“If I was a man, you wouldn’t call me a princess, and you sure as hell wouldn’t be harassing me about scars.” April smiled, a raw and cruel gesture. “So why don’t you tuck your sexist crap back up your arse where it came from?”
Desmond’s face hardened to marble. Before he could respond, hurried footsteps echoed from above. They both looked up at the staircase to see Piper storm down the steps, Ash strolling behind her.
“April!” Piper’s jaw ticked once the name snapped from her lips. “What are you doing here?”
The coolness in April’s eyes dispersed. Her lips tugged at the corners, twisting into a small smile. “I came to see you.”
Piper’s hands curled into fists as she stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Why?” The word gritted out from her clenched teeth.
April glanced from Desmond—who stared coolly at her—to Ash. She said, in a quieter voice, “Can we go somewhere? Just us two? There are a few things I want to talk to you about.”
Piper arched her brow. “Whatever you want to say, you can say it right here.”
“Look,” said April. “I know you’re upset with me, but if you let me explain, in private, you’ll understand.”
“I’m not upset with you. I’m livid. This can’t be fixed with pieces of jewellery—” Her finger pointed at the turquoise bag in April’s hand. “—or empty apologies.”
April’s fingers twisted around the strings of the bag. “It’s not an empty apology,” she said. “It’s an explanation.”
“No,” said Piper, her tone sharp. “It’s an excuse. And, like always, you expect me to overlook what you’ve done, or what you didn’t do, and pretend nothing happened. Well, guess what, April?” Piper took a determined step toward her blond friend. “That isn’t going to happen this time. Because this time, it’s different.”
“I know that now,” said April. “I just ... Yesterday, when I woke up here, I was confused. I knew what had happened, but only to me. All I could think about was going home. I’m sorry that I left, Pipes. I truly am sorry, but in that moment I could only think about myself.”
“As always,” said Piper. “You’ve only ever cared about yourself. Why don’t you just go home, April? Go home, text your latest friend of the week, and party with them. That’s what you do, isn’t it?”
April’s mask cracked; her lips puckered and the hazel hues of her eyes flashed. “I have more than a couple of friends.” The tightness of her tone stretched across the tension. “That makes me a bad person?”
“Of course not.” Piper gave a haughty smirk, one normally reserved for April. It didn’t fit on her face, it looked alien. “But with you, they’re not friends, are they? We are all just accessories in your phone. You pick one out for whatever mood you’re in that day, like you would a bracelet or necklace. That’s what people are to you, April. Accessories. Yesterday, when I need you, you didn’t need me. But today, I apparently fit.”
April’s muscles tensed, seen even through the fabric of her school uniform. She licked her lips as she reigned in the flames of an outburst. April couldn’t lose it with Piper, not after what had happened to her. It could destroy whatever scraps of their friendship were left. So, she clamped her lips shut and strode over to Desmond. He still lounged on the pillar, his eyes following her like a hawk watching a mouse.
April slammed the Tiffany’s bag on the pillar, between his spread thighs, before she looked at Piper. “I got this for you when I found out,” she said. “I didn’t know about your mother. Nigel told me this morning.”
Piper’s shoulders lifted in a lazy shrug. “Just go, April,” she said, her voice a whisper of exhaustion. “You don’t belong here.”
April nodded and looked around the foyer. “You’re right,” she said. “I don’t.” Her frosty gaze drifted down to the gift bag before she met Piper’s stare. “Enjoy the meaningless accessory.”
April stormed out of the Academy.
When the rattle of the door shouted through the foyer, Piper dropped onto the steps behind her. Ash crouched down beside her as she buried her face in her hands and bowed over.
Piper spoke against her palms; “I’m the worst person in the world.”
“What makes you say that?” Ash’s voice was gentle, soothing even.
A bitter laugh came from her throat as she dropped her hands to her lap. Blank green eyes raised to meet fierce silver ones. “You were there,” she said. “I wanted to wring her neck, but ... Maybe I should’ve heard her out.”
“Why didn’t you?” It was Desmond.
Piper twisted around to face at him, her forehead creased. He was peeking inside the giftbag, a look of utter disinterest on his pale face.
“Because she left me,” said Piper. “I needed her, but she—”
“Yes, we know; you feel abandoned,” said Desmond. He released the edges of the giftbag as their gazes met. “Ever wonder how she’s feeling? What about your other dullborn, Nathanial?”
“Nigel,” she said. “His name is Nigel.”
“Whatever.” Desmond stood from the pillar. “When was the last time you checked on him? Have you spoken to him since he went home? He was possessed, I’m sure you remember, and April was almost killed by him. You lost your mother, but April just said that she didn’t know that until today.”
Ash’s stony eyes bore into Desmond’s face. “Since when did you make a habit of defending humans, Des?”
“I’m not,” he said with a light shrug. “I’m pointing out the facts. If you wanted my outside perspective,” he added, eyes on Piper, “I would suggest you consider the very possible reality that April is suffering her own trauma from the attack that happened two days ago. Just a thought.”
Ash looked over Piper’s head at Desmond. “You should go have a word with the Lare,” he said. “He shouldn’t be letting dullborns pass without permission from the provost.”
Desmond nodded, a curt gesture, before he turned to leave. But he stopped when he reached the centre of the foyer just as Piper slapped her hands against her ears.
The Knight statues that bordered the staircase erupted in a synchronised shout: “ALL ENFORCERS ARE TO GATHER IN THE ASSEMBLY HALL IMMEDIATELY!”
There was a pause. A softer voice then whispered from the mouths of the statues. “The assembly hall is booked out all day.”
The statues grumbled, but they didn’t move an inch. Piper gaped at the one to her left and dropped her hands from her head.
“CORRECTION,” shouted the statues. “ALL ENFORCERS ARE TO GATHER IN THE TRAINING HALL IMMEDIATELY.”
Desmond turned and grabbed the giftbag from the pillar; Ash snatched Piper’s arm and hauled her to her feet.
The three of them ran up the stairs as enforcers came bursting through doors in a panic.
CHAPTER 16
The training hall teemed with enforcers and students. Most wore their gear already—black combat trousers that were bound with holsters and daggers, corduroy jumpers that hugged the muscles of their arms and chests, black boots that laced up to the bottom of their shins—and others were clad in their school uniforms or, like Ash and Desmond, sweatpants.
Piper sat on an oak table and swung her legs over the side. Ash reclined beside her, while Desmond leaned against the wall behind them. Athena stood on a table—littered with throwing daggers and parchment scrolls—at the far end of the hall. A handful of enforcers crowded at the back of the table and whispered among themselves. Piper suspected that they knew why the emergency meeting had been called.
Athena held up her hand. A silence clutched the three dozen enforcers and trainees.
“I am sure some of you already know the reason for this meeting,” she announced, her eyes lingering over the enforcers by the door. “Prisoner 7BQ was questioned at 7am this morning. Later, Interrogators Mirage and Rover visited prisoner 7BQ in his cell to recommence questioning. This was at 10.30am.”
Piper’s spine straightened. Her shoulders tightened and she craned her neck to get a be
tter view of Athena. She knew who prisoner 7BQ was.
“The prisoner,” said Athena, “was not in his cell. There were no records left to indicate that he was relocated, and no permission was given for such changes.”
Piper didn’t need to glance at Ash to know he was inching closer to her. The sound of his bare feet sticking to the wooden floor drew closer. He stopped only when the sides of their legs touched.
“That prisoner,” said Athena, “is Chen Wu. A Tracer to be trialled by the Committee regarding a string of dullborn deaths in London. He has escaped. This occurred sometime between 7.30am—when the initial interrogation ended—and 10.30am when he was discovered missing.”
A burly man pushed through the small crowd. “Only a daywalker can free a prisoner.” While he shouted, his voice wasn’t gripped with the same outrage that clutched Piper’s tense body. “Not even a halfbreed or Nightwalker can get through those enchantments!”
“Thank you for articulating what we all know.” It wasn’t Athena who spoke, but someone with a stern and stiff voice that bristled Piper. All gazes swerved to the far corner, where Provost Vale stood beside a Knight statue. She had been so still that Piper assumed everyone had overlooked her as a stature herself. “It is plausible,” said Vale, “that those within the ranks of the cult remain daywalker. We must operate under that assumption given the escape of the prisoner. As daywalker, they were able to breach the enchantments and free their Tracer.”
Ares, who leaned on the edge of the table Athena stood on, suggested, “That might be the case, provost. But there are other possibilities—ones we cannot afford to overlook.”
The provost’s blank eyes moved to Ares. But even through the distance, Piper recognised the flash of fierceness that sparked behind the grey.
Ares righted himself and looked up at Athena. She nodded her head once, a slight gesture that almost went unnoticed.
“What if,” said Ares, “the cult members have taken the change to Nightwalker, but they have one daywalker within their ranks to breach the enchantments in our dungeons? Or, even, they may have someone here in this Academy, working for them among us.”
Piper’s eyes swept around the group. The enforcers didn’t accuse each other with their stares—they kept their heads held high and looked up at Athena, waiting for their orders.
“Ah, here you are.” Athena spoke to someone at the doorway. Everyone turned to see who, but only the Lare slinked inside in the form a cat. It shivered—the outline of its silvery fur pulsed in the air before it blurred over into a tangled ball of wisps. Then, shooting up from the vapour, was a translucent person made of cloudy grey. Piper couldn’t tell whether it was a man or woman, but then she supposed it was neither.
The Lare bowed its head in a formal greeting. Its glowing eyes were locked onto Athena’s patient stare. “Ma’am,” it said. “You summoned me?”
“And you’re late,” said Athena. “Tell us, Lare—who have you allowed passage to this morning between the hours or 7am and 10am?”
The Lare didn’t spare a moment for thought. “halfbreed, Kieron Wilson; Enforcer, Ares Barone; Forger, Elsa Warwick; Counsellor, Cecile Strom; Chef, Killian Smithson; Human, April Clark—”
The provost interrupted; “What business did the dullborn have?”
The Lare stared straight ahead at Athena. “She did not say, and I did not ask.”
Piper frowned. The provost had snapped her narrowed eyes in her direction. It took her a moment to realise that Vale wasn’t looking at her, but at Desmond. Piper glanced over her shoulder to see Desmond was returning the provost’s fierce stare.
“Did anyone else pass the threshold?” asked Athena.
The Lare shook its head; wisps of silver flittered around its blurred face, like hair trembling in a breeze. “Only those I have said, ma’am.”
Athena sucked her teeth. Her gaze drifted back to her subordinates. “I want that prisoner back in his cell by midday.” A softness slicked her voice, but it wasn’t comforting or gentle. Piper almost flinched from the calm danger simmering in her tone. “Every available unit is to be dispatched within twenty minutes. Get moving!”
CHAPTER 17
Kieron’s chest was much too close to Piper’s shoulder. She whacked her elbow back. The edge of her bone connected with his stomach.
“Ouch,” he said. “What’d you do that for?”
“You’re breathing down my neck,” she said. “Don’t.”
Kieron huffed and took heavy steps back. Piper’s body relaxed, and she looked around Ash’s arm. They crowded around one of the dozens of supply closets in the training hall. Ash snatched weapons from the racks inside and handed them to Desmond.
“We’ve got three minutes,” said Desmond. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It ticked closer to 11am. Most of the other teams had already left, draped in their weapons.
“Where are we going?” asked Kieron. The excitement trembled his voice. Piper wouldn’t be shocked if he started to jump on the spot. Though, she couldn’t blame him. In her brief time at the Academy, she’d learned that missions and a purpose helped stave off the grief that danced around them.
“We’ll start at his apartment.” Desmond stripped down to nothing before he tugged on a spare enforcer uniform found in the cupboard. “And go from there. The other units will be searching places Colt is associated with—the restaurant, Kieron’s flat, and they’ll ask around at the pubs.”
Ash flung a black dust ball behind him. Piper caught it in her hands. It was the same one she’d used on Nigel at her apartment.
She offered it to Kieron. “Here,” she said. “If you get yourself in trouble, throw that at whatever is attacking you. It will give you total concealment.”
Ash’s shoulders lifted. Piper suspected that he’d laughed a quiet chuckle. Her eyes burned into the back of his head. “I’ll take a gun and a dagger, Ash.”
“Not that you need it,” said Ash. Though, he snatched a forked knife and a pistol from the cupboard before he turned around to face her. His hands reached out, offering her the weapons, as he added, “You could always shoot fireballs from your hands.”
“Yeah, because that’s worked out so well for me already.” Piper tucked the pistol into the back of her jeans. “It doesn’t work when I want it to.”
The knife needed a holster, she realised. Ash seemed to read her mind, for he reached back and took one from a drawer. He dropped to one knee and looped the holster around her thigh before he fastened it at the side. Once he was finished, Piper slipped the dagger into the strap and patted it.
“How will we get there?” It was Kieron, rolling the dust ball in his fingers, his crooked nose crinkled.
“The senior enforcers will have taken the vans,” said Desmond. He kicked his discarded sweatpants away. “We’re stuck catching the underground.”
Piper shut her eyes and inhaled through her nostrils. The underground was a pit of overcrowded trains and tunnels that reeked of urine. She loathed the underground.
When they were all dressed and armed, Desmond led the way out of the Academy with a bounce of determination in his brisk steps. Piper’s eyes lifted to Ash who marched beside her. A small smile curved at his lips, but his gaze was on Desmond’s back—Desmond was pleased to be back on the case, even if only in a temporary emergency. And Piper couldn’t help but think Ash relied on his enforcer partner on these missions.
CHAPTER 18
The four of them stood out front the blue shop.
It was unlike the last time she and Ash had journeyed there. The lights didn’t glint through the windows, the street was bustling with shoppers and Londoners grabbing lunch, and the glass door had a red ‘CLOSED’ sign dangling from the shutters.
Desmond whipped out a swiss army knife. His thumb nudged a tiny button and the blade shot out. Ash turned his back to his partner and looked up and down the street, as though he expected a horde of Tracers to come running out of nearby alleyways.
There was loud click. D
esmond tucked the knife back into his pocket. “Got it,” he said and pushed the door. It rattled against its shutters and opened to a dark shop.
Kieron followed Desmond inside, then Piper and Ash. The door closed with a gentle click behind them.
Kieron strolled between shelves, paused, and fiddled with a stick of incense. “What is this place?”
“A fortune telling shop,” said Piper. She moved around him, her gaze tracing Ash who ducked under the counter. “Wu’s flat is upstairs.”
Piper grabbed a fistful of Kieron’s t-shirt and dragged him through the store. He shuffled beside her until they reached the back, where Desmond and Ash waited at the top of the concrete stairs. Ash’s eyes followed them both as they hiked up the steps, while Desmond pushed the ajar door open—the hinges groaned in protest.
The apartment inside was dark; the curtains drawn with only wisps of light poking through the gaps. The rays of light never quite touched the room, but danced in the dusty air above the furniture.
“Stay behind us,” whispered Desmond.
Kieron didn’t reply but he shadowed Desmond’s easy movements into the apartment. They disappeared into a chipped and crooked door ahead.
Ash and Piper checked Chen’s bedroom. She hovered in the doorframe, watching Ash march across the room to the window—his legs moved like they were sloping through water, slow and steady; predatory, she thought. It was different to how he moved back at the Academy, where he lounged, slumped and strolled. But when on a mission, the hardness of his muscles pushed against his gear, and he moved like a graceful tiger closing in on its prey at the beginning of a hunt.
“No one’s here,” said Desmond. He and Kieron had come out of the room across the way. Piper leaned away from the doorframe, peering through the open door they’d come from. It was a bathroom with a grimy shower and old porcelain toilet fastened to a fluffy seat.
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