Quest Maker (22 page)

I
t didn't matter if Caden saved Jasan from Ms. Primrose if Jasan died here by Rath Dunn's hand, Mr. Bellows's bear, Ms. Grady's club, or Mr. Faunt's knifelike nails.

Ms. Grady rammed the club at Jasan's middle. Rath Dunn attacked from the other side. Mr. Bellows raised his arm to command the bear to rush Jasan. Just as he did, Caden lunged and grabbed his elbow. Instead of Jasan, Mr. Bellows now pointed at Ms. Grady and the corpse-bear charged. Better that she fight the bear.

“You!” Mr. Bellows sneered. So close, he smelled like death. He flung Caden off him. Caden skidded to a stop a few feet away.

Ms. Grady turned her club on the charging reanimated bear. Rath Dunn and Jasan fought. Above them, the front
rafters groaned. Mr. Bellows glanced up.

He stepped back, then ran for the exit. Without its master, the corpse-bear fell into a puddle of bones and sinew. Ms. Grady looked at Jasan and Rath Dunn's battle, then looked at the groaning ceiling. It seemed she was done with both, for she, too, ran out a front exit.

Right above Jasan, a piece of heavy plaster fell. Caden was forced to jump back. Jasan was trapped between it and Rath Dunn. He dodged both but was knocked off-balance, and Rath Dunn charged him. They fell backward to the floor.

“No!” Caden yelled.

Rath Dunn brought the dagger down to Jasan's chest. Just as he did so, though, Jasan blocked with his right hand and punched Rath Dunn in the jaw with the left.

Rath Dunn stumbled back.

For a moment, the fight stopped. Then Jasan was screaming and grabbing for his right wrist. As he'd blocked the killing blow, the dagger—sharp, magical, and powerful—had severed his hand. Blood pooled on the floor, stark red against the grayish-white tiles. Caden rushed to his brother's side. The walls around them creaked. Sunlight shone in from above.

The slash in Caden's arm was also bleeding. Air seeped in through the rip in the coat, the rip that had been made only months earlier by the same blood dagger that had severed Jasan's hand. It was the only imperfection on his
enchanted coat—one enchanted item countering the effects of another.

Slowly, Rath Dunn stood. He backed toward the exit and wrapped his dagger in a handkerchief from his pocket, sealing in the blood, and hiding the dagger.

“Not my initial intention, but I'm content to let you bleed out, Prince Jasan.”

Caden glowered at him. “This is against Ms. Primrose's rules.”

“Such teacher-to-teacher conflict must be arbitrated by the principal.” He raised his arm as if taking an oath. “I'll get my day in court, you understand. He'll be dead then.”

With sudden sickening clarity, Caden understood. Jasan's right hand had been severed by Rath Dunn's blood dagger. A wound made with it would never fully heal. It would reopen in its presence. No Ashevillian medicine could keep Jasan from bleeding to death. Rath Dunn finally had Jasan's blood—the blood of the seventh son.

“She'll still eat you,” Caden said. “You broke the rules.”

“We shall see, shan't we?”

Without the support of the beams, the right wall of the building tilted inward. Jasan stifled his screams with a grimace. There was a red pool under his right arm. He held his right wrist with his left hand. His right hand was on the floor.

Caden tried to help his brother up. Something in Caden's pocket tingled. He reached in and his hand
touched his magical chain of paper clips. They felt warm and hummed against his fingers. Jane said they held things together. A simple enchantment with a simple purpose.

Before Jasan could bleed out, Caden reached down and grabbed the severed hand. It was a strange and icky sensation to hold someone's hand when it wasn't attached. Jasan's golden eyes flashed. He didn't move. He looked ready to pass out dead.

Quickly, Caden used the chain to join Jasan's right wrist to his right hand. He wrapped the paper clips around and around again, until the chain was tight against his skin.

Jasan's golden eyes looked dim, his matching hair matted and sweaty. He was covered in blood. He stared at his right hand. With the strangest of expressions, he wiggled his fingers.

His expression wasn't one of gratitude nor of relief. It was shock. He looked at the chain of paper clips at his wrist. Caden knew what his brother was thinking: Where did you get these things?

Enchantment was magic made stronger by giving. Jane had given the enchanted paper clips to Caden, and Caden had given them to Jasan. Surely, that would make the magic more powerful.

A firefighter, a woman, ran in the exit. “Hurry out, now! The building is falling.” She scanned the space looking for others.

“Don't remove those,” Caden said as he and Jasan
stepped onto the lawn. “Don't let the Ashevillian medics remove them either. They won't understand.”

Dust-covered people ambled around on the lawn like the lost souls of the Sorrow Planes. A paramedic reached for Jasan, but he jumped away. Jasan didn't easily trust. Even so badly injured, he was fast.

“If you can ride,” Caden called out, “Sir Horace waits at the woods' edge.”

Jasan was out of sight a moment later. The poor paramedic seemed perplexed. There were others to help, though, and the paramedic moved on to them.

Caden looked for his friends. They were hard to find when everyone was covered in crumbled plaster. Soon, though, he found the girls. Brynne sat on the grass, her hands in her lap. They were trembling. Sometimes when Brynne overdid it, she'd shake or pass out afterward. She seemed close to that now.

Jane was on her knees beside her, rubbing her back. “She had a fit,” she said.

“Only a small one,” Brynne said.

Caden crouched down. “You've used too much magic,” he said.

“Perhaps, prince,” she said.

“Are you okay?”

“I have Ashevillian medicine that helps with them,” she said. Her face brightened. “So I can do more and recover quicker than before.”

“I don't think that's the purpose of the local medicine.”

“And did you see?” She beamed. “Nothing exploded. I controlled it.”

“You saved the seventh grade,” Jane said, and smiled.

Caden sat beside the girls. He saw Derek and Olivia by a rotted tree. Tyrone stood near them looking stunned. Victoria and Tamera hugged each other by the dead rhododendron bush. He saw the villainous and terrible teachers who had tried to kill Jasan moments earlier. Mrs. Belle wandered by, several of her fingernails looking chipped. Tonya and Ward sat together on the grass.

In the crowd, a figure in a purple T-shirt and orange pants darted from one dust-covered person to another. Rosa. She went from student to student, face tight and tense, and called Caden and his friends' names. Her hair was tied back but frizzy from the heat. Officer Levine chased after her, trying to calm her down. “My children were in there,” she said with a voice like rusted iron. “Move out of my way.”

When she spotted Caden, she hurried over and grabbed his shoulders as if ready to pull him into an embrace. Her gaze slid down to Brynne. Rosa reached down and brushed dust from her short dark hair. The tightness in Rosa's jaw seemed to loosen, her breathing seemed to slow some. Caden followed her gaze to Jane.

Rosa's brow creased. She looked at the three of them once more, alarm returning to her face. “Where's Tito?”

Jane stared at the building as if in shock. Then she looked up at Caden, clearly distressed. Caden felt his heart begin to race. Tito had run onstage to warn everyone. And the stage had collapsed. And he wasn't on the lawn.

Rosa looked around again. “Where is Tito?”

Caden would go back inside. He'd dig Tito out. “I'll find him.”

The right wall was tilting farther, about to fall. Plaster and stones tumbled down. Caden sprinted back toward the building. He heard Rosa and Jane running behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ms. Primrose. She was standing on the side of the lawn. Her special guests were nearby and covered in dust. They were yelling at her. She looked at him and licked her lips.

Well, she and her quest could wait until Tito was safe and free from the building. She'd said he had until today. Today was not over yet.

Firefighters blocked the way. “Get back, get back!” one yelled.

Those were orders. Caden fought against the pull of the curse. His feet stopped. He stepped back. Rosa zoomed past him. A firefighter grabbed her by the waist.

Officer Levine caught up to Caden's side. Jane was beside him. They watched in horror as the building collapsed inward. A wave of dust rolled across the lawn. Only the back wall, which connected to the hall, remained.

From the dust, and backlit by sun, a large figure emerged. It was hard to make out anything but a bulky
silhouette. The man carried a boy under one arm. With the other, he pushed away a heavy chunk of rubble like it was gnomish feather stone. For a brief moment, Caden thought it was second-born Maden, gifted in strength, come to find him, or tempt him, or kill him.

But of course, it wasn't Maden. He was in Razzon, plotting against family and the Greater Realm. As the dust settled, Caden could see that it was Ward's father walking toward them. Caden watched how easily Manglor pushed another stone from his way.

Gifted with strength, Caden thought. Like only royals were. And like Maden. Like Maden, who had killed Chadwin and sent Jasan here to bleed.

Ward's father shifted the boy he carried until he was cradled against his chest. His hair was covered in dust and splinters of wood, but Caden could see that it was black and in a ponytail. His clothes were also dust covered, but that didn't hide that they were shades of gray and boring. Tito.

Rosa and Officer Levine were running to him. So were the paramedics.

Caden felt light-headed, like everything around him was fading, like he'd felt when he'd found Chadwin lying unmoving but still warm on the Winter Castle's tower path. Like he'd lost yet another brother. Then he fell to his knees.

T
he paramedics loaded Tito into an ambulance. Rosa climbed in, too. Caden's gut was in knots. This was his fault. Sir Tito had been helping him. And Tito hadn't even gotten his grade award.

As the ambulance pulled away, Caden looked around for Jasan but didn't see him. How much blood had Jasan lost? Was Jasan all right? Had he found Sir Horace?

Caden was being pulled in too many directions. He took a deep breath. Tito was being helped. So Caden needed to find Ms. Primrose. He'd yet to give her the evidence. He'd ignored her, no less. He looked over the dust-, rock-, and plaster-covered lawn. She wasn't there.

He'd have to search. Before he could, Officer Levine reached out and stopped him. He squeezed Caden's shoulder. “Come on, son,” he said. Then he motioned to Jane
and Brynne. “Get in my car. Let me drive you all to the hospital.”

All orders. “I need to talk to Ms. Primrose,” Caden said, but his traitorous feet were already following Officer Levine.

“Do that later. We'll meet Rosa and Tito at the hospital.”

Beside him, Brynne was still dazed. Jane looked scared. Truth be told, Caden was a bit stunned, too. Officer Levine had them in his patrol car—Brynne in the front, Caden and Jane in the back—before Caden had time to process everything. Jane grabbed his hand and squeezed.

Officer Levine drove down the small side roads. “It'll be quicker.”

These streets were small and quiet. They lacked the yellow-and-white lines painted on more prominent Ashevillian roads, and there was room for only one-way traffic. Along their edges sat small houses with overgrown grass, green trees, and flowering bushes. Officer Levine turned, and the car bumped onto a gravel road.

Caden closed his eyes and leaned against the upholstery. He had evidence that would work. It fit the criteria given. And he had evidence Rath Dunn was involved. Tito would be okay. He had to be. With fortune's favor, they all would.

He sensed the sun shining through the backseat window and filtered by overhanging branches. He felt its warmth. His whole body felt weary.

Then it was like a great shadow had swooped in and covered all. The car became cold. He snapped open his eyes. A stern figure stood in the middle of the road. Brynne gasped. Jane braced herself.

Officer Levine swerved his patrol car into a ditch by the shoulder. “What the . . .” He seemingly took a deep breath. The car was slanted to the left. He tried to pull back onto the road, but they were stuck in the mud. After a moment, Officer Levine got out. He helped Brynne slide over and hop out the driver's side. Then he opened the back door and let Caden and Jane out.

The air smelled of roses. Ms. Primrose stood three strides in front of them. The heels of her old-lady shoes were stuck in the gravel. Her gray hair was pulled taut. Her skirt was deep blue. Her blouse was the same shade. Her skin looked reptilian, and the whole road had buckled as if a great beast had landed on it.

Caden clutched his phone as he stepped from the car. It seemed his fate, and the fate of his seventh-born brother Jasan, would be decided on a small gravel road beside an overgrown lawn and a beautiful pink rhododendron bush.

Officer Levine stared at her. “Are you okay?” he said. “You're in the middle of the street. Ms. Primrose, do you know where you are? Did you get hurt in the collapse?”

Caden was certain she knew exactly where she was. “This doesn't concern you,” Ms. Primrose said to Officer Levine. “This isn't about you.”

Jane stood to Caden's left. She looked calmer than she had in the car. She still held his hand. Brynne stood to his right. She had dropped into a fighting stance. Despite appearances, Brynne was always ready to fight. At times, Caden thought she even liked it.

In the soft blue sky, there had been a shadow. Then she'd stood before them. “Did you fly here?” Caden said.

“Don't ask inane questions, dear,” Ms. Primrose said, and straightened her blouse. “Yes, of course I flew here.” She flicked her hand down at the rocks. “It's too bumpy to walk in these shoes.”

So she had wings. Caden hadn't realized that. Normal, non-Elderdragon dragons didn't fly. Of course, they didn't talk, collect villains, or run middle schools either. “I see.”

She arched a brow. “Do you, dear?” she said. The ground seemed to rumble. “Well, maybe you do get a glimpse, now and then. But why weren't you in my office first thing this morning?” She pointed a gnarled finger at him. “I am far too hungry to be amused by any of this.”

“Now, Ms. Primrose,” Officer Levine started. He held up his right hand as if it might appease the hungry dragon.

She was having none of it. “Quiet,” she said. It got colder.

“Caden has your proof,” Brynne said. “He does.”

She turned her icy stare to Brynne, and Brynne shrank back.

“I do,” Caden said.

Her anger seemed intense. The ground shook. Her voice came out inhuman. “It's too late. I'll eat you. And sour Jasan, too. No one outruns me.”

As Brynne inched back, she locked her elbow with his. “She eats you, she eats me, prince.”

Jane was wide-eyed. This was the first time she'd seen Ms. Primrose act like an Elderdragon. Jane stepped toward him and Brynne. “She'll have to eat all three of us.”

Ms. Primrose stared at them like a predator stalking prey, then licked her lips.

“Perhaps you two should reconsider that,” Caden whispered.

“Trust me, prince,” Brynne said, “we are,” but she didn't move away and neither did Jane.

Behind Ms. Primrose there was a massive blue shadow. It stretched to the sky itself. “My ceremony was ruined. My school is in shambles. The school board put me on leave.” She pointed at Caden. “You were supposed to stop this from happening. But you failed.”

“Technically,” Caden said, because his survival, Jasan's survival, and possibly Jane's and Brynne's, depended on technicalities now, “I was tasked with finding the saboteur responsible for the gas explosion, not stopping an auditorium collapse.”

But Ms. Primrose had disappeared.

Caden felt a freezing breath behind him. He had the impression of something sharp near his neck. A dark
blue shadow fell across him and stretched beyond the gravel road. He turned back. Ms. Primrose had appeared behind him.

Caden stood in the jaws of the Elderdragon. He couldn't see them, but he could sense them. And she would swallow him whole.

Yet she didn't gobble him up, and he didn't die.

Caden sensed a second power around them—one that wasn't hers.

“Oh, drat,” Ms. Primrose said.

The air grew heavy like it had when he'd agreed to the quest. That's right. It was the forgotten language that decided whether Caden had failed or completed his quest, not Ms. Primrose. She'd said so herself.

Officer Levine covered his ears and sank to his knees. Jane and Brynne did the same. Caden felt as if the sky were low and crushing him down. He tasted blood. It was the power of the forgotten tongue. This was the quest's formal conclusion.

Ms. Primrose switched to a language of power—the guttural one in which they'd made the agreement.

“Have you completed my quest?”

The words hurt. Jane was screaming. Caden took off his coat and threw it over Jane's head to cover her ears. Perhaps if she didn't hear it, it wouldn't hurt her. Officer Levine crawled toward his car and reached for something within it. Brynne had her arms wrapped around her head.
A trickle of blood came from her nose.

“Find the one responsible.” Caden knew Ms. Jackson and Mr. Bellows had caused the gas accident, that she was the one responsible, and that Rath Dunn was their accomplice.

“Bring me Ashevillian evidence of their misdeeds.” He had pictures of Ms. Jackson's refrigerator. He had proof she'd conducted misdeeds. And, more important, he had Rath Dunn's voice on tape admitting their guilt.

“Give me something I can act upon.” Ms. Primrose could terminate Ms. Jackson for unsanitary practices. Hopefully, terminate them all for conspiracy.

Would the forgotten tongue deem it enough?

“Answer me.”

The words beautiful and terrible, and phrased as an order. He held out his phone. One word was forced from his lips. It felt like a spear to the temple.

“Yes.”

The moment his phone was in her hands, the air crackled. Caden felt spit dribble down the side of his mouth. Brynne slumped against him. All returned to normal. A small yellow car turned down the street, pulled slowly around them, and puttered away. The spring breeze blew through the long grass.

Ms. Primrose switched back to English. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Caden stumbled forward. He showed her the pictures.
“These things aren't allowed in the cafeteria.” He played her the recordings. “They conspire against you. He admits it.” He gulped. “There are many for you to eat.”

Caden shouldn't encourage her to eat anyone. Sometimes, at night, he felt conflicted and strange that she'd eaten the other lunch witches after he'd proven them rule breakers. Now he'd given her the needed information to eat their sister. Still, better Ms. Jackson and Rath Dunn and Mr. Bellows than he and Jasan.

“I guess I can't eat you then.” Ms. Primrose seemed annoyed. “Pish,” she said. “I didn't want to eat you anyway. Not enough meat.”

Caden was relieved, but also a bit insulted. He was plenty meaty, and everyone knew royal meat was the tastiest. He was also hurt. She acted like she'd wanted him to fail.

“Don't misunderstand, dear,” she said. “Maybe I can't eat you or your brother now, but if he doesn't do his job, I'll turn him into a rabbit and give him to the science students.”

Caden wiped his mouth with his sleeve. She'd threatened that once before. “You can do that? Really?”

“I can turn myself human. You don't think I can turn humans into pets? Besides, it wouldn't harm him, and he'd still be able to serve the school.” She looked Caden up and down. “You might make a nice hamster.”

Caden highly doubted that, but now wasn't the time to
argue. “I understand,” he said, and he did. Ms. Primrose remained angry. And hungry. Best he be respectful and try to quell both.

“You can eat Ms. Jackson and Rath Dunn,” he said. “Not to mention Mr. Bellows.”

“Rath Dunn caused no accidents.”

Caden blinked at her. “You heard the file. He's orchestrated them.”

She pulled her sunken heel from the gravel and shook the rocks away. “I can act on proof of who has caused the accidents, not on who has encouraged them. We all make our own choices. Those causing the accidents made theirs.”

While cursed, Caden's own choices were severely limited. “Not always,” he said.

Rath Dunn was planning to destroy the barrier between worlds, and he planned to sacrifice Asheville and its people to do it. Ms. Primrose needed to know his evil intentions. Caden told her.

Brynne was climbing to her feet. “The letters,” she mumbled.

Caden took his phone and loaded a picture of a complaint. “Not to mention, Mr. Bellows, Rath Dunn, and others attacked Jasan today. That, too, is against the rules. They've broken many.”

She seemed surprised and angry. “Perhaps you're right, dear. Maybe he would make a good meal.” Her silver phone rang.

“Likely more complaints,” Caden said.

With a step forward, she reached out and put her finger under his chin. Her skin felt smooth, cold, and tough. She looked into his eyes. “I'm hungry and I'm tired. Don't anger me.”

A moment later, there was a flash of blue, the sun disappeared behind shadow, and she was gone. Jane tossed Caden's coat off her head, though she remained on her knees. Farther away, Officer Levine stared at the spot where Ms. Primrose had been standing.

“You've completed the quest.” Brynne offered a tired smile. “You've saved yourself and your brother from an Elderdragon.”

Brynne was right. Caden had completed an Elderdragon's quest. Jasan was now safe from Ms. Primrose, safe even though he was quick-tempered and surly. And surely Caden could argue against turning him into a school rabbit.

“Even if she doesn't eat Rath Dunn,” Brynne said, “he'll soon lose his ritual magic master. That will make the spell a lot harder to cast.”

A spell like the one he was planning would take months even after the ingredients were collected. And he didn't have Ms. Primrose's perfume. Without Ms. Jackson, even if he could get the ingredients and figure out how to do it himself, it would take much longer. These were victories. Weren't they?

“Good,” Jane said. “My mom's gone because of her.
And now Tito's hurt.”

At the mention of Tito, Caden felt his smile fall. His friend and foster brother was injured. They needed to get to the hospital to see him.

Officer Levine used the car to pull himself to his feet. He looked from Caden to the sky and shook his head. “Well,” he said. “That was interesting.”