Cami is silent on the phone, though her ragged breathing tells me she’s still listening. I curse myself for not finding a gentler way to break the news to her.
“I’ll need to talk to my grandma and this banshee you met.”
I sense she needs to mull this over to accept it or perhaps to make sense of some visions of her own, so I don’t push it. We end the call with a quick “See you soon”. No time to scratch the surface of all I want to say to her. Not now.
Zach casts a glum look at me. “That sounded like it went well.”
“Shut up.” I can’t help but roll my eyes at him. “You’re one to talk. Your trust in the Narducciis will get us killed. You know that, right?”
He winces, trying to ignore my jab. “Look, we asked Hiram to host us and to bring us here. There’s no proof he set us up.”
“No proof yet, you mean,” I correct with a frozen expression. “He lives under their thumb, Zach.”
“But they’ve got Issa. Hiram must want her back. He’ll fight with us.”
His striking green eyes have the same intensity as Bryar’s—one I know well from an entire lifetime with the sister we share. But the harder he fights to make the Narducciis the good guys here, the more compelled I am to wake him up to the danger his connection with Issa poses.
“Look, I don’t know the girl,” I say as diplomatically as I can. “I’m sure she’s really something and I hope we can find a way to help her, but right now returning to the Narducciis feels like returning to the scene of the crime. Hiram’s security detail will see us. Aren’t they hunters? Also, that’s the first place Oggy’s men will look for us once they comb through the streets in that neighborhood.”
Zach’s expression sours even more. “We need to get our stuff and convince Sofia to tell us what happened to Issa. If the hunters took her, she must have found what we’re looking for. We’ll free her, and she’ll tell us what she knows. It’s the only way anything Tasha said can come to pass. Without Issa, we’ve got no clue how to proceed.”
I sigh, but the taxi is speeding out of town to the Narduccii residence. “We’ll be in and out.”
“Quick as bunnies, I promise.” Zach’s attempt at a joke doesn’t ease the tension stiffening my shoulders.
The gates open to let us in, which makes me think either Hiram didn’t sell us out to the hunters, or they never thought we’d be stupid enough to return here. I try not to think of the third option—that they’re already waiting for us inside.
The wooden gates close behind us—a trap snapping closed if I’ve ever seen one. We come to a halt in front of the luxurious mansion and ask the driver to keep the meter running while we go fetch our belongings.
Lucky for us, when we ring the doorbell, the butler is the one to answer. He lets us in with a casual smile, which makes me think we may have come here before any trap could be planned for us. That doesn’t mean this closed-access mansion can’t turn into a trap at any moment, of course.
The glittering interior of the house shines bright with all the lights illuminating the plush rooms. In slow, measured steps, Sofia descends the staircase to meet us.
“That will be all,” she dismisses the butler instead of greeting us. “After me.”
We don’t argue, so we follow her into the hallway connecting the entrance hall to the dining room where we had brunch. I shut the door behind us, but Sofia stops in the hallway instead of entering the dining room.
Her hand hovers over the light switch. “Shall we even the playing field?”
She flicks the switch, drowning the room in darkness. Only the edges of the door behind me are rimmed in light, but it’s not enough for me to even see my hand waving in front of my face.
“What are you doing?” I try not to sound on edge and fail.
“Oh, don’t tell me two brave hunters are afraid of the dark?”
I press my lips into a line. People might often underestimate Sofia because she didn’t claim her powers, but I won’t ever make that mistake. Right now, she’s got the upper hand.
She begins a slow walk, coming between me and Zach, the quiet taps of her white cane giving away her position. “You two are screwed unless you do what I say, understood?”
“Err...” we both stutter.
I’m positive that Zach, despite holding Sofia and her sister in high regard, is just as flabbergasted as I am to hear this.
“I’ll take that stunned, garbled sound as a ‘yes’.” She certainly has a sharp tongue. “My father called to say you were taken underground with Oggy and then tried to escape the compound.”
“We didn’t try,” I cut her off. “We succeeded.”
She goes on, ignoring me. “The hunter security will alert Oggy of your arrival in a second. This means you must be out of here before my father gets back, and you need to make it obvious that you escaped, not that we let you go.”
I guess that answers the question of whose side the Narducciis are really on.
“The cameras don’t record sound, so all the hunters will see is me attacking you in the dark. I’ll claim we fought in the time it takes to conclude this conversation.”
“Would they really believe—” I start, but she snaps right back at me.
“What? That a girl would try to take you on? Or that a blind person would work better in the dark than the two of you?”
“That we would dare try to hurt you,” I clarify.
She huffs with irritation, refusing to dignify that with a response. “When I give you the signal, Zach, you push me to the wall. Mason, go for the light switch. For their benefit, I’ll need you, Zach, to throw me to the ground. It will take me a moment to get back up, which you can use to escape to the garage. Get the blue Honda. The keys are inside. And get out of here.”
“Why are you helping us?” I whisper.
“Because Zach and Issa may have barked at each other for years, but I know you care about her, don’t you?”
“I do.” Zach’s admission is shaky. “I’ll find her, Sof, I swear.”
“You’d better.”
“Do you know what she did? What she found? Or where she was caught?” he presses, although we must only have seconds to spare.
“All I know is that she was obsessed with legends about the hidden legacies.” I sense mirth in her tone, like she’s smiling. “Which, after tonight’s events, I would assume you both are.”
“Your assumption would be correct.”
My jaw drops at Zach’s reply. Is he mental?
“Great,” Sofia says brightly. “Please get your powers and burn those hunters to a freaking crisp. You know, once you get my sister back.”
“Would love to,” Zach says. “But I would need whatever Issa found. Otherwise, we’re blocked.”
“Blocked how?”
“Apart from the banshee, any member of a circle that frees a fire drake dies,” Zach says. “I need whatever the hunters know, whatever Issa found, to figure out how to stop that from happening.”
“The legacies in a circle can protect each other,” Sofia cuts him off, like the solution was obvious all along.
“I don’t think you understand. We’re talking instantaneous death of five members of the circle, all at the same time. Who’s going to help whom?”
“They won’t have the time when they’re breaking the joint spell, but they could put a web of protections on each other beforehand,” she hisses with irritation. “Trust me, it can be done.”
“We were hoping your sister would have found a confirmed case showing us exactly how.”
Sofia giggles in response. “Wouldn’t that be handy? If you come across a genie that grants wishes, be sure to ask for that. I assure you my sister wouldn’t have found you that guarantee. If a circle that had broken the joint spell and lived existed, the news of it would have spread. You’re breaking new ground here. You won’t stumble upon a solution, boys, but you can work one out yourselves. The fact that it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done.”
We sink into a moment of stunned, breathless silence.
“Now, on three, do as I asked.” She sucks in a noisy breath. “And then, good luck on your mission. One, two, three.”
There’s a commotion as Zach pushes Sofia to the wall. I walk in small steps in the direction of the light switch she used to submerge us into darkness. Hands held out in front of me, I pause when I touch the wall, then swipe, fingers spread wide, until I flick the switch.
The explosion of light makes me narrow my eyes until they adjust to it. As instructed, Zach pushes Sofia to the ground, so she lands on her knees. We each throw a look back at her as we speed for our guest room. She hisses a curse but seems to be overplaying her fall for the cameras.
We grab our stuff, still packed in our backpacks, and exit through the corridor that leads to the indoor parking. An alarm Sofia must have triggered to maintain her cover now blares, making me cringe.
“They’ll lock us in here,” I pant, throwing a look back at Zach.
He reaches me without slowing down and pushes us both through the door to the parking lot. “We’ll drive through their gate if we have to.”
There are four parking spots in the garage—three of them occupied. We dash for the blue Honda, but before Zach pulls the driver’s door open, a dark figure steps up from behind the car.
Hiram walks toward us with the calm composure of a lion stalking its prey. Indeed, compared to the company he keeps, we are nothing more than prey. A mesmerizing viper curls, draped across his shoulders. Its body, covered in a gray and black zig-zag pattern, is strong, thick, and menacing. And through its open mouth, the reptile hisses, ready to strike.
“Gentlemen, meet my namesake—The Black Adder.” Hiram smiles with quiet satisfaction. “I should warn you, you won’t find him as hospitable as me.”
Chapter 17. Mason
Hiram runs his finger under the snake’s head, petting The Black Adder he shares a name with. “His venom won’t kill you...provided you get urgent medical help, of course.”
We freeze on the spot, breaths quieting.
“Now that I have your attention, please be good and stay put until the hunter reinforcements arrive.” His words may be polite, but his tone is anything but accommodating.
“Mr. Narduccii, please, listen to me.” Zach employs his most diplomatic tone. “I don’t know what Oggy and the hunters want with us. They suspect us of being traitors to The Guild, but they’ve got it all wrong.”
“Save your breath, boy,” Hiram squeezes through his teeth. “Or do go on, actually. It’s only a matter of how you want to pass the time until they get here. No plea of yours will make a difference with me or Oggy’s men.”
“You don’t have to help them!” The words fly out of my mouth before I’ve thought them through. But if playing dumb won’t work, honesty might be our only way out of this.
“Obviously, you don’t grasp the nature of the arrangement that exists between Oggy’s men and my family.” His eyes darken, turning into bottomless pits of black.
“They took your daughter, and still you’re helping them? Don’t roll over and let this go. Fight. Fight with us.”
My attempted pep talk does little to rally him to our cause, though. It sounds too desperate, and no one wants to ally themselves with the weak.
My gaze flies up to the camera at the corner as I try to mentally map out its blind spot. If we could lure Hiram there and convince him to pretend we knocked him out, the hunters wouldn’t blame him for our escape.
“It seems you’ve been made aware of the cameras in this residence,” Hiram drawls. “I’ll have to have a talk with Sofia about trusting unreliable companions.”
“You could pretend we attacked you in the camera’s blind spot.” As soon as I relay my feeble plan to him, his flat, boxer’s nose scrunches.
“You really think that would fool them? I have influence in politics, in the world of human affairs, but when it comes to legacy or hunter business, my family is at their mercy. Don’t you get that?”
“You think they’ll let her go?” Zach breathes in a hoarse voice. “Issa.”
“They might never let her go, but if I don’t prove my dedication to their cause by delivering you, they’ll hurt her.”
The Black Adder on his shoulders hisses menacingly and snaps its deadly jaws at us.
Zach takes a step closer to our host and his fanged pet, both hands raised in a gesture of goodwill. “I’ll bring Issa back.”
I see his movement for what it is—a way to get closer to the blue Honda’s driver seat. If the keys are inside like Sofia said, he only needs to sneak into the car while I go around and take the passenger seat. Slowly, using Zach’s approach toward Hiram, I back away a step, ready to bolt at the first sign of attack.
“Your hormone-fueled interest in my daughter won’t help her situation,” Hiram growls at Zach. “Quite the opposite. Of all the types to get mixed up with, she ends up fraternizing with a hidden legacy. Even if the hunters free her, she’ll be paying for her loyalty to you every day of her life. They’ll always watch her closely. Keep her on a tight leash.”
Zach lowers his hands, widening the space between them until his left hand is so close to the car door that his fingers brush against it. That’s when Hiram sees our play. His face contorts in anger as he plants a palm on the car roof, letting the patterned snake slide off his shoulders, hissing.
Zach doesn’t miss a beat. He swings the driver’s door open as a shield in front of him to block the snake’s first lunge for him. Then he slams the door shut, but too late. The muscled body of The Black Adder drops to the floor. Zach swears and falls backward on the hood of the car.
I zip around the hood to the passenger side door, but as soon as I reach it, I come face to face with the other Black Adder. Hiram targets a strong punch right at my face. Thanks to the momentum I’ve gathered in the previous few steps, I manage to fall to my knees in time and land a blow to his exposed abs.
The pain of my knees hitting the concrete floor joins the spasms on the side of my body from the fight earlier. Somewhere behind me Zach swears again, and the groan of metal accompanies his moves to evade the snake’s poisonous bite.
I’m still on my knees when Hiram recovers from the punch and glares down at me with a murderous gleam in his eyes.
“Cami’s circle will find a way to undo the joint spell,” I whisper to him. “A banshee told us it can be done.”
His hand, ready for a punch, freezes mid-air.
“When that happens, the hunters’ rule will be broken. Zach will be more powerful than they ever imagined. We’ll find your daughter then.”
Hiram strikes, but I block with both hands, then pull the passenger seat door open, hitting him square in the shoulder. That tips his balance, so he takes a few steps to remain standing.
I jump inside the car and smack the door shut. To my great relief, Zach is already next to me in the driver’s seat. The viper slides on the hood, then strikes, hitting its nose flat against the windshield.
Zach turns the car keys and the engine hums to life, followed by the swift click of the lock mechanism. I breathe a small sigh of relief, though Hiram is on the other side of my door, trying to pull it open in vain.
“We’ve got a problem,” Zach pants, his forehead beaded in perspiration.
“You don’t say.”
I trace the look he throws over his shoulder to the closed garage door behind him.
“Go through it,” I shout against the sound of Hiram’s fist banging against the window on my side.
“Listen to me,” the man bellows. “You’ve got a gun, don’t you?”
We both freeze, too confused to dare believe his apparent change in attitude. The viper on the hood hisses and twists but doesn’t strike against the windshield again. I take that as a good sign.
“Take out the cameras, but make it look like you’re targeting me.”
I don’t hesitate. As Zach makes the engine groan and the ti
res scrunch against the concrete, I fish out a wolf gun from my backpack. Silver bullets should do the trick, though it’s a shame to waste them. I roll down the window as Hiram backs away, eyes trained on the gun. He dives behind the nearby car for cover, but I shoot at the corner of the ceiling.
I can’t be sure the hunters will buy the premise that this was a stray shot. Right now, there’s no better alternative.
Hiram peeks up from behind the hood of the other car. “You really think you can do it? Get rid of the hunters?”
I nod at him, quick and confident. “It can be done.”
“There’s a group of charmers at the outskirts of New York City. Go to them. They’ll hide you.”
“How do we find these charmers?”
“You can’t use your phones,” Hiram warns. “The hunters have eyes and ears in the police department and can call in favors. That’s the first thing they’ll do to monitor you. You’d best turn off your phones right now.”
I grimace, thinking back to the call I had with Cami. They’ll know she’s coming, and I can’t do anything to warn her right now.
But Hiram continues, snapping my attention back to him. “There’s a map in the glove compartment. I’ve marked a street in red. Light fires in the trashcans you find up and down the street until you see the purple flame.” Hiram’s bottomless eyes seem empty; his expression—resigned. “Go. Go get my daughter back.”
Zach gives him a grave nod. “What about our exit?”
Hiram moves his gaze to me. “You’re a great shot. Hit the garage door controls. The safety mode will kick in and open it. As for the gate to the mansion...” He regards his blue Honda with a tender look. “I guess you’ll have to drive through it.”
I swallow twice before taking in a slow breath and pulling the trigger on exhale. The garage door controls burst in a cloud of smoke. When the sparks die down, the safety mechanism activates.
“Find a way to warn your mother without calling,” Hiram says to Zach instead of a goodbye. “They’ll be after her now.”
Zach’s eyes widen in terror, but he manages another nod. Then his foot hits the pedal, and we’re out of the garage with a sweeping maneuver. I manage to buckle myself in just in time for us to speed up to the mansion gate.
Heritage: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Elmwick Academy Book 3) Page 13
