by Hanna Peach
Soon Alyx felt a hand brush against her waist and Jordan reappeared. He reached for her hand and with the other he held up a key. It had been Jordan’s hand in the guard’s pocket retrieving the key. “Let’s move. He won’t be out for too long.”
Alyx nodded and they flew down to the door. With a quick glance around the corridor, she unlocked and opened the door. Then she pulled them both inside.
As soon as the door shut, Alyx let go of her mirage. She scanned the room, furnished in dark wood and set off by the largest Persian rug she had ever seen, taking up almost the entire floor. Where was Mini? On a hunch, Alyx flew over to the far corner of the room where one of the curtains of the tall barred window fell in a dark red strip. As she landed near the corner, a small squeak came from under the bump in the curtain.
“Mini? It’s Alyx.”
The curtain shifted and the small girl’s face appeared. She flung herself at Alyx. “Ah-lex. Ah-lex,” she choked out between little sobs.
Alyx tucked the terrified girl into her arms. Oh Mini. Alyx felt her inside trembling with rage. I will make Samyara pay.
“We’re getting you out of here, okay, Mini?” She let Jordan send a small pulse through Mini and the broken child fell silent in her arms. Alyx handed her to Jordan. “Change of plan. You take her to Aaban. Set off the bombs and get the hell out.”
“What? What are you going to do?”
Alyx unhooked the pouch containing her two FireGlobes from her belt and hooked it onto Jordan’s. “I’m going after Samyara. I’m going to finish this.”
“Alyx−”
“Don’t argue with me. Just move.” Alyx flew to the door without waiting for a response. She miraged herself over before slipping out.
* * *
Who would have thought that destroying a security system would be this complicated? Passar stared at the bed of wires and buttons, the whole thing glowing with a supernatural shield. He hadn’t known about the shield. He hadn’t considered it.
He stared up at the panel of screens, all dead. At least Alyx and her friends didn’t have to worry about being caught on camera. But without cutting the wires and alarms around the mansion, they wouldn’t get a whisper on the property before Samyara and his Darkened were alerted.
He slammed his hands down on the invisible shield in frustration. There had to be a way to breach it.
Then he remembered one of Elijah’s picks, hidden among his things in his room on the second floor. He had given Alyx the second one all those weeks ago in Michaelea. Oh how things had all changed since then.
Passar’s resolve hardened as he turned towards the security room door and headed to his room to retrieve Elijah’s last gift to him.
* * *
In Samyara’s chambers, the mortal whose life Samyara was taking fell still. Samyara fell back against his chaise and the body dropped to the carpet with a dull thud. Samyara let out a satisfied groan and hummed along to the sounds of “Carmen” playing in the background. He didn’t bother looking up when his door opened.
“Take this body away,” he said, waving his hand in the air. “I’m done with it.”
“Master?” The voice sounded confused. “You’re here?”
Samyara looked up. Alzeke was at his door. God, Alzeke could be unbearably slow sometimes. “Of course I’m here. You can see me, can’t you?”
“You were fast in getting back here, master.”
“What?”
Alzeke frowned and his face scrunched up with confusion. “I came straight here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I passed you in the hall some minutes ago, master. I was just surprised that you got back here before I did, that’s all.”
Samyara sat up. “Are you telling me that you just saw me somewhere else?”
“Yes, master.”
“Alzeke, I’ve been here the whole time.”
Alzeke scratched his head. “I was sure it was you I saw. I was sure…”
Samyara's brain ticked over. Alzeke could be slow but he wasn’t blind. Someone was walking around this mansion impersonating him. Only one person in this mansion would dare do that…Passar. Why?
Of course. That ungrateful traitorous bastard Passar was turning against him. Well really…why was he surprised? Once a traitor, always a traitor. But what was he up to?
“Alzeke, where exactly did you pass me in the hall?”
“On the ground floor.”
“Where on the ground floor?”
“In the corridor.”
“Which corridor?”
“On the ground floor.”
Samyara’s right hand made a choking motion in the air. Alzeke flinched back from him. Stupid Alzeke. No, no use getting angry. Samyara took a calming breath.
He leaped up from his chaise and strode to his office in the adjoining room, Alzeke hurrying after him. Samyara slid into the cushioned tan leather chair behind his desk and pressed a small button in one of the drawers. A panel whirred open and a large monitor rose out of his desk. The monitor was wired to the small cameras that sent a direct feed to the security room. If Passar was wandering around looking like him, he’d find him.
The monitor flickered to life. It showed live footage from one of the cameras, a shot of the driveway. Samyara pressed buttons on a small remote, flicking through the camera angles. Samyara’s eyes narrowed when he spotted Passar. He was entering his bedroom looking like himself. What the hell was Passar playing?
He’d get to the bottom of this. Samyara pressed another button on his desk and called for his guards.
* * *
Jordan flew down through the corridors of Darkwood Mansion, the sleeping Mini in his arms. Damn Alyx. Damn her and her stubbornness. He had seen the cold fury in her eyes back in Mini’s room. He recognized in that moment there was nothing he could have done to stop her.
He flew through the servants’ quarters and down into the cellar, stopping only to lay Mini down before he yanked at the string coming out of the wall in the predetermined series of tugs. Immediately the earth fell away to reveal Aaban’s face. He stared between Jordan and Mini, then past them. “Where’s Alyx?”
“The stubborn thing has gone after Samyara.”
“On her own?”
Jordan glared at him. “It’s not like she gave me any choice.” He pushed Mini into Aaban’s arms. “Take her. I’ll set the FireGlobes. Close up this wall and fly out of here as fast as you can. Remember, you only have ten minutes until they go off.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going back in to make sure Alyx doesn’t get herself killed.”
* * *
Passar fisted the rough, misshapen pick in his palm as he strode back through the corridors towards the security room. Thank you, Elijah. Even now you’re helping me. I’ll see you soon.
Chapter 27
In Passar’s room, Samyara kicked over a table. A vase and several cat figurines went flying into the wall with a satisfying smash. “Where is he, goddammit?”
Passar wasn’t there but one of his drawers had been left hanging open and the contents flung out on the floor. Clearly, Passar had been looking for something that he had hidden in that drawer. Whatever it was, he had found it.
Samyara’s four guards stood stupidly staring at each other and shaking their heads. “Dunno, master,” one of them dared to say.
Samyara turned to Alzeke, who was standing behind the group of guards. “Alzeke. Do you remember exactly where you saw my double in the corridor on the ground floor?”
The guards parted to let Alzeke forward. “Yes, master.”
“Take us there.”
* * *
Under her mirage, Alyx sped through the corridors, her fingers gripping the sword handle at her side, her custom blade infused with Israel’s blood that would send that sonofabitch Samyara to a great big nothing from where he would never return. She couldn’t wait. Her blood sang at the thought of it.
She reached Samyara’
s chambers and was surprised to see that no guards were waiting outside. Odd. She tested the door; finding it unlocked, she pushed it open a crack. No one was there that she could see. Alyx slipped inside and shut the door quietly behind her.
Samyara’s chamber was evidently the master bedroom of this mansion. The sheer size and decadence of this room was nauseating: silk fabrics, dripping crystals and gold-plated decorative features everywhere. Under her mirage, Alyx scanned the room for any signs as to where Samyara might be. This was supposed to be his dinner time. He should be here.
She spotted the mortal body on the floor. Correction: it had been his dinner time. Alyx bent over the body and felt his throat. No pulse, definitely dead. But his skin was still warm, which meant that Samyara had just been here. He couldn’t have gone far.
Alyx noticed the adjoining door to his chamber was open. She crept to the door and peered into the office. Again, no one was there. Something flickering on his desk caught her eye and she moved behind the desk to get a better look. It was a monitor showing images from the various cameras around the mansion. Good. Maybe Samyara was in one of them.
There! Her heart thudded when she recognized Samyara’s figure striding alone down one of the corridors of the ground floor.
Gotcha.
Alyx sped to the door then paused, her mind running through all the floor plans. Samyara was almost underneath her now. The closest staircase was farther along this wing. She didn’t want to lose him. Was there a quicker way to get downstairs?
Of course. She remembered the dumbwaiter that connected from Samyara’s chambers down to the small drawing room directly below. Perfect for sending hot food up to the master in his bedroom without walking all the way through these corridors and having the food go cold. It would be just big enough to let her down. Alyx sped into Samyara’s bedroom and located the silver cover in the wall. She lifted up the cover of the small lift. Here goes nothing.
* * *
Jordan had to duck under the low doorway to get into the walk-in pantry from the large servants’ kitchen-cum-workshop. The pantry was the size of a small living room. Upon the shelves, the sharp glassy black tips of Black Stone blades pointed and winked at him. Imagine being caught too close to the blast when the FireGlobes went off. All those healing-repressive shards embedding in my body. Jordan shuddered at the thought.
Jordan flew up to a far corner and pulled out the first FireGlobe. He peeled the small protective layer off a sticky substance on one section of the ’Globe. Then he gently pressed the sticky side to the ceiling.
The sticky stuff was made of a gluey tree sap mixed with another kind of sap to make a weaker paste. This weaker paste would only hold these FireGlobes up for ten minutes. Then they would drop, breaking open on the ground and letting out the pressurized FireMagic in a small explosion. The four explosions together should be enough to blow up the pantry, destroying the Darkened’s stockpile of weapons.
Tobias had suggested using FireGlobes but Alyx had come up with the idea for using this tree sap as an automated timer. She said that Mayrekk had told her about it once. Her voice had gone all hushed.
Jordan slowly released the ’Globe. There. The glue held. Ten minutes. He had to work faster. Jordan flew to the next corner to attach the second ’Globe.
* * *
Alyx peeked out of the drawing room on the ground floor and into the corridor. Her heart sank. She was too late. Samyara had disappeared. Where had he gone?
A crackling noise came from a room just across the corridor. It was the security room, she realized. Of course. That’s where he was. She miraged herself over, then slipped out into the corridor. She pressed her ear to the door. Yes, someone was moving around inside.
Alyx let herself feel all of her rage over every single drop of pain Samyara had caused her and the ones she loved. She gripped her sword in her hand, bracing her left hand on the door handle.
This is it. It’s all over, Samyara.
Quietly, she turned the handle and pulled open the door. Just in front of her, Samyara stood at the control panel with his back to her. Alyx struck before he could turn around. The instant her sword tip pieced his back, his image flickered and disappeared. In its place was a familiar figure. In shock, Alyx snatched her sword back and a strange white light shone out from the wound.
The seraph groaned in pain, and something magical crackled as he partially turned, slumping onto the edge of the panel. It was Passar. What the hell was he doing here? And looking like Samyara?
She…she had stabbed him. “Oh my God.” Alyx dropped her sword. She caught him with trembling hands as he fell. What had she done? Even though Passar had betrayed her, he had once upon a time been one of her closest friends. Guilt flooded her heart as she lowered him to the ground and laid him on his side, gathering his cloak in her hands and trying to stop the bleeding.
“Finish destroying the alarm system,” he choked out between coughs bubbling with blood.
He grabbed her hand and pressed something cool and light into her palm. She recognized it instantly. The other pick that Elijah made. That’s when she noticed the broken monitors, the open panel with some wires that had been torn out, the magical shield, and the two Darkened bodies in the corner. But why did he do these things?
Alyx put the pieces together when she realized the hooded cloak he wore tied at his neck was maroon. Passar was the seraph in the maroon hood at her speech in Purgatory. He had been the one hanging around the castle. He must have known of their plans and knew that they were attacking tonight. He could have told Samyara, warned him that the FreeThinkers were coming. But instead Passar had been trying to destroy Samyara’s security measures. Passar had been trying to help. And she had just stabbed him.
Her stomach filled with a sickly bile. “Passar, you’re going to be fine. Just hang on.”
“No,” he wheezed. “I won’t.”
“Oh my God, Passar.” She gripped him. “I’m so sorry. I thought you were Samyara.”
“It’s okay. I’m dead anyway. The blood contract.”
Passar must have signed a blood contract with Samyara, she realized. Like she had with Balthazar.
“Forgive me, Alyx.”
“Of course.”
There was the smallest smile to Passar’s lips. “I get to see Elijah again.” Then the light in his eyes faded and he was still.
Alyx brushed his eyelids shut, a small sob caught in her throat, and she lowered his head to the ground. A fury rose in her as she stood. She threw the pick into the open panel, causing the shield to crackle and disappear. She shoved both her hands in and tore at the contents, letting her grief fuel her movements. Electricity crackled and sparks came off the broken wires. Alyx’s breath was heaving when she was done.
Now she had to pull herself together. This was all she could allow herself to feel right now. She had to keep going. Samyara was still alive.
She picked up Elijah’s second pick from the ruin of wires and tucked it into a pocket. The shield hummed again now that the pick was out of range. She grabbed her sword and sheathed it, staring at the open security room door. She was damn lucky that no one had come along and seen her. Yet. She peeked out of the door.
Dammit. She spotted Samyara, the real Samyara, flanked by guards turning the corner at the far end of the corridor. Alyx ducked back into the control room. From the sounds of those footsteps, he had a troop of guards with him. If she was caught here she would be killed in an instant without a chance of getting close to Samyara.
She flicked on her mirage with the intention of sneaking out before Samyara got here. But the magic flickered and spluttered. She glanced down at her arm. Oh hell. No more MirageWeaver bloodink. What now?
Their footsteps came closer and closer.
* * *
Samyara’s blood turned to stone when he saw that the door to his control room had been flung open. He let two of his guards go into the room first. They came out seconds later. “Clear.”
Samyara sho
ved past them and stepped inside. It was a hell-damned disaster. The monitors were all smashed, glass shards coating the panel and floor with a frost. The cover of the panel had been opened and tossed to one side. The magic shield hummed but it had obviously been breached as all the wires and components had been yanked out, sticking every which way. In the far corner, a pile of Darkened guards lay oozing blood.
At Samyara’s feet, Passar lay across the floor. There was blood on his lips, red spray on his chin and it was puddling around him. Samyara dropped to a crouch by Passar and felt for a pulse. None. Samyara stood and rolled Passar to his side with his boot. A wound in Passar’s back was the obvious reason for his demise.
The bastard had killed his security system and his alarm system, then killed himself, denying Samyara the pleasure. Samyara sent a hard kick into Passar’s body, letting out a string of vile curses.
Then he froze. Stupid. Passar couldn’t have killed himself. The wound was on his back. So who killed him? And why tonight of all nights would Passar choose to bring down his security system, unless…
Stupid traitor. Damned Rogues. He would bet that Alyx and her friends were behind all this. And for whatever reason, they turned on Passar once they were done with him. At least one of them was already somewhere in his house.
He slapped the large red emergency alarm button on the wall. But no alarms rang out. Of course. All his systems were completely broken. He cursed again as he spun. “Alzeke, find Zhair. Get him to meet me in the library.”
“Yes, master.”
“And the goddamn rest of you sound the alarm,” he yelled at his guards. “I want every last Hell-damned creature in this mansion armed with Black Stone blades. We’re being invaded.”
Chapter 28
Inside the security room, Alyx peered out from under the two Darkened corpses. Samyara hadn’t questioned the fact that there were three black-clad bodies piled in the corner. Alyx heard the guards’ footsteps as they scattered, their calls of alarm echoing through the corridors.
