Aryen was serious about Francesca, Alexis, and me learning basic self-defense. After our trip to the arcade and during one of our check-ins with Essie and Francesca, the two rebels arranged for the five of us to meet up after school to train. The rest of us found a suitable location – a park midway between our locations.
They didn't hold back, having us practice some supposedly basic moves until they were satisfied. They began with three defense stances, one for hand-to-hand combat, another to block incoming projectiles, and the last to withstand head-on magic attacks. We practiced the stances until they were to our protectors-turned-trainers' liking, and then practiced them for real as Essie launched volleys of random attacks at us. There was almost no time between attacks, so the stances quickly became second nature. Well, more like third: it wasn't uncommon for one of us – usually Alexis or myself – to be caught off-guard and have to take a kick to the thigh or telekinetic strike to the chest.
After the third afternoon of relentless drills, Aryen let us take a break. Immediately, Alexis and I collapsed to the ground and sprawled out to catch our breaths. Meanwhile, Francesca hovered over us, grinning down. "How are you not sore?" Alexis grumbled up at her.
She shrugged. "Don't know. This kinda stuff is exhilarating, you know?"
"No," Alexis and I said together.
Nevertheless, the all three of us progressed with practice, eventually moving on to light sparring with Aryen and Essie – in other words, they attacked us and we had to block or thwart them to make the moves they taught us reflex. It was terrifying until I successfully deflected one of Essie's blows without thinking; after that, I understood what Francesca meant a little better.
***
Later that week, Aryen pulled Alexis and me out of class around fourth period to let us know that Wenn had called for him.
"Wenn must have the ritual ready," he said gravely. "She will meet up with us this afternoon to perform it, along with Francesca and Essie."
We both nodded our understanding before returning to class. I couldn't focus on anything but finding out who had stolen the Book. I batted away Danika's and everyone else's attempts to make plans with me after school, determined to meet up with the others and get home as soon as possible. The hours crawled by, and it wasn't soon enough that I was joining Aryen and Alexis on the front steps of the school.
"Shall we?" Alexis said, and off we went back to my place.
"How's Wenn getting here?" I asked once we made it to my front porch.
"She'll be teleporting to my location," Aryen said, as if that were the most normal thing in the world. Sometimes I forgot how crazy all this sorcery stuff could sound. I imagined a random passer-by overhearing us and laughed quietly to myself.
We were barely inside when, lo and behold, a column of white light struck the foyer. It faded to reveal Wenn, who was hoisting a cloth bag over her shoulder. She looked around in wonder before settling her gaze on us.
"Erica!" she said. "Alexis! It's been far too long." She rushed over to give us each a hug. When she let go, she inspected us both, head to toe. "Good to see you're still in one piece. I trust Aryen's been doing a good job keeping you out of harm's way, then."
"Milady," Aryen said by way of greeting. He thumped his fist to his chest and bowed to her.
"At ease," she said. When he stood up again, she hugged him, too. "It's been too long," she said warmly.
I winced a little at the sight, and my stomach flipped, but otherwise I said nothing. I glanced at Alexis, who was laughing silently at me and giving me a knowing look.
"Francesca and Essie should be here any second," I said, breaking up the little moment. "We can get started once they're here. We've got a few things to catch you up on." I gave a meaningful look to Wenn, who, for her part, held all questions while I ushered them to my bedroom. When the doorbell rang, Wenn and Aryen looked around, apparently trying to identify the source of the sound, before turning to me for explanation.
"What was that?" Wenn asked.
"Just the doorbell," I said as I walked to the doorway. "Alexis, explain. I'll be back in a minute."
I dashed downstairs and looked through the peephole, grinning when I caught sight of Essie – who was still in scrubs – and Francesca. I threw the door open and welcomed them inside. "Hey, you two!"
"Hey yourself," Francesca said. She and Essie looked around as they entered, Francesca with appraisal, Essie with subdued awe. "I take it we're late to the party?" she said.
I smirked. "Just a bit." I led the two of them upstairs.
"—to let someone know you're there," Alexis was saying as we entered.
"I don't know," Wenn said without looking up from the rune-drawing she had apparently started while I was gone. "It seems like a waste to me when you can just knock."
"Well, sometimes you can't hear them knock," Alexis countered.
I cleared my throat. "We're here," I said. "We can stop arguing about the merits of doorbells now."
Wenn looked up and froze for a moment when she saw Francesca, who likewise shuddered. "I forgot how freaky that is," muttered the latter.
Wenn nodded coolly to her look-alike and turned to address Essie. "Good to see you, squaddie," she said. "I hope your mission has been going well."
Essie nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I have adjusted to life on Earth quite comfortably.
"Good to hear. I'm glad Francesca has been taking care of you." She stood up and crossed her arms. "So what is it that you wanted to tell me?" She looked expectantly between Essie and Aryen.
"The girls were being followed," Essie said, "just as you predicted."
Wenn nodded understandingly. "What happened?"
"Erica and I went back to the store we found the Book in," Alexis began, "only someone had wrecked it and left a curse there for us and the owner."
"The same curse Essie and I found the night before in the woods behind my house," Francesca added. "We think whoever it was, was either testing us or trying to hold us back."
"Right. We realized that Li needs us alive to even use the Book, which is why those curses weren't nearly as deadly as they should have been. Not for us, at least," Alexis added softly.
"What is in the Book that Li wants so badly?" Wenn asked.
Alexis shrugged. "No clue. All the more reason to get it back, don't you think?"
Wenn nodded. "I think we're ready to begin the ritual. Erica, please turn the lights off. The rest of you, stand against the walls. In the corners, if you can."
We all took our spots. I hit the lights and closed the door for good measure. Wenn recited a few words and joined us against the wall. I looked around in the quasi-dark, waiting eagerly for something to happen. For a few agonizingly silent moments, everything was still. All I could hear were the breaths of my companions and the occasional bypassing car outside.
Then, suddenly, a white wisp floated up from the center of the room, swelling and cascading over the entire floor until it was all covered in translucent white. The smoky substance crawled out to the edges of the room and climbed up the walls, washing over us, as well. When the room and all the visible objects were coated in it, everything started shifting. The white molds of all my stuff rearranged themselves so that they were in their proper places.
Once everything was settled, time began moving forward at a slightly accelerated pace. Molds of people constantly entered and exited the room – myself, Mom and Dad, even Alexis. We watched, each of us tense with anticipation, for the moment the Book would be stolen. I paid special attention to the trunk under my bed, where the imitation Book lay hidden.
And then it happened. The ritual replayed Alexis and I talking and getting dressed before leaving, and I recognized the scene from a few weeks ago when Dad took us to the Botanical Gardens. Minutes passed after the molds of us left before something else happened. The ghostly cast of my door opened again, slowly, and a cloaked figure seemed to glide into the room. It began ransacking the place, searching methodically for the Book. It tore the place apart before eyeing my bed. In an instant, it threw the comforter up and snatched the trunk from under it, causing it to fall sideways. The contents spilled out. The figure threw its hood off, presumably so it could see each item better, but we still couldn't see who it was. It picked up each of my heirlooms and inspected them before throwing them back into the trunk. At last, it found the Book. Holding it up, it turned so we could finally see its – her – face. She smiled in triumph.
"Ms. Leeds?" Alexis and I said together, sounding incredulous.
"You mean you recognize her?" Wenn asked. We ignored the mold of the culprit as she threw her hood back on and left the room, disappearing into the ether.
Alexis snorted. "Hell yeah, we do! She teaches at our school." She shook her head. "She's been right under our noses this whole time."
"But what would an Otherworlder know about a Praan relic?" Essie asked.
"And how did she know Erica had it?" Aryen asked.
"And what does she want with it?" Francesca asked.
We looked at each other, all questions and no answers. "Well," I began, "there's only one way to find out."
***
For the second time that week, Alexis, Aryen, and I were sneaking into Graysfield High. Wenn, Francesca, and Essie were keeping watch outside (which was a nice way of saying doing absolutely nothing because they were unfamiliar with the school). We crept silently to the main office, making sure to avoid unwanted attention from any late-night janitors and overtime-working teachers. When we got there, Alexis and I watched the halls while Aryen picked the lock. Once inside, we scoured the records for any mention of Leeds: where she was from, when she was hired, where she lives.
"Found it!" Alexis cried out, poring over an open binder of contact information. "She moved to Cassendra Heights in May after transferring from some school in Brooklyn, New York. Here's her current address." She pointed to it, and I jotted down on a scrap of paper.
"Got it, let's go." And just as quickly as we had snuck in, we left. About twenty minutes later, we were in Cassendra Heights. Since I had the address, I became impromptu leader of the group. After a few more minutes, I brought us to a tall apartment building. "This is it," I said, peering up at it.
"Let's go," Wenn said, her eyes shining in determination. She took her regular spot at the front of the group and pushed open the front door.
Motion sensor lights flicked on as we entered, but other than that, there was no sign of movement. There was no doorman at the front desk, no residents rushing into or out of the building, no elevators opening or closing. The building seemed completely vacated.
Wenn led us slowly deeper into the lobby. "There is powerful magic at work here," she said lowly, and she didn't have to explain. I could feel something thick and invisible around us, like static in the air before a thunderstorm. "Aryen, Essie," she continued. Her followers tensed, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. "Ready your weapons and bring up the rear. Francesca, Alexis, Erica. Stay between the three of us. Prepare yourselves."
I didn't know what exactly constituted preparation, but I tried anyway. We piled into the elevator, and I jabbed the button for the eighteenth floor. The ride was silent, which put me even more on edge. When the doors opened on our floor, I nodded in a direction, and Wenn led us toward the appropriate apartment. Our footsteps echoed on the walls in the absence of other people or even the remotest signs of life. When we arrived at apartment 1821, Wenn gave each of us a look. That was our only warning before she kicked open the door.
Alexis, Francesca, and I jumped at the sound, which seemed so offensive in the eerie stillness of floor. We listened for a moment for any signs of a reaction to our intrusion but heard nothing. Wenn led us into the apartment and said, "We'll clear the apartment together first. Then we'll start looking for the Book."
We nodded and continued after her, checking each room as we progressed to the back of the apartment. Of course, the last room we had left to check was the one in the back. Wenn slowly opened the door, revealing a curtain of darkness. I stepped forward to flick on the light. A lone black figure stood in the center of the empty room. It was vaguely humanoid, with tentacles for arms that seemed too long for its body. It had no facial features except for a mouth, which curved upwards exaggeratedly in a sickening smile.
"A Sincara," Wenn spat, subconsciously taking a step back.
"You've found me," it said, emitting several different voices at once. "I wondered when you would come." It reached out a tentacle to shove Wenn, Aryen, and Essie out of the room in one motion. The door shut automatically behind them.
They pounded on the door. "Guys!" Aryen called, his voice muffled by the door – and what appeared to be a magical barrier. "What's going on? Open the door!"
"We can't," I called back. "Don't worry, we'll be okay. Just...just go look for the Book."
The Sincara laughed, sending shivers through the three of us. We edged around the figure, sizing it up and giving it a wide berth at the same time.
"So, what are you, anyway?" Alexis asked, condescension evident in her tone. "Leeds's bodyguard?"
"Ah, you wouldn't recognize my true form," it said. Immediately, its tentacles began to shorten and take the shape of more humanoid arms. Its skin lightened to a natural pallor and hair grew from its bald head. Moments later, it took the form of a naked Ms. Leeds. "Better?" it said.
"So you've just been pretending to be a teacher to, what, stalk me? Steal the Book?" I demanded. "Do you even know what you've taken?"
It laughed heartily. "Do you? Naïve Otherworlder, you've no idea what you all stumbled into. Your insolence will be punished." It lashed out again, its arm growing inhumanly long and thin again, like a whip, as it reverted shape.
Francesca and I dodged where its arm made contact, avoiding the heavy blow. "That's more like it," Francesca said as she lashed out with her flames, attacking the Sincara with equal speed and strength. Alexis followed suit and began using the air to slice the thing. I was the only one who couldn't outright attack. I settled for dodging and distracting it instead.
Francesca and Alexis did a good job keeping up with the shapeshifter. But at some point, it had managed to flick Francesca away and bring both arms to attack Alexis. She lay sprawled on the floor, temporarily dazed, as it brought its arms up to pound down on her. Terrified, I looked around and was struck with inspiration. I waved a hand in the direction of a wooden closet door and willed it to rip off its hinges and fly into the Sincara. The door collided with its head, causing it to stumble. It retracted a hand to rub its head where the door had made impact, but I was relentless. I commanded the door back and thrust it forward again, this time knocking the thing off its feet completely. With the flex of my hand, the door slammed down into its gut, effectively pinning it to the floor.
Alexis and Francesca wasted no time scrambling over to the downed Sincara. Francesca stepped onto its throat while Alexis pinned down its wrists. "You're not getting away," I said through grit teeth. "Tell us. What you wanted. With the Book."
The thing managed to laugh slightly. "Y-you have...no idea what power it holds," it said. "The P-Praans left it behind – just for you – and you don't even know what it does." It continued to laugh, which turned into a cackle, then to a gurgle. We stared at it as it started choking.
"It's...it's starting to burn up," Alexis said, peering down at the thing in curiosity and a hint of disgust. As she spoke, it started to tremble, then to shake uncontrollably.
"Get away from it," I said.
"But what if –?"
"Get away now!" Alexis and Francesca hopped off of the Sincara just as it erupted into black flames. The three of us leapt back in horror. I set the door down a few feet away from it before it caught on fire, too. We could only stare as it screamed in agony. The flames only grew more intense, disintegrating the body to a pile of char in mere minutes. With nothing but ashes to burn, the flames extinguished themselves.
"Erica!" came Aryen's voice from the door again. "Alexis! Francesca! What's going on in there?" He pounded on the door again, and this time it gave in. He, Essie, and Wenn burst into the room. They stood in the doorway, examining the damage, before coming over to us.
Wenn sighed in relief. "You destroyed it," she said. "The spell must have worn off when it died."
"We didn't do it," I said. "We had it pinned to the ground, and it just...caught on fire."
Wenn paused to think. "Someone clearly didn't want it to talk."
"Yeah, well – oh God, what is that smell?!" Francesca pinched her nose in disgust.
No sooner had she said it than the most rancid odor wafted into the room. Alexis and I exchanged a look, both of us clearly grossed-out by whatever could be causing the stench.
"Yeah, it's not great," Aryen said. "It started up right when we were trying to get into this room again. I'm assuming it has something to do with the spell breaking."
Wenn nodded. "The enchantment must have hidden sounds and smells from all visitors. It's probably just trash or a dead animal that went unnoticed for too long." She looked around and shook her head. "No Sincara could cast a maze enchantment this strong on its own," she concluded. "It must have had help from a competent mage. We'll have to investigate this more after we find the Book."
So, the six of us begrudgingly left the room and dove headlong into the foul stench to continue searching for the Book.
"We've already looked in the sitting room," Wenn said. "Why don't we split up and search the rest of the apartment?"
We complied and split off into pairs. Essie and Francesca went into the kitchen and front bathroom, Aryen and I checked out the master bedroom, and Wenn and Alexis started searching the closets and other nooks and crannies. Once we were alone, Aryen took my wrist and turned me to face him.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
I nodded. "The other two did most of the work."
He smirked. "I somehow doubt that." He pulled me into a hug. "I'm proud of you," he said into my hair. "All of you."
I sniffed drily but hugged him back. "Well, we wouldn't have been able to handle ourselves with you and Essie's training." I stepped away from him and saw him smiling, and I returned it. Then we began searching the bedroom for the Book.
"I think I got something," Aryen said after a few grueling minutes. His head was buried in the closet. I rushed over to see what he was investigating. He was wriggling a loose wall panel back and forth until it gave. Once he removed it completely, I plunged my hand into the space and felt around. My fingers closed around a bundle of papers, and I pulled them out to inspect them in the light. "It's...it's scraps. Notes." I turned them to show Aryen the handwritten runes on the slips of paper.
He took them from me and scanned them, thumbing through them quickly. With each slip he read, the crease in his brows furrowed. "These are notes on the three of you," he said solemnly. "The Sincara has been keeping tabs on you for almost a season, Francesca most of all."
I shuddered at the thought of this thing stalking my friends and me. I was about to respond when Francesca's scream cut through the apartment. Aryen and I exchanged a worried look before running out of the bedroom. We joined Alexis and Wenn in rushing to the front bathroom that Francesca and Essie were currently searching. Francesca had her head buried in Essie's chest as the woman consoled her, wearing her own grim expression.
"What happened?" Wenn asked. Essie said nothing; she merely pointed at the cabinet under the sink and guided Francesca out of the small area into the living room. Alexis and I, who were closest to the bathroom, peeked inside. Slowly, we opened the cabinet wider so we could see what had freaked Francesca out so much.
I nearly threw up my lunch.
There, shoved into the cramped space under the sink, sat a corpse, its body hunched over to fit. As soon as Alexis opened the cabinet, the stench permeating the apartment intensified. The body's skin was stretched tight over the skeleton, in some places bloated by the water dripping from the sink's pipe, in others broken and oozing pus. Dead hair and yellowed fingernails had fallen off into a pile at the bottom of the cabinet.
I leapt back, covering my mouth with one hand and reaching for Alexis with the other to drag her away as well. We retreated into the living room with Francesca and Essie, which Aryen and Wenn took as their prompt to check out the sight, too.
They gasped. "Oh no," Wenn said. She looked over at all of us. "Go outside and get some fresh air. That's an order."
We had no problem obeying her. The four of us left the apartment, trying to look nonchalant in the off chance a tenant walked by, but mostly focusing on regulating our breathing.
"That must've been her," Alexis breathed. I wasn't sure if I was meant to hear it, so I said nothing. She looked up at me. "That was the real Leeds," she said, more directly this time.
"What're you talking about? Leeds was just a persona that shapeshifter made up."
Alexis shook her head. "Think about it. Graysfield has a whole file on Leeds. What schools she's worked at, where she used to live, everything. Some tentacle thing from another world wouldn't be able to pull off that airtight of a ruse. Even with help."
"That would explain the corpse," Essie said. She no longer had an armful of Francesca; instead, she was rubbing the girl's arm in silent consolation.
I thought about it. If Alexis was right, then that would mean Leeds was an actual person. She was someone with ambitions and desires and people who would miss her. And someone had murdered her for an opportunity at getting some relic. Getting at us. I felt sick.
The apartment door opened again, and Aryen and Wenn came out. "We've checked the entire apartment and came up empty. We covered our tracks. It's time to leave." And with that, she spun on her heel and led us back down the hall.
When we got outside, we put a few blocks between us and the apartment building as quickly as possible, doing our damnedest not to stand out to anyone on the streets.
"We have to do something," Alexis said. "We've gotta call the cops."
"Yeah and explain just why we were in Leeds's apartment to begin with," Francesca spoke for the first time since the incident.
"But we can't just leave her body there!"
"Oh, say it a bit louder, I don't think downtown Cassendra heard you."
"Hey, don't you –!"
"Guys!" I interrupted. "Take a breath, your arguing isn't getting us anywhere." I turned to Alexis. "Francesca's right. We wouldn't be able to tell the police without sounding suspicious. And they are not going to believe anything we say about Praan." Alexis sucked her teeth but said nothing. "Eventually, they will notice something's off and start looking for her. We just have to wait a few days, I promise."
She nodded, and the six of us made our way back to my house. Aryen hung back a little so that he was walking beside me. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly enough so that only I would hear him.
"You know, you've been asking me that a lot lately," I said with a wan smile.
He shrugged. "I just want to make sure you're all right. You know, since I'm supposed to be protecting you and all."
"I didn't see you asking Alexis."
"She'll be fine. She's strong, she can handle it."
"And I can't?" I raised an eyebrow challengingly.
"It's not that," he backtracked. "It's just that...well, you process everything so internally, it's hard to tell what's bothering you and what isn't."
I nodded. That was totally fair. "And you figured all of that out in two weeks?"
"What can I say? I'm good at my job."
I laughed quietly. "I'm...I'm okay, Aryen. Still in shock, I guess." I sighed and looked down at the sidewalk. Images of the corpse – and of the Sincara's body in flames, just for fun – replayed in my mind, and tears of desperation pricked in the corners of my eyes.
Without warning, Aryen slid an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a sweet, albeit awkward, side hug. I glanced over at him, a blush beginning to tinge my cheeks. He looked straight ahead, but a small smile crept to his face as he undoubtedly felt my gaze on him. After a while, he took his arm back, and I noticeably missed the warmth.
By the time we got back to my house, the sun had begun to set. Knowing my parents were bound to be home by then, I led the group to the back of my house instead of inside. "So," I asked, "what's the plan?"
"Aryen and Essie will remain here on security detail," Wenn said, "although I don't think we'll have much more to worry about now that the Sincara is vanquished. Whoever it was working with is most likely back in Praan. Once I have a lead, I'll give Aryen the word to escort you to us."
We said our goodbyes to Wenn, and she traced a teleportation circle in the grass. Once the light had faded and she had disappeared, I redrew the circle for Francesca and Essie.
"Well, that's our cue," Francesca said. "So how's this work, exactly?"
"You imagine where you want to go, and you're there," I said. "Simple as that."
Francesca nodded. "See you around, guys. Call us if you need us." She closed her eyes, and momentarily the column of light showered down again, and they, too, disappeared.
Alexis and I stood alone in my backyard. She sighed and wiped a hand over her face, clearly exhausted. I reached for her other hand to pull her into a hug, but she snatched it away. Shocked, I left my hand extended and empty.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"What's wrong, she asks," Alexis said. She rounded on me, and I winced. "It figures you would agree with someone who's not me." Her eyes bore into mine, and my face warmed up.
"W-what?" I said dumbly before it hit me what she was talking about. "Oh, you mean earlier with Francesca?" I rolled my eyes. "She had a point."
"It's not just Francesca," she persisted. "Danika, too. You've just gone out and replaced me. Why did I even bother moving back?"
I stood there and gaped at her. I flurry of emotions wrestled inside of me – mainly indignation, confusion, and fear. In the confusion, I couldn't find anything to say. Frustrated, Alexis finally stormed off.
Ididn't talk to her for the rest of the night.