An Ember's Keeper

Chapter 9

Hayden curses loudly and rather creatively in Greek as he closes yet another useless (at the moment) book.

Gil looks over from his place in front of the window where he'd been checking for any signs of Audrey. "No luck?" he asks.

"Nothing," Hayden confirms. He runs an agitated hand through his hair and huffs out an irritated breath, fighting back a cough as he does. "I am no closer to finding the person helping that brat than I was before."

"Well, that's not completely true," Gil says optimistically. "I mean, you know who it's not, right?"

"In a way." He adds the book he'd just closed to the 'already read' pile. "It's no fairy because the magic doesn't feel right. It's no mere witch either."

Gil walks over and studies the pile of read books on the table. He can't actually read any of the titles and it's not because the letters are moving like usual. "You're only reading the Greek books," he notes.

Hayden nods and tries to ignore it when his chest hitches yet again. "The curse, the magic itself, it feels... Greek. I can't really explain it but-" He turns and coughs into his elbow, thankful that the black fabric of his pushed up sleeve hides any blood.

"Hayden!" Gil reaches out, hands hovering close to the godling's form but not sure what he can actually do to help.

"I'm fine," Hayden tells him. He wipes at the corner of his mouth and pointedly ignores the worried look Gil shoots him. "Like I was saying, it feels Greek. This curse, whatever exactly it is, is ancient magic. It's dark magic."

Gil slowly lowers his hands, eyeing Hayden cautiously as he does. "Well, yeah," he agrees after a moment. "I mean, I don't really know anything about magic but coughing up blood definitely sounds dark."

"It's more than that," Hayden tells him. He hops down from the table, careful not to disturb the pile of books as he does. "This curse isn't the type of thing that shows up in Auradon's little fairy tales."

Gil's brow furrows as he watches Hayden start to pace back and forth. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Cursed into a beast? Whatever. You'll be fine if a little hairy. Eternal sleep? You won't even notice time passing. Turned into a frog or a bear? You still get to live; you're just an animal now."

"So, this one...?"

Hayden presses one hand to his chest as his lungs stutter again. "It's a little more active. I mean, I'm coughing up blood. When it progresses enough it feels like I'm drowning in it." He glares fiercely at nothing as little wisps of smoke start to curl from his hair. "As I learned," he adds darkly.

Gil sighs in a mix of worry and frustration as he walks back toward the window. He looks outside and sees no sign of Audrey or anyone else. In fact, there's no one around at all. The only sign of life seems to be a few birds outside. One particularly loud woodpecker sits on the tree closest to the window.

"Okay," he mutters. "Okay." He turns back to look at Hayden. "So, you're saying whatever she's done is Greek because it's too... deadly for the magic users around here?"

"Auradon fairy tales are all happily ever afters. Greek stories, our history, it isn't like that," Hayden explains. "It's soaked in blood and death, tragedy after tragedy."

"They can't all have a sad ending," Gil protests. His face falls when Hayden doesn't answer. "Right?" he asks quietly.

Hayden bites at his bottom lip and looks upward in thought. "Well, I guess there are some stories that technically end happily. Dionysus and Ariadne do alright. Orpheus got to see his wife again in the Underworld. Same with Achilles and Patroclus, together in death."

Gil frowns. "I'm starting to see a pattern and I don't like it."

Hayden shrugs. "It is what it is," he says simply. "The point, though, is this: any curse hailing from Greece is meant to do some serious damage."

"That means you've got a list of potential people then, right?" Gil asks brightly. His smile dims when Hayden turns and coughs again.

"Right," he agrees after a moment, voice hoarse and one hand rubbing absently at his chest. "Problem is, there's a lot of magic users that it could be. The list is long and not looking like it'll be any shorter any time soon."

Hayden sits back at the table, kicking his boots up on the surface and grabbing the next book. "It also doesn't help that I don't know if we're dealing with an immortal or not." He pauses and narrows his eyes in thought. "That does make the most sense though. Time to gain the amount of power needed."

Gil watches the godling start to skim the book, flipping pages quickly as he finds nothing to help him. "Sorry I can't help, Hayden," he says, feeling a bit useless. "I just can't read Greek." He crosses his broad arms and look self-consciously down at his feet. "Can't really read English either," he adds with a sigh.

"You read fine," Hayden immediately corrects. He turns a page, not even looking up from the book. "It takes you a little longer, true, but there's nothing wrong with that."

He says it like it's nothing more than an obvious fact, something everyone should just know and acknowledge as true, with an underlying threat should they choose not to.

A knock at the door stops Gil from responding.

It's probably for the best, really. He never knows quite how to explain how much it means to him when someone (meaning Uma, Harry, or Hayden) treats him like a moderately intelligent person rather than just another son of Gaston who's good for nothing but muscle and taking orders.

Hayden finally turns away from his book as they both look first at the door then each other.

"We're not answering that," Gil says firmly. He positions himself in front of the door anyway, one hand on the hilt of his sword. He doubts Audrey would bother knocking but that doesn't mean somebody else isn't helping her.

Hayden narrows his eyes, suspicion clear. "No one comes to my room," he says quietly. "At least, no one that's in Auradon right now."

Gil narrows his own eyes as he pulls his sword from its scabbard. "Why does she want us to leave the room?" he asks.

"It can't be for anything good," Hayden points out. He stands again and crosses over to the window. Moving the heavy black drapes aside, he looks out and sees nothing out of the ordinary. There are a few birds (a woodpecker on the closest tree is particularly loud and irritating) and not much else.

Before he can turn away, however, he feels the familiar sensation of magic in the air. He unconsciously presses on hand to his chest as his lungs stutter, but it doesn't feel quite the same as last night; the magic doesn't feel as personalized.

Hayden watches to see if anything will happen and, sure enough, the birds hopping around the grass outside stop. They relax, settling down and tucking their little heads into their wings.

They're not dead. He'd be able to feel it if they were. In fact, given how calm they seem and the way they settle down, it's more like...

Hayden's eyes widen as he realizes what Audrey has obviously done now. He immediately turns on his heels and hurries over to the door. Ignoring Gil's questions, he grabs the doorknob and allows hellfire to form across his hand.

There's a bright flash of blue that starts at the door and spreads to cover the entire room along with its occupants.

Gil shivers at the so-hot-it's-actually-cold feeling. "Hayden, what is it?" he asks cautiously, sword still in hand and form tense.

"Audrey," Hayden sneers. He turns to look at Gil, eyes glowing slightly and expression completely serious. "She's cast a sleeping curse over Auradon," he says grimly.