The strange maetrie looked perturbed about being questioned by them, but also seemed to respect the power of the Lady. His nostrils flared as he answered.
"The young Prince, Orráine, is coming of age. Queen Zaire wishes to have a party for him," said Kavano as he stroked the table with his fingertips. He said it as if it was a private joke, sneering when he said the young prince's name.
"That can't really be the reason," said Zayn hastily. "That's a huge expense."
"Queen Zaire spares no expense when it comes to her sons, each in their own way. Why, she has been cornering the gemstone market in the Eternal City just because the elder prince thinks it's a good investment, even though everyone knows this is a foolish bet. The market is flooded," said Kavano.
"Why open an embassy in Invictus if it's just for a coming of age party? Surely there's another reason you've heard about?" asked Zayn.
"Maybe the queen is using it as a way to introduce herself to your feeble city. I don't know. I don't care. As long as she's not here, all the better," said Kavano, getting up from the table.
He left the bar. Zayn sat in quiet with his teammates, until Vin spoke up.
"I think we should be leaving. Now that Kavano's gone, our tenuous welcome has been retracted."
"I feel like I'm wearing a tutu in a biker bar," said Skylar.
"You go to the wrong biker bars," said Vin.
A couple of the biggest dolgants looked like they were working up the nerve to come over, so Zayn motioned for his team to leave. Collectively, they got up and moved to the exit, and a few dolgants followed them until they were outside.
Away from the Stone Cypher, Zayn said, "Take us back to the portal point."
Portia stared intently into an alleyway. Zayn, who was ready for it this time, saw the darkness shimmer, as if it were realigning with a new reality. As they headed into the new area, he heard the nightmare-pulled carriage that they'd avoided before turning onto the street.
When they reached the new area, it was different from the previous visit. Most of the magelights were burned out, and those working were pale eyes in a thin mist rising from the glistening stone street.
"Where are we, Portia?" asked Zayn.
"I...I don't know," she replied, looking confused about their surroundings.
"Why is the fog thickening?" asked Vin.
Sure enough, the air was swirling, condensing around them, the watery mist like a caress against his skin. Distant magelights, already dim, were swallowed by the growing whiteness, until they were mere glimmers.
The hairs on the back of Zayn's neck rose in anticipation. Every nerve told him to run, yet he worried he would be running into danger if he did. But every moment he delayed he felt like his chances for escape were being closed off.
"I think we're in trouble," said Skylar. "This is a smoke-eater, isn't it?"
"Yes," said Portia.
"Should we run or fight?" asked Zayn.
"I...I don't know," said Portia, clearly distressed. "There was nothing about how to deal with smoke-eaters, only warnings to avoid them."
"Too late for that," said Keelan, edging forward. "I say we run through the fog and try to get to our portal before it can get us."
"No," said Skylar defiantly. "That's what it wants us to do. We need to stay put."
The fog seemed to catch their voices and reflect them as if they were in a small chamber. His vision grew fuzzy at the edges. Zayn blinked hard to clear his eyes.
"Wait, think. Something's going on," said Zayn.
"It's the fog," said Vin, who sounded very far away. "It's doing something to us."
Zayn could only see a dozen paces around him. The world, even the sky, was one big white cloud. He felt like a tuning fork struck cleanly.
"The fog...it's messing with us, trying to confuse us," said Zayn.
It was like his own words echoed in his head. Zayn stared at the whorls in his fingerprints, holding his hand close to his face. The world dialed down to a tiny pinhole of existence.
"Where's Keelan?" asked Vin.
Mention of his cousin brought Zayn out of his fog. He wasn't with them anymore. Somehow he'd wandered off while they were talking, or standing and doing nothing—Zayn wasn't even sure how long they'd been there. Fear that had been suppressed by the smoke-eater rose up, waking Zayn from his immobility. The others seemed to be coming to as well.
Vin cupped his hands around his mouth. "Keelan!"
"Hush," said Skylar, eyes wide, still caught by the creature’s spell. "It'll hear us."
Portia slapped Skylar, who shook her head.
"Thank you. I don’t know what came over me."
"Use your imbuements to locate him," said Zayn.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Zayn opened up his hearing as if he were a satellite dish for the world. Behind him, he heard the clack-clack of hooves on cobblestones, coming from the Stone Cypher street. The way was still open.
But then further ahead, he heard crying. He didn't recognize Keelan until the sob broke.
"That way!"
Zayn gestured into the fog. His teammates moved with him. As they approached, Zayn sensed something fleeing ahead of them. They found Keelan curled into a ball on the cobblestones. He was unresponsive to their inquiries. Vin and Skylar hoisted Keelan between them on their shoulders.
"Back through to the other area," said Zayn, holding Portia's hand and keeping his other on Vin's shoulder so they didn't lose each other in the thick fog.
As they pulled Keelan away, Zayn sensed a rage from somewhere in the mist, anger that its meal was being taken from it.
"Run! Quickly!"
Portia led them back onto the other street, but the smoke-eater followed them, funneling through the alleyway like a sideways tornado. They ran into the middle of the street, right into the path of the nightmare-pulled carriage.
"Follow me!" yelled Portia, continuing through to another alleyway, which shimmered with dislocation as they approached.
The smoke-eater ran directly into the carriage, and the nightmares screamed, a soul-tearing screech that nearly knocked Zayn and his teammates from their feet. As the door to the carriage opened, Zayn felt a tugging, an encouragement to turn back, but the runed bracelet on his wrist burned as the countercharm worked to protect them.
"Go! Go! Go!" urged Zayn.
Portia led them through to the place that contained their portal. By this time, Keelan was more himself, aware and somewhat embarrassed about the smoke-eater tricking him. Zayn activated the portal at first chance, dragging them back to their world.
When they landed, slightly disoriented and still huffing from the mad run through the streets of the Eternal City, Keelan marched over to one of the rusty generators and kicked the steel with his boot.
"What a wasted trip," said Keelan. "We didn't learn anything useful and I nearly got us all killed."
Zayn watched the flat expressions of the team. The empty-handed escape had demoralized them.
"That's not true at all," said Zayn. "First of all, we survived, unharmed in all the important ways. Second, we learned a lot about the Eternal City. We know the dangers of faeila, dolgants, smoke-eaters. We know how to travel the city now. If we should return, we'll be more prepared."
They nodded, a little unsure at first, but then he saw how they seemed to brighten with the knowledge.
"And that's not all. Every one of us showed off new skills. Portia was an excellent scout. Skylar shielded us with her shadowy cloak of deception. Vin charmed us into the Stone Cypher. And Keelan's trinket kept away the maetrie's beguiling enchantment when we were trying to escape."
Smiles broke on their faces. Their eyes were lit from within.
"In fact, during that trip, I realized that while we're a good team, we're not anywhere near where we need to be. We need to start specializing in our skills. Portia, you're in charge of Scouting and Surveillance. Skylar is our Deceiver. Vin is the Face Man. Keelan is in charge of Security and Gadgets. I want each
of you to give yourself homework, develop your specialties until you're better than our instructors."
He said every title with a capital letter, and he could see by their eyes that they heard it that way too. Whatever aches and pains they had in the Eternal City were washed away by this new challenge.
"Hey cuz, you told us what everyone learned except you. What did you learn?" asked Keelan.
"I learned what we're going to do to get into the Embassy of the Diamond Court," said Zayn.
Wrinkles of confusion passed across their faces. "You did?"
"Yes. Kavano told us how to get into the embassy."
There were a lot of shared glances that suggested they didn't believe him.
"I don't recall him saying anything about how to get in," said Keelan. "Unless you had a secret conversation that we weren't aware of."
"Sure he did." Zayn shifted, mimicking the maetrie assassin's awkward body position. "Those preening, gilded birds aren't worth my time. They spend their days with their plays and marionette shows."
Portia was the first one to get it, and she gave him a slow, understanding nod.
"We're going to put on a play and get invited into the embassy?" asked Skylar.
"You got it," said Zayn, a grin rising to his lips. "The queen is hosting a coming of age party for Prince Orráine. Surely they will be hosting their favorite forms of entertainment."
"But we don't know anything about putting on a play," said Keelan.
"I was a drama kid," said Vin, raising his hand.
"Well, there we are," said Zayn. "I see we have our play director."
Vin's face lit up like a night of fireworks. "Oh, this is going to be fun."
They would soon find out how wrong they were.
Chapter Sixteen
Seventh Ward, December 2015
Fizzy lifting drinks
A few weeks after the trip to the Eternal City, Zayn was in his room memorizing a spell for breaking into complex electronic locks when he heard a commotion on the lower floor. He threw on a shirt and went downstairs, finding the living room in disarray.
Except for the couch, which contained a lounging Petri busy on her phone, every piece of furniture in the room—love seat, tables, wall hangings—had been broken into pieces no longer than a foot and stacked into a tower.
Skylar stood before the pile that formerly was their living room furniture with her hands on her head. She launched a piece of what looked like a table leg across the room, where it imbedded into the wall, vibrating upon impact.
"Instructor Minoan?" asked Zayn as he crossed his arms.
"Yep," said Keelan, sitting on the staircase with a frown. "What is this, the fifth or sixth time?"
Portia, who came downstairs in her workout clothes with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, said, "Fifth. First was the food, then the box of mice, then the room full of packing peanuts, those awful pigeons which took forever to clean up, and now this."
"Don't forget the butterflies," said Vin.
"Oh, yeah, those were nice though," said Portia. "So I guess sixth."
"Until they all died at midnight. They were everywhere," said Vin, sticking his tongue out.
Skylar was still raging, throwing pieces into the wall.
"He walks through our defenses as if they're not even there," said Keelan with his palms on his temples. "I thought the rebounding charm might keep him from spelling his way in, but I checked it and it's still completely intact. I don't know how he's doing it. I'm terrible at this."
"At least it wasn't snakes like Eddie's group had to deal with. They got into everything. Supposedly Eddie was opening a box of cornflakes and found a copperhead," said Portia.
Zayn rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe we're approaching it all wrong."
Skylar spun around and extended her arm towards Petri. "Maybe it would help if our guest would warn us when Instructor Minoan showed up to trash the place."
Still tapping on her cell phone, Petri glanced up long enough to say, "You told me not to get involved. I was not involved." She shrugged. "Anyway, I was asleep when it happened."
"Can't she be involved?" asked Skylar. "She's been lying around on our couch, doing nothing, not even helping out in the kitchen. She ate my whole jar of surprise berries last week."
Surprise berries had been bred by an Alchemy mage to taste like random berries with each bite. There were nods from the rest of the team. Away from the house there had been increased grousing about her role in the house.
For unity's sake, he asked, "Do you think you could help out more, Petri?"
"Last I checked, my aunt Snow Owl said you were supposed to show me the town, but you've done nothing but go to class, study, and let that weird-ass professor trash your place on a regular basis."
Zayn groaned internally. He'd been meaning to take her out, show her the city, but there was always one more thing to study, one more spell to prepare, and they hadn't even gotten anywhere with their thespian espionage plan.
"How about tonight?" he asked.
"Let me check my schedule," said Petri.
A little anger rose to his face until he realized she was baiting him.
"Uhm, yeah," she said. "I guess I'm free, if you're buying."
"Then let me get the team going, and then we can go out," said Zayn.
"So you're going to bail on us while we clean up this mess?" asked Skylar, eyes practically bugging out of her head.
He was going to try calming her down, but realized that would only make things worse. She'd been tense lately, quick to anger, and lashed out at everyone at odd times. He'd thought it was just the additional load with everyone working on their specializations, but it hadn't diminished and seemed to be getting worse.
"Actually, you're coming with me," said Zayn. "Assuming that's cool with everyone else?"
The others rapidly nodded their heads. Everyone knew she needed a break before she snapped on one of them.
Skylar opened her mouth as if she were going to sling a new insult, but then she looked around the room at the additional destruction she'd caused by throwing pieces of the furniture into the walls.
"Yeah, I guess I'll go out," said Skylar, moving up the stairs like a zombie.
"Do you need to change or anything?" asked Zayn.
"What? Are you saying you don't like my cutoff Garbage Kings T-shirt and sweatpants?" said Petri with faux huffy breath as she went upstairs.
"Just be ready in fifteen!" he called.
Keelan approached next, his mouth twisting with thought. "What am I going to do about Instructor Minoan? You put me in charge of Security, but nothing I've done has worked. I'm really sucking at this. I'm sorry I let you down."
Zayn opened his mouth, ready to give Keelan a few ideas he'd been mulling over, but realized that if he did that, then he'd continue to think he was a failure. Plus, he could tell it was more than the house defenses at stake. Since summer and their argument when Keelan moved into the Garden, things had been awkward between them.
Zayn patted his cousin on the shoulder. "You didn't let me down. The house defense is on all of us, and it's not like any of the other groups have figured out how to stop him. You'll think of something. See what you can work up with Vin and Portia. I bet by the time we get back tonight, you'll have the answers we need."
Keelan nodded absently, not in disagreement, but clearly he was working through the problem. Vin and Portia had gone into the kitchen, so he went through the swinging door. The murmurs of conversation started up immediately. Zayn didn't bother listening in, because he had his own plans to make.
Skylar and Petri met Zayn downstairs when they were ready. He wore his usual black jeans and shirt.
"Do I need to go change?" he asked upon seeing them.
Skylar had on a shimmery dress the color of sapphires that hung comfortably on her slight frame. With her short hair and dangling earrings, she looked like she was ready to sing at an upscale late-night cabana.
While not as e
legant as Skylar, Petri looked equally stunning. Her black dress had a girlish quality that contrasted with her ruby red lipstick. He almost didn't recognize her lingering by the front door.
"You look great, Zayn," said Skylar with a kiss on his cheek. "I lent her one of my dresses. How does it look?"
Despite the smoky eye makeup, Petri looked a little overwhelmed in her outfit. With her constant sarcastic comments, Zayn had forgotten she was a girl their age who'd never been to the city.
He searched for the right word, not wanting to confuse her, and settled on "Perfect."
They took the Blue Line to the Green Line into the second ward. There was a bar called the Levitating Mage that he'd heard about when he worked at the fish market last year. It was a kitschy tourist trap, but he thought she might enjoy it.
The décor was fluorescent, and every drink came with a glow stick. Club music played at ear-splitting levels, so Zayn put on a charm that allowed him to hear through the music, applying the spell to Petri as well. He grabbed them drinks and they stood at the end of the bar people watching.
"So what's your Aunt Amber like outside of the shop?" asked Zayn, trying to work up some small talk.
"Snow Owl," said Petri, a flatness returning to her lips. "Her name is Snow Owl."
"Sorry, she told me to call her Amber the first time I went into her shop," said Zayn, trying to remind himself that he didn't need to shout over the music.
"Her name is actually Snow Owl on an Old Grave, but I guess she doesn't want her name dirtied on your lips," said Petri.
Zayn looked to Skylar for help. She'd downed her drink already and was waving at the bartender for a second.
"So the Levitating Mage is more than a stupid name for a bar," said Zayn. "There's a room in back, well, multiple rooms, where you can drink a potion and float around the room. It sounds pretty cool. I got us some tickets for it, if you want to try it out."
Without another word, Petri grabbed the tickets and marched into the crowd.
When she was gone, Zayn said, "Isn't she a ball of sunshine."
"It's not like you've done her any favors since she got to the city. The year is half over and you're finally taking her out," said Skylar.
The Reluctant Assassin Boxset Page 59
