The Nightmare Dilemma

32 The Sinking

No one spoke for several minutes after Titus and Gargrave left, all of us in varying states of shock. I kept my gaze fixed on the door, willing it to open. Willing for somebody to come and find us. I even tried closing my eyes and calling for my mom with my mind-magic, but it was pointless. The silver rope of the binding curse created a containment shield around the bound person, blocking in all magic, even mind-magic. The only reason why I’d been able to force Gargrave out of my mind was because he’d had to come inside the shield first.

“I don’t suppose anyone has a magical knife stowed in their pockets,” Selene said, her voice wry but with a desperate undertone that made tears threaten my eyes.

I shook off the hopelessness and stood, my legs trembling from the effort. Taking a deep breath, I summoned all my strength, and then I walked over to Eli. I bent close and examined the wound on his temple. It looked painful but not deep. His breathing seemed to be growing shallow, and I guessed he would wake up on his own soon. I wanted to touch him, to reassure myself that he was all right, but it was impossible with my hands bound behind me. Instead I leaned even closer to him, brushing my lips against his head in a gentle kiss.

Then I moved past him toward the door. I turned around when I reached it and tried to grab the handle. But after several attempts, I knew it wasn’t going to work. I was too short and the handle too large. My fingers kept sliding off it.

“I can’t … get … ahold of it.” I let go and straightened up, cursing.

Across from me, Paul struggled to his feet. He looked as weak and uncoordinated as a newborn foal. He staggered over to me. “Let me try.”

I stepped aside and held my breath as I watched him turn around and try to grab the handle. He was taller than me. It might work. His fingers grasped the door handle, and he twisted his body to the right, turning it. The distinctive sound of a lock rattling greeted us a moment later.

Paul slumped back against the door and slid to the ground in defeat.

I turned away from him, knowing despair was contagious. I wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet.

I walked back to Selene. “Can you stand?”

In answer, she pushed herself up, the gesture awkward with her hands bound. “What now?”

“Turn around,” I said. “I’m going to try pulling the ropes off.”

Selene frowned. “It won’t work, Dusty. You know that.”

“She’s right,” Paul said, his voice faint and hard to hear from across the room.

“I have to try. We have to do something to get out of here.”

Selene exhaled then turned around, showing me her back. I did the same, and then scooted until I felt her fingers brush mine. She and I were close enough in height that I was able to reach the ropes around her wrists easily. But the moment I touched them, the skin on my fingers began to burn. I flinched away but only for a second. After the spell Titus had used on me, burnt fingers seemed minor.

I grabbed the rope again and pulled, wincing against the pain as the burning increased. Selene made a choking sound as the rope moved down her wrists just a little, and I knew she was feeling the same burn I was. But she didn’t cry out, and I kept at it, pulling with everything I possessed.

It didn’t matter. The spell was too strong.

I let go and stumbled forward, panting. My hands felt like I’d held them pressed against a lit stove top. I could feel the blisters forming. I turned and sank to the floor beside Eli, the disease of despair taking over me at last. I hung my head, trying not to cry.

No one spoke for several long minutes. And I knew we were all waiting and wondering when the destruction would begin. It was impossible to tell how late in the day it was. And I had no idea if there would be warning tremors beforehand or if the ground beneath us would just give way all at once.

“He’s waking,” Selene said sometime later.

I raised my head and watched as Eli stirred on the floor. He groaned and rolled over. “What happened?”

“They’re gone, and we’re trapped,” Selene deadpanned.

Eli scooted and twisted his body until he was able to get into a sitting position, leaning against me for support. “No, we’re not. I’ve got a way out.”

I exhaled and shook my head. “Titus took your wand.” I paused, then I decided he would be happy to know that his inability to work magic was because he’d been given a defective wand and not because of something lacking in himself. Any happiness, no matter how small, would be welcome right now.

When I finished explaining Eli surprised me with a matter-of-fact nod. “I’d suspected something wasn’t right about it for a while now. When I cast that first spell in Miss Norton’s class it was so easy. But everything with my wand was like trying to swim through mud. That’s why I took Miss Norton’s talking stick.”

My mouth fell open. “You did?”

“Yes.”

Well, I decided, there wasn’t much point in being angry now.

“I saw it and had to,” Eli went on, getting to his feet. “If we ended up here at the festival, I didn’t want to be powerless. And boy, was that the right decision. Now someone come here and take off this bracelet.”

Selene stepped forward, and I watched, a welcome surge of adrenaline starting to pump through my system.

“Is that what I think it is?” I said as Selene slid the bracelet off Eli’s wrist.

Eli stretched out his fingers, taking the bracelet from Selene. “Yes, it is.” Then with an awkward gesture, he managed to disengage the glamour concealing Miss Norton’s talking stick. I’d never been so happy to see it.

Eli pointed it as best he could at Selene and said, “Ou-agra.”

At once the silver rope binding her vanished. Joy boosted me to my feet as Selene returned the favor for Eli. Then she cast the spell at Paul while Eli freed me. He picked me up in a fierce hug. It hurt a lot, and Eli was unsteady on his feet from the blow to his head, but I welcomed the pain and shakiness, any reminder that we were still alive.

But as he set me on my feet, a loud grumble went through the building, and the floor and walls began to shake.

“It’s started.” Eli let go of me. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.”

Selene was one step ahead of us. She charged to the door and blasted it open with a spell. Then she turned to help Paul, who was struggling to remain upright.

I rushed over to help, too, but then Eli said, “I’ll do it. I’m stronger, and you two are better at magic.”

I frowned. “What about your head?”

“I’m fine. The dizziness is already passing. Now go.”

I hesitated, but only for a moment. I squeezed Paul’s hand, then stepped away, making room for Eli, who swung Paul’s arm over his shoulder, supporting him.

I led the way out with Selene right behind me. The narrow passageway beyond the door was even darker than the chamber we’d left, and Selene and I both conjured fire in our hands. There was only one way to go, and I headed down it, keeping the flames low. I was afraid I would catch myself on fire as the tremors continued, making it difficult to walk without stumbling. Every few seconds, bits of stone rained down around us from the ceiling.

After walking a little while, the passageway dead-ended.

“That can’t be,” I said, staring at the stone wall in front of me. My instincts insisted there should be a door or staircase here instead of a wall. I reached out with my free hand and touched the wall, confirming its solidity.

Selene stepped up beside me. “Maybe the way through is hidden.” She began to hum a familiar tune, the magical notes of her siren detection spell. Within seconds, the golden outline of a door appeared.

Selene looked at me, and I nodded, the message clear—aim for the center and blast it open.

“One, two, three!” We both hit it with spells at the same time, and the stones exploded outward revealing another passageway beyond as well as a steep staircase leading up. I stepped through and charged up the stairs, but Selene soon called for me to slow down. Eli and Paul were having a rough time. Paul was so exhausted and the stairwell so narrow, Eli could barely help him at all.

Still, we managed it, climbing several stories upward until we reached a passageway on the ground floor leading off to the right. Faint but natural light leaked in through the high windows overhead. The sun must be close to setting.

I extinguished the fire in my hands and headed down the passageway. The first door I came to, I stopped and forced it open, but it only led into an empty room. I moved on, stopping at the next couple of doors only to find more rooms, some empty, some furnished, but none of them providing the escape we needed.

Finally, the last door opened into another narrow passage. I followed it, eventually arriving in a place I recognized—the grand entryway of Senate Hall. Another tremor hit the building, this one stronger than the ones before. One of the pillars on the side of the entryway split at the top and came crashing down, flooding the room with dust.

I coughed and squinted, trying to see a way through. Selene appeared beside me, and she worked some kind of spell that helped to clear the air. It was enough we could see a small side door leading outside. We raced to it, Eli and Paul managing to keep up as the danger of being crushed by the falling debris spurred them on.

Although the entryway had been deserted, the outside lawn of Senate Hall was a mass of people in various states of panic. Most of them seemed to be trying to flee the giant fissure that had split across the lawn in the place where the first pyres had been in Eli’s dream. Fire, pieces of earth, and even water were bursting out from it all at once. I gulped, wondering how many people had been standing there when the ground split. As it was, there were far too many people lying unmoving in the grass, either unconscious or dead.

Guilt pressed down on me as I wondered if we could’ve prevented this if we’d turned in the cell phone. But right away I understood that if we’d tried, Titus would’ve stopped us sooner. We’d been trapped from the very beginning. And the scale of his plan was so large and Titus so determined, it seemed impossible that anything could’ve stood in his way. Even still, the understanding brought no relief.

The stone pavilion, so beautiful inside Eli’s dream, had been reduced to rubble, and the four of us had to climb our way through. As I reached the top of a large boulder, I froze, stunned by the sight of a body lying on the other side of it. The man was clearly dead, although I couldn’t tell how. There was no blood or sign of trauma. But I knew who he was—Consul Vanholt. It seemed this part of Titus’s plan had worked successfully.

Gritting my teeth, I moved on, ignoring the shocked comments from the others. There would be time to process the consul’s death later. For now we had to do what we could to stop the rest of Titus’s plan from coming to fruition.

Selene turned right when we reached the lawn, heading in the direction most of the people seemed to be running. I moved to follow her, but Eli shouted from behind me.

“That’s the wrong way!”

I turned around. “How do you know?”

“The Terra Tribe’s practice. They lit the pyres clockwise. There’ll be more fissures that way already.” As if his words had been a portent of doom, the ground trembled again followed by the distant sound of an explosion and then the groan of a foundation shifting.

That was all it took to get us moving in the opposite direction. Eli continued to help Paul along, but Paul seemed to be doing better now that we were out in the open. We reached the twelfth pyre moments later after two more explosions. There was panic and chaos here, too, but it was more contained. We could see two of the pyres and both of them were still burning. A group of people surrounded each one, working some kind of collective spell—one intended to stop the Telluric Rods from ripping the final holes through the island, I hoped.

I spotted Lady Elaine among the nearest group and dashed toward her. Her presence bought a rush of relief. She would know what to do to stop this thing.

But then I spotted a couple of men in the familiar red and black tunics of the Will Guard. What were they doing here? Didn’t they know that their captain was planning to sink the island? Or maybe they did, and they were here to ensure it happened. They might be working against the spell to stop the rods, even now.

Lady Elaine turned and saw me coming. “What are you doing here, Dusty? You’re supposed to be at Arkwell. Go now. That way. They’re moving people off the island.” She pointed to somewhere off toward the sea in the distance.

I shook my head. “You’ve got to listen to me right now!” I leaned into her, lowering my voice for fear one of the nearby Will Guards would hear me. “Magistrate Kirkwood is behind this. Captain Gargrave and his men are working for him. They killed Consul Vanholt, and now they’re trying to help sink the island.”

Disbelief flashed in her eyes.

“It’s true. Kirkwood cursed Eli’s wand to block our dream-seeing. But we found out anyway and he captured us and brought us here to let the island kill us. How else would we even be on the island?”

The appeal to her logic seemed to work, and she grabbed my arm. “Run that way and find Sheriff Brackenberry. Tell him what you told me.” She pointed to the other pyre in the distance. To Selene, Eli, and Paul she said, “You three stay here. We’ll need your help.” Without a word, I took off at a run, leaving my friends behind. By the time I reached Brackenberry, I was panting so hard I could barely breathe. He gaped at me, completely taken by surprise, but that didn’t prevent him from listening as I relayed the story once more, whispering low. I kept glancing at the Will Guard as I spoke, afraid they would know what I was doing and attack.

Brackenberry’s expression hardened. He didn’t ask me any questions or express any doubt. His faith stunned me as he immediately turned to the deputies next to him and spoke some low instructions to them. The message slid down the line among his men.

“You want to get back,” Brackenberry told me. I did, walking backward, too afraid to turn around. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Will Guards starting to retreat as well. At first I thought it was in response to Brackenberry’s men closing in on them, but then I realized the truth.

“It’s going to blow!” I screamed.

I turned and started running. A second later a deafening noise rent the air as the ground split in half. The force of it flung me forward. I landed a dozen feet away, arms and face first. I blinked away the stars clouding my vision and struggled to my feet, afraid to turn around and see what was left and what wasn’t.

Brackenberry and the nearest of his men had made it, but everyone on the other side of the bonfire had not. All that remained where they’d been was a deep fissure in the earth, like some kind of portal opening up into hell.

The Will Guard had made it as well, but Brackenberry and his men regained their focus quickly. A barrage of spells soared through the air at the three guards, taking them out in seconds. Then Brackenberry shouted at his men to stop the other Will Guard at the last bonfire—the last fail-safe that would keep the island afloat.

I ran with them, wanting to help. But by the time we arrived, the remaining Will Guard had been captured. I slowed down, hope returning at last. Surely, the destruction could be turned back and the damage undone.

As soon as she saw me, Lady Elaine waved me toward her. “Dusty!” Selene, Eli, and Paul were still with her.

I jogged over to her.

Lady Elaine grabbed me by the arms and gave me a shake. “You’ve got to go back to Senate Hall and climb to the top of the watchtower.”

I didn’t know what to say, certain for a moment that the pressure of the situation had addled her mind.

She scowled, understanding the look on my face perfectly. “We won’t be able to stop the Telluric Rods from sinking the island. The best we can do is delay them long enough for most of us to evacuate.”

I gulped. Most of us. How many wouldn’t make it? I glanced at the pyre and the people surrounding it, holding the explosion at bay with their magic. The moment they stopped fighting it, the last rod would engage and the entire island would go down.

“But you can stop it, Dusty,” Lady Elaine said. “You can save all of us and the island itself.”

I rocked back on my heels. “What? How?”

Lady Elaine leaned toward me, piercing me with her gaze. “The sword. The Will sword is on top of the tower, and only you can use it.”

“That can’t be true,” Selene said from my right. “It was supposed to be destroyed.”

“It can’t be destroyed.” Lady Elaine shook her head. “But you can use it to absorb the power of the Telluric Rod and deflect it.”

If The Will sword, Excalibur of legend, was still around, it could definitely do what she was saying. But … “Why me?”

“Your dream,” Lady Elaine said through clenched teeth. “The one with the plinth and the tower.”

My head spun so hard at this news I almost lost my balance. I turned my gaze toward Senate Hall and the watchtower perched so high above it. The plinth. The tower.

The name.

“It’s known as Excalibur, although that’s not its true name,” my mom had told me once.

True name.

B E L L A N A

It wasn’t the ghost of Marrow or Rosemary or Nimue. It was the true name of The Will sword. The name that would give me command over it.

But I didn’t know the last letter.

And now, it really was too late.