Chapter 53
FIFTY-THREE
JACK
“Well, so much for our special date night,” Abigail said, pulling the black cloak and hood around herself tighter. “Do you think he’s serious? You think we’re really going to the palace?”
Abigail’s voice wasn’t nervous in the least, which scared Jack.
He knew she was more than eager to see her sister and bring her back from the palace.
The only thing keeping her from doing this on her own was the lack of experience she had.
Her training over the last few weeks had resolved this issue, though.
“I think he is serious.” Jack licked his lips, searching for the right words that didn’t exist. Anytime he broached the subject of Abigail’s sister, Abigail became defensive. “If she’s there, if we see her, tell me you’ll be careful.”
“She’s my sister, Jack.” Abigail stared out into the night sky. The two stood on the roof to the hideout the New Order called home. It was one of the tallest buildings in this section of the city. This, coupled with it being dark, meant they would be free of any prying eyes.
Jack didn’t say anything else. Instead, he stared at the partially obscured sky. Dark clouds promising rain were coming in from the east. They had a few hours, maybe less, before the downpour began.
“What was it you were going to say to me tonight?” Abigail asked, changing the subject. “When I left the training room, it sounded like it was important.”
Jack had imagined this conversation so differently in his mind. The many times he had played the scenario over, none of them had the two of them standing side my side in long, dark cloaks about to depart on a mission to raid the queen’s armory.
“I … uh…” Jack bottled his courage. Somehow, these few words were just as hard to get out as holding the magic had been earlier in the day.
“We’ve known each other for a few months now.
I know that isn’t long in the grand scheme of things, but what we’ve been through together is …
well, it’s made me appreciate our time together.
I want to tell you something, because I don’t want anything to happen to us before I get the chance to. I?—”
“For crying out loud, kid!” Saber entered the rooftop from the trapdoor leading into the building. He carried two brown packages in the crook of his left arm. “I tried to give you some privacy, but you’ve got a lot of air in those lungs. Just tell her already. We’ve got to be going.”
“I … uh—” Jack tore his eyes from Saber, back to Abigail. She was grinning from ear to ear, her own eyes catching all the illumination the moon had to give. “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”
“Maybe just a little bit,” Abigail teased. She closed the distance between them, rising on her tiptoes to reach Jack’s lips. “I love you, too.”
The next instant, Jack felt lightheaded as his lips pressed against hers. In that moment, all of his worries fell away. He was lost in the feeling of love verbalized by someone he had never cared for in this way before.
“Okay, you two.” Saber moved to join them at the edge of the rooftop. He looked them up and down. “By the looks of your dress, I’m assuming neither of you have ever been on a night op before.”
Abigail shook her head.
“My father and I used to hunt supernatural creatures in the Outland.” Jack looked down at his cloak. “I’d wear a coat not too different from this.”
“Well, we aren’t in the Outland, kid.” Saber motioned with one hand for them to remove their cloaks. “Anything that could flap in the wind, get caught, or shift in a shadow should be left behind.”
Jack compared his attire with Saber’s. The leader of the New Order wore a skin-tight black suit.
He was armed to the teeth, from the handle of a combat knife sticking up from his left boot, to the single katana that peeked over his right shoulder.
Not to mention the twin pistols snug on his hips, or the bandolier of throwing knives resting across his chest.
“Here.” Saber threw one of the brown paper packages to each of his young trainees. “Dress quickly, we’re losing time.”
Jack opened his package to reveal a black suit much like Saber’s. It would fit him tightly, with a high collar and long sleeves.
“No peeking,” Abigail said to Saber as she began taking off her cloak.
“Please, child”—Saber turned his back on the two—“I’m interested in one thing tonight, and that’s relieving the queen of some of her weapons. Though I’m sure Jack will be eager to sneak a quick glance or two.”
“What?” Jack felt a rush of red burn his face as he pulled his own cloak over his head. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“And if he did, I wouldn’t mind,” Abigail’s voice reached Jack’s ears through the fabric of the shirt he was pulling over his head. “Haven’t you heard? He loves me.”
Jack stood on the roof, shirtless. Hearing Abigail so happy that he had proclaimed his love for her made him smile in her direction.
She was down to her underwear when he looked over, the light of the moon painting her skin in a glow that made her look like an angel. In that moment, he knew he would die for her.
“If he does love you, I didn’t hear him say it.” Saber still had his back turned to the pair.
“I do—what? I did.” Jack ripped his eyes from Abigail. He took off his own boots and pants before redressing in the clothes Saber had provided. “I did, right?”
“Actually…” Abigail sat down to lace up her black boots. “I don’t think you did, and I saw you peek over at me.”
“Attakid,” Saber chuckled.
“Wait, how do you know I peeked over if you weren’t looking at me?” Jack caught Abigail’s eyes now with a grin. “And I do love you.”
“All right, pull up your pants, kids.” Saber turned around, but still didn’t look at them.
“Joking is over until we get back. We move on the rooftops for as long as we can. When we can’t, Jack will lift us through the air.
We’ll enter the palace through the front door.
As soon as we do, we’re on the clock—in and out in three minutes. Any questions?”
Jack looked over at Abigail, stunned. Her face was a mirror of his own.
“Uh, yeah. A ton of questions.” Abigail raised an eyebrow as she reattached her shoulder harness with her katanas in it over her new outfit. “Jack can’t fly or hover, let alone make anyone else hover.”
“Is that right, kid?” Saber turned his orange eye to Jack now. “You can’t?”
“I’ve only done it to myself, and only in training.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t know if I can do it to all of us at once.”
“How come you didn’t tell me you could fly?” Abigail was pulling her hair into a ponytail. “That’s huge.”
“I can’t fly.” Jack shook his head again, going to the edge of the roof and looking down at the fall. “There was a chapter in one of the books I’m studying that taught me how to levitate.”
“Well, I have faith in you, Mr. Twenty-one Minutes.” Saber jumped up onto the ledge of the roof as if it were as easy as taking a single step.
“Besides, you won’t have to move us all at once.
You can do it one at a time. And you won’t have to do it more than a few times.
Abigail and I can make it from rooftop to rooftop most of the way. ”
“So, okay, wait a minute.” Abigail joined Saber on the roof ledge. “Even if we can get there undetected while floating, how are we going to get through the front door?”
“We have friends willing to do one last favor for us.” Saber looked at Abigail and Jack. “Time to do or die.”
Without another word, Saber leaped from the building.
Jack’s stomach twisted into a knot as he ran to the edge and looked over.
Saber had landed on the rooftop next to their own.
It was a jump over a small alley and down to the building’s rooftop a story below.
Saber rolled when he hit the ground to absorb the impact.
“He taught you how to jump buildings?” Jack asked Abigail. “Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?”
Abigail made quite the opposing figure in her all-black, skintight clothing. She looked like an assassin ready to make her next kill.
“Yeah, he did, actually.” Abigail shrugged. “Come on, it’ll be all right. We can do this. If not for us, then for the people who are counting on us to pull through. If not for them, then for the people we’ve lost along the way.”
Jack just nodded. His stomach was doing backflips as he moved to stand next to Abigail on the waist-high ledge. The wind brushed against his clothing. Saber was right. His cloak would have flapped in the breeze, creating extra movement and even sound.
“Together?” Abigail looked over at Jack.
“Together,” Jack agreed, already channeling the magical power that set him apart as a sorcerer.
As one, the wizard and the warrior leapt from the building.