Antebellum Awakening (40 page)

“Kill her!” she screamed, although the Clavas couldn’t hear us. “Kill the vile bitch!”

At first attracted by the tall flame, and then noticing Miss Mabel’s livid eyes, three Clavas rushed Leda.

“Leda!” I yelled. “Run!”

Leda looked to the side and her eyes widened. She stumbled back a few steps, threw the
Book of Contracts
at one Clava that dropped in front of her, and tried to run. Miss Scarlett, her thick hair falling around her face and singed on the ends, stepped in front of Leda just as a cloud of Clavas swooped down. Both of them disappeared into the midst of the black wraiths.

“No!” I screamed.

“Stupid little monster,” Miss Mabel spat. “She’ll get what she deserves. I’ll see to it. You and your friends make me sick.”

The magic roared to life in my chest again, as powerful as I’d ever felt it before. Now the real fight would begin.

I shot to my feet, summoned Viveet, and headed toward Miss Mabel with a guttural cry. Her shield appeared in front of her at the last second, protecting her from the force of my sword. I dropped to my knees, then my back, and swung my legs around to trip her, but she transported away. The power of the Mactos circle overcame the magic of the ballroom, which allowed her to transport within our glass confines and put me at a disadvantage.

“Back here, Bianca,” she called from just behind me. “I do so love to see you this angry.”

I raised myself into the defensive crouch Merrick had drilled me on since day one. Miss Mabel and I were too far apart for me to engage her with Viveet. I’d have to close the distance. Before I could act, Miss Mabel disappeared, a bored look on her face. I ducked away from where I’d been standing, but moved too late. When she reappeared she had her hand around my throat. With superhuman strength she picked me up off my feet and slammed me into the glass wall. It cracked behind me but didn’t break.

“Maybe this is the best way for you to die,” she hissed, her eyes wild. “Then I can see the life ebb out of your eyes.”

The magic gathered near my heart, and I released it in a powerful jolt. Miss Mabel soared across the Mactos circle and collided with the glass across from me. Viveet flew back into my hand, leaping into instant flames.

“We’ll see about who’s going to die tonight,” I growled.

Miss Mabel grinned, but it was cold and calculating. She disappeared, and I whirled around, arcing Viveet out as far as she’d reach in a circle around me. Miss Mabel transported into middle of the Mactos circle, leaning just out of Viveet’s reach, with a sword of her own in hand. The steel was black, but fresh and sharp.

“Then let’s spar, Bianca darling.”

I advanced first. Sparks flew when our swords collided, sending out a spray of white and blue. She dodged my advance. The top of Viveet snagged her skirt, setting the material on fire.

“Not bad,” she drawled, extinguishing the flame. “You’re doing an admirable job. It’s not anything like what the Guardians learn, is it? You’re a far cry from the desperate little girl that came to my school a year ago. Too bad, really. I could have taught you greater things than your special kind of fighting found only in the Northern Network.”

“Great things like what? Almorran magic?” I spat, stepping to the side with a smooth shuffle. Merrick’s instructions spun through my mind.
Never cross your legs. Sword up. Your shield will follow, so don’t give it more attention than you give to Viveet.

Miss Mabel and I circled each other. Blood stained the ground from my still bleeding feet, making it slippery.

“Oh, yes. You would have been wonderful with such a strong magic like the Almorrans’,” she said, forcing an innocent tone. “I should have started you on it when you were earning your marks, as my grandmother did for me.”

“I’ll never do anything like you,” I muttered, dodging an advance and forcing her back. “Is that how long you’ve been planning to take over the Central Network? Since you were a teenager?”

She laughed in a throaty, deep chuckle.

“Bianca, I was made to control Antebellum. Don’t you see that yet?”

“You’ll never succeed in taking over the Central Network. The Almorran magic will be too much for one witch to wield alone.”

I was guessing now, desperate to find a weakness.

“You think I only want to rule the Central Network? Dear girl, you do underestimate me.”

Not anymore.

She transported away. I quickly circled, the shield protecting my back, but not before I felt a slice of heat searing through the back of my left arm. Miss Mabel laughed, and the sound echoed off the walls. Blood oozed down my arm in a warm trickle to my elbow and stained the tip of her sword. Unlike her, I couldn’t transport as fast or as precisely as she did. I’d have to stay, anticipating her moves.

“You want to take over all of Antebellum,” I said, gritting my teeth. “But you can’t."

Her amused expression quickly morphed into annoyance. Her emotions were as volatile as ever.

“Oh, can’t I?”

“Not alone, you can’t. So you teamed up with the one person you hate more than anyone: your mother, Angelina.”

Her grip on the black sword tightened and her knuckles blanched white.

“But neither of you can do it yet, can you?” I continued, stepping to the side, waiting for the right moment when I properly distracted her attention. She moved with me. “Because you don’t have the
Book of Spells
. I heard the two of you talking in the West. Until you find the incantations of the Almorran priests, you’ll never have the power to defeat the Networks.”

Miss Mabel’s eyebrows lifted in mock surprise.

“You think you know so much, do you?”

I lunged toward her with a fast hacking motion, hoping to cut her arm off at the elbow. She hit me away like an impatient nanny swatting at a child and lunged for me. My shield shot up, blocking my face and absorbing the heavy blow.

“You think you’ve got it all figured out, Bianca? It just shows how little you know. You haven’t the faintest idea what Angelina and I are doing.”

I swung Viveet in a low arc, power flowing through my sword. Miss Mabel blocked it, but the magic surged into her body, throwing her back. She hit the glass wall with her shoulder, then swung back around to face me with a hiss.

“I know that you’re desperate!” I said, hooking my shield back onto my arm once she retreated. She had a caged, agitated look in her eyes I hadn’t seen before.
Every witch has a weakness,
Isadora’s voice whispered from the depths of my memory. “You haven’t found the book. Is that the task Angelina set for you? That’s why you were gone for so long, searching for it. You still haven’t found it because you’re completely incompetent at anything that doesn’t involve controlling other witches.”

The last comment was another guess, a wild card thrown out in hopes of being on target. She smiled, but it had a flicker of gravity and rage that I didn’t miss. Rage meant I struck a sore spot. Miss Mabel wanted the Almorran
Book of Spells
for certain.

“Oh, how little you know about the evil in our world,” she crooned.

I swung my arm, sending my shield at her like a javelin. She covered her body with her own shield, but the power behind my throw sent her back against the wall again. I rushed forward with Viveet, blue flames dancing high, but Miss Mabel rolled out of the way and the tip of my sword hit only glass. My shield returned to its position in front of me.

“I know you,” I said, panting. “Which means I know more about evil than I ever cared to.”

I ran at her again, sword flying. She fended me off, locking us into a battle of back and forth around the whole length of the circle. My instincts took over the motions while the power made me strong. I nicked her cheek, burning some of her hair and setting the fabric at her neck on fire. Seconds later I felt a deep bite of pain in my wrist. Viveet clattered to the floor, smoking and lifeless.

I grabbed my hand and gritted my teeth. Blood seeped fast from the wound. My head began to feel light, so I dropped to my knees. How much blood had I lost? I redirected the magic to my arm, whispering a healing incantation under my breath. I had no hope without a sword to fight her off. My shield protected me, but it would do little alone.

“Oh, I do love to see you bowing before me,” she murmured with wicked delight, then leaned her head back and laughed. Heat filled my wrist, my hand. I felt the ebb of blood slow. The sticky liquid stopped spilling around my fingers. It worked.

Miss Mabel sauntered around to face me. “There isn’t a single witch in Antebellum that I care for except myself, and I never have. I shall find great joy in watching the life leave your body, you arrogant little rat.”

She disappeared. I whirled around, grabbed my shield, and pulled it over me just as Miss Mabel brought her sword down on top with a heavy blow. I sent power into the shield at the same moment. Her sword shattered into a hundred pieces on the floor while my shield cracked in half, a great fissure forming down the middle. I opened my injured hand and called Viveet. Miss Mabel grabbed my shoulder from behind and jerked me up just as I caught Viveet. She burst into a white-hot flame, dancing high and fast.

“I’m much stronger than you think,” Miss Mabel hissed, grabbing my sword arm with supernatural strength. Viveet fell to the ground again, inert. I tried to force Miss Mabel away by magic alone, but her power overwhelmed me. She yanked my arms up my back, squeezing until I thought the bone would shatter. The only thing that prevented her from grinding me into dust was the resistance of my angry, roiling power.

“This could go on forever, you know,” Miss Mabel goaded, right next to my ear, pushing my arm up so far it would soon dislocate from my shoulder. “We could be locked in the Mactos circle for an eternity, fighting. Both of us are so driven by hate that the magic may never stop.”

Just beyond the glass stood Merrick, his chest heaving, purple flames dancing on his sword. He tilted his head down imperceptibly.

Do it,
his eyes seemed to say.

“No,” I said to Miss Mabel. “I’m stopping this now.”

I lifted my foot, and with all the focus I had left, I kicked back into her right knee. The bone broke with an audible
crack
and Miss Mabel dropped to the ground. I whirled around, grabbed her hair, yanked it back, and forced her to her knees. Viveet leapt to my free hand as Miss Mabel released a scream of pain. The white, pearly skin of her neck glowed against Viveet’s searing blue blade.

“Don’t move,” I whispered.

She stared at me with glimmering sapphire eyes, then lifted one side of her lips in a challenging smile.

“Well played again, Bianca,” she whispered, her nostrils flaring in pain. “Go ahead. Take your revenge. I would have taken everything from you.”

I pulled on her hair, tightening my sword against her neck. The skin pulsed at the base of her throat where Viveet sat. A thin line of blood appeared. She smiled with a cold evil that touched right to my soul.

“I shall find great joy in watching the life leave your body,” I said.

“Angelina is already watching you, Bianca Monroe. You and your father. Killing me will only bring her on you faster. Consider yourself warned. She doesn’t take lightly to people interfering with her plans.”

“Good,” I hissed. “Let her come. We aren’t afraid of Angelina.”

Miss Mabel smiled. “You will be. She’ll destroy you.”

“You’ve earned your grave, do you understand that?” I asked, yanking her hair again. The muscles in her neck tightened, pulling her face into a grimace. “No one will cry over you, a heartless fool.”

Our eyes locked. She dared me in a silent challenge.

Do it.

I hesitated, Viveet pressed to her neck. The chance I’d dreamed of for so long had come. I was free. The shackles that anchored me to death had fallen. I held Miss Mabel’s life in my hands, as she had always held mine. The memento burned against my chest. Mama would never live again, but she’d want me to live happy. To choose to live free, not burdened with guilt and questions.

“You would have taken everything away from me,” I said, staring Miss Mabel in the eye. “But I will never be like you.”

I cast a paralyzing incantation, pulled Viveet away, and took a step back. Miss Mabel’s body jerked and fell to the side, limp.

Her eyes, staring out at the ballroom, didn’t move.

Where’s Leda?

M
y mind, almost lost to shock, could think of only one thing the moment after Miss Mabel fell.

“Leda?” I cried, whirling around. “Where is she? Leda!”

The glass wall dissolved in a shimmer of white, unwinding and falling to the floor in a fog. Papa ran to me just before I collapsed onto my hands and knees, catching me in his arms. Suddenly my whole body hurt. My feet, my head, my heart.

“I’m f-fine,” I said, but couldn’t find my voice. “F-f-fine.”

“Just sit down, B. Sit down.”

“Where’s L-l-leda?”