Volinette's Song (9 page)

After what seemed like minutes, the door swung open on silent hinges. The other girls stepped inside without any hesitation, leaving Volinette on the threshold. She looked from the doorframe to the open door, indecision flooding through every part of her. She felt guilty about sneaking into the Hall. She had no permission to be there, but so what if she didn’t? This might be the only chance in her life she’d get to see the artifacts stored there. If she didn’t do it now, then when?

Mastering her indecision, Volinette steeled her resolve and stepped through the door into the Hall of Wonders. The door swung shut behind her, latching with a seri
es of clicks and clacks that seemed far more ominous than they probably should have. She looked over her shoulder at the door. It was there, closed. Volinette wasn’t sure what she was expecting to happen. She put her apprehension out of her mind and turned her eyes toward the interior of the room.

“Oh my,” Volinette whispered, her breath caught in her throat.

“I told you,” Janessa laughed, no longer bothering to whisper. “It’s something, isn’t it?”

Chapter Nine

Magnificent was the only word Volinette could find to describe the resplendent beauty of the Hall of Wonders. A miniature sun was suspended from the ceiling thirty feet above, bathing the enormous room in light and warmth. Two to three dozen ornate display cases were laid out in concentric circles, beginning at the edge of the circular room and extending inward to a single large pedestal over which hovered a many-faceted crystal that caught the light from above and flashed every color imaginable.

Artifacts also hung on the walls. Weapons, tapestries, items that Volinette couldn’t guess a use for, all were displayed on hooks or pegs that ranged the full height of the ceiling. She turned in a circle, forgetting that the other girls were there as well. There was just too much to see, too much to experience. Every item her eyes landed on was more interesting than the last. She rushed to a display case filled with rocks and crystals. Each had a hand-written card nearby stating what the item was and what importance it held for the
Quintessentialists who had discovered it or brought it to the Hall.

Talismans and foci were the subject of the next case, with examples ranging from ancient wands to modern jewelry infused with the power of the Quintessential Sphere. Even separated from the treasures by panes of glass, Volinette could feel the
items inside the cases thrumming with muted power, as if they were waiting for someone to come and wield them once again.

How long she spent dashing from one case to the next, Volinette would never be certain. What was plain
when she returned to her senses, however, was that whatever brief reprieve she had earned with Janessa and the others had come to an end. Catching Janessa’s eye, Volinette saw a malicious glint there that sent a chill up her spine. Her suspicions were confirmed when the girl spoke. Janessa’s voice had returned to the cold, near hiss that she’d used with Volinette from the time that Tenika had died.

Too late
, Volinette realized that she’d followed them into a trap, all unwitting. She wanted to scold herself for her foolishness, but not before she knew how bad things were going to get. She was outnumbered four to one, and she’d already experienced how cruel Janessa could be. Volinette had no reason to believe that the other girls would show any sort of mercy or restraint.

“Stupid girl,” Janessa hissed at her, a malevolent smile spreading across her face. “Did you really think you were going to get off that easily? ‘Oh, I understand, you killed my sister, but that’s okay
.’ Honestly. How stupid are you?”

Volinette tried to find words, but her tongue seemed to be fused to the roof of her mouth. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and the only thing she could think about was running as fast and as far as her feet would carry her. The realization that she couldn’t even do that settled like a cold fire in her belly. She had no idea how to open the door, or where to go
after she managed that feat. She hadn’t been paying attention to the route they’d taken from the storeroom to the Hall.

“So stupid she can’t even talk,” Syble crowed, slapping her hands against her thighs. “You were right. She took the whole thing, like a baby
from a spoon. Unbelievable.”

“She just wants to be accepted,” Janessa said with mock sympathy. “Isn’t that right, Volinette? Just want to be one of the girls? Not have to hide in your room night after night because of the murdering filth you are?”

Janessa took a step forward. Volinette took an involuntary step back. Still bereft of the power of speech, she knew enough that she needed to stay as far away from the other girls as the limited space in the room would allow. She backed into a display, the edge of the glass biting into the small of her back and making her yelp with surprise.

“Oh, look, she
can
talk, sort of,” Nixi laughed.

The other girls had spread out behind Janessa, an impenetrable line of offense that Volinette couldn’t hope to escape unscathed. The only hope she had was to make it to the door before they did something horrific. Digging deep, she found the strength to run.

Dodging the case behind her, Volinette ran for the huge door that secured the Hall of Wonders. She didn’t need to turn to know that Janessa and the others were right behind her. They’d catch her by the time she reached the door, but maybe, just maybe, she could reach the corridor beyond. If she could reach the corridor, maybe she could call for help. Whatever punishment came from being in a restricted area was sure to be milder than whatever the girls had in store for her.

In the end, Volinette made it to the door. Her hand bushed the ancient wood before a powerful kick knocked her legs out from under her. She pitched forward, her face slamming into the door. She tasted copper and flicked out her tongue, giving the split lip a tentative prod. Blood was also streaming from her nose, painting her cheeks and chin crimson.

Volinette screamed, but Syble clamped a hand over her mouth before anyone could hear. Janessa was by her head, lifting her shoulders and dragging her back into the room, away from the door and any possible salvation Volinette had hoped to find there. Nixi and Halsie followed, a grim honor guard to the sinister scene playing out before them.

“Open her mouth,” Janessa commanded.

Syble was quick to follow orders, digging her thumbs into the back of Volinette’s jaw and forcing it open. Janessa took something from the pouch on her belt and forced it into Volinette’s mouth. A nod from Janessa, and Syble forced her mouth closed, holding it shut with all her strength. Bitter flakes dissolved on Volinette’s tongue as she tried to spit them out. Resistance was useless, Syble was just too strong.

A strange lethargy began to spread through Volinette’s body. She noticed it first in her fingers and toes. Try as she might to move them, they just wouldn’t respond. Next
, her arms and legs became leaden. Full-fledged panic raced through her. Volinette was sure that she was going to die. The terrible stiffness spread into her chest, and she wasn’t able to move at all. Only her eyes seemed to be unaffected by the poison. They darted in mute accusation from Janessa to Syble and back again.

“You can let her go,” Janessa said to Syble, brushing her hands against the legs of her slacks.

Syble released her grip and peered at Volinette with undisguised curiosity.

“What’d you
do
to her?”

“Flakes of Lockroot,” Janessa laughed. “She won’t be going anywhere for a while. We’ll have plenty of time to do what we need to do.”

“We better get started,” Halsie said from outside Volinette’s field of vision. “The guard will be here soon, and we need to be gone before that happens.”

Janessa nodded. “Did you bring everything we need?”

“We have everything,” Syble said absently. She was prodding Volinette with an experimental finger.

“Then leave her there and let’s get to work.”

Syble frowned, as if she wasn’t pleased to lose a prime opportunity. After a moment, she and Janessa disappeared from view.

Volinette could hear them moving around the chamber. They had moved some distance off and were speaking in the barest whisper, so she couldn’t make out what they were saying. The blind panic of being frozen was beginning to wear off. Now that she knew that the poison wasn’t going to kill her, Volinette was able to think with a clearer mind.

No matter how much she thought, Volinette couldn’t come up with a way out of her predicament. Without her voice, or her hands, there was no way for her to invoke the power of the Quintessential Sphere. Cantrip, spell, and ritual, all were useless without the use of either her voice or her body. She was at the mercy of Janessa and the others, and that wasn’t a place she wanted to be.

A blast of chilled air wafted over her and Volinette shuddered. A spark of hope flashed in the darkness of her despair. She tried to wiggle her fingers and toes. They moved! Not much, not enough to cast a spell, but a little. Perhaps the
Lockroot wasn’t as powerful as Janessa had expected. That could work to her advantage.

As hard as it was, Volinette forced herself to stay as still as she could. If she regained her movement before Janessa and the others finished whatever they were doing, she didn’t want them to know about it. The element of surprise might be the only thing she had going for her. There was a shout of excitement from the girls
, and Volinette tried without success to turn her head.

Volinette strained her ears, trying to glean any clues she could. Not being able to see what was going on was infuriating. There was a hushed argument, then footsteps. A moment later, a thud made the floor under her shoulders shake. She didn’t hear anything else. At first, she thought the girls might be setting her up for another trick, but after a while, Volinette had to assume that they had really left the Hall of Wonders.

Minute after agonizing minute passed, but Volinette found she was able to move her fingers and toes. The cold ache that seemed to have invaded her body was receding. At long last, she managed to sit up, resting her back against the pedestal in the center of the Hall. She took a deep breath, trying to calm the trembling that shook her from head to foot. Whether it was fear, anxiety, or a side effect of the Lockroot, Volinette didn’t know. What she did know was that she didn’t trust herself to try to get to her feet just yet.

The tune came to her without warning and Volinette seized it as a drowning man would seize a rope thrown by a nearby ship. She hummed the tune under her breath, letting it carry her up out of the darkness that Janessa and the other girls had plunged her into. She whispered words of command, calling on the power of the Quintessential Sphere to infuse her with strength and warmth.

As she finished the spell, she felt as if she’d been dunked in a warm bath. The lethargy that had spread through her body after Janessa’s betrayal began to ease. After a while, Volinette felt as if she could stand and managed to get to her feet. She braced herself against the pedestal, easing the worst of the shaking in legs that weren’t ready for such exertion just yet.

Something was wrong. Volinette knew that. As she stood there, her hands braced on the edge of the pedestal, she knew that something important wa
s eluding her, but she wasn’t able to coax out the information she needed. It was as if the answer was right in front of her, but hidden by a veil of invisibility.

Volinette leaned against the pedestal until her legs steadied. She took a step backward and found that she was far less wobbly than she had been. As she looked out over the Hall of Wonders, the thing she’d been missing flashed into her mind like a lightning strike.

The huge multi-faceted crystal that had been suspended over the pedestal was gone. It was the same pedestal she’d been using to support her weight as she got to her feet, and she hadn’t been able to see that it was gone. Maybe she was just too close for it to register.

No matter. It registered now. Janessa and the others had stolen the centerpiece artifact from the Hall of Wonders. Volinette wasn’t sure what to do. She needed to tell someone, but who? Who could she go to
? Who would believe her side of the story? She wasn’t guilt free and she knew it, but there had to be someone who would at least give her the chance to explain what had happened.

Master Casto! The thought came in a flash, similar to the realization that the crystal was gone. Fulgent had always been a fair man, even to the point of overlooking some of Janessa’s more obvious flaws, but at least he would listen to her side of it, Volinette was sure of it.

All she had to do now was get to him before Janessa and the others made use of the crystal. Volinette didn’t even know what it was for, but she was sure Master Casto would know. Now, her only concern was getting to him and making her side of the story known.

Volinette took a few steps toward the door and remembered her previous encounter with it. She touched her face and dried blood flaked off, lingering on her fingertips. The worst of the damage was corrected by a swipe of her sleeve. The rest she could deal with later. Nothing was broken, though the lip would be sore for a couple days, she was sure.

Before she could move any further, the door swung open. Volinette was stuck to the spot as surely as if she’d been force-fed Lockroot for a second time. The sight of the Quintessentialist standing in the doorway was enough to freeze her where she stood. No spellcraft or herbalism was required.

The mage wore gray robes and a gray cloak, fastened at the throat by a golden brooch. The brooch was what Volinette’s mind focused on. It was an eye within a hexagon, within a square. It was the symbol of the Inquisitors, the
Quintessentialists who were tasked with the protection and preservation of magic and mages, and those who were called to mete out justice when the laws of the Grand Orders were broken.

The mage pushed back the hood of his cloak, exposing thick black hair shot through with streaks of gray. His blue eyes were frosted in ice as he gazed at Volinette and the pedestal that stood empty behind her. She felt as if his gaze could pierce her soul and see every transgression that she’d ever committed. Never before had she felt so naked and vulnerable.

The inquisitor spoke first, in a voice as cold as the ice reflected in his eyes.