The mist cleared in only seconds. Tobruk was standing in the middle of the room, shrouded in shadow, black flames licking at his arms and legs. Rachel was on the floor in the corner; her eyes were wide and I could feel the fear seeping from her. “You stupid bitch,” Tobruk said contemptuously. “You’re nothing. You hear me?” He took something from his pocket and held it out; it was black and crystalline, and it gleamed in the firelight. “Know what this is?”
Rachel stared back at him, frozen. “Harvesting crystal,” Tobruk said. “I’m going to find Alex and I’m going to Harvest him so I have his power too. You?” He grinned suddenly; it was wide and genuine and quite terrifying. “You I’ll keep around. I’m going to need a new slut when Richard knocks off the last one.”
“You can’t do that,” Rachel said, her voice high. “Richard won’t let you.”
“Richard doesn’t give a fuck,” Tobruk said. “I can do whatever I want to you. Richard told you all what it meant to be a Dark mage. None of you listened. I’m going to be Richard’s Chosen and if you ever talk back to me again”—Tobruk’s grin faded—“I’m going to fuck you up so bad you’ll be begging me to stop. You know what I did to Catherine? That was just fun. You . . .” Tobruk waved a finger. “You, it’s personal.” He looked at Rachel for a moment longer, his eyes burning into her, and then, like a mask snapping back, his grin returned. “Don’t go anywhere!” Tobruk turned and walked out.
Rachel was left alone in the room, staring after Tobruk. As the door swung closed behind him she curled up and hugged herself, shivering. She stayed like that for a long time before slowly picking herself up and starting towards the door.
The shift was faster this time, only a flicker, and when it steadied I was standing in a long, dimly lit stone room, with an archway at either end leading into darkness. Murals were carved into the stone: scenes of battles and quests, mages and their servants fighting strange and inhuman creatures, with lettering in odd runic script. To the side was something that looked like an altar, and four statues of armoured men stood in the corners, each carrying tall spears and wide round shields. I remembered this place; it had been the entryway to the lower basements. Rachel had once asked Richard what the murals meant and he’d told her it had been built by the mansion’s creators. We’d taken to calling it the chapel, but we’d avoided spending any time there. There was something eerie about the place, and the longer you stayed the more uncomfortable you got. The archway at one end led up to the ground floor, where I’d set off the trap to summon the nocturne. The archway on the other side led to the deeper basements and to the cells.
Rachel was sitting in the middle of the room. She was wearing the same clothes she’d had on for the confrontation with Tobruk and she was still shivering; the stone was unheated and cold. Apart from her the room was empty, and as I looked at her I felt an unexpected flash of pity. She looked lost and alone.
Footsteps echoed from the stairs, and Rachel was on her feet in an instant. Blue light flashed up around her hands as she summoned her shield and faced the archway, back slightly hunched. There was a flicker in the darkness, the glow of a fire spell. I saw Rachel’s muscles go tense and knew she was ready to fight or flee.
Then Shireen walked in, her spell winking out as she came into the dim light of the chapel, and the tension went out of Rachel in a slump. “It’s you,” she said, and closed her eyes, her shield vanishing. “Thank God.”
“Hi, Rach,” Shireen said. She sounded tired and her clothes were rumpled and worn, but there was something different about her; she looked alert, more focused, as if she’d finally made a decision. Something about it looked familiar, and as I watched her my memory clicked; this was after I’d met her at the old flats, when we’d spoken for the last time. I’d been readying myself to face Tobruk. Shireen had gone back to the mansion. Now at last I was seeing what had happened after.
“Where have you been?” Rachel said, hurrying towards her. “There’s been so much happening, Richard and Tobruk and . . . Where were you?”
“I’m sorry,” Shireen said. “I had some things to think about.” She paused. “I found Alex.”
Rachel had been about to say something else but stopped. “You did?”
Shireen nodded.
“What did you do?”
“We talked.” Shireen looked away. “About a lot of things.”
“Why didn’t you bring him back? We could have—” Rachel shook her head. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter anymore. Listen. Richard’s going away. I don’t know where, some kind of other world, but he’s going to be gone soon. Really soon. And he’s going to pick his Chosen. It’s just like we guessed, he wants someone to take over after he’s gone, but he’s not going to pick anyone, he’s going to leave it all to us. And Tobruk . . . Tobruk’s gone crazy. You didn’t meet him, did you? No, you would have said.”
“Rach,” Shireen said.
“We have to do something. I’m serious, he’s finally gone off the deep end. I was talking to him and . . .” Rachel shivered. “It’s just the two of us now. Richard’s not going to step in anymore. We can get rid of Tobruk, but—”
“Rach,” Shireen said.
Rachel paused. “What?”
“I’m not going to be Richard’s Chosen.”
Rachel looked at Shireen in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not doing it anymore,” Shireen said. “I’m not staying on as Richard’s apprentice. I’m not living in this mansion and I’m not watching anyone else get killed. I’m out.”
There was a long silence. Rachel stared at Shireen. “Why?” she said at last.
Shireen nodded towards the archway behind Rachel. “Who’s in the dungeons right now?”
“Just that girl.”
“Her name’s Catherine,” Shireen said, and her eyes didn’t leave Rachel’s. “What’s going to happen to her when Richard leaves?”
Rachel looked away.
“Come on, Rach.”
“The ritual needs her as a component,” Rachel said defensively. “It might not kill her.”
“Oh, come on,” Shireen said wearily. “‘She’s just going to die anyway’—remember? You said it, not me. Well, you were right. It took me a long time to figure that out, but you knew all along.”
“Fine,” Rachel said. “So what?”
“You wanted to know why?” Shireen said. “That’s why. I’m sick of this, Rach. I’m sick of getting sent on these missions and I’m sick of knowing that people are getting raped and tortured in the same building where I’m sleeping at night! And now I get sent out to bring Alex back so they can do it all over again?” Shireen shook her head. “Not anymore. I’m done.”
“Richard never told you to go after Alex.”
“No,” Shireen said. “But it was pretty obvious whose side we were supposed to be on, wasn’t it? We should never have signed up with him.”
“You were the one who wanted to sign up with him! This was your idea! You talked me into it!”
“And I was wrong!” Shireen shouted. “Okay? I was wrong to sign up with Richard, you were wrong to go along with it, Alex was wrong to join up after us, and Tobruk was—” Shireen paused, then shrugged. “Actually, come to think of it, this place fits Tobruk just fine. Guess he really did know what he was doing.”
“But why now?” Rachel said. “It’s— We’re nearly finished. It’s been two years and it’s almost over. Richard’s about to go away.” Her voice was pleading. “It’s only a week or two then it’ll all be done. It’s—it’s like you want to quit school just before the final exam. It’s just a little longer.”
Shireen looked back at Rachel steadily. “Rach,” she said. “The final exam is going to kill the girl in the cell behind you.”