Wicked Rebellion (Darkwater Reformatory Book 3) Page 2

  “Why are you so desperate to kill Brodin?”

  “I do not need to answer that question.”

  “No, but it might be nice to know the answer.” Then I could use it against him.

  My face must’ve given me away.

  He took a sip of his tea before returning the cup to its place on the table. His fingers toyed with the pendant suspended on the chain he wore around his neck. “You committed with blood. The task is unbreakable.”

  “Nothing is ever as it seems, is it?” I stood. “It’s over. I’m not doing it. The agreement is finished.” I started toward the door, my bravado carrying me when my legs would have failed. I’d collapse the moment I left his view.

  How was I going to get back to the Reformatory? I couldn’t leave Brodin, Jacey, and Rohnan there, unable to break free. And the dragons. Bixby would kill them.

  “Are you sure you’re not willing to fulfill your end of the bargain?” he called as I reached the door.

  Don’t turn. Keep going. Nothing good will come of this.

  “I believe there is one more thing you must see,” he said softly.

  I couldn’t hold myself back, because I had to know.

  I spun around.

  A large gold ball with a glossy, opaque surface appeared in front of me, hovering. The innards clouded and spun before a picture slowly formed of the Academy’s eastern pasture, with the forest behind.

  Like when we’d made our original deal resulting in Brodin’s mother’s death, a person walked there. Not the Professor this time.

  Fleur. My sister. The person I loved as much as Brodin.

  Someone slunk behind her.

  Not someone. Me. In my—her—hand, she held a knife.

  Fleur turned with a smile that flashed to horror…

  “No,” I moaned, collapsing against the wall.

  “Never fear,” he said with bone-crushing glee. “What you see has not yet come to pass.” He studied his nails. “Life is such a delight, is it not? There is always someone who needs something. I’m happy to be of help in exchange for favors.”

  “You fiend,” I spat.

  “Now, now, don’t be like that, child. You, like many others, needed something. We made a bargain.”

  My hands clenched into fists, but I said nothing. What could I say? I was trapped in his web, and he knew it.

  “But, because I like you Tria, I’m willing to make this fair.” Ramseff’s evil chuckle scorched my skin like acid. “I’ll give you five days, including today, to carry out the deed.”

  “It’s not enough time.” My desperation hung in the air, a lethal stink. Gone was my protestation that I wouldn’t do it. Gone was my confidence I had even a speck of say in my future. What was I going to do?

  “Here.” He lifted his hand and a golden disc spun off his fingertips. It traveled through the air, toward me. I caught it and stared down at it lying on my palm.

  Made of golden metal and shaped like a pocket watch, the device had five slashes around the outside and a dot at the top.

  “The circle indicates when your time is up,” Ramseff said. “You’ll note the arrow in the center currently points to the fifth slash. You’ll be able to watch the time tick down. Perform the service you agreed to before the arrow points to the circle or it will be too late to save your sister’s life.”

  An arrow pointed to the slash to the right of the dot. As I watched, it slid to a tinier mark between it and the next slash, slowly moving toward the death of my sister. Her life was worth so much more than this.

  “Five days gives you plenty of time to carry out your part of our agreement.” He sipped his tea, then carefully lowered his cup onto the table. “Eliminate Brodin and our deal is over. You will be free to continue your life as you wish because I will spirit you from the Reformatory. Within moments, you’ll be at your sister’s side, laughing with her as you go about your day.”

  How could I enjoy my life—my sister’s life—if it was bought with Brodin’s. “No.” I tried to sound firm, but my voice broke.

  “It’s your choice. Let the time run out, and I will make the decision for you.”

  “Leave Fleur alone!”

  He chuckled. “You are a pitiful thing. No longer a Seeker. Barely capable of delivering magic. You do not dictate anything to me.”

  We’d see about that.

  “Do as I say, Tria,” he said.

  I ground my teeth and jerked out a nod.

  Let him think what he wanted of the gesture. This wasn’t a promise made with blood. It wasn’t binding.

  And this game wasn’t anywhere near over yet.

  Chapter Two

  A blink, and I stood back in the rookery with my friends again.

  Bixby and her evil brother, Duvoe, had left, though I was confident I hadn’t seen the last of them.

  Jacey knelt on the floor, patting the dragon she hatched, but she turned when I reappeared. “Where did she send you?”

  I needed to push this to see how much I’d be allowed to share. In the past, I’d been forbidden to say anything about my deal with the Master Seeker. “You know about the blood bond.”

  She nodded and explained to Rohnan the details she’d been able to glean from me. I had made a blood bond. I was expected to do something in exchange for the favor I needed.

  Brodin’s gaze never left my face, though he said nothing. He knew. He’d guessed when we were alone during one of the catacomb challenges.

  “I know a few things about blood bonds,” Rohnan said. “They’re tricky. I assume you’ve been asked to do something.”

  I nodded, grateful the bond didn’t prevent me from replying in that simple way. Not so far.

  “Do you need to steal something?” he asked.

  I shook my head.

  “Make someone do something?”

  “No.”

  His shoulders slumped, and his gaze filled with sympathy. “Then the person is asking you to commit murder.”

  As if steel bindings wrapped around me, I couldn’t move. I was forbidden from shaking my head yes or no.

  “Murder.” Rohnan’s gaze swept the room, taking in the four of us. “Let’s see if we can puzzle this out, shall we?”

  Suddenly able to move, I sucked in air and pushed it back out.

  Rohnan dropped down to the floor, leaning against the wall, and Jacey joined him, settling at his side.

  “I’m sorry, Tria,” she said. “But there must be a way out of this.” Her gaze met Rohnan’s, and he gave her a slight nod of his head.

  Brodin and I stood near each other yet too far apart, saying nothing. Did he suspect what I was being asked to do?

  Rohnan waved our way. “Have a seat. Let’s figure this out. Then we can come up with a plan to break the bond and get the hell out of this place.”

  “Do you think that’s possible?” Brodin said, dropping down opposite them.

  I sat beside him, wishing I dared lean into his embrace like Jacey did with Rohnan. A wide gap had expanded between us.

  What was I going to do?

  “Is there a way to break it?” I asked. “Because I won’t do it. He can’t make me.”

  “He.” Brodin’s word dropped between us like a lead weight, dragging my soul down along with it. “You mean my father.” He growled. “Damn him. I see… Not as an Eerie, but as me. My father murdered my mother. I already assumed that.” He said it matter-of-factly, yet pain leaked into his voice. His gaze fell on me, and he bridged the gap that I wasn’t able to reach across when he stroked my hair. His fingers trailed down my face. “It’s okay. We’re gonna fix this.”

  “How can we? He…” I was forbidden from speaking. But even if I could talk, how could I name this?

  Brodin nodded. “We know you were framed to make it look like you murdered my mother. Which means you were sent here, to Darkwater. We can assume, since you’re being asked to murder someone, that it’s not Rohnan.” He watched my face as he spoke, but I doubted the bond would allow me to show
even a pinch of emotion to verify his guess.

  “Not Rohnan.” That, I was allowed to say.

  “Me?” Jacey asked, her voice croaking. “Oh, Tria. No matter what, I’m so sorry.”

  “Not you,” I said.

  “Kylie—Akimi?” Jacey asked.

  “No.”

  “My father would like you to murder me,” Brodin said in a dead tone. He lifted my hand and purposefully linked our fingers, binding us together.

  My mouth froze. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe.

  “Which you won’t do,” Jacey said, watching us. “That’s it, then. His father wants him murdered. Oh, Brodin…”

  “Who’s his father?” Rohnan asked, his intent gaze never leaving my face.

  “He’s the Master Seeker in the other realm, where Tria grew up,” Brodin said.

  “And you are a Seeker,” Jacey said to me.

  “I was a Seeker. I’ve been disbarred.” If this was how the Guild was run, that might not be a bad thing.

  “Huh,” Rohnan said, frowning. “That’s an interesting twist.”

  Interesting? No. It was appalling.

  “That’s not the only twist,” I said. Fleur! I couldn’t allow anything to happen to my sister. I leaned forward, urgent. “We have to act fast—”

  “Because he’s threatening someone else, isn’t he?” Brodin turned to me and cupped my face. “If you don’t kill me, he’ll…I assume murder someone you love.”

  My throat choked off, and I couldn’t stop my tears from flowing down my face.

  “Tria.” The entire world came through in his sigh. “We’ll stop him. Stop whatever he’s threatening to do.”

  “How can we?” I half-shrieked. Fleur. Please not Fleur. My heart shattered.

  Jacey shook her head. “This is completely fucked up.”

  “He hates me. I…I know what he’s done,” Brodin said. “I threatened to tell, and he’s desperate to make me shut me up. But that’s not the only reason—”

  “Why not kill you himself?” Rohnan asked, confused.

  “I believe he’s toying with me. He must know how this ends.”

  “Hmm.” Rohnan’s attention drifted to me. “Perhaps your skill can be used against him, since you are still a Seeker.”

  “I hadn’t finished,” I said. “I was at best a Level four.”

  He frowned. “We don’t have levels here.”

  “Level one is basic, baby skill stuff. Level Five, a consistent Level Five, is the best we can be. The Master Seeker is the best of the Level Fives.” I shrugged. “I can’t see how my skill will help us here, but I’m willing to consider anything to stop this from happening.” While I couldn’t outright name what I was being asked to do or what the consequences would be if I failed, it seemed I could skirt around the subject. I’d have to use this to my advantage. “I hadn’t yet mastered Level Four, though I was close. And I was kicked out of the Guild after I was convicted of killing Brodin’s mother.”

  “My mother cast a protection spell on me about a year ago,” Brodin said softly, staring down at the floor. “She must have suspected he’d try to silence us both.”

  “You said he has a reason to kill you. That you know something he’s done,” I said.

  “He’s been manipulating the power on your side of the veil. Draining it to feed his own. He plans to overthrow the ruling family and assume a dictatorship with himself at the helm. If he can do this, he’ll continue to amass power, and no one will ever be able to defeat him.”

  “How does killing you stop that from happening?” Rohnan asked.

  “I…” Brodin’s gaze fell, though he darted a look my way. “He is determined to destroy me because I’m not who he thought I was.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said.

  “He believes I can destroy him.”

  “Ah,” Jacey said. “That makes sense. Was your mother Eerie, too?”

  How did his Eerie form play into this?”

  “No,” Brodin said. “But her mother was Eerie.”

  “Bixby and Duvoe are in on this,” I said, turning to watch the dragons skipping to the ends of their chains and keening at each other. Did they sense what Bixby planned to do to them? “Power. Is that what’s driving most of this? Bixby said dragon bone grants more power but obviously, it runs out.”

  “Or she uses it up,” Jacey said.

  “No,” Brodin held up his hand. “She’s selling it.”

  I sagged. Magic like this, in the wrong hands, could destroy worlds. The Master Seeker was using Fleur against me, but if Bixby succeeded here, it wouldn’t matter. Fleur was the world’s only Unraveler. She could eliminate any Bespelling. If the Master Seeker sought complete power, my sister could stop him. She would be destroyed.

  But rather than kill her outright, the Master Seeker still wanted Brodin dead.

  “Bixby must be giving or selling power to my father,” Brodin said.

  “Has to be,” Jacey said. Her gaze went flinty. “So, do we eliminate her and then him?”

  “You’re talking murder,” Rohnan said, though he didn’t sound upset about the idea.

  She lifted her eyebrows his way. “It’s her or the dragons, correct?”

  “Can we free them?” I asked.

  “We can try.” Brodin stood and walked over to one, but no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn’t break the chain. He grabbed a metal pipe from where it leaned against one wall and pried at the links without success. “She’s using magic to reinforce them.”

  “Let’s plan, then,” Jacey said. “Freeing the dragons is a great idea but we have to assume she’ll use Kylie to get more. We need to stop this from happening again.”

  “We could take Kylie with us if and when we leave the Reformatory,” I said. “Then Bixby can’t use her.”

  “Will she cooperate?” Rohnan asked Jacey. “Maybe she’ll refuse to leave.”

  She shrugged. “Hard to say. She tried to keep us from getting through the last test.”

  “Which would’ve killed us,” Brodin said dryly. “I think Kylie is in this for herself always.”

  “She would’ve died too,” I pointed out, trying to be fair, though I agreed with him.

  “Perhaps.” Jacey scowled. “Or Bixby would’ve pulled her out. We really don’t know.”

  I nodded. “Let’s ask her.”

  “The dragons are worth dying for, but I’d prefer a different outcome,” Rohnan said.

  I stood. “I think the first thing we need to do is check out the Reformatory. We don’t know if there are other kids here who could offer suggestions or if there are property boundaries. We’re still on Darkwater Island. Until we know what we’re dealing with, we can’t make a solid plan.”

  “You’re right.” Brodin got up and took my hand. His squeeze sent reassurance, but we both knew how dire this situation was. There might be no way out.

  “We’ll see what the options are and start looking for a way out of this trap,” Jacey said. She and Rohnan stood.

  “The second we’re out of here, I’m going after my father,” Brodin said.

  The scene of their battle flashed through my mind. We had to complete a challenge to get into the catacombs, and in one part of the test, we’d seen each other’s possible future. My mind sunk back to Ramseff grabbing Brodin’s arm holding the fillinette Brodin had grabbed off the wall, hoping to use it to kill his father. I cringed as I heard the snap again as Brodin’s shoulder dislocated. The thud as the fillinette fell to the floor. Brodin had challenged his father, dared him to kill him like he’d killed Brodin’s mother. And Ramseff had. He’d lifted the fillinette and shot Brodin in the neck, leaving a gaping hole.

  Brodin’s last word had been my name. He hadn’t defeated his father in that dream reality.

  Would he succeed this time?

  Chapter Three

  We left the tower and took a long flight of stairs with exits on each of the multiple landings.

  When we reached the bottom and found a
small room with, oddly enough, a desk and office chair, Rohnan stared back up the spiral staircase. “Seven floors.”

  I crossed to the desk and pawed through the drawers, finding them all empty. The chair creaked when I touched it, the sound echoing in the small room. Old, stained boards with wainscoting skirted the room, and the ancient, white painted plaster had started to crumble. Stains coated the ceiling, telling me water had found its way down through the building. This didn’t bode well for the rest of the structure.

  “I think we should start at the bottom and work our way back up,” Jacey said. “Check out each level.”

  “I want to get an idea of what’s outside first,” Rohnan said, opening the door near the desk.

  “Let’s go outside first,” I said. My skin crawled because the scent of something long-dead haunted the air. Kids, other dragons, or both?

  “Sure,” Brodin said, taking my hand.

  Rohnan pulled the door open and we all strode outside into the sunshine. Vegetation had taken over, coating the stone, though crushed stone paths that had seen better days wound away from the building on either side of the entrance.

  “Does anyone remember specifics from when we flew in?” Brodin asked.

  We all shrugged.

  “I saw this path,” I said, pointing. “It splits here and weaves into the woods, continuing on either side of the Reformatory.”

  “Anyone else?” Rohnan asked. “I was focused on the rookery and didn’t look down.”

  “Along the sides I saw more woods and trails leading from the main path,” Brodin said with a frown. “I’m trying to remember, but I think there were other smaller buildings behind the main reformatory, though they were in the same disrepair we saw inside the stairwell.”

  “Did anyone see people?” Rohnan asked.

  We all shrugged.

  “Not a good sign,” I said. “You think we’re the only ones here?”

  “Bad news if we are,” Jacey said. “Because our purpose ended when we delivered the dragons.” She started down a path that ran parallel to the Reformatory, but she stopped, and her gaze fell on Rohnan. “Should we split up and meet back here? If we go in pairs, we can circle around the Reformatory quickly.”