I open my mouth to answer, but all that comes to mind are Mara’s eerie green eyes and the sharpness of her claws digging into my flesh. My throat closes, and my stomach tightens. Instinctively, my hand drags up to my chest, where I was certain she ripped out my heart. Nothing’s there. I peek inside the robe. No open wound, not even a bruise, just white scars.
“What happened to me?” I finally manage to ask.
The woman gives me a tight smile. “You were attacked.” She shifts her weight and looks away; she doesn’t plan to elaborate.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Priya Parrish. Call me Priya.” Her smile warms, and she takes a seat on the chair near my bed. “Grand Master of Death Magic, and I also serve asPrincipal Grand Master at the Department of the Supernatural. You may know it as DOTS.”
DOTS. I can ask her about Olivia’s murder. Firstline took her body for further investigation, and Priya has to have more information if she’s in charge of DOTS.
“You have your father’s eyes,” she says, right as I’m about to ask her about Olivia.
I stare at her. She knew my father. Suddenly, I have a million questions. What was he like? Was he a whisperer, too?
Before I can ask, the doors creak open. Priya straightens, her eyes trained on the person walking in.
“Welcome, Miss Corvi.” A familiar voice fills the space. “Good to see you alive.”
Delaney’s heels click against the wooden floorboard, and it’s so… loud. How ironic that just two days ago, she gave me until Friday to make a decision, and here I am at the very place I spent my life avoiding.
“When is my sister’s funeral?” I ask no one in particular. With Olivia’s body moved to DOTS, funeral plans had to have changed.
“Monday,” Delaney answers. “We will arrange for transport to Albion, of course.” Monday seems soon yet so far. I am torn between wanting to see my sister again and not wanting to say goodbye. I imagine that’s how my life will be now; a constant push and pull; anger that she was ripped away from me too soon and regret over everything I could’ve done to prevent that.
“Will I be able to see her before then?” I try, looking from one to the other, before lingering on Priya. She is the Principal Grand Master; sheisthe authority.
“I’m afraid this will not be possible,” says Priya. “Rest assured, her body is being well cared for. It’s just… the full extent of magic doesn’t work on nonmagi, so we’ve had to call in a regular medical examiner.”
Magic doesn’t work on nonmagi. Her words sink like an anchor, dragging down my hopes of ever speaking to my sister. I knew this. I’ve always known this. Only two types of magic work on nonmagi. An Arkani reader’s touch to read their memories, and a Mortemagi whisperer’s touch to hear their last words. How could I have forgotten? I was never going to be able to speak to Olivia’s ghost. It was never going to be more than her last words at the lake, and I didn’t even let her finish speaking.
“I promise, we’re working as fast as we can,” Priya reassures me, but it doesn’t matter anymore. “Sorry, Miss Corvi, I—”
“I don’t think there’s a need to apologize for formalities, Principal Grand Master Parrish.” Delaney clears her throat. “If one of our Secondline mages hadn’t run into you, you would have been dead, too, Miss Corvi.”
Of course she has to remind me that I am alive because of them. I glare at her insensitivity, but she’s right. I was dying, so how am I alive? “What did you do to me?”
Delaney’s head tilts to the side, her lips pulling into a proud smile. “We healed you.”
“At what cost?”
“We protect our own.” She meets my eyes with a silent understanding that I owe them the same. My anger boils at my throat. Why didn’t theyprotectOlivia?
At my side, Priya rises from her seat, her eyes on Delaney.
“What do you know of your magic, Miss Corvi?” Delaney looks at my cuff.
A lot. “Nothing.”
“Your grandmother was one of the greatest Mortemagi of her generation. The reason Mortemagi are able to serve as Firstline mages is thanks to her,” Priya speaks at last. If she was hoping to offer support, she’s only twisting the knife in my heart. Of course, Nan changed lives. She changed mine in the short years I spent with her. I wish she were still around. Olivia wouldn’t be dead, and I wouldn’t be here.
“I’d like to think you’ve inherited her greatness,” Delaney says, her lips twitching ever so slightly.
How much further could I have fallen? All I know of my magic is from books. Before yesterday, I was only half a whisperer, Death’s errand girl. I didn’t even know there was a difference between ghosts and the dead I used to listen to. And now, I will walk through the same halls Nan did, disappointing her with every step I take.
“What makes you think I want anything to do with this magic?”
Delaney and Priya exchange a glance, and for the first time since the overseer walked in, I get the sense that one’s trying to scare me into attending Gorhail, while the other is enticing me with kindness. That their tension is manufactured, only there to manipulate me.