“With VIPER hunting Alterants and word of me escaped, Nightstalkers would hear about it.”
Grady hadn’t known about Tristan escaping, but Grady had been laying low while working through his new ability to take human form on his own at times.
Unease squirmed along her neck.
If VIPER knew Tristan had escaped, did that mean the Tribunal would send Sen after her before her time ran out? No, gods and godesses were slippery as eels to maneuver around, but their word was law. They said they’d send Sen only when her time was up.
If they wanted her, they could find her. She shook her head at him. “Way to go, Tristan. You use me to escape and now I’m an accessory to your jailbreak.”
“Oh, give me a break. Like you wouldn’t have escaped if you’d been in my shoes? I had three lives at stake.”
She ignored his question, because the truth was, she’d have probably done the same thing. “If I help you get those three out of here, then I want you to agree to let me take them into the Tribunal so they have a chance at freedom, or no Alterant will ever be safe.”
“My opinion won’t matter much if you have to get them out of here for me.”
He had no expectation of leaving here with her and the other three. She didn’t want to admire him for being willing to trade himself. “How do you know Kizira wants you?”
“Because the soldier spirit gave me a message she’d left with him specifically if I returned looking for them. Kizira said she’d trade me for those three. I was going to wait to go into all this until we were closer—”
“—or until you had me so lost in here I would go along with anything.”
“Same difference. If you get those three out of here alive, then just assure me they get a chance to plead their cases.”
She’d considered everything that might have been driving Tristan’s actions up until now except a selfless motive. “That’s my plan. How long have you known these Alterants?”
“A week. The witch that opened the portal for the Kujoo was a freelancer, not Medb. I’d heard rumors about other captured Alterants and traded her some of my blood to find them. When I did, I released those three and found this place to hide them. I was coming back for them once I got my hands on the Ngak Stone . . . you screwed that up, too.”
“I’m not going there again about the Ngak Stone. Why did Kizira let you go after those Alterants in the first place?”
“She didn’t know. Once I had the ability to teleport I had freedom to pop in and out as I needed.”
She still didn’t trust him. “Why are you willing to take the place of those three Alterants?”
Tristan’s wintergreen eyes turned hard as rock ice. “Because they trusted me to watch out for them and not use them. I’m the only one standing between them and death or cages. And, if they win their freedom, they’ll watch over someone important to me.”
Another new secret about Tristan, but he kept looking past her to the tunnel, clearly wanting to go.
“Fine. Let’s go get them, but I’m not completely sold on your plan. We may revise it.” She turned to head in the only direction offered and had an odd moment of feeling bad about tracking dirt on rugs. Some were the old braided styles, and others were expensive-looking designs.
“Revise my plan in what way?” Tristan stepped up next to her. The tunnel had an easy six feet of width.
“It may take two of us to get them out of here. I’ll think of Plan B by the time we get there. Any chance Kizira has converted some of these spirits into dangerous ghouls, like that one you had attack me in Piedmont Park?”
He flinched this time at the reminder and muttered, “That was unavoidable at the time.”
“Oh, really? Sort of like my having to send you back to South America?” Before Tristan could go off again on how he’d gotten the shaft, she said, “Just answer the question. What are we up against?”
“I haven’t seen any rabid ghouls. I don’t think the Medb want to piss off these ghosts, with all this energy concentrated into one place. I’ve met some benign spirits, but there’s a few hostile ones down here, too.”
She sized up the slashes in his jeans and shirt, which could have been made by claws. “What’s your next step?”
“To ask the soldier spirit to take a message to Kizira that I’m ready to trade me for the hostages.”
Evalle cast a wary glance at the strange mix of decorations along the tunnel. Junk furnishings had been placed alongside pieces Sotheby’s would salivate to represent. She rubbed her arms against the chill that had settled in her bones, and not entirely from the temperature change. Working back through Tristan’s plan, she remembered something he hadn’t explained. “How am I supposed to get those three Alterants out of here if I can’t teleport?”
“I’ll tell you when it’s time.”
“That’s if you live long enough to tell me.”
