Page 122 of Possession

The Grand Mage looks at me, eyes shrouded by flappy skin that obscures the look in his eyes. So tired, he has given everything; I understand that.

“I tried,” he tells me quietly.

My brows furrow. Tried what, exactly? Stopping Aris? Was he part of the plan to put Aris in Henry? How culpable is he? I don’t have time to ask; Silva slaps him across the face, making me gasp and the Grand Mage pant.

“You’ll take her where she wants to go,” spits Silva, motioning the Grand Mage’s bejeweled wand towards the golden doors.

The Grand Mage tries for the wand, just out of his reach, and I notice how swollen the Grand Mage’s hands are, bones twisted and rearranged unnaturally. He must be in so much pain. Did they torture him?

I want to reach out to him, help him the way that I want someone to help me. But what could I do?

Silva looks at me. “Will you trust him to send you where you want to go?”

Shocked, I just nod.

“Excellent. Tell him where you want to go,” Silva says.

I glance at the Grand Mage, but his gaze has fallen, tears leaking down his face. Utterly defeated.

What will happen to him? Undoubtedly, they’ll kill him, but how long will they wait before making the final blow? How will they make him hurt?

Strangely, the thought crosses my mind that I don’t know his real name; I don’t know him, for all the impact he’s had on my life. I wish we had more time.

“Just take me somewhere far away from this place,” I say to the Grand Mage quietly.

Finally, he looks back at me, then nods once.

Silva holds the wand out again, only to pull it back before making contact. Naturally, the Grand Mage grunts and nearly falls over reaching for it, and Ryan has to hold him up.

Crouching, Silva gets directly in the Grand Mage’s face. “I know magic, too,” Silva says to him. “If I hear a slip of the tongue, I’ll give you to the big one to rip you apart.”

Shaking, the Grand Mage nods with tears streaming down his face.

Silva studies him for a moment longer before he is satisfied. Standing, he holds the wand out, and the Grand Mage waits a few seconds before reaching for it again. This time, Silva actually surrenders it, and the mage’s gnarled fingers tremble with the effort it takes holding the ornamental stick.

The Grand Mage makes several circular movements, murmuring something I can’t understand, and the doors pop open to reveal a swirling, gray mass inside. My ticket out. I look back at Silva, expecting some sort of trick, but his focus is on the Grand Mage as he rips the wand from his hands.

I wince at the sound the Grand Mage makes, a heart wrenching whimper that, if he had more strength, would be a wail. He falls to the ground into a puddle of despair that Silva glares at.

“This is but the beginning,” Silva snaps.

The Grand Mage hiccups or sobs—maybe starts to choke?—but Silva loses quickly interest, turning back to me. “Understand something,” Silva says, voice as firm as when speaking to the mage. “You belong to him, Mary.”

I look between the two of them, Ryan, and all of the cultists watching, quietly and eagerly. Don’t they see how wrong this all is? There is no way that something like this could win; it isn’t right.

“When there’s Chaos, there’s Order,” I tell Silva. “Aris isn’t all-powerful.”

His face twists, and I hurry to the portal before he changes his mind about letting me go, pushing my way through. Only seconds later, I step into an odd-smelling garden and look around to get my bearings.

It’s night, and it looks like I’m in a home garden, with different beds for plants. They’re all labelled with placards, but it’s too dark to see the text. In the distance, I can make out lamps, a cottage, and a few other buildings. The lights are off in each of them, the owners perhaps having turned in for the night.

By the time I turn back around, I see that the portal has disappeared behind me. I pause at the area where the gray sludge just stood, hesitant to feel any relief… but, I’m out.

The thought buzzes in my head: I’m out.

I approach wrought-iron gates. They’re closed, and, after a rattle, I also realize that they’re locked.

Luckily, it isn’t tall and is easy to climb. I had the sense of mind to put on shoes before I left my room, and the soles cushion my skin against the hard metal.

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