The Silver Mask (Magisterium #4)(45)

Aaron looked up. Call followed his gaze — the sky was heavy with iron-gray clouds, and through them Call could see huge shapes wheeling.

One of them broke through the clouds. It was a massive air elemental, with clear, ragged wings. On its back was Anastasia, her silver-and-white armor stained and dirty.

Her elemental landed in the field behind Call and Aaron, sending a wave of air that flattened the grass all around her in a circle. Call glanced about — they were effectively trapped between Anastasia on one side and Master Joseph on the other.

What was going on?

“Callum!” Master Joseph reached them first. Call noticed two things immediately: Alex wasn’t with him, and his coat was splashed with some questionable-looking fluid. “The time has come.”

Call exchanged a look with Aaron. “Time for what?”

“Tamara and Jasper were able to reach the Magisterium,” said Anastasia, approaching them. Her elemental waited in the field behind her, rippling a little in the breeze. “The Assembly will soon know our location and what you’ve done.”

“It’s time for us to reveal ourselves, to show the world the power we have,” said Master Joseph. “Hugo, did you bring the machine?”

Call and Aaron both stared as Hugo handed Master Joseph an enormous glass jar. Inside it, gray and black air swirled.

Tornado phone, Call mouthed at Aaron, who nodded slowly.

With a flourish, Master Joseph ripped the lid from the jar. The air swirled up around them violently. Anastasia’s air elemental made a startled sound and disappeared with a pop.

Call moved closer to Aaron, whose hair was whipping across his eyes. The air expanded outward, slashing through the branches of the trees, circling the space where they stood.

“Master Rufus!” Master Joseph shouted. “Assembled mages! Show yourselves!”

It was like looking at a fuzzy television set. Slowly their images evolved, and Call could see the Assembly room and the green-robed mages there. He recognized some of them, like Tamara’s parents, and of course the mages of the Magisterium — Master Milagros and Master North, Master Rockmaple, and, sitting with his shoulders hunched, his bald head gleaming, Master Rufus.

They must have come together like this for one reason: to discuss how to defeat Callum Hunt, the Enemy of Death.

Call felt his stomach tighten at the sight of his teacher. But it was nothing compared to the feeling inside him a moment later when he saw who sat next to Rufus — Jasper, in the white uniform of Fourth Year, and Tamara, also in white, her hair in neat braids. Her wide, dark eyes seemed to stare out of the spell’s vision, as if she were looking right into Call’s soul.

It was Tamara’s father who stepped forward, hand on her shoulder. “This is the last time we will offer you surrender, Master Joseph. The last war cost us all, but it cost you, too. You lost your sons, you lost Constantine, and you lost your way. If we go to battle again, there will be no brokering of peace. We will kill you and every Chaos-ridden thing we can find.”

Call shuddered, thinking of Havoc, who was probably hiding behind a tree.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Master Joseph said. “You try to argue as though you are in a position of strength, when we have the key to eternity. Is it because Tamara and Jasper ran back to you with news of our stronghold? If I was afraid of that getting out, I would have cut their throats when I had the chance.”

Tamara glared at him, while Jasper took a step back. His mother was beside him, but Call couldn’t spot his father anywhere.

“You don’t understand,” Master Joseph went on. “No one cares about your ridiculous war. Mages want their loved ones back. They want to live forever. The only way you could get the mage world on your side is to deny what is standing right beside me.” With that, he put an arm around Aaron, who stepped out of his embrace.

“Say something,” Master Joseph told Aaron.

“I have nothing to say,” Aaron said to the mages. “I’m not on your side.”

Call expected Master Joseph to yell at Aaron or try to stop him from speaking. But instead a wide smile spread over his face.

A hush went over the mages. Master Rufus raised his head from his hands. His face looked older, more lined. “Aaron? Is that really you?”

“I — I don’t know,” Aaron said.

But the Assembly was already in pandemonium. Whatever Tamara and Jasper had told them, Call thought, they hadn’t really believed that Aaron had been brought back. They must have thought Aaron was Chaos-ridden, that Master Joseph was delusional. That Call was —

What had they thought Call was?

Master Rufus was looking at him now. His dark eyes were resigned. Disappointed. “Callum,” he said. “You did this? You raised Aaron from the dead?”

Call looked down at his feet. He couldn’t stand to meet Master Rufus’s eyes.

“Of course he did,” said Master Joseph. “The soul is the soul. Its essence doesn’t change. He’s always been Constantine Madden and he always will be.”

“That’s not true!”

Call looked up, startled, to see who had defended him. It was Tamara. She had her fists clenched at her sides. She wasn’t looking at him, but she had said it. Did that mean she didn’t believe what she’d said before, that he really was the Enemy?

Tamara’s parents shushed her, pulling her to the side and almost out of Call’s view, just as Master Joseph snorted in contempt.