“This has been a long time coming,” a voice whispered, the shadows by the entrance to the chamber shifting as Elias emerged.

The Head hung limply from the dangling manacles, still knocked out by the blast that had weakened him. Alex watched him closely, paying little attention to the shadow-man as he sauntered up to the skeletal figure. The Head’s hood had fallen away, revealing the pale skin and sunken cheeks Alex recognized. It was strange to see him so vulnerable, but there was a triumph in their achievement. They had done what they had intended to do, and now redemption wasn’t far off. Alex inhaled deeply, feeling the weight of the Book of Jupiter in the satchel slung across his body.

“He doesn’t look so powerful now, does he?” Elias mused, lifting a wispy finger to the Head’s face.

The contact, however gentle, made Virgil stir.

“He’s just a man,” Alex replied, more to himself than anyone else. It was true—Virgil was just a mortal person, with a history that had formed him into the being that dangled before them. In a different life, the Head might have been different. Had he been cherished, the way a son ought to have been, perhaps he would have taken an alternate path.

Elias touched the Head’s face again, causing him to stir once more. A low groan emitted from Virgil’s mouth, his strange eyes blinking slowly open, as if he had just woken from a nightmare. His head snapped up, those same eyes going wide as Virgil took in his surroundings, looking up to see the restraints that held him firmly in place. There was panic on the ghoulish man’s face, but Alex felt little remorse. No amount of sympathy for Virgil’s past could wipe the slate clean of the things he had done, and it was time for him to pay for those gross misdemeanors.

“Release me,” the Head croaked.

It was Elias who spoke first. “You will never be free again,” he hissed.

Alex glanced at the shadow-man, feeling the hatred radiating from the wispy creature. The ferocity of his loathing was frightening to behold, especially as Alex could now feel it coursing through his own body—an unexpected byproduct of their shared energy.

“Release me this instant!” Virgil demanded, pulling against his restraints. The chains rattled, but there was no escape for the pale figure. It was the Head’s own security measures that now held him in place. Nobody, Spellbreaker, mage or hybrid, could break free of the sapping energy of the manacles.

“I want you to beg for your life,” Elias purred. “I want you to plead for it, the way I once pleaded for mine. I shall show you the same mercy you showed me.”

The Head sneered. “You will never see me beg, Elias. You flaunted your power, and you suffered for your pride. I will admit… I made an error in judgment, listening to Derhin, but you would not cooperate. I asked you to volunteer and you wouldn’t. When I told you of my own suffering, you laughed in my face—or have you forgotten?”

“I have forgotten nothing, Virgil,” Elias replied. “I wasn’t responsible for what Julius made you do, but you only sought to weasel your way out of it. You saw me, saw what I could do, and thought you’d take it for yourself. You were jealous and idiotic, but you’ll find it’s me who gets the last laugh.”

Virgil gave a low, menacing chuckle. “You are mistaken. I will not beg, and you will not succeed in taking whatever it is you think you can draw from me. You are weak, both of you.”

Alex frowned. There was a defiance in the skeletal creature that Alex hadn’t quite expected. Having seen him cowed in front of Alypia, Alex had forgotten that the Head could actually be quite intimidating when he wanted to be, especially at such close quarters. There was resentment in him too, as if Virgil blamed Elias and Alex for his own state of affairs, and the suffering he had undergone.

“Even now, you’re blaming someone else for your failings,” Elias taunted, flashing his teeth in a wry smile.

“We’re not here to take your essence,” Alex said, keeping his voice strong. “An apology wouldn’t save you now, even if you wanted to make amends for all the horrible things you’ve done.”

“I did what I had to,” Virgil remarked, showing no hint of remorse for the acts that had brought him here. “You think you have some sort of power over me, but no matter what you do to me, you will get your comeuppance. The chaos you have caused will not go unpunished. Once Julius hears of this, he will kill you in the most horrible manner you can imagine,” he spat, glowering in Alex’s direction.

Alex smiled. “With your help, whether you like it or not, we are going to put a stop to the Great Evil,” he said quietly, letting the words sink in.

To his surprise, the Head showed little fear. “You’re bluffing, Alex Webber,” he sneered. “The king of this nation could not make me do the act that would stop the Great Evil—what makes you think you can?”

“I know things Julius didn’t,” said Alex simply. “I am exactly the person who can make you do it. Let’s not forget, you and I share a common ancestor,” he added, gauging the Head’s reaction.

Virgil looked puzzled. “You and I share only our cursed power.”

Alex shook his head. “Not just that,” he said, and it felt so good to gloat. It didn’t seem the Head knew about his ancestry at all. Perhaps Julius and Venus had kept it from him all these years, in fear of how he might react, or how others might react to such a revelation, if the secret was more widely known. It wouldn’t be right to have a descendant of Leander Wyvern in such close association with the royal elite. “Have you heard of Leander Wyvern?” he asked.

“Rebel scum,” Virgil spat.

“Not a very nice thing to say about your father,” Alex remarked. “Your mother loved him, and their love created something impossible… you. My ancestor was also his child. You and I are blood, and no amount of defiance can change that.”

A look of pure rage flashed across Virgil’s face. “LIAR!”

“Afraid not, Virgil,” Elias purred. “The boy speaks the truth. You were the product of a love so rare, it defied the laws of nature.”

“I’m going to need you to tell me where the Spellshadow pit room is,” Alex said, relishing in the look of confusion that played across the Head’s ghoulish features.

A menacing smile stretched Virgil’s lips. “‘Pit room?’ I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb, Virgil. You know precisely where it is,” Elias said.

“Even if I did, I would never tell you,” Virgil hissed. “You are liars… I will never help you. You think a shared ‘bond’ will change my mind? After all this time, you think I care where I came from? Even if you were telling the truth, it wouldn’t matter. I know where my loyalties lie, and no tainted blood can alter that. I will never breathe a word of what you want to know,” he added, his voice dripping with hatred.

Alex smiled. “You don’t have to.”

Slowly, Alex approached the dangling figure, and though the Head fought against his restraints, there was nowhere to run. He could not stop what Alex was about to do, and for the first time, Alex saw a glimpse of something close to fear in the Head’s eyes. Reaching out his hands, Alex pressed his palms tightly against the struggling figure’s skull, keeping his head still as Virgil thrashed. Focusing intently, Alex weaved strands of white light into the Head’s mind. All the while, the skeletal man fought back, but there was nothing he could do to prevent the seeking strands of Alex’s powers.

Memories flooded Alex’s mind as he sifted through Virgil’s thoughts. He saw the Head standing in the sunshine with Finder, discussing the events that had brought them to that point. It was strange for Alex to see the discussion from a different perspective, looking at things through Virgil’s eyes, and their current symbiosis was the most unsettled Alex had felt in using his skillset. As their conversation came to a close, Alex knew Virgil had only been trying to do what was best, and what Julius expected of him, but it made no difference. Like anyone else in the world, he’d had a choice, and he’d followed the path of evil.

There were images of Virgil as a younger man, before the peculiar living decay had set in, giving him his current skeletal appearance. Flashes of Alypia’s cruelty peppered the scenes. She had been a cold-hearted sibling, taunting and hurting him at every opportunity, forever getting him into trouble with a step-father who loathed him. Seeing the familiar face of Julius screaming in the face of the younger Virgil, a hand raised to strike, Alex almost recoiled, feeling the ripple of intense fear that Virgil had felt now coursing through his veins.

Moving quickly on, he came to the vision he was looking for. Virgil was walking through the hallways of Spellshadow, carrying a large bag of clinking bottles with him, though there wasn’t quite so much gray ivy littering the place. He seemed to be heading for the secret corridors of his private quarters. Reaching the library where Ellabell had been left screaming after Elias’s attack, Virgil stopped, opening the door. Casting a glance back over his shoulder, he stepped into the room and closed the door firmly behind him.

It looked exactly the same as it had the last time Alex had entered the library, but Virgil didn’t seem interested in the rare and antique books. He moved on past the stacks, heading for a structure at the back of the room. It was a vast statue, tucked away behind a large bookshelf. When he pulled down on a splayed-out book carved from marble, a doorway appeared in the base of the statue. It was narrow, the Head having to turn sideways to slip through, but his thin frame made it easy.

Beyond, there was a staircase, leading down into the underground depths of the school. Alex watched through Virgil’s eyes as he descended hurriedly, his feet barely making a sound on the stone steps. At the bottom of the staircase was a hallway, hewn from the rock, much like the one Alex had witnessed at Kingstone, and at the end of the hallway stood a very familiar door. It was tall and sturdy-looking, with two great iron rings on either side.

Virgil approached it, opening up one of the doors. Alex already knew what he was going to see when he followed the vision through, but the sight was no less impressive for his anticipation. A huge pit yawned at the center of the cavernous room, a golden bird perched above it, flapping its wings wildly, its screeches piercing the stale air. It seemed Virgil had arrived just in time with his bottles of essence—the Great Evil was ravenous.

Now knowing where he needed to go, Alex began to recoil from the mind of Virgil. However, just before he removed the last of his strands from the Head’s mind, he paused, realizing he was going to have to do something to keep the Head malleable. The pit wasn’t too far, but Virgil wasn’t likely to come willingly.

Remembering what he had done to Virgil out on the lawn, Alex reached down into himself, seeking out the dim pulse of the piece of Elias’s soul. Drawing on it, he brought the magic into his hands and let the dark energy flow into Virgil’s mind, hopefully dazing him enough to get him to the pit without too much trouble.

Recoiling fully, Alex stepped back to review his handiwork. The Head had gone limp again, his whole body swaying lifelessly from the chains.

“You better not have killed him,” said Elias.

Alex grasped the Head’s wrist, checking for a pulse. To his relief, there was still a light thud beneath the skin.

“Don’t worry me like that!” Alex snapped, ignoring the grin Elias flashed back.

Unlocking the manacles, Alex released Virgil from his restraints, only to realize their next problem. With Aamir no longer around, it would be up to Alex to carry the Head to the library by himself. Stooping, Alex hauled the Head’s arm around his neck and began to drag him toward the door of the chamber. Elias cackled, evidently delighted at the comical sight.

“You could always help,” Alex said, losing patience.

Elias gave a casual shrug of his wispy shoulders. “I suppose I could,” he replied, swooping to help with Virgil’s other arm. It was a pleasant surprise, to have the shadow-man assist in the dirty work for once, and as much as Alex wanted to say as much, he held his tongue. The last thing he needed was for Elias to take offense and disappear into the darkness.

Sharing the weight, though the Head didn’t weigh all that much, given his skeletal frame, Alex and Elias hurried out of the chamber and headed toward the library. Turning the handle, Alex pushed open the door and pulled Virgil inside, leaving the door standing wide open as he carried the Head over to the statue he had seen in the memory. The splayed-out book was there, just as Alex had seen it. The anticipation was overwhelming as Alex pulled down on the book and watched the secret entrance slide open. They were impossibly close to success now.

With every awkward step they took down into the earth, Alex’s heart pounded harder and harder, until he thought it might burst from his chest. Eventually, they reached the bottom, where the hallway with the huge double doors stood at the far end. Alex paused for a second in front of the iron rungs, gripping the right-hand knocker until his knuckles whitened. It was getting a little too real, and part of Alex wanted to savor the moment as he pulled the doors wide.

The pit lay before him, but the golden bird perched above was barely moving.

You will never be fed again, Alex promised.