Chapter 40 #2
I rubbed my chin, frowning. It was odd that lightning had taken out the Monarch Tower.
Every building had lightning rods to protect its structure.
I knew Mom had been wearing elegant clothing along with her beloved jewelry set as if she was going to meet someone important.
And what better place to visit with them than the Monarch Tower?
My mind speared back to my brother a few nights back when we sat across from one another in the library. I’d asked him if he’d felt her that day…and what had he said?
“You ever fall in your dreams? Like that rushing feeling of physically falling and you jolt suddenly awake? The way I woke up was like that. But it wasn’t falling…
It was this swift electric shock that went through me, like lightning, I suppose, stuttering my heart.
But now…thinking about it, it was like a faint echo of what it’s like when Mom’s tortured with fire, or ice shreds her skin, or her bones are stretched and quaking. ”
I inhaled sharply.
A bone-deep surety strummed through my blood. My mother had been at the Monarch Tower that day, and she’d encountered an other. A lightning-striker or a storm-weaver.
Holy hellsgate!
The elevator shuddered to a stop, snapping me abruptly out of my revelation.
I tucked my phone away, doming the pocket, just as the elevator doors slid open.
Shaking the astonishment and unease from my shoulders, I pushed into motion.
The mystery of my mother sank into the dark recesses of my mind to be retrieved later and pulled apart further.
Right now I needed a clear head and to make a move on my plan for my other problem.
We headed across the building’s foyer with its fucking-fancy-whatever-wire-netting sculpture and polished beige flooring.
The glamour shifted our armor, turning us into a cascade of the corporate type, an entourage of business-suited men and women, filing out of an early morning meeting and into the city.
My team and I strode down the block, shoving through the human traffic, and crossed the street to enter the subway terminal.
As we moved through the milling commuters, our glamoured armor warped into workmen’s uniforms so we wouldn’t draw suspicion at the service doorway.
The shadow key’s cool wisps of dark magic curled around my fingers as I slipped it into the lock.
We entered a service corridor and jogged down its length, venturing deeper until we found the ancient door nestled amongst rusty piping.
It opened to the catacombs, and we moved through darkness so black I had no idea how my little bird had taken a single step inside when she’d sought the Uzrek for answers.
Nelle was worrying me too. I felt…a jolt of shock, the heat of her anger…crackling and burning beneath my skin. All I could do was move ahead, one step at a time, trying to keep my focus. Because this time I couldn’t interfere.
The glow of flashlights was feeble against the mighty inkiness as we descended twisting steps of crumbling stone and pushed through dank, craggy tunnels until we reached a gaping hole gouged through the pitted floor of a vast cavern, stagnant water pooling on its rocky surface.
Beneath Ascendria, a rupture had sheared through the labyrinth’s lower levels, and I peered into its depths, able to see only its tattered edges.
In the cavern, there were thick ropes fixed to a rock face, supported by a metal frame suspended over the dark abyss, which the ropework draped into like snakes.
I drew the zipper of my jacket up high, shivering against the cold, stale air.
Glancing over my shoulder, I spied an alcove nearby, and it looked as if a makeshift camp had been erected with cots and camping equipment.
I frowned. Mela, if I had to guess, was making a home down here.
I dumped my weapons bag, like everyone else, crouching down to open it up and dig out what I needed.
My sheathed swords were quickly strapped to my spine.
The knotted hilt of the wyrmblade poked my shoulder along with my twin bastard sword, and as my fingers worked in a flurry buckling the harnesses, my mind was working just as fast. This time I focused on someone else, not the mystery of my mother.
I’d already devised a plan, however, I still had two integral pieces missing, and all I could do was have faith they would fall into place soon.
I also needed to put my trust in someone outside my family.
The team of V?duva hunters trudged wearily past, trading places with mine.
Mela stepped out of the gloom and clapped me on the shoulder. “Gray.” Her headlamp flickered as she leaned in, the beam cutting close to my face. I nodded toward the makeshift camp, silently asking what the fuck that was about.
She tensed, darting a furtive glance over a shoulder to ensure no one was within listening range. Her voice dropped to an earnest whisper. “I need this distraction before we move on with rescuing Elyse.”
Gods, did I know what that was like. My entire family did.
“How’s that going?” I asked quietly.
Mela worked her jaw from side to side, wrestling for control as her deep brown eyes shimmered with rising tears.
My heart faltered at her anguish, and I gripped her upper arm in reassurance.
She ducked her head, her full lips thinning above a quivering chin.
“It depends on Evelene,” her voice broke on the words, and she took a moment to steel herself.
My touch withdrew when she ran the flat of her palms across her braided crown, before perching her fists on her hips and sucking in a fortifying breath.
Her teary gaze had hardened when she finally lifted it to meet mine.
“She’s working on Corné to get a tour of the laboratories.
Until then, I’d rather keep myself busy.
There’s nothing I can do until Evelene gets back to me, and when she does, then we strike. ”
Fair enough. Exactly what I’d be doing too.
I’d already mapped out three possible extraction routes if Evelene pulled through. This was just the waiting part.
“Okay,” I nodded, still a little reluctant. “You good for this now though?”
She hooked her thumb over her shoulder toward the cot and gave a tight smile. “You don’t need to worry, I’ve already slept. Come on, let’s get to it.”
Petra, the V?duvas’ head hunter, had a map spread out on the rugged floor of the cavern.
Thanks to Mom, Wes Zhang had survived his horrific injuries the fateful night she’d been abducted.
Unfortunately, my father’s second-in-command had been traveling in one of the SUVs that had plummeted from the sky.
Soon after Wes’s recovery, my father appointed him as his new Second in our covert war to find my mother.
So, it was rather fitting that Wes had designated his son, Jiao, as my Second on this mission to capture Yezekael.
Jiao and Petra squatted down together, scouring the scratches of additional outlines made to the map of what had been searched that night, and identifying what unknown areas of the subterranean tunnels we should explore next.
Petra rose, rolling the map up, her palms a warm tawny contrast to the deeper brown of her skin.
As she approached, Mela’s flashlight coated Petra in filmy light and brushed over the silver dusting her springy hair tied back into a dense ponytail.
The older woman fixed sharp eyes on me, and it was impossible to tell if she genuinely liked me or not—or anyone, really, with the permanent grim expression she wore—until her mouth tugged up into a wide smile that rounded her cheeks feathered with fine lines.
“Where’s your grumpy prick of a father?”
I flicked the tips of my fingers over my mouth to tame the grin. ‘Grumpy prick’ was the only name Petra referred to him as. I shrugged. “Still out of state on business.”
My father liked Petra immensely. Years ago, she and House V?duva had battled alongside him at the Servants’ Dance to thwart a Horned God who had awoken starved and in a half-dreaming state preyed on those at the dance.
The very same Horned God my brother was hoping would soon arrive at the Emporium—Jurgana.
Jett hoped to pique Jurgana’s curiosity so she would demand a Goods Appraisal. Only then, if the Butcher deemed Nelle’s qualities sufficient during the appraisal, would he offer us an official invitation to the Witches Ball.
Petra murmured a harrumph before saying, “He’s missing out on all the fun.” She turned to address my team, and they made their way to the edge of the vast chasm.
The quickest way was fast-roping down the chasm to get to a lower floor, rather than working our way through the rabbit warren of tunnels and crudely cut stairs.
Once we reached the bottom of the crevasse, we’d travel deeper into the subterranean bowels of the earth, where creatures lurked more fearsome than krekenns.
Stone Eaters were down there. Great serpents that chewed through rock.
The eerie sound of scuttling had my gaze swinging wide, and I kept a close lookout for krekenns crawling about the jagged cavern walls.
Hoisting my backpack over my shoulders, I tightened the straps, then tugged leather gloves on.
The darkness here was as smothering and timeless as the Uzrek.
I was curious to see if the ancient beast was going to leaf through my mind like it had the last few times I’d been down here.
I shifted to the edge of the chasm with Mela. The tips of my boots halted at its crumbled edge, and I peered down into endless black, broken only by the fluttering swarm of dragonflies to illuminate the darkness for our men and women as they descended the ropes.
Some long-ago cataclysmic event had torn a hole right through the honeycombed tomb. It was a vast crack, and silent but for the quiet murmuring of our team, the creak of rope, and a rattle of rockfall in the distance.
Petra followed everyone else down, but I hung back so I could talk in private. Mela raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “What is it?”
Stone gritted beneath my boots as I shifted to face her. I breathed deeply and spoke directly. “I need your help.”
Her dark brown eyes seemed to sparkle as if she’d been biding her time awaiting this moment. “Is this what we spoke about the first time we were down here?”
I nodded, and she grinned, a quick flash of warmth and amusement surfacing, a brief reminder of the person she used to be before grief and worry over Elyse had subdued her natural easy-going charm. “Whatever trouble you’re in, I’m here to help you get out of it.”
I dropped my gaze to my boots, gratefulness and utter relief overwhelming me. The word croaked from my thickening throat. “Thanks.”
“Tell me what I can do,” she urged softly.
Clearing my throat, I reached for the rope, grabbed hold, and pushed off the edge of the chasm, swinging over the abyss to hitch my feet around the thick cord.
I eased downward, and Mela mirrored me, keeping pace on the cord opposite.
The hovering cloud of iridescent dragonflies kept at bay the pitch-black nothingness that threatened to devour us whole.
Their radiance wove about us in streaks of gauzy, jeweled hues, catching briefly on Mela’s golden necklace, the oval pendant having slipped free of her armor to swing against her collarbone.
As we descended, making our way deeper into the abyss, I spoke quietly and Mela listened closely, asking a few questions every so often as to what I needed from her to make this work. To make it right.