Enrique’s mouth twisted into a grimace. He thought of the way Roux-Joubert kept hurting Tristan… he thought of Séverin writhing there… the ugly words that left Roux-Joubert’s lips to remake the world.
“Power and greed always have appetites,” he said. “Taking your Ring would be a step toward that.”
Hypnos’s jaw clenched. “Then we must give him what he wants. Or, at least, an illusion of it.”
Enrique nodded tightly. He looked through the hiding place to the Horus Eye lying on the wooden table, all but forgotten. Perhaps Roux-Joubert thought he’d won and that there was no need to protect it, for it wasn’t as though anyone else knew what it could do.
Zofia’s eyes snapped to the floor. She reached for something in the dirt, a trail of pale powder that she pinched and rubbed between her fingers.
“Curious…”
Hypnos cradled the fake Ring to his chest. “We were supposed to take the Horus Eye to the Order. We can’t do that now. And we can’t leave them.”
Enrique stared at the Ring, and then at the brooches and jewelsset against the rich velvet of Hypnos’s jacket.A great deal of my inheritance, Hypnos had said. Which meant that it was House-marked.
“If we can’t go to the Order, then we can bring the Order to us,” said Enrique slowly, a plan forming in his head. “Hypnos, give us those. I want to send a signal.”
Hypnos’s eyes widened, a smile touching his lips. “The Sphinxes.”
Enrique nodded. The Sphinx would be able to track anything House-marked, even if it led them down to the catacombs. Plus, their eyes could record images… and the Order would have no choice but to believe the Fallen House had once more risen. Hypnos tore off the brooches. A blue light, once marked onto the back of them, flared red. He rolled them one by one onto the ground.
Enrique glanced at the auditorium below. The ground rippled, dirt cascading in waves.
“It’s nearlyhere,” said Roux-Joubert. He grabbed Séverin by the lapels. “Tell me how to open the Tezcat. What did youdo?”
Distantly, Enrique heard Séverin’s wheezing response, “You know, for someone who wishes to play god, you’re not very omniscient.”
Enrique looked away, but he still heard it: a resoundingcrackas Roux-Joubert brought his fist to Séverin’s head.
“Hurry, hurry—” murmured Enrique, rocking on his heels. He wished he had his rosary. He needed something to do with his hands. He couldn’t just watch.
A ripping sound blared beside his ear, the hiss of a struck match. Below, Roux-Joubert paused. Enrique looked to his side. Zofia had struck a match and was now holding it against the ground.
“Zofia, what in the—”
“He told me he’d leave an emergency path,” said Zofia, pointing at the pale powder on the ground. “This substance is highly flammable.”
Enrique felt the grin spreading on his face even before he realized he was smiling. Fire in this place would buy them time. But it was dangerous… they had to work quickly.
“Then by all means, phoenix. Light it up.”
Zofia lowered the match to the powder.
On the stage, blue veins of light emerged on the floor. The shape of them: nautilus-like and vast, stretched across the very walls. Enrique couldn’t see what the others were doing, but he could feel the power of the Babel Fragment. It felt like something that could level kings and twist immortality. He opened his mouth, wanting to receive it like a sacrament.
Hypnos lunged forward, snatching Zofia and Enrique by the backs, of their collars.
“Move!” he shouted.
He pulled them back, just as a strong burst of wind swept through the corridors. Enrique shivered as something nameless coiled through him. He felt it at the corner of his soul. A knowing there, like a creator’s thumbprint. It was too late to stop Roux-Joubert from stirring the Fragment from its rest.
Because it was wide awake.
28
LAILA
One minute after midnight
