The Cyclone slowed down, and a weightlessness fell through me as we descended. The pilot hovered over the flat rooftop of an international finance building, the Golden Panam. Above the stormy engine came the grinding of metal as the rear ramp slid down and morning sunlight poured inward. Quickly unbucklingtheir harnesses, the team rose, grabbed backpacks from stowed compartments, and filed out.
Snatching up my own, I ducked down the metal ramp to jump the short distance to the rooftop, the landing jarring through my ankles. The blustery machine-stirred air whipped at my hair, tugging at my body as I jogged out of range. The warband followed me across the roof as the Cyclone lifted away, its shadow swiftly disappearing as it flew back over the city, heading for home.
The rooftop’s heavy doors swung wide as I shoved them open, and we made our way inside the Golden Panam building, quickly navigating down the staircase and corridors until we came to a bank of elevators. Half of the team came with me, the rest took another service elevator. As we glided downward, while the others murmured quietly between themselves, some readjusting their weapons or dropping equipment bags down by their feet, I leaned up against the elevator’s burnished metal wall and went back to my search. Pulling up the newspaper the day after my mother was stolen, I did the same thing, scanning through the articles, hoping something would stand out. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for.
The newspaper contained the usual business and world news and local events in Ascendria. Some fun articles and feel-good ones too, but mostly deaths and murders and disappearances, and the war law enforcement waged on our magic-infused drugs that infested its streets.
I almost missed it.
Almost.
My shoulders stiffened, and my heart erupted into a staccato beat.
I quickly scrolled back, squinting at the screen, carefully reading the article that detailed an extreme electrical fault at the Monarch Tower that had occurred the day before, the sameday my mother had been stolen from a quiet country road. The entire building had mysteriously lost power, and the fault was blamed on a lightning strike from a thunderstorm that had swept through Ascendria.
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. Butnow…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 another. 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. Theglamourshifted 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, ourglamouredarmor 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. Glancingover 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 Vaduva 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.”
