39. Raelyna
RAELYNA
DAY SIX
The suns were covered by dark clouds as we exited the apartment.
Finn and Iver stood beside me as we snuck down the stairwell leading into the deserted streets of the Nox District.
After much arguing, it had been decided that Kira, Sage, and Emberly would stay and organize everyone as they arrived at the apartment tonight, and Iver would replace one of the spots in the rescue mission—the only one with any actual experience in this sort of thing.
He had taken one look at the bag of supplies Callum had left us with and known exactly what would best aid the situation.
Today was the day before Solis fell.
The day before the Aurum Army infiltrated Solis.
Otherwise known as the day we broke into the temple and freed my sister.
I hadn’t asked how she’d managed to do so, but Orela had called us last night, letting us know that all the seers had been called to the High Temple by orders of the king.
She couldn’t tell us much more than that, for fear she would alter what she’d seen, but she told us our only choice would involve breaking her free from the High Temple .
. . The warning not to enter Cato’s Temple still rang through our minds as we moved through the streets of Solis, avoiding the streetlights on every block.
Cars zoomed past us as citizens raced to get home before curfew.
I tried not to think about the absolute insanity of our current plan—the fact that we were not spies, and that we had no background whatsoever in the art of breaking and entering.
I also tried not to think about the battle that was bound to occur tomorrow.
The fact that an entire army of angels was coming to lay claim to our Quarter, and nobody in Solis was aware that tomorrow would be the downfall of the lies and deceit this Quarter had been founded on.
“Keep moving.” Iver’s voice was a sharp command as Finn and I hurried after him, our dark clothing blending in with the shadows on the street as we moved through the Quarter, drawing closer and closer to the Temple District.
The roar of a motorbike sped past us as we wove through the shadows, careful to stay hidden. We only slowed as we began to approach the outskirts of the ring of temples.
The moment the circle of temples came into view, I knew something was wrong.
There shouldn’t have been this much activity surrounding the temples at this time—so close to curfew.
My eyes narrowed as I took in uniform after uniform, the gray garb every RSG was assigned flooded the temple grounds as they moved about, hands on rifles, eyes scanning the vicinity. Surveillance drones flew overhead, circling the temples, monitoring the entire area as the guards milled about.
“What are they doing here?” The question dropped from my lips before I could stop it.
“I take it your sister didn’t make any mention of this in her visions, did she?” Iver asked in a disgruntled noise.
“No.” The word was a defeated note as I stared at the guards monitoring each of the temple structures.
“Can we even get close to the temples with this many RSG?” Finn asked, his eyes taking in the same scene as we took a few steps backward, cloaking ourselves in the shadowed alcove of a back alley. “Not to mention the drones. If they are body heat monitoring ones . . .”
“We’re going to have to change our plans if we want this to work,” Iver bit out, his voice low as he scanned the RSG standing before every entrance to the High Temple.
“We can’t,” I snapped, my voice rising an octave, which had Finn slapping a hand over my mouth to silence me.
My eyes narrowed at the male before he dropped his hand, and I continued speaking in a lowered tone.
“Orela was very specific that there was too much that could go wrong—so many paths that didn’t end well. ”
“None of that is going to matter if we don’t even get into the stars-damned temple,” Iver said, his voice a sharp demand as he began moving through the alleyway we stood in.
“Rae . . .” Finn’s voice was hesitant beside me. “Let’s just take his word for it. We don’t have many other options right now anyway.”
I sighed as my gaze drifted toward the visible guards—fifteen of them, surrounding the entrances.
“Fine,” I resigned as I gestured for Iver to go ahead. “We’ll follow your lead on this.” I agreed, knowing that, of the three of us, Iver, being a Remnant for so long, had the most experience sneaking into these temples undetected.
“We’ll move on my count,” the male stated as he pulled a device from his pocket, scanning whatever was displaying on the screens as he monitored the guards’ positioning.
By some miracle from Aeternus himself, we’d managed to make it inside the High Temple without detection, the pulse omitter Cal had given me the other night coming in handy as we snuck through a window cracked open on the bottom floor.
Only, now, we found ourselves trapped in a small storage closet.
“It’s going to take me a minute to break the lock,” Iver stated as he set the tool bag down and began rifling through it.
We could hear voices moving to and fro in the hallway, the clamor of guards on patrol rising with each pass they made.
“One of you . . .” Iver grunted as he grabbed the item he was searching for, and the electronic tool hummed to life. “Start counting the seconds between the patrol rounds.”
I nodded, waiting until I heard the next set of footsteps pass, and then began counting.
One . . .
Two . . .
Twenty-five . . .
Twenty-six . . .
Forty-four . . .
Forty-five . . .
The next set of boots passed by the door, and I began counting once again.
“Forty-five seconds,” I confirmed as the next set of boots passed beneath the door.
“Damn, okay,” Iver’s voice was a rough grunt as the lock clicked free, no alarms immediately sounding an alert. “We’ll make it work.”
“What exactly are we making work?” Finn questioned as Iver tested the door handle, confirming it was fully unlocked.
“Moving through this hallway. It will be a tight timeline, but doable. We just need to get to the stairs two doors down,” he confirmed.
“How do you know there are stairs there?” Finn replied, eyes narrowing.
“I just do.” His voice brokered no argument.
“That’s not enough time.” My voice shook as I stared at the male. “We don’t even know if the door to the stairs is unlocked—whether there are guards on the stairs or not. It’s a terrible idea!”
Iver huffed a scoffing laugh. “This entire plan is a terrible idea. But we’re here now, so we will just have to risk it.”
“Risk it?” The question was a squeak on my lips as I stared at the door in terror. “Do you realize how many guards have passed by this closet already?”
“We’re here for your sister,” Iver stated, monitoring a device in his hand. “We go on my command. Unless, of course, you’ve changed your mind? But seeing as we’re already inside the temples—”
“Okay, okay.” My tone was a defeated sigh as I gestured for him to continue.
Another set of footsteps sounded, combat boots thudding against the floor as they passed our door. And then Iver was opening the door before I could process his actions, and we were—
Stars-damned.
Finn was gesturing for me to follow after Iver, and I found myself racing along the corridor as I followed after the male, praying we didn’t get caught.
I nearly tripped over myself as I sprinted after Iver.
The male moved impossibly fast as we raced past the first door, and then approached the second.
I found myself skidding to an abrupt halt as Iver fidgeted with the handle, the door refusing to open.
Come on. Come on. Come on.
The handle didn’t budge as he shook against it before dropping the bag he’d been carrying on the ground and quickly grabbing a new device from the side pocket. I watched as he began working with the door handle, attempting to free the lock.
I could hear the guards’ footsteps drawing nearer, and I knew they would round the corner soon, the three of us in plain sight.
Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. It was the only word running through my mind as the male continued to focus on the lock keeping us from safety. Iver kept messing with the door handle, jiggling the metal as the chatter in the hallway grew louder and louder.
Footsteps thudded in the distance when finally the lock sprang free, and Iver was throwing open the door as the three of us rushed into the dimly lit stairwell, the door latching shut behind us.
“Never do that again,” I hissed, my fury directed at Iver. “A little warning would have been nice.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed,” he replied, unbothered, as he began climbing up the stairs. “We’re a little short on time.”
I cast a glance toward Finn as he simply shrugged in return, the two of us having no reply as we began following after Iver, entirely out of our element. The marbled stairs spiraled up, continuing higher and higher as we approached the second floor . . . and then passed it.
“Where are we going?” My words were a whisper.
“Third level,” he replied.
“I thought we said we would try the second level first?” I asked, not wanting to continue up the stairs.
“We did,” he confirmed. “But with the increased guard presence, I’m thinking the third floor is a better starting location.”
I paused, playing out the options in my mind, but ultimately found myself following after the male and toward the third floor. It didn’t take nearly as long as I’d believed it would to scan the third floor for my sister.
Orela wasn’t there.
In fact, we didn’t even find a single being. The entire floor seemed as though it had been vacated. The lights flickered, casting ominous shadows across the floors. Doors were thrown open, bedding askew throughout the rooms we’d passed by in our search for my sister.
The fourth floor held the same eerie, deserted feeling as the third—each room abandoned. As though the occupants had been forced to move under duress.
Meals were left untouched, devices still playing, beds half-made in haphazard manners.
Something had happened . . . only we didn’t know what exactly we would be up against.