Chapter 10
CAMERON
A hooded alchemist guarded the door to what had once been Carter’s office.
A scream echoed from within, and my pulse jumped.
The guard stepped into my path. “You can’t go in there. You can?—”
I shoved him aside and slammed the door open. Two alchemists stood by Carter’s desk like sentries while another was hunched over Willowman. The witch was tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth and silver cuffs shackling his wrists—muters for his magic.
“What you do to him?” Derek demanded.
Willowman’s eyes rolled in our direction, his gaze settling on me. He said my name, muffled and almost incoherent behind the gag, and my blood boiled.
“Get the fuck away from him!” I rushed forward and shoved the alchemist so hard he went flying into the desk.
Derek blocked him from bouncing back at me while I focused on Willowman. “Willowman, shit, are you okay?” I tugged the gag out of his mouth.
“Head…hurts…” Willowman’s eyes slipped closed.
“Where are the keys to the cuffs?” Shar demanded, her voice a menacing growl.
“Answer her!” Derek shook the alchemist like a rag doll.
“The desk. On the desk,” he cried.
Orix went for the keys while Touron dropped to his knees to untie Willowman’s legs from the chair.
“You can’t do this,” one of the other alchemists said. “We have the authority?—”
“Shut up!” My voice was a gravelly boom because my beast was desperate to maim and hurt someone, and these alchemists were the perfect target. “One more word and I won’t be responsible for what my beast does to you.”
Derek gave the alchemist he was holding a final shake and then shoved him toward the others.
They shrank away from us, and I turned back to Willowman, gently cupping his head while Shar undid the cuffs on his wrists. He groaned softly, his eyes drifting open for a moment.
“Cameron…he’s gone…Varsa is gone.” There was a deep sadness in his eyes and a thickness to his tone. He was grieving, and these bastards had done this to him.
I scooped him up into my arms. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. We’ll go to Arcadia together and put him to rest.”
I turned to the door to find it blocked by Ulrickson’s large frame.
“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Why the fuck was he still here?
“You cannot interrupt an alchemist interrogation,” he said.
“We can if it’s unlawful,” Palia said. “Section 139.5a of the Gargoyle Codex highlights the binding law, which states that a deep dive can only be performed on a gargoyle in the presence of strong physical evidence of his or her involvement in a crime and?—”
“Willowman is not a gargoyle.” Ulrickson’s lips curved in a smug smile.
Palia’s eyes narrowed, and she strode forward. “If you’d allow me to finish,” she said coldly. “Section 139.5a also goes on to state that the deep dive cannot in any circumstance be used upon a creature with human genes as it would invariably result in that creature’s death.”
Ulrickson’s smile dropped, and his gaze flicked to the shadows in the corner of the room. Someone was standing there. Had been there all along.
The figure stepped forward now. Hooded and robed like the alchemists, it was one of them, and yet there was something still and ominous about this one. It pushed its hood back to reveal an austere face with deep lines bracketing a mouth I couldn’t ever imagine smiling.
“Patrick?” Ulrickson frowned. “Is this true?”
Patrick’s dark gaze settled on Palia. “The Gargoyle Codex is not a free text. Which means your reading of it was unauthorized.”
“That hardly fucking matters,” Curi snapped. “Your investigation is illegal. You were going to kill him.”
“Is that what you want, Ulrickson?” Shar demanded.
“No,” Levi said. “He wouldn’t. He didn’t know, did you, Father?”
Ulrickson’s brows came together. “Of course I didn’t,” he said quickly, then fixed a glower in Patrick’s direction. “You will be answering to the council for your negligence.”
Patrick smiled coolly. “I don’t answer to the council, Ulrickson.
I answer to the collective, and their only goal is to stamp out this rising incursion, no matter the means.
But I’m sure the council will be happy to explain to the Arcadian committee how Stonehaven was breached on so many occasions. ”
“Prasan did that,” Orix said. “We know that.”
Patrick raised a brow. “On his own? Unlikely.”
“So you break the law?” Levi asked.
“Laws written by your kind, not mine.” He lifted his chin and despite being half a head shorter than Levi, managed to look down his nose at him. “Keep your witch if you must. But when he shows himself to be the traitor he is, do not come to us for aid.”
He strode toward the exit, minions in tow, and Ulrickson stepped back to let them pass.
Willowman groaned in my arms.
“We should get him to the infirmary,” Levi said.
“No…” Willowman whispered. “I need…Calista…”
“Calista?”
“His outer rim contact,” Orix said.
“Do you know where she lives?”
“I know the town. I can find out the rest.”
“Wait a second. You’re not intending to take him off academy grounds,” Ulrickson said.
I fixed him with a steely gaze. “Why not? Is he a prisoner?”
“No but?—”
“Are we?”
“No but you?—”
“Then we’re going. This witch is essential to the elite team, and if you want to stop us, then you’ll need to use force.”
“There’s no need for that,” Levi said. “Is there, Father?”
Ulrickson had the look of a cornered animal.
“They’ll be with me,” Orix said. “We have a funeral to attend in Arcadia, so as soon as Willowman is healed, we’ll head there. I’ll make sure to send a magigram to the academy to keep you updated.”
“You’re supposed to be training,” Ulrickson reminded us.
“We will,” Levi said. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“It isn’t safe out there.”
“It isn’t safe here, either,” Curi said. “But we’re safer if we stick together.”
Ulrickson ran a hand down his face. “Very well. But you’ll take precautions. Travel by secure warps that have been checked thoroughly by…” His gaze dropped to Willowman. Because he was our warp guy.
“Yarrow will help,” Orix said. “Please let me do what I do best.”
“What in the world is going on here?” Carter pushed past Ulrickson. “Willowman!” She rushed toward him. “What happened?”
Travani was close behind, her usually sleek hairstyle slightly disheveled. The lamplight caught her eyes, and for a moment they seemed to glow like amber, but then Carter was blocking her, the human’s face a mask of genuine concern.
“Oh goodness, what is this? Did the alchemists do this? They said they merely wanted to talk to him. Simply talk…”
I didn’t have the time or energy to find soothing words to assuage her guilt. “I’m sure our councilman will fill you in.” I hoisted Willowman up in my arms securely and headed for the exit.
There would be no sleep for any of us this dawn.