The angel landed on the bottom floor of the complex, like a meteor coming to earth. Corbin did something as he came down, but Branwyn couldn’t quite tell what. It didn’t seem to make a difference. Then the angel opened the elevator doors with a wrench and drifted through. Once the doors were open, Branwyn could suddenly see more clearly. The angel floated down a hall that looked like something out of a horror movie.
“Don’t you clean down here?” Branwyn demanded.
“Some of what is… stored there influences the surroundings,” Mr. Black said crisply. “Hopefully my grandson is smart enough to ignore it.”
“This is all irrelevant,” snapped Marley. “Branwyn—”
“What do you need, Marley?” Branwyn prompted.
“I need to see the building. I…” she faltered. “I think it’s too big for me to protect entirely, but maybe I can manage to protect a section, if there are any sections set out conceptually.”
As the blurry, shadowed form of the angel made its way down a filthy hallway, Corbin was nowhere to be seen. Branwyn decided not to mention that to Marley. “I can see that. Hadraniel gets what it wants, it comes up again to get away, it tries to blast the place on the way out, and you contain just enough of it, using your shield as a barrier. Head back into the office on your left and Titanone will send a diagram of itself to the monitor there.”
“You think I am joking about how dangerous it is for the angel to be down there?” demanded Mr. Black.
Exhausted from her earlier work and worried now, Branwyn finally lost her patience. “I think you promised me that this wouldn’t be a concern tonight. So yeah, now I think everything you say is a joke. If you’re so worried, shut up and go help the others bring down the spell stopping you from dealing with the problem yourself.” Then she took a deep breath and concentrated on bringing up the power to the system in the office Marley was fumbling around in.
No Nakotus, Titanone told her. No schematics. She could feel the entity’s confusion.
“It’s all right,” she muttered. “We’ll do it my way.” She started to draw on the pillar with her finger, and Titanone carried the drawing to the screen Marley was staring anxiously at.
Corbin shouted angrily somewhere in the depths. There was a burst of light from one corner of the bottom floor.
“I’ve found something,” said Marley, studying the glowing lines on the screen. “I hope this works.” She closed her eyes.
Feels so weird, said Titanone. Nice.
Branwyn said, “Let’s hope it stays that way.”
They didn’t have to wait very long. A massive surge of iridescent energy rolled out of the lowest level, directed up. It blew a huge hole in the three floors above, then flattened against a wall. Marley staggered and fell against the desk, her skin turning pink like she’d been out in the sun too long.
A second blast came and blew another set of holes in the floor above, and Marley curled up on the floor, crying. This was no good; blowing up the bottom four floors would still end up very bad for everybody in so many ways. Much more importantly, Marley couldn’t last much longer.
Impossibly, Corbin was still moving around down there. The lines of the Geometry shifted and Branwyn realized he was, too slowly, trying to shift a tethering circle already drawn in one of the cells to something that could contain Hadraniel.
“Let’s help,” whispered Branwyn, and she and Titanone started bending the wounded Geometry of the damaged levels in the same way.
A figure jumped down one of the holes, barely more than a human-shaped silhouette against the lingering light and curve of the Geometry. Not human, not bound the same way. One of the kaiju. As another bolt of energy shook the base of the skyscraper, the figure lithely moved closer to the source and picked up some of the Geometry strands Branwyn had pushed into place.
There was a mad scramble of activity suddenly, far too fast for Branwyn to process what happened. Then Hadraniel leapt into the air, flying up through the holes above.
“Drop the shield and let it out, Marley,” Branwyn shouted, and Marley must have heard because the angel didn’t slam into a barrier that Branwyn knew could be unpleasantly physical sometimes. Instead it glided up through the elevator shafts again, to the mall entrance and out into the night, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.
Is she still alive? She’s not moving, Titanone wondered.
“Don’t say that,” snarled Branwyn, and pulled herself out of the magical network. The ballroom lobby was a mess: dark liquid puddled on the floor and smoke hazed the air. Holes had been punched in the walls where the windows once had been. Penny looked a little rumpled and Skadi was soaked.
Disoriented, Branwyn took a step and promptly slipped in one of the puddles. As Skadi caught her and hauled her to her feet again, the magic binding the room relaxed and the doors and windows returned. There was an immediate rush for the exits, causing enough of a jam that even Branwyn couldn’t force her way through. By the time she finally got through the press, firefighters and police officers were swarming over the mall. She ignored them, running to the closest stairwell and descending at breakneck speed.
Two floors below the surface, she heard somebody climbing up the stairs and stopped. “Marley?”
“I’m bringing her up,” said an unexpected male voice, following by a yowl. It was Max, Severin’s kaiju buddy, the one who had infiltrated Rhianna’s headquarters. A moment later he appeared around the landing and climbed to where Branwyn waited. Neath followed him, howling.
Branwyn lunged forward to grab Marley’s wrist. She was warm and before Branwyn could find a pulse, she could see Marley’s chest heaving and her eyelids fluttering as if she was trying to wake herself.
“I’d hardly have bothered if she was dead, lady,” said Max pleasantly. He had a deep cat scratch on his face, and more on his wrists. But whatever argument he and Neath had seemed to have been settled, because Branwyn knew Neath was capable of causing a lot more damage and instead she was just lecturing him at the top of her lungs. “Shall we go on upstairs?”
“Wait, where’s Corbin? Is he dead?”
“He asked me to leave while he checked on some seals. I came across the woman, remembered Sev talking about her.”
“That’s my grandson,” said Mr. Black, with more than a hint of pride. He was standing two steps above Branwyn. She gave him a hostile look, which he ignored as he walked down the steps past both her and Max. “I suggest you take Marley somewhere more comfortable than a concrete stairwell, Branwyn. I’ll be along shortly.”
Max watched the old man stride down the staircase. A faint smile curved his mouth. “Such a determined old bird.”
“Whatever,” said Branwyn. “Let’s go.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Max started climbing the stairs again.
After one flight of stairs, Branwyn asked, “What are you doing here, anyhow?”
“X wasn’t here, and I’m pretty good at sneaking into places so I thought I might be able to accomplish something.”
“And did you?”
Max smiled that amazing smile. “I’m carrying a pretty girl out of a cold dark room.”
“Hah!” They emerged onto the ground floor of the mall, looked at the trail of devastation leading to the front entrance, and found a bench near the wall. Rescue workers, firefighters and cops were starting to fill the shopping floor, replacing the evacuated consumers. They mostly seemed to be staring in shock at the damage the angel had done and talking with a few people in formal dress from the gala upstairs.
Max put Marley down, then leaned against the wall. Neath finished berating him, then leapt up to snuggle into Marley’s side. Branwyn knelt beside the bench and stroked Marley’s hair. Cooled sweat made her skin clammy and without looking up, Branwyn ordered, “Go get a blanket from one of those uniforms running around.”
As Max ambled off, the stairwell door opened again and Corbin stepped through, followed by Mr. Black. Corbin went straight to their bench, while Mr. Black took a mom
ent to look around at all the rescue personnel and the damage to his building.
Corbin crouched at the end of the bench where Marley’s head was. His fingers danced over her head as if he was afraid to touch her. At last he breathed, “Marley.”
Marley’s eyes fluttered open, and Branwyn was both relieved and annoyed for reasons she didn’t bother analyzing.
“Corbin,” Marley said, her voice creaking. She squeezed Neath like a teddy bear. “I’m glad you’re alive.”
“Unreasonable woman,” he muttered. “Well done.”
Mr. Black finally joined them just as Max did. Mr. Black gave Max a cold look, which Max responded to with the same charming smile. Branwyn wondered if they were going to fight. Well, they could do that another time. She stood up, took the blanket from Max, draped it over Marley and then said, “So what did the angel get?”
Mr. Black’s expression turned grave and distant. “A book.”
Marley pushed herself to a sitting position, because somebody had said, ‘book’. “What was in this book?”
Mr. Black didn’t answer, glancing at Max again. But Corbin did. “It’s an ancient text documenting how the Hush was created. Hadraniel has always wanted to remove the Hush; it was Ettoriel’s supporter a year ago. And now it can reverse engineer it.”
Slowly Mr. Black shook his head. “It’s coded and it’s not a code an angel can break.”
“Where’s the key?” asked Marley instantly.
“Protected,” said Mr. Black shortly.
“Like the book was protected?” Branwyn asked. “It doesn’t matter, anyhow. Between Corbin here and magic in general, I doubt there’s any such thing as unbreakable encryption anymore.”
“There never was,” said Corbin absently. He straightened up, his fingers still trailing over Marley’s hair. A moment later, Finn appeared through the growing crowd. He glanced at Max as he stopped a few feet away. Max shifted his weight slightly, half-closed his eyes and Finn’s gaze slid incuriously away, instead falling on Marley. He said, “Need another drink, love?”
Marley blinked up at him. “You’re alive. You’re not hurt.”
“Sure, I’m just fine.” He crooked a grin and patted Neath, who was suddenly purring hard. “We were stuck for a bit but there were too many of us for the pest to just step on.”
“You were a lot closer to being stepped on than you think,” Branwyn told him bluntly. “Thank Marley that there’s still a building here.”
“Yes, but he was going to be hurt,” said Marley fretfully. “I saw it. It was unavoidable. And now it’s gone, it was avoided, but—” She looked at Corbin, her eyes narrowing. “You. You and the way you made yourself invisible to my magic. I was seeing what would happen without you.”
“That’ll make it easier to surprise you on your birthday, then. But Marley… you can’t see yourself either,” he pointed out. “We’ll never know now.”
“I want to know. I’ve spent a year getting used to this vision, dammit!” She struggled up and then fell back again.
Finn crowded in between Branwyn and Corbin and knelt down as he pulled a flask from his pocket. “Time to drink up, Miss Guardian.” He poured water from a flask over his fingers and across her lips.
She licked them, drank a gulp and closed her eyes. “I’m just tired,” she muttered.
“It’s good for you, all the same.” He stood up and gave a sidelong look at Corbin. “And just what were you up to, my boy?”
Corbin stretched his shoulders. “I was trying to lure Hadraniel to the basement and trap him in one of the sacrifice cells. I thought that would probably be best for everybody.”
Finn gave him a long, thoughtful look. “You used the book as bait?”
“And the device to build up its courage,” agreed Corbin blandly.
“That didn’t work out very well.”
“I got distracted,” Corbin agreed. “These things happen.”
Marley opened her eyes again. “So what do we do now?”
Mr. Black shook his head. “We shall have to recover the book at some point soon. But still, well done, Corbin. You did accomplish the original task, even if you got needlessly creative at the end. And we will have plenty of ways to find the angel while it is so weighed down by its new possessions.” He looked at a small group of people descending the stairs. “Ah, there’s Elizabeth. Your parents will be happy to see you.”
Corbin shrugged, as if he didn’t care very much. “You were willing to sacrifice me for your revenge, Grandfather. And as soon as you have it, you’ve lost me.”
“You’re still infected,” said Mr. Black flatly. “I thought you’d been cured finally—”
Corbin’s fist clenched but his face was like stone, looking at the main entrance to the mall. “I’m not infected, I’m angry. Marley couldn’t cure that.”
“I wouldn’t want to,” added Marley, sitting up and scowling toward Corbin’s parents.
Mr. Black regarded him expressionlessly before moving away toward his daughter and her husband.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Branwyn said, “I don’t know anything about any sacrifice cells except they sound stupid—but admit it, you wanted to destroy the book, too. That’s what your pet virus was doing in Nakotus. I shut the whole system down but it definitely warped some data before I could figure out what was going on. They scanned the book and uploaded it to the database and you destroyed it. And then you used Hadraniel as a way of getting to the physical book.”
“Yes,” said Corbin, shaking out his clenched fist. “Yes, I did. I learned a lot while I was sick. Most of it wasn’t meaningful but I thought it was stupid to keep around ways of breaking the Hush. Best to erase all that information” He looked down. “Best to erase a lot of problems all at once.”
Distressed, Marley said, “Corbin…”
He looked down at her. “I was confused and angry,” he admitted. “There were a lot of holes in my plan, holes Loki was too glad to fill. I thought I could erase him too. I thought I was cunning, and there we were, making the computer virus together.” He shook his head. “I was a tool.”
“You bound him, though,” Branwyn told him. “He wasn’t happy about destroying the data but he did it anyhow. And with Nakotus down and cold, he may yet be erased.”
Marley squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, then shook her head. “What…?”
“Marley?” Branwyn began and then felt it herself. All the Geometry she could sense had gone on alert, as if listening to a distant voice. An underlying structure, deeply buried in the fundamental fabric of the world, shimmered and became briefly visible before fading away. Neath’s purr stopped and the cat sat up, eyes dilated and ears pricked very alertly. Branwyn asked, “What’s going on?”
Corbin said, “Some sort of grand magic… Hadraniel can’t be reverse engineering the Hush already.”
“How would it have decoded the book?” asked Max, breaking his illusion of nonchalant non-presence.
Corbin shook his head, puzzled. “The code really is secure. Even I—” He stopped, staring at Marley. Her face was white.
“The twins. Kari has unlocked a book before, and Lissa can talk to anything. And I can feel how afraid they are.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Marley and Branwyn
Marley
When Marley emerged from the cloud of ravens outside of Zachariah’s home, the floodlights outside the house were on and the kaiju were waiting for her: Severin and five others, one of whom held a shimmering nightmare in both hands.
“Oh, come on,” said Corbin, his fingers tightening around her hand as he too saw the brigade of kaiju. “Can you tell what’s happening inside from here?”
Marley eyed the kaiju as Neath brushed against her leg. Their eyes glinted in the darkness, which made part of her want to run and hide. Instead she tried to relax enough to feel what she couldn’t see. The twins were inside the house, working together to transform a book of secrets into a book of answers. Their fea
r had faded, mingling with confusion and curiosity and a little bit of excitement. That was good, Marley thought, and then wondered if it was. The twins were dangerous when frightened—but had only curiosity prompted them to do as the angel demanded?
She couldn’t know, she could only extrapolate, and there wasn’t time right now. The Geometry of the world was moving in great chunks, rearranging itself to reveal that which had been buried in the foundations.
“I thought you wanted to deal with Hadraniel,” called Corbin to the kaiju. The kaiju with the Sword—big, male, empty-eyed—was standing in front of the entrance, like a twisted version of the angel guarding the gates of Eden. The other five were in a loose cluster in the house’s driveway; the youngest-looking one was perched on the hood of Zachariah’s SUV. Marley recognized them from Branwyn’s descriptions, which she’d so carefully taken notes on.
One of them was Max, the one who’d carried her up from Titanone’s basement. Of course. Celestial world travel was faster than anything a flock of ravens could manage.
“It’s busy,” said Severin, yawning. “Interrupting would be rude. My, that is a pretty dress. And that emergency blanket really adds to the look.”
“Well, can I go in?” Marley demanded, her fingers tightening on the blanket still around her shoulders.
“That would count as interrupting, don’t you think? Nah, I think you should wait here.” He leaned his hip on the side of the SUV.
Corbin paced back and forth. “I thought you didn’t care about the Hush, Severin. You lying coward.”
“Don’t get yourself too worked up, raven boy,” said Severin, with a flash of his teeth. “Even you don’t ignore opportunity when it knocks. Just keep your girl from doing anything stupid and the two of you will have a whole new world to study soon.”
Divinity Circuit (Senyaza Series Book 5) Page 30
