The square was mostly empty this early in the morning, except for the occasional tourists that were beginning to trickle in. Streams of sunlight poured over the grey stone floors, dripping down to meet the radiant white cathedral a short distance away.
Kazimir was still unconscious, his wrists bound together and his arms held tightly in Alex and Asher's grip. Whilst Maddie was relieved that he hadn't been awake all this time, it seemed that perhaps, now that they'd arrived, they would need his help.
A small sigh escaped her, and Maddie's wand flicked rapidly in her fingers, almost as if of its own accord. A jolt of glowing blue pierced the air, and Kazimir's jaw snapped upwards, his lucid tawny eyes rolling to the back of his skull before finally meeting hers. A ghost of a smile crafted itself onto Maddie's lips.
Kazimir's darting gaze swept across his surroundings, his eyes hardly comprehending the dizzying rainbow of colours that veiled every blurred, indistinct angle in his vision. Only flashes of the scene he came to recognize: the gold-tipped wings of angels perched atop the cathedral doors, and the steady disapproval carved into their white, plaster eyes.
His next show of panic slipped from his mouth in a barely audible, excruciated hiss, as if his bones were being reduced to ashes. "What have you done?"
An innocent smile blossomed on his sister's lips. "Isn't this your favourite place in Italy?" Katya asked, cocking her head to one side. "I was under the impression that you'd been hiding something precious here."
The effects of the potum vero were starting to wear off by now. Kazimir's eyes glittered with newly-founded anger, and his fingers twitched at the absence of his wand. "Someone will see you, and the chains. They'll help me-"
"You're under an invisibility spell," Leah said coolly. "We all are. Now, where the hell is she?"
The creases resting on his scowling face deepened. "I already told you."
With his patience dwindling rapidly, Alex slowed his pace. Then, he yanked Kazimir's arm behind his back in one sharp, lightning-swift motion. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific."
This time Kazimir kept silent. Leah sighed in defeat, reaching for the brown satchel hanging on Alex's arm.
She pulled out her hand, revealing a glass bottle that glittered threateningly in the sunlight. Its contents swirled with an almost mocking potency. At the sight of it, he grunted and snarled, strained in Asher's hold and struggling to be free. Her finger spun off the lid, and she used her other hand to lock his jaw in place.
His eyes lit up moments later, appearing as though made of yellow glass, the colour of honey or amber beer. Then, they dulled to their usual auburn. His shoulders slacked.
"Tell us where Annika is," Asher said firmly.
Kazimir bit down on his tongue, drawing blood. "At the top of the bell tower," he spat out. "surrounded by guards. I hope they kill you-"
Katya stepped forward, her arm drawing back almost mechanically before her fist collided with his nose. Her tone was distasteful. "That's all we need."
Just as Leah moved to protest, the wand stationed in Katya's fingers flicked backwards, and she uttered a spell too quiet for any of the others to identify. Kazimir's eyes closed, and his head rolled back in unconsciousness.
"Don't take too long," Katya said, straightening her shoulders. "Locus animi!"
A sudden spiral of grey light burst into existence, trailing up to the clouds of pearly white in the sky. There was a loud crack! and Leah's hands flew to her ears, though her eyes were open to witness the sparks of purple that erupted. In a heartbeat, Katya's body had morphed into a churning, warped version of reality, her figure blurring into the sky like an illusion before disappearing altogether.
Leah's hands fell to her sides, and she turned to the others, alarmed. "Are we even allowed to use that spell?"
Alex winced. "Pretty sure it's illegal-"
Without warning, a series of small explosions threaded the sky above them, multicoloured clouds of acid purple and a smoky, static blue invading the air - the scene resembled the interior of a nightclub, except this time the screams that followed were ghostly, and the swirls of colour more nerve-wracking than intoxicating.
"I'm assuming Katya wants us to hurry," Asher said, sounding resigned.
Maddie looked back up at the tower. Her gaze traced the structure's outline, how the shadowed edges sent bouts of sun spiralling back into a sea of blue. It was strange - for once, she couldn't feel the phantom fear lingering in her bones, or the dizzying whirlwind of doubts tearing through her thoughts. Her breaths lulled placidly in her lungs, her heartbeat steady.
She was quick to draw her wand. "Then hurry," she replied. "Locus animi!"
Alex cursed loudly, but it was too late. There was that same bursting of grey light, the light of the sky before sunrise. Then, Maddie's figure warped and churned, blinking in and out of visibility like some kind of glitch in a video game. In a matter of moments, she was gone.
Without missing a beat, Leah spoke next. "She didn't remove her invisibility spell."
Another sharp burst of churning, purple fog erupted on the bell tower once more, and a series of shrill, piercing cries bled into the surrounding air. Already, the small clusters of the tourists inside were heading towards the elevator.
"That's it," Alex announced, exasperated. "Grab me and form a chain or pray to Poseidon."
On edge, Violet was the first to latch onto his arm whilst he grudgingly adjusted his grip on Kazimir. Asher laughed quietly at her distress. Leah promptly ordered for him to shut up, kicking him in the shin before grabbing Violet's hand.
All it took was two words, the god-awful feeling of spindling downwards at an otherworldly speed, and the sensation of their skulls splitting from the impact. There was a rush of noise, and a piercing, white light stabbing at their eyes, that of sunlight exploding off of metal. Finally, the ground beneath them.
Violet inhaled sharply. It felt as though glass had splintered her lungs and spine.
An uncharacteristically brisk voice rang in her ears. "For Poseidon's sake, remove your invisibility spells!" Maddie hissed. "All that noise scared me."
Violet's eyes flitted upwards to meet Maddie's disdain. Beside her, Katya stood with her jaw set. "They must know we're here."
Asher craned his neck, breathing jaggedly. "Where could they have hidden her? This is a public space," he said, getting up to his feet.
Alex's hand tugged at Kazimir's collar. "That's why we have him."
"Because it's a public space?"
With his lips pressed together, Alex observed the ceiling. "No. So he can kick your ass for being idiotic," he retorted, swiftly shoving Kazimir's body into Asher's arms.
Then, he set off to evaluate the perimeter, the orderly pattern of his footsteps carried away by the whistles of the wind. Maddie's gaze lingered on the retreating form of his back a moment longer, and then her eyes fell back onto Asher, who was cursing underneath his breath.
Asher's frosted blue eyes met her steely stare with exasperation. "Give me a minute, would you? For immortals, all of you are really damn impatient."
When her eyes remained trained on him, Asher sighed, flinging Kazimir haphazardly against a nearby pillar.
A fraction of a second later, his bronze eyes flashed open in momentary terror, bolting across the surroundings in animalistic fear. He had been asleep, but the effects of being whirled up into the sky still weighed down his shoulders.
Now, he turned to glower at them, eyes narrowing into threatening slits. "You used that nightmare of a spell on me," he spat out, his volume heightening. "It was like my soul was being stolen from my own damn body-"
"A sensation many before you have felt," Katya reminded, indignant. "people who died at your own hands. People you murdered."
An unfeeling chuckle escaped him. Rasping laughter filled his lungs, pouring into the air, bordering on hysteria. His wild gaze descended lazily to his sister's resentful features. Kazimir smiled. "You're next."
Like lightning, a swift crack lashed against the surrounding air. Pinpricks of biting, frigid electricity began stabbing at his bruised face like a line of fire would one's eyes, accompanied by the stinging sensation of thorns unravelling on his skin. Blood blossomed from freshly-inflicted cuts on his cheeks. A single, strangled scream left his lips. He sunk lower down against the floor, struggling to breathe.
Katya's voice had lowered to a whisper. "Try me."
As she turned to face Maddie, the sunlight cast a spur of gold sparks in her red hair before fragments of it fell to frame her face. She spoke with a hardened tone. "Go with Alex. Use it."
Maddie stayed silent. Violet's soft voice found her ears. "The hairclip."
"Of course," she muttered. Instinctively, her fingers reached down to her tattered heel, navigating around the dirtied leather until they closed tightly, desperately, around a small shred of plastic. Coarse, gritty blue sparkles imprinted onto her skin.
Just as she thought to go find him, Alex's voice rang out from the shadows, and he reemerged into the light. "I found something," he breathed. "But he's going to have to talk."
Kazimir stirred once more. With an irritated exhale, he yanked Kazimir upwards from his collar, eliciting a jolt of protest. His guarded, furious eyes flashed upwards in anticipation. Alex wrenched him forwards, dragging him towards the shade.
Brief concern elapsed over Leah's features. Then, her fingers clasped around Maddie's wrist and gently pulled, until they were trailing behind Asher and Katya to where Alex had led them. Violet had slipped beside them.
It was a small, rounded corner between the spilling light of two windows. There was a conjunction of two pillars, and along the middle, just barely visible, was a warped and twisted symbol in the stone. Like the cathedral, this pillar had been marked by the carving of an angel, its chin raised proudly and its feathered wings curling forwards, protecting a set of broad shoulders sheathed loosely in cloth.
Maddie simply stood and stared. The blocks of stone rearranged themselves in her mind, melting together form a warped, distorted version of what she could see. Alex crouched down to survey the symbol properly. Maddie closed her eyes for a moment, and the knots in her shoulder blades fell.
In that moment, as she had always remembered it: the sensation of her bones warming amongst the swirling flow of magic in her blood, like the heat of melted butter seeping up into her skin. As she inhaled, a pulsing, vivid glow danced in the darkness of her closed eyes. When they opened again, still trained on the stone, the symbol had changed.
"Look past the layers," she sighed. "It's a glamour."
Like Maddie had envisioned, the stone had shifted, its markings now drawn in at different heights and angles. She looked to Kazimir, and the resentment swirling in his eyes told her she was right.
The fabric that fell from the figure's collar had darkened to black, as if the stone had been charred by flames. Amongst his shoulders, the wings had been divided into sections, resembling narrow spikes of grey crystal. The lines in his face had twisted, and he watched them with his features turned to a sneer.
This was no angel.
"I knew it-" Katya hissed, her fiery eyes darting to her brother. "I tried to tell Sonia so many times, and she never listened. All along, you were a part of this cult. This isn't just the Golden Sniper... Everything you did, everything that you still do, is for him."
Kazimir wiped the blood off of his cheeks. "You wouldn't understand."
Katya's voice wavered. "Out of all people, you chose Erebus."
"He chose me."
At this, Katya's fingers curled into her palm, her fingernails carving half-moons into her skin. A fragile silence hung in the air, like glass hovering above their heads, threatening to shatter with every quivering breath that left her lungs.
But instead of responding, she turned away, her copper hair shielding the anguish in her eyes. "The spell. Say the spell."
When he remained silent, Violet dug her wand into the dip of his collar bone. He relented, lines of exhaustion wrinkling his face. "Sto skotadi aniko."
The stone stirred once more, the symbol of the black-winged creature sliding underneath another layer of white plaster. Below them, a tremor struck the floor, tearing upwards from the ground and into their bones. A surge of consternation ran through her blood, and Maddie's hand reached out to grab Alex's shoulder instinctively, stabilizing herself.
The surface beneath them lifted, hurtling towards the ceiling. Just as she thought they'd be buried beneath its remnants, that too gave way, spiralling upwards and leaving four white pillars with only chilled air above them. As Maddie blinked rapidly, fragments of rippling green light flooded the darkness of her closed eyes, and soon everything became still.
When her vision flitted upwards, it was sweeping black birds that roofed it, amongst jade-coloured glass that extended all around them to form a pyramid, which housed polished black doors and snaking hallways. It may have resembled a skyscraper, had there not been only one floor stretched out endlessly.
"It's enchanted from the inside," Maddie whispered, mostly to herself. "How the hell are we here?"
A second, eerily familiar voice rang in the air. "Personally, I don't really care,"
Maddie spun around, brandishing her wand. There, a wave of dark-robed men, and the harsh contrast of blazing silver blades glinting in their hands. In the centre, one whose pair of dark brown eyes were set on her.
The same unmistakable voice spoke again, the slur of newly-learned Italian tinting his bastardly American accent. "Just know, Mads, you've overstayed your welcome."