House of Ravens (The Nightfall Chronicles Book 2) (10 page)

Corinne waves us forward. "Charlie, this is my twin, Wytt."

"I've heard a lot about you, Wytt. Nice to meet you. And thank you for that poem. I love it."

Wytt bows. "Anything for a lady as fair as you."

Charlie giggles.

Corinne points to me. "And this is Scarlett, a new friend of ours."

"It's nice to meet you, Charlie."

"You too," she says. "I like your eyes."

I smile. "I like yours too. They remind me of chocolate."

We chat with her for a few more minutes and then leave to catch up with our group as Corinne explains the protocol. We spend some time touring the hospital, including the labs where much of the genetic research is done. I don't know how I feel about it all, but I have to admit the facility is impressive. And it treats everyone, Zenith and human.

"The hospital is funded by the Orders," Grandmaster Marian says, "and is open to all, regardless of income. No one has to pay to be treated here. We offer cutting edge medical care and incorporate the latest in medical research into our diagnostics and treatments."

We head down a long, narrow hall and stop before a door with a restricted sign on it. "Here's where you will have your first test. Are you ready?"

No.

But we go in anyways, and in the middle of an empty, well-lit room, is a dead, naked body splayed out in all its dead, naked glory.

I pause, taking it in as the Grandmaster explains what we're to do. "You have two hours to study this body and identify all the major organs and bones, then diagnose her cause of death." She pulls out a stack of papers. "You will divide into groups of four and begin."

Corinne, Wytt and I stick together, and Kai walks over to us. "Looks like you need another member."

Corinne smiles at her brother. "Perfect."

Kai looks at me, and I hold eye contact with him. "Any objections?" he asks.

"Nope."

"Good."

Wytt chuckles. "You two will either kill each other by the end of the quarter, or fall in love. I'm not sure which yet."

I turn an evil eye on him as Grandmaster Marian hands me a piece of paper with the skeletal system drawn on it, another image with a picture of the body before us, and spaces for filling in the information.

We all move closer to the table with the body and see that it's been cut open and spread for dissection and analysis. One of the guys in our group turns away to a trash can and vomits into it while the students around him step back with cries of 'gross.'

"Begin," Marian says.

Corinne looks to all of us. "Anyone want to start?" No one speaks as we stare at the body. "Come on, guys, we all have to contribute."

I know she's right, but I'm useless here. I look down at the paper and take out a pencil. "Okay, um… Let me see." I write something on the paper, and Corinne looks at it.

"Really?" she says.

"What?"

She takes the paper from me. "Just. Stop writing. I adore you, Scarlett, and if I ever need anyone to hack into anything, you're my first call. But seriously, elbow and knee? That's the best you could do?"

"No, I wasn't done," I argue. "There's also toes, a head, legs, arms… lots of things."

Kai chuckles, and Corinne turns on him. "Care to take over, big brother?"

He waves his hands. "Nope. I'm afraid I'm as useless as Scarlett at the moment. This is your field, little sister, not mine."

"Hey!" I say, feigning offense.

He just raises an eyebrow. "Am I wrong?"

"In general, yes," I argue. "But perhaps not entirely at this moment."

He smirks as Corinne looks to Wytt. "Surely you've picked up something from me in all these years of shared DNA?" Corinne asks her twin.

Wytt studies the body. "I know there's a tibia somewhere. And a fibula or something?"

Corinne sighs. "You three are hopeless." She quickly fills in the entire skeletal system and all the organs herself.

I whistle. "Impressive."

"While you were becoming the youngest criminal hacker in history," Wytt says, "my sister here was playing with bones."

Corinne puts a pen in her mouth and stares at the body. "Now's the hard part. We have to figure out how she died."

"How's that even possible?" I ask. "Don't we need to be able to run tests and stuff? Or to know something about her medical history?"

"It depends on the cause," Corinne says. "Presumably not in this case, if Grandmaster Marian believes we can actually come close to succeeding."

I'm not convinced that's true, but I keep my skepticism to myself. Kai grins at me as if he can read my thoughts, and I think we're sharing the same suspicions.

I grin back. But Corinne doesn't give up. She spends the next hour pointing out clues.

"Look here," she says, pointing to the brain. "The tissue is too soft and is atrophied. There's also some vertical enlargement. And damage of hypoxic-ischemic leukoencephalopathy in both the bilateral globus pallidus and cerebral white matter."

I just nod, because I have no idea what she's talking about. In fact, I'm pretty sure she's just making words up at this point, but she's getting animated as our time approaches.

"I think I know what killed this poor woman," Corinne says at last.

She jots down notes on our page and draws some expertly rendered pictures of small parts of the brain in exquisite detail.

The Grandmaster comes to collect our papers, studies them, then looks up at us with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not even going to ask who came up with this." She looks at Corinne. "So your diagnosis is…"

"Acute carbon monoxide poisoning after a long-term vegetative state," Corinne says with confidence.

"That's very impressive, Princess. You do realize it's extremely difficult to make this diagnosis from an autopsy alone?"

Corinne beams. "Am I right?"

The teacher nods. "You are. You have a real future in our Order," she says.

The Grandmaster glances at me. "As for the rest of you, I really hope you have a different Order picked for your future. And you'd better hope the Princess is always around when you need her."

Wytt sighs dramatically as she walks off. "If only there were an Order devoted to the preservation of poetic imagery and language. That would surely be my calling."

I tug at Wytt's arm. "That's enough, Shakespeare. Let's get out of here. I need some fresh air that's not tainted with the aroma of formaldehyde."

***

The chemical stench still singes my nose hairs as my mind fades into the land of sleep. A voice shakes me out of the almost-dream I'm reaching for.

"Scarlett, wake up. Time to study."

I roll over, closing my eyes tighter. Nox purrs and shifts his body to lay over my neck. "Scarlett isn't here right now," I mumble. "Leave a message after the beep. BEEP."

Corinne chuckles. "So not a morning person or a night person, got it. You're one of those mid-afternoon people."

I sit up reluctantly and rub my eyes. "No, I'm just not a never-sleep-at-all person."

She grabs my hand and pulls me from the bed. "Come on, the guys are waiting for us. We're going to study in the library tonight."

"Okay, fine. Just let me get my stuff."

I stick my eGlass on my ear. Since we don't get to wear them in class, I've missed Evie. She comes to life and greets me. "Hello, Scarlett. You've been gone a long time today."

"Better get used to it," I tell her. "Classes never end here."

"You have a message from Zorin."

I sigh. "Okay, show me."

A text appears.

You coming tonight? ~Z

I reply.

Nope. Homework.

He replies immediately.

:(

I laugh out loud. I'm trying to imagine the big tough Nephilim using emoticons. It's hard to picture.

Corinne looks up from stuffing her backpack. "What's so funny?"

"Just something Evie said."

"You have an unusual relationship with your AI. You must have done a lot of customization."

I nod. "Yes, I did. I guess when you grow up a homeschooled computer geek in the middle of nowhere, you make your own friends. Literally."

She laughs, but it's a sad kind of laugh. "You had Jax though, right?"

I frown. "I suppose I did."

We grab our bags and head out to meet the guys.

"I feel sad for you," she says. "I can't imagine growing up not knowing about any of this and then finding out the way you did. I'm sorry."

I shrug. "Thanks. It's… hard, but I try not to think about it too much. I don't really have the luxury of grieving for everything I've lost."

She tugs at a stray blue hair. "Grief doesn't go away, Scarlett. Don't shut it out for too long. It'll come back and bite you when you least expect it."

She sounds like she's speaking from experience, but Wytt jogs up to us and throws an arm around me before I can respond.

"How are the two most beautiful women in all the land doing this fine evening?" he asks.

"Sleepy," I say.

"To sleep is to let in the dreams of the gods," he says.

"Then this studying is keeping me from my divine destiny," I retort.

Kai catches up with us as we head to the library. "What lessons should we work on first?"

"I don't know why we have to do this tonight," I say. "None of it's due until Wednesday."

"You don't think our classes tomorrow will have work for us too?" Corinne asks.

"Oh, right."

Kai pushes open the large, engraved doors of the library, and we step in to one of my favorite places in the Castle. Books line the three-story tower, many only reachable with tall ladders on wheels that move around the circular walls. There are wooden tables and overstuffed chairs spread throughout the library for studying and reading. We make our way to a large table in the middle and lay our books down.

The librarian smiles when she sees us, adjusting her glasses. "Scarlett, it's good to see you again. Still researching for your project?"

I smile self-consciously. "Nope, just here to study with my friends."

"How did your first day of class go?" She walks over to us, her blue dress loose around her slight frame. She has large brown eyes, fading brown hair and a small nose where her thick black glasses sit.

"They were okay. Except Law. Ragathon doesn't like me. Not sure he likes anyone."

She smiles with sympathy. "He can be a hard man to warm up to, but I'm sure it'll get easier as the year goes on. Let me know if you kids need anything."

She walks away, and all three of my friends look at me strangely.

"What?" I ask.

"You seem to come here a lot," Corinne says.

"It's been pretty quiet here the last few weeks, so I thought I'd get caught up on my politics."

Wytt gestures to the librarian. "You
do
know that's Ragathon's wife, right?"

My jaw drops. "No, I didn't. Oh man, I'm such a jerk. I can't believe I complained about her husband to her face."

Kai shrugs. "She's probably used to it. I love my uncle, but he isn't always the easiest for others to get along with."

I sink into my seat. "Let's just get this over with. I do need some sleep tonight if we're expected to do another before-dawn PT."

We all open our books and dive in, but after a few moments I look up. "Hey, is there another section to this library? Somewhere they keep books they don't want students reading?"

"You mean aside from the restricted section you hacked in class today?" Kai asks.

"Yeah, besides that."

He shakes his head. "That's it."

"Oh."

I look back down at my book disappointed. I've already perused that section. Nothing on Angels that isn't pulled from the Bible and old legends I've already heard.

An hour into our studying, as I'm writing down notes for Law, a hand lands on my shoulder, and I look up into familiar blue eyes. "Jax."

He smiles, and it still tugs at my traitorous heart. "Hi, Scarlett. I've been looking everywhere for you."

I put down my pen. "I've been here."

He chuckles. "I see that." His hand is still on my shoulder as he looks at the others. "Hi," he says to the three of them. "It's good to see you all. Mind if I borrow Scarlett for a few minutes?"

Kai frowns, but Corinne smiles. "That's up to her, obviously," Corinne says.

Jax looks down at me. "Can we talk? I want to show you something."

Jax escorts me through the courtyard and down a dirt trail I've never followed. We walk for a while, and eventually the dirt is replaced with stone. Abstract metal sculptures begin to line the path through the forest. One reminds me of a woman and man embracing, another reminds me of the sea. I can't imagine sculpting such beauty. Jax leads me down three stone steps where a great forge stands before a wall of carvings. Wind howls around this monument. The heat beats against my skin.

"The carvings tell stories of great Knights, and those…" he points at a pattern of swords hanging at the top of the wall, "…those belonged to some of them."

Jax grabs an apron off a chair and puts it on. It's thick and tough and smells like leather. He picks up tongs and pulls a red-hot piece of steel from the forge. He brings it to an anvil and beings to shape it with a hammer. Sparks fly.

"I like to come here," he says over the cacophony of sounds created by metal and fire. "To think, to remember, to forget."

I never knew he was a blacksmith. "Are any of those sculptures yours?"

"Yes, a few."

"Your work is beautiful."

"Ella—Grandmaster Gabriella—taught me after…" He stops himself and slams the hammer down harder than before. "Ella taught me." The steel stretches as he works on it, turning into a blade.

"Do you like forging swords?"

He pauses. "See this steel? It's raw potential, but I give it purpose. I can change one thing to another. I can make it better." He resumes hammering.

I walk closer, but avoid the sparks. "Like the Orders?"

"Like everything." He pushes the steel into a bin of water. Steam rises. "Take you, for example. Your parents forged you into who you are. Now, you must decide who you want to be. People can change, and they can be changed. Everything can be transformed."

He lays the steel bar, now resembling a sword, down on the anvil and removes his apron. "I've thought about our talk regarding Nightfall. And though I still believe she is in the wrong, I also believe she is like this steel. She has raw potential, and if she can find the right purpose, she can do great things."

His words mean more to me than he can imagine. Or perhaps he can. Maybe that's why he said them.

I hug him, and he hugs me back. He pulls away too soon. "Scarlett, there's something I have to tell you. Tomorrow night, I will be the one whipped in the courtyard."

"What? Why?"

"The Council has determined that I must be punished for killing the Officers."

"It was Varian, wasn't it? I heard him ask if you’d ever been disciplined." I raise a fist, as if to fight Varian now.

Jax lowers my hand. "I don't know if it was Varian, but it's what the Council has decided. I will accept the necessary punishment."

He looks so calm, almost happy. I punch him in the chest. "Why'd you kill those Officers? There were other things we could have done, contact the Chancellor, or Gabriella—"

"I never told you how it happened, did I? How I killed the Nephilim girl." He sounds quiet, sad.

My anger is replaced by compassion, and I lower my fists, shaking my head, and he gestures me closer. We sit side by side on the stone steps, and Jax stares into the distant flames. "Do you know of my mother?"

"She died when you were born."

"No. My mother was a Templar, and I was born at Castle V. When my father was assigned to watch over your family, it was decided that I'd go with him, so that I could have a normal life. So I wouldn't grow up surrounded by battle and death."

I had no idea. I take his hand, my heart hurting for him. All this he kept inside. For the first time I start to see the sacrifice he's made in keeping these secrets. In living a double life.

He squeezes my hand and continues holding it as he talks. "For years, I thought, just as you, that my mother was dead. But when I discovered I was a Zenith, when I asked my father to join the Orders, he told me the truth."

It takes him a moment to speak again. "That summer, I traveled to Castle V, and I met my mother. She was beautiful, Scarlett. And kind. She was everything I'd dreamed my mother would be. She taught me how to fight, how to forge. She taught me what it meant to be a Knight. How to do the right thing, no matter the cost."

A bead of sweat runs down my forehead as flames from the forge heat up the air around us. I ignore the discomfort and focus on Jax.

"When I was fourteen, my mother and I were stationed at a Templar control center. It was a secret location, where Templars could receive and give orders. I was there to observe and learn. We were ambushed. Someone had betrayed us."

He squeezes my hand harder, his face a mask of grief and anger. "My mother killed two Nephilim while I disarmed a Zenith. We thought it was over, and then I saw her. I still remember her face. The long black hair, the cold blue eyes. She looked a year younger than me. I could have stopped her, I should have stopped her… but I didn't…"

His voice hitches and turns gravelly, almost a whisper, as he continues. "The girl charged my mother from behind, and she slit my mother's throat."

A tear trickles down his cheek. "As my mother fell to the ground, the girl turned on me, and finally my training kicked in. We fought. I kicked her, and her body fell back, impaling itself on a spear stuck in the wall behind her. It tore through her heart, killing her. I ran to my mother, to hold her, to tell her she'd be fine, but she was already gone."

He turns his face to look at me now, his eyes so full of sorrow. "I was the only one left alive. The Orders contacted my eGlass. They said someone was fleeing the area through the woods, possibly the traitor, and I was to terminate them. So I followed."

He pauses and I just hold his hand tighter, waiting for him to finish, knowing there's something more. Something even worse.

"I caught him," Jax whispers. "The traitor. It was my father."

I feel the weight of this pain, this hurt. I knew his father. Loved his father. He was family. I can't imagine being in Jax's position. Having to make that kind of choice.

"I asked him why," Jax says as he gazes back into the flames. "He tried to explain. He never believed the Nephilim were evil. The War was pointless. He'd been helping end it. I told him my mother was dead because of him. He told me he didn't know. Didn't know we were at the control center. But how could I trust a traitor?"

He looks back at me again, his eyes pleading for understanding. For absolution. For forgiveness. "I had to kill him. For the Orders. For my mother. For me." He drops his chin to his chest, his eyes closing.

"And so I did."

My heart breaks as I reach for him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders as he leans against my shoulder and cries. It only lasts a moment, and after, he stands up and faces me. His voice is hard, the tears gone. "So understand this. I don't hesitate. When those Officers threatened you, I knew I had to protect you. I knew I had to kill them. And I would do so again."

The war took everything from Jax. His mother. His father. His innocence. "I understand. And I'm sorry for what happened to you. I wish I'd known earlier, but I know now, and I'm here for you."

He sighs. "Thank you." He turns to me, his eyes watery. "Star…"

"Yes?"

"I…" He shakes his head and chuckles. "I need to get some rest. I have a big day tomorrow."

"Sure. Of course."

He escorts me back to the Initiate's Common Hall and says goodnight. I wonder what he was about to say when he called me Star. Does he care for me as I care for him?

I'm about to go inside, when someone whistles. I turn and see a familiar shadow leaning against a tree. "Zorin? What are you doing here?"

He grins. "I had to see how you're first day went."

I run up to him and quiet my voice. "And what if someone recognizes you?"

"Only a few know my face. For most, I'm just someone who lives and works on the island. So, how was it?"

I cross my arms. "Painful. I was confirmed as Zenith."

He frowns. "How is that possible?"

"They took a blood test a while ago. I thought it could detect Nephilim, but maybe it was flawed. Maybe it only picked up smaller amounts of Angel blood."

"Perhaps." He doesn't appear convinced. "Be careful of more tests."

"I will. If Varian suspects anything—"

"Varian is here?"

I sigh. "Varian teaches my combat class."

His eyes light up with concern. "Scarlett, do not train with him."

"Why not? He hasn't recognized me. This is my chance to study him. To learn his weaknesses."

"It's also your chance to eliminate him." His eyes grow dark. "Use your power to kill him."

The thought has crossed my mind. I push it away. "No. If I kill him, someone else will take his place. Then when do I stop?"

"When the Orders are destroyed."

I scowl. "I can't walk around grabbing people and ordering them to suicide. Someone will notice."

Zorin sighs. "You know, before this is over, more people will die. You can't save everyone."

He speaks a truth I've refused to face. I don't want anyone to die at my hands. "I…" I keep my resolve. "I will not kill Varian. I will learn from him. And one day, I will surpass you both." I turn and march for the door.

"And once you have," says Zorin, "what will you do?"

I glare at him. "I will advance to a Knight of the First, and I will build an army. I will turn the Orders against each other. And I will crush them."