Page 100

The creature was small, about three feet tall, with grayish-green skin, a pointed face, and bright yellow eyes that bulged out as Hektor squeezed tighter. Ria recognized it as an imp, a kobalos to be exact.

“Talk,” Hektor said. The word came out with a wisp of flame.

The kobalos wheezed. “I d—d-don’t know anything!”

“Liar.” Smoke puffed out of Hektor’s nostrils. “Tell me or⁠—”

“Where is she?” Asterion charged toward them, hooves thundering on the ground. “Tell us or I will crush you like a bug.”

“If anything is left after I burn you to ashes,” Hektor added.

The kobalos shrieked, eyes darting between the Drakkon and the minotaur. “They took her underground!” the imp squawked. “In the subway tunnels under the old market district.”

“What tunnels?” Zara asked. “The subway doesn’t run through there.”

Hektor had loosened his grip enough so the creature took a quick breath. “Not anymore,” the kobalos said. “They’re old ones, from before they built the subway. You can access it behind the Westgate seafood market, through an old service door.”

“Who hired you?” Ria asked.

“A guy came to me at a bar two weeks ago. He offered me good money for the job. All I had to do was go with these other guys to grab a kid and bring her to the tunnels.”

“And who was this guy?” Maldenis had appeared behind them, as well as Liora and Elian. Zara must have called them at some point.

The kobalos’s voice pitched higher as Hektor tightened his grip once more. “He was human, I think. Or looked human. But he didn’t feel human. He didn’t give a name, not that we asked. We weren’t paid to ask questions. We just called him Boss.”

“And the others?” Ria pressed. “The rest of your crew?”

The kobalos licked his lips. “I never seen them before. None of us knew each other. There were a couple harpies, a human, and two others I didn’t recognize. Hybrids maybe. We didn’t exchange names either. We just met this morning at the tunnels and Boss gave us instructions and the gear.”

“What gear?” Liora asked.

“Cloaks.” The kobalos jerked his chin toward a piece of shimmery cloth on the ground.

Ria immediately picked up the magical signature from the fabric. “There’s some kind of ward on them.”

“Fire-wards,” the kobalos said. “Boss told us the Drakkon couldn’t burn us as long as we wore them.” He paused, then let out a gurgle when Hektor shook him. “A-and he t-told us about all of you. The gorgon with the death stare, the triplets, the shapeshifter, even the witch and the minotaur. He had descriptions, abilities, everything told us how to handle each one of you.”

Ria’s stomach turned. Had someone been watching them all this time?

“And how did this Boss find out who we were?” Maldenis asked.

“You think he’d tell me?” The kobalos was shivering now. “I’m just a contractor. I grab things for people. I’ve never done anything like this before, I swear.”

“You grabbed a child,” Asterion said.

The kobalos went very still. “P-please…I told you everything. Everything to get the child back.”

“Show us.” Maldenis pulled out his phone and had the creature point out the location on a map and describe the place in detail.

“How deep do these tunnels go?” Ria asked.

“Deep enough. Multiple levels in some places,” the kobalos replied.

Maldenis let out a hiss. “If they’re holding her down there, they’ll have the advantage. They know the layout and we don’t.”

“I don’t care about their advantage,” Asterion said. “We’re getting her back.”

“We will.” Maldenis pocketed the phone. “Hektor, lock up the imp in the basement.”