by T. S. Bishop
“You know, unless you make it really, really tempting for me, I don’t actually have to kill you,” said Eli pleasantly.
I looked up.
“That got your attention. Good. All I need from you is information. In exchange, I’ll let you go back to your precious friends in one piece.”
“And if I don’t give it to you?” I asked.
“I’ll still send you back to your friends. In several pieces,” he said, baring his teeth at me.
“Wow, these are two really compelling options,” I said sarcastically.
“I’ll give you some time to think about it,” he assured me. “But don’t take too long.”
He casually took two steps towards me, and I skittered backwards in my chair until I realized he was just checking the bindings around my wrists. I bit my lip and looked down at the floor, hoping that he couldn’t see my eyes. Because I’d just gotten an idea.
I listened to him leaving, and heard him exchange a few words with someone outside the door. Probably a security guard, and luckily it sounded like there was just one person there. After a couple of minutes, I started to call for the guard.
“Hey there! Hey, whoever’s outside! I need help!”
Silence.
“I know you’re there! I promise I won’t try anything!”
I heard a low snort and felt relieved. At least I knew now that the guard hadn’t gone on a pee break or anything.
“I’m serious! There’s no way I could do anything, I can’t even use my powers in here!”
“What do you want?” asked a female voice grudgingly.
“There’s something digging into my back,” I said, making sure to sound as whiny as possible. “It really hurts. Can you take it out?”
“I’m not allowed to come in there, sorry.”
“It’ll only take a second,” I begged shamelessly, “Eli won’t even know. Please, come on. If I’m going to die in a few minutes anyway, can’t I at least die comfortably?”
She finally swung the door open, arms crossed in front of her aggressively.
“What the hell do you want?” she asked, sounding exasperated.
“My back,” I said, “I think it might be one of my spare knives or something. I guess they weren’t that thorough with the weapons check. I’m accidentally going to stab myself any minute now.”
“Like that would be a loss,” she grumbled, but made her way behind me to check.
I moved in a flash, not wasting any time. I hoisted the chair up before she could react, and raced backwards, ramming her against the wall. I heard her body hit it with a crack and a dazed ‘oof’. I took a few steps forward to gain momentum again before hitting her again while she still hadn’t moved.
The second time, the chair broke against her unconscious body, splintering and showering wood everywhere. I felt a pang of guilt when I saw her bleeding from cuts on her forehead and hands, from where she’d scraped against the wall roughly. But I dismissed any guilt quickly, since she would have been happy to see me be tortured and killed.
The whole thing had taken maybe thirty seconds. But I didn’t have any time to spare.
I grabbed a set of keys that were clipped to her waist, hoping they would come in useful. As soon as I stepped out of that room, it was like my aching head was dipped in cool spring water. The effect of the mixture couldn’t be felt outside the room, which I was very grateful for.
An invisibility spell would have come in useful right about now, but I didn’t know how to do one. All I knew was blasting things with my magical flames and electricity.
So that was what I did. Every guard that I saw, I didn’t give them a chance to raise their weapons or even react to spotting me at all, before I aimed a blast at them that sent them hurtling into a wall.
That worked for three guards. But a fourth was guarding a staircase, the first I’d seen so far and possibly the only way out. I was coming down a long stretch of straight corridor, so there was no place to hide. He aimed his gun at me, but dropped it with a cry of pain when I sent an electric bolt zipping into his hand.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t as easy to take out as the other guys had been. I made the mistake of stepping within arm’s reach, and he grabbed me by the neck with a steel grip and slammed my head against the wall. My skull bounced off like a tennis ball and I saw stars for a moment.
I still somehow had the presence of mind to blast him once, sending him flying several feet before he came to land on the floor like a broken doll. Maybe I’d used a little more force than was strictly necessary, but he’d pissed me off.
I raced up the stairs, thankfully finding nobody there. The person I was dreading seeing the most was Eli, because something told me he wouldn’t be as easy as the others to take out.
I finally spotted a door marked ‘Emergency Exit’—thank god for building codes in evil lairs—and immediately alarms started to blare and red lights started to flash all around me.
I sprinted outside, spattered with blood and shaking like a leaf. A cold wind blew against my face. When I realized I was in the middle of a gated compound that seemed to be span several acres, I gave up on the idea of finding a loose spot in the fence and blasting my way out.
I suspected that the adrenaline from the rush of all the action was wearing off, because I was feeling woozy as hell.
I heard shouting and raised voices, and could see torchlight in the distance. Crap. It looked like they’d caught up with me.
What could I do? There seemed to be no way to escape. Maybe this was the end of the line for me.
How had we gotten out from the previous murder dungeon Eli tried to lock me up in? Oh yeah, there was Adrian’s handy glove thing that could create portals. I didn’t have one of those. But what had he said? That he needed it only because he wasn’t a witch and didn’t have power enough on his own?
Well, I had nothing to lose by trying. I turned my back to the raised voices and insistent shouting, instead concentrating on the well of magic inside me. I could feel Noah, Dominic and Adrian, the beat of their hearts and their fluttering breaths. I felt their attention turn to me, and as one their relief and joy swept me up in a wave.
‘Hey guys,’ I said mentally, equally happy to feel them. At least they were safe, and Eli hadn’t taken them as well. That was one stroke of luck.
I concentrated on the garden outside the Sanctum, its roses with their heady scent and the cool evening breeze that held soft earth and growing things. I slowly drew a circle in the air, envisioning a tiny tear in space for me to slip through.
When I opened my eyes, it was waiting for me, and I could see directly into the rose garden. I stumbled through, but realized I didn’t know how to close it behind me so anyone could follow me through.
I made a motion with my two fingers like I was trying to zip it closed, which seemed to work. The tear shrank and closed itself seamlessly, and now appeared the same as any other stretch of space.
“Sophie!”
I turned to see Noah sprinting towards me, holding out his arms and I jumped on top of him almost instinctively, sending us both falling to the ground, laughing.
“I’m not going to say I told you so,” said Dominic, following behind Adrian at a more sedate pace, leaning slightly on his cane, “But I did tell you. Sophie?” he asked, his voice sharpening as it fell on my face. “What happened?”
“What?” I asked, confused at first, and then I ruefully rubbed at the cut on my forehead. “It’s nothing. Just a bump.”
“We were coming to get you,” said Adrian, who had been staring at me. But he immediately looked away when I turned to meet his gaze. Odd.
“Yeah,” agreed Noah, still sprawled on the ground next to me. “But Dominic said we shouldn’t bother, because you’d get out on your own.”
“I’m touched by your faith in me,” I said, raising my eyebrow at Dom, who looked sheepish, “And a bit annoyed by your laziness!”
“We would have come,” insisted Adrian. He still would
n’t meet my eyes. I frowned, filing that fact away for later. We had more important things to worry about right now.
“All right guys,” I said briskly, motioning for Adrian to pull me up off the ground, “We need to talk. That thing that Dominic and I have been hiding? Well, I can’t keep it a secret anymore.”
Chapter 26
“You…can talk to demons. In their own language,” repeated Adrian disbelievingly.
“Yup,” I nodded, glancing over at Noah who was wearing an inscrutable expression.
“That’s what you were trying to keep from us?”
“Yep.”
“That’s the thing that Dom found out before me—I mean, us?”
“Yes!”
“Sorry, just checking,” said Adrian unrepentantly. He looked over at Noah and exchanged a small nod.
“Well, thanks for telling us,” Noah told me airily, crossing his hands behind his head. For a moment he reminded me of Jude, and for a split second their images were superimposed on each other in my mind, one light and one dark like a dramatic chiaroscuro played out in real life.
And then he was suddenly back to being just Noah, sweet and unassuming and kind.
“I thought you were going to give me a hard time about it,” I said warily, still waiting for an explosion.
“I definitely wanted to,” said Adrian, crossing his arms. He immediately sagged against the table and shrugged. “It’s not as bad as I was expecting, to be honest. It’s not like it’s hurting anyone.”
“Also,” added Noah, “It’s just plain cool.”
“Cool?” I echoed, baffled. “I talk to demons, Noah! And I don’t know how the hell I’m able to do it.”
“That’s why it’s so amazing!” he said, face shining, “I’ve actually been trying to come up with something—well, I’ll tell you when I’m done messing around with it. I think it’s going to help us a lot.”
“Judging from their reactions,” said Dominic, “It doesn’t look like they’ve heard of anything like this before. As I told you before.”
“Yeah, you were right,” I sighed. “But they don’t look freaked out about it. That’s good, right? It means I can tell Adele or Hannah or someone—“
“Definitely not—“
“—No way—“
“That would be crazy—“
The boys all said at once, vehemently.
“But you just said—“
“We were always going to be difficult to freak out, Sophie,” said Noah earnestly. “I can’t think of a lot that you could tell me that would scare me away.”
“Same,” said Adrian. Dominic nodded wordlessly.
“But we can’t speak for anyone else,” continued Noah, gripping both his hands together so his knuckled shone white. “It…might not be good for you, in the end if we went to someone else.”
“You’re too…’Sophie’ for us to do anything but trust you,” said Adrian awkwardly, and to my surprise enveloped me in a hug. Dominic coughed and muttered something to Noah, who broke into a smile.
I was busy drowning in Adrian’s winter and pine scent, comforting but alien enough that it felt new.
When he let go, I looked around at Noah and Dom.
“So where can I find information about witches who’ve spoken to demons in the past?”
“The Archive,” said Dominic immediately, but Noah made a protesting sound.
“Do you really think the Archive would leave something having to do with communicating with high level demons just lying around?” he asked witheringly.
“Then where else could it—?”
“Ingram’s office,” said Noah at once. “I know he has a safe where he keeps books and important documents—like the deed for the church. One time he asked my dad to send over the one copy we had of a book of spells that he didn’t want getting around.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. I felt my heart sink. There was no way I could sneak into Ingram’s office. Knowing him, it would have state of the art security that I couldn’t dream of getting through.
“Noah’s guess is the best we’ve got,” admitted Adrian. “But that doesn’t get us any closer to finding a way to break in.”
“We don’t even know if we can break in,” Dominic pointed out. “I’d be very surprised if Ingram didn’t have some decent security keeping people out.”
“We’ll have to brute force it,” I said, gnawing at my nail. It was an annoying habit I had when I was nervous and it was rearing its head again now. I saw Dominic start to shake his head and cut him off quickly.
“We don’t have a choice,” I said fiercely, noticing their dubious looks. “Luckily, I have some experience with this sort of thing. Wasn’t expecting my past as a burglar and a thief to come in useful, but well here we are.”
“I like it,” said Adrian, who didn’t seem at all bothered by the criminal nature of what I was suggesting. Somehow I always knew he’d agree to my plan. He was the only one of the three who was almost as reckless as I was.
But Dominic still looked unconvinced, and Noah uncertain.
“We could get in a lot of trouble if we’re caught,” said Noah, biting his lip.
“So we don’t get caught,” I said, with a confidence that I certainly didn’t feel. “Come on, don’t you want to know why I can talk to demons? We might have stumbled on something that hasn’t been seen in maybe ever.”
“I do want to know, and it could be important information that could benefit the Sanctum…” said Noah slowly. “All right,” he agreed finally. “You know I couldn’t say no to you, Sophie.”
I grinned and swooped over to ‘hug him, ignoring his surprised squeak.
“You do realize,” said Dominic, “That he might not have what you’re looking for?”
“I do,” I said, “I’m prepared for that.”
“And you also realize,” he continued, “That if he does have it, you might not like the answers you find.”
“That’s not possible,” I said confidently, “I don’t care what the truth turns out to be. I just want to know it.”
“You say that now,” he sighed, but straightened up. “All right, I’m in too. It’s not like I really had a choice anyway.”
“No, you didn’t,” agreed Adrian, clapping him on the back. He winced slightly.
“All right,” I said, rubbing my hands together, “Time to get to work.”
Chapter 27
We spent the next few days coming up with plans and strategies to buy me some alone time in Ingram’s office. The only thing the boys could do for me was provide a distraction, one big enough that Ingram would be prevented from going near his own office.
Noah turned out to be the one who had the most to contribute here. He had a natural trickster’s mind when it came to coming up with devious ideas and ways to subvert existing security in the Sanctum.
“This is the only pace we can reliably strike,” he said earnestly, tapping on the square on our map of the Sanctum that stood for the commissary, “We can keep Ingram—and everyone who decides to go get lunch at the same time—here for a good while. Hopefully it’ll be enough for you to get what you need, Sophie.”
“But how exactly are we going to keep them there?” asked Dominic skeptically. They both worked together like a finely oiled machine, with Noah coming up with the ideas and Dominic shooting them down. It helped that they knew the Sanctum intimately, having grown up there.
“Well,” said Noah, getting into lecture mode, which was his favorite thing to do, “Every major room in the Sanctum has its own system of warding. What it boils down to is that the witches back in the 1800’s were paranoid as hell, and with good reason. So they didn’t just protect the exterior of the Sanctum. They wanted to make sure that if we were ever invaded, we would be able to hide out in one of the bigger meeting places until we could call for reinforcements. So halls like the commissary are pretty heavily protected from outside attacks, and virtually impregnable.”
“How does that help?�
�� I asked, chin on my fist, watching Noah with fascination. He got all animated when he talked about obscure bits of history, hair getting fluffy and cheeks glowing with pleasure. It was cute.
“I think I get it,” said Dominic slowly. He looked at Noah with a glance filled with reluctant admiration. “You’re a madman, Noah. Brilliant, but absolutely nuts.”
“Wait, what’s the plan?” Adrian demanded.
“We’re going to wait until Ingram is actually in the commissary—along with anyone else who happens to be there at lunch time, and trigger the wards. They’ll make sure nobody can get in from the outside, but more importantly, they won’t let Ingram out from inside either,” said Noah triumphantly.
“And let me guess,” said Dominic tiredly, “I’m going to supply the pyrotechnics for this stunt?”
“You’re the best with mixtures,” beamed Noah.
“I used to be a law abiding guy before I met you,” Dominic told me reproachfully.
“I can’t believe all of you guys turned out to be so good at crime,” I said admiringly. “I kind of dig it.”
Adrian and I were busy figuring out ways to actually get into Ingram’s office, but here we ran into a snag.
There was no way for us to lurk outside for too long without someone asking us what we were doing or if we needed help with anything. Especially with me, people seemed to automatically assume that I was clueless and lost and in need of directions.
Adrian had more luck, and reported that he’d seen one of the Council members entering Ingram’s office that afternoon.
“Did you see any wards?”
“I saw the doorknob flash for a second before turning,” he confirmed.
“Ugh,” I said, slumping back. “Great.”
