I couldn’t go to the tunnels, couldn’t run straight back to Sanctuary, couldn’t go home. I couldn’t even pass a letter to those above. But maybe a scrap of paper wasn’t the only way to send a message. With a plan already forming in my mind, I leaned forward and punched the button before I could think better of it.
I was breathing hard by the time the elevator ascended one level. Hands clenched at my sides, I pushed through the workers slipping into their blue jumpsuits in the hallway crowded with lockers. I stepped into the massive room beyond that held enormous barrels filled with water. The smell of ammonia and something like chlorine assaulted my nostrils as I strolled through them, ignored or even nodded to thanks to my supervisor’s uniform.
I found the pipes in the back, running along the tall flat wall up toward the surface where I had no doubt they would branch out to scatter to the various sinks, showers, and toilets of Sanctuary.
I didn’t even think about it. I just grabbed the nearest pipe wrench, recently abandoned by some off duty laborer who'd been in such a hurry to return to his residence he hadn’t properly put away his tools. I put all of my enhanced strength into my arms and swung.
The first blow made a clanging sound so loud the nearest workers cried out in alarm. The second cleaved through the thin metal. Water sprayed, soaking me instantly so my jumpsuit clung to my skin, plastering my hazel hair to my face and neck. I swung again, slicing another pipe in two. One end swung away, hanging precariously, sharp metal swaying back and forth so the other laborers at the wall had to scatter to avoid being struck by it. Several workers were crying out now, running away from me. I could hardly hear them over my own laughter.
I swung again.
“Stop!” a familiar voice cried.
But I ignoredMosi, even when he ran up to me, braver than all the rest, and tried to pull the wrench from my hands. I simply elbowed him aside and swung again and again, harder each time.
Water pooled beneath my feet. I steadied myself so as not to slip in it and swung again.
“Adrian,”Mosiwas screaming over the sound of gushing water, the murmurs of terrified water level workers, and, I realized, my own crazed laughter. “Adrian, stop! Stop!”
But I didn’t. I just kept swinging.
“Enough,” another voice growled, deeper, closer.
I ignored him. Gritting my teeth, furious they'd gone for Tiberius, I swung even harder.
“Grab her,” he commanded.
Then I was being lifted off the ground. I kicked and screamed like a feral beast, water slinging from my drenched hair as I shook my head back and forth, doing my best to wiggle free. ButRoibenandMosiheld me deftly between them. I sawRoiben’sjaw clench when a well-aimed kick of mine connected with his groin but he held firm.
The pipe clattered to the ground as he andMosidragged me away. Tiberius stooped to retrieve it before turning back to the laborers gathered around, staring at us in shock.
“Fix it,” he growled, and then followed after us as our fellow Fallen dragged me out of level three and into the waiting elevators beyond.
Chapter Fifteen
Dante
“The will of the masses will bend or I will break it.”
–From the Journal of Xander, Son of Zander, Heir of House Viper
Rumors were dangerous in a walled city.
That, at least, I'd learned while living in Sanctuary. It seemedPavoswas hardly any different.
The morning after SaintAlosia’sescape from wherever they'd been hiding her, the entire council emerged from their chambers as one. Solemn-faced and serious, they made their way slowly around the city, raising their arms until pulsing beams of light flowed out of them and into the walls around us. The physical borders glowed brighter for hours afterward. The council assured everyone it was just a precautionary measure taken after the death of one of their own. In their grief, they sought to ensure no more of their people would fall to the Darkness. But when they turned, brilliant cloaks dragging behind them in the clumping sand, and made their way back to their palace, the whispers started all the same.
Some were more outrageous than others. Some claimed the walls were actually being reinforced to keep the humans in because some had been slipping out of the city through the cracks in the light, choosing to take their chances against the harsh desert terrain and roaming bands of marauders rather than remain shackled to theGeist. Some claimed a looseZverhad been spotted in the city itself and had murdered half a dozen children before the warriors were able to subdue it. But, even more interestingly, some claimed someone hadsnuckintothe city. Possible explanations abounded as to why anyone would dare attempt to do so. Maybe they were here to utilize some new weapon against us. Maybe they were here to steal something. Maybe they were here simply to spy on us. But, despite how varying the rumors seemed to be, one thing stayed the same. A cloak had been found. A black one, the color of the Darkness, a color forbidden within the walls ofPavos.
Before, I would have dismissed those rumors as unfounded accusations from a populace recently terrified by the death of one of their gods. But now that I knew the truth, now that I knew what the Darkness was and who was capable of wielding it, I couldn’t help but think we might not be as safe behind these walls as everyone assumed. After all, you didn’t wage a centuries-long war against an enemy you had no true reason to fear.
“Ah, Dante, there you are,”Kleiosaid without looking up as I entered his small cabin and shut the door tightly behind me. Bent over a table and rifling through his endless papers, theGeisthad his back to me. “I think we should focus on our floating lessons again today. If you can master it, truly, it can be a little like flying. We have some of your kind who have mastered the ability. They all serve very highly and are quite useful when it comes to—”
“I want to see the cloak,” I interrupted him, spitting out what I came here to say.
He paused, finally turning to face me for the first time.
“What cloak?” he asked carefully, eyes narrowing in new appraisal. Knowing Kleio, he was likely calculating an escape.
