My eyes strayed from Anne-Marie to the ceiling of the dungeon, as I realized that Parafron was actually going to execute his deranged plan of bombing the island. Anne-Marie didn’t say a word. I was sure she had known this was coming.
When Parafron came to the microphone, I almost didn’t recognize his voice with its heavy, saccharine undertone. I leaned toward the window, careful not to miss a word he said.
“My very dear, precious students, I come to you in the dark hours of this early morning to disclose a disturbing discovery about this island. Within the past few days—and most especially within the past several hours—it has come to our attention that there are harmful spirits on the island. These spirits take human form at night and come off as being alive—as alive as any other living soul.”
I heard a low murmur ripple through the crowd.
“Yes, yes, yes,” continued Parafron. “I know you’ve all heard about the Demon of Stauros—and, in fact, he is one of the phantoms that we caught tonight and will put away.”
Someone clapped slowly at first, and then furiously. The echo from the microphone made me realize that it was Parafron clapping for himself.
“An achievement!” shrieked Parafron. “We caught the demon. Cheer, goddamn it! Cheer! Cheer!” Listening to Parafron applaud himself, I imagined the reaction of the students outside. They had to be frowning, if not completely slack-jawed, the way Anne-Marie was.
Murmurs arose as bewildered students began to ask one another, “What’s wrong with him?” “What’s his problem?” “Is this a joke?” Anne-Marie, who was still standing only several feet from me, her back to the dungeon door, looked at the ceiling and shook her head, mumbling something inaudible.
The clapping stopped. Parafron abruptly resumed his speech. “Ahem!” He cleared his throat. “But there are many, so many, phantoms. And they are dangerous. Given this island’s grand history, beginning with the Revolution of Enlightenment of 1615, we knew that perhaps one or two inhabited the grounds, but we never suspected they would pose a threat. As for the Demon of Stauros, we believed we had gotten rid of him years ago—ha! Decades ago! To our dismay, we discovered we were not vigilant enough. Tonight he returned, and, as many of you know, earlier this evening, he nearly killed a fellow student.
“After seeing firsthand Tyler’s injuries, I called in guards, in case other vicious attacks might happen to you, our dear, vulnerable students. Indeed, we witnessed a phantom luring one of our own to the roof. I chased the phantom away, as I’m sure all of you saw. And to make sure that she wouldn’t come back to bother other students—as well as to use her as an example to the other phantoms—I threw her over the tower. Unfortunately, one of our students, who had fallen under her curse, jumped in after her, which is just what she wanted: his death. It’s what all of them want. They want to see all of you dead. But there is nothing to fear, for I am doing my damnedest to protect all of you from them.”
“Liar!” I recognized Max’s voice.
Then Irving’s voice rang out. “The chancellor is lying to cover up the fact that the Order of the Shrike is bombing the island. They want to get rid of evidence of their misdeeds! The phantoms aren’t dangerous. In fact, they’re helping us to see the truth about the Order of the Shrike, and how corrupt they are. The phantoms will continue to help us.”
Despite the somberness in the air, I was pleased to witness the effect of the short speech I’d given Irving earlier. I moved even closer to the window, hoping to catch anything else he might say.
“As I said . . . !” Parafron bellowed. “As I said, these phantoms can cast a curse on us and make us believe they are helping us, or that they need our help—as was the case with the girl who jumped off the tower tonight. All that matters is that they’re not real. And tonight, as your chancellor, I was trying to protect all of you. Do you really think I would throw a living girl into the sea? Why, that would be like throwing one of you into the sea—I couldn’t imagine! No, no, no . . .” He broke into a high-pitched giggle. I could hear him struggling to stifle it. “H-h-hurling each of you over the edge . . . I could never imagine—bwah!” I heard him snorting loudly, trying to smother his laughter. I envisioned him smashing his fist against his mouth.
“Really. I can’t believe he’s the chancellor!” Anne-Marie bit her lower lip and began pacing. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and, although she was angry, there was sorrow on her face. Despite her cold perception of the rest of humanity, she certainly had thought fondly of Drev, even though he’d had nothing but disdain for the Order of the Shrike.
“Ahem!” Parafron cleared his throat and regained his normal tone. “That being said, I have ordered evacuation trucks to come to the island throughout the day. By sundown, all of you will be evacuated, for I have received confirmation from the chief of the military air forces that this island will be firebombed at midnight.”
A loud protest arose from the crowd. From the corner of my eye, I saw Anne-Marie shaking her head.
“It should never have ended like this,” she said, closing her eyes, as though the destruction of the island pained her.
“How else could it have ended?” I asked. Anne-Marie didn’t answer my question. Instead, she stared blankly at the floor. I turned back to the window, recognizing familiar voices rising above the buzz in the courtyard.
Siren shouted first, and then a slew of other phantoms followed her lead.
“This island is sacred! It’s been here since the beginning of time!” shouted Ravana.
“How dare you bomb this island? This is our home!” shrieked Yuki Ona. I drew my head back from the window with surprise. The phantoms were revealing themselves among the crowd. Had they all accepted this as the end?
“Where’s the proof that the phantoms have bad intentions?” demanded the headless knight.
I waited to hear a reaction from the students. No one seemed to follow up that question with an accusatory comment. Instead, to my pleasure, they began to attack the chancellor.
“The chancellor’s lost it!” cried out a student.
“Yeah, no one around me looks like a ghost!” shouted another student.
“He’s trying to distract us from the crime he committed!” yelled another.
“The chancellor is a murderer!” Several students began to chant in tandem. Others soon joined them.
“Calm,” growled the chancellor, though the crowd continued to heckle him.
“I said quiet!” he roared. The crowd went silent at his abrupt outburst. The silence lingered for a few seconds, until Parafron spoke.
“The sun will rise shortly. And when it does, I want you all to look carefully to your left and right and notice who is still there. Then you will know that there are phantoms among you.”
Panic washed over me. There was no escaping the power of the sun. Nor was there any way to delay its arrival. Although I wasn’t out in the courtyard, I knew that all the phantoms were terrified at the revelation that was about to come forth. I stood away from the wall and stared at the window, petrified at the rays of dawn that would come out shortly.
“Hugh,” Anne-Marie called. I turned to look at her. Her eyes were tired; creases bunched under them as she winced. “Before I can’t see or hear you, there’s something you must know, something I must tell you—”
I held up my hand. “Not now, Anne-Marie.”
My fellow brethren were on the verge of being found out; it was as though they were about to be publicly executed. One minute passed, and then another. I heard some feet shuffle. Normally, the phantoms would have taken their leave moments before dawn. But now that they were being targeted, leaving would incriminate them. They were stuck. The first rays of dawn were creeping in, creating a blue haze all around. Restless whispers circulated. I leaned away from the window, not knowing what to expect. I heard cries.
“Oh!”
“My God!”
“He’s gone!”
“She’s disappeared; she was right here!”
As
the first streams of sunlight lit up the ground, the phantoms were vanishing right before the students’ eyes. I realized that I, too, must now be invisible and Anne-Marie couldn’t see me. I looked at her. She was still standing by the open door, staring in my direction, her gaze just a tad off to the side. I took a few steps toward her. There wasn’t even a flicker of an eyelash. She couldn’t see me.
“So, my dear students, you see how serious this situation is,” Parafron continued. “We deeply regret that we couldn’t detect this sooner. But now that we have, it is our duty to evacuate you from the island as quickly as possible. Please be ready by tomorrow afternoon, if not earlier.”
The thud of running feet and the cries of anxious students echoed through my ears. I could hear some phantoms crying and others grumbling. The situation had gone from chaotic to catastrophic.
I needed to discuss with Ahura Mazda and the other phantoms what action we would take next. I walked toward the door, which remained open. Anne-Marie stood slightly in front of it, to the right. As I passed her, I saw she was still crying. Although my anger toward her still boiled, I felt guilty leaving her while she was so sad. I paused to face her and say my farewell.
“Good-bye, Anne-Marie,” I said softly. I knew she couldn’t hear me, but I continued to speak nevertheless. “Don’t be so heartbroken over Drev. We can find comfort knowing that he died following his heart.”
Tears continued sliding down her cheeks. She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and shook horribly with a sob. Without looking up, gasping in between her torrent of tears, she cried out, “Hugh, you must know. You must! I know you’re still here. You have to know. How could you not know? How could you not see? Drev was different. He was special, so special. . . . He was our son! Yours and mine.”