It was well past midnight when we all shuffled off to our rooms to crash. My sleep was dreamless, and when I awoke the next morning, I was rested but not at ease. Nico and Sinthy were set to leave that morning. At breakfast, I barely had any appetite. Nico must have noticed how stressed I was because he put an arm around me and pressed his forehead to mine.
“It’s gonna be all right. I promise.” He kissed me, then added, “We won’t be gone long. Plus, I’ll have the burner phone with me. If anything goes wrong, I can call with an update.”
I shoved a pile of scrambled eggs across my plate. “And what if what goes wrong is that you and Sinthy are dead or captured? What about that?”
“Don’t think like that. We’ve been shit on for too long. This is our chance. I have faith. I’ve got a feeling everything’s going to go the way we planned.”
My own feelings were the exact opposite, but it would be pointless to try persuading him or Sinthy. They were locked in, and I could see the intensity in their eyes. Nothing I said would stop them from going on the mission. All I could do was pray it went the way Nico thought it would.
Donatello showed Sinthy and Nico a piece of paper. “The exact coordinates for the island so you can be sure you get back right here. No good to get in and then get back out only to teleport ten miles off the coast and drown.”
Nico reached out to take the paper, but Donatello yanked it back.
Nico frowned at him. “Can’t I just take it?” Nico asked.
Shaking his head, Donatello said, “Unfortunately not, my friend. I know your confidence in the success of this mission is strong. Unfortunately, I must take more precautions. If one or both of you are taken, I cannot let the location of this island fall into Viola’s hands. Now, both of you look at the coordinates. Memorize them.”
Sinthy and Nico leaned over the table, reading and rereading the coordinates until they could recite the numbers back to each other seamlessly.
Donatello clapped and slid the paper back into his pocket. “Well done. I trust we will see you both very soon.”
Nico pulled me close and gave me one last kiss. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Yeah, but will you be in one piece?”
Nico grinned at me and brushed a strand of hair away from my cheek. “Every limb will be intact. I promise.”
Sinthy and Nico stepped out on the veranda. I watched as Sinthy took Nico’s hand. A shiver of fear and worry shot through me. What if they didn’t come back? What if it was a trap, or if things didn’t go the way they thought they would? Those thoughts vanished as Sinthy gave a little salute, and in a flash, they both disappeared.
130
NICO
Like every time Sinthy teleported me, I arrived at the new location and felt a sudden and powerful feeling of dissociation. It stemmed from being in one place one moment and then in another in less than a blink of an eye. No matter how many times I did it, it never got any easier. It was worse this time since I literally had no clue where we were. Sinthy had simply tapped into the magic tracker she’d put on Maxwell and taken us to the signal.
“Where are we?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
We were in a narrow alleyway. From the sounds echoing in toward us, I could guess we were in a fairly large city.
Sinthy glanced around. “I have no idea.”
“Oh, that’s good. Glad we have that figured out,” I hissed.
“Hold your horses, big guy. Let’s head out and have a look around.”
Sinthy walked toward the mouth of the alley; I followed close behind.
“This tracker thing isn’t like a GPS,” Sinthy said. “It only gets menearthe target. I could be up to a half mile off.”
“Information that might have been essential an hour ago,” I growled.
“Yeah, yeah, it’ll be fine. Once I’m in the general location, I can sort of follow the feel of it.”
As we stepped out of the alley onto a busy street, I immediately knew we were in Europe. The people were less hurried, and the architecture seemed old and full of history.
“Wow. Here we go,” Sinthy said, pointing down the street.
I turned in the direction she was pointing. The Eiffel Tower stood large and imposing, its spire pointing toward the heavens.
