Chapter 43

Chapter

Forty-Three

T he temple corridor is full of guards and temple members. They brace when they hear us coming, wide-eyed and battered with scorch marks on the walls around them.

Some lean heavily against furniture, injured from whatever took place in this wing before we arrived.

I almost trip over a man in First Son clothing, strange tubes running along the seams of his tunic, the material unnatural. His legs reach out into the aisle like he was dragged out of the way once disarmed.

The Viathans and even the Estate guards stationed here speak with 99, briefing him on the attack of this wing.

"Ferren!" Thea's voice cuts through a small group of temple members. "Mother's womb, I was so worried about you."

Her hair and temple gown are a mess, the sleeve of her dress torn, revealing a small cut on her arm.

I hug her tightly. "Did they breach this wing?"

"Yes, only a few came down this way, but they are saying there will be more." Thea looks around, still on alert.

"We came from the grand hall."

"Temple had just been dismissed and then we heard the explosion. Most went toward the sound to fight. But a group of lesser priestesses took it upon themselves to go off as well, and we have not heard from them." She shakes her head. "I don't understand how they breached the ward."

I give Selene a quick knowing look as she does her best to not be noticed.

"No one enters the temple. It stays sealed!" A high priestess raises her voice to 99 and the small group of Viathans standing close to the entrance.

To them, we have no reason to enter. They are doing their duties in protecting what is inside.

The Estate guards come in closer to the temple members, separating themselves from the Viathans who they recently fought beside against a common enemy, an obvious divide forming.

99's tone is urgent even though he will not tell them why we need to get in, but there is no time to be careful with words.

"The wards are down," I announce myself. "The highest priestess has fallen."

Thea takes a few steps back as if giving in to her shock.

"How?" the high priestess who yelled at 99 asks me with such anger, her nostrils flare.

"The explosion." Leema steps forward to interrupt, lying before I can think of an answer.

"We have to put the wards back up," I say right to Thea, quickly trying to get her on our side.

She glances at the increasingly tense interaction by the sealed doors.

"No," the high priestess says. "The temple stays sealed. It is written?—"

A bright streak of light shoots across the room, grazing the leg of an Estate guard who screams in pain and crumples over.

The disagreement disperses in a frenzy of First Mother's gifts and drawn Viathan weapons.

99 has his gun pointed down the corridor and unleashed into the space before I can even realize we are under attack again.

More of the enemies have made their way here, trying to breach the temple, to gain access and destroy the stones.

"Stay between Selene and me," I whisper to Leema.

It stings to say the words, to draw a line.

Selene is an outsider here, but she is safer in this moment. I know she will have no bias in protecting my sister over all else, and I can't chance it, no matter how much I care for Thea.

99 sends me calm instructions to stay close to the walls as the Viathans fire their weapons.

We inch closer to the temple, where the walls curve just enough to block us from any crossfire.

Thea is at the doors when I turn back, unbinding the latch that served as a poor excuse for a lock. One that could easily be broken by any blunt force.

"I want to help!" she yells over the crescendo of violence. "I will not make it across the Estate to the school and it will cease to matter if the ward is down!"

I nod and tuck in close to her as she works the door mechanism. "99!"

I wait for his attention, and when he sees us at the archway of the temple, he begins to step backward, instructing the other Viathans who came with us, to fall in some sort of synchronized, deadly formation.

The moment Thea gets the doors open, I pull Leema through.

Selene falls into a pew, and the few Viathans enter with 99 at the back.

They turn and slam the giant door, sealing off the attack on the other side.

The others will have to protect this temple from the outside. In here, nothing matters but getting the wards back up. First Son's followers will keep coming and eventually the shadow figures will make their way in.

The Viathans start to stack pews in front of the entrance, barricading us in.

Gasps and screams come from the front of the temple, where some have taken refuge inside, perhaps thinking we are the enemy breaking in.

The women in the pews are all in white, clearly from the Temple of Divine Mothers, only those from the temple who are not divine have been left here for protection.

The elder with them stands from her prayer position and glares at us.

"What is the meaning of this! How dare you break the seal on the temple!" she admonishes but is ignored.

"The prayer books were kept under that podium during my time here," Selene says, walking us up the middle aisle.

She points to the dark wooden structure used for speakers who need balance or to review a ritual book during service.

99 aims the blunt end of his gun and slams it into the hollow, boxy base, splintering it on impact.

The women scream as he continues to bang into the wood until a large hole appears for Selene to reach inside.

"Leema." I turn to make sure she is still next to me. "Will you take the divine mothers into the back rooms? It will be safer."

"Yes," she says nervously.

"Barricade yourselves in." I squeeze her shoulder.

The elder priestess leaves her post from the pregnant women to shout at Selene as she reaches inside the gutted podium.

I watch as Leema tries to calmly tell the women to come with her, but they look too afraid to move from the pews they occupy. "Please, it will be safer. Ferren is my sister. If she says she will keep us safe, she means it. We can trust her."

Leema looks to me, smiling flatly as the women stand and make their way to the back.

Her words would break me if I had time to fully take them in and wasn't plagued by such surging urgency to place this ward.

"They are not here. There is nothing inside." Selene sits at the base, placing her hands on her face in defeat.

Without hesitation, I stalk toward the elder, grab her by the wrist and pull her to me.

"Where are the ritual books!" I drag her toward the altar.

"Hands off me, child!"

My light snakes around her wrist, a warning not to use any of her gifts against me. She is from the Temple of Divine Mothers. If she was not dismissed before the elders there attacked us, she would have most definitely done the same. She is as complicit as they are, so I feel no remorse for disrespecting her as an elder. She deserves nothing.

"Stop this!" Thea scolds me for my actions, ones she does not know are justified.

"Place the protection ward around the city." I grit my teeth inches from the elder's creased face.

"What have you done?" She shakes her head. "There is only one reason the city's ward has fallen. I will not help you . . . disgraced priestess."

I force her down into a pew. "You will."

"Ferren!" 99's cutting voice snaps me out of my rage. "Call out to Calliape."

The moment I think it, she appears, August rushing to the back of the temple to help the Viathans stack pews to seal the door. The sounds on the other side growing louder remind me how close the enemy is.

Calliape walks up the aisle, still holding her book and flipping through the pages. "I tried to come earlier, but it was so chaotic on this side, I knew I should wait." She glances up to address me.

I nod, still wanting to rip into the elder who now whisper-prays next to me.

"Did you find anything?" I ask.

"I think so."

"Do it," 99 says, staring at the temple doors.

"There needs to be three of us. Me and two others," Calliape says.

"Alright," I say, stepping forward. "Tell me what to do quickly."

I follow her as she flips another page and then goes back to the original.

"Here." She shuffles behind the altar where the stones lie peacefully on display.

I turn to the elder priestess. I will force her to participate as the third if I must.

"I will do it." Thea's voice is small, almost drowned out as she approaches Calliape. "I do not know you, but if you need a third and Ferren trusts you, then I do too."

I wish Selene would have volunteered. It should be her, not Thea. I am grateful for her bravery, for not crumbling into herself, for still trusting me after she has witnessed my questionable behavior so many times. But Calliape seems relieved Selene did not step up in time, maybe assuming she would.

"Join hands, do not break them," Calliape instructs and positions herself in front of us. "Place your other hands on my shoulders." She holds the book out in the circle our bodies make, so close it almost touches my chest.

All three of us jump as a loud banging sound jolts against the door, dislodging some of the stacked pews.

August stands against them with the other commanders, his back to the barricade, gun drawn and ready.

"Hurry, Calliape!" I urge.

"First Mother, hear us, cloak us in your embrace. Cast your protection across this land so that none shall pass!" Calliape reads the words in a shout.

I close my eyes and focus on each phrase, hoping if I truly hear it, know its meaning, it will somehow make the spell more potent.

"In days of great suffering, cloak us. In days of famine, cloak us. In days of great violence, cloak us. May your children know the mercy of their mother's protection against the cruelness of her other creations!" Calliape's voice creates a powerful energy in the temple, as deep and sacred as any ritual performed here, the only real difference being the wild urgency in her voice.

I squeeze her shoulder when I feel a wind coming up around us, her words stuttering as she feels it too, and she repeats the prayer again with harsher inflection.

"Cloak us. Cloak this temple, this city against those who mean to do great harm to it. Ward up the air, the ground, the water that flows through it so that none who wish it harm can pass!"

My hair whips around wildly, slashing across my face. When I peek through my lids, Thea is crying, tears streaming down her tightly closed eyes.

Calliape continues and the pressure builds but it never spills over.

The banging on the door continues. However, a feeling of warmth and protection never manifests.

She looks so nervous when she opens her eyes to look at me, her expression ashen and desperate.

It's not working.

She violently turns the page. "First Mother, hear us in our hour of need! We come to you at the edge of destruction. I speak into your ear while you slumber to bring you news of the end."

She reads so fast I cannot make sense of what she is saying.

Her eyes dart back and forth across the page, trying to get out the words like she will be caught speaking them.

"Calliape, stop this!" Selene shouts from the temple aisle, and her tone sends a shiver down my spine.

But then I feel it, a great tremor from the conjunction, shaking us and reminding everyone how truly small we are in this world.

"First Mother, hear me, hear your children. We would not come if we did not know we would perish!"

The tremor continues, cracks beginning to form in the stone along the ceiling like we will break apart.

"Repeat my words!" Calliape shouts, looking right at me then Thea. "Mother, see that your children need you, wicked or not."

We repeat.

"Mother, see that we are wicked but we know no other way."

We repeat.

"If you must punish us, then wake and show us your path, but protect us in doing so."

Only Thea repeats this time.

I cannot compel myself to speak the words.

"Calliape, you do not know what you do!" Selene screams from the aisle, trying to get closer, but the wind is so great, only spinning around our circle as Calliape reads words that make my skin crawl.

When I try to remove my grasp from her shoulder, I can't.

She flips to another page.

"If Mother does not slumber alone, then those who lie at her side, do my bidding, wake!"

The slow cracking sound fills the temple like something is about to give way.

Crumbling pieces of stone fall from the ornate corbels on the ceiling.

99 ducks and moves Selene out of the way just as another falls and shatters onto the stone floor.

Thea waits for Calliape to finish the passage, watching her obediently, as if she were truly giving a temple service.

But Calliape looks lost, her pupils blown out and lined with water.

When she looks to me, I know she regrets what she has said.

But it is done.

The temple responds to the spell as the crack in the ceiling travels down, meeting the floor and opening into a wide fault line.

Calliape turns her body toward mine as the floor opens up beneath us.

I feel Thea's hand strip away from mine as Calliape seemingly jumps into me.

We land on the other side of the temple, and I realize she has folded the distance.

I stand as a brilliant blue light from the crack in the floor illuminates Thea before she even realizes she is standing alone.

A single yelp is all I hear over the wind in my ears as the stone opens up fully, engulfing her body into the depths.

"Thea!" I scream as the ebbing quakes of the tremor rolls to a stop, but the wind continues.

99 is next to me, his gun pointed at the bright blue light in the floor for a reason I do not know.

I turn to Calliape, her hand covering her gaping mouth in horror.

"What happened? Where is she?" I beg her to explain.

Thea is down there. Maybe we can reach her.

99 raises his gun higher, aimed at movement below, but with a blinding explosion, we are both knocked to the stone floor.

His gun falls out of his grip, his arm against my chest, shielding me anyway he can.

When my eyes adjust, I see a small hand at the edge of the hole in the floor, pulling itself out of the crater.

I scramble to get out of 99's grip, but he pins me, shouting that what I am seeing is not Thea.

And it is not her, at all.

As the figure rises, I see just how monstrous it is. It's thin and fragile looking, its hair matted and long. The orb of bright blue light spins above it, sending splinters of lightning in every direction.

Bile rises in my throat when I realize what I am seeing: the creature locked in the dungeon with me in the bowels of the Estate. The ward with electricity pulsating on its bars to keep it contained.

And now it is here. Free.

The orb engulfs the creature, transforming it while it crawls out of the stone from its depths where it was kept locked away.

Its few human features turning monstrous, four spindly arms moving in unison, basking in the glow of its own light as it floats above the crater, its great feathered wings unfurling and shimmering in a dazzling chill of luminescence.

Its skull a cracked bowl with water moving and sloshing as it turns to look at us, the starry water perfectly balanced and never spilling over the side. Where human eyes should be, two floating gold lights peer down at me, the shine of them cutting off as if blinking.

It speaks to me, a single word I have never heard, in a language I did not know existed.

The pounding on the door behind us grows louder, and I know they are about to break it down.

The creature's attention snaps to the sound of our attackers and then to First Mother's altar where the stones rest.

My stomach sinks when it moves to them.

"No!" I cannot help but say aloud.

With a final push of air, the creature sends out a burst of wind from its body, breaking every window, blowing the stack of pews and every guard holding them onto the floor.

The doors fling open and light ripples across in bands, out into the space and seemingly beyond the temple.

99 drapes himself on top of me until it stops, and from under his bicep, I can see the creature's back at the altar.

In the next blink, it shoots up into the air, through the open-air crack in the ceiling in a beam of light and flapping wings.

My ears pop at the sudden silence.

The opening of the temple is empty, as if there were no fight at all, the enemies gone as if the creature incinerated them and left us all behind.

As 99 finally lets me go, I stand, stumbling to my feet to get closer to the crater's edge.

"Thea!"

The hole is dark, empty, and goes on forever into the floor, the ground, and Cosima itself.

I know she is gone.

I stand, stalking to the elder who cowers behind a pew. I hear others pause their murmurs and 99 calling out my name.

"What was it?" I scream at the elder before I reach her. "You will tell me why it was kept behind a ward!"

The elder screams as I grip her chin with my hand, my light hooking into her like little thorns, keeping her still.

"If the ward around the city has fallen, then I know she is dead." The elder's answer is delirious, her eyes unfocused, like she did not hear my question.

I shake her. "Tell me!"

"She kept it locked away, the only way it would not intervene," she says.

"What was it? First Mother damn you, what was it?"

"The creature holds the scales of nature, rights the imbalances, and you freed it. It will balance every scale we tilted. So many of the priestess order will die. You will too when it sniffs out your false divinity."

I raise my arm to slap her, to make her focus and not speak in such riddles, but 99 shouts my name, the tone letting me know something is very wrong still.

"It took Cosima's stone," he says low.

Calliape stands next to the altar, completely pale and looking down at the two remaining stones.

I stare down at the empty spot, where the velvet indents and where I placed them, where Cosima's stone has never left in all of our history.

"You need to seal the doors, bind it," Selene says and walks to the back of the temple and opens the door where my sister is hiding with the other women, instructing them that they need to come out.

"The ward is not back up. It did not work." I grab onto 99's forearms, hoping he understands what has happened.

"We go to the ship now, in case there is another attack," he advises.

I glance at the aisle where Calliape is walking down, but she looks as dazed as the elder, her legs moving slowly and trance weary. August sees her, leaving the guards, who continue to protect the entrance.

His expression breaks, the way it did when I saw him kneel over her in the grand hall, making sure Crixa did not kill her.

Her balance gives out the moment she reaches him. He catches her and then they are gone, folding the distance together, going somewhere else in an instant.

99 rushes the rest of us toward the entrance, making the Viathans open the doors again. I make sure my sister is right by my side as we sprint down the aisle of my former temple.

The doors are slammed as we exit, just enough for me to see a momentary sliver of the cracked, broken space I once loved. The floor I spent countless hours praying on, the windows I stared out of dreaming of how much better my life would be if I ascended. And the altar of the stones we retrieved, the ones I placed when I realized my life had changed, but not in the way I thought it would.

"Seal it, Ferren!" 99 shouts through our tether.

I flex my knuckles, mustering up a ball of energy in between my hands, holding it as if it were solid. I press it into the door hinge, closing my eyes and letting my mind fall blank.

I have no pretty words to say, no prayer or ritual, only my light to bind this door and what happened inside. Light that was never destined for me, but power that is mine.