“Who?”
“Catherine,” Will said slowly. I knew he had to be seething with fury but he kept his words clear. “She used to live here in this country. You wanted her magic so you hunted her down and killed her for it.”
Rachel thought about it, then shrugged. “Not ringing any bells, sorry.”
“You killed her right here in this mansion!”
“Doesn’t narrow it down much.”
Cinder gave Rachel a glance. “You killed more than one Catherine in this mansion?”
“Well, I might have done,” Rachel said in annoyance. “It’s not like I stop to ask their names.”
“No!” Will shouted. “I won’t let you forget who she even was! Her name was Catherine Traviss! Remember it!”
Rachel had been looking at Cinder, but as she heard the full name she froze. She stared at Will for a moment before turning to me. “Catherine Traviss,” she said slowly. “You wanted to know about her.” She shifted her gaze back to Will. “But then you’d have to be . . .” Her eyes went wide suddenly. “No. I don’t believe it.”
“Yeah,” Will snarled. “You remember now, don’t you?”
“It is you,” Rachel said softly. Suddenly she threw back her head and laughed. The noise was loud in the enclosed space, startling, and I flinched as Rachel looked back down, eyes shining. “Now I remember! The little brother. We thought we’d got all of you, but we didn’t, did we? You were the one that got away!”
“Del,” Cinder said, a note of warning in his voice. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the Nightstalkers and red light hovered at his hands.
Rachel laughed again. “I know, you don’t know. But don’t you see how perfect this is?” She extended her arms, looking between me and Will. “It’s like our own little reunion! We just need Tobruk and we’d have everyone!”
The Nightstalkers shifted uneasily. I knew what they were thinking—that Rachel was crazy. Except the scary thing was that Rachel didn’t sound crazy anymore, not to me. “For me?” Rachel asked the air curiously, then turned to Will. “Is that true?”
Will stared at Rachel. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Rachel’s laughter cut off as if with a knife, her smile vanishing. “You’re after me, aren’t you? That’s why you came.”
“No,” Dhruv said quickly.
“Shut up, Dhruv,” Will said, not taking his eyes off Rachel. “You thought you wouldn’t have to pay for what you did?”
“You don’t even know what that means, you stupid child.” Rachel’s voice was ice; she stalked towards Will, her eyes glittering in the darkness. The Nightstalkers stepped into a defensive stance, and I saw Cinder ready himself to cover her. “Yes, I killed your sister. I drained her life and turned her body to dust and she was too weak to stop me.” Rachel spread her hands and light flickered around them, sea-green energy seeping out of the darkness. “So what are you going to do about it, boy?”
“Will, this is a really bad idea,” Dhruv began.
“I said shut up,” Will said.
“Dhruv’s right,” Captain America said with a warning note in his voice. He glanced towards the English girl. “Get us out of here.”
“No!” Will snapped. “We can end this!”
The English girl hesitated, looking nervously between Will and Rachel. “This is the one you were telling us about? Rachel?”
Rachel’s right hand flicked up and a greenish ray stabbed from her hand. Will dodged in a blur of motion but it hadn’t been aimed at him. The ray struck the English girl and for one instant she was backlit in an eerie, lethal light, spine arching, face twisting in agony, mouth opening to scream. Then there was a flash and her body and clothes disintegrated into dust, a cloud of fine powder puffing out to swirl downwards towards the stone. The other six Nightstalkers stood frozen, and I stared at the dust that a moment ago had been the girl’s body. I hadn’t known her name, and now I never would.
Only Rachel didn’t turn to look. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Will, and now she spoke slowly and clearly. “Don’t call me Rachel.”
For a long moment everything was still.
Then everything happened at once. Will charged Rachel, his shortsword flickering into his hand, and Ja-Ja darted in by his side. Fire flashed from Cinder, forming a barrier and driving them back. Rachel shifted targets to gold-hair girl, light strengthening at her hand as she aimed another disintegration ray, but before she could get her spell off Captain America had pulled an assault rifle from nowhere and opened fire. The bullets glanced off Rachel’s green-blue shield, but Dhruv threw something into the air that looked like a metal fan. It twisted, opened out to form a disc, and slammed into Rachel’s shield like a saw blade; the shield bent and held but the impact made the ray go wide.
Everything was so fast it was hard to follow, like eight cats all fighting at once. Images caught in my mind, brief moments in the chaos: Captain America pulling a transparent riot shield and throwing it to Lee; Will sliding back to dodge a disintegration ray by inches; gold-hair girl’s ground fire meeting Cinder’s dark flame. The Nightstalkers were fighting with a berserk fury at the loss of their friend and for a moment Rachel and Cinder were on the defensive, two bears surrounded by a wolf pack.
Captain America pulled a grenade, hurled it. Dhruv’s magnetic field caught it in midair and sent it arrowing in, driving into Rachel’s water shield. Will and Ja-Ja jumped clear; Lee crouched behind his shield, and the others dived behind Lee just as the grenade went off. Rachel’s shield took the blast but not the momentum; the explosion lifted her off the floor and she hit the stone hard. Will and Ja-Ja charged but Cinder was ready, and a glowing dark-red sphere exploded in a roar and a flash of flame right in the middle of them. Cinder, Rachel, Will, and Ja-Ja were all caught in the blast, but Cinder and Rachel had shields. Will and Ja-Ja didn’t. Ja-Ja was thrown backwards, screaming in pain, one arm alight; Will’s speed left him only smouldering. Cinder sent another fireball streaking towards the rest of the Nightstalkers; Lee hunched his shoulders and crouched into his shield as the flash of searing heat rolled past them. “Will!” Dhruv shouted.
Will snatched one look back at the others, then at me. As Rachel came to her feet again he glanced back and forth, judging distances, then moved in a blur of motion. I saw the futures flash and change and knew it was time to leave. I turned and started to run down the corridor just as Rachel’s gaze locked onto Will and another green ray flashed out.
Will’s course had taken him between Rachel and me and as Rachel fired he slid aside. The ray missed him and the rest of the Nightstalkers and hit the forcewall separating us. The forcewall resisted for an instant but its energy was low; the ray overwhelmed the wall, the discs shorting out as it was wiped into nothingness. I was already gone, running through the darkness, only my diviner’s senses guiding me.
The tunnels under Richard’s mansion spread a long way, dark and cold and smelling of ancient stone. None had lamps; they’d been made for people who could conjure their own light. The rooms and corridors were like a maze but my feet knew the way and I took the turnings without breaking stride. Tobruk had hunted me through these tunnels over and over again all those years ago, playing with me like a cat with a mouse, and I’d memorised every twist and turn. Now his cruelty was keeping me alive. From behind I could hear shouts and knew the Nightstalkers were close on my heels. I didn’t know whether they were chasing me or fleeing Rachel; as long as Will was with them it made little difference.
As I reached the laboratory I heard running feet and knew Will was at my back. For all my preparations I’d still underestimated just how impossibly fast he could move. My next forcewall was at the entrance to the cell block on the other side of the lab—too far. I should have laid out a third one between them but it was too late now. As I ran the laboratory lit up in a yellow glow from a chemical light behind me, revealing long benches, dusty ironwork, and a ritual circle. From behind I heard Will’s footsteps stutter and I ducked left as the crash of a handgun echoed around the stone walls, bullets zipping overhead.