The Drow Grew Stronger (Goth Drow Book 4)

by Martha Carr

  The agent frowned at the monitor, then leaned forward in disbelief. “Fuck. This is everything.”

  “Yep.”

  “How did you get all this?” Rhynehart studied the information on the monitor, his eyes racing back and forth. “That’s the layout of the prison.”

  “I know what it is. Come on, man. Just because Cheyenne doesn’t get any credit for this, it doesn’t mean no one does.”

  She chuckled. “Trust me, you get full credit for this. How long did it take you?”

  “Meh.” The blue troll shrugged. “About a month.”

  “Oh.” Cheyenne tried to look surprised.

  “Twenty years ago, kid, okay? Back when shit was a lot harder to set up. I’ve made a lot of improvements since then.”

  “I bet.”

  Rhynehart ran his hand over his mouth and shook his head. “Damn. You guys don’t fuck around, do you?”

  “Ha! There it is.” Persh’al pointed at the agent and grinned at Cheyenne. “Out of everything he’s seen in the last twenty-four hours, my system made a true believer out of the guy.”

  “What exactly am I a true believer in?” Rhynehart asked in a dull voice as his attention moved to the second monitor on the right and the list of guards and agents stationed in every cell block of Chateau D’rahl, organized by shift and day of the week.

  “That we have what it takes, man.” Persh’al folded his arms and watched Rhynehart’s disbelief. “That you’re steppin’ up in the world. At least this one. You’re runnin’ with the big dogs now, my man.”

  “And the big dogs are taking on some serious shit.” Rhynehart licked his lips and finally met the blue troll’s gaze. “All right. If we’re planning and you already have all this, any suggestions for where to start?”

  Persh’al grinned. “Tons. You have no idea.”

  “Then let’s hear it.”

  The troll interlaced his fingers and stretched them out, cracking all his knuckles at once. “We’ll start with putting some of your guys on the inside. I’d go with the ogre and Eyepatch over there. They look like they don’t put up with bullshit.”

  Bhandi turned toward them from the other side of the warehouse and raised an eyebrow. “And we do?”

  “More than them? Yeah.”

  Payton turned her good eye on the blue troll and sneered. “The name’s Payton, dickwad.”

  Persh’al raised both hands. “Okay.”

  “You want to give them shifts at security, or what?” Rhynehart asked.

  “Fuck security. I can take care of that, no problem. What we need is someone right here. I can reprogram your access cards, which you won’t have a problem handing over, right?”

  The agent blinked. “Sure.”

  “Cool. That’ll get you as far as this last checkpoint right here, right in front of what I call The Hatch.”

  “Huh. We call it the dunk tank.”

  Persh’al snorted. “Leave it to the FRoE to bring a carnival vibe into a max-security magical prison.”

  “Naw, I think you guys do a pretty good job of that yourself.”

  They stared at each other, and Rhynehart finally smiled.

  “Whatever, man. We put the ogre and Payton right here, ‘cause this door can only be opened from the inside. Locking mechanism’s not in the system. It’s manual.”

  “Sure.” Rhynehart studied the schematics of Chateau D’rahl and picked at his lower lip. “Then what?”

  As they went over the plans, Cheyenne stepped back, pulled out one of the folding metal chairs from beneath the table, and sat. Look at everybody, playing nice.

  “I swear to the fucking deathflame, asshole,” Lumil shouted, “if you don’t shut the hell up and let me finish my story, I’ll have one of these nightstalkers port you into our fucking dungeons. Capeesh?”

  Corian pulled up a chair beside Maleshi and sat, shaking his head.

  Laughing, Tate stepped away from the goblin and raised both hands. “You drive a hard bargain, greenskin.”

  “And you look like you let a fell-damn Asher draw those tattoos all over you in Sharpie. Shut the hell up.”

  The tattooed troll frowned. “What’s an Asher?”

  Byrd snickered and lifted both hands, tossing his fingers out to mime an explosion. “They scatter. A lot.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Maybe you’ll find out if you quit wasting my time asking stupid fucking questions.”

  Cheyenne folded her arms in the chair. Okay. Almost playing nice. That’s close enough.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  After Rhynehart and Persh’al had finished hashing out their plan for breaking into Chateau D’rahl to break Venga out, the FRoE agent’s temporary ease around the illegally crossed magicals—as far as the FRoE was concerned—faded. He grimaced at the computer and stepped away. “All right. I need a day.”

  “What the hell for?” Persh’al asked with a chuckle.

  “To get everything together. My agents need the right kind of gear to make this possible. I need to get you access badges. Can’t believe I said that. And if I find any kinks, we have a day to work them out.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Dude, this is insane.” Bhandi snorted a laugh and thumped Tate on the shoulder. “You ever think this was in your future when you signed up for this shit?”

  “Not part of the job description.” The tattooed troll shrugged. “So no. Not really.”

  “I fucking love it!”

  “So, who’s getting us out of here?” Rhynehart asked.

  Maleshi stood from her chair and quickly opened a portal onto the gravel drive in front of the Summerlin estate. “Your chariot awaits, assholes.”

  “You.” Yurik pointed at her, then dropped his hand when she raised an eyebrow. “You’re funny.”

  Maleshi followed him with glowing silver eyes and a predatory smile. “Okay.”

  “So, we walk through this thing again?” Bhandi pointed at the portal. “Man, somebody’s gotta show us how to do this on our own. That’d make ops a hell of a lot easier.”

  Byrd and Lumil cracked up, practically falling over each other, then shoving apart again.

  Bhandi gave them a clearly unamused grimace of a smile. “Yeah, these guys? Not so funny.”

  “Good fucking luck with that!” Lumil howled. “You hear that, Corian? The FRoE could use some fell-damn portals!”

  “About fucking time!” Byrd staggered backward and nearly fell over, he was laughing so hard.

  “Psychos.” Yurik shook his head. “Every last one of you.”

  L’zar opened the door to his private office-turned-bedroom in the back of the warehouse. “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far.”

  The FRoE agents spun to look at him. The mad-drow grin spreading across his face made Tate take a step back toward the portal. Jamal grunted.

  “I suppose there are various levels of psychosis,” L’zar said. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Bhandi scoffed and turned to Rhynehart. “This asshole’s not coming with us, is he?”

  “Unfortunately, yeah.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Hurry along now,” L’zar crooned. “Go prepare.”

  Rhynehart flipped the drow thief the middle finger before stalking through the portal. His five agents followed closely behind.

  “See ya on the other side, Goth drow,” Bhandi called, tossing a hand in the air.

  “Yep.” Cheyenne stuck her hands in her pockets and nodded back.

  Maleshi’s portal remained open long enough for everyone to watch the FRoE agents pile into the last SUV in front of the house before Yurik drove them slowly out of view. Then the portal closed with a soft pop, and the general raised an eyebrow at Cheyenne. “Goth drow, huh?”

  “I guess it has a ring to it, yeah.” The halfling shrugged. “Hey, if it makes them feel more comfortable about this whole situation, why not?”

  “Their comfort isn’t our priority,” Corian snarled.

  “Yeah, bu
t it makes all this a hell of a lot easier.” Cheyenne glanced from the nightstalkers to L’zar. “So, what now?”

  “Now we wait.” Corian eyed L’zar as the drow thief spun slowly and headed into his box of a room. The door clicked shut behind him. “We’re leaving a lot to chance by putting the next move in their hands, kid.”

  “Hey, it’s not like I’m clueless, here.” Cheyenne shrugged. “Chance doesn’t play nearly as much into it with them helping us.”

  “You really think they will?”

  She turned to look at Persh’al, who’d finally sat in his chair behind his computer and was typing furiously again, oblivious to everything around him. “I think Persh’al was right to show Rhynehart how much he knows about the prison and how long you guys have been watching it. Yeah, I think that’s what convinced the guy this has to happen. Plus everything else we had to deal with this morning.”

  Ember snorted. “You’re welcome.”

  “Hey, goes without saying, Em. We wouldn’t be planning to break into a max-security prison for magicals without you.”

  “We wouldn’t be planning a fell-damn thing without you, Healer.” Lumil shot Ember the guns with both hands. “You’re really comin’ into your own these days.”

  “Great. Then maybe you’ll take me seriously when I say drop the ‘Healer’ thing, huh?”

  Byrd snickered. Lumil laughed too and didn’t bother punching the amusement out of the other goblin. “I like your style, fae. Point taken.”

  Cheyenne glanced at the closed door of L’zar’s room. “Looks like he’s in a better mood too.”

  Corian dipped his head. “For now.”

  “You think the other shoe is gonna drop? If there even is another shoe?”

  “Let’s call it progress and leave it at that, huh?” Corian and Maleshi exchanged glances. “We could all enjoy a good distraction while it lasts.”

  “What distraction?” Cheyenne snorted. “There’s nothing going on.”

  “Exactly.”

  “All right.” She ran a hand through her hair and turned to Ember. “I’m ready to go home.”

  “I’ll be right behind you.” Ember gestured at the center of the warehouse, and five seconds later, Corian’s newest portal opened there to take them back to their apartment.

  “I’m assuming the human will get hold of you when everything’s ready?”

  Cheyenne raised her eyebrows. “I guess. We didn’t cover that part.”

  Behind his computer, Persh’al snorted. “Well, don’t look at me. I sure as shit didn’t give him my number.”

  “Okay, then yeah.” Rolling her eyes, Cheyenne stepped toward the portal. “I’ll let you know when I hear from the human.”

  “It’s much more fun to say than anyone’s name,” Lumil muttered. “Don’t know why he has to be such a baby about it.”

  “See ya.” Cheyenne tossed a hand in the air and stepped through the portal. Ember floated through behind her, and the oval of dark light in their living room disappeared.

  “Whew.” Ember ran a hand over her hair and shook her head. “How about the last twenty-four hours, huh?”

  “You can say that again.”

  The fae chuckled. “But I won’t. I know you get it.”

  “And I know what I smell like.” Cheyenne sniffed at the front of her shirt and scowled. “Everything. I smell like everything, and I need to wash it off.”

  Ember turned toward the kitchen. “You know where the shower is.”

  Frowning at her friend over a surprised smile, Cheyenne cocked her head. “Yeah, I do. You know, maybe there is such a thing as me rubbing off on you too much.”

  “What, you can’t handle the flippant attitude and the unnecessary comments?” Ember looked over her shoulder and grinned. “I’m starting to come into my own.”

  “Oh, jeez.” Cheyenne turned toward the bathroom beneath the mini-loft.

  “You want food?”

  “Always, Em.”

  Ember pulled a frozen dinner out of the freezer and turned it over to look at the directions. “All right. I’ll slave away for a full five and a half minutes in the microwave just to feed your drow ass.”

  “I’m so lucky.” Shaking her head, Cheyenne closed the bathroom door behind her and turned on the shower to let the water heat up. Then she looked at herself in the mirror. Not as beat-up as I usually am. And shit, I really liked this trenchcoat in one piece.

  She cracked the door open and shouted, “Hey, Em.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You think you can work a healing spell on my coat?”

  The fae snorted, followed by the beep of microwave buttons and a low hum as it turned on. “Ask me again after I stuff my face.”

  “Yep.” Cheyenne shut the door and stripped before hopping into her first shower in five days with hot running water.

  Chapter Seventy

  The next afternoon, Cheyenne entered the apartment and found Ember sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the wall beside the door. “Hey. You know the TV’s still in its little cubby, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Make fun of the fae girl who likes to veg out and binge-watch. I get it.” Ember looked up at the halfling and grinned. “And I found something way more exciting than Netflix.”

  “Uh-huh.” Cheyenne closed the door behind her, locked the deadbolt without looking, and raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

  “Observe.” Ember twirled her hand with a flourish and gestured to her legs, which were spread out fully on the couch as she sat back against the armrest. Her right foot twitched, then her calf lifted off the cushion by half an inch before dropping back again. Ember said, “Progress, bitch.”

  Cheyenne barked a laugh. “You talkin’ to me or your leg?”

  “What? Oh.” Ember wrinkled her nose and grinned. “My leg. Obviously. At least when it’s just you and me.”

  “Very funny.” The halfling shrugged out of her backpack and dropped it on the floor beside the closest black leather armchair before she sank down into it. “That’s awesome, Em. Moving your legs again.”

  “Yeah, a little. But it’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.” Ember rubbed her thighs, then sat back against the armrest. “I don’t know how the hell they did it, but the olforím really packed a punch when they helped me get my magic back.”

  “I don’t think that was them. I mean, yeah. You said they drugged you.”

  “They did drug me. With weird fruit. Probably something in the water, too.”

  “Okay, but they did that to help you see, right? Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen with psychedelics or whatever?”

  “You mean, you don’t know?”

  Cheyenne snorted. “The closest I ever came was when Corian mixed up some nasty-ass potion and made me drink it so I would forever have L’zar Verdys popping into my head at the worst possible time. And he failed to warn me about that last part.”

  “Well, whatever. If it was the olforím or just me, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you right now, I have way stronger magic than I did before I healed Cazerel. It’s working on my legs, too.”

  “Obviously.”

  Ember grinned and made her left foot twitch before giving herself a break. “So, how was class?”

  Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “Easy. Boring. I gave everyone an A for that Matthew Thomas assignment, even the kids who I think copied and pasted a Wikipedia page into their email.”

  “When did you have the time to go through their emails?”

  “I didn’t. I’m guessing, based on how much they annoy me when we’re in the same room.” The halfling grinned, and Ember burst out laughing.

  “You’re one hell of a college instructor.”

  “Thank you very much.” Cranking the lever on the side of the recliner, Cheyenne leaned all the way back, her legs stretched out on the footrest, and sighed. “That Tori girl, though…”

  “Who’s that?”

  “The one who sent me that picture of Colonel Thomas.”

 
“Oh, right. The chick I have to thank for causing your crazy freakout and giving me the perfect opportunity to slap you in the face. Again.”

  “You can hold off on thanking her with that level of specificity, Em.” They both laughed. “She might have some skills we could use later. You know, in a hypothetical world where I didn’t have my activator and needed someone else’s help and their skills.”

  “You mean, like how you asked all your students to dig into our neighbor’s family ties for you?”

  “Yeah. Like that.” Cheyenne stared at the ceiling. “And now we’re just waiting.”

  “Nothing from Rhynehart yet?”

  “Nope. I don’t know why it takes him this long to pull together some gear and access badges. I mean, the guy spent the last few months randomly calling me and expecting me to jump into a raid or whatever at the drop of a hat, and now he needs twenty-four hours to—”

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to read the text. “Well, speak of the human.”

  Ember laughed. “You really love calling him that, don’t you?”

  “You know what? It’s not so bad. I endured months of being called ‘rookie’ and ‘halfling.’ Sometimes ‘psycho drow.’ It’s only fair that we spread the name-calling around, right?”

  “Oh, yeah. Makes everything fair and square, just like that.” Ember folded her arms and nodded at her friend’s cell phone. “Lemme guess. He’s finally ready.”

  “Yep.” Cheyenne sent a text to Corian to let him know and stuck her phone back in her pocket. “So now we just—”

  The dark circle of light from Corian’s portal appeared between her and the front door. Corian’s tawny-furred face poked halfway through it. “Let’s get a move on.”

  “Wow.” Ember blinked her luminous eyes. “Everyone’s got perfect timing today.”

  “That does only seem to happen when we’re dealing with non-emergencies, huh?”

  “I don’t know, halfling.” Ember rose in her sitting position from the couch in a flash of violet light, then her legs swung down together to hover over the floor. “I had pretty good emergency timing yesterday.”

  Cheyenne pointed at her Nós Aní. “True.”