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  I had known that Xavier used to have another battle partner, one he had lost to the Shadow Wraiths months ago. A pixie. A good fighter.

  I hadn't realized she had been his girlfriend, too. Xavier had left out that part.

  I told Janine as soon as Nora left the room to get our tea. The last thing I wanted was tea. I couldn't even drink the stuff. That was the least of my worries.

  Her mouth fell open. “He never told you this?”

  “No. Just that he had a battle partner. Xavier told me it doesn't always turn into something romantic.”

  “Doesn't always,” Janine said. “From what I've seen so far, that 'doesn't always' must be, like, one percent of the time?”

  “I guess,” I said. As much as I was mad at Xavier for leaving out the whole girlfriend part, I got why he hadn't mentioned anything about it. Who wanted to talk about letting someone they loved down and watching them turn into a Shadow Wraith? Well, I knew why he'd asked me nine thousand times if the one in Dad's office had touched me. Did I look like that pixie girl? Was I some kind of replacement for Xavier or just something convenient he needed to get his honor back?

  Nora took forever bringing us the tea. I knew before she entered the room that she was nervous about something. Someone muttered way back out in the entryway.

  “What happened?” I asked as she appeared in the doorway.

  “Nothing,” she said, placing the tea cups down on the table.

  She smelled like adrenaline and fear. It was so strong that it was masking the paint fumes still in my nose. “No. What happened?”

  “Even I can tell that you're nervous,” Janine said.

  Nora cleared her throat. “A messenger just arrived. There was just an emergency at the funeral. Drink up, and then get there as soon as you can.”

  * * * * *

  Janine and I left the tea but Nora didn't seem to mind. We ran back through the elite district and back into the dimly lit underground streets of the rest of the Underground where I, Xavier's battle partner, had to stay. What made the pixie special enough to be in that painting while I had to sleep in what might be a catacomb? Leon was gone and right along with him, his hatred of me and Xavier.

  But the question that really burned was what kind of emergency could have happened at a funeral. People were heading away from the chamber already, nervously shuffling towards their homes. We were fighting against a current of Abnormals and even a few Normals mixed in. I had the pleasure of bumping into a few werewolves complete with doggy smells and Janine had to brush past a man with a green scaly neck who might be an incubus. She started staring at the man's otherwise perfect features until I yanked her away.

  By time we reached the funeral chamber, the hallways were mostly empty. Whatever had happened had made everyone evacuate the area. We were headed into something that might kill us and all I could think about was Xavier's secrets and the fact that my father was still missing.

  Xavier stood at the bottom of the balcony stairs, leaning against the brick like he was lost in thought. He didn't look up until Janine and I were almost on him.

  “What happened?” I asked as another greenish woman rushed down the stairs, shaking her head. The tension was killing me. She reminded me of the pixie in the painting with him. Now I was going to see pixies everywhere.

  Xavier snapped his gaze up at me. “How did you hear something happened? I didn't know where the two of you went off to but you weren't here.”

  “We figured you needed some time to talk to Trish,” I said.

  “I did,” Xavier said. “We talked for a while after you left. Trish is off packing. She told me to wait for you and Janine to come back.”

  “Packing?” I asked.

  Janine panted for breath next to me. “We visited your palace. Oh, I mean house.”

  “You what?” Xavier asked with shock. “Alyssa. I'll explain things later. I didn't want you to see...oh, well. Someone magically stole my grandfather's body.”

  “What? How?” I asked. “That's the emergency?”

  “A War Mage's body falling into the wrong hands is a worse thing than you think,” Xavier said. Then he waved me up into the balcony. “Come on. I'll show you what happened.”

  “Did you catch it on film?” I asked.

  “No. You'll see. It's because we're Bound.”

  I followed him up the stairs and onto the dim balcony. My gray vision snapped into place since the purple torches had all gone out. Below, the funeral room was empty except for the Elder War Mages, who stood around Leon's casket. Only a pair of torches on either side of the casket were lit in normal light, casting the Mages in a circular glow. The air reeked of metallic fear even though everyone else had left. It mixed with the torch smoke, creating a scent I would remember for the rest of my life.

  Now Leon's casket was empty. The fabric inside still had the faint impression of a small, frail, stuffed human. The smell of embalming fluid was faint now, barely registering on my radar.

  “How did this happen?” I asked. “Who the heck would want a body?”

  I checked. Janine hadn't followed us up onto the balcony. I had expected her to, with her being as excited as she was about being around Abnormals now. Xavier and I were alone. Below, the Elders talked in voices so low I couldn't make out the words even with my superior hearing.

  “Like I said, I'll show you,” Xavier said, stepping between me and the sight below.

  Xavier reached out and grabbed my face—gently—with each hand. My skin tingled with his touch and my nerves were on fire. His wood smoke smell was intoxicating this close. I felt his magic pulsing through me. His war magic. His power that could only be used to destroy, but right now, it felt like it was only bringing us together. We were closer now than we had ever been. I could see why battle partners usually became romantic partners.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  I nodded, speechless. His touch was taking my ability to speak away.

  Xavier pulled me close to him. Closer...closer...until I thought we were going to kiss. All thoughts of that pixie girl flew out of my mind.

  But then our foreheads touched and a bolt of magenta energy surged through my mind, blocking out everything.

  I was standing on the balcony now, looking down at the crowd below. Leon's form was still shriveled and doll-like in the casket, the purple torches above doing nothing to take the pallor of death away. Another one of the War Mages was speaking, but I couldn't make out his raspy voice too well.

  I was seeing—and hearing—this from Xavier's point of view. I had forgotten how dull a human's hearing and sight were.

  I went with it. I had Xavier's form when I looked down, but I couldn't feel it. The Mage below, another very old man, said something about great contributions. The crowd below was restless. Bored. People shifted. This had been going on for a long time. Even Xavier and his duller vision could tell that. Trish was standing next to him, pale and red-eyed. She stood close, like a protective mother bear.

  But then the air in the room changed.

  It got colder...colder...the way it had felt when I faced Marissa the Dark Mage in Thoreau's tower. People cried out and moved away from the casket.

  Then I saw why. The air there was darkening. I wasn't sure how air could darken, but some sort of dark cloud was forming around Leon's casket. People screamed and the green-tinted woman I had brushed past earlier backpedaled into a blue-robed man. Both went down and panic broke out. Wind snapped through the room and some torches went out.

  The darkness tightened around the casket and began to turn. Screams broke out. People ran. A couple of the War Mages in the crowd threw balls of energy at the invader, but it was no use. Their magic fizzled and swirled around the vortex for a second before dissipating. The Elders all backed away and formed a ring around the casket. More energy flared between them all, ready for use.

  A tornado of inky blackness swirled around Leon's body, blocking all but the edges of the casket from view. Xavier remained still as I kept
looking through his eyes. I could sense his terror, his guilt. It flooded through me and spun like the magic below. The tornado swirled harder and harder...growing more intense...resisting the blasts the Elders were sending towards it...

  And then it fell apart and the wind died. The darkness dissipated and fell to the ground, forming little inky puddles that vanished into the floor. It was much in the same way the Shadow Wraiths went away when they were defeated. Silence fell and the Elders stared at the now-empty casket, mouths hanging open.

  I snapped back into the present and Xavier stood there, six inches from my face. “Did it work?”

  I nodded. He was still holding onto my face.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  “Dark magic,” I said. “Dark magic took the body away and the Elders couldn't stop it.”

  “Good. It worked,” Xavier said. “I've never tried that before. It saves a lot of explaining because we don't have time.” He kept his hands on either side of my face, rubbing his thumb against my chin.

  There was nothing here. There couldn't be. Xavier was still pining for the pixie girl he'd lost and even if he did like me I was just a replacement. Right?

  But from the way he looked at me for a second, I didn't think so.

  “So Leon's body got stolen,” I said. “That reminded me of--”

  “Marissa's magic,” Xavier filled in. “Thoreau's favorite Dark Mage. They're so bad that even we War Mages don't want much to do with them. They're human like us, but they have a long history of dealing with demons and Shadow Wraiths. The nature of their magic makes them turn, well, pretty bad.”

  “I figured.” I checked to make sure we were still alone on the balcony. Check. “Why would Marissa want to steal Leon's body? What would Thoreau want with it?”

  Xavier let go of my face and the tingles stopped. I just wished I knew what he was thinking about me. I had seen nothing but mixed signals so far. One moment, he was turning me away and the next he was pulling me closer.

  We had to cooperate if we were going to get our parents back. I couldn't let myself get too caught up in this. My father was still sleeping in the Infernal Dimension.

  “The bodies of War Mages still have all their power inside of them,” Xavier said. “It's why we're always buried in hidden tombs, like Leon would have been. Only the Elder War Mages know where these tombs are. The power in our bodies is that dangerous. We are never, ever cremated. It would wipe out everyone at the funeral ceremony and for miles around unless they were shielded with magic.”

  It sounded horrible. “So War Magic is like, in your cells?” I asked.

  Xavier nodded. “It's just like any other kind of energy. That's why rest and food replenish my magic. Anyway, it looks like Marissa transposed Leon's body to her location. And since she works with Thoreau, that means he has Leon's body as well.”

  “Marissa can transpose anyone to her?” I asked.

  “I'm not an expert on Dark Magic,” Xavier said, “but I think she can transpose people and objects to her if she has a sample of them. A piece of hair, skin, blood—whatever. Allunna could have provided her and Thoreau with some of Leon's hair or something, easily. She was the double agent for who knows how long.”

  “That makes sense,” I said. “We fought her, Xavier. You think she got a sample of us? And Allunna took the swords with my blood to Thoreau.” More than once, people had used my blood to locate me. Trish and Elsina had created that amulet and found me that way, even though it had saved us at the apartments.

  “If Marissa still had any samples of us, we would be back with Thoreau by now,” Xavier said. “Thoreau used your blood for something else so all the other demons on Cumberland could find you. He must not have any left. But this isn't much better. It's hard to extract a War Mage's power from their body, but there are legends that some really powerful beings can do it. If Thoreau's not one, I don't know who is.”

  “What's he going to do with Leon's power?” I asked. “War Magic can kill demons.”

  “I don't know,” Xavier said. “I can't see him fighting other demons with it unless he doesn't want them competing with them. What if he wants to experiment with that power and see if he can gain a resistance to it? Thoreau's been known to run experiments through the centuries. Ever heard of that baron that killed little kids in his fortress all the time? That was probably Thoreau.”

  “No,” I said. I could imagine him doing those things with those fiery eyes of his.

  “There's a reason he wants Leon's body,” Xavier said. “Everyone knows that someone like him getting a hold of a War Mage's body is very bad news. There's so much power inside of it. It's more than you can imagine, especially since Leon's a Lovelli. It's like how it would be if some terrorists stole nuclear weapons. Did you notice that everyone's getting ready to get out of here? They're scared Thoreau is going to attack.”

  “How do we do that?” I followed Xavier to the stairs. The smells were all dissipating by the minute but it was no relief. Going after Leon's body would mean fights. Lots and lots of fights we might not survive.

  But I hadn't fought in a few days or even swung my sword. The killer instinct was building up again and I was also getting hungry. I'd have to stop by and ask Trish for food before we left. A fight might do me good. I thought of Thorne, my martial arts instructor. I hadn't seen him in a few days, either, but he lived on the surface. He only came to the Underground sometimes.

  “The body could be in the ATC building,” Xavier said, “but Thoreau knows we expect that and that there's going to be a push to get it back before he can extract the magic. Leon was old. He had a lot of power. He was probably the most powerful War Mage in the world and the power in his cells might be enough to destroy us all.”

  Chapter Four

  By time we got to the bottom of the stairs, Xavier and I were running so fast we almost toppled Janine over.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “We might all die,” I said. “Thoreau took Leon's body and it's like a nuclear bomb with all the magic still in it. I've seen his magic. You don't want to be on the receiving end of it.”

  Janine's eyes got huge as I took her arm and pulled her along. But she followed on her own and I let go.

  “So the bodies of Abnormals are dangerous?” Janine asked. “I should tell that to my mother. She thinks—never mind. How are we going to find out where it went?”

  I gave Janine the rundown while we made our way down the hall. Several of the Elder War Mages passed us, shuffling as fast as they could in the other direction. There would be no hanging out in the gilded underground mansion today, drinking tea. There was only planning for the worst.

  “War Mages' bodies are dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands,” Xavier said, grinning at me for a split second. “I think Thoreau had his death planned the whole time. He never meant to let Allunna live. She served her purpose to him and that was it.”

  The underground streets were bustling with anxiety and panic. Wooden wagons rolled past and Abnormals and Normals alike had backpacks slung over their backs, bags of luggage, and anything they could carry. People hung on corners, talking about places they could hide on the surface. I caught one woman in a green robe talking about leaving Cumberland and going to live with her Normal brother. We passed Frankincense but Xavier didn't hesitate there or even look in the direction of his home. I realized he was taking us to Elsina's hole in the wall.

  Her literal hole in the wall.

  We passed street after street. People were packing up the stuff in their alcoves and wagons with squeaky wheels moved down corridors and out of sight. Even the candles looked more sinister now, especially the skull lights with the green ones. I spotted Les down one street, talking with another burly werewolf man. He had a sack over his shoulder and hanging down his back, bulging with his belongings. The air smelled of fear and adrenaline. No one was taking any chances.

  Janine tugged on my sleeve and I stopped next to an alcove that a Normal man was packing
things in. “My mom,” Janine said. “I have to find her and warn her. She won't let any of these people talk to her.”

  “Go ahead,” I said. “Do you know the way?” I was beginning to memorize the layout of this underground city.

  “I think I do. You're going to see the fortune telling lady, right?”

  “The Seer Mage,” Xavier corrected. “Yes. Where are you going to go?”

  “I think my second cousin will take us in,” Janine said. “Mom doesn't know he got bit by a werewolf and I don't want to put that on him, but I can't think of anything else in the area. His name is Dwayne Eastman if you're looking for me.”

  Janine ran off into the dim light, making a row of skull candles flicker. They were burning lower. Magic was beginning to abandon this place. The Mages were leaving and with them, their power.

  The Underground had never felt so desolate.

  We made our way to the corridor that led to Trish's infirmary, but it was empty. Trish's metal table and broken vanity were out along with the medical tools on the table, but Trish herself was missing. Only a few candles burned on the floor in a loose formation. The blue chalk symbols were gone from around the table. Someone had swept them up or no one had been bound to a War Mage for a while. I might have been the last. The illegal move—Binding Xavier and I before I passed the impossible test Leon had set up for me—had gotten Xavier temporarily banned from the Underground. Now that Leon was gone, he could stay here again, but he hadn't told me how it had gone with the rest of his family so far. They were the ones I hadn't met yet.

  “Trish?” Xavier called. Then he shrugged and faced me. “I wonder where she is. She might be off looking for me right now. She must expect me to do something stupid like search for Leon's body.”

  “Aren't the other War Mages going to do that?” I asked.

  Xavier laughed. “You should see how the Elders meet and come up with plans. Everyone has to agree with a decision or a plan or they start all over again. It just wastes time. It's about their egos more than anything. They'll never get this done before Thoreau gets whatever it is he wants. You know how Normal politics work? Or should I say, don't work?”