The Stroke of Eleven Read online

  “There she stands!” She pointed to Levesque. “Oppression incarnate! If it weren’t for her, you all wouldn’t have to skulk in the shadows like this! The Undermarket would be the Overmarket! Are we to abide such tyranny from those who style themselves as the elite? I say no!”

  This elicited a fairly enthusiastic cheer from the assembly. I almost joined in. Molly had a knack for revolutions, it seemed.

  “Your move,” I said to Levesque.

  She tapped her staff on the ground to get everyone’s attention. “I’ll buy all your goods. And I’ll pay double for them. Every last item.”

  A chorus of startled gasps rose from the crowd.

  “And then, I’ll give everything away. For free.”

  More gasps.

  Levesque aimed her staff at Molly. “Now. Get her.”

  “Fascist!” shouted Molly.

  “Technically, I think she’s being a socialist,” said Crispin.

  Cordelia hurried over and pulled Molly down from her pedestal. “Thank you, dear, that was marvelous, but I think we’d better leave now.”

  Unfortunately, as Crispin and I joined the girls, we found that a ring of various large creatures had formed around us. Several minotaurs, plus a centaur or two, and the ogre that Molly had been talking to earlier.

  “Sorry,” he rumbled. “Business.” Apparently, in his mind, that word covered everything.

  Cordelia and I were standing back to back. “What do we do now?” I asked her.

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “Well, we can’t run now, after Molly’s brief political career.”

  “It almost worked!” said Molly.

  “I have an excellent idea,” said Levesque. I couldn’t see her, thanks to everyone making up the circle being taller than her, but it sounded like she was standing not far away. “Why don’t you all surrender? Haven’t you dragged this out long enough?”

  “Sorry. Surrendering’s not really our thing.” I punched the ogre so hard in the stomach that he doubled over with a loud grunt. Then I shoved him out of the way to create an opening in the circle. “Come on!” I yelled to the others.

  It was a short-lived escape. Levesque’s tactic of turning everyone against us had worked very, very well. For that one ogre I’d taken out, roughly a dozen more contenders rose up to take his place. I’ve gotten very good at fighting ever since I changed—I’ve certainly had to do a lot of it. But I didn’t have much of a chance against sheer numbers.

  Through the melee, I caught a glimpse of the others trying to fight. Crispin’s combat style mostly consisted of changing into random animals and biting people. It didn’t achieve much besides annoying and distracting them, but at least his chaotic movements kept him from getting captured.

  Molly opened her mouth and fired off a few notes of Undine song. This briefly caused the people closest to her to start fighting everybody else. Molly can’t actually control minds with her music, but she can provoke certain primal reactions in people, like anger. Unfortunately, it appeared that nagas were immune to Undine powers, because Nadia wrapped her tail around Molly’s neck before she could continue.

  Cordelia was trying to cope with two centaurs that had taken it upon themselves to capture me. They grabbed my arms before I could slash them with my claws and started dragging me away.

  “You get off him!” She flung out her hands and summoning an intricate web of runes.

  As the spell washed over the centaurs, there was a loud pop, and both of them were suddenly small ponies. They gave tiny, horrified whinnies and galloped away into the crowd. I knew from seeing Cordelia use these rapid-fire transformation spells before that the centaurs would probably be back to normal in a few minutes. Lucky them.

  The ogre lumbered toward me as I tried to recover from the centaurs’ attack. He drew back his fist to exact some revenge for the punch I’d landed earlier.

  I let out a roar and swiped my claws at his face. He recoiled just in time to avoid some nasty scars. This distracted him long enough for me to wrap my tail around his ankle and give it a sharp jerk. He fell flat on his back.

  Cordelia, meanwhile, fired a spell at a nearby booth selling enchanted fabrics. I don’t know what they were enchanted to do, but regardless, Cordelia’s spell quickly commandeered them. The bolts of multi-colored cloth rolled toward the ogre and rapidly wound around him until he resembled a huge, rainbow-hued mummy. He wriggled away like a caterpillar, shouting insults in Ogreish through the cocoon.

  “Look out!” I called to Cordelia. Nadia was lunging toward her, her jaws wide open and her fangs dripping with venom.

  Cordelia spun around, quick as a flash, but didn’t quite have time to cast a spell at the naga. Fortunately, Crispin distracted her at this point—though the merits of his plan were debatable. True, he had turned into the natural enemy of snakes, but since Nadia was a lot larger than your average garden snake, becoming a mongoose was perhaps not the smartest move. All he succeeded in doing was biting her on the neck. She hissed in anger and flailed her arms, trying to shake him off. At least he prevented her from sinking her fangs into Cordelia.

  ”Enough!” boomed Levesque. She slammed her staff into the floor. This time, she did a lot more than make a noise. Lightning crackled from the base of the staff and blasted everyone backward. Cordelia, Crispin, Molly, and I all fell in a heap.

  Levesque loomed over us like a vulture. “It’s over, you four. You’ve evaded the Council of Scions long enough. Time for you to accept the inevitable.” She pointed her staff at us. “This is the end of Beaumont and Beasley.”

  It would have been easier for me to come up with a witty retort to this if she hadn’t electrocuted me. I struggled to hold on to consciousness, but I could already feel myself slipping away.

  “Nick!” yelled Crispin, as one of Levesque’s men wrapped an arm around his throat. He struggled and kicked, but couldn’t wrench free. Another man grabbed Molly and hauled her away as well.

  “Don’t worry,” I croaked as I crawled after them. “I’ll save you! Hold on!”

  Or maybe I only dreamed that I said it.

  Either way, it didn’t make any difference. Seconds later, everything went black, and Crispin and Molly were gone.

  “Wake up!” Someone gave my shoulder a rough shake. “I mean, don’t literally wake up, because if you do I won’t be able to talk to you, but try to dream about waking up, all right?”

  I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. I could already tell that I was having The Dream again. The same one I’d been having ever since Warrengate. Which meant that the person yelling at me…

  …was me. Or rather, my curse, who took the form of my Beast self in my dreams. I, meanwhile, got to be human during these chats, which I had to admit was a welcome side effect.

  “You again.” Not a very friendly getting, but I still wasn’t sure how I felt about this bizarre passenger in my brain. As usual, the Beast wore only a torn pair of trousers. He tended to slip into animal habits a lot more than I did in the real world. Right now, he was stalking around on all fours and lashing his tail in concern.

  Given our surroundings, I couldn’t blame him. My previous dreams had taken place on a beautiful, sandy beach. This particular dream was set on a rooftop in Talesend, and there was a massive storm brewing on the horizon. I was sitting down with my back against a chimney stack. Dark clouds billowed across the sky, and a bitter-cold wind raised goosebumps on my furless skin.

  I hugged myself and shivered. “Think you could do something about the weather? I mean, I’m sure it has some deep prophetic or psychological significance, but maybe you could write down whatever the message is, for once.”

  “Sorry. The weather’s out of my hands. Right now, everything seems to be spinning out of control.”

  “I know. Levesque finally caught us. I suppose this day was bound to come, but still, I had hoped that—”

  “Oh, never mind Levesque.” He stood up on two legs and shook his mane.

 
I stared at him in disbelief. “Never mind Levesque? Seriously? You do remember Madame Levesque, right? Tall, scary, powerful, commander of a secret society of evil enchanters…and did I mention scary?”

  “She’s not important. She just thinks she is. Ultimately, she’s not what you need to be worried about.” The Beast pointed to the storm clouds. “That. That’s what should scare you.”

  I squinted at the storm. “You want me to be scared of bad weather…in a dream?”

  He clicked his fangs together in frustration. “It’s what the bad weather represents, you ninny. Something very bad is coming.”

  “Oh, yeah, I know.” I leaned back against the chimney. “Big, mysterious darkness threatening to devour all of reality. That’s the sort of thing you dream-oracle figures are always prattling about, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not a joke!” The Beast shut his eyes and tried to calm down. “Look, it all started when Cordelia…sent her father away.”

  “Odd way of putting it. She probably killed him.”

  “I’m fairly certain she didn’t. I can sense him out there, somewhere. I don’t know what shape he’s in, but I’m pretty sure he’s not dead.”

  I cringed. “Worrying thought. So you’re afraid he’ll come back? Is that it?”

  “There’s more to it than that. It wasn’t only his…exile that caused problems. Crispin made everything worse.”

  “He does that pretty often. What’s the specific incident you’re referring to?”

  The Beast’s face was grave. “You know, Nick.”

  I closed my eyes. “When he got Molly her voice back, you mean. I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

  “Reality was already damaged by what Cordelia did. When Crispin shattered time to heal Molly, the wound got deeper.”

  Fear clutched at me. “What does that mean, exactly? What’s going to happen to Crispin?”

  “It’s not just Crispin who’s in danger. Everyone is. The whole world. We’re talking about a possible apocalypse here.” He hesitated. “And there’s something else.”

  “What?”

  “I’m not sure. Something on the other side of the breach in reality, whispering in the dark. It might even be lots of somethings. Whoever they are, they’re preparing to come through. And once they’re in our world…I honestly don’t know if there will be a way to stop them.”

  “What can I do?” I asked. “Is there a way to reverse the damage that Cordelia and Crispin caused?”

  “No. What’s done is done. Don’t bother about the past. Try to save the future. That’s all we can do now.” He gazed off into the distance. “You need to try to find out everything you can in the waking world. Gather more information.”

  “That’s going to be hard to do after Levesque throws me into some dark, rat-infested dungeon. Or kills me. Whichever comes first.”

  “She’s not going to kill you. Or imprison you, for that matter. She has plans. Plans that are somehow connected to everything else that’s happening.”

  “I presume you’re not going to give me any more details than that.”

  “Sorry. That’s all I know. Like I told you once before, I’m not a prophet. I only sense danger. And right now, I’m sensing a lot of danger.”

  I guffawed. “Just another Tuesday, then.”

  The Beast cast a glance at the dark skyline. “I have to go now. It’s nearly time for you to wake up. But there’s one more thing I have to warn you about first.”

  I groaned. “What now?”

  “After Crispin fiddled with time to cure Molly, you asked her if that meant the Unqueen might come back. You were worried that Crispin’s meddling might undo the Unqueen’s defeat.”

  “Yeah.” I eyed him with concern. “And she said it wouldn’t. She said the Unqueen was gone. For good.”

  “I’m afraid she was wrong.”

  “What?” I leapt to my feet. “You mean she’s still possessed by The Evil Little Mermaid?”

  “No. Molly is Molly…for now. But thanks to what Crispin did, the events of the Unqueen’s death are now in flux. Which means she could, theoretically, come back. Whether she will or not, I don’t know. I don’t even now how she’d come back. All you can do is keep a close eye on Molly.”

  “But—”

  “You need to wake up now,” said the Beast, as the black clouds billowed closer. “Good luck.” He loped to the edge of the roof and jumped off.

  I knew it was no use shouting for him to come back and explain himself further. I sat quietly and waited for the dream to end.

  That’s when the thunderbolt struck me.

  The jolt of electricity snapped me awake as quickly as the last one had plunged me into unconsciousness. I roared in pain and tried to lunge at the person who had attacked me.

  Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that lunging was out of the question. My arms and legs were splayed out in an X-shape, chained to a massive metal frame. The walls and ceiling of my prison were bare, grey concrete with no windows. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, fizzling every few seconds as if it were on the verge of burning out. There was a heavy iron door in front of me that looked like it had been designed to withstand cannon fire.

  “Oi!” I shouted. It was meant to be a prelude to something else, but I realized that everything I was about to say was stupid. “Let me go?” They wouldn’t reply, “Oh, certainly, Mr. Beasley, we’ve gone to all the trouble of chaining you up like this, but now that you’ve told us to let you go…” Threatening them would be equally idiotic. Any threats would have to start with “When I get free from this,” which I wasn’t about to do, given the strength of the chains.

  I settled for something less satisfying but more constructive. “Let’s talk. I know you’re watching me. And I know you want something from me—otherwise you’d have killed me already. So why don’t we skip to the part where you tell me what you have in mind?”

  Dead silence.

  I waited patiently for a few seconds.

  Even deader silence.

  “LET ME GO!” I roared. “When I get free from this, I’m going to—”

  The door swung open with a loud creak that drowned out my shouting. Madame Levesque stood in the doorway, flanked by two of the men I’d seen earlier. Despite the fact that I wasn’t any threat to them, they still appeared ready to snap my neck at a moment’s notice.

  I curled my lip. “You.”

  Levesque looked puzzled. “I’m surprised you recognized me when we met at the Undermarket. So far as I can remember, you and I haven’t met face to face.”

  “We haven’t. I’ve seen you, though. With the help of the Magic Mirror.”

  “Ah. Then you’ve encountered Neva, I take it.”

  “Who?”

  “The White Queen. That’s her name.”

  “Oh.” I was surprised to learn that the Queen had a name. “You’re a friend of hers, then?”

  “Neva doesn’t have friends. Only pawns. But we’re getting sidetracked from the point of this meeting.”

  I rattled my chains. “Is this typically how you hold meetings?”

  “I deemed it wisest to keep you restrained until I had a chance to explain how matters stand. Once that’s done, I’ll allow you to move freely.”

  “What do you mean, ‘how matters stand?’” I glanced around my prison. “Where am I?”

  “Warrengate Academy. Your brother, Crispin, and Lady Margaret Beaumont—or ‘Molly,’ as you call her—are in custody here as well. Your behavior from this point forward will determine how they’re treated.”

  I gritted my fangs and wrenched against the chains with all my strength. They wouldn’t budge. “What have you done to them?”

  “They’ll be undergoing—shall we say—a remedial education. In my opinion, they’re both sorely in need of it. Your brother’s had no formal training in magic to speak of, and as for Molly, her entire conduct at Warrengate has been fraught with dishonesty. To think, the girl was an Undine all along and never divu
lged it. How insubordinate.”

  I snarled at her. “You let them go or I’ll—”

  “No, Mr. Beasley. I will be issuing the threats here, not you. You—and your friend Lady Cordelia—will do precisely as I say, or Crispin and Molly’s re-education will be a great deal more…punishing.”

  “Malcolm will never stand for that!” Malcolm Blackfire, Headmaster of Warrengate and an actual, fire-breathing dragon, had taken our side during our last visit to Warrengate even though he technically worked for the Council. I couldn’t believe he’d allow Crispin and Molly to be mistreated.

  “Unfortunately for you, Malcolm is currently missing. In fact, that’s part of the reason why you’re still alive. I need you and Cordelia to defeat the creature responsible for his disappearance.”

  So the Beast was right, I mused. She does have plans. “What kind of ‘creature?’”

  “One of the most dangerous monsters in the Afterlands. A fairy godmother.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Another Stupid Castle

  The threats worked, of course. When Levesque snapped her fingers and made the chains fall off my limbs, I didn’t dare attack her for fear the Crispin and Molly would suffer as a result. I was worried sick about them. The thought of them being held in a Warrengate controlled by Levesque instead of Malcolm was horrifying.

  Levesque knew she had the upper hand now. “You’re dismissed,” she told her guards, once I was freed from the metal frame. “Mr. Beasley won’t be a problem now.”

  They bowed and left the cell. Levesque beckoned for me to follow her down the dark corridor in the other direction. We passed dozens of iron doors to other cells as we went. There were labels on some of them, but I didn’t have time to read them. A cacophony of strange sounds and cries filtered through the doors. Some were feeble pleas for release, others were guttural growls. I even heard one faint, female voice reciting poetry. “Twas brillig, and the slithy toves—”

  “Is Crispin in one of these rooms?” I asked.

  “Not yet. He’s still being interrogated.”