Instantly, it broke through, and we hurried in.
My footsteps slowed as I found myself in Rachel’s old home. It was hard for me to remember all the time that the second story of the building was a small apartment, and people actually lived here. People I knew.
I saw Letty’s form as she was frozen in time, her spinster mouth half-open in a silent scream. From the look of it, she’d been running out of her room when Aleia’s power kicked in.
Part of me was glad Raiya had left earlier, even though I was just a bit disappointed I wouldn’t get to see her frozen by Aleia’s power as well. Curiosity struck me; I wondered which door in the hallway led to her room.
A shadow hurried by out of the corner of my eye, just as another loud clang came from the café. Something hard knocked against the floor from below.
“That way,” I said, indicating down the narrow hallway.
The sound of glass shattering accompanied by Celaena’s laughter pierced through the air as Aleia, Elysian, and I hurried uncertainly through Rachel’s old home. Finally, I spied the kitchen.
“Gotcha!” A flash of light darted across the café. I watched as Starry Knight finally managed to pin down a bakreel. But not without some collateral damage, I noticed.
“Well, sister, it looks like you’ve created quite a mess,” Maia called out.
“It’s more like Celaena’s mess,” Starry Knight argued back. Her voice was muffled by the kitchen walls, but the demon beside me bellowed.
“I was hungry!” Celaena argued, her babyish voice howling.
“You might be able to better fix that if you eat the monster you summoned.”
At her words, I faltered, until I took a good look at the demon in question. It was in the form of a giant cupcake. A giant cupcake that had morphed into an angry, hungry blob of living food.
Personally, I had to agree with Starry Knight. The cupcake demon was covered in frilly, frothy icing, and sprinkled with glittering gems; it looked like something I could imagine Celaena imagining.
“Wingdinger,” Aleia called, “make sure you hit the heart of its power.” She nodded to the various chunks of crumbles mixed in with overturn tables and smashed glass. “It can escape Starry Knight’s bondage if it breaks away the captive part from its body.”
“The only reason it took me so long to get it in the first place,” Starry Knight grumbled.
“Got it,” I agreed, as Elysian and Aleia headed toward Celaena and Maia’s voices. The cupcake demon’s eyes, like glittering balls of sugar, narrowed at me, but I didn’t let it stop me. With the Sealing Sword’s power, I managed to seal it away in one swipe.
A splinter of glass made me flinch. I watched as the demon dissolved into a void, leaving behind a batch of angry, black demon blood and a familiar, though smashed, painting.
Rachel’s painting from her wedding.
“Oh, great.” I shook my head and sighed. Rachel had some great work hanging around her café, and the one she’d received as a gift for her wedding was suddenly crumbled in, partially by my sword’s power, and partly because of the demon. (If asked, I would blame the demon entirely.)
As the battle raged inside the kitchen, I hurried over to examine the damage, knowing Rachel would be upset.
Raiya had told me, on the day of Rachel’s wedding, the painting depicted the legend of the Weaving Girl and the Herder Boy; two people who, according to Grandpa Odd, were destined to live broken lives because they loved each other too much. In many ways, I considered the gift to be an ironic one of sorts, though it might have been appropriate, considering all I’d suffered of Rachel’s bubbly “true love conquers all” blathering.
I picked the canvas up out of the shattered frame carefully, trying to see if I could smooth it out. As I did, a new feature caught my attention: the initials at the bottom.
“A-V-C,” I read. “Huh.” I’d always wondered about Rachel’s paintings; they were really good.
Elysian roared in the kitchen behind me, prompting me to carefully place the crackled painting under a nearby booth and rush into the kitchen.
In the small room, Celaena had managed to get caught in Elysian’s power, even as she raked her nails into his body. Aleia and Starry Knight were taking turns trying to bring down Maia.
Before I could jump in, a cold, dark shadow passed behind me. Shivers racked through me, and I twisted around.
“Who’s there?” I asked. A black robe caught my attention, before the figure turned and slithered outside. “Hey! Come back—”
“Kid,” Elysian grumbled. “Come and help us, would you!?”
Was that Orpheus? I wondered as I went back inside the kitchen.
Only to see Orpheus standing in the entrance of the back door.
The fighting halted as he looked on his former charges.
“Orpheus . . . is that you?” Maia gasped.
“Maia. Celaena.” He nodded in greeting. “I thought I heard you.”
“What are you doing here?” Aleia asked. “I told you to wait at the abbey.”
“I thought I might be able to help.” His newly handsome face, minus his left eye, blushed over as he added, “I guess I was wrong.”
I stepped forward. “Did I just see you—”
“Orpheus, help me!” Celaena cried. “Help us defeat them. They’re all here. It would be easy.”
“I can’t help you anymore,” Orpheus said. “I just—”
“We were looking for you, or for the new boss,” Celaena explained. “Help us, and we’ll have all we need to take down the Mortal Realm.”
“There is no ‘new boss,’” Orpheus insisted, shaking his head. “I can’t—”
Maia scowled. “You’re a liar,” she cried. “You always have been, and you always will!” Maia reached out and grabbed Orpheus by his new robes and shook him.
I decided, especially after I was interrupted, that it was just better if I took care of things. With one more slash of my sword, Celaena’s power screeched to a halt.
Elysian slunk down in relief as his body shrunk, covering up the crystalline orb that remained. I picked it up from him, briefly wondering at its beauty, despite the ugliness it carried.
I looked over at Maia. For a moment, Maia—as well as Starry Knight and Aleia—went silent as her gaze settled on what remained of Celaena.
Finally, she moved, pushing Orpheus out of her reach, before pooling her energy. “You’ll never get me. You will pay for what you’ve done to Orpheus,” she promised. Looking at Starry Knight, she added, “Especially you.”
Before any of us could move, she unleashed her ball of power, blasting us as she made her escape.
Debris and dust flowered up, and Elysian coughed as his nostrils shot out a spiral of inhaled flour and other baking ingredients.
“Well,” I murmured. “This is going to be terrible to clean up.”
☼
4 ☼
Revelation
“You shouldn’t have come,” Aleia told Orpheus.
“I apologize,” he murmured graciously. “As I said, I thought maybe I could help.”
Starry Knight frowned at him. “Well, you didn’t.”
“Hey, you’re welcome,” I spoke up. “We at least sealed away Celaena, and we won’t have to worry about rabid cupcake mutant monsters destroying the city anymore.”
Elysian snorted. “Are you only concerned about yourself?”
“It’s not my fault no one is looking at the upside of this situation,” I argued back. “I thought I’d remind everyone.”
“Orpheus,” Aleia said, “please go back to the church and wait for me there. You know that it’s not good for you to be out while the Sinisters are still here.”
“Sitting around doesn’t do much,” he told her. “I’ve been getting restless.”
“Every time I see you, you cause enough trouble to more than make up for it,” I retorted.
He looked appalled as his remaining eye narrowed at me. I almost laughed at how silly he looked; I refrained, but
only barely.
I didn’t like Orpheus in that moment. Which reminded me of my earlier question.
“Were you here earlier?” I asked. “I thought I saw you going down the stairs.”
“No, I just got here,” he snapped back. “Not that you would believe me.”
“I do tend to have a hard time believing anything you say,” I told him, “but I’m pretty sure my hesitation is understandable, considering how you were going to kill me less than six months ago.”
“Please stop your bickering, you two,” Aleia cried. “We have enough trouble on our hands.” She once more turned to Orpheus, and with an impossible amount of patience, she asked, “Would you please go back and wait for me at the cathedral? I’ll come shortly. I’d like to help get this place cleaned up.”
He caught her gaze with his dark eyes and nodded humbly. “I apologize again if I have been any trouble,” he said, touching her shoulder in a manner I felt was too friendly for my taste. He turned and nodded gallantly to Starry Knight, who, much to my relief, ignored him.
I watched as he left, glad to see him go.
I’d never really liked Orpheus, on this side of Time, anyway. In the previous months’ “adventures,” I had even less reasons to like him.
For one, he was the enemy. He might have been purified and freed from Alküzor’s power, but that didn’t mean he got acceptance from me. For another, he was still in love with Starry Knight.
That was the reason was able to fall into temptation’s clutches to begin with. The thought of having her heart bound up beside his for all eternity had compelled him, especially after Adonaias said no, to relinquish himself to Alküzor’s control.
As much as I could relate, I still thought he was stupid, and I hated him.
More objectively, I didn’t think it was unfair to distrust him. The black-robed figure, and the shadow full of shivers—all of it pointed to reasonable distrust.
Of course, I admitted to myself, Orpheus was wearing white and gold-gilded robes now. Could it have been black and then changed to white so easily? Probably, but I didn’t have any proof.
“Where’s Celaena’s crystal?” Starry Knight asked.
I was almost glad to have Starry Knight interrupt my thoughts. Even if it was to bring up a topic we would argue over. “I have it,” I told her. “And I’m keeping this one.”
She opened her mouth to argue at that about the same time I did.
“No, don’t do it. No one say anything!” Elysian bellowed. “You two have to stop this.”
“Yes, I agree,” Aleia said, stepping between us.
“I’m the only one who can take care of them,” Starry Knight insisted. She glared at Aleia. “It’s what I was called to do, Aleia.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I was the one who was supposed to recapture the Sinisters.”
“And I was the one given the power to imprison them,” Starry Knight reminded me.
An image from one of my many visions of another time floated into my mind’s eye.
Starry Knight, on the other side of Time’s power, was a Guardian Star of Justice. Within her bright star, the power of the Sinisters had been captured after they fell in with Orpheus and Alküzor.
And then they’d somehow managed to break free, and Starry Knight’s star exploded, in order to capture them again. Going supernova was forbidden by Stars, so she’d fallen to Earth as they were trapped inside a meteorite, along with Orpheus.
I knew, thanks to Aleia and her sister, Alora, the Star of Time, that I’d used my Star’s wish remain with Starry Knight. Even though I had no memory of this, it was against the rules. As a result, we’d fallen to Earth and we were just here.
So, yes, she had been the one to imprison them. But she was also the one who had lost them.
For the first time, I wondered how they managed to break free. It didn’t seem like an easy feat, especially considering how strong I knew Starry Knight’s resolve to be.
“But he’s the one with the Sealing Sword now,” Aleia pointed out, breaking off my trip down the metaphorical Memory Lane. “If something happens, he can easily seal them up again.”
“What do you mean ‘if something happens?’” I asked.
“That’s not the problem,” Starry Knight argued back. “I can contain them so nothing does happen.”
“How?” Aleia asked.
Starry Knight flustered for a moment before answering. “With my blood,” she said.
“Eww,” I moaned.
“Weren’t you the one who was telling me that was dangerous recently?” Aleia asked.
“It’s more dangerous to risk the Sinisters breaking free of their curse or their containment.” Starry Knight folded her arms over her tunic. “Using blood on the lesser monsters and demons is much more frivolous.”
“What is the curse?” I asked. “They’ve mentioned it before.”
“There’s a curse Alora and I placed on them,” Aleia explained. “It’s one that binds some of their power, containing them within the Mortal Realm. So they can’t free Alküzor from the core of Earth’s fire,” she explained.
“Oh.” I guess it’s a pretty good idea, I thought. If Alküzor was worse than the Sinisters, then, yes, it was for the best that he remained in the fiery bowels of the earth.
“I can get rid of them, though,” Starry Knight said. Her voice was strangely quiet and, as she looked at Aleia, I had a feeling the two of them were having a silent conversation I would have been confused over if it was spoken aloud.
I finally succumbed to my curiosity. “How?”
“There’s another way,” Aleia said. “We can take them to Alora. St. Brendan can help us.”
“It won’t be enough,” Starry Knight replied. “If they break free, it could be the end of Time’s power in the realm.” She squared her shoulders. “Sacrifice is necessary. We all know this.”
“Okay, I give up. Enough of the secrets. What are you talking about?” I squared my shoulders in defiance. “You have to include me in this. I have a say in what happens.”
“She’s going to sacrifice herself,” Aleia explained. “So she can take the remnants of the Sinisters and seal them away.”
“All we need is the crystals of the Sinisters, and then blood, fire, and soul. It would bind them forever inside this world. It is a fitting end for their punishment,” Starry Knight said.
It finally clicked. “But you would kill yourself.” I said the words and instantly felt the dam of hatred I kept for her open once more.
“It was my fault they were freed to begin with,” Starry Knight insisted. “That was always the plan.”
“Always?” I thought about the time she tried to bind them by going supernova, and I frowned.
“I wanted to do it without hurting anyone,” she admitted.
I folded my arms across my chest, ready for battle all over again. “Well, I guess I can believe it at last.”
“Believe what?” Starry Knight snapped.
“That the Sinisters are your sisters. You and Asteropy are just peas in a pod. Too prideful for your own good, and too blind to see it’s not worth it.”
“Not worth it?” Starry Knight huffed. “This is the entirety of the world we’re talking about. Destinies of Stars and people and angels! If anything is worth it, this is.”
“If you think sacrificing yourself is not going to hurt people, you’re an idiot.”
“It’s protected you quite a few times,” she reminded me bitterly.
“Oh, I get it now,” I exclaimed. “You don’t mind trying to save me from the Sinisters, I’ll give you that, but I think it’s dumb for you to want to save me if you’re just going to hurt me yourself.”
She stared at me, speechless. I realized what I’d more or less admitted and stopped talking, too.
Apparently fed up with the awkward silence, Elysian coughed. “Either way,” he said, “for now it would be best for the kid to keep them.” He turned to her. “You can save your blood for oth
er purposes.”
“I have enough,” she retorted, focusing her argumentative energy on him.
“That’s not what we are questioning here,” Aleia insisted. “I still say once we have them all, we can go up to see Alora and have her take care of them there.”
“They’ve already broken through a Star’s barrier,” Starry Knight insisted. “It won’t be enough to hold them.”
“We’ll have to take that chance,” Aleia insisted. “Especially since we can also see Adonaias’ ruling on the matter of Orpheus’ fate.”
“You’re not seriously going to take him up there, are you?” Starry Knight asked, flabbergasted.
“Why not?” Aleia asked. “Mercy is still an option for him.”
“Only if he wants it,” Starry Knight muttered darkly.
“You don’t know what he wants,” Aleia argued back. “Adonaias is the one who will determine his fate.”
“Orpheus alone has that power. He is the one who defied the Prince, after all.”
“St. Brendan can still take us up there to see about it.”
“I guess if nothing else, Alora will be able to seal Orpheus away like she did with Draco.”
“Hey,” Elysian said. “You leave my brother out of this.”
I was riveted by the conversation. I thought after all Starry Knight had done to me, Aleia would always remain one of her staunchest defenders. It was more than a little nice to see Aleia fighting Starry Knight over an issue.
“I’ve known Orpheus long enough and well enough to know you’re getting played by him,” Starry Knight objected.
“I thought I saw him here earlier,” I admitted. “I would be worried about that, too.”
“My power is more than enough to contain him,” Aleia promised.
“Your power, yes,” Starry Knight agreed. “But I’m more curious about your will.”
“What are you talking about?” Aleia mumbled.
I was disconcerted to see Starry Knight was winning the argument. I was hoping for different results.
“You know what I’m talking about,” Starry Knight shot back.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Aleia insisted. “Right now, I’m going to go make sure Orpheus is behaving himself, if you’re both so concerned about it.”