It does help a little, but now it’s time to go. “Keep in touch,” I say, not sure who I’m really addressing. Maybe all of them.
“Yeah, be careful, Cos,” Dono says, pulling me into a brief hug. “And find my girl.”
Gods help me. “I’ll try.”
Max is fumbling through a bag, and as I exit the penthouse, he presses something into my hand. “It might help,” he says, giving me a tired wink.
I’ve no time to examine his ‘gift’ so pocket it and head to the elevators.
???
I get into the back of the appointed ride with seconds to spare.
My father’s driver, a man with a thuggishly wide neck, gives me the side-eye. “Almost late.”
Fucker. Peasant. “None of your concern. Now drive.”
He’s already pulling away.
The towncar heads out of the main gates, then instead of turning towards the main route, it veers onto a forest service road. The tires bounce over the muddy track as we skirt the dense treeline outside of the Academy’s eastern perimeter.
Where the fuck are we going? I don’t imagine this road is on any official maps.
Suddenly, we are at the end of the lane and I realize the car has dead ended against a section of wall.
A section of Validus Vale Academy border wall.
What the fuck?
A few camo-clad guards emerge from the woods. The driver lowers his window and mumbles something. I don’t catch it, and am too tired and slow to cast a listening spell in time.
Wake up, Drakeward.
I blink several times.
Am I so tired I’m hallucinating? It’s almost as though…
The stone barrier in front of us just melts away, revealing what looks like the entrance to a fucking shipping container. “What’s going on?” I snap, but the driver doesn’t answer. He drives slowly and carefully into the metal container box.
The low lighting inside shows a hollow shell.
I exit the vehicle. Yet another man, this time in full black, retracts a sliding door. “This way, sir.”
An elevator shaft. Sophisticated, not like mining hoist and cage. The doors quietly close and we descend.
The pressure change makes my ears pop. My guess is we are going down into the depths of hell.
When the doors open again, the scent of chemicals and magic hits me.
This is it; the source of the dark energy, and apparently the Conclave’s hidden subterranean labs.
How very…James Bond.
I’m led to a cavernous room that is already filled with at least a dozen Conclave members, probably more. They’re huddled in groups and I can’t make out any of the conversation, but there is a definite air of excitement.
Tyrus Drakeward isn’t present, but I see Crankshawe and his semen demon, François. The sight of them makes my skin crawl.
Who else is here?
