Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

THE ALEPH OF MEMORIES IS back, and in every window, Antonela is either studying or training.

One of the windows grows larger, and I see my sister reading from a very small collection of tomes. Now that she knows what she is and where she comes from, she must have a sense of where to look.

She finds the journals of other descendants who hailed from Earth. None of their stories are complete, but one thing is clear across all of them—to make it back, one must locate their bloodline on Earth and establish a connection.

I watch my sister in a corner alone, sitting in a meditative pose. Eyes closed and lids flickering, she's chanting something under her breath. A spell.

She pulls back the sleeve of her cloak and looks at the inside of her wrist. There's a tattoo I never noticed: a circle made up of twelve black moons, only the twelfth one is fading.

It must be a gift from Brálaga so she can track how long she has left.

Time swirls around us, splitting everything into more windows where Antonela is spending all her time meditating to retrieve her memories and studying solutions in what must be the library. All the while, the moons keep fading from her skin.

When the next scene grows larger, half the moons are already gone.

Antonela is chanting, working on her memory spell, when she conjures something. Images manifest in the air, and she opens her eyes to a film playing out before us.

My heart hurts.

It's Mom and Dad.

They're at la Sombra, and my aunt and uncle are there, too. I see older people who must be my grandparents. They all look so happy and unburdened. I can hardly believe this is my family.

Antonela gasps when she spots me, and I realize she's just discovered she has a twin.

It's surreal to be watching a memory of my sister watching memories of us, and yet it's also weirdly comforting to share this moment with her. I see the two of us running through the crimson corridors of la Sombra. I see Mom and Dad trying to dress us while we wriggle around in bed. I see us playing hide-and-seek.

Antonela seems to find real solace in these memories. She's still constantly bullied in her classes, so she resorts to these spells more and more. She lingers a lot on Mom and Dad, and I'm sad she will never get to meet them.

When she's studying, she focuses on finding an interdimensional shell that she can use to make the crossing home. Her predecessors tried all kinds of protective spells, yet Brálaga said none of them succeeded. Still, they didn't mention how these predecessors failed, whether it was the crossing or their reassimilation on Earth.

Antonela keeps racking her brain for better ideas as the moons continue to fade, one by one. She spends more and more time in the company of memories, and together we watch younger versions of ourselves exploring the castle.

In one memory, a younger Bea and Teo approach my sister while she's got her eyes covered. She's counting off: " Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco— "

"Do you want to go to magic school?" asks Teo, who looks to be in his twenties.

"Yes!" answers Antonela at once. "Can Tela come, too?"

"No, this is just for you," says Bea. "It's something that will be only yours. Would you like that?"

Antonela looks like she isn't sure. She frowns at our aunt and uncle, deep in doubt.

"I told you Nela was the wrong one for magic school," Teo says to Bea. "Tela is the better choice."

"Nuh-uh!" says my sister. "I want to go!"

"Then prove it."

An obedient Antonela stands in the middle of the purple room. Teo and Bea take turns hugging her. "Be good at magic school," says Bea.

"Learn everything you can," says Teo. Tears are sparkling in his eyes.

Antonela looks from one to the other, probably wondering why our aunt and uncle are so good at playing make-believe. Then they walk to opposite ends of the room and begin to chant.

My twin looks uneasy. "What are you saying?" she asks, but they ignore her and keep chanting.

She looks like she's trying to move, but she's frozen. She can't speak, can't squirm, can't scream—

Then black flames spring to life all around her.

When the memory ends, Antonela is breathing heavily, her expression more horrified than even when she was being bullied.

She's devastated .

She looks like she's just discovered that she was our family's sacrifice.

Antonela is in the library, reviewing texts. There are only two moons left on her wrist. I look over her shoulder to see what she's reading and gasp—

It's the portrait of Sebastián from the book I buried.

"What are you doing in here?"

Antonela snaps her head up, and I spin around. Red struts over with Cyclops.

" A Bleeder can cross into any dimension, " Red reads out loud. " Their blood is the most powerful magical ingredient in all the realms. Yet it must be given willingly, which also makes it the rarest —why are you reading this? You think Bleeder blood will make you a real caster?" They laugh and toss the book to Cyclops.

The panoramic-eyed giant smirks and flips through the pages while Red hones in on my sister.

"We saw you." Their lips spread into a too-wide smile.

"I-I do not know what you are talking about," says my sister. But nerves undercut her voice, and Red's smug smirk takes over their entire face.

"How did you do it? How did you unlock the Atrium door?"

"I did not," says Antonela.

"You got our instructor's blood," says Red, narrowing their gaze. "How did you pull it off?"

"I did not, " she says again. "The school must have judged me more worthy."

Red's smugness hardens into anger. " We will be Chosen," they say in a low growl, pointing to themselves and Cyclops. "And you will stay behind."

"We will see," says Antonela, showing more backbone than I expected.

"You think a human could ever pose a threat?" asks Red, reveling in revealing to Antonela that they possess this information. "Yes, I found out what you are. I cannot fathom how one of your kind has made it this far."

"Did you say human ?"

Red glances at Cyclops, annoyed by their interruption. "I did, so what?"

Their panoramic eye looks back down at the book they took from Antonela. " Human blood is a Bleeder delicacy, " Cyclops reads out loud. " It is the only offering that will gain any being an audience with their sovereign. " They look up from the book at Red, eyebrow nearly at their hairline. "We could trade the human for Bleeder blood . You were worried about what would happen if we were to run away—but if we become more powerful than any caster, we will not need to live in fear!"

"You cannot," says my sister, voice cracking as she turns from Cyclops to Red, whose face looks like a match that caught fire. "There is no need, since you are likely to be Chosen!"

Red looks like they're considering their friend's plan, and it's clear their bravado is as hollow as their heart. They are just as terrified as anyone else about not getting Chosen, enough that they're willing to risk everything.

"How would we get there?" Red asks Cyclops.

"Someone wrote it here in the margins," they answer, and Antonela's face falls. "A red door in the Atrium."

They both look to my sister, who's blanching. "Y-you cannot do this—"

Red yanks my sister's hand and slices a line across her palm with their sharp nails. "If your blood really opens the Atrium door, you might be graduating from this place after all."

"Help! Let me out!" Antonela screams. She pounds against the wooden walls of her tight confinement. "Please! I need to stay at the school! This is important!"

All I can see is the darkness around her. I think of the grains of sand falling in the hourglass, like drum hits beating in tune with my heart. My sister is running out of time.

After a while, she gives up shouting and slips a hand inside her cloak, retrieving something too small to see. She maneuvers her arm up to her neck in the confined space, and she winces, but the cloak veils whatever she's doing.

When the lid pops off, I see that Antonela is in a coffin. Rough hands reach down for her.

She's heaving, like she can't breathe, and Cyclops shoves a face mask over her mouth and nose. It's blue and flutters like it's producing oxygen.

As I look around at where we are, my mouth falls open. We're on the rocky edge of a mountain that I have seen before. It was in a drawing in Felipe's vampire book.

This is Prince Bastian's castle.

Red and Cyclops stand unmasked and gawk at the view, in as much awe as Antonela. The air is pitch-black, and there are no lights, no moon, no stars.

A door opens into the mountain, and seven fanged men with silver eyes like Sebastián's file out. They seem to be guards.

One of them sniffs the air. "Casters are forbidden here."

"We have brought a gift for—"

"It does not matter what you have brought," says one of the guards as Red pushes my sister forward. "Casters are not permitted inside. Go now, or your lives are forfeit."

"This is a human, " says Red. "We bring them as an offering to your ruler."

Now the vampires' attention turns to Antonela.

The one who spoke steps closer, and Cyclops shoves my sister. She stumbles toward the guard, who sniffs at her. His silver eyes flash with light, and he turns to the others, who take turns sniffing her.

The energy changes entirely.

"What do you want in exchange?" asks the Bleeder, showing the casters more respect as my sister is handed down the line. She looks back at Red and Cyclops, face aghast, like she can't believe they're going through with this.

"Please!" Antonela calls back to them, her voice coming out clearly despite the breathing mask. But they don't even glance her way.

"Bleeder blood," says Cyclops to the guard, and I don't know what else happens because now I'm following my sister through shadows in the walls, until we reach some kind of antechamber.

"He is not seeing anybody," says a vampire larger than the others.

"This is nobody," says the guard. "It is a gift. A human for his majesty."

"His majesty is fighting the wars—"

"For his majesty's heir and acting sovereign is what I meant," clarifies the Bleeder, sounding like he's losing his patience.

The gigantic vampire leans down and sniffs my sister's hair. His eyes do the same flashy thing as the others, and a stomach-churning smile twists his lips. "His Highness will be pleased."

The guard who brought her takes off, and the giant now deposits my sister like she's a doll inside a room that's pitch-black.

Without a word, he leaves.

I wait for my eyes to adjust, but I can't see a thing, so she probably can't, either. "Hello?" she calls out.

The mask inflates in and out as she steps forward into the darkness, toward near-certain death.

Something zooms past her, and she gasps as she nearly loses her balance. "Your Highness?" she ventures.

I can't see, but I can feel what Antonela feels, as something large and hard like a wall presses against her. I distinctly hear a sniff, like someone is smelling her.

My sister doesn't speak or react.

She keeps walking.

"Mmmmm," whispers a voice. "You have a tantalizing aroma."

She spins and swipes her arm, like they're right behind her. But it's just empty air.

She keeps moving forward, eyes narrowed with caution and hands angled out in front of her, less trusting of the dark.

Cold fingers close around her throat, and she reaches for an inhale as a second hand grips the top of her left breast. "That instrument in your chest produces some lovely music."

The hands vanish, but Antonela stays frozen in place, breathing in and out, in and out, in and out.

Then she stiffens her spine and steps forward again.

Without slowing her pace, she keeps moving through the chamber. She even closes her eyes, like it's a test of faith.

"Courageous," whispers the voice, "or foolish."

Their fingers are back at her throat, their other hand closing around her waist, holding her against their frame. "I would keep you around to entertain me longer, but I have plans… and I am far too curious to know your taste."

The shadows around them fade just enough to reveal Prince Bastian's face.

Even though I knew it was him, my heart still canters at the sight of the shadow beast. I recognize the hungry look in his eyes, and I know what's coming next.

He grabs Antonela by the hair, exposing her neck.

" NO! " I cry, as his fangs bear down.

This can't be! Sebastián killed my sister—

But he shoves her to the floor instead of biting her skin.

"What is this?" he demands, as my twin scrambles back. The shadows retreat, and as the lights brighten, I see that we are in a chamber made of sleek stone. "Why have you carved CASTER on your neck?"

"Because that is what I am," she says from behind the oxygen mask, her voice shaky. I spot the blood and move closer to see that Antonela has sloppily cut the word into her skin, probably while she was in the coffin.

"Humans cannot be casters," he says dismissively. "And my guard would not have let you in if you were one."

"Well, why would they think I am one if humans cannot be casters?"

He frowns but there's a flicker of interest in his silver eyes. It's strange to think that in so little time, I already know him well enough to read his expressions. Like picking up a new language and finding out you're fluent.

"Prove what you say is true," he commands.

Antonela isn't fazed, so I assume she expected this kind of reaction. She closes her eyes in concentration, then she shoots up in height, until even Sebastián has to tilt his neck back to look at her.

It's a strategic move because her proof of magic doubles as a show of intimidation, which is the language the vampire speaks best.

Her power move works; she's still breathing.

When she shrinks back down to size, the blue mask pulses faster than before, like it's producing double the oxygen. The spell must have worn her out, or she would have remained in that form, since it gave her an advantage.

I don't see how she's going to be the first Brálaga to make it back when she's not exactly Merlin.

"I was the one who orchestrated the events that brought me before you," she declares, and I'm taken aback by the steadiness of her voice. If she's still breathless, she doesn't show it.

"I knew I could not make it here on my own, as I lack wings or strength, so I got my classmates to transport me. I came to meet you because I seek to make you an offer."

My sister squares her shoulders, and I know that I've underestimated her.

Everyone has.

She baited Red and Cyclops with what they love most—bullying her— and left open the book about Bleeders so they would take her where she needed to go. She risked everything… just as Brálaga instructed.

Sebastián moves closer now that Antonela is small again, swallowing her in his shadow. "You have nothing to offer me, human caster," he says, his voice as even as a heart flatlining, "except blood."

His hand closes around my sister's neck again, and her face turns purple in moments—

" Your Highness? " asks a voice outside the door.

He grunts and eases his grip. "Yet you may entertain me a little longer."

"Prince—?"

"I hear you!" he growls at the door, making my bones shake.

Antonela looks down at the final moon on her wrist. Time is nearly up. "Please," she whispers, "listen to me—"

But before she can say another word, she's swallowed by shadows.