Once we pull onto the main road and I’ve rolled my window back up, Anders addresses us. “Get comfortable. It’s over a six-hour drive through the mountain pass to Balzers.”
Great, I think.Just what I need: more time to stew. Before long, however, the smooth movements of the car calm me,lulling me to sleep. Considering I didn’t get as much rest as I’d hoped, even with my aid, I deserve a nap.
Folding my arms across my chest, I mumble something about ‘wake me when we get there’ and drift off.
Anders’s approximation of how long the drive to Liechtenstein will take is spot-on.
Which would be all well and good if I hadn’t been ripped from sleep by a nightmare where I kill Claude again, this time by stabbing him with my father’s switchblade in the underground club. Much more intimate than the real thing.
Once the life drained from his dark eyes, the entire room filled with blood. The viscous liquid flooded the place in minutes, rising all the way up from my toes to my neck, soaking me in guilt and copper. Before it could drown me, Bes’s face buoyed up from the depths. His eyes were empty and lifeless, a bullet hole ripped through the center of his skull.
I gasped awake after that. Cec squeezed my arm without saying a word.
Despite the rude awakening, I actually did manage a couple hours of rest. By the time we’re at the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein, I’m more myself.
Peering out through the grime-streaked window, I take in this small country for the first time in my life. Dark thunder cloudshave nestled themselves among the mountains, allowing the fields and trees to become oversaturated with deep shades of green. Colorful little houses have quietly tucked themselves into the rolling hillsides, smoke billowing from their thin stacks. I’m having a hard time picturing a castle making its home in a quaint town like this.
That is, until it comes into view.
The Gutenberg Castle sits perched atop a craggy hill ripe with vegetation. While the castle itself appears a bit rundown, and parts of it are littered with scaffolding, it retains much of its ancient charm. I can’t look away. Ever since being immersed in the hidden stronghold beneath Castle Breno, I’ve begun to wonder if every castle doesn’t have something grand hidden inside it.
I’m not sure what I was expecting when we came upon the castle, but it wasn’t for Anders to drive right past the wide dirt path leading directly to it without even slowing down.
I lean forward in my seat. “Don’t tell me there’s a second castle in Balzers.”
“You can’t expect us to knock on the door and have them invite us in for tea,” Cec quips. It reminds me of what he said about getting tickets on a boat in the port of Alexandria.Cheeky bastard.
“Obviously. But it would be nice to know what the actual plan is.”
“As if this wasn’t your idea from the get-go,” Bes says.
“Yes, but, I’m not a planner, Bes,” I argue. “I thought you knew this about me.”
He grunts.
Anders taps his fingers on the wheel. “We’re meeting Kali and Mara at the Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus.”
I blink. “Gesundheit.”
Anders chuckles once. “Apologies, I forgot it doesn’t translate for you.”
At first, I’m not sure what he means. Then I remember initiated order members gain the knowledge of all the others who join, which means they must possess what amounts to an internal translator, same as with the ancient Egyptian languages.
Before I can ask, Cec translates for me. “What he said was, we’re heading to the Catholic Parish Church of Saint Nikolaus.”
“A church?” I groan. “Why does it have to be a church?”Anywhere else—they could’ve chosenanywhereelse.
“You’re not religious, Miss Hawkins?” Surprise colors Anders’s question.
I fight against rolling my eyes. “Put it this way: the Catholic church and I haven’t seen eye to eye on a lot of things in a very long time.”
“We’ll likely be going in the back way,” Bes assures me. “I promise you’ll never have to see the altar.”
I tap the back of his seat. “I’ll hold you to that.”
We turn right down the first street past the castle and immediately come to a stop.
Anders puts the car into park and shifts in his seat to regard us all.
