by Becca Blake
When I opened my eyes, my vision was still dark. Like I was blindfolded, though nothing covered my eyes. Indistinct voices surrounded me, along with the occasional thuds of heavy footfalls on stone. Dust in the air tickled my nose.
I blinked a few more times, trying to clear my vision, but the darkness remained.
How long had I been unconscious? And where were the others?
Orion?
I tried to say his name, but my weak voice came out as more of a groan that burned my throat. When I coughed, I tasted the slightest hint of copper, and I spat out blood.
Rope bound my hands above my head, but my legs were free, and I was sitting on hard ground—concrete, maybe? I moved to test my weight. A hard surface pressed against my back, and something small, like pebbles or dirt, shifted beneath me. Iron groaned when I tried to pull free from my bindings.
I focused harder, trying to listen for any hints about where I was or what was happening, but I only caught small snippets of conversation.
“—hold them here—”
“—wake up—”
The memories of what happened before I lost consciousness came back to me as a slow trickle. Where had they taken us? Most likely, we were back in Haygrove now, awaiting another sham of a trial.
Or perhaps they were already preparing to hand us all over to Raxael.
My skin prickled as hands traveled up my arms to check my bindings.
“What’s going on?” I mumbled.
I didn’t get an answer, either because my slurred words were unintelligible or because they refused to give me information. Either way, they only stayed in front of me for a short time before they continued walking, and their footsteps faded away.
I waited a while longer before I tried opening my eyes again. The darkness faded into a blurred fog that obscured most of my vision. When the haze finally cleared, I realized I was back in the old warehouse outside the city. Beams of golden light spotted the floor through the holes in the ceiling and windows, bathing the building in dim light.
I couldn’t see anyone else, and it had been a while since I heard any voices. As far as I could tell, we were alone.
I’d been tied to the railing on the stairs, with Orion on one side of me and Ayla on the other. Neither of them had woken up yet. Either that, or they were pretending they hadn’t.
What the hell had they injected us with? It had to be some sort of tranquilizer, but I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.
I didn’t know why they brought us here, but we had to escape. Once I burned away my restraints, I could wake up the others and figure out what to do next. I latched onto my growing anger and searched for the emotional connection that channeled my magic.
But the familiar warmth never reached my palms.
I looked up at my hands, willing sparks, or flames, or anything to appear.
Nothing.
I struggled more, both with my magic and with my restraints, but nothing changed. I couldn’t pull free, and my magic was off on vacation.
“Have you realized what’s happening?” Marcus Thorne’s voice came from somewhere above me.
“What did you do to us?” My voice was still a bit scratchy, but I was thankful it wasn’t as weak as it had been when I first woke up. I twisted around to look at him.
“This is our first time testing it out. Dr. Moran isn’t sure if the effects of the injection will be permanent or not.” He walked down the stairs and stopped behind me.
“What effects?” I asked.
“It should, at the very least, block your magical abilities for twenty-four hours, but you won’t make it that long. Tomorrow, Raxael will be here to claim you.” He walked past Orion and me, stopping in front of Ayla. He cupped her chin in his fingers and tilted her head to the side. “We really believed she was dead. Did you know?”
“No.”
He let go, and her head drooped to the side.
“Where’s Jacob?” I asked.
“He’s resting in the back room.”
“I want to talk to him.”
“You’re not exactly in a position to be making demands.” Marcus tilted his head to the side, considering. “But I guess it doesn’t hurt to allow you some closure before you die.”
He whistled, then waved to a hunter on the landing above us. A few minutes later, Jacob emerged from one of the rooms upstairs, fully armed and unrestrained. He wore a black t-shirt, and just beneath the sleeve I saw the patch of newly healed skin where Raxael stabbed him. He came down the stairs, then stood next to his father.
I breathed out a relieved sigh at seeing him safe. “So, what, he gets a break because he’s your son?”
“Hardly,” Marcus said. “Jacob gets a break because he told us where to find you.”
“You’re lying.” My mouth was dry as I looked to Jacob, waiting for him to deny it.
But my heart dropped as I realized that it had to be true. He was the only one who knew we were going back to Omaha to meet with Ayla and Orion. If he didn’t tell Marcus where we would be, who did?
I trusted him, confided in him. I believed in him. And he’d given us all up at the first opportunity.
“What did he offer you?” I asked him.
“Is it so hard to believe my son honored his oath and did the right thing?” Marcus asked. He wrapped his arm around Jacob’s shoulders.
His flinch at his father’s touch was subtle enough that I might not have noticed it if he hadn’t told me himself how he felt about him. That sort of resentment didn’t disappear overnight.
Celia strode into the ruined sanctuary, her hand resting on the hilt of the sword at her side. She greeted Marcus and Jacob with a curt nod. “I can handle things from here, Leader Thorne. I’m sure you’re eager to get back to Haygrove and begin the recovery efforts.”
Leader Thorne. Marcus had gotten everything he wanted—his enemies captured, his son back under his thumb, and control of the Council.
“Yes, we’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m sure Jacob is eager to get back as well.”
“I could stay,” Jacob said. “Let me help fix this.”
“No,” Marcus said sharply, as though he were scolding a misbehaving child. “You’ve caused enough trouble. You’re coming back to Haygrove with me.”
Jacob opened his mouth like he might argue, but as Marcus spun around, he changed his mind. He shot me one last uncertain look before following his father upstairs.
Celia joined them, leaving three Arbiter guard dogs to watch over us. I recognized two of them as people I’d seen around town plenty of times, even if I didn’t know them well. Eric Roland was sporting a black eye from the fight, and Jen Hart had burn marks on her clothes. When she noticed me looking, she sneered.
We were now traitors in their eyes. Oathbreakers. It no longer mattered who we were before.
After a few minutes, I heard more steps above me.
“I need to speak with the Oathbreakers, please,” Jacob said to them. “Alone.”
“No,” Roland said. “We’re under strict orders—”
“Maybe you didn’t hear me. I’m a member of the Council, and I’m telling you to let me speak with the traitors.”
“Ah, but Leader Thorne—“
“—agreed to this. If you have a problem with me speaking to restrained prisoners, go take it up with him.”
The guards went upstairs without another word.
“Councilman Jacob Thorne,” I said once they were gone. “So, that’s what he offered you?”
He knelt down next to me. “Yeah.”
“So, what’s your plan? How are we getting out of here?” It was the only thing that made sense—of course he had to work with Marcus if he wanted to stay alive. But now that we were all here, left unattended, we could escape.
Jacob pressed his lips together, and his fe
atures darkened.
“He’s not here to save us.” I hadn’t noticed Orion waking up next to me. His voice was weak and groggy, just as mine had been when I first regained consciousness.
“What?” I asked.
“He’s here to say goodbye.”
“Jacob?” After all we’d been through, he couldn’t walk out on us now.
“I know that look,” Orion said. “I’ve worn it many times. He thinks he’s doing the right thing, and he’s trying to make peace with how wrong it feels.”
Jacob averted his gaze.
“Why?” I asked. “You saw your chance for that Council seat, and you took it?”
“It’s not like that.” His cold eyes were as fierce as the day I met him.
“You think this will make him love you?”
He recoiled at that, and I wondered if I’d gone too far, struck the wrong nerve by using something he’d confessed to me in confidence. But it was hard to feel too remorseful for it, considering I would be dead soon because of him.
“You saw what Raxael did to Haygrove,” he said. “How many people there died because of our decision? And how many more would die if I hadn’t told them where you and Orion were?”
My face flushed. If the injection wasn’t blocking my magic, I was sure my own flames would have consumed me. He didn’t go down in that basement and see those people. He didn’t promise one of them he would save her, only to watch her throw herself into the bonfire like all the rest.
“The Council sent Orion on a mission that was guaranteed to fail, then framed him for its failure. We didn’t decide to do anything that night, other than stop Maki,” I said. “And you know as well as I do that Orion was innocent.”
“I don’t expect you to understand.” He stared down at me as he rose to his feet. “After Raxael dumped me at the hospital, Dad came to see me. He explained why the Council has to appease the demon lords. Do you have any idea how delicate the peace is? What you and I did might start a war.”
“Good,” I said. “We need to fight back.”
“Do you know what the Council’s job really is?” he asked.
“Mitigating the damage,” Orion said, responding for me.
“You call sacrificing a basement full of innocent people mitigating the damage?” I scoffed.
“Yes,” Jacob said. “We’re the only thing stopping the demon lords from burning every city to the ground. What they did to Haygrove was nothing. Imagine New York City, or Los Angeles.”
“How much blood can we spill and still be better than the demons we hunt?” I asked.
“Dad said you wouldn’t understand, and I guess he was right. He’s an asshole, but at least he isn’t trying to start a war with invincible demon lords.”
“Raxael isn’t invincible. The enchantment—”
“Is gone.”
I froze. The amulet was in my bag when they captured us, so they must have gone through my things. “What do you mean, ‘gone?’”
“I told them about the dagger. We made sure no one will ever find it and try something like this again.”
The dagger?
I tried not to let the confusion show on my face. I thought Jacob knew about the amulet, but I supposed we never had time to discuss it. When I took it out to show the guys watching us, he must have thought it was the real thing, not a decoy. If we somehow survived this, that would be useful.
“It didn’t have to be like this,” he said, and this time he looked genuinely remorseful.
“Funny how you open your mouth, and all I hear is your dad,” I said.
“If you had just told him where you were, he would have spared all three of you.”
“You’re an idiot if you believe anything he says.”
“He gave his word,” Jacob said.
“As if that’s worth anything.”
“I told him everything. What we saw, everything you did. Even about the dark magic. And he was willing to let all of it go. I convinced him to give you a chance. And he listened to me, for once.”
I looked away from him. There was no point in arguing. In the time since we were separated, Marcus had sunk his claws in deep, and there was no digging them out.
I didn’t want to spend my last hours on his daddy issues.
“Do me a favor, Jacob. Skip my funeral.”
He opened his mouth to say something more, his father’s return interrupted him.
“I thought we had this discussion. You agreed to move past this,” Marcus said, gesturing to me.
Jacob looked down at me one last time and steeled his gaze. “Just getting some closure.”
Marcus wrapped his arm around his son again, and together they left us to our deaths.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Once Marcus and Jacob left, Celia returned downstairs to keep an eye on us. Her boots thudded with each step as she paced around the warehouse.
The three hunters who stayed behind with her sat on the ground, using an old car door as a table. It was hard to tell from my angle, since they were set up close to the entrance, but it looked like they were playing cards. Occasionally they would break out into boisterous laughter, or their voices would rise in a friendly argument. I wondered if they were sharing a few drinks to celebrate a successful hunt. I probably would be, if I were in their position. They had already won, so for them it was just a matter of waiting around until the demon lord came to claim us.
Each time Celia circled around, she stopped to check on them, but she didn’t take part in their game. I wanted to call her over and ask her what happened, why she came after us. But after Jacob’s betrayal, I found I didn’t really care.
The whys didn’t matter. We should have never trusted a Council member.
Or the son of one of them.
About an hour later, Ayla woke with a harsh cough. Her groan turned into a scream as she fought, writhing beneath the ropes that tied her to the railing.
The hunters moved closer to us, craning their necks to get a better view of her.
“What’s going on?” Roland called out.
“I’m not sure,” Celia yelled over her shoulder. “One of the prisoners seems to be having a bad reaction to the injection. You three can keep playing your game—I’ll take care of this.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Celia waited until they turned away before crouching beside Ayla. She pulled out a dagger and cut away the rope around her wrists.
Ayla crumpled to the ground and curled up against the wall. Another series of coughs racked her chest, and her entire body shook with soft whimpers.
“We don’t have much time,” Celia whispered. “They’re distracted right now, but that could change any minute.”
As she moved over to Orion, she kept her eyes on the hunters near the front of the warehouse. They had returned to their game, so they weren’t paying much attention to us anymore.
“Why are you helping us now?” I asked, keeping my voice low to match hers.
“I never stopped helping you,” she said as she cut Orion free. “If you came quietly, like I said, they never would have had to use the injections, and this would have been much easier.”
Once Celia cut me free, I crouched down next to Ayla. Her skin was sticky with sweat, and her breaths were heavy.
“What did they do to us?” she asked, her voice so low I could hardly hear her.
“They gave us a drug that suppresses magic,” I said.
She rolled away from me and hunched over on all fours, her chest heaving as she vomited. When she finished, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “What the hell was in it?”
I looked back to Celia for an answer, but she only shrugged.
“Ed didn’t have time to test it properly.”
“Will she be alright?” I asked.
“I don’
t know,” Celia said. “But we need to get to safety before we can worry about that.”
“Glad to have you back, Celia,” Orion said, rubbing his wrists where the ropes had been. “You had me worried.”
“I wouldn’t betray you,” she said softly. “But I couldn’t stand up to them all on my own.”
“I didn’t get a good look at the hunters on your team. Who’s over there?” Orion asked.
“Hart, McCoy, and Roland.”
He cursed. “All loyal to Marcus. So, a peaceful solution is out of the question.”
“Unfortunately,” she said. “He didn’t let me pick my own team for this.”
“And we have no gear,” he said.
“Your things are all here. I can lead the way with a distraction while you run in and get your weapons.”
“You guys go ahead. I won’t be any help like this,” Ayla said.
“Don’t worry. We can handle it,” Orion said. “Riley, are you good to go?”
I nodded. “Let’s do this.”
Even with Celia’s help to distract them, I didn’t like our odds against three armed Arbiters. Still, we needed to get our gear back, and we didn’t have any other options. Hopefully her plan would be enough.
She headed over to their card game. Orion and I followed close behind, ducking behind the ruined cars to stay out of sight.
“Is everything alright over there with the prisoners?” Jen Hart asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Celia said. “How’s the game going?”
“McCoy is cheating, as usual.”
Lowering myself flat against the ground, I peered underneath a car. My duffel bag was tucked behind a support beam on the side opposite the hunters, so Orion and I would have to go around the long way to avoid being seen. I pointed at the bag, then gestured to the path we would have to take to get there. Orion nodded his understanding.
Sneaking around was so frustrating without invisibility.
Celia continued chatting with the Arbiters, giving us time to get to our weapons. We were almost within reach when my foot caught on a piece of debris hidden behind a tire. I tumbled forward and caught myself on a car door. Metal whined at the sudden weight, and the rusted hinges surrendered. The door came free and pulled me down with it.
