The Mirror King (Orphan Queen) (35 page)

“CHRYSALIS.” TOBIAH SPAT
the name like a curse, but his anger didn’t disguise the tremor in his voice. “Why is he out there? I thought he was secured—”

“He was, but Patrick tricked him. When he realized he’d done wrong, he decided to make it right.”

“With more wraith?” His breath rasped.

“He thinks he can protect me. He thinks he can control it.”

“Can he?”

“I don’t know.”

The bank of wraith mist coalesced into a thick band that twisted just above the city like a giant worm, stretching as far north as the castle curtain. I had to drop my head all the way back to see the end of the boiling mass. Heat and stink pushed off it in waves, nauseating.

Then it spread into the sky, blocking out the moon and stars for a moment that seemed like eternity. Tobiah’s arm squeezed
tight around my waist, as the wraith shifted and plunged toward the southeast corner of the city.

Wraith splashed up and rained over everything in small, glowing flecks that lit the night.

“Oh, saints.” My voice sounded small under the screams that rose from the streets.

Panic erupted across the city as eerie white lights drifted through the hot sky, lighting the lowcity as bright as the wraithland, and for the first time, I could see evidence of the battle between Patrick and Prince Colin.

Columns of smoke towered over the lowcity beyond the factories—close to the gate where I’d guessed the fighting would be. That was where Chrysalis would be, too.

“Let’s go.” I released Tobiah, but his grip on my waist only tightened.

“It’s the Inundation all over again.”

“No.” I faced him and pulled him close enough to lean my forehead on his. “It’s going to be different this time. I’m going to find Chrysalis. I’m going to stop this.”

“I’ve already watched one city fall to the wraith.” Sweat made his mask stick to his skin. “If Aecor City falls—”

“Aecor City won’t fall. We won’t let it. Right? This is what Black Knife does.”

He dragged in a heavy breath and pulled back a fraction to focus on me, on my eyes behind the mask.

“There’s still a chance for Aecor City. We have to find Chrysalis and make him send away the wraith.”

“It will just come back.”

“We have a barrier. We’ll put it up before the wraith returns.”

He hesitated, like he wanted to argue that the barrier was only a stopgap, but at last he nodded. “We have a barrier.”

“Good.” I found my grappling hook. “Let’s go, Black Knife. We have a city to save.”

He moved toward the opposite corner of the balcony, his grapple and line in hand. “Together?” he called over the shouts from below.

“Always.”

I climbed over the rail, giving him a second to do the same, and as one we rappelled down the castle wall. People scattered out of our way, making a pair of perfect half circles below us.

“It’s Black Knife!” Someone pointed up at me.

“There are two!”

The news of Black Knife’s identity hadn’t spread out here, yet. And in the face of fighting and wraith, a foreign vigilante didn’t matter much. But as my boots thumped the ground, the panic shifted into excitement.

“Black Knife will save us!”

I loosened my hook and gathered my line, searching over heads to meet Tobiah’s eyes. His posture was stiff and serious as he pushed his way through dozens of people, toward me.

But the people pressed closer. Fingertips grazed my sleeve. Others tugged at my mask.

I jerked back, reaching for a dagger out of habit, but Tobiah was there, his hands on my shoulders.

“It’s all right.” With the noise all around, I felt his murmur of comfort more than heard it.

“What is that glow? Wraith?” asked a man.

“Yes.” Tobiah’s answer came hard.

“Are you going to stop it?”

“Yes,” I said. “We are.”

Someone gasped. “That’s the queen’s voice. And the Indigo king’s.”

There was no obvious communication, but a few people in our path stepped back and out of our way. Then more until there was a clear line to the city.

The whispers rippled down the ranks of people: “Black Knife will stop the wraith” and “The heir to four Houses” and “Queen of the vermilion throne.”

Their words became waves of sound as Tobiah and I raced toward the fighting and wraith.

At the top of the courtyard wall, Melanie was waiting in the same place I’d run into her the first time I sneaked into the city.

“About time.” She finished tying her hair into a ponytail; the shorter strands fell around her face. “We thought you’d never leave that balcony.”

“We?” I moved my line out of the way and offered a hand to Tobiah. His fingers tightened around mine as he swung himself over the parapet.

She motioned down the walkway where five people crouched in the shadow of stonework. One by one, they stood and came to meet us. James, Oscar, Kevin, Theresa, and Sergeant Ferris all had swords buckled at their hips, and long black knives painted down the fronts of their uniforms.

“I told Oscar that sending you to your room was both pointless and rude,” Melanie said.

“We’re not letting you go out there alone.” Theresa cocked
a hip toward the lowcity. “There’s a minor war.”

“Plus the wraith,” said Oscar. “Is that Chrysalis’s doing? His guards reported him missing half an hour ago.”

“Unfortunately.” I glanced at Tobiah, who was trying not to look at James. “There’s no point in ordering them to go back. We may as well let them help.”

Tobiah gave a swift nod. “Keep up. We can’t afford to waste time.”

Everyone agreed as Melanie stepped forward and tugged my mask off my head. “Put this away. Your people need to see your face.”

“Fine.” I thrust my mask into my belt and rappelled down the other side of the wall.

There was no easy way to travel; jumping from building to building wasn’t an option in this part of the city, with the roofs pitched so steep even Black Knife and I would have trouble. That left the ground, though from the wall, I’d had a quick view of bodies packing Castle Street and all the surrounding roads so tightly it was a wonder anyone could breathe.

Moving against the flow of bodies was almost impossible, so I led my team around the edges, keeping to the walls of buildings where I needed only one elbow to keep people from my space.

“This is more annoying than I thought it would be.” The din nearly drowned Theresa’s grumble, even though she was right behind me.

I started to laugh, but a commotion in the street stopped me.

“The wraith is here!” A man threw himself into a cluster of boys, knocking one over. Others around him staggered and turned on him with angry shouts.

I raised my voice. “Kevin! Take care of that!” I glanced back long enough to see him snap and thump his chest, and then he pushed through the crowd to follow orders, and I had to dodge someone vomiting in the path ahead.

We forced our way opposite the crowd for what seemed like hours, pausing to help where needed, but it couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes before we turned a corner and suddenly broke through the crush. Now that there was room to move, I staggered and braced myself against a brick wall, gasping in the wraith-hot air. Sweat poured down my face and neck and spine. My clothes clung uncomfortably.

The others came around the corner, sweating and panting as much as I was. Tobiah took off his mask and swiped his forearm over his face, but paused halfway through the motion, and stared up. “It’s snowing.”

Flakes the size of my splayed-out hand drifted from the wraith-lit sky, sticking where they hit the ground. When I knelt and held a hand over one, I could feel the heat even through my gloves.

I stood. “Don’t touch it.”

Melanie scowled at the sky as the number of giant white flakes doubled. “Oh, that shouldn’t be hard at all.” She smoothed back her hair, sweat sticking it to her skull.

I waved the group onward. “Hurry. We have to stop the fighting.”

“What about the wraith?” Sergeant Ferris strode ahead, checking around a corner before I reached it. “Can you stop the wraith like you did in Skyvale?”

Tobiah, James, and I exchanged an awkward three-way
glance. “No,” I said. “It might kill me. It would make everything worse.”

Chrysalis would be wraith mist, and James would be the lifeless shape of a boy.

“If I can find Chrysalis, I can tell him to send the wraith back.” Maybe if I just
wanted
it enough, he’d do it without my order. But I couldn’t count on that; he was unpredictable at the best of times.

And this was not the best of times.

We picked up speed as the streets cleared closer to the lowcity. The eight of us took up a steady trot, with Tobiah and me in the center, and the others around us like the points of a star.

“You should have announced yourself back there,” said Kevin. “They’d have made way for you.”

“Maybe.” Melanie waited a few steps before continuing. “Or the royal presence would have caused even more calamity.”

“
You’re
the one who made her take her mask off.” Theresa huffed. “Make up your mind.”

Melanie flicked her little finger in Theresa’s direction. “Masked figures are equally exciting.”

“I told you.” I smirked at Tobiah. “The best mask is a face no one will remember.”

He managed a faint smile as we darted around a flurry of snowflakes clumping together.

As we entered the lowcity, threads of white drifted through the streets, twining around buildings and statues and trees. Gardens withered, and houses grew eyes. Bits of wraith clung to everything, making corners of buildings rot, storefronts melt, and paving stones liquefy. A handful of bodies—both in red and
blue—sank into puddles of wraith, and vanished.

We hadn’t even reached the biggest mass of wraith. Not nearly.

Several times, we stopped to dispatch wraith beasts: cats and dogs, even birds. Nothing was safe from the toxic effects.

“Chrysalis,” I whispered. “Where are you?”

“Here.” The wraith boy appeared directly in front of me.

I skidded and crashed into him, but he didn’t budge. He grabbed my shoulders and held me upright while I found my balance.

Around us, everyone else stopped and stared. James moved close to Tobiah, who looked at the wraith boy with murder in his eyes.

“Where have you been?”

He tilted his head. “Trying to stop Patrick. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“No!”

Chrysalis took a step away from me. “I’m sorry. I thought—”

“Send away the wraith.” From the corner of my eye, I could see James muttering to Tobiah. The lengths of everyone’s drawn swords gleamed in the wraith light. “Send it away now.”

The wraith boy cringed. “My queen—”

“Do it!”

He took another small step back and glanced over his shoulder where the hulking line of factories loomed like a wall between us and the fighting. Screams, gurgles, and pleas for help sounded in the distance.

And suddenly: silence.

“I’m sorry,” said Chrysalis. “I’ve lost control of it.”

EVERYONE LUNGED FOR
the wraith boy at once.

He dropped to the packed-dirt ground, covering the back of his head and neck with his hands. Rocking side to side, he angled his face toward me and whispered something over and over, inaudible under the sound of my friends’ weapons being drawn.

“Wait!” I stepped closer, my arms outstretched. Everyone backed off.

“Wil?” Tobiah shot me a wrecked, confused look. His sword stayed in guard position, ready and deadly, but statue still.

I grabbed Chrysalis by the collar of his dirt-streaked jacket and hauled him to his feet. Sweat matted his hair, and small burns dotted his face, as though the snowflakes had injured him. “What were you saying?”

“It won’t hurt you,” he repeated. “The other wraith won’t hurt you. I told it not to.”

“What does that mean?” James’s voice was rough; he stood close to Tobiah, protective as always, no matter the ten-year secret raw between them. “That’s all wraith does—hurt people.”

Chrysalis glanced at Tobiah, something like shame crossing his face. “I know.”

“What do you mean, the wraith won’t hurt me?” I asked. This wasn’t the time to discuss the past.

“I told you I wouldn’t let it hurt you, so it won’t.” He touched the small red welts spotting his face. “It hasn’t hurt
you
.”

I mirrored his movements. It was true; I hadn’t been burned, though the others showed evidence of injury. “How, when you’ve lost control over it?”

“Control, yes. That’s lost. But not yet influence.”

Not yet.

Which meant I had to act quickly.

“The whole kingdom needs protection.” I looked beyond him, toward the now-quiet battlefield on the far side of the factories; the silence was deafening.
Something
had happened, and the wraith was likely responsible. “What happened there? Are the soldiers dead?”

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

My stomach dropped as I motioned at Sergeant Ferris and Oscar. “Go look.”

Ferris glanced at Tobiah for direction, but his king didn’t shift his glare from the wraith boy.

“Go!” I said.

Sergeant Ferris and Oscar took off at a run toward the factories.

I turned back to Chrysalis. “You need to regain control of
the wraith. Those people need to survive. The
kingdom
needs to survive.”

A heavy flake of snow drifted between us, then toward me at a gust of wind. I moved away, but heat touched me—and then nothing.

The wraith boy nodded solemnly as a small burn appeared on him. “I will do as you wish, my queen.”

He flickered and vanished.

Melanie lowered her sword and rushed for me, while Tobiah staggered back and seemed to collect his thoughts. James didn’t leave his side.

“He took it.” Theresa’s voice was eerily loud. “When the snow struck you, the burn went on him.”

“It won’t hurt you,” Kevin murmured. “Because it will hurt him instead.”

Tobiah still gripped his sword, the leather of his gloves stretched taut around his knuckles. “Use it while you have it, Wil. You heard him; his influence won’t last.”

Ahead, Oscar and Sergeant Ferris disappeared around the corner of the water purification factory. Wraith light hung gloomily over the building, making odd shadows that shifted into the shapes of disproportioned hands and arms.

“This way. Stay close.” I didn’t wait for affirmation, just sprinted toward the factory. If I could get them out of the snow and tendrils of wraith for even a few minutes, that would be something.

At my approach, the wraith skittered away, making a path for the others.

The factory door hung open.

“Are we going in?” Kevin asked.

“Yes.” I checked the street. There was no sign of Oscar and Sergeant Ferris yet, but they’d return shortly. I hoped. “You and Theresa stand guard in the doorway and wait for the others. I don’t want anyone left alone.”

The pair saluted, and I led the remaining three inside the building where lights burned, both gas and wraith.

Queasiness made me sway as I took in the room. Pipes had grown talons or feet, and their claws scraped at the floor. Barrels had turned into feathers. Walls rippled like silk sheets in a breeze.

“It’s ruined,” I rasped. “The lowcity needed this plant, and now it’s ruined.”

Melanie’s voice came hard. “They won’t need it if we can’t all pull ourselves together and stop the wraith. Now let’s go.”

She was right. We had work to do.

In the main room, we found Claire. She’d been trussed to a wooden chair and abandoned, surrounded by a pool of blood.

Her foot sat in the blood, detached from the rest of her.

“Saints.”
Melanie rushed to untie her. “Who—Patrick?”

Claire was pale, her sweat-dampened hair stuck to her face and neck. “Patrick.” She closed her eyes, and her head dipped as though she might faint. Someone had wrapped the stump on her leg, but not well. Blood dripped from the bandage.

“Is there anyone else here?” James asked, his sword at the ready.

“No. Everyone’s gone to fight. But I haven’t heard them in a few minutes. It’s so quiet now.” One of her eyes was bruised and swollen, and her mouth was split. “I meant to go to your coronation. I wanted to accept your offer. But the Militia got to me
first. They knew I’d been talking with you. They held me until Patrick arrived.” She lifted her chin high, but the act didn’t fool anyone. “That’s why they took my foot. For straying.”

I motioned at the boys. “Check the rooms. Find anything that might help Claire. I want her taken to the castle. Connor might be able to heal her.”

“There are blankets in that office.” Her hands free now, Claire pointed to a nearby opening; the door was gone now. “And wood beams all over, though the wraith—”

“We’ll find something.” Tobiah waved James with him.

“Mel, grab another chair. We need to put her”—not her foot; that was on the ground—“leg up so she doesn’t lose more blood.”

I pulled Claire and her chair away from the puddle of blood and knelt so I could prop her stump on my knee. The bandage was soaked, so I drew a new one from my belt and tied it over the old, like Connor and the Gray brothers had taught me.

“Here.” I gave her a packet of powdered herbs to numb the pain. It wasn’t enough, but it was something.

Claire accepted the medicine and dropped her gaze to me, her voice low and slurred. “He planned to go after Colin tonight. That was his goal all along. But Colin moved against you.”

Prince Colin wouldn’t risk his nephew’s life, that much I trusted. But he’d malign and defame the vigilante king, if that meant he could take the throne. The Indigo Kingdom. Aecor. Either one. He just wanted power.

Melanie returned with a second chair and helped me arrange Claire’s leg. The movement was too much, and she lost consciousness.

“We can’t linger here,” Melanie whispered into the oppressive silence. Where was Chrysalis? Had he regained control of the wraith?

I shook away the questions. “Four need to go back with Claire. Two to carry her, one to carry”—I pointed toward her foot—“that, and one to defend.”

“James and I won’t leave you,” she said.

“Fine.”

Claire roused herself and blinked. “The Red Militia wants to defend your right to the throne,” she said. “They’ll destroy Colin for you.”

“I know they will. But they shouldn’t.” I straightened as Tobiah and James returned, their arms full of blankets, ropes, and wood beams. “Good, let’s make—”

Footfalls sounded from the purification room.

Oscar and Sergeant Ferris marched in, Theresa and Kevin on their heels. Everyone’s face was grim.

“What’s the news?” Melanie moved to meet them in the middle. “What did you see?”

“Both armies are there,” Oscar said. “Some of ours, too. Plus wraith beasts, mostly domesticated animals that were transformed.”

Tobiah and I shared a quick glance. “Then why is it so quiet?” I asked, unless the wraith had smothered all their sound or . . .

“They’re frozen.” Sergeant Ferris was ashen. “They’re frozen like the people you saw near Mirror Lake.”