Chapter 42
Dylan growled, “Don’t let her come down here.”
Gabriel shut the door behind him and Dylan touched the wall to seal the cellar.
Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re thinking,” he glanced over at the cell, “but I think it might be a good idea. Your mother can be scary.”
Dylan rolled his eyes. “I know that, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’m going to try to figure out a way to keep him in, but where he can’t hear us.”
Gabriel sighed. “Hard to have secrets when your secret lair is also right in front of the jail.”
Dylan huffed, and a thick wall of stone rose between them and the makeshift bars. He could hear faint shouting from the other side, and grinned. “That should do. I put one on the inside too. He’s a little confined, but let’s keep our voices low, just to be safe.” He gulped. “Can you find Carina?”
Gabriel closed his eyes and took a deep breath, held it, then let it out. Dylan stepped back, not wanting to break his focus. He watched Gabriel’s eyes flitting behind his eyelids, the way his chest rose and fell, and caught himself smiling as Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “I’ve got her. She’s not where she’s supposed to be, but close.”
“Bring her back now.”
“She’s running from something. Or to something. I can’t tell, just that she’s moving fast.”
“Get ahead of her and open the rift so she can run right here, but be ready to close it as soon as she’s through.”
Gabriel nodded, raising his hands. Dylan saw a faint shimmer in front of him and stepped around to see the front. He could see Carina Dashing towards him. He could feel the time slowing around him as he motioned for her to hurry.
She jumped headfirst through the rift, and Dylan sidestepped so she didn’t tackle him. “Close it. Now.”
Gabriel opened his eyes, and the rift collapsed. Dylan marveled at how fast it closed compared to the effort it seemed to take to open it.
Gabriel leaned down, whispering to Carina, and looked up at Dylan. “What? It takes a lot of effort to open one, and if you’re not careful, it just falls apart. The bonus is that by doing that, it makes a ripple through all of reality, neatly hiding where you actually are. Isn’t that right?”
Carina nodded, struggling to catch her breath. “They are onto me. I cannot go back. Not that it would do any good. Your weapon vanished as I went through.”
She patted the bag hanging from her shoulder. “Though it seems to be back now. Fascinating.” She jerked the bag in front of her. “Please. Be in here.”
Dylan arched an eyebrow. “What are you looking for? What did you find?”
She jerked her head up. “How do you know I found something?”
Gabriel looked at him. “Yeah, you never told me what happened, just that she was in trouble. Right before you took a prisoner, that I thought you were going to burn to a pile of ash. Fill us in.”
Dylan sighed and glanced over his shoulder. The scream from the other side faded, but he kept his voice low. “I saw my dad.”
Gabriel’s eyes bulged. “You saw your dead father? I would’ve expected more of a reaction than you had.”
Dylan nodded slowly. “I guess it’s shock. Or maybe just that, on top of all the crazy shit that I’ve absorbed in the past few weeks, one more can’t faze me.”
“You have to talk to your mom about it.”
“I will. She’ll be pissed he didn’t come to her, but it’s okay. He told me you found something and to ignore the guns because you were in danger.”
Carina’s face melted into a sly smile. “I was fine.”
Gabriel chuckled. “Then why were you running for your life?”
She sighed. “Fine. After perusing the library upstairs, I assumed that the Coates and Tiresian royal family brought little with them regarding their history. I decided my best bet would be the royal library.” She pulled a book out of her bag. “And I was right. I now know why weapons won’t cross over through the rift, and what you’re going to have to do if you want to win.” She glanced past Dylan to the blocked cell. “Gabriel said you took a prisoner. May I see him?”
Dylan nodded. “The extra stone barrier was to make sure he couldn’t hear us.”
The stones receded, leaving only the bars between them. Carina narrowed her eyes. “A Vurdalan prince let himself be taken prisoner?” Her face twisted into a snarling smile. “This is very good news indeed. However, He has probably heard every word we said, even with the stone barrier. Good thing we’ve not said anything of importance. Let us leave him here for now.”
She turned and headed up the stairs. Gabriel looked at Dylan, who shrugged and lit a cigarette, unsealing the barrier through the primary part of the cellar. “Huh. Looks like the barrier stayed on the cells.”
Gabriel chuckled. “That’s a good thing, because you’re going to have a hard time keeping your mother upstairs.”
Dylan smiled and took Gabriel’s hand as they headed up the stairs.
Merrin glared at them as they emerged. “Is it the guy?”
Gabriel dropped Dylan’s hand and nodded before walking past Merrin.
“Mom.” Dylan gulped. “I,” he sighed, “I saw dad today. Just for a second. Then I heard his voice. He told me not to hurt the guy in the basement, but yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s the guy who killed him.”
Merrin’s eyes burned with an ethereal fury. “I’ll…”
Dylan raised a hand. “No. Not yet, at least. Carina seemed to think it was a good thing, and she has a plan. But we can’t talk about it here.”
Merrin huffed with a nod. “Then let’s get this shit figured out so I can rip his heart out and feed it to him.”