The Bronze Key

“I need you two to go after them with me,” he said. “Whoever that guy is, he’s powerful. I don’t think I could fight him on my own.”

Aaron and Call exchanged a panicked look.

“We have to tell someone,” Aaron said.

“There isn’t time.” Alex shook his head wildly. “First, we’ll have to convince them we’re telling the truth and by then, anything could have happened to her.”

Call remembered the terrible night when Aaron had been taken by Master Joseph and Drew. He remembered the horrible roiling chaos elemental. There hadn’t been time to tell anyone then, either. If they’d waited, Aaron would have died.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”

They raced after Alex toward the Mission Gate and spilled out into the night. Call was running as fast as he could, his leg screaming in pain.

“That way,” Alex panted, pointing toward a path that led through the woods. The moonlight illuminated it brightly. It was, kind of horribly, a beautiful night, full of stars and white light. Even the trees seemed to glow.

They dashed toward it, finally slowing down when the path turned into rocks and tree branches that made running dangerous. Call tried to imagine Tamara being shoved down this path by a terrifying adult mage, someone who was threatening her, maybe hurting her. Then he tried not to imagine it, as anger almost overwhelmed him.

“Havoc,” he said suddenly.

Alex, who was charging ahead as quickly as he could, turned slightly. “What?”

“You said she was walking Havoc,” said Call. “Did the guy grab Havoc, too?”

Alex shook his head. “Havoc ran off, into the woods.”

“Havoc wouldn’t do that,” Call said. “Havoc wouldn’t abandon her.”

“Maybe he’s following her,” Aaron said. “Havoc can be sneaky; he’s way smarter than a regular wolf.”

“That’s probably what’s happening,” said Alex. “Don’t be scared, Call. We’re going to get this guy.”

Call wasn’t scared. He scanned the landscape for Havoc. If his wolf was with Tamara, then surely they’d be able to get away. Tamara and Havoc made for a formidable team.

“You said it was an adult, right?” Call asked, ignoring Alex’s condescending remark. He was older than Call and probably thought he knew better. Maybe he did, but he didn’t know everything.

Call thought of where they’d come from. They’d left Anastasia and Alma with Chaos-ridden Jennifer, so it couldn’t be either of the women. They had a totally separate, totally weird crisis to deal with. Call couldn’t think of any other adult who’d been acting weird. Master Lemuel? Call hadn’t seen him in a year and it seemed uncharitable to suspect him just because they’d never really gotten along.

“Could it have been one of the Assembly members?” he asked. “But why grab Tamara?”

The answer presented itself to him as soon as he said the words aloud.

To lure me out of the Magisterium.

“Why did you say it was the spy?” Call said. “We still don’t know who that is.”

“Well, it stands to reason,” Alex said. “Who else would it be except someone who’s been trying to hurt you?”

“Which means we’re walking into a trap,” Aaron said. “We’re going to have to be very careful and very quiet. Whoever it is knows we’re coming. He probably made sure you saw him. Can you do that thing that makes us invisible again?”

“Good idea,” Alex said, lifting his hands. Air swirled around them, kicking up leaves.

Call frowned. That made sense — that it was the spy who’d taken Tamara, that he’d done it to get Alex to get them to leave the Magisterium. Kind of. It kind of made sense. But how did the spy know that Alex would go and get Aaron and Call instead of the Masters?

How would the spy know Alex was there at all?

That had an answer, though. The spy, or whoever it was, would know that taking Tamara and Havoc would bring Call and Aaron out of the Magisterium eventually. They’d come looking for their friend.

Though they could have brought all the mages of the Magisterium with them.

Come to think of it, Call didn’t remember seeing any evidence of a blast of magic being thrown outside. It was dark, but even in the dark, there was none of the telltale smell of ozone or burning wood.

He looked over at Alex and frowned. They were far from the Magisterium now, and it was increasingly dark. The woods pressed in from the sides and he couldn’t see Alex’s expression.

“This is the way to the Order of Disorder,” Aaron said, interrupting Call’s increasingly troubled thoughts. “It’s abandoned, though. Alma said they were forced to clear out when the Assembly started rounding up the animals.”

“Maybe that’s where the spy is holding her.” Alex sounded excited, but not like this was a grand adventure and not like he was panicking about Tamara, either. There was an eagerness in his voice that Call didn’t like one bit.

The woods were deep and strangely empty without the Chaos-ridden animals, echoing with their absence. Occasionally, a distant owl called out. The wind was at their back, pushing them along. But Call’s steps had slowed to a shuffle.

Alex was his friend. When Call had first come to the Magisterium, Alex had been nice to him, even though Call was a surly little kid and Alex was smart and cool, with plenty of friends. And then Alex had talked to Call after Alex had gotten his heart broken by Kimiya. He’d really believed that Alex liked him.

But Alex had access. He was Master Rufus’s assistant. He could have gotten Call’s canteen and punched a hole in it. He would have had access to whatever Rufus did to make their wristbands open their common room door; he could have used that to hide Skelmis in Call’s bedroom. Could Anastasia have let him down into the chamber with the elementals when she went there? Call supposed she might have — after all, he was her stepson. Would she have noticed if he slipped away for a moment? And then, last year — he was the one who’d told Call that the mages had decided to kill Alastair, even though Master Rufus had told Call that had never been true.

But why would Alex do any of that? Call glanced at his impassive face as they moved through the silvery dark. They were almost at the village of the Order. Call could see the big clearing up ahead, the shadows of cottages.