The Silver Mask (Magisterium #4)(38)

By the time Anastasia could finally be persuaded to leave, it was clear neither Jasper nor Tamara were likely to come back. They were probably in one of their rooms, talking about Aaron’s return and what it meant. Talking about Call. He tried to tell himself that was fine and that he shouldn’t be jealous, but he was.

Aaron lay down on the bed, on top of the coverlets, and looked at the ceiling, hugging his arms around himself as if he were cold.

“Do you want to talk?” Call asked, feeling awkward.

“No,” Aaron said.

“Look,” Call said. “If you’re mad at me —”

There was a light knock on the door. It swung open slowly.

Tamara came into the room. She was wearing a lavender dress she hadn’t bothered to cut the lace off of. She looked pretty, like she was on her way to a garden party.

Call blinked, surprised to see her.

“Aaron,” she said. “I’m glad you’re back.”

He sat up slowly and looked at Tamara. His eyes weren’t swirling. He wasn’t Chaos-ridden. But Call could see Tamara wince anyway as she looked at Aaron, as if he seemed strange to her. But he’s just Aaron, Call’s mind screamed. He was traumatized. It couldn’t be easy to come back from the dead. Call willed Tamara to be understanding. He could tell she was trying. She sat down on a chair next to the dresser and clenched her hands in her lap.

“Sorry I was so weird before,” she said. “I didn’t know what to think.”

“I remember you crying,” Aaron said. “When I died.”

“Oh,” Tamara said, swallowing.

“And you knocked Call out of the way of the Alkahest,” he said. “It hit me instead.”

“Aaron.” Tamara gasped. Call’s heart was twisting inside his chest. He remembered Jasper saying to him, I just think Tamara — well, Call, I just think she liked someone else, if you get my meaning, and how he’d felt when Tamara had told him she’d never regretted saving him.

“She couldn’t save both of us and she made a split-second decision,” Call said, his voice rough. “So knock it off, Aaron.”

Aaron nodded. Call felt a slight pressure ease off his chest. That was more like Aaron. “I’m not angry,” he said. “Not at Tamara, and not at you, either, Call. I just feel like — like I have to concentrate really hard to pull myself together. Like all I want is to lie down and shut my eyes and have it be dark and quiet.”

“That makes total sense,” Call said, his words tripping over themselves in his eagerness. “You just have to get used to being alive again.”

Aaron nodded. “I guess people can get used to anything.”

“It’s incredible,” Tamara whispered. “Sitting here and listening to you talk, actually talk.”

“I’m going to be an example,” Aaron said. “Master Joseph is going to use me and Call to show them he knows how to end death.”

“Probably,” said Call.

“We have to leave,” said Aaron. “They want to use us, but they won’t hesitate to hurt us if they need to.”

“We’re going to run,” Tamara said. “All of us. We have to make it to the Magisterium.”

Aaron looked surprised. “Why go there?”

“To warn them,” Tamara explained. “They need to know what Master Joseph is planning. What his weaknesses are.”

“We won’t be safe at the Magisterium,” Aaron said. “We’ll just be in a different kind of danger.”

“But if we don’t warn them, they’ll be in danger,” Call said.

“So what?” said Aaron.

Tamara was twisting her hands in her lap. “We’re talking about our friends,” she said. “The Magisterium — people you know. Master Rufus, Celia, Rafe, Kai, Gwenda —”

“I don’t know them that well,” said Aaron. He didn’t sound angry. Just distant. Weary and distant in a way he’d never sounded before.

Tamara pushed her chair back. “I have to go — go to sleep,” she said, and moved toward the door. She paused and picked up a book from on the dresser. Jericho’s diary. Call wondered what she wanted it for. He was going to ask her when Aaron spoke again.

“Everyone has to die eventually,” said Aaron. “I don’t see how us dying for the Magisterium helps.”

Call heard Tamara choke back a sob as she fumbled for the knob and let herself out of the room.

When Aaron turned back to him, Call felt more exhausted than he ever had before. He didn’t want to talk to Aaron, for the first time in his life. He wanted to be alone.

“Go to sleep, Aaron,” he said, standing up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Aaron nodded and lay down, closing his eyes, asleep almost immediately, as if nothing had happened at all to trouble his dreams.



After an hour of listening to Havoc snore and the eerie silence from Aaron — he didn’t turn or rustle and barely seemed to breathe — Call realized that he wasn’t going to sleep. He kept thinking about his dad, about Master Rufus, and what they would think of what he’d done. He wished he could talk to one of them, get some advice.

Finally he got up, deciding to brave the creepy house and the Chaos-ridden to get a glass of water. He padded down the stairs, into the kitchen.