Chapter Nineteen
“YOU CANNOT MISS OUT THE NEXT TIME WE VENTURE DOWN TO THE RACK! IT IS FAR MORE THRILLING THAN I IMAGINED. EVERYTHING IS SO SCUFFED AND RUSTED, AND THE PEOPLE SO ROUGH-LOOKING! I FELT QUITE ALIVE WITH THE DANGER ALL AROUND ME. I COULD NOT SLEEP FOR HOURS AFTER WE RETURNED HOME!”
—EXCERPT FROM A SKYLINER MISSIVE
A few minutes later, Orion comes back down from his rooftop survey to find me and Dani still sitting side by side on the couch, silently watching the slow shift of the lights above the skyline. He sweeps his gaze over the two of us and the more-or-less intact lodgings and nods approvingly.
“I’m going to take the lack of blood on the floor as a positive sign.”
He hooks a finger through the harness of my goggles and lobs them in my general direction. I snatch them out of the air before they can smack me in the face, scowling up at Orion.
“Sure, these are priceless and unique—just go ahead and toss them.”
He ignores me, pointing at Dani as he kneels down on the worn rug laid across the floor.
“You. I need to know whatever you know about the Rack.” Swinging his own rucksack off his back—his “bag of tools and trickery,” as he calls it—he starts rummaging through the items inside.
“Because I’m guessing it’s not nothing.”
“I always know something,” Dani says with a little grin. “I’ve been inside plenty of times, trying to scope out Gold Towner business.”
“Perfect.” Orion pulls out a tablet of whitewashed metal and glass and a stylus with it and holds it out to Dani. “Draw it for me.”
“A lodestone tablet?” Dani whistles appreciatively as she takes it and turns it over in her hands. “Lemme guess: birthday present?”
Orion winks. “Well, it definitely was a gift of sorts.”
I’m honestly pretty impressed that Orion has one of these, but I’m careful not to let that show and give him a big head.
Lodestone tablets are practically nonexistent for dusters, although I hear they’re more common above the skyline.
They’re filled with tiny metal fragments that react to the magnetic stylus, allowing you to write or draw on the surface and then wipe it clean, as opposed to etching on metal tablets, which is fairly permanent.
Dani eases down onto the floor, sitting cross-legged and situating the lodestone tablet in her lap as she starts to sketch the layout of the Gentleman’s Rack, talking as she goes.
“Up front is the main area of the hall. There’s an enclosed bar in the center of it, billiards tables and card tables all around the edges, and a few private rooms off the back.
” She draws a quick grid of lines and then another massive rectangular space.
“On the Crater side, it’s a warehouse. Gold Town stores a lot of goods back there—water, food, drugs, all kinds of stuff.
That’s where the real business goes down. ”
She sets the tablet down on the floor between them, and Orion studies it, a little frown line creasing the space between his eyebrows. “Say you’ve got a couple hostages or some valuable treasure you need to lock down: Where would they do that?”
“My best guess would be somewhere here.” She points to the gridded area between the two bigger sections.
“There’s a bunch of offices and rooms like that in this space, and a vault where they secure all their paper.
I never saw it in person, but I gathered it’s sealed off pretty tight. No windows, no access points.”
I lean forward on the couch, propping my elbows on the tops of my knees. “Sealed off from other people, maybe. Not for me.”
Orion grimaces, shaking his head. “I love the confidence, V, it’s really excellent, but I’ve got bad news for you there. You’re not going to be able to phase into this building.”
My gaze snaps up to his, my eyes narrowing. “What are you talking about?”
“I just scanned the whole place with your goggles, and I couldn’t see inside anywhere.”
That doesn’t make any sense. I can see through almost every wall in or above Covenant. Why would this random billiards hall in the Shipyards be any different? “You must have been using them wrong.”
Orion doesn’t sigh or roll his eyes at me, although I’m pretty sure he wants to.
“I wasn’t. I don’t know what they did, but that place is a black hole.
” He takes the stylus from Dani and sketches extra, heavy lines along all the walls.
“From the outside, it looks like a pretty standard-built old Covenant building, so my best guess is they double-lined the walls at some point or reinforced them somehow.”
Dani looks over at me. “Why would they do that?”
“Honestly? It was probably the Old Clock Tower.” Orion sighs. “Someone must’ve made it out. Someone who saw what Val could do.”
I try to remember everything that happened back there. At the carnage I left behind. I hadn’t exactly been keeping track of who fell to my knives. I thought I’d dealt with anyone who saw me phase, but now … I can’t totally remember.
Orion rubs at his eyes. “This is why I wanted you to wait…”
“Don’t act like this is my fault,” I snap. “Anyone who saw me in there would’ve turned me into the chapels as a saint.”
Dani shakes her head. “Not necessarily. Not if their loyalty is to Gold Town first. They could be playing it close to the vest, not sharing with anyone else till they know what their most lucrative move is.”
There’s a little flare of panic in my chest, sharp enough that I miss a breath. If she’s right and someone in the Gold Town Gang saw me phasing, if they told the others, then I need to get out of Covenant before that information spreads around to the preachers and the chapels.
As soon as I get Halle and Kelda back, we run. We put this city behind us, and we don’t look back. Find a tiny township somewhere in the middle of nowhere and disappear.
I sit back, digging my knuckles into my eyes. “Look, it doesn’t matter. If I can’t see inside, I can’t phase, so we need another way to get in, get to that vault room, and get my sisters.”
Orion taps the stylus absentmindedly on the side of the tablet as he stares down at the sketched diagram. “Dani, they’re still letting in business for the billiards hall, right? They haven’t closed it off to customers or anything?”
“Not as far as I can tell. Still looks like folks are going in and out.”
“Then that’s probably our best bet.”
I drop my hands into my lap so I can give him an extremely skeptical look. “You want to waltz right through the front door?”
“It’s a weak point. Smartest way to go about this is to use it against them.”
Dani folds her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on top of them. The pose immediately makes her look younger, more innocent. Which of course she’s anything but.
“I could probably get in without much trouble. None of them know the part I played in Kilpatrick’s death.
I told them the Butcher turned on me.” She gestures at the cut on her cheek, and she doesn’t need to explain any more than that.
I can already picture her slicing into her own face, future scars be damned, just to sell the story.
“You two, though … Orion, your face is all over town, and no offense, Val, but bluffing isn’t really your skill.
They’re going to clock you as soon as you step inside. ”
I shrug. That’s an easy enough problem to solve. “I’ll just cut them all down.”
Orion clears his throat pointedly. “Except you can’t kill everyone instantaneously, and the second they know you’re there, they could move Halle and Kelda somewhere else—or worse.
So let’s save that for plan B, okay?” He sets the stylus down and sits back.
“I think we can use my … notoriety to our advantage.”
“How is that?” Dani asks.
“Just like any other job,” he says, which isn’t helpful in the slightest. “You get them to look one way so they won’t see what you’re actually up to.”
I grumble a little, exasperated. “And what are we up to exactly?”
Orion waves my question away. “Patience. I’m just starting to pull this idea together, but if you rush my genius, it’ll all fall apart.” Leaning forward, he nudges the tablet toward Dani again. “Can you give me more details on this main room? Tables, chairs, exit points—anything you’ve got.”
All this roundabout, deception stuff is giving me a headache.
Why can’t he just lay out a simple, straightforward path—preferably three steps or less?
I want this to be over; I want my sisters safe.
I want Covenant and everything it is and all my memories here put behind me.
I can feel this town closing in around me like a hangman’s noose, and I’ve only got so much time left before it’s too late to escape.
While Orion interrogates Dani for any stray information, I get to my feet and wander farther into the lodgings, my eyes skimming over the clean, tidy kitchen and the perfectly made bed tucked into a bedroom that’s not much bigger than a closet.
She has a washroom in the back, stocked with dry soaps and towels and rags by the mirror, so I grab a cloth and a portion of oil cleanser and wipe myself down, scrubbing at my skin until it feels raw.
I count my remaining water packets and rip open one, indulging myself by drinking it down in one go instead of putting it into my canteen to parcel out later.
I need the hydration, though, with the amount of work I’ll be doing soon.
I’m sitting on a stool by the mirror replacing the bandages on my stomach when someone knocks softly at the door.
“Come in.”
Orion pops open the door, stepping in, and then immediately gets flustered when his eyes land on me. Probably because I’m not wearing very much. A pair of underwear and a loose sleeveless top pulled up to my ribs so I can get at my injuries.
“Shit, V—sorry, I—”
“It’s fine,” I say, cutting him off. “I’m almost finished.” Wincing, I reach around with the bandage roll, trying awkwardly to get an angle on the slash wound to my ribs.
A hand, warm and light, touches my wrist. I didn’t even hear Orion move, but he’s suddenly there, quiet and comforting. “Need some help?”
“No.” I shrug off his touch and twist my arm farther back. “I can do it myself.”
He pulls away from me a little and puts his hands up. A gesture of peace. “I know you can,” he says quietly. “But you don’t have to.”
How does he make his voice do that? Sound so gentle? I never know whether I want to sink into it or lash out because it makes me feel guilty for always pushing him away.
“Yes, I do,” I say without looking at him. I finally get a good angle on my wound and press the edges of the bandage down, covering it in a new, clean wrapping. But I can hear Orion sigh—again.
It’s fine, I tell myself. It’s better this way.
Because if this all goes bad, I’ll likely be dead and heading for the Depths.
And if it goes perfectly? I’ll be leaving Covenant with my sisters and never, ever coming back.
Either way, he’s lost to me—again. And I’ll be breaking his heart—again—just like Atlas warned me not to. The least I can do is not make things worse by letting him touch me, help me, cross old lines in new ways that we will never be able to uncross.
The silence sits thick and heavy between us as I pull on the Butcher’s pants and top and then scoop up the rest of my stuff.
As I start to slide past him, I stop, tilting my chin back to meet his gaze.
I pretend not to notice how close we are or how the look in his eyes shifts to something warmer, hungrier, more hopeful.
“Whatever plan you and Dani made better work tonight, Skywayman.” My voice is as flat and distant as the Copper Plains. “If it doesn’t, all bets are off. I’ll tear apart this whole town and anyone who stands in my way. Even you.”