The basement is silent except for the scratch of pencil on paper.
Max and I need to return to Defectivum before the curfew, so right now is planning time.
Theodora erases the last marks she’d drawn. “Fuck, that’s wrong, isn’t it?”
Obviously, I don’t have access to official blueprints for the Conclave’s scientific base —or Bastard Bunker, as Donovan insists on calling it—but between myself and Theodora, we are constructing a map of the facility.
At least, as best as our memories allow.
"There were four doors off that main room," Theodora says, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She has her eyes closed, desperately trying to recollect. “And the Harts brought the children through the one on the far left.”
She writes the word ‘children?’ with an arrow on our schematic.
“I imagine the kids are kept in some kind of containment, prior to being used in the ascension. So there has to be a cell block somewhere,” I mutter, thinking aloud.
“Can you not use that term,” Maximus growls. “Ascension. Fuck that. Makes it seem like something good and light.”
Feniks taps a pencil against his teeth. “I’d describe it as Perdition. The term for eternal damnation.”
“None of that is helpful,” I grumble. “What would be helpful is solid intel. Striker is trying her best, but my father isn't the type to have high-security schematics under anything but the finest digital encryption.
Theodora sighs heavily, then stands. “It’s nearly dark, we should do this before lockdown. We can’t let Wes know what’s going on.”
Dono has taken his brother off to the dining hall for food in an attempt to keep him oblivious to our mission.
I nod. “Agreed, what else is there to add? This is all we have. I’m going to have to figure it out as I go along.” I smooth my hair back and try not to look as frazzled as I feel.
“Drakeward, we have not finished strategizing,” Feniks growls.
I turn and meet his eye. “I don’t follow your orders. It’s my choice to enter the building site and locate Ludo, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
They all look at me nervously.
“It’s dangerous,” Maximus says.
Picking up my jacket, I go to the basement door then turn. “I’m Jane Eyre in this scenario; don’t Mr. Rochester my free will.”
???
Bravado is all very well, but it doesn’t ease the tension in my stomach.
“Hey, you, stop right there.”
And now I have a gun pointed at me.
“Hey, you, fuck off,” I reply, using a spell to make him lower the weapon. “I’m Cosmo Drakeward, step aside.”
The guard blinks, his pupils widening as he registers my name. The aggressive set of his shoulders slumps, and he holsters the weapon. “Of course, Mr. Drakeward. My apologies.”
He lifts a radio and communicates to someone. Within a minute, the steel gate slides open. I stride through, boots crunching confidently on gravel. The construction site is a mess of scaffold skeletons and abandoned machinery. You’d never guess what is really buried beneath this ground.
—You good, Cosmo? The cameras have lost you—
Theo’s telepathy is fainter than usual. Is it because I’m close to the dark energy source?
—All good. Heading to elevator now—
I walk towards the rusted cargo container where we’d previously entered the Bastard Bunker. Two more armed guards meet me there, giving courteous nods.
