The Gauntlet Read online

  “No.”

  She scoffed at my lie; the look she was giving me clear in my mind’s eye. We had played this game a few times, hopefully she wouldn’t put up too much of a fight. I couldn’t glare back at her and threaten to take away her extra dessert this time.

  “I need you to do this Angie,” I may have been pleading to an eight-year-old, but luckily this eight-year-old understood.

  “An explosion in the black room,” she repeated, and the knot in my chest loosened, although not enough. My magic was still on a rampage, the dizziness pulling at my neck again.

  I wished it would fuck off, but I knew what it was trying to tell me. I was clearly going off the deep end if I was starting to think my magic was talking to me.

  I might already be drowning given that I was listening.

  “Yeah, tell her you think it’s magic.” I cringed. I couldn’t keep it away from her, but saying it aloud felt like a betrayal.

  “Okay, Row,” she whispered, the sound of voices in the background picking up as talk of rebellions and a robbery filtered through the phone in muffled static.

  “Be safe, Angie,” I whispered as she called out to mom, Talon’s laugh nearly drowning her out.

  “Mom, I think I saw something…”

  Everything loosened, my magic settling as I collapsed back down to my bed, the mattress sagging beneath me, calling for me to just lay back and go back to sleep. I would love nothing more, but I couldn’t tear myself away from the TV, not yet, not before I knew that they had stopped it. That everyone was safe.

  “What are you talking about,” my mom’s voice broke through the phone’s speaker, all muffled and crackled as she stepped closer to Angie. “Who is on the phone Angela?”

  Shit. Full name.

  So much for that plan.

  I had expected her to snatch the phone and demand answers. Instead, my room was filled with the smell of sulfur as a loud bang rattled the crap on my dresser, and my mother stood right before me looking furious as the golden ribbon swirled around her.

  “Spill.”

  “I saw the girl…”

  “What girl?” She snapped before I could continue, her eyes flashing from black to silver in a haunting firework as she tried to see what I had seen. The increasing furrow in her brow made it clear that she could not.

  “I’ve been dreaming of a girl.”

  “You’ve been having sight? This whole time?” Her whole expression changed, from worry to something more like awe. No, pride. Ugh.

  “No mom, dreams. I’ve been having dreams of the girl who's been exploding the shops.” My words caught in my throat, a heavy weight pressing against my throat. It was so much more than a few acts of rebellion. I had seen her whole life. But I wasn’t about to get into that.

  “I just saw her, in the last cave.”

  “How long have you been seeing her?”

  “That doesn’t matter, Mom! There’s going to be an attack, we have to get back there…”

  Any further explanation was swallowed by a static scream that echoed through the television. The image shifted, everything shaking as pieces of the ancient ceiling of the train station collapsed to the ground, as a lavender blast broke through the ancient doors and swallowed everything.

  We stood, staring at television static as my own screams echoed in my ears.

  “No,” I whispered, “We’re too late.”

  “What in the world?” She gasped, hand flying to her mouth in shock. “How did I miss this…?”

  “She has magic, Mom. The girl. She was bitten by a Vilỳ.” My heart ached, my soul twisting as I stepped toward the TV. As if me being there would help what had happened.

  No, so I could protect her.

  “You are going to explain everything later.” My mother heaved, turning to me and giving me a look I could not place before she snatched my hand and pulled me into the void of color and energy that she had arrived there in. I had always been told only Draks and those with very strong magic could accomplish a stutter, could move between space like some old TV show. I had seen my parents do it multiple times, perhaps I had even longed for it.

  I would never long for it again.

  Twisting, burning, suffocating. My skull might have been trying to turn itself inside-out if only to fit through the straw I was being stuffed through better.

  Thankfully it ended, although it left me gasping on my hands and knees, staring at the black charcoal floor of the room they had created as a final task.

  Although it wasn’t as I had just seen it days before, or even minutes ago. The magic was gone, the lights were turned on, and everything was full of blood, panic, and agony.

  Everything except for the girl who kneeled ahead of us, a smug smile on her face as she looked up at my father, her hands bound and tied by my Aunt Wyn’s fire magic. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  “What accomplices do you have here?” I had never heard my father sound so angry, so powerful, before.

  I tried to take a step back, but my mother held onto me tighter, dragging me forward. Closer.

  The rage in my parent’s voices was shivering through me in a wave that begged me to flee. She, however, was still, chin up, not a drop of fear in her eyes as she faced his scorn.

  “All the glitters were never gold,” she snarled, spitting at his feet with a glob of bright red spit, the color perfectly matching the bloody smile she gave him.

  The grin was not returned.

  One thing was, however, but not from my father, from my brother.

  “Talon stop!” I yelled, pulling the girls focus, eyes that appeared to be almost purple digging into me for the first time and freezing any warning in place. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, Talon’s fist had intersected with her temple, sending her to the floor.

  7

  Gemma

  “Hey guys, she’s awake. I would get your asses down here before I boil them.”

  I wasn’t sure what constituted as awake to whoever had spoken, but this sure wasn’t it. Whatever that douche prince had hit me with felt like it might have left a giant hollow in the side of my skull. Maybe his hands were made of rock. My ears were ringing, the light above my head sparking in a starburst of knives grinding against my skull. Every joint throbbed as though they had come alive, my fish-limped body flopped over the hard ridges of a cold metal chair.

  I wasn’t even sure how he could tell I was awake.

  I was used to being achy and sore after using my magic, but this felt more like near death torture. Still, I had experienced worse. I wasn’t about to let it stop me from breaking out of here.

  I had accomplished half of my task; the Gauntlet was blown to ribbons. The king and queen had to be close by, I could still finish this.

  I could still fight for my people. Give all those who had passed the Gauntlet before my blast something to fight for. Lay the way for them to change our world.

  I shifted in my seat, ready to break out of this prison and murder some royals, but an electrical firestorm ran up my arms and down my spine with the tiny motion. So much for knives grinding against my skull. Everything exploded, white popping in my vision as I arched and contorted, fighting back a scream before I collapsed against the folding chair that I had been tied to.

  Magical binding from hell and a scratchy rope around my wrists.

  I couldn’t be offended that they hadn’t restrained me with more, or killed me on the spot, if only because it proved just how stupid the Eternals were.

  I was going to pick them off like rats in the drain.

  I spit the bitter blood that filled my mouth at the bright red shoes of whoever was pacing in front of me, landing the glob against a cracked tile floor before his toe.

  “All the glitters were never gold,” I drawled, my words slung together as the ache in my jaw grew.

  “Yes, so you’ve said.” The same voice from before spoke with a bored drawl, his words slurred, but I had a feeling that was more from my brain having been electrocuted. Or
the exhaustion from exploding a whole cave.

  Shaking, I lifted my head, narrowing my eyes at the guy in the middle of the room. He stood like he thought himself to be much cooler than he really was; his arms were folded over a leather jacket, dreads pulled back into a weird low braid, blue eyes narrowed right at me.

  “Thomas.” The word dripped with more than my blood.

  The King's brother. I glared at him, mentally flicking through all of the information we had gathered on him over the years.

  Born a thousand years ago, sometime in the 1200s in France. Thomas, or Thom as he was known to the royals, was married to Wynifred who was the most famous of the Trpaslíks. Trpaslíks: rock magic, manipulation of earth. Thom was the son of the old mad king and a once mortal princess.

  They had two children, although a bit of surveillance picked up by one of the Undermortals last year said that there might be three, not that it mattered. Cail and Analine were the important ones, they ran Imdalind Academy.

  “The king's brother.”

  “Yes, and what is your name?”

  “I would rather die nameless, taking you down in the name of my people.” I had meant it as a threat, but my words were still slurred. He smiled at me, one guffaw of a laugh shaking his shoulders.

  “I’m sure you would.” He pulled a chair around to face me, the metal grinding against the old tile floor with a sound that mixed painfully with the high-pitched shrieking that was still rattling my ears.

  I refused to cringe, I just glared, searching for clues about where I was. The walls were bare grey blocks, the edges crumbling into little piles of sand on the ground. Any paint that had been there was long gone. There was no table, no windows, nothing but the two chairs we sat in and an old wood door, the golden knob covered with blood.

  The room could have been one of the annex rooms that we sometimes found in the tunnels, which given the blood told me exactly where we were.

  “We are still in the Gauntlet. You still cleaning up that mess I made?” I smiled, letting my blood coated teeth flash.

  “We are in the station outside of Berlin,” Thom corrected, not that any of that made sense to me. I hadn’t known where the vans were going to take us, and I haven't paid attention to any of the announcements seeing as I hadn’t planned on coming back.

  Blow up the damn race. Blow up the King and Queen, and get our message out. I was halfway there.

  “And why are you the one guarding me? Was there no one stronger?” I asked, spitting another glob of blood, my mouth still filling with the bitter stuff. I narrowly missed his shoes that time and he shifted them beneath his chair.

  “Strength is not an issue. I’m the only one who wouldn’t lose my cool and kill you on sight.” He didn’t even smile. I had a feeling that he was serious. Wimp. Made getting out of here easier.

  “I guess I should be flattered.” I was never one to put on the charm, and it worked about as well as it always did. Meaning it didn’t. Thom snorted until his nostrils flared.

  “Flattery must mean something drastically different nowadays.”

  “Only that you have severely underestimated me.” I gave him a wink, pointing my toes as I prepared to shift forward and break the chair and the flimsy rope around my wrists. My magic was ready, I was ready. It was time to get out of here. I didn’t move more than an inch against the rope before the same fire flared through my bones.

  One tiny scream escaped as my back arched, pain snapping the bones together before I was slammed back in the chair, teeth ground together, as I forced my head from its contortion to stare at the man as I heaved.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I might be weak,” he rolled his eyes, “but it’s my wife’s magic that’s holding you, and she is ruthless. Her magic is made to kill after all, so I wouldn’t fight too much.”

  That I didn’t know. We had found nearly nothing out about Wynifred in our years of spying, research, and espionage.

  “If she’s so ruthless why didn’t she kill me the second I dropped the ceiling on the would-be-murderer?” I snarled, leaning forward and receiving another zap.

  That time I did little more than grit my teeth together. So much for being made to kill, a few more of those and I was sure I could power my way past it, reignite my magic, and get back to wreaking havoc.

  “Maybe she will. Before that, the king and queen wish to speak to you,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

  I could have pissed myself. How bat-shit stupid were these Eternals? Before I could ask, the door behind Thom swung open, the tiny room filling with people.

  Skȓítek guards poured in first, hands out in preparation for attack. I didn’t see a drop of magic, but I could feel it. It weighed against the air, pressing against my chest like a soaked blanket after a flood.

  I had never felt anything like it. I had always been the only one with magic, but with so many around me, I could feel it.

  I could taste it.

  The guard was immediately followed by the king’s other brother, Ryland and his wife Mira. The two changed places with Thom who slipped out with only a few words in a language I didn’t understand, holding the door open for the King and Queen.

  Those two glared into me with an intensity I hadn’t seen since my mother died, scorn and disappointment mixed with a tiny bit of what was that… surprise?

  Awe?

  Seriously?

  What was wrong with these people? Showing me awe after I ripped their precious Gauntlet to shreds? I was totally laughing, the sound confusing the guards who were looking between me and the queen like she had some alarm system. Oh yeah, the whole seeing the future thing.

  She would have to prove that before I would believe it.

  “Your Majesties,” I snarled, pushing mockery into each word as I bowed my head, fighting against the restraints and the magic that was trying to melt my bones.

  I didn’t so much as flinch that time, it still hurt, but I wasn’t about to let them know. Seeing those two before me was turning my magic into a cyclone. The energy buzzed through my veins, pressing against my fingers in need of attack.

  I pushed it back. I wouldn’t be able to even get to the King and Queen if I attacked right now, and with how my magic drained me I only had one shot.

  Patience.

  “We have been waiting quite a while for you to wake up,” Queen Joclyn said, her voice soft as she stepped forward.

  I scoffed, leaning back on the chair and getting another soft zap.

  “You wouldn’t have had to wait so long if your meathead of a son hadn’t knocked me out.”

  She didn’t smile, she just stepped closer to me, past all the people I had assumed had been there to guard her. None of them moved in, even though I was at reaching distance now.

  “Yes, well, my darling meathead seemed to think you were a danger to those around you. I’m still not convinced that you are.”

  “I just blew up your precious Gauntlet, hopefully killed that bitch that was shoving all of us Drains off that cliff, too. Maybe even a few more. And you still aren’t convinced I’m a danger? You are as dumb as a sack of rat bones, lady.”

  I spat blood at her feet, a few guards shuffling their feet closer. Still, no magic dripped from them, even though the pressure of it in the air was growing.

  None of the Eternals reacted, they just stared at me. The Queen took another step closer, her eyes narrowed until I was sure she could see right through me. They weren’t as silver anymore.

  They were dark, like clouded iron, or the sky through the grate on a rainy day.

  If I hadn’t been tied to the chair, I probably would have fallen right out of it. That look was creepy as hell.

  I shifted my weight, sparking another fiery assault on my nerve endings and leaned closer instead.

  “We have seen worse in an untrained child,” Joclyn said, thankfully looking away and giving me a chance to breathe. “I don’t believe that anyone is past saving anymore.”

  For some reason,
Ryland and his wife were snickering in the corner. It was only adding to the nervous edge that was twisting up my spine.

  “Well, get ready for the ultimate regret.”

  “There is very little I regret, Gemma.” That sent me right back in my chair.

  “Take it you’ve been speaking to my people, seeing as you know my name.”

  “We have been speaking to your colleagues, yes.” King Ilyan said from the back of the room, stepping around his brother to face me. “Eddy, Adrian, the little girl, Aria…”

  I jumped forward in my chair, earning myself another zap. “Aria. She’s alright?”

  I knew in that moment I had given myself away. Too much emotion, my one weakness cracking through and breaking the Queen’s voice into a smile.

  “See, no one is too far into evil.” King Ilyan stepped back, turning to the guards and prattling on in that same weird language Thom had spoken in. The guards smacked their heels against the floor and rushed away, leaving me alone with the Eternals.

  Alone. With. The. Eternals.

  Morons.

  “Now, I would like to know about your magic.”

  “What do you want to know? I got bit by one of your little flying devil birds, I slept and when I woke up you had taken away everything that mattered. Pretty straight forward. Pretty standard story for when you build yourself a villain.” I gave them a wide smile, letting another zap of fire move through my veins as I leaned forward.

  The magic no longer hurt, and it wasn’t numbing my own power quite as much anymore. I was getting closer.

  “We were clearly wrong about having caught all the Vilỳ’s, and for that I am sorry,” Queen Joclyn said, sitting in the chair that Thom had vacated, looking strangely human as she sat flanked by the two brothers.

  Human. She was born as one. Well, she was raised as one. She was always magic, and after Ilyan saved her from something that the history books were never quite clear about she and Ilyan saved us all in the war two hundred years ago.