Elven Lies (Court of Rebellion #3)

19. Chapter 19

19

O ne of the most secure high-end magical storage facilities? And Aldous had a key to one of these units?

The pieces clicked into place almost simultaneously after that until Rebecca realized with a start what it all meant.

Holy shit. Bor was right.

Aldous had kept a personal vault elsewhere in this city, which he’d no doubt used to secret away everything he didn’t want to share with the rest of his task force.

But it wasn’t his anymore.

How convenient for him to have left this key in his desk before he died.

This could turn out to be the big break Shade needed to outfit them enough that they actually stood a chance going up against Harkennr when the time came—or, at the very least, to keep him from taking advantage of their under-resourced position ever again.

She still had to find this vault in the city, open it, and see what Aldous had been hiding in there all this time. But with this new information, letting herself hope this key opened the solution to so many of their current problems didn’t feel quite so dangerous anymore.

Breaking into a victorious grin, Rebecca rounded the head of the bed between her and her host, who was on his feet again by the time she reached him.

“That’s excellent news, Mr. Kaplan,” she said, extending her hand. “Thank you so much for your time and assistance.”

He stared at her extended hand in wary hesitation, as if he couldn’t bear the thought of being touched by anyone. But then he seemed to think Rebecca wasn’t reaching out for a handshake and happily placed the key against her open palm instead until she took it from him.

No handshake, then. Fine.

“It’s really no problem at all, Miss Knox,” he said, dusting off his hands. “And no charge. As a matter of fact, I’ll even waive the consultation fee. Just for you. As long as he never comes back.”

When he thrust a finger toward Rowan again, Rowan burst out laughing.

Mr. Kaplan still looked thoroughly terrified by the thought of ever seeing the Blackmoon Elf again.

“I’ll do my best to hold up to my end of it,” Rebecca said, not knowing how else to address the issue. “And to make sure he holds up to his end.”

“Yes, well, I suppose we can only hope that’ll be enough.” He scurried around the bed, his hands fluttering toward the tunnel leading back to the alley, visibly shaken once again in his eagerness to be rid of them both.

Rebecca hurried that way, beckoning Rowan with a sharp look to join her.

He kept laughing. “You really pulled through, Kaplan. I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m pleasantly surprised.”

The compliment made the old elf bluster and stammer that much more before he pointed toward the exit and shouted, “Just get out!”

Rowan lifted both hands and backed down the tunnel before spinning around to walk out through the darkness.

Rebecca followed him, their host close on her heels, as if he wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw them both back in the alley.

She didn’t blame him.

“Quickly. Quickly, now. I’m a very busy elf with quite a lot to do. Now, you have everything you need, I trust? Though, if you wanted somewhere truly secure, I recommend making your way back west to Winthrop & Dirledge. The Guardian there can offer you much more than I ever could.”

“Excellent advice,” Rowan replied, grinning. “Thank you. You know what? We might just find ourselves back over that way in the near future. You never know…”

Another rumbling groan filled the tunnel, then the darkness fractured beneath the late-afternoon sunlight flooding in when the door to the alley opened. Despite that alley being situated in shadow between the buildings on either side, the light of day was painfully bright compared to Mr. Kaplan’s hidden workshop.

Rebecca hurried through the open door, but Rowan stopped and turned toward Kaplan again, his grin sharpening. “This world’s a small one, you know. I’ll be sure to ask after you the next time I’m in Colorado.”

Still blustering and huffing, his cheeks taking on a surprising flush of color for the first time, Kaplan practically shoved Rowan backward into the alley, using the door in place of his own hands. “Then I’ll be certain to stay away longer than I planned!”

The door camouflaged against the alley’s brick wall slammed shut with a creak and another echoing boom, followed by the alley walls settling back into place with a much gentler rumble this time. In seconds, all evidence of one old elven gentleman’s private domicile had vanished without a trace.

Rowan threw his head back and laughed, which lasted far longer than Rebecca had the patience to endure. When he finally settled down, swiping at the corners of his eyes, she was already scowling at him.

Rowan met her gaze and chuckled again. “What? It’s all in good fun, you know.”

All in good fun for him , sure. No one else.

“That could’ve been so much worse,” she said flatly.

“Good thing it wasn’t.”

Shaking her head, Rebecca spun on her heel and took off down the alley toward the street.

“Whoa, wait a minute.” Rowan stumbled after her and caught up as she turned onto the sidewalk without slowing. “Okay, how about this one? Do you even know where this Nexus building is?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”

“Really? And how is it you know so much about private storage facilities in Chicago? Oh wait. Do you have one too?”

Though she refused to look at him, his constant smirk tickled the side of her face. It was nothing like feeling Maxwell’s gaze. This was more like a mosquito that had landed on her cheek and kept coming back every time she tried to swat it away.

“No,” she said. “I don’t have my own secret storage unit at Nexus.”

“Well then, how?”

“Before I found Shade,” she said, “I ran with a different…group of people, I guess you’d call it.”

“Ooh, listen to that hesitation. I take it this different group had a different flavor to ’em too, yeah? Were they bad guys ?”

“No. They were all incredible people, actually.”

Well, most of them, except the son-of-a-bitch Matahg who liked to call himself their boss when they could have argued it was more of a hostage situation in certain scenarios, but that was a whole lifetime ago, wasn’t it?

“The point is,” she continued, “this group I ran with—”

“Let me guess. You guys ran more of a Robin Hood kinda deal.”

“Not exactly. More like steal from the rich and deliver to the highest bidder.”

“Ooh, I like it.”

“Nexus is a franchise, more or less,” Rebecca continued. “High-end safety deposit boxes. They’re all over the country. We hit a few a couple years ago. They’re not that hard to get into if you know what you’re doing. Even easier when you have a key.”

“Look at you …” Rowan crooned as they moved swiftly down the sidewalk.

She didn’t respond, but when he still wouldn’t stop grinning at her and the side of her face kept itching beneath his gaze, she finally broke. “What? What smartass comment do you have this time?”

Rowan gasped with feigned shock. “Really? Is that all you think of me?”

With a snort, she shook her head and stared straight ahead. “Just say it already.”

“I just can’t believe you spent years as a cat burglar.”

“I was not a cat burglar.”

“Well, not the last time I saw you,” he said. “That’s quite a change from the Bloodshadow Heir, groomed to lead all the armies of the Tha’rossa Clans to foretold victory.”

“Maybe don’t shout it from the rooftops in public, huh?”

“How long did you rob people?” he asked.

“We didn’t rob—” Rebecca stopped herself and couldn’t help a laugh. “I don’t know. Six or seven years altogether?”

“And you like this career change?” He sounded genuinely curious.

That was when the alarm bells went off in the back of her mind.

Rowan getting curious meant Rowan taking an interest in even more of her past, which she also didn’t want. Her life with Corpus was over, its momentary friendships scattered to the wind.

Since then, Rebecca had moved on, and there was no point in digging up old stories that were no longer relevant.

“I’m not doing that anymore, though, am I?” she asked, fingering the key she’d slipped back into her jacket pocket.

“Oh, I suppose that all depends on how you look at it.” Rowan shrugged. “From that Eduardo guy’s point of view, you’re definitely still a thief.”

She had to give him that one.

If they were to get particularly technical about it, using this key to open a private vault that once belonged to Aldous might, in some circles, be considered thievery as well. But it was for a good cause. Whatever Aldous had secreted away for himself beyond Shade’s compound most likely had never belonged to him in the first place but to all of Shade.

If what Bor had told her about the changeling’s dubious side hustles panned out to be true.

Rebecca just hoped whatever he’d hidden inside Nexus wasn’t more dangerous than she currently expected, especially because she was bringing Rowan with her. Now that he knew what the key opened, she would never convince him to go back to headquarters on his own while she checked this out alone.

Hopefully, he could handle whatever they discovered inside Aldous’s vault. If it was anything beyond a few valuables, even if it held important Shade secrets, letting them fall into the wrong hands could be a grave mistake. After what she’d seen from Rowan since he’d found her, she was certain Rowan Blackmoon’s hands were just as dangerous as Aldous’s.

No, actually. She was starting to think they might be even worse .

Aldous had been a proud, self-serving idiot, and that had made him dangerous enough. Rowan was also proud and self-serving, though he tried to hide it beneath all the humor and charm. But no one could ever call him an idiot. If he played along with something, it was because he believed it would give him leverage for something else he wanted.

He hadn’t yet told Rebecca what he wanted in exchange for helping her find the key-maker, but something told her it wasn’t simply another opportunity to try convincing her to come back home with him.

Which meant she still couldn’t let down her defenses around him just yet.

Talking to him like this—out in the open, alone, as they walked down the streets of Chicago in the fresh air and sunshine with no other impending emergencies and no need to pretend not to know him—almost felt like old times again. Like they could have been strolling through the Lashir’i Gardens or sneaking into the old armory, just for fun.

But this was Chicago, not Agn’a Tha’ros. The more time Rebecca spent with him, the stronger her suspicion became that this was no longer the Rowan Blackmoon she’d known back then.

She wasn’t the same Rebecca Bloodshadow, that was certain.

She still had to be careful with him.

Surprisingly, though, Rowan didn’t voluntarily make any more trouble for them as she led him across the city toward the Chicago branch of Nexus. In fact, he seemed rather amused to be walking around in broad daylight among so many ignorant humans living their lives, clueless to the two old-world elves walking among them. Let alone the Bloodshadow Heir and the Scion of the Blackmoon Clan.

Rebecca let him have his moment of sightseeing, like the interworld tourist he was.

This wasn’t about hiding in plain sight from the humans, anyway. This was about finding out what Aldous had unwittingly left behind, and hopefully, it was something they could use to Shade’s benefit.

The Nexus building was especially hard to miss—a high-rise in Streeterville with a large sign of glinting silver letters proclaiming the building’s name for everyone to see, magical or otherwise.

“Ah, yes,” Rowan said as they gazed up at the enormous sign from the opposite side of the street. “Hiding in plain sight. What a brilliant strategy.”

“It seems to work most of the time,” she said.

“Oh, I have no doubt.”

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go see what kind of access this key grants us.”

At the next lull in traffic, Rebecca stepped off the sidewalk and hurried toward the large commercial building, all bright metal and glass glinting in the sunlight. The place might have looked magical out of context, but here, it blended perfectly into the urban setting.

That was the point.

The double doors of the building’s entrance swung easily open in Rebecca’s grip. Then she and Rowan entered the grandiose lobby—high ceilings, polished marble floors, a large desk along the righthand wall, and a collection of tastefully matching armchairs, couches, and tables filling the room with modernist decor.

The place looked more like the lobby of a four-star hotel. Excluding them, it was empty.

“Doesn’t say much about their customer service, does it?” Rowan nodded toward the unmanned service desk.

“These places are more of a self-service kinda deal.”

“Oh yeah . I’ve seen some of those on the road. Like…” He snapped his fingers and clenched his eyes shut until they flew open with realization. “Like U-Haul !”

Rebecca paused halfway across the lobby and shot him a deadpan look. “Have you been to a U-Haul facility?”

“No. Why? Are they even nicer than this?”

He was dead serious.

“ So much nicer,” she said, fighting back a smirk. “That’s about as high-end as you can get.”

“I knew it.”

Choking back her laughter was impossible. What Rowan didn’t know about human storage facilities and moving services wouldn’t hurt him. It wasn’t like he’d ever find himself in need of either.

After a quick perusal of the lobby, which offered no doors at all beyond the front entrance, Rebecca headed for the golden circle painted in the center of the lobby’s floor and pulled the key from her pocket again.

“The place is easy enough to find,” Rowan mused as he headed after her, turning in tight circles as he walked to take in everything. “But my question now is how do we find this secret box or whatever?”

“One of those trade secrets, I guess.”

“Oh, I get it. The kinda trade secrets you’d need to know to keep your hold over a joint like this, right?”

“Something like that. Sure.” She waved him toward her. “Get over here quick, though, or you’re gonna miss it.”

He finally joined her inside the golden circle, then Rebecca held the key out in front of her and waited.

The cool metal grew slightly warm in her fingers, then a large bright-yellow number five illuminated within the center of the key’s handle, as if etched into the metal with green flame. She ignored Rowan’s hum of approval from over her shoulder and waited for the next bit.

Once the number had fully illuminated in the center of the key, a flash of the same green light lit up the entire golden circle on which they stood. A thin panel of the floor slid aside in front of Rebecca’s shoes, and a pedestal of the same polished cream marble with flecks of gray rose from below until it stopped just above waist height.

She placed the key on the slanted surface at the top of the pedestal.

With another flash of green light, both key and pedestal illuminated, then the number five glittered into existence on the panel, and Rebecca removed the key.

“Now what?” Rowan asked.

“Now we wait for our stop.”

“Ha, ha,” he replied flatly. “Seriously, where are we going?”

“You’ll see. In three… Two… One…”

A deep, echoing boom—oddly reminiscent of the underground mechanisms running Mr. Kaplan’s workshop—rumbled beneath them. A weaker and far more controlled tremble vibrated through the circle beneath their feet, then all the lights in the lobby went out.

“Um…” Rowan smacked his lips in the all-consuming darkness. “Is that supposed to happen?”

“Yep.”

Then, a few moments later: “What do we do now?”

Rebecca steadied herself with a breath. “We keep waiting. Unless you wanna take your chances stepping off the circle before we get to where we’re going.”

“No, I’m good.”

The seconds ticked by, and when still nothing had changed, Rebecca started to wonder if there was something wrong with Aldous’s key. Or maybe, worse still, the changeling hadn’t been as much of an idiot as she’d given him credit for.

Could he have rigged the security in here to require some other kind of entry code? Biometrics, maybe, or a verbal-command passcode?

It wasn’t likely. Aldous had been paranoid, but he wasn’t smart enough to have taken it a step further and implemented extra security measures inside a personal vault he owned.

“Actually,” she said, scanning the darkness, “I have no idea what’s causing this. I’m just guessing in the dark.”

Rowan chuckled. “Literally.”

But now that the thought had occurred to her, the possibility of someone else being on level five of Chicago’s Nexus branch while she and Rowan were magically signing in, so to speak, felt far more probable than a glitch in the interdimensional transitioning system.

If she was right, and they weren’t alone on level five when they finally got there, it meant one of two things.

Either this was a remarkable coincidence, and a client who shared a vault level with the late Aldous Corriger just happened to be visiting their own personal vault, in the same building, on the same day, at the exact same time…

Or someone else had discovered Rebecca’s investigation of the key that had led her here and they were on level five now, waiting for her arrival.

If that were the case, the most important question for which she had no answer—not here, in the dark, before they arrived—hurtled through her mind.

Was this unknown party waiting for Aldous? Or did they know it was Rebecca instead?

And if not, how pissed would they be to discover two elves stepping off the level-five platform instead of the changeling?