’t wanted to stop burning.

“Prepare yourself,” said Graves. “We will be flying to the tower.”