“Well, color me impressed,” I said, turning the TV on as Levi went to sit. He wrapped the other blanket around himself and settled in on the couch, our feet resting on top of the airbed in front of us.
I found something for us to watch; an Adam Sandler movie that was almost exactly the same as every other Adam Sandler movie ever made. Neither of us cared what was on, though, not really. Levi had lasted even less than ten minutes, the sound of his light snoring hitting me only minutes after the movie had started. I don’t know how long before my eyes had given way, but when my eyes opened again, it was still night, the TV was off… and Levi’s arm was draped around my shoulder. I wasn’t sure how, or when, but I had crawled over to his side of the couch and settled against the crook of his arm.
My instincts wanted me to get up, to move, to tell him the movie was over and send him to his own bed so I could have my space, but this time, I didn’t listen to my instincts. Instead, I pulled my feet up onto the couch and snuggled up more closely against him, allowing sleep to fall over me again.
CHAPTER TEN
Levi and I didn’t talk about having woken up almost in each other’s arms. We just got up, stretched, and started our day, showering, and having breakfast swapping notes about what we remembered from the movie we’d been watching as we fell asleep. We also talked about the weather, and how it was a little colder today than it had been yesterday. These were classic avoidance tactics at work, but I wasn’t about to argue.
Luckily, Morpheus had left a message while I was sleeping, asking me to call him as soon as I was up. He’d been a little vague over the phone about the reason why he wanted Levi and I to head over to his place as soon as possible, but again, I wasn’t about to argue that point either. Discussing sensitive topics such as magic or the infiltration we were planning tonight just wasn’t clever, so instead I just agreed to go over as quickly as possible and we would talk about it there, making sure to bring a Hazelnut latte for Morpheus, returning the favor he’d done to me the day before. I wasn’t sure what Ivy’s drink was, so I brought her a slice of cheesecake, and I got a bacon and brie baguette for Tank. It was the least I could do for them considering all we had been through over the past twenty-four hours or so.
When we got to Morpheus’ place, Ivy was the one who greeted us at the door. She was wearing sweat-pants, a hoody, and her forehead and neck were wet with sweat.
“How’s it going, Ivy?” I asked.
“Good. Just got back from a run,” she said, opening the door further to let us all in.
“I guess you won’t be wanting this slice of cheesecake, then?”
“Fuck yeah, I’m always up for cake. Thanks.”
I handed it over to her and watched her move past us and head up the stairs, her feet thudding loudly on the wooden floors as she moved around above us. I decided not to wait and instead headed down to find Morpheus in the basement, his face illuminated from the glow of the many computer monitors arranged around him. Mason whistled as he took in the sights, drawing Morpheus’ attention who seemed to be very carefully watching one of the monitors on the panel in front of him.
Somehow, impossibly, it looked like there was more tech in here than there had been yesterday; almost as if it were self-replicating.
I handed him the latte and noticed the small stack of empty energy drinks sitting on the floor next to his chair. “Have you been up all night?” I asked.
“No. Maybe.” He took the latte. “I had stuff to do.”
“Stuff? What kind of stuff?”
“We’re mounting an operation tonight, are we not? That requires planning; careful, careful planning. Especially considering this operation involves throwing ourselves into a nest of vipers and scorpions.”
“You’re telling me you were up all night fabricating a game-plan for us?”
Morpheus grinned and pushed his glasses up against his nose. I caught the dark circles under his eyes, then, the tiredness coming through maybe a little more strongly than he’d have wanted it to. “I certainly did,” he said, standing up. “Over here.”
Levi and Mason exchanged raised eyebrows as Morpheus walked around the control station, past them, and toward a table hanging under a single, buzzing, bare lightbulb. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see; maybe printed maps covered in red pen markings, dossiers containing guest lists and guest information, a coffee cup sitting precariously on the edge. Instead, what I found was a computer the size of a coffee table, and yes, there was a map readout on it, only the map was 3D, and the Surface wasn’t covered in red ink.
“This is the place?” Levi asked. “Wentworth Manor?”
“The very same,” Morpheus said, and with a few swipes and taps of his fingertips, he made the entire blue display come to life. The house, which was a see-through skeleton, shrank enough to reveal the grounds surrounding it, the roads in and out, the Thames River on the other side of it. I wondered if he had spent all night building this 3D model or if he had pulled the blueprints from some database somewhere. Either would have been impressive, especially considering he wasn’t a Technomancer. That would have suited him. Instead he was a Scion, but one not possessed of the kind of cocky arrogance I was used to seeing from others.
Odd.
“Okay,” I said, eyes glazing over the map. “I know there’s more to this than an accurate model of the house…”
“There is.” His fingers moved across the Surface, and then an overlay appeared that added color and text to the skeleton model of Wentworth Manor. Some sections had been turned red, paths had been highlighted to and from the manor, dots had been placed highlighting cameras Morpheus had been able to tap into. There was a lot to look at here, a lot of information to work with. This kid was good.
“What are we looking at, Morpheus?” Levi asked.
“I’ve been running surveillance of the place for, oh, about six hours,” Morpheus said, “Let me tell you, that place has more security around it than most banks.”
“How many people?” Mason asked.
“I’ve counted twelve guards, on rotation, working in groups of three. They don’t look armed, but they’re all carrying at least a pistol. One of the guys in each unit carries a sub-machine gun.”
“In London?” Levi asked, “That’s insane.”
“If you have enough money, you can do what you want,” Morpheus said, “On the outside, these people look more like a small army than private security.”
“So, we should expect decent training, at least,” I said, “These people won’t be amateurs. They’ll be at least well trained, decent shots, and capable thinkers… but ultimately human.”
“How can you tell?”
“Why would a mage carry a gun when they can use magic?”
“Because guns are more reliable, and quicker?” Mason put in.
“More likely, there will be one mage handling the operation from inside, or maybe even remotely. But that’s not a certainty. I’m willing to bet the entire security force is human, so that gives us an edge, at least.”
“You say edge, but all I see is larger numbers, organization, and machine guns. Tell me again how infiltrating this place is a good idea for anyone not on their side?”
I looked the map over again, watching as the little red dots moved across it, the paths laid out in front of them and behind them shifting slightly as the seconds passed, predicting future movements and recording past movements. It was easy to see, at a glance, just how tightly wrapped this estate was. Mason was right, these people had greater numbers, organization, and weapons, and none of this held a candle to the mages and demons who would be attending the event tonight.
Added to that the fact that we only had three invitations to the event—one that I found on the demon I had exsanguinated, and then Delilah’s two. Ivy and Tank stepped into the basement just as the thought that they would likely need to be benched tonight crossed my mind. There was just no way we could all sneak into the event, and in my mind, I’d already decided it wo
uld be Mason, Levi, and myself taking point and going in.
Ivy walked up to the Surface, folded her arms, and looked it over. “Another one of your models, huh?” she asked.
Morpheus pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose again. “Yep, pretty good, huh? Only took 5 hours to make.”
“Another night spent burning the candle at both ends? That can’t be good for you.”
He waved a hand, dismissing the comment. “I’ll sleep during the day. The OP isn’t happening until tonight, anyway. I’ll be fine.”
“You better be. This looks dangerous already.”
“Dangerous is probably an understatement, but we’ll let it slide, shall we?”
I inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “Alright,” I said, nodding at the map as if agreeing to something it had said, “This is what we’re gonna do… tonight, at twenty-hundred hours, Mason, Levi, and I are going to infiltrate the manor house pretending to be guests. The security force is likely to be human, the guy checking invites at the door too—anyone other than a demon I’ll be able to fool with magic into thinking we’re the people whose names are on the cards we’ll be presenting.”
“And if there’s a demon at the door?” Ivy asked.
“We improvise. Anyway, once we’re through security, the plan is to wait until the book comes up for auction, at which point we’ll start bidding until we win it.”
Mason’s hand went up, like a child in class. “Just a question here, before we go any further,” he said, “We’ll start bidding? Unless you happen to have several millions of dollars, I doubt you’re going to get very far in a bidding war with the types this place will be hosting tonight.”
“Right, which is why we need your help.”
He pointed a finger-gun at me. “There it is. I’m just mister money-bags, huh?”
My eyes flitted to the others around the table, then back at him. “Uh, yeah, not just a pretty face.”
“Not just?” He grinned. “So, I am in fact a pretty face?”
“Mason, not now.”
“You guys heard it.”
“Seriously, Mace. Will you help us or not?”
He considered me for a second longer than I’d have liked, then he nodded. “Sure, I’ll help.”
“Jesus, how much money do you have?” Ivy asked.
“I’m not about to give you a breakdown of my finances, but I have enough to step into the ring with these types. Whether I can go toe-to-toe with them until the end of the final round or not depends entirely on the opening bid and how much these people want the book.”
“But you have a ceiling, right? I mean, you can’t have hundreds of millions.”
Mason’s eyebrow went up, smug smile at the ready. “And if I do?”
Ivy looked like she didn’t know what to say, there. She stared at Morpheus, who was sweating slightly, probably from the coffee, maybe from exertion. “I, uh…”
“Okay fine, Mason has money,” Levi said, cutting through the silence with a little bite in his voice. “What if we don’t win the bid? What if someone else just has more money? Do we have a contingency plan in place for that?”
“I do. This is where Ivy and Tank come in.”
Tank tilted his head to the side, staring at the Surface in front of me. I zoomed out so we could get a shot of the manor and the nearby streets. Behind the manor was the river Thames, and there were guards and patrols going creating a secure, five-hundred-yard perimeter around the house, but there was a nook, a concealed point less than two-hundred yards away from the house where the patrols didn’t go. It looked to me like a dumpster-shed, accessible via the main road, and with a clear shot of the mansion across the grounds. But if someone were to hide on the other side of it, unless the garbage man decided to show up, no one would see them.
“This is where you and Ivy are gonna wait.”
“What do you mean wait?” Ivy said, her voice already lined with barbs.
I turned my eyes up at her and hoped, hoped, she wasn’t about to start something. “Look, the truth is, only three of us are getting into the event with invitations, and Morpheus is gonna sit back here and guide us from Nerve, that means the two of you have to get benched right now.”
Tank and Ivy exchanged unsatisfied looks. “I don’t like that,” Tank said. “Waiting is boring.”
“I know,” I said, “But there isn’t anything I can do about that. The place is locked down tight, we can’t rely on Ivy’s magic working too well considering we don’t know how many demons there are going to be at this thing, and that’s not even considering the possibility that a Seer is gonna show up. We need you here,” I said, pointing at the screen, “Waiting to back us up if things go sour.”
“Are you expecting them to go sour?” Ivy asked.
“No, but if we can’t win that book by bidding for it, then we’re going to have to engage plan B.”
“And what’s plan B?” Mason asked, “You know, just out of curiosity, seeing as how I’m going to be inside the building and everything.”
I looked at him. “We’re just gonna take it.”
Levi cocked an eyebrow. “Take it… just like that?” he asked.
“That’s right.”
Mason stepped forward. “Uh, if that’s an option, why can’t we just do that in the first place? Save me some millions?”
“Because it’s not an option, it’s a last resort—there’s a difference. That place is gonna be swarming with goons, mages, and demons. A confrontation is the last thing we want. But if we’re going to get into one, then I want us to be able to have two aces up our sleeves; and that’s you two.”
It was coming, I could feel it just bubbling under the skin of the room, the rise of defiance and showing up like an angry bruise. Neither Ivy nor Tank liked the idea of being sidelined, but they weren’t being sidelined, not really, and I thought maybe they understood this. They were backup, they were the wolves hiding in the bushes, waiting to strike as soon as the rest of the pack engaged the enemy.
Hopefully, though, it wouldn’t come to that.
“So, what are we supposed do while we’re waiting?” Ivy asked, smothering the fires of resistance within herself. Had to give her credit for that.
“You’re gonna use your magic to keep you and Tank hidden,” I said, “There will be demons around, but as long as you’re far enough away from the manor, your magic should hold up just fine. We’re all gonna have active comms, so you’ll be able to hear everything that’s said. If I say the word strawberry—--Tank—that’s your cue to come in.”
“Come in?” Tank asked, the faintest hint of a smirk forming on the corner of his mouth.
“That’s right… you come in, you make as much noise as you want, you break as many backs as you like. If I say strawberry, it means we’re better off going in guns blazing.”
“Or, in other words,” Mason put in, “It means we royally fucked up.”
“That’s not how I like to see the situation, but sure.”
He shrugged. “Who cares about semantics? Anyway, I’m interested in the part where I have to put up a whole bunch of my own money to buy back a book that could, what, cause chaos on an unprecedented scale here in England?”
“What about that do you have a problem with?”
“The putting up my millions part… I’m not seeing much in this for me except a huge fucking spoonful of altruism.”
“Isn’t that worth it?” Levi asked.
“It would be, if you could walk into a store and buy food using altruism.”
“Seems to me like you’re flushed with cash, mate. What’s this really gonna do to your bank account?”
“Without having to go into just how many zeroes I’ve got in my account, it’s the principle of the thing. I came here to do a deal, that deal has been struck and sealed, so as far as I’m concerned, I’m well within my rights to go home. Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Because you’re not an asshole?” I said.
“I mean, I thought you weren’t, anyway.”
He wiggled his finger at me. “Oh no, princess. You’re not pulling that reverse psychology shit on me. I’ve fallen for it way more times than I care to admit, but I like to think I’ve learned my lesson, there.”
“I’m gonna agree to disagree on that one, but if you really wanna go home, we can’t stop you. You’re right. This is our fight, not yours.”
Mason looked around the room and scanned the other faces staring back at him. Morpheus, his bespectacled eyes lit up by the light from the Surface in front of him, Levi with his arms folded across his chest, Ivy standing with her back against a wall, and Tank… looking like he was ready to rip someone open with his teeth. I liked to think I knew Mason pretty well, but I had no idea what he was thinking right now. Maybe he was thinking he didn’t want to be seen as that guy, or maybe he really did care more about his money than he did about us. About me.
It had been two years since… well, us, after all.
Mason rolled his eyes and sighed. “Jesus, fine, but I’m not doing this for free.”
“And just how do you expect to be compensated for your services?”
His voice lowered. “I could think of a few ways.”
“Ew. You’re a pig,” Ivy said, scoffing.
I shook my head. “Alright, we’ve got some more plans to finalize, so let’s get to work. We can’t leave anything up to chance tonight. We need that book.”
“You really think getting the book is gonna solve our problems?” Levi asked.
“Not all of them… but one, at least.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I hated it, but I didn’t have a choice.
Okay, I didn’t hate the dress. It was beautiful, satin, skin-tight. It clung to my body like soft fire, the delicate material smooth against my body, fitting me like a glove. The slit on the left-hand side ran all the way up to my hip, exposing my entire leg whenever I took a step. My back was on display too, as was my cleavage, and had it not been for the tightly tied halter neck top, I would have felt somewhat at risk of the dreaded ‘nip slip’, but as revealing as the beautiful fire engine red dress was, I felt very much secure in it.
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