“Power cut.”
Dante leads us to a room toward the other end of the building. He’s frowning though and his expression deepens into a scowl once we reach the room where Silver’s scent is strongest.
“It’s difficult,” he says. “She was easier to track last night because she was bleeding. But it’s like she got here and then her scent completely disappears.”
Rook is searching vents and checking windows while the rest of us go from room to room, searching for any signs that Silver has been here.
“I’m struggling to trace her,” Dante says.
I check my cell phone to see if any of our contacts have replied with information, but there’s nothing.
So much for the cavalry coming to Silver’s rescue.
Silver
“Ah, such a shame, it looks like we lost her,” Anna, Councillor Clement’s laptop wielding assistant says in a dry tone as the screen blanks out.
I stare at her through the dim light. I’m unsure what to do next. Should I use this to make my escape or would that sendeven more attention my way? Not to mention there are two guards stationed right outside. I don’t want to fight them and then get into even deeper shit.
“You know,” Anna continues conversationally. “All traces of the video from the Solstice Ball have been deleted. It wasn’t enough for them to still be on people’s phones, so Councillor Clements asked me to wipe them fromeverywhere.”
“Is that, er, something you can do?”
She nods, then leans back in her seat. “For me, it’s easy enough. I’m a techno mage. I’m good with any technology. I could doanythingwith a computer. But you wouldn’t believe the shit the council has me doing most of the time. For a bunch of powerful witches, the council sure is hopeless with emails.”
“Right.” Once again, I’m feeling pretty clueless about what is going on right now. I don’t know why she’s telling me this. Does she think she’s done me a favor by removing all evidence of the video footage where I’m clearly engaging in illegal magic?
On the one hand, sure, it’s a big favor. But on the other, it’ll just make it even easier for the Archarcans to sweep everything that happened under the rug.
And I can’t imagine that’ll go down well with Simpson and his cronies. They wanted to cause a big stink, and if people ignore them, they’re bound to just try to cause an even bigger one.
“The council is in total chaos right now,” Anna says, getting to her feet. She then strides to the door and barks some orders at the guards. By the sounds of things, she’s trying to get them to go and check on what caused the power outage, but they don’t seem all that willing to leave their post.
After another minute or two where I’m scouting the room for windows that I somehow had missed until now, or maybe a handy air vent I could climb up into, Anna scuppers my poorly laid plans of escape by turning back to me.
“The strangest thing, though,” she continues, like she never stopped speaking. “Councillor Clements was the one to order the video to be destroyed. Removed from all devices. But then a few hours later, she asked for me to show it to her.”
“So... she’d forgotten she asked for it to be destroyed?” Huh, I wonder if she’s taken up drinking in the past decade. Not that she’d ever allow herself to lose control by getting drunk.
“I don’t know. It’s not the first time she’s asked for something that directly contradicted something else she’d asked for, but it’s been worse recently. The minutes from most council meetings are a mess.”
I stare at her. I have no fucking clue what is happening or why she’s telling me this. Something that must be clear from my face as she scoffs.
“Just thought I’d mention it. Anyway, the guards should be busy with the fuse box for a while. You should probably go now while they’re distracted.”
“Am I going to get picked up again like this? Dragged from the street for an impromptu interrogation?”
She rolls her eyes. “Wow, you’re pretty dramatic. I’d guess they have better things to do than try to talk to you again, especially if I forget to mark it down the next time she asks me to set up accosting you on the street as a calendar item.”
I... can’t tell if she’s being entirely sarcastic or not. Either way, I’m fairly sure she’s doing me a favor right now and I’m won’t throw that back in her face.
Giving her a quick nod of thanks, I hightail it out of the building. For once, my naturally terrible sense of direction sends me the right way and I manage to avoid coming across the guards before I’ve made my escape.
Once I’m outside, I find myself in a part of the city I’ve not been to in a long time. Sending a quick mental message to my mages to let them know that I’ve escaped the judiciaryunharmed. I let them know I’ll be home in a couple of hours. Right now, I need some time to myself, to get my head around what just happened.
What I need is time tothinkfreely without the threat of Ember listening in on my internal conversation hanging over me.
And it strikes me that I know exactly the place.
