Chapter 37 Seraphine

Chapter 37 Seraphine

Sera was sitting cross-legged outside the cloakroom when Theo came down after breakfast the following morning.

‘Well, this is unnerving,' he said, by way of greeting.

She grinned up at him, and said, ‘Gunpowder.'

He stared down at her. ‘I haven't had enough coffee for whatever this riddle is.'

‘The secret ingredient is gunpower!' said Sera, leaping to her feet. ‘I found Lucille's journal last night. I read it cover to cover.' She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close. ‘I've cracked the recipe!'

Theo blinked slowly, taking in her words. Then he braced his hands on her arms to stop her from shaking him. ‘Please wait for my breakfast to settle. And how do you know I'm not busy today with other important top-secret business?'

Sera frowned. ‘Are you?'

‘Obviously not,' he said, grappling for his keys. ‘Let's make some damn Lightfire.'

Sera skipped inside after him. The Shadowsmith had every tool and herb and powder at his disposal but when he opened the safe, revealing rows upon rows of Shade vials lined up like soldiers, Sera's fingers didn't itch to take one.

The darkness no longer interested her. Now, she sought the sun.

As Theo set to work, mixing and measuring, she drifted around the cloakroom, trying to find somewhere to settle. When he retrieved a small jar of gunpowder, she peered over his shoulder and immediately sneezed into it. It sent a cloud right up into his face.

He turned to glare at her. ‘You don't have to sit on my shoulder like a parrot, Sera. I know what I'm doing.'

‘Right. Sorry. I'm just trying to support you. Morally.'

‘Why don't you morally support me by passing me a cloth?' he said, as politely as he could manage with a face full of gunpowder. ‘And maybe get us some snacks. It's going to be a long day.'

Sera gasped. ‘That reminds me, I have to make a cake! I'll be back in a couple of hours.'

‘You better bring me a slice!' he called after her.

Sera was in such a good mood, she skipped upstairs, where she found Bibi practising the piano in the music room. She roped her into helping, both of them giggling like children as they clattered their way through the kitchens, searching for cake tins. Bibi borrowed an apron from Alaina, who only surrendered it after they disappeared together into the storeroom for a suspiciously long time.

A couple of hours later, Sera sprinkled a final dusting of cocoa powder over a slightly lopsided fudge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and drizzled with ribbons of caramel. She carried it down to the cloakroom, while Bibi went to fetch Val.

When Sera nudged the door open, Theo was standing with his hands braced against the island. He was leaning over a clay bowl full of gold powder that was sparkling all on its own. Sera set the cake down. ‘Is that—?'

‘Lightfire,' he murmured.

She came to his side, not daring to breathe as she peered into the bowl. ‘Can you hear that?' she said, leaning in. ‘It's crackling.'

‘Careful,' he said, tugging her back. ‘It's raw. Which means it's volatile. I've already burned my fingers three times. We have to figure out what to do with it. And then how to use it to get rid of all those monsters.'

Absently, Sera reached for the ghost of her necklace, her mother's words ringing in her head: And when the time comes, you will rise far above this wicked city and become a flame in the dark. You will be the Aurore, Seraphine.

Her spine tingled as an idea unfurled, and she wondered if it had been there all along, hiding in the recesses of her soul, waiting to be discovered.

‘We'll use the Aurore,' she said, looking at Theo.

His eyebrows rose, and he stared past her as he made sense of her idea, drawing a picture of it in his mind: the great tower of Fantome, a monument to the lost age of the saints, burning again with new magic. Three tiers glowing with Lightfire, and all those monsters turning their faces to it, finding their salvation.

‘You are clever,' he murmured, a smile curling on his face.

Seraphine grinned right back. ‘All we have to do is find a way to get them all to Primrose Square.'

A furrow appeared between his brow. ‘I'll think of something. Just give me a few days.'

Sera nodded. A few more days and, if Saint Oriel smiled on them, it would all be over. The monsters would be destroyed at last, and Mama's legacy would be fulfilled.

Except… except that wasn't quite true.

There was one part of the plan that still needed to be… finessed. After all, Mama hadn't made all those monsters just to free them. She had made them to kill an even greater one:

Gaspard Dufort.

Seraphine did not yet know how she would deal with the Head of the Daggers, but one thing was cold and sharp and certain: for as long as Dufort drew breath, she would never truly be free. That meant he had to die, along with the monsters.

And one way or another, she would see to it.

The door flew open and Bibi hurried inside, unwittingly yanking Sera from her spiralling thoughts of revenge.

‘The birthday girl is here!' she announced, just as Val stepped inside, looking rather embarrassed about the whole affair.

Sera grabbed the cake, holding it aloft. There wasn't time for candles, and if they chanced the Lightfire in its current crude form, the cake would probably explode.

‘Happy birthday, Val!'

‘Let's sing!' said Bibi, clapping her hands.

‘This is so embarrassing,' said Val, but she couldn't fight her smile as they launched into song. When it was over, she pulled her curls back and mimed blowing out the non-existent candles, while Bibi produced a knife and several forks from her back pocket.

‘The test is the taste,' said Val, shooting a smile at Sera as she cut the first slice. ‘Let's see if it lives up to your word.'

‘Just know that it's made with love,' said Bibi. ‘And a sprinkling of my incompetence. There might be a few eggshells in there.'

‘For luck,' added Sera, feeling a flurry of nerves as she watched Val take a bite. In such a short space of time, these people had become unimaginably important to her, and maybe it was silly, but she felt like this cake was her way of trying to show them that.

Val closed her eyes, licking the caramel from her lips. ‘It's so good, I think I might levitate.'

Sera beamed. Theo and Bibi grabbed their forks, digging into the cake with gusto. They clustered around the island, feasting and chatting, and teasing Val, who despite her protestations, seemed to be enjoying her birthday – and the corresponding attention – very much. Theo fished a bottle of sparkling wine from a nearby cupboard, and sent the cork bouncing off the ceiling.

Val swiped the bottle, taking the first sip. ‘You were right about that cake, farmgirl. It's the best I've ever had.'

‘Don't tell Alaina that,' said Bibi, going for her second slice. ‘I've been enjoying her good mood lately.'

‘I know,' said Val pointedly. ‘My room is right next to yours.'

Bibi's blush was so violent, it swallowed her freckles. ‘Moving swiftly along… How goes the Lightfire?'

‘See for yourselves.' Theo set the bowl down in the middle of the island, and they all leaned in, peering at the gold dust, as if they might find their futures glittering inside it.

‘Whoa,' muttered Bibi.

‘What are we going to do with it?' said Val, poking her finger inside the bowl.

Theo swatted it away. ‘First, we have to find a way to use it without accidentally killing ourselves in the process. And then, we're going to destroy the monsters of Fantome and liberate the city.' He rolled back on his heels, looking at Sera. ‘Easy enough, right?'

She told them about her idea of using the Aurore, and was relieved when they jumped at the chance to be part of her plan. It would be a thrill to be the heroes of Fantome for one night, and not just the thieves who crept about in its shadows.

The following day passed in torrential rain. While Theo flitted around the cloakroom in various states of stress, Sera, Val and Bibi came down to keep him company, chatting and laughing the hours away. Every so often, a wayward spark or minor explosion would yank them back to reality, but Theo would simply smile, assuring them it was all part of the process.

They broke for lunch and again for dinner, poring over their plan for the Aurore as more rain bucketed down. For three nights in a row Sera sat on her bedroom windowsill and waited for Ransom, tracing rivers of rainwater down the pane, but the ceaseless torrent kept him away. Meanwhile, down in the basement, Theo worked relentlessly into the night, brewing enough Lightfire to fill every flaming trough on the Aurore.

Sera didn't dare risk returning to Old Haven to tell Ransom of their progress but as her worry about Dufort – and what exactly she was going to do about him – festered, she found herself wondering if the answer to her problem might lie with the Dagger she had befriended. If the man who yearned for freedom just as sorely as she did, might help her one more time.

If he might help himself.

On the fourth night after dinner, while Bibi and Val joined the other Cloaks for music and dancing in the drawing room, Sera brought Pippin for a walk in the garden, taking advantage of a brief break in the foul weather. It was there that Theo found her.

‘I thought you'd be upstairs dancing,' he called from the doorway. His silver hair was unkempt and dark circles pooled under his eyes. Even from across the garden, she could feel the adrenaline rolling off him. She knew that look, sensed the rattle of giddiness in his bones. She had sensed it in Mama more times than she could count.

‘I felt guilty dancing while you were working,' she said, holding up a pine cone. ‘Do you want to play fetch with us?'

His chuckle reached her on the wind. ‘I have something better in mind. Come find me when you're done. I want to show you something.'

When Sera returned to the cloakroom, Theo was holding a cloak in his hand. Only this one was different from the hundreds that hung around him. It wasn't true black. Rather, it shimmered softly under the lights, giving off the faintest glimmer of gold. When Sera brushed her fingers along it, they warmed, as though she was holding her hand up to a fire.

‘Is that—?'

‘Yes, it is,' he said, with a grin. A cloak of Lightfire. A cloak of flame. He nudged it towards her. ‘I used your measurements.'

She practically leaped into the cloak, feeling like her heart might burst. A delicious thrill rippled up her spine as the material fluttered against her skin, warm and sure, and for the first time in forever, she felt utterly at peace, as though she was exactly where she was supposed to be. In this place, in this cloak.

‘It feels incredible,' she said, drawing it tighter.

‘Now, let's see what it can do,' Theo said eagerly.

Giddiness bubbled through her. ‘Hide-and-seek?'

He was already slipping into his black cloak. He winked, then leaped into a nearby shadow and disappeared completely. ‘Catch me if you can!'

Sera pressed her hand against the shadow and the darkness dissolved at her touch. He was standing before her again, grinning from ear to ear.

She grinned back. ‘Easy.'

He lunged for another. She dissolved that one too. He ran and she chased, catching him over and over, until she was laughing so hard she couldn't stop. The exhilaration was dizzying. The cloak of Lightfire was far more powerful than the tiny teardrop she had worn around her neck. She was wrapped inside the magic now. Enveloping her, it became a part of her.

With the cloak around her shoulders, the shadows could not touch her. Shade could not touch her. The darkness was hers to destroy. The light hers to wield.

When she caught Theo for the ninth time, he threw his hands up, delighted by his own defeat. ‘At least we know it works against the shadows in here,' he said, scanning the room as they slowly regathered on the walls. ‘Let's hope it will work with the monsters, the same way your necklace did.'

‘It will,' said Sera, every inch of her skin tingling with confidence. ‘I really think our plan is going to work. I think we're ready.'

Almost , cautioned a voice in her head.

Concern flitted across Theo's face. ‘Are you sure you want to be the one to lead the monsters—?'

‘I'm sure,' she said. ‘We'll do it tomorrow at nightfall.'

He retrieved a small wooden chest from a nearby shelf. ‘I made these, too,' he said, removing the lid. ‘Inspired by your mother's necklace. Just in case anything goes wrong and you need a little extra help.'

The chest contained fifteen or so unstrung pearls, each one emitting a soft glow. Sera plucked a single pearl and felt it warm in her hand. ‘What exactly do they do?'

‘I'm not entirely—'

She flung it at the wall.

‘Sera!'

There was a sudden blinding flash of light. A gust of warm air rippled over them, the entire room flaring so bright, it stung tears into Sera's eyes. The darkness shattered, and for ten long heartbeats, it felt like the sun itself had exploded in front of them.

And then it was over.

She looked down to find Theo crouched on the floor, covering his eyes.

‘Very cool,' she said.

He glared up at her. ‘Don't ever do that again.'

She extended a hand to him. ‘I won't. At least, not to you.'

He stood up, sweeping the hair from his forehead. Then he shut the chest and locked it. Sera removed her Cloak and laid it alongside the pearls.

‘Tomorrow night, then,' he murmured.

‘Tomorrow,' she said, blowing out a breath. She took courage in the glimmer of Lightfire between them, in Mama's words repeating like a mantra in her mind: When the time comes, you will rise far above this wicked city and become a flame in the dark.

Saint Oriel had got them this far. Sera just had to go a little further.