The Legend Thief (37 page)

Bedlam was too big to fit in the manor, but before they even reached the door, Mom came out carrying Crystal. Behind them, Sky saw a pale-looking Rauschtlot carrying Cassandra.

"Rauschtlot!
You're alive!" Sky wrapped Rauschtlot in a bear hug after she set down Cassandra.

"For nnnow," Rauschtlot
hissed,
her voice hollow and sickly as it reverberated out of her various mouths.

Mom came over and hugged Sky.

Bedlam knelt next to Cassandra and placed his giant hand on her head. After a moment he muttered, "The Harksplitter has run its course; she will wake soon."

Bedlam turned to Crystal and placed his hand on her back. Sky held his breath. The copper on Crystal's flesh bubbled and then disappeared into Bedlam's palm. Bedlam rolled her onto her back and brushed the hair from her face almost tenderly. "She has wandered far ... but I have wandered further. She has heard my call-I believe she will come back, in time."

Sky cried. They were the most beautiful words he'd ever heard.

Sky found Phineas and Errand near the cornfield a short time later, walking toward him looking tired and dirty. Phineas took off running immediately when Sky told him the news about Crystal.

Sky and Errand walked silently for a time.

"What happened to Morton?" Sky asked, breaking the silence.

"Escaped," said Errand.
"Hopped on Solomon's leg before he took off.
The cowards.
We got the three keys back, though he had them hidden in his bowler hat." Errand held up the bowler hat, showing Sky.

Sky nodded, unsurprised; at least the bowler hat was good for something, because it made a very ugly hat. "Maybe Hagos will catch up to them."

"He'd better hope not," said Errand. "Hagos and the hunters he had with him are pretty good, but they're no match for Morton and Solomon."

"So what now?"
Sky asked.

Errand shrugged. Then his face drooped and stretched and he looked like Chase Shroud again.

"Back to the Academy of Legend for me, mate," said Errand.

"That's the worst place you could go!" Sky exclaimed. "What if Morton goes back there?
Or Solomon?"

"I hope they do," said Errand darkly. "We might still be able to convince the hunters to side against them."

"You don't have to go," said Sky. "You could stay here with us.”

Errand shook his head. "Solomon was right about me. I'm not like you, Sky. I'm not a good person."

"Don't say that! Everyone in Exile would be dead if it wasn't for you!"

"That's just it, Sky. I don't care about everyone in Exile. No matter how much I try to deny it, in the end I nearly gave in- even after all Solomon had done, even after the way he'd treated Ambrosia, even with all of Exile and the world on the line."

"But you didn't!" said Sky.

"I didn't because of
you,"
Errand stated.
"You and Phineas.
If you two hadn't been standing right beside me, I would've done it. The fact is, I want those things Solomon promised. I want to learn the secrets. I want creatures everywhere to remember me. Someday, if I have any say about it, the world will forget Solomon Rose, and the only name they will remember is
Chase Shroud."

Sky felt a chill go down his spine.

"So what about you, Sky? What now?" Errand asked.

"I don't know," said Sky. "Bedlam's already left with his army, and we got word from the school that most everyone's all right, though dozens of hunters died-mostly Morton's-arid Hands’ grandfather appears to have sustained some injuries after making a pass at the lunch lady. T-Bone and Hands went to the school to see if they could help, and then Em showed up on a Moonrider a few minutes later and dragged Andrew away to search for his dad, who still hasn't shown up. Andrew barely said two words to her, but at least
he
went-it's a start, I guess."

"What about Solange?" asked
Errand.

"Come and gone," said Sky. "She was furious at Hagos for not following through with the retreat-blames him for the deaths. She collected Morton's remaining hunters and took off on her Moonrider."

"You could always come back to the Academy of Legend with me," Errand offered. "Just think of it, Sky, the two of us, running around, having adventures ..."

''I'm sort of tired of adventures, to be honest," said Sky. "Well, there's a library there bigger than the manor-bigger than all of Arkhon Academy, even! You could come with me and learn everything you ever wanted to know about the hunters," said Errand. "Just sit there all day if you want. You wouldn't be the only one. Several Exile hunters are planning to come."

"Really?" asked Sky. "Wait ... let me guess: Crenshaw and Ren."

"And
Cordelia and about a dozen others," said Errand. "They all agreed to come."

"Cordelia, huh?
..." Sky considered the possibility and then shook his head. "I can't, Errand. I'm afraid of what they'd turn me into. Besides, they need me here. With Phineas
back,
and half the town in rubble ... I just can't."

"I suppose I expected that," said Errand. "Did you ever figure out who left that message in Alexander's coffin?"

"I don't know," said Sky. "I honestly don't. I don't know who sent that seed via Marrowick, either-could be the same person.
Or not.
But whoever it was, they're long gone by now." They reached the hole that Bedlam had shot out of, and at the bottom Sky saw
two
shimmering blades. He and Errand scrambled down, but Errand got there first and snatched up both blades.

One of the blades lit up at Errand's touch. The other stayed rusted.

Sky watched Errand as he looked the blades over, turning them in his hands, his expression hungry.
"Two
shimmering blades, Sky! Do you have any idea how rare these are?"

"Some," said Sky slowly. "Where did the second blade come from?"

"It was Solomon's," Errand replied. "Alexander accidentally locked it away in Bedlam's Chrysalis when they trapped him. Solomon wouldn't shut up about it when he was training me. He found a new blade centuries ago, before he became the Arkhon-killed a hunter for it-but a hunter can't own two blades at the same time. Once he took the new one, he lost the old one. This blade's been free for the taking ever since. So many of Solomon's secrets, locked within ..."

Sky frowned. Something about Errand's look disturbed him more than he could say.

Errand ran his Eye of Legend over each of the blades. Solomon's blade became dark and terrible, but Alexander's didn't respond at all to his touch; Sky had already claimed it.

Errand glanced up and must've noticed Sky's frown because his expression quickly changed from wolfish to friendly. He offered Alexander’s blade to Sky.
"One for each of us."

As Sky took his blade, light spilled out of it, and the blade twinkled brightly. It felt strange in his hand, alive and foreign, and yet almost like a part of him.

Errand stared back and forth between the blades- one dark, one light- his eyes full of wonder, and hunger.
"Twin blades, Sky.
Just like us."

"Come on, Errand," said Sky. "Let's go find Mom. We've got a lot of explaining to do."

Sky started to climb out of the hole, but he stopped when he saw that Errand wasn't following him.

''I'll come," said Errand, "but you can't tell her about me, Sky. You have to promise."

"What?
Why not?"
Sky asked in exasperation. "I thought that's what you wanted!"

Errand shook his head. "That's what I
used
to want, but the Errand you knew is dead, gone, say bye-bye. I'm Chase Shroud now-that's what you'll call me, or I'll leave right now. Promise me, Sky."

Sky looked over this person he used to know, the boy who'd spent eleven years watching the world through Sky's eyes, experiencing the same things he'd experienced, but never in control, always trapped ... a boy who now called himself Chase Shroud.

''I'll call you Chase in public," said Sky, "and I won't tell

Mom and Dad our secret just yet.
But in private, you're Errand, and I won't call you anything else. Take it or leave it."

Errand watched him and then nodded.
"Done."

"Done, then," said Sky.

Errand took a running leap, bounced off one side of the hole and then the other, back and forth he went, up, up, until he reached the top.

Sky watched in annoyance and then started climbing after him. He was really going to have to learn some of those tricks.

But for now, he had friends who were going to need him.

Fred the Piebald soared over the thick jungle, following a small white dot far below. The dot- a rather troublesome Marrowick- flew casually along a pockmarked dirt road. Fearing he would lose its trail, Fred dropped closer until he could see the light of the full moon reflecting off the Marrowick's waxy skin. The Marrowick wound through a luscious green valley that twinkled with strange, unnatural lights, before climbing a steep and treacherous mountain. When the Marrowick reached the top, it landed on a rocky outcropping beside a young man who looked no older than twenty, but was in fact far, far older.

Fred swooped down, landing on a nearby tree.

The man turned to the Marrowick. "Everything worked out okay, I presume?"

The Marrowick bubbled strangely and emitted a few chirping noises.

"Ah. Ah. That's most unfortunate," said the man. ''I'd hoped Sky would free Bedlam before that occurred. If Solomon is now free, we'll have to change our plans considerably."

"Why do you say that?" asked a woman as she rose out of the ground, her giant body made of earth, rocks, and leaves, with vines and plants sprouting everywhere. Streams of water ran down her back and a giant Eye of Legend rested on her stomach.

The Marrowick burbled happily.

"You have done well," said the woman. "My brother is finally free."

The Marrowick bowed to her.

"We can't continue like this, Vulpine," said the man. "Soon they will know that I live. Solomon already suspects as much maybe even my father. Too many creatures now know that Solomon and I were Changelings. It's not long before they realize that the Arkhon was recovering in Solomon's body when Morton mistook him for me and stabbed him with my blade. The Hunters of Legend are weak. Solomon will win them to his cause as he did once before."

"You committed to this path long ago, Alexander- do not doubt yourself or turn from it now," said Vulpine. "Just because your trap did not capture all the creatures you'd intended does not mean that it failed."

Alexander was quiet, thoughtful.

"I must return to the Academy of Legend," Alexander declared.

"Are you certain that is wise?"

"It is
necessary,"
Alexander replied. "I can't allow Solomon to get a foothold there. If the Academy of Legend topples, the others will follow, until Exile is all that remains."

"And there is another reason
... ,
" Vulpine hinted.

"Yes," said Alexander, "Errand will be there, though I understand he goes by a new name now:
Chase Shroud."

"A dark name," said Vulpine. "Do the Exile hunters know that he was behind the hunt on Sky? Do they know he was the, one who suggested it to Morton?"

Vulpine and Alexander looked at the Marrowick. The Marrowick bubbled.

"No, then," said Alexander. "Though, it would surprise me if Phineas and Sky didn't at least suspect it. It's possible Errand was just looking for another way to lure Morton to Exile, that he didn't realize the danger he was putting Sky in."

"And do you believe that?"

"No," said Alexander. "I don't believe Errand does anything accidentally."

"You think he meant him harm?"

"Hard to say," Alexander replied thoughtfully. "Sky seems to be one of the few things in the world Errand honestly cares about. And he didn't leave Sky completely unprotected-he himself imitated Sky and led many of the hunters into Sky's traps the night of the hunt, though Sky never realized it."

"Hopefully Sky is enough," said Vulpine.

"We took a serious gamble with them," said Alexander. "If one or the other falls, I fear our entire cause will be lost. We
will need
both of them to stop what is to come."

"Are you having second thoughts about what we did?" asked Vulpine.

"Always," Alexander replied.

Fred had heard enough. He swooped down behind Alexander. As he did, he shifted, his skin rippling and stretching, until a young woman-no older than twenty-five-stood in Fred's place. She had long, flowing blond hair that cascaded down her back like glittering stardust, and eyes as deep and blue as ocean ice. She wore blue jeans, a T-shirt, and a long black trench coat.

Before Alexander could react, the woman put a knife to his throat.

"Ursula!" Alexander cried, sounding frightened. Vulpine started to move.

"STAY BACK, VULPINE!" Ursula drew blood from Alexander's neck.

Vulpine paused and then withdrew.

"How did you know- how did you find me?" Alexander asked.

With her free hand, Ursula drew out the empty package she'd stolen from Sky- the one he'd recovered from the bowling alley. She dropped it in front of Alexander.

"You licked the envelope," Ursula hissed. "A biological sample is all I need."

She shifted and suddenly she looked just like Alexander.

She shifted back.

Alexander groaned.

"Which one, Alexander?"
Ursula hissed.

Alexander shook his head, regretting it as the knife cut into him. "I can't tell you, Ursula; right now that knowledge is the only thing keeping me alive."

"TELL ME! You stole him! You! You stole him from me! Now, TELL ME!" Ursula took a deep breath. "Which one is my son?"

THE END