Ranjit was very still as Sir Alric studied them both, flicking his pen from finger to finger. Cassie held her breath.
‘And it doesn’t bother you that your … status … will be different to his? That Ranjit will be Few, and you won’t? Think hard, Cassie. Think of what you’ll be giving up for an uncertain future.’
‘It isn’t uncertain,’ broke in Ranjit quietly.
Cassie shook her head. ‘I appreciate what you’re doing, Sir Alric, and I understand. Honestly I do. But I felt it. I felt that power in the cavern, when I needed her help to break away from the Eldest’s power. I felt it on the mountain, fighting Marat. I know I needed her then, but I don’t want that kind of power forever. That malevolence, Sir Alric, it’s not human. It’s got nothing to do with humanity.’ She bit her lip. ‘Sorry if that’s an insult, by the way.’
Sir Alric laughed drily. ‘If it is, it’s one I don’t mind. And nor, I’m sure, does Ranjit.’
Ranjit stirred and coughed. ‘Sir Alric …’
‘Yes?’ Frowning, Sir Alric turned to him.
‘There’s something I have to say. I …’ Ranjit’s voice dried, and he glanced at Cassie, squeezing her hand.
‘Out with it,’ Sir Alric encouraged.
‘There’s … Look, I need to do something. Something … important.’
Impatiently Sir Alric raked a hand through his hair. ‘Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like this?’
‘Because you won’t.’ Ranjit bit his lip, then looked at Cassie. ‘Sir Alric? I want you to use the Pendant and the Knife on me too.’
‘What?’
‘Draw out my spirit.’ Ranjit swallowed hard. ‘Free it from me and put it in the Urn with Cassie’s. I want to stop being Few.’
Never, thought Cassie, had she seen Sir Alric look so utterly stupefied. The headmaster stiffened, then shoved his chair back and stood up.
‘Ranjit Singh? Give up your Few status? Young man, you are the most powerful spirit in the Academy, and you’re destined to be one of the most powerful in the Few. Are you out of your mind?’
‘Yes.’ Ranjit gave Cassie a fleeting wink, then turned back to Sir Alric. ‘I’ve been out of my mind since my initiation. I want to get back into it.’
‘Ranjit.’ There was infinite sadness in the headmaster’s voice. ‘You know that’s not true. You’re like us all: more yourself than ever.’
‘I don’t want to be more myself. I want to be the self I used to be. And I want to be that person with Cassie.’
Cassie put her hands to her eyes. They were hot and wet, and she realised with shock that she was crying. Glancing at Isabella, she saw that her roommate was, too. Jake was simply looking at Ranjit with an expression of conflicted awe and incredulity and relief.
‘You’re right, Sir Alric,’ Ranjit went on, standing up and drawing Cassie to her feet after him. ‘There would be problems if I was Few and Cassie wasn’t. I don’t know what kind, but I accept there would be. So why bother? I’ll be what she is. Human.’
Cassie wrapped her arms round his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. It wasn’t just blind, irresistible love, she thought; it was the fact that if she didn’t hang on to him, she was going to faint with joy.
Sir Alric didn’t speak for a long time. Stretching out a hand, he toyed with the chain of the Pendant, then lifted it up and let it swing, gleaming in the golden light.
‘I don’t want this,’ he murmured. ‘I don’t want to do this to you or to your spirits.’
‘But we want it,’ said Cassie. She brought Ranjit’s hand impulsively to her lips and kissed it, barely able to believe her happiness. ‘We both do.’
Sir Alric rubbed his face with both hands. ‘If it’s to be done, it must be done now. The Council representatives are flying out this evening to take the Urn.’
‘You’ll have to explain why there are spirits in it, I take it?’ Ranjit sounded curious, but not anxious.
‘That I can blame on the Eldest somehow. He took the spirits for feeding.’
‘Packed lunch,’ muttered Cassie.
Sir Alric very nearly cracked a smile, but didn’t succeed. ‘And the Council won’t be interested in why the human hosts survived, or even if they did.’ Very thoughtfully he replaced the Pendant on the desk, then stroked the hilt of the Knife.
‘I believe you’ll miss this, Cassie.’ He tilted an eyebrow.
‘Yes,’ she agreed, gazing at it. ‘But honestly? Not that much.’
Sir Alric clenched his fists and shut his eyes briefly, agitation barely suppressed. ‘If your minds are made up – and I can tell that they are – there’s no point delaying. Release him, Cassie.’ He added drily, ‘If you can, that is.’
Very, very reluctantly, Cassie drew away from Ranjit. He gave her hand a last squeeze as they parted; then they both turned to Sir Alric.
‘What,’ said Cassie, ‘no hoods? No chains? No stone altars?’
‘All that rigmarole?’ Sir Alric shook his head. ‘All the rituals are perfectly simple, really. It’s just that the Few have always liked our little piece of theatre.’ He smiled fractionally, then, his face serious once more, he raised the Pendant in one hand, Knife in the other.
Jake pulled Isabella back a little, in a protective reflex, but as the Pendant started to glow, its energy was all focused on Cassie and Ranjit. Cassie felt nothing at first; then there was a tremendous jolt in her chest, the tug of something pulling away from her. For a horrible moment, it felt like her heart.