Emma Holloway - A Study in Ashes

All at once, it didn’t feel like her friend, and Evelina stiffened. “Whoever you are, I don’t believe you.”

Wood gave a short, sharp laugh. “Oh, but it’s true. I’m very, very lost in ways you can’t begin to imagine.”

And then the air began to congeal, stifling with the sweetish stench of rot. One moment, Evelina could breathe normally. The next, it was like trying to inhale jelly. The effect on the company was immediate. Mrs. Phillips gave a shriek, pulling away from the circle. Evelina was too surprised to stop her. Three of the others jumped to their feet, caught in sudden terror. Surprisingly, Tobias was completely steady, his nerve holding up when the danger became real—but it was too late. The circle was shattered, and with it all protection from whatever it was they had summoned.

“That’s quite enough!” Miss Barnes barked sharply. “Get thee gone, spirit!”

The brisk command steadied Evelina. She knew instinctively that she was the most powerful magic user in the room. Revealing her own talent was risky, even in a group sympathetic to magic, but letting the entity run rampant was more dangerous still. She rose to her feet, releasing Tobias’s hand.

“Evelina!” he cried.

“I’ll take care of this,” she said with more confidence than she felt. Then she reached for her power, letting it rise in her like light filling a prism. Her limbs tingled, and suddenly she could inhale freely again. “You heard our hostess. You’ve outstayed your welcome.”

“Is that right?” Wood rose to face her across the table. In the murky light, all she could see was the dim white oval of his face. She could have sworn it wasn’t the man she had met barely an hour ago. The chin was too pointed, the hair too fair. Don’t let it be her. It can’t be her .

Power snaked at her, a fast, furious strike. Evelina slapped it back without thinking. She’d dueled with Magnus, once in earnest and many more times as his student. Whatever this thing was, it was hardly on the sorcerer’s level. It struck again, this time with a hot bolt that singed like flame. Her dark hunger leaped for it, craving the ambient energy, and snatched it from the air before it could even land. She felt the light inside her tinge with shadow as her darker power rose, but she couldn’t afford to push that strength aside. Whatever was posing as Imogen was stronger than she’d thought.

“Feeding on scraps?” the thing mocked. “I would have expected more from you, Miss Cooper.”

Evelina cupped her hand, summoning witch fire. A cluster of pale flame danced in the air above her hand, throwing bizarre shadows over the company. Someone gasped, “Sorcery!” Evelina ignored it.

“Show yourself,” she commanded, throwing compulsion into her voice.

As if in obedience, Wood slumped to his knees. “Evelina!”

The voice was Imogen’s. It was so startling, Evelina lost concentration, and the witch fire died abruptly.

“Help me, Evelina!”

“Dear God,” Tobias started forward, lurching a few steps before stumbling to a confused halt, obviously unsure of what to do.

“I don’t know how to get out of here,” Imogen said in a tiny voice.

“Do something!” Tobias roared, his face twisted with fear and disgust.

The air was clearing and the other participants had backed away, though Miss Barnes now stood guardian at the door, making sure no one—and no thing —entered or left the room. Evelina circled the table, approaching Wood’s crumpled form. She could feel the entity possessing him, tingling and sparking like the static from a coil. Wood held out a hand—a square, male hand that was simultaneously the slim white fingers of her friend. Evelina drifted closer, still unsure, her power coiled like a spring.

“Evelina, help her,” said Tobias, pleading now.

“Please, Evelina,” whispered the thing that was and was not Imogen.

She only stood a few feet away now, her heart yearning to believe she had finally found her friend. From here, she could get help, find a way to lead Imogen home.

Evelina reached out, inches away from grasping Imogen’s hand.

“Watch out!” Imogen cried.

And Wood sprang at her, launching from the floor to pounce like a spider. The voice that snarled should not have come from any human throat. Evelina released her power, slamming him backward. Wood flew through the air, crashing into the back of the red velvet settee. The long, thin candle flame flared into a ball of fire, roaring and then blooming into a bright, miniature sun suspended over the table. Mrs. Phillips screamed.

Then it was Evelina’s turn to attack, flinging her power again, this time to trap. But the entity was too quick, corkscrewing out of her grasp like an eel. She almost caught it, tightening the whip of her power like a noose, but it slipped out, gone before she could even get a better look. Then something popped, as if a cork had been pulled from a bottle.

And it was gone. All she was left with was a lingering scent of the grave. The hunter in her howled with hunger and fury at the loss of its prey. Evelina staggered, dizzy with a cramping, desperate need to feed. She’d experienced the hunger before, but never with such ferocity. But then, she’d never starved for lives so long as this.

Evelina grabbed the back of a chair, her mind rendered blank by too many horrific ideas. And then, with a flash of insight, she understood what else the bracelets did. They dulled a sorcerer’s requirement for human life, neutralizing the impulse to gather power. Unless she used her magic, she had been able to forget the desire for days at a time. What would I be like if they came off altogether?

There wasn’t time to think about it. Wood fell to the floor in a dead faint. The ball of flame above the candle went out with a thunderclap, plunging them in darkness. Evelina cried out, finally, suddenly afraid.

After a heartbeat, and then two, Miss Barnes turned up the lights. They all stared at each other in astonishment. Evelina started to shake, hot tears streaking down her face as the hunger died back to a simmering, constant discomfort. But at least now she could think past it enough to function.

“What the bloody hell was that?” said a gentleman in a tweed suit, thick mustaches quivering. “Was that a ghost or a demon?”

Tobias grabbed Evelina by the arm, spinning her around. “What are you?”

She met his eyes. They were bleak, as if what he’d seen her do had stripped him of some last shred of comfort. He’d been told she had magic, but clearly seeing it in action was something far more horrific. Her chin started to tremble, presaging yet more tears. “Damn you, Tobias, you asked me to come here. I did what I had to do.”

His grip on her tightened until it was painful. “Was that Imogen?”

“No,” she said hoarsely. “At least I hope not.” She prayed it wasn’t, but then a whirlpool of doubt tugged at her, doing its best to drag her under. That was her voice. She knew the right words to say . “Sometimes it seemed like her, sometimes not. At the end, she tried to warn me.”

“You don’t know.”

“It sounded as if she was fighting to be heard, but something wouldn’t let her speak. Once she called me Miss Cooper. Imogen would never do that. I was always Evelina to her.”

“But you don’t know anything for certain.”

“No,” she whispered, tears of frustration stinging her eyes. “But Serafina called me Miss Cooper.”

Tobias flinched. “Serafina—Anna—perished on the Wyvern .”

“Did she?”

“Damnation.” He dropped his hand, flexing it as if he wanted to wipe it clean of her magic-infested touch. Then he turned away without another word.