Chapter 45 Seraphine

Chapter 45 Seraphine

They broke apart as fresh cries filled the passage. This time, when Sera turned towards the sound, Ransom didn't tug her back. He fell into step beside her as, cloak glowing, she fished the final three pearls from her pocket.

When she breached the doorway to the Cavern, a gasp stuck in her throat. The room had been reduced to rubble and ruin, the floor strewn with ancient skulls, broken furniture and dead bodies. And still the monsters stalked and howled, lunging at anything that moved. Most of the remaining Daggers were either running or cowering in the alcoves.

Sera flung a pearl, setting off a bright flash. The monsters closest to her bellowed as they reared up, then convulsed as the poison inside them dissolved in the glow. A heartbeat later, they were dead, felled by the brief spectacle. It had the desired effect. The rest of the creatures snapped their chins up, turning their hungry eyes on Sera.

Now she had their attention.

‘Follow me and I will free you!' she shouted.

One by one, the monsters left their mindless war and lumbered towards her, their black tongues lolling from their mouths.

‘Don't stop until I command you,' she told them. ‘Do not touch another soul.'

Daggers scrabbled out of the way, flattening themselves against the walls as the monsters stomped trance-like from the cavern, willingly surrendering their bloodlust for the promise of Lightfire.

Sera edged backwards into the passage, keeping her eyes on the mass of shadows.

Ransom's hand brushed along her spine. ‘You are… very good at this.'

She gave a grim smile. ‘Mama always said I had a knack for bossing people around.'

‘Oh, I know.'

She folded the last two pearls into his hand. ‘Use these on any stragglers you find.' She glanced sidelong at him. ‘Please be careful.'

‘You took my line,' he said, leaning in to kiss her temple. ‘I'll come for you when it's done.'

‘Sacred Saints' Cathedral.' She grabbed his free hand and squeezed it, as though she could press the bargain into his skin. ‘Meet me there at dawn.'

‘I'll be there, Seraphine.'

He stepped away as monsters shoved through the doorway. Sera didn't give herself time to be afraid. She turned and led them down the long passage, grateful for the strength her cloak gave her and mindful not to trample the bodies in her way. The monsters made no such effort.

At the sound of the sudden exodus, more monsters crept out from the smaller tunnels, joining the others on their hunt for freedom. Sera didn't dare detour to find them all, hoping those pearls in Ransom's fist would be enough to deal with any that got left behind. She focused single-mindedly on the door at the end of the tunnel, following the rustle of wind that told her she was almost there.

Once outside, Sera took the steps to Hugo's Passage two at a time, conscious of every hulking shadow crowding at her back. At the top, she was greeted by an ominous clap of thunder and a sky so bruised, she felt the weight of it on her shoulders. In the distance, the top half of the Aurore had been swallowed by a thundercloud. There was no sign that her friends were still there waiting for her. She prayed they hadn't given up.

Raindrops kissed Sera's cheeks as she fled Old Haven. She was almost at the Verne when the bell of the clock tower rang out twelve times. Midnight. Saints , she was hopelessly late.

They'll be there , she told herself. They made you a promise.

Sera hugged her cloak tighter, letting the magic soak deep into her bones as she broke into a run. Footsteps rang out behind her as the monsters hurried to keep up. In the distance, lightning forked the skies around the Aurore, as if the saints themselves were urging her on.

Another crash of thunder welcomed Sera to Primrose Square, the crack of lightning that followed so violent it split the sky. The rain was bucketing down with a vengeance now, blurring the outline of the Aurore and the troughs of ordinary flames fighting against the deluge. Some of them had gone out entirely. Others had been reduced to embers.

Sera ploughed towards the fading light, her heart throbbing with every step. The city was a symphony around her, the drumbeat of thunder joining with the low, keening wind, the rattle of rain against the tower giving way to the hiss of dying flames.

The night was getting darker, but Seraphine's cloak was a flame of its own and no amount of rain could snuff it out. The glow of her Lightfire reached towards three shadows peering out from under the Aurore.

Bibi's voice cried out beneath the grumbling of the sky. ‘Sera! We've been so worried!'

Sera nearly cried with relief at the sight of her friends, sopping wet and up to their ankles in the squelching mud. When she reached them, she turned to face the monsters, commanding them to kneel at the base of the tower.

One by one, they obeyed, their shadows still straining towards her.

Val stared at them over her shoulder. ‘This is the stuff nightmares are made of.'

Sera huffed. ‘You have no idea.'

Her friends looked her over, no doubt noting the bloodstains on her clothes, the smears of ash on her cheeks, in her hair. Theo's gaze snagged on the tourniquet. ‘What happened to you?'

‘It's a long story.' And there was no time to tell it. ‘Hand me a satchel. We need to start climbing.'

‘Are you sure that's a good idea?' said Val. ‘You look pretty beat up.'

‘I'll be fine,' said Sera, grabbing a satchel full of powdered Lightfire. ‘You two take the first tier. Your ankle is still weak and Bibi's balance is…' she trailed off.

‘Non-existent,' supplied Bibi. ‘No arguments here.'

The first tier was less than fifteen feet off the ground. A kinder fall, if there was to be one.

Theo frowned as he grabbed the next satchel. ‘I'll take the highest tier.' He raised his hand before Sera could argue. ‘I want the bragging rights.'

‘All right,' she said gratefully. ‘I'll take the second.'

‘Race you!' Theo was halfway to the first tier before Sera even shouldered her satchel. She tipped her head back, watching in muted wonder as he scaled the first tier and then the second, angling for the topmost trough without a breath of hesitation. He simply addressed the challenge as if he'd been climbing towers his entire life. As if he cared more about this city – and its people – than himself.

Sera followed him up the tower, scrabbling for a foothold on the slick stone. She glanced back at the monsters as she climbed, unnerved to find them all watching her with a mixture of anguish and impatience.

Below her, Bibi gave Val a leg up, both girls grunting as they hauled themselves towards the lowest tier. It occurred to Sera that their plan was a hell of a lot more reckless in a thunderstorm, but it was way too late to turn back now. With a throng of hungry monsters at their feet, no one had even bothered to suggest it.

She turned her attention to the climb. Hand over hand, then foot over foot. Up and up she went, reaching the first tier with remarkable speed. She hauled herself onto the wide stone beam and hurried along the trough. Most of the flames here still flickered, shielded as they were by the two higher tiers above. But the rain was coming in sideways now, doing its best to extinguish them.

The sky boomed, and Sera flinched. Lightning forked into the far side of the square, sending a curl of smoke up from the burning grass. Rivers of rain poured down the tower as she made for the next scaffold, heaving herself up towards the second tier.

She was distracted by a howl from below. The monsters were growing impatient, no doubt addled by the storm and the frustration as they watched her retreating figure. Every step up the tower took the Lightfire further away from them. She had to move quicker, even as the storm rallied against her.

A glance below revealed Val and Bibi had made it onto the first tier, and had a jar of Lightfire in each hand. Above Sera, Theo was a shadow in the dark, shimmying up the narrowing tower into a hulking storm cloud.

Saints protect him . Sera reached the second tier and dragged herself onto the stone beam. She knelt at the trough, red-faced and panting, as a scream ripped through the night. She looked down to find Bibi swinging her satchel at a monster coming up from below. Three more had already begun to climb, the rest of the herd now circling the tower like they were thinking about tearing the whole thing down.

There were just enough of them to do it.

Shit.

Sera had climbed too high.

While Bibi faced off against the monster, Val unscrewed a jar of Lightfire and walked along the trough, dumping the powder on all those dying embers. Sera sucked in a breath, conscious of every crawling second. Either their plan would work or they would die.

No. She refused to watch her friends die. She refused to fail.

She held her breath and prayed to Saint Oriel of Destiny and Saint Calvin of Death, to Saint Maud of Lost Hope, to Lucille Versini and to Mama and to whatever damn force had decided to split the sky open and pummel them with rain.

We will live , her heart cried. You will let us live.

That handful of seconds felt like hours, but when the powder met those dying embers and set them alight again, the resounding crack of magic was so mighty even the sky paused to take a breath. The thunder stilled and the clouds parted, as though the moon wanted to watch too.

The trough erupted in Lightfire, the flames surging so high that Val fell backwards, shattering the empty jar. The monster on the scaffold fell too, leaving Bibi swinging at nothing. By the time the creature hit the ground, it was a person again, its shadows dissolving in the glow. Bibi grabbed her jar and tipped it into the other end of the trough, the Lightfire dancing – then joining together – in a glorious hiss.

‘You did it!' cried Sera, as the monsters closest to the tower slumped to the ground, their howls fading to blessed silence. She looked up just as Theo's trough ignited, the explosion of Lightfire illuminating the violet underbelly of the storm and the triumphant glint of his smile.

‘You look like a saint!' Sera shouted.

‘I feel like a saint!' he crowed, as he turned to clamber back down. ‘Your turn!'

Sera didn't hear the thunder as it snarled at her back, barely noticed the rain as she unscrewed her jars and filled the final trough with a flourish. The entire tower went up in Lightfire, the flames burning through the rain, twisting and rising to kiss those menacing clouds. It was a magnificent spectacle, a triumph of magic and ingenuity, and as Sera stood proudly atop the Aurore looking out over the glowing city of Fantome, she wished more than anything that Mama was here to see it.

In the rumble of the storm she heard her promise. 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.

Had Mama always known it would come to this? Had Saint Oriel whispered it to her in a dream?

Sera looked down at her friends as they walked among the scattered rain-soaked bodies. They were monsters no longer. Poor, helpless souls now at peace. Her stomach twisted as she thought of the ransacked catacombs and all the bodies that lay strewn across those tunnels. Her father's among them.

Had Mama seen that too? Was her own death the price of his demise?

Had she always known she would not be here to see this moment?

Sera's eyes streamed as she tipped her head back to stare up at the glowing crown of the Aurore. She could not deny the beauty of the tower as she stood in its heart. This ancient monument to the lost Age of Saints burning with new magic. Good magic. Magic that would not go out. Light that would burn on and on, through every storm of darkness, through rain and shadow, through fear and despair and—

‘Wow, you're really milking this, aren't you?'

Sera looked down just as another fork of lightning skewered the sky. It illuminated the outline of a figure standing on the other end of the beam. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with a sweep of tousled hair that made her think of Ransom at first. But she knew that menacing voice.

Lark .

She stiffened as he came towards her, trailing his fingers over the writhing flames. ‘So Dufort was right. You really are trouble.'

A memory struck Sera like a fist. She had seen this same shadow once before, standing in a different fire. She had thought it was Ransom then too, and had later been told it was Dufort. But there was no mistaking the tilt of Lark's shoulders, the easy swagger with which he walked.

‘You killed my mother,' she breathed.

Lark only shrugged. ‘It was nothing personal.'

Sera was already swinging for him, striking his jaw with a crack to rival the lightning that followed.