The Silver Mask (Magisterium #4)(10)

The last two times he’d done this, it had worked.

This time, nothing happened.

It felt like Call was slamming into a wall. The Chaos-ridden just stared at him, their coruscating eyes, like Havoc’s, whirling.

Maybe it was because of the cuffs, he thought, trying to contort his hands to push them off his wrists.

Then the door of the new car opened. Out stepped a tall boy with tousled brown hair. He wore a leather jacket and a nasty smirk.

Alex Strike. Aaron’s murderer, and the only other chaos mage Call knew of.

A growl tore out of Call’s throat as he lunged toward Alex. Behind him, Tamara was screaming and kicking at the Chaos-ridden who were holding her.

“I’ll kill you!” There were tears on Call’s face as he flung himself at Alex. “I’ll kill you!”

“Stop him,” said Alex lazily. Seconds later, Call felt himself seized by a dozen Chaos-ridden, their grips like iron.

Alex’s eyes danced. “I made these,” he said, gesturing toward the Chaos-ridden in the clearing. “I am their Makar — not you, not Constantine. They obey me.”

“That’s enough,” Anastasia said from the porch. “You are not to harm Call. No one is to harm Call. Alex, do you understand? We need to put our differences behind us.”

Alex looked toward her sharply, then at Master Joseph as though he hoped to hear something different.

Instead, Master Joseph smiled at all of them, like everything was going perfectly well. “Yes, no one is to harm anyone else. Let’s all go back to the stronghold peaceably. We have much to discuss. The future we have long awaited is finally here.”

Alex’s face turned petulant, but neither of the adults seemed to notice.

Anastasia’s eyes were fixed on Call. “I know you’re probably feeling very vexed with me right now, but I know what’s best for you. You need protection. The mages only understand shows of strength. You threw yourself on their mercy and see what it got you?”

“Ravan will know!” Tamara yelled. “When I don’t meet her like I said I would, she’ll know you betrayed us. She’ll tell someone.”

Anastasia shook her head and clucked her tongue as though Tamara had been slow in class. “Who will believe her? She’s an escaped elemental who burned down a prison.”

Tamara looked defeated and furious with herself. Call wanted to tell Tamara that it wasn’t her fault that this plan was going sideways, that this kind of thing seemed to always happen when he was around. But before he could say anything, the dead thing holding him began to drag him back to the van. In a few moments, they were loaded inside, along with Havoc.

“Seriously?” Jasper said glumly from one of the benches. “Clandestine meetings with the Enemy of Death’s minions are definitely not going to clear your name, Call. This is the opposite, in fact. This is the opposite of clearing your name.”

“Nobody planned this, Jasper!” Tamara snapped.

“Master Joseph did,” Jasper said, jarringly accurate. Call was used to snarky comments, but this was different. Jasper was right.

Havoc howled in frustration and paced the small space before settling against Call’s leg.

Call expected to hear the engine start and someone get into the front, but instead he felt the whole van lift unsteadily into the air. They all tumbled sideways, yelling. Jasper knocked into Call before sprawling over Havoc. Call banged his bad leg hard against the bench. Tamara toppled into him, getting her hair in his mouth and her knee in a place Call didn’t want to think about.

Ow.

Then the van lurched again and they rolled in the opposite direction.

“Hey!” Call shouted when he got his breath back. “I thought no one was supposed to get hurt!”

After a few more minutes of lurching, the van steadied and moved more gently through the air. They stayed on the floor until they were sure it was safe and then gingerly got back on the benches.

Jasper rubbed his neck.

Tamara was quiet beside Call. Taking a deep breath, he nervously reached out with his cuffed hands and took one of hers. It was warm and soft and he held it tightly as they flew toward the stronghold that had once belonged to the real Enemy of Death.





HOURS PASSED, DURING which Call dozed on and off. He was keyed up but also exhausted. He kept thinking of Alastair — how would his dad know where he was? He’d know Call had escaped from prison. Pretty soon everyone in the mage world would know there was a Makar on the loose. Call thought of his dad being worried and felt hollow inside.

Tamara didn’t sleep. Every time Call opened his eyes he saw her staring miserably into the dark. Once, tears were sliding down her face. He wondered if she was upset because the jailbreak hadn’t worked. Or maybe she was missing Aaron.

Tamara had saved Call’s life when Alex Strike had been trying to steal his chaos magic. But in saving Call’s life, she had doomed Aaron. Aaron, the nicest and best guy Call had ever known.

She could have saved either one of them and she had chosen Call. No one in their right mind would choose Call.

He didn’t wonder if she regretted it. He wondered how much she regretted it. Or at least he had, until Anastasia’s words.

Now he didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, he wanted to believe it. On the other hand, the source was Anastasia and she wasn’t exactly reliable.