~March 20th, x800~
"Ms. Mendez," Catie says. "I know this might be hard, but we'd like to talk with you about your daughter, Melinda. Can we come in?"
Maria Mendez is a single mother living alone in the small apartment she shared with her ten-year-old daughter. Her black eyes stare them down through the crack in her door. She looks haunted by sorrow. It's hard to hold her gaze, but Catie refuses to back down.
"Why?" Maria's voice is hoarse. Panicked eyes flicker from Henry to Bors and back to Catie. "Who sent you here?"
"We heard about the missing children, and Mr. Clark told us Melinda was the first to vanish," Henry says. "We'd like to help, but you need to cooperate."
Her eyes grow shiny with tears as Maria shakes her head. "I've no money for an investigation. You need to leave."
"We are not asking you or anyone else for money," Bors says.
"Please," Catie speaks as if calming a skittish horse. "We just want to help."
"Why?" Maria asks again.
Biting her lip, Catie looks back at Henry and Bors.
Why are they doing this? Because it's the right thing to do? Because it might shed some light on Gaius?
All Catie knows are her own motivations, and she'd rather the men not know them.
But when she turns back to face Maria, her eyes are begging her for an answer. Swallowing a bit of her pride, she takes a deep breath.
"When I was younger, I was... lost. Forgotten... And no one was searching for me," Catie explains. "I was so scared and so alone. I prayed every night that someone would find me and take me home... But after a while, I gave up hope... I thought no one cared... I was ready to die when finally... Finally... Someone found me." Catie holds back the tears threatening to choke her, and forces a smile. "She was my hero. I'm sure wherever your daughter is, she's just as scared as I was back then. She must be praying for someone to save her. She needs a hero. Please, Ms. Mendez. Help me save Melinda."
Maria sobs and throws open the door. Her hands tremble as she grips Catie's blouse in her bone-thin fingers. She collapses to her knees, and Catie wraps her in a hug.
"Please. Please!" Maria buries her face in Catie's neck. "Find my baby!"
"Everything's going to be okay." Catie brushes her fingers through Maria's hair. "Just tell us what you can about the day Melinda disappeared."
It happened a little over a year ago:
Melinda had been playing hide and seek in the woods with her friends.
It was getting dark, and all the other children had been found, but Melinda was still hiding.
This wasn't unusual; a champion of the game, she was often the last one to be found, so the others left her to come out on her own.
Melinda always returned home by nightfall, after all, and her mother patiently waited for her to return.
Darkness soon fell, however, and Melinda still wasn't home.
It wasn't unheard of for kids to get turned around in the woods while playing. The town even had a well-practiced search team for such occasions, and they swiftly assembled to look for her.
They searched all night and all morning but found no trace of her.
Nothing but a shoe abandoned near the edge of Julius Gaius' gates.
The next child to vanish was an eight-year-old boy named Liam Wolfe. A few older boys had dared him to go into the woods by himself for ten minutes. He never came out. Another search party was formed, but again, nothing was found.
His disappearance was almost exactly a month apart from Melinda's.
The next was a six-year-old girl.
Then a twelve-year-old boy.
Then a nine-year-old girl.
Then a five-year-old boy.
Then an eleven-year-old girl.
Then a seven-year-old boy.
Then a four-year-old girl.
Then a ten-year-old boy.
Then a twelve-year-old girl.
Then a three-year-old boy.
All of the children had somehow ended up in the woods by themselves.
All of them were under the age of thirteen.
All of them had disappeared within a month of each other.
All of them came from families who would never be able to afford an investigator, even had the Magic Council approved such a request.
And when reported to the Rune Knights, all of the children had been labeled as runaways.
"That's a pretty obvious pattern," Henry says as they're leaving the last house.
"Should we contact Captain Achilles?" Bors asks.
Catie shakes her head.
"I don't trust him. He's either been withholding information from us, or he's ignorant of the situation and no help." A breeze passes by, and Catie shutters. "And I still don't understand why the Magic Council would send a whole squadron of Rune Knights to investigate the murder of a minor noble, even if he was a mage."
"We spoke with Master Ajax about this," Bors says. "Nobleman Gaius was a big contributor to the previous Magic Council."
"Apparently, the guy is loaded."
"How? Hemlock doesn't have any major exports or anything. They're surviving by being a rest stop on the way to Crocus. Gaius isn't even one of the ancient noble families, meaning he has no ancestral wealth. I haven't even heard of him making investments into anything. Not trade, not fishing, not military, nothing. All he's ever contributed to is the Magic Council, and you don't get anything back for that. I don't like this. I don't like this at all!"
The wind picks up around them, and Catie forces herself to take deep, even breaths. Bors places his hands on her shoulders.
"You're very cold, Catrina. We should get inside."
"It'll be dark soon, too," Henry says. "And we still need to find a place to sleep tonight."
Catie thinks for a moment. "It'll take a little convincing, but I have an idea."
They begin to head back to the pub in silence. Three Rune Knights are hanging around outside, passing a flask back and forth. Catie can't keep from scowling at them, anger pulsing inside her.
"What's with the face, Lady?" One of the Knights asks. He grins and holds out the flask. "You wanna join in on the fun? I bet you're just dying for a chance to ditch those guys."
The Knights burst into laughter. Catie rolls her eyes. Bors and Henry don't even acknowledge the guys, and she decides not to dignify them with a response and just keeps walking.
That is until one of them snatches her wrist.
"Hold up. We're not done talking."
She rips her arm out of his grip. A gust of wind blows past her, knocking him to the ground.
"Do. Not. Touch. Me." Catie speaks evenly, but her eyes burn with rage. Her hair flows in the wind, whipping around her face like snakes. For a moment, she looks like she might turn the Rune Knights to stone.
"Catrina," Bors calls to Catie from the doorway to the pub. "They are not worth your time."
The wind dies once more. Catie huffs and does her best proud noble strut towards the pub. The Rune Knights glare at her back, and if looks could kill, she'd be dead three times over.
"Thank you for your generosity, Mrs. Gaius," Bors says.
"Please, just call me Claudia," she says. "I'll show you to your rooms. Normally, I'd have a servant do it, but I sent them all away after… after…" She covers her mouth with her hand as her eyes fill with tears.
"It's alright, Claudia." Catie squeezes her shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it."
"I'm sorry. I would stay and be a better host, but it's too painful."
"That's alright. It's more than enough that you're letting us stay here. I know you were wary of doing so."
"It's alright. What my husband doesn't know won't hurt him."
She leads them towards a staircase that has stairs both leading up and down.
"I thought we were on the ground floor," Henry says, pointing to them.
"We are. Those lead to the wine cellar and the basement."
"Wine, you say? Would you mind if I took a look at them?"
Claudia shakes her head. "Oh no. My husband is very protective of his collection. Besides, only he has... had the key to open it. I don't even know where it could be now."
"I understand," Henry says, shooting Catie and Bors a look behind Claudia's back. They were starting with the basement later then.
A little off to the side of the staircase is a small elevator.
"We use this when we need to get from floor to floor quickly," Claudia says. The four of them cram inside with their bags, pressing close together. "Otherwise, I'd advise using the stairs. It's a bit old, and we don't want to get stuck."
"The manor has four floors;" she presses the button that says three before pulling the lever. "The ground floor houses the kitchen, the pantry, the dining hall, the foyer, and the ballroom. On the second floor are the servant's quarters, my husband's office, and Octavian's playroom. The third-floor houses our guest quarters, and on the fourth floor is my family's personal quarters." The elevator doors open with a jerky clank. Claudia leads them down the hall. "Here is the first room. I'm not sure which of you would like to take it, but you may need to leave a window open. We haven't used this one in a long time."
"I don't mind staying here," says Henry.
They leave him to put his bags away. He walks over to the dresser and runs his finger over the top. There's not a trace of dust, despite not being used recently. The walls appear to be newly wallpapered. A hasty job judging by the way the paper doesn't accurately match the baseboards of the wall. There's even some peeling up near the window. He grips the wallpaper between his fingers and slowly pulls it back. Deep scratch marks mar the once dark stained wood.
"These rooms actually have an adjoining door," Claudia explains as she shows Bors and Catie to their room. "If you wish for privacy, you simply need to use the bolt lock. There's one on either side. All of our other rooms on this floor are not suitable for guests, I'm afraid."
Catie takes a look out the window; she can see everything from the woods to the town.
"It's a lovely view," she says.
"Thank you. All the south-facing windows overlook the town." Claudia steps up beside her and places her hand on the glass. "I'll show you to the kitchen and the pantry next. There should be enough supplies for you all to prepare a filling meal for the night."
"Would you like to have dinner with us?
Claudia gazes out the window, seeing sunset fast approaching as she clutches her prayer beads.
"I'd best be getting back to town. It's dangerous to wander the woods at night. Especially alone."
"Would you like one of us to walk you back?" Bors offers.
Claudia drops her hand from the glass. She smiles, but it's stiff and worn.
"No need. You've all had a busy day. I'm sure you could use your rest." She glances back down. "If you decide to go into the woods during the day, you should still be careful. It's hunting season, and sometimes bullets go astray."
After showing them to the kitchen, Claudia leaves. Almost as soon as she's gone, the three of them converge around the first-floor stairs. It's so dark, they can't see past the first five steps.
Bors grabs a candelabra from the foyer and lights it. Henry builds a makeshift torch from one of the dishtowels. Together, they shed enough light that now Catie can see the cellar door at the bottom of the stairs.
Henry takes the lead, with Catie right behind and Bors coming up the rear. Halfway down, the steps turn from stone to wood and creak beneath their weight. The floor is damp, and the air is cold.
Catie takes the torch from Henry as he bends down to examine the lock on the cellar door.
"You got a couple of hairpins I can borrow?" Henry asks. Catie plucks the ones holding her braid up and lets her hair unravel.
Henry unbends one pin into an "L" shape, leaving the other as is. After about thirty seconds, they hear a telltale "click."
Inside, they find an extensive wine collection and nothing more.
"That was a bust," Henry says. He tosses Catie her pins back. She frowns at their dirty and bent state.
"Let's keep looking around the rest of the mansion," she says, tucking them into her pocket. "Maybe we'll find something."
"This is a big place. Should we split up to cover more ground?" Bors asks.
"What if one of us finds something or gets into trouble? We should stick together, at least at first."
They begin on the first floor, the only thing of interest the covered piano in the ballroom. Catie dances her fingers across the keys. It's terribly out of tune.
On the second floor, they comb through Julius' office. He has shelves of books covered in dust with bare walls. A single floor to ceiling window rest behind his desk. It overlooks the back of the manor, and below Catie can see a pair of doors nestled against the ground.
The drawers in Julius' desk are empty except for a single black leather ledger; written inside are pages and pages of names with hefty sums of Jules beside them.
They go through the servant's rooms as well, finding several closets containing woman's clothes. Nothing as fancy and expensive as Claudia was wearing, but still, nice quality. Oddly, they were left behind. In one of the rooms, they also find a picture of a pair of young women who look so much alike they must be sisters. Catie slides the photo out of its frame and reads the words written on the back:
"'Lydia and Lana, x799.' Lydia was the servant who disappeared with Octavian."
"She looks like you," Bors says.
"Really?" Catie stares at the smiling face. There is something familiar about her.
"You have the same eyes."
They look in Octavian's playroom, but Catie just finds a children's drawing that must have been Octavian's: a crayon interpretation of him and his mother. His father is not pictured.
After a couple of hours of investigating, they decide to break for dinner. Catie and Henry mostly do the cooking, though Bors does help out. The dining room is vast, and the table needlessly large, so they eat in the kitchen.
"There isn't any evidence that Gaius is connected to the disappearances," Bors says.
"It looks to me like he's taking bribes. I recognized names from some of the previous Magic Council's lackeys." Henry says. "I bet he had some kind of dirt on those people."
"There were some noblemen and Rune Knights my dad mentioned in there, too," says Catie.
"I also recognized names, though they were all nobles from my own country," Bors adds.
"Gaius had a far reach."
"Was he an information broker, then?" Catie asks. "He traded in secrets and bribes?"
"It seems like it. He was probably murdered by someone tired of being under his thumb. It wouldn't surprise me if the Magic Council themselves murdered him, and they sent this many Rune Knights to cover their asses. We're just here to make them look good."
"Then the missing kids are just a coincidence and not connected to Gaius?"
"Maybe his son was kidnapped by the same person who killed him, but not whoever or whatever is behind the other children." Bors offers.
Catie ponders this, feeling as though they're missing something right in front of their faces. They finish eating and clean up before going to the third and fourth floors.
Besides the fact that Claudia and Julius obviously no longer share a bed if they ever did, they find nothing important.
It's close to midnight by then, and they all decide to retire for the night, with a plan to check out the actual grounds of the mansion in the morning.
"Catrina," a woman's voice whispers to her, gentle and clear. "Catrina."
"Mama Lina?" She asks because who else could be calling her name so sweetly.
"I'm afraid not, Catrina." Catie looks around and spots a woman with hair and eyes and skin like her own. "Do you recognize me?"
How could she not? She only stared at her picture every day for ten years.
"Of course, Mother. Of course, I do."
"That's good. You should never forget me, after all. Not after what you did. You need to remember what you did to me forever."
"I know, Mother." Catrina starts crying, but the tears don't feel genuine. She's too numb for that. "I'm sorry."
"I'm glad." Her mother smiles, almost like the picture sitting on Catie's desk back home, but too wide, with too many teeth. "Getting my revenge would be no fun if you didn't remember."
Her mouth stretches wider and wider open until it's big enough to swallow Catie whole. She just stands there and lets it happen.
Catie wakes up, panting, feeling her heart pound in her throat. She clutches her blanket and tucks her head between her knees, trying to get rid of the nausea the dream caused. Once she's certain she's not going to vomit, she gets up and stuffs her feet in her slippers, and grabs a robe to put over her nightgown. She goes downstairs in search of a glass of water. She finds Bors sitting at the kitchen table, singing to himself as he whittles away.
She keeps her distance at first, just watching him and listening to his song. It's in a language she doesn't know.
Bors has a nice voice, soothing and deep. It's almost hypnotic, and she finds herself calming down enough that she sags against the wall. She must make a noise because Bors stops singing and looks two seconds away from throwing his knife at her.
When he sees it's just Catie, he clears his throat and lowers the knife.
"I did not expect you or Henry to wake."
"I was having trouble sleeping," Catie says, joining him at the table. She sits across from him, her head resting against her arms. "What are you carving?"
"A rabbit." Bors holds it up for her, but he's at the beginning stages, and all she sees is a lump.
"Can I see it when you're finished?" Catie asks.
"If you'd like." Bors returns to his carving. They settle into silence again, Catie listening to the sound of a knife scraping wood. After a while, it stops, and she looks up to see Bors staring at her.
"May I ask you a question?"
"Sure, I guess." Catie shrugs. Bors remains silent, though, thinking of the best way to phrase it.
"The story you told Ms. Mendez..." He settles on. "Was it true?"
Dread and panic flutter inside her, but Catie pushes them down. There's no need for it. She trusts Bors.
"Yeah... It happened a long time ago. Before I was adopted." Catie smiles a bit. "Lina was actually the one who found me."
"The first master?"
"The very same." With a sigh, Catie lets her smile fall. "She gave me a home and a family. She taught me what it was to be kind. I don't know where I'd be without her."
"You miss her." It isn't a question, but Catie answers anyway.
"Terribly so."
Silence settles over them once more, and Bors returns to his whittling. The gentle patter of rain soon joins in, muffled through the walls. The rhythms blend nicely. It could almost be music.
"What was that song you were singing?" Catie asks.
"A folk song from Iceberg. It's ancient." Bors says.
"It was nice. Can you sing some more?" Bors looks uncomfortable, so Catie reaches out to pat his hand. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I just thought you had a nice voice. It's very relaxing."
Bors once more goes back to his whittling, clearing his throat as he starts to sing. Even though she doesn't know the words, she can tell that it's a song of longing. It's bittersweet, and she's certain it's a love song. She watches his hands work, noting how careful and precise he is. Her eyes drift close, and she starts to fall asleep to his song, feeling comfortable and warm.
The warmth is interrupted by the sound of a loud bang.
Catie and Bors leap to their feet, taking battle stances and standing back to back.
More bangs, louder than the first, fill the air. Screams soon join them.
There's no mistaking where the sounds are coming from: the cellar.
Frantic fists pound on his door, and Henry jumps out of bed, ready for a fight. In his experience, being woken up this way usually results in one. His whole room is bathed in red light for some reason, and it serves to only put him more on edge.
"Henry!" Catie yells, her voice cracking.
He throws open his door, and she nearly punches him in the face.
"What the Hell?" He asks, grabbing her wrists. His anger fades at the pale look on her face. She's shaking like a leaf, and her pupils are so dilated that her eyes look black. The red light is harsh on her skin, creating sharp shadows that make her cheeks look hallowed. He's never seen her so frightened before.
"What's wrong?" He lets her go.
Catie rubs her wrists and swallows. "There's something in the cellar."
Henry barely stops to grab his shoes before they're flying down the stairs. He can hear the bangs about halfway down, at first just a distant knocking and steadily growing louder. Bors waits for them at the cellar door, his sword at the ready. His muscles are tense, pulled as taut as a bowstring just begging for release.
Henry doesn't bother unlocking the door, opting to knock it down with an Iron-Make Hammer instead. A small window lets in the red-tinged moonlight, but only enough to keep them from bumping into the racks of wine. The sounds grow ever louder, and they follow them until they reach a glowing white brick.
Bors reaches out a hand to touch it. The brick retracts under his fingers, pressing into the wall. A seam appears, revealing a hidden door. Bors pushes it forward, and it swings open.
With nothing to muffle them now, the sounds become deafening, and Catie clasps her hands over her ears. It's awful, the screams don't sound human or like any beast, she has ever heard. Accompanying the screams is a terrible smell; it's like a polluted ocean- garbage and death and destruction fill Catie's lungs, and it takes all of her self control not to retch on the floor.
The light doesn't reach into the area behind the hidden door, and an inky void awaits them. They don't speak as they step into the black -they wouldn't be able to hear each other if they tried- and the passage is so narrow they have no choice but to march single file. Bors takes the lead, then Catie with Henry walking backward to watch their backs.
The brick wall slams shut behind them.
The sounds stop.
Without a word, the three of them converge and stand back to back. It's too quiet now.
Catie strains her ears.
Bors is to her left; she can hear his breathing.
Henry is to her right; she can hear his breathing as well.
Above her, she hears someone else breathing.
Catie sends a wind swipe towards it while Bors thrusts his sword upwards, and Henry tosses his hammer. Whatever it is crashes into the floor with a thud. The brief light of her magic allows Catie to make out something that is definitely not human.
And it's not alone.
The cacophony of screams returns, and Catie is knocked off her feet as a creature digs its claws into her arms. Her skin feels on fire as blood trickles from her wounds. Drops of saliva land on her face.
"Boreas Breath!" She cries, blowing as hard as she can. The creature screeches as it releases her, but Catie knows that attack wasn't enough to stop it. She wasn't able to charge it.
"A little light would be helpful here, Bryce!" Henry grunts, his hammer slamming into a creature with a crunch.
Bors swipes at two creatures before him, their bodies crumbling at his feet. He hurdles over them, reaching out for a wall. His fingers brush against the damp brick, and he quickly writes out the rune for "light."
Now that they can see what it is they are fighting, Catie feels sick. Her opponent isn't an unrecognizable beast but a face like her own.
"Lydia?" She asks, but the young woman doesn't answer.
Though calling her a young woman now may not be entirely accurate.
Her face and torso are Lydia's, but her arms are scaled and clawed, and her legs are hairy and hooved. Dripping tentacles sprout from her back. Her mouth opens wide, and she hisses, showing off her black tongue and needle-sharp teeth.
Lydia Marsh is no more.
Swallowing her horror, Catie ducks out of the creature's grasp.
"Iron-Make: Shrapnel!" Henry yells, and a barrage of projectiles takes down three creatures simultaneously. The shrapnels' jagged edges pierce their vital organs, and in an instant, they're dead. He tries not to look at their young faces and wide, empty eyes. There's no time to dwell when three more descend on him anyway.
"Iron-Make: Knight!" A humanoid automation forms, raising a sword and shield and throwing back one of the creatures. Henry creates two more to engage the other two. If there was more space, he'd summon even more, but he's pushing it as is.
For his part, Bors plunges his blade into a creature's chest. Black blood bubbles past blue, chapped lips, and its obsidian eyes grow flat. He yanks his sword back, and it falls. With his back to the wall, he raises his blade for the next attack.
Six feet long, Bors flame-bladed greatsword is a specially forged weapon known as a Runeblade, designed to work in tandem with his magic. It's quite wide due to its broad fuller. Inscribed along the blade are multiple runes, and one foot above the crossguard is a pair of parrying hooks.
"Slice!" Bors shouts as a group of creatures starts to crowd him. He makes one quick swing in front of him, the rune for "slice" on his blade glowing. Five of the creatures are struck by the attack, and two drop dead.
"Stab!" He makes a quick jab towards the closest creature. The corresponding rune once more lights up on his blade. The force from the stab pierces through the creature's chest like a bullet. He quickly repeats the motion towards the remaining two. They fall.
While even more creatures press in on him, Catie continues to duck and dive out of Lydia's reach. She summons Hermes' Heels, granting herself a bit of maneuverability, but she can't outrun her forever. She knows she has to incapacitate her, but all of her spells refuse to move past her lips.
Another creature leaps for her, and Catie has to cancel Hermes' Heels to dodge properly. Lydia takes advantage and tackles her against the wall. Catie stares into her eyes -blue, broken, and sad- and feels trapped.
Lydia opens her mouth and screams. Catie yells.
"Wind Magic: Wind Scythe!"
A sharp gust of wind crashes into Lydia, cutting her diagonally across the chest. Blood oozes from the wound. She looks at Catie, stunned, entirely too human at that moment, and falls dead.
Catie stares at her crumpled body, unable to breathe. Unable to look away. She wants to scream, maybe, or cry, but she can't quite bring herself to do either. Lydia's blood soaks into the ground. Her blue eyes gaze at Catie accusingly. The last time she saw so much blood...
Monster.
"Catrina! Get down!" Bors shouts.
Despite the warning, Catie doesn't move. Another creature lands on top of her, slamming her head against the wall. Pain erupts on the back of her skull as her vision grows black, and she falls unconscious. Limp, her body drops to the floor. The creature descends on her.
With a quick strike, Bors cuts through the creature attacking him. With swift fingers, he inscribes a rune on his chest.
"Speed!" He bursts forward. With the added momentum, he swings his blade with greater force and slices the creature in half. The spell wears off, and he feels the strain on his body immediately as he falls to one knee. There's no time to rest, though. His eyes sweep over Catie: her arms and chest seep blood from the claw marks left by the creature. He can't tell how deep they are or how much of the blood belongs to her.
A chorus of shrieks draws his attention. He spins to face the creatures rushing towards him. Rising to his feet, steadying his stance, he grips his blade and evaluates his best moves. He's at a disadvantage with his tired body and Catie's prone form, but if he's careful with every blow, he can at least buy them some time.
"Iron Make: Bulkhead!" Henry steps in front of him, creating a giant wall of iron between them and the creatures. With a sound like pots banging together, the creatures pound on the structure. Dents from their fists start to form.
"Don't just stand there like an idiot!" Henry shouts. "Grab her, and let's go!"
Doing his best not to jostle her, Bors picks up Catie. She whimpers, curling her face into his chest. With the sound of the creatures slowly hammering their way through Henry's wall chasing them, they run.
She stared at her reflection, her fingers tugging at her inch long hair. It'd never been so short before, with bald patches scattered across her head. Despite the shower she just took, her face still looked gray and grimy. Her lips were chapped, and her cheekbones threatened to break through her skin.
"Ugly." She whispered, her nails digging deep into her palms. "Ugly. Ugly. Ugly."
'Ugly is as ugly does,' her father's words echoed in her ears, and she covered them as if that would get rid of the memory. The magic swirled inside her, threatening to explode, but the gold bracelet on her wrist sent a shock through her body. She didn't let herself cry out. The pain quieted her thoughts, and she squashed the magic until she could hardly feel it. She swiftly dressed in her borrowed clothes and left the bathroom without looking in the mirror again.
Ms. Lina sat by the door and smiled up at her.
"Feel better?" She asked.
"Yes." Catrina lied. "Thank you."
Ms. Lina lept to her feet with one fluid motion and stretched. She reached her hand out to Catrina, who took it gently. Ms. Lina's thumb brushed against her bracelet, and Catrina tried not to wince at the jolt it caused.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes." She lied again, letting herself be led down the hall. This home was so small, especially compared to her own. It was suffocating. She could hear the muffled voices of children, and it took everything in her not to bolt in the other direction. She'd never interacted much with children before, besides her sister, and even that had ended in disaster.
Mr. Ajax leaned against the doorway and smiled at her. She did her best to return it. Two children sat in the middle of the living room, playing some kind of game she couldn't even begin to understand. The boy had bright green eyes and a mess of mahogany curls that verged on overtaking his face. The girl's eyes were hazel, and her own mahogany curls were pulled into twin pigtails on top of her head.
"Evander," Ms. Lina called. "Victoria. Come say 'hello.'"
Together, they stared at Catrina. The girl whispered to her brother, and Catrina felt the magic inside her once more react. Another shock, and it was back under control. The boy scrambled to his feet and grabbed his sister's hand. He dragged her over until they both stood about two feet in front of Catrina.
"Hi," He said. He smiled, revealing his two missing front teeth. His sister clung to the back of his shirt.
"Hello," Catrina replied.
"I'm Evander. This is Ria." He pushed the little girl in front of him, making her nearly knock into Catrina's legs. "She thinks you're pretty!"
The little girl flushed red from the top of her ears to the tip of her toes. Behind her, Catrina heard Ms. Lina bark out a laugh while Mr. Ajax huffed a deep sigh.
"Evander," he said reproachfully.
"What? That's what she said!' Evander defended himself. "If someone said I was pretty, I'd wanna know! Right?" He turned to Catrina for validation but jumped back quickly. "What're you crying for?!"
With a shaking hand, Catrina felt her face. Sure enough, there were tears. She opened her mouth to apologize, or maybe explain, but all that came out was a sob. She covered her mouth, but it did little to muffle the sound. Her bracelet kept sending shock after shock through her, and that only made her cry more.
Ria stared up at her with watery eyes and let out a loud wail. Evander's head whipped back and forth between them, growing visibly more and more distressed until he too began to cry.
Mr. Ajax quickly gathered his children close to him. Ms. Lina tried to do the same for Catrina, but her touch was painful, so she pushed her away and ran and ran and ran and ran until she was too tired to run anymore and collapsed at the edge of the woods. Everything hurt, and she didn't even fully understand why she was crying. The bracelet was still shocking her, and she couldn't take it anymore. She ripped it off and hurled it into the woods as hard as she could. The magic inside her burst free for the first time in months.
"Monster." She could still remember the exact way the word fell from her father's lips, a mixture of disgust and fear. She could still hear her sister's screams. She could still remember the way the earth soaked up the blood.
She screamed, but the sound was lost in the howl of the wind.
"Catrina," Bors says. "Can you hear me?"
She opens her eyes, and Bors and Henry's faces slowly come into focus. Her head hurts so bad. She feels like her brain is going to start pouring out her ears. Her arms and chest burn, and they're wrapped in makeshift bandages. She tries to sit up, but Bors doesn't let her.
"Stay still. You may have a concussion."
"What happened?" She asks.
"You let one of those things knock you out, like an idiot. Hasn't Ajax taught you anything?" The words themselves are harsh, but Henry's tone lacks any real venom. "You're just lucky we were able to get you out of there."
In the distance, Catie can hear the cries of the creatures.
"We've gotta keep moving," Henry says, mostly to Bors. "That wall isn't gonna hold them back forever."
"Very well," Bors scoops Catie up as gently as he can, and she tries not to let her pain show.
They continue down the tunnel. It's a silent trek, accompanied only by the ever-growing distant sound of the creatures behind them. It feels like an eternity before they finally reach the end of the passage, where an iron door waits for them. Henry makes quick work of knocking it off its hinges, and cautiously they step inside. An elevator, similar to the one inside the mansion, awaits them.
"This thing only has one button," Henry says after examining it.
"Will it take us out of here?" Catie asks.
"I don't know."
They decide to risk it and crowd inside. Bors puts Catie down as it's an even tighter fit than the one in the mansion. The light flickers when Henry presses the button. The elevator starts to go down.
It's a bumpy ride, the elevator jerking side to side as it slowly descends. The light continues to flicker.
Suddenly, with a jolt, the elevator stops.
"Henry?" Catie asks, voice quivering. Her hand grips Bors' shirt. Above, the light still flickers.
"Give me a sec." Henry mumbles. He Makes a screwdriver and opens the panel behind the button. A mass of dusty wires and rusted gears reveal themselves. "This is a mess. Amazingly, it's running at all."
He fiddles with the inside's in a way Catie and Bors don't understand. When Henry yanks a handful of wires out, Catie shuts her eyes and holds her breath. The light is still flickering. Bors rests his hand on Catie's head, and the warmth it radiates is a welcome comfort.
Finally, the elevator starts moving again.
"There. That should do it." Henry slams the panel closed.
A loud crash comes from above, jolting the elevator once more. The light bulb bursts, shattered glass raining over them. Two clawed hands pierce through the metal and wrench it apart. The beautiful face of a young woman with gray eyes grins at them and screams. However, the elevator buckles under the additional weight and drops a few feet. The creature loses its balance, clawed hand closing around the wire holding the elevator up. Perhaps if it wasn't so old, the creature wouldn't have snapped right through it like a piece of string.
The elevator plummets. Catie shrieks as her stomach flips and panic floods her mind. Without thinking, she pulls Bors and Henry close to her.
"Wind Magic: Zephry Sphere!" A circle of wind encircles them. It steals all the air from inside, dragging it from their lungs. The men turn blue, and Catie feels faint, but she holds it.
The elevator crashes and crunches into a square half its original size, but the wind cushions them and keeps the metal from crushing them. Catie releases her spell, and they all gasp for breath. Above them, the creature screams again, and more screams join in.
Bors takes his sword and jams it between the elevator doors. He forces them open, and the three of them quickly crawl out.
"Iron Make: Bulkhead!" Henry shouts, and an iron wall covers the elevator entirely. They wait for the sounds of bangs and screams to start, to see the dent of fists and feet through the wall, but for some reason, they never come.
Catie's head hurts even worse than before.
The elevator has brought them to what is a mix between a laboratory and an operating theater. Against one wall is a large screen, taking up most of the space. Against the opposite wall are cages with dead animals in different stages of decomposition. In the center of the room is a slab, a magic circle etched into the concrete floor around it. Dark brown stains mar the otherwise white marble. A desk covered in scrolls sits not too far away from the door.
"What is this place?" Catie asks, shivering a little.
"I think we stumbled upon Gaius' workshop," Henry says, walking towards the screen. He touches his fingers to it, and it lights up. "This thing runs on Archive. I can probably access it and figure out what he was doing. Besides making those creatures, I mean."
As the Archive screen appears before him and Henry starts to type away, Bors walks over to the desk. The scrolls are ancient; some of them are damaged so badly they can't be read. They're in an array of languages as well, most of which Bors doesn't recognize. However, there are three scrolls, laid out flat, with a translating spell placed on them.
The first one is titled "The Black Heart." Most of it is too faded to make out, but the middle is so clear it might as well have been written yesterday.
"… and he took upon him the weight of the world, and saw the ugliness in the hearts of man, knowing only he among us was pure. He gazed at me with charcoal eyes, and he knew every wicked deed I had committed and every evil thought that had crossed my mind. He knew my every mistake, my every weakness, my every flaw, and my every fear.
As he stepped towards me, his hands became black, and when he touched me, I saw all the harm I had done; my soul was corrupted beyond redemption. I begged for his mercy and asked to be cleansed of my sins, even though I knew I was unworthy of such things.
He knelt before me and kissed my forehead as he wept. At that moment, I was made new."
The next one, written in red ink, is titled "Rebirth." Only a few lines have been scrawled onto it, in messy writing that Bors can barely decipher.
"My love was brought to the altar. They were anointed in oil and adorned in gold, roses, and lilies weaved into their hair as they laid upon the platform and awaited the Master.
Soon the Master came, and saw my love, and saw they were good, for they were beautiful. They were worthy of becoming a Phoenix. The crowds chanted, cheering on my love for their bravery and loyalty. I alone saw my love's fear, and I alone mourned for them."
The rest is unreadable, but at the very bottom, Bors can make out the last line.
"Farewell, my sweet Cyrus. May your cycle end in peace."
The very last scroll he can read has no title and appears to be a poem. The bottom has been torn away.
"Death by my door stood, beckoning me near
For me, He had come, yet I held no fear
Knew I this: from my fate, I would be spared
For a year, I had toiled and prepared
Month after month, on the New Moon's dark eve
Fresh ingredients for the spell I'd weave
First, the brain of a young girl so clever
Next, the heart of a boy with great valor
Then, the lungs of a girl, voice pure and sweet
Next, the kidneys of a boy very meek
Then, the bladder of a girl filled with dread
Next, the liver of a boy who'd drunk lead
Then, the stomach of a girl I made fast
Next, the spleen of a boy always picked last
Then, the blood of a girl with skin so pale
Next, the bones of a boy, thin, tall, and frail
Then, the muscles of a girl with great brawn
Next, the skin of a boy, young as a fawn
Finally, when fully shined the bright moon,
I crafted my vessel and sang this tune:
'Child of my flesh, last of my bloodline,
Grant to me your youth, return what was mine...'"
Dread sinks its claws further and further into Bors' heart. Surely, it can't be true.
"Bors?" Catie asks, voice tired and hoarse. "What's wrong?"
She takes the scroll from his hands before he can think to stop her.
"I've finally done it," a voice echoes through the room as Henry unlocks Gaius' Archive. On the screen appears a handsome man with salt and pepper hair. He smiles with tears in his dark eyes, relief and joy evident on his face. "I've uncovered the ritual Master wanted me to learn. Even though I failed him, he is still giving me a chance. The new moon is next week, and I already know the first child to choose. In the meantime, I will continue my experiments. My next subject will be arriving tomorrow. She's a beautiful girl. If I'm successful, she'll be my masterpiece. My legacy will be set in stone." His eyes flicker to something offscreen. "Master will be arriving soon to check on my progress. I must prepare."
The screen grows black once more.
"That's all I could get. Everything else has been deleted." Henry turns to face Catie and Bors, taken aback at the sight of wind swirling around Catie, lifting her hair and clothes.
She covers her mouth, bile rising up her throat. Her chest aches, like something inside her has splintered into a million pieces. The anger and grief twist inside like a tornado until there's nowhere else for it to go. She catapults the scroll across the room with a scream and collapses to the floor. Her chest heaves with her sobs. The wind continues to surround her, howling along.
Henry picks up the scroll, reading over it quickly. His eyes grow dark as he grips it so hard it almost rips. Bors clutches his sword, but there's no one to use it against now. Gaius is already dead, after all.
They're too late.
*Edited February 3rd, 2021*