The Silver Mask (Magisterium #4)(48)

“It’s occupied, anyway,” Call said.

“We can dump the body on the floor,” said Alex while Aaron eyed him with distaste.

To prevent that, Call dragged a book-covered table from a corner to the center of the room. They cleared off the surface and Aaron climbed up on it and lay down, his hands crossed over his chest.

Call took a deep breath, feeling self-conscious, trying to remember how it had been to see Aaron’s soul before. This was the part he had to do alone. Alex didn’t deserve to see anyone’s soul, and definitely not Aaron’s.

Call closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began. It was harder than it had been back in the Magisterium. Aaron’s resurrected body seemed to repel Call from being able to see through to the soul. It was surrounded by a kind of murkiness. He tried to hold on to memories of Aaron — Aaron laughing, and uncomplainingly eating lichen in the Refectory, and sorting sand, and dancing with Tamara. But they came dimly. What stuck out most clearly was Aaron’s body, still and cold on the gurney in this room.

He pushed himself to remember what it had been like to put a piece of his soul into Aaron — like electricity lighting up metal in the darkness. The memory washed over him and he finally felt a path open to Aaron’s presence. He saw the light of a soul, pale and clear, with a kind of golden light that was all Aaron.

But dark tendrils surrounded it, hooking it in place, worming into it the way roots of ivy worm their way into buildings until the stonework crumbles. His body seemed to pulse with chaos energy. Call reached out with his mind and felt a terrible overwhelming coldness.

The body. There was something wrong with Aaron’s body.

“What are you doing?” The doors of the experiment room burst open. Dazed, Call leaned against the table as Alex yelped and jumped backward.

It was Master Joseph, and he looked furious.





CALL TOOK A step back from Aaron, stumbling over a stray book. This was Master Joseph as Call hadn’t seen him before — wild-eyed and full of rage. He wore the Alkahest over one hand.

At the sight of it, Call’s breath caught.

Always before, even in the depths of his anger, Master Joseph had protected Call. In the tomb of the Enemy of Death, he’d even thrown himself in front of Call, ready to toss his own life away to save him. But now, he looked ready to murder Call without thinking twice.

“H-helping Aaron,” Call stammered.

“You cannot meddle with what you have done!” Master Joseph shouted, spit flying from his lips. “Without a resurrection, we are nothing! The mages will overrun us and we will be destroyed. It is only with the power of eternal life that our army can swell to destroy the Assembly!”

On the table, Aaron sat up. He didn’t look intimidated by all the yelling. He just stared at Master Joseph impassively.

“Okay, okay,” Call said, holding up his hands, placating. Alex had backed far enough away from Master Joseph that he was standing against the wall, his face the color of candlewax. Call had never seen Alex like that before and it made him even more scared. “Don’t freak out. Everything’s fine.”

Master Joseph took a step toward Aaron and grabbed his neck, tilting his face and looking him over like an angry car owner trying to determine if his new Mercedes had a scratch on it.

“Callum seems to be determined to show me that he’s more trouble than he’s worth. From the beginning, he defied me. He mocked his role. He made light of the great honor bestowed on him. He threw my loyalty and my sacrifices back in my face, over and over again. Well, Callum, I think I’ve had enough of you ruining my plans.”

“Don’t take it personally,” Call said. “Lots of people find me really annoying. It’s not just you.”

“Call was trying to help me,” Aaron said, jerking back from Master Joseph’s grip. There was something almost terrifying in his expression.

“You don’t need help!” Master Joseph snapped, seizing him by the shoulder this time. “You shouldn’t be tampered with!”

“Get off me,” Aaron said, shoving Master Joseph’s hand away. “You don’t know what I need!”

Master Joseph snarled. “Be silent. You’re not a person. You’re a thing. A dead thing.”

Aaron’s arm shot out and he seized Master Joseph by the throat. It all happened fast — too fast for Call to react in any way but sucking in a sharp breath.

Master Joseph’s hand came up, as though he were going to conjure up fire, but Aaron caught his arm and twisted it behind his back. His other hand tightened on Master Joseph’s throat. Master Joseph thrashed, gasping for air, his gaze going unfocused.

“Don’t!” Call shouted, finally realizing what Aaron meant to do. “Aaron, no!”

But Call had commanded Aaron never to obey him, and Aaron didn’t. His fingers dug deeper into Master Joseph’s throat and there was a popping, snapping sound, like the sound twigs made when you stepped on them.

The light went out of Master Joseph’s eyes.

Call gasped, staring at Aaron, unwilling to believe that his friend had done this, his closest friend, who’d always also been the best person he knew. For the first time, Call was afraid — not for Aaron, but of him.

Alex was making a weird noise that turned out to be the word no said again and again, over and over.