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  “Virgil has volunteered, yes, Your Royal Highness.”

  Julius cackled. “You got Virgil to volunteer? Perhaps your powers of persuasion are better than I thought!” He guffawed, flinging another dart for good measure. “Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, upon the point of freeing the students. I shall agree to it. However, if you fail in the spell and it results in the destruction of another haven, your life will be forfeit. I will do anything in my power to ensure the Great Evil is destroyed, but it will be you doing the spell next, if you fail this time.”

  “If that happens, will the students still walk free?” Alex asked anxiously.

  Julius glanced at him thoughtfully. “Yes, why not. You’ve caught me at a generous moment.” He flashed a cold grin. “So, I take it you agree? My wife and your destruction of the Great Evil, one way or another, in return for a vial of blood and the freedom of the havens’ students?”

  Alex knew he didn’t have much choice. “I agree to your terms.”

  Julius sprinted toward Alex, making Alex certain he was about to get an orb of energy in the face, but the king skidded to a halt just shy of him, sticking out his hand for Alex to shake. Though his palms were sweaty and his fingers were trembling, he took the king’s proffered hand, and endured the roughest handshake he’d ever experienced.

  “Hadrian!” Julius bellowed, returning to his throne.

  The nervous man appeared at the door. “Your Highness?”

  “Fetch the leeches and vial,” he instructed, and Hadrian disappeared again with a low bow. It was clear Julius had prepared for this visit, having no doubt already known what it was Alex was coming for. Alex realized he must have known the potency of his blood, even before Alex began to make a deal.

  Hadrian re-entered a minute later, pushing a cart with a box and several glass bottles on top. They rattled loudly as he moved, jangling Alex’s nerves. The nervous royal didn’t dare look at Alex as he pushed the cart toward the king. Once he reached Julius, he took up the box and lifted the lid, pulling out a single, slimy-looking leech that Alex knew would soon grow fat with the blood of the king.

  “Anywhere, Your Royal Highness?” Hadrian asked, his hands shaking.

  Julius nodded. “Neck is probably best,” he said. Hadrian obliged, placing the vile creature on the king’s pale neck, where it latched on and began to suck.

  It became quite awkward for everyone involved, standing there, watching the blood being sucked from Julius’s neck, especially as the king began to whistle a tune, like it was the most normal thing in the world. For some unknown reason—probably nerves—it gave Alex the giggles, and he had to force himself to push the laughter down, snatching his gaze away from the comical scene of Julius on the throne, a leech attached to his neck, Hadrian holding the slimy end of the critter.

  At long last, just as Alex thought he might burst, Hadrian removed the leech. There was a knife in the box too, which the anxious royal plucked out. He slid the sharp end into the leech, creating a small hole, from which he squeezed the blood, letting it drip into the vial. Alex counted nine drops before Hadrian stoppered the bottle. Enough for one attempt, but likely not two—just as Julius had no doubt engineered it.

  “Hand it to the boy,” Julius instructed.

  Hadrian hurried toward him and handed over the vial, a look of excitement on his face. Alex felt that same excitement; they were almost done, and Julius had agreed to the terms. There was one caveat, but Alex had expected some kind of curveball. All in all, the meeting had been a success.

  “Now, when can I expect my wife to be returned to me?” asked Julius curtly.

  Alex smiled. “I hope you won’t mind, but myself and my friends will keep Venus as collateral until your end of the bargain is upheld. Even if I should fail, my friends will hold her until you do as you’ve promised,” Alex said, his eyes glancing toward the window.

  Immediately, he realized the huge mistake he’d made.

  Julius’s expression morphed into a mask of abject fury. “Are they out there?” he roared, shooting a glare toward where Alex had glanced. “Are your friends out there, waiting like little snakes, ready to strike at your command? Did you think you could take me down?” he screamed. “How dare you? How dare you come here before me, ask me for all these things, when all the while you were disobeying my one rule! Come alone, I said. Have you brought your little friends along? If you have, they will not live. None of you will!” he shouted, conjuring much larger spears of energy in his hands.

  “No, no, I meant nothing by it,” Alex lied. “Your Royal Highness, I am here alone. I was just looking out there because they are waiting for me, but not nearby, not here.”

  “Liar!” Julius screamed. “You dare defy me! I will make you pay, you worthless wretch!”

  Alex turned to Hadrian for help, but Hadrian was nowhere to be seen, though he had been there mere moments before. He caught sight of something shadowy moving close by, but he couldn’t make out the figure. Whoever it was who had spirited Hadrian away, their face was pale, and Alex was almost certain he could see the telltale black veins of a necromancer. Presumably to keep Hadrian from the king’s wrath, and to keep the hope of a plan alive, Vincent had stepped in. Alex just wished he had stepped in to spirit him away, too.

  Alex ran for the flimsy windowpanes that lined the gallery. Building an orb of anti-magic in front of him, he let it surge forward, smashing the glass of several windows in one precise blast. The energy exploded in the sky beyond, giving the signal that would bring aid. He knew he needed to get out of there, and fast, before Julius could get hold of him.

  Without another moment’s thought, he vaulted over the sill, his leg catching on a shard that was sticking up. Ignoring the stab of pain, he clambered down the side of the building, using the ancient structure’s wooden formation to his advantage; there were footholds and handholds everywhere, the climb an easy one. Looking up, he saw Helena and Jari scrambling down the side of the building from the sixth floor, like rats running from a flood. As Julius poked his head out, sending a bolt of magic toward Alex, the duo above him dropped magical bombs of their own, the blasts landing squarely on Julius’s head. The king recoiled, ducking back inside. Helena and Jari hurried past the open window.

  Julius appeared again, firing a furious artillery down at them. Trying to climb and dodge waves of magic was no simple feat, and once or twice Alex felt a blast knock into him, causing a flurry of snowflakes to drift down to the ground below. A new ache pulsed through his veins. One spear hit Helena square in the shoulder, causing her to lose her grip on the plank of wood she had been clinging to. Alex could do nothing to help, forced to watch as she plummeted to the earth. Just shy of the ground that would have undoubtedly flattened her like a pancake, a cushion of glistening golden light appeared, breaking her fall. The safety net had been forged by the quick-thinking Natalie.

  Seeing the net’s success, Jari pushed away from the building, landing on the cushion of energy just in time to break his fall. It was a quick way down the side of the pagoda, but Alex knew that kind of cushion wouldn’t help him.

  There was only one other option.

  Bracing himself against the wooden slats, he pushed off as hard as he could, and felt the air rushing around him as he fell. Less than a minute later, he splashed into the closest pool in the water gardens below, the icy water enveloping him, before he resurfaced with a sharp intake of breath. Fortunately, it had been deeper than he’d thought, and he hurried to the edge, pulling himself out. His feet squelched as he sprinted for the tree-line, desperately trying to count how many of his friends were running alongside him.

  Let there be five, let there be five, let there be five, he prayed.

  Chapter 12

  Alex was the first to arrive, crashing through the narrow doorway into the sanctuary of the cave. He crouched on the ground, panting, keeping one eye on the entrance in case anyone who shouldn’t tried to enter. Thinking back on what had just happened, he realized how close they’d come
to succeeding. Julius had been willing to negotiate, and it had failed because he’d brought his friends along, knowing he shouldn’t. A simple error, and it had all gone wrong.

  After tearing through the forest with bands of soldiers in hot pursuit, he had managed to lose them by clambering up one of the tall oaks and waiting there in the shadows until the danger had passed. He’d lost the others in the chaos, though he’d caught glimpses of Helena and Aamir through the trees, running and hiding, just as he was. The others, he wasn’t so sure about.

  All he could do was sit and wait, and hope that Julius wouldn’t discover the secret cave.

  Time went by with agonizing slowness, but still no one appeared at the doorway. Glancing down at his leg, he saw a tear in his trousers, the fabric colored a rusty red where the shard of glass had caught him unawares, but the wound beneath was only minor, the blood already drying. Satisfied he hadn’t gouged a hole in his flesh, Alex began to run through every possible scenario in his head, knowing how badly this could play out. Just as he was picturing everyone dead at Julius’s hand, a figure crept in through the entrance, peering around with furtive eyes.

  “Jari?” Alex whispered from his hidden vantage point.

  “Alex, is that you?” Jari replied.

  “Yeah. Is anyone else with you?”

  “No, it’s just me,” said Jari, shaking his head.

  The blond-haired boy walked over to where Alex sat and sank down beside him, holding his head in his hands.

  “Did you see anyone else?”

  “No,” Jari muttered miserably. “Ellabell was running near me for a while, but then she disappeared. I haven’t seen anyone else—I hid under a pile of branches, and just closed my eyes until all the soldiers had run past me.”

  “I was up a tree,” said Alex.

  Jari shook his head. “What happened?”

  “Julius suspected I wasn’t alone, and he just went mad,” Alex explained, not wanting to lay blame at anyone else’s door.

  “We should have known he’d go psycho! What did we think we were doing, going there in the first place?” Jari grunted in annoyance, punching the wall. “We should’ve listened to Natalie and Aamir.”

  Alex was about to reach out and comfort his friend when another scuffle by the entrance distracted them. They waited with bated breath as a figure emerged. The gleam of her silver hair gave her away instantly, and though Alex was pleased to see Helena safe and sound, part of him wished there were another girl standing there.

  “We’re over here!” said Jari, his eyes wide with delight at the sight of the beautiful young woman.

  Helena peered into the darkness. “Who?”

  “Alex and Jari,” Jari replied, looking a little crestfallen that she hadn’t known him by the sound of his voice. In any other circumstance, Alex would have been amused by Jari’s puppy love, but now wasn’t the time for levity. Not with half their party still missing.

  “Just you two?” Helena asked, her voice heavy with sadness.

  Alex nodded. “For now.”

  She joined them against the wall, where the trio sat in somber silence, their eyes fixed on the entrance, hoping for another of their number to come rushing through it.

  Their hopes were answered twenty minutes later, when Aamir and Natalie stumbled through, looking flustered and pretty beaten up. The older boy was holding Natalie up, her arm around his neck, her knee bent as though it hurt to put weight on it. Aamir himself had a bruise appearing around his eye, and his still-healing hand was bleeding afresh, with a few new cuts and scrapes appearing in livid gashes all the way up his arm. The rest of Natalie’s appearance wasn’t much better, her shirt torn, the bleeding wounds beneath saturating the fabric. Her lip had swollen, and a trail of blood meandered down her chin. Whatever had happened to them, it hadn’t been pretty.

  “We’re over here,” said Alex, getting up to help them. Natalie winced when Alex put his arm beneath hers. She moved with a definite limp, her forehead creasing in agony as she settled down on the floor, stretching out her damaged leg.

  “What happened to you guys?” asked Jari, coming to the aid of Aamir, who could barely hold his hand up.

  “Soldiers,” explained Natalie, with a sharp intake of breath.

  Aamir nodded. “They ambushed us, but we put up a good fight. We managed to get away and hide in a hollow, but not before they got a few good blows in,” he said, clearly trying to make light of it.

  “Is Ellabell not here?” Natalie asked, looking around for the missing girl.

  Alex shook his head, feeling anxiety swell inside him. “No, she’s not back yet.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be along soon,” Aamir said reassuringly, though there was uncertainty in his dark brown eyes.

  Alex couldn’t rest, pacing up and down, one eye constantly on the entrance. He had seen Ellabell from his spot in the tree. She had been running, and the soldiers had been far enough behind her that she should have been okay. But, if that was the case, where was she? Was she hiding out, like he had done, just waiting for an opportune moment to sneak out and head for the cave? Or was she out there, injured and alone, needing their help? One particularly nightmarish thought crept into his head—all he could think about was Julius getting his paws on her, holding her hostage the same way he was holding Venus hostage. He hoped more than anything that wasn’t the case.

  “If she’s not back in the next half hour, we have to go looking for her,” Alex said suddenly, unable to bear the weight of his own poisonous thoughts anymore. No matter which way he tried to envisage things, they were always the worst-case scenario.

  “Aamir and Natalie can’t go anywhere like this, Alex,” Helena replied, glancing at the two wounded warriors.

  Alex grimaced. “Fine, then you, me, and Jari will have to go looking for her. I’m not leaving her out there if she’s in trouble—even if I have to go on my own, I will.”

  This time, nobody spoke up about joining him. It was clear that nobody had the energy to argue, nor did they want to leave one of their own out there with an army of soldiers after her. If it came to it, Alex knew he could count on them.

  A short while later, there was another disturbance at the cave entrance, though the person who entered was not the one Alex had been hoping for. Agatha was standing in the dim light, her wild eyes trying to make out the shapes of Alex and his friends.

  “Alex, my darling, is that you?” she asked, rushing to embrace them all, even Helena, whom Agatha had never even met. “Oh my dears, what a to-do! You must all be so frightened. Well, fear not, everything is in hand and old Agatha is here to set things right. I found a little something on my way here that I think you might enjoy,” she added, giving them all a dramatic wink before slipping back out of the cave entrance. She reappeared a moment later, cradling Ellabell in her arms, carrying her with surprising strength.

  Alex and Jari rushed forward to take the limp girl from Agatha’s arms.

  “Is she okay?” Alex asked, brushing a loose strand of hair back from Ellabell’s face. She looked peaceful, as if she were sleeping, and there didn’t appear to be any visible marks or bruises on her, aside from a couple of scrapes on her hands.

  Agatha nodded. “Goodness, yes, she’s quite well. I gave her a little something to help her sleep is all—she’ll be right as rain in no time, my cherubs.”

  “Where did you find her?” Alex pressed.

  “Hadrian put us up in a quaint little cavern in the middle of the woods. Quite out of the way; you wouldn’t know it was there unless you knew to look, and it’s surrounded by about a gazillion of those pesky boobytraps, so nobody ever bothers with our secret little abode,” she explained, punctuating every few words with a flourish of her hands. “Mind you, poor, dear Ellabell stumbled on us, though not before she’d walked into one or two of those traps I mentioned. She had quite the shock, but she’ll be okay.”

  “How did you know to bring her here?” asked Helena, her tone revealing her suspicion of this stran
ge woman.

  Agatha grinned. “Aha! I’m a perceptive old coot! I see you, coming and going, thinking this place is a great secret. I come down here sometimes to see who might creep out. I figured you beautiful creatures would be here!” she cried, enveloping Helena in a warm hug that seemed to make the girl extremely uncomfortable.

  “Is Vincent with you?” Alex asked, remembering what he’d seen in the gallery.

  “Not with me, no, but he got back not too long after Ellabell stumbled upon our cozy wee home. He’s always disappearing off up to the pagoda. From what I gather, he had to do a spot of backside-saving up there today, yes? He sends his apologies, by the way, Alex, for not being able to get you out,” she said solemnly.

  Alex frowned. “Yeah, I’ve been wondering why he did that. One minute, Hadrian was there, the next he’d vanished.”

  “Goodness, you’re a sharp flint!” Agatha exclaimed, throwing her arms wide. “The thing is, it’s so very important that Hadrian continues to seem like a neutral party, but it’s even more important that he stay alive, given the information he’s been gathering. Of course, if the king thought the bunch of you were in cahoots, he’d decapitate the poor, nervous lad in a heartbeat.”

  That, Alex could understand.

  “You were saying…?” he prompted, not wanting the old hippie to get too carried away with other thoughts.

  “Ah, yes, where was I?” She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Yes, backside-saving! How could I forget?” she chuckled. “So, Vincent came back just after poor wee Ellabell had her run-ins with the traps, but it wasn’t safe for Hadrian to come himself, otherwise he would have—he’s ever so fond of all of you. All of us are, you adorable cherubs!”

  Alex’s heart skipped a beat. “Is he okay?”

  “Who, Hadrian? Yes, right as rain! Ooh, what a right old mess you’ve made of your handsome face!” she cried, looking at Aamir. “You must allow me to have a look at that swelling before I go. And you, mademoiselle—something tells me you’re suffering beneath that stoic veneer of yours? Well, you can’t fool old Agatha, no indeed!” she added, swooping down to where Aamir and Natalie sat before they could say a word of protestation.