Legacy of Flames- The Complete Trilogy, page 49
part #1 of Legacy of Flames Series
“Think it already has.” Cori shuddered. “By the way, Ember, if you poke me with it, I’ll push you into the hole.”
“I’m not that mean.” I didn’t feel much like joking, either. “Guys, I’d watch your step on the way out.”
“Aren’t we going to look where the zombie came from?” Cori asked.
“Not if the floor keeps collapsing,” I said. “It’s too narrow for me to fly in here. I can’t risk it.”
“I’m fine,” said Cori. “You can’t treat me like a weak link forever.”
“I know, but you scared me. Again.”
Cori wasn’t acting like she had before the kidnapping. She’d been curious as a kid, but clammed up after the faeries’ invasion and didn’t like going outside. She could fight as well as I could, but didn’t like hurting people. And she’d never shifted. Sure, she was old enough to look after herself, but she’d been through too much trauma over the last two years. Now she’d gone into curious mode again at precisely the wrong time.
“Well, I for one don’t want to stay in the dark,” said Will. “Right, Kit?”
“No!” Kit visibly shuddered. “I don’t think I want to carry the arm either, thanks. What if it tries to strangle you?”
I glanced at the arm, and nearly dropped it when it twitched. “Anyone want to volunteer to cut the hand off?”
“No,” chorused four voices.
Great. I shifted my hands into claws and sliced the zombie’s hand off, throwing it into the hole in the ground for good measure. “Happy now?”
“No,” said Kit. “It’s cold and there are things whispering at me.”
“That’d be the ghosts,” said Will, with a grin. “I have a story—”
“Don’t,” I told him. “No ghost stories until we’re rid of the zombie arm. Let’s go.”
Getting back over the hole in the ground wasn’t fun, but at least we made it through the tunnel without incident. Unfortunately, the mages hadn’t sent us a cab, so we had to walk back to HQ. At least our old hideout was almost habitable—Will had said he’d use the cash we’d got from helping the mages to invest in a few cleansing spells and wards to decontaminate the place and put it under new protections. And replace the broken glass in the windows. As long as the hunters didn’t come back—or the gargoyles—it’d work as a new home for now. As Will said, leaving the damage visible on the outside would give most people the impression it was uninhabited, which worked in our favour.
If we figured out what the hell to do about Astor.
“Well?” asked Lord Smyth expectantly, looking at all of us. We’d met in his office on the ground floor, the group of us crowding around his desk. “What took you so long?”
“Zombies. To be precise—hunter zombies.” I waved the hunter’s dead arm at him. Lucky it wasn’t crawling with maggots, though it stank of rot. His apprentice jumped a foot in the air and hid behind the desk. Lord Smyth raised an eyebrow at me.
“Is there any particular reason you brought that into my office?”
“Fresh blood for a tracking spell,” I said. “I couldn’t bring the whole body. He was the only hunter we saw, but I didn’t see where he came from. Half the floor in the tunnel collapsed.”
Actually, that might work in our favour, too. If it made the mages less likely to send people into the tunnels, anyway. Unfortunately, that left the investigating to us.
“I see,” said Lord Smyth. “You’ll have to ask Lady Wu for tracking spells in future. They’re considerably costly to make.”
“I know,” Will said. “That’s why I don’t have any. But I’d like to know what this bugger was doing wandering around underground. He’s freshly dead.”
“I didn’t see any necromancy marks on him,” I said. “But he was reanimated by someone. Couldn’t have happened by accident.”
“Very well. Roger, go and ask for a tracking spell.” He directed his apprentice to leave, and he did so, looking relieved to get away from the zombie arm.
“There’s something else, Lord Smyth,” I said. “You promised to give me my notebook back.”
“So I did.” He opened a desk drawer and handed over my notebook.
“Thanks.” I turned it over in my hands awkwardly, wishing I’d gone further into the tunnels so I’d have more to report. We’d been gone hours, and had strayed entirely too close to our old shelter for me to want the mages coming after us. At least Lady Clare wasn’t around to read my mind and realise what we were hiding.
The apprentice returned, hurrying over with the tracking spell. Will stepped up to the desk as Lord Smyth laid out the spell. I put the dead arm in it, glad to be rid of the thing.
Light flooded the desk as Will leaned into the spell, his head bowed. Then the spell collapsed.
“Anything?” I asked.
“The dude came from the opposite way to us,” he said. “In fact… he came from near where the old tunnel got blocked.”
The one I breathed fire in? On the other hand, if it drew them away from our other shelter…
“And?” asked Lord Smyth. “Did you see who raised him?”
“No,” said Will. “Tracking spells don’t normally work on zombies. I thought it might work on that guy because he only recently died and his blood is still fresh, but all I got were a bunch of images of dark tunnels.”
I hadn’t expected an easy answer, but undead hunters wandering underground stank of foul play to me. Literally.
“Is that all?” Lord Smyth gave us all a disapproving look. “I told you to search thoroughly.”
“The floor collapsed,” I told him. “Totally caved in. Half the tunnels are inaccessible now.”
“Right.” He sounded like he didn’t believe me. I gave him my most innocent look. It’s true. Never thought I’d feel anything other than glad to hear about hunters being killed. If what had killed them was worse than the League, we were deep in the shit.
“What happened to the bodies from this morning, anyway?” I asked.
“They’ve been destroyed, naturally.”
Good. “Just wondered. There isn’t a way to find a necromancer, right?”
“Not here,” said Lord Smyth. “Without more clues, we’re hard-pressed to work out what the hunters are planning. The local necromancers have said they can’t track the undead, nor can they tell if there’s been an anomaly in the veil—there’s simply too much overall instability in this city. Unless an event on the scale of the invasion happened, the necromancers would be unable to tell.”
“Okay.” I slid the notebook into my pocket. “Is there anything else you want us to do?”
“No. You can return to your cells, or take me up on my offer of alternative accommodation.”
“Er, about that,” I said. “We do have somewhere to stay.”
He arched a brow. “Yes?”
Will cut in. “An old shelter of ours. Not one you’d know about.”
The mages would see through the lie in an instant if they came investigating, but hopefully we wouldn’t get to that point.
“Yeah, thanks for the offer anyway,” I said. “And the notebook.”
“Think nothing of it. How should I contact you?”
“I don’t have a phone anymore,” I lied—the most recent phone we had had been Giselle’s, and I didn’t want the mages to make the connection. Nor did I want to give out our address.
“Come here tomorrow at midday,” he said. “I’ll let you know if there are any more developments.”
We left. I hoped none of the guilt at my lies showed on my face. I should be relieved we were free, even though the path to our freedom was lined with zombies. We weren’t beholden to the mages anymore. And they hadn’t guessed we’d gone back to the old shelter, let alone that Astor was there.
“He definitely just told someone to follow us,” Becks muttered.
“Sure he did,” Will said. “Doesn’t mean they’ll jump over the hole in the tunnel, assuming they follow us that far. We can always use the other route.”
“Did I hear Malkin knows what the notebook says?” Cori asked in an undertone.
“Yeah. He stole it off me in the Stronghold and must have made a copy of it. God only knows how he got it translated, though. Maybe he has another faerie.”
I spoke unthinkingly, and Kit flinched.
“Ah, shit. Sorry, Kit,” I said.
“No, it’s probably true,” he said. “They—they took many of my kin.”
“Uh,” said Cori. “I didn’t want to say so in there, but… the text on the Moonbeam is the same as the notebook.”
I looked at her. “It is?” I’d seen some similarity, but every time I’d looked at the Moonbeam, I’d been under so much stress that it hadn’t been my priority.
She nodded, hair falling into her face. She needed a haircut. So did I, not to mention I needed to decide whether to re-dye my hair again. Everyone knew what I looked like now anyway.
“What d’you reckon?” I asked the others.
“I don’t think we should push our luck,” said Will. “I’ve spent enough time in cells lately. I want to get my house back before our grumpy friend decorates it with corpses.”
I snorted. “Not likely. Wouldn’t surprise me if he left.” It seemed like tempting fate to mention Astor, so I stopped. “Becks?”
“Sure, why not. Got any spells?”
“No,” said Will. “That was my plan, actually.”
“But if we leave…” We might not be able to get back in. How many other chances would we have to slip into the room containing the Moonbeam?
Kit waved a hand, and we all vanished under faerie glamour. Very good job there was nobody here, because the first thing I did was trip over Cori’s foot and fall flat on my face.
Groaning, I got to my feet. “Kit, can’t you make it so we can actually see each other, like you did on the car?”
“Never mind,” Will said. “I prefer it this way.”
Becks yelped. “Will, cut it out.”
Presumably he’d poked her or something. “Guys, be sensible. We’re technically trespassing now.”
Hopefully, the wards wouldn’t see it that way.
“Spoilsport.” Kit’s glamour faded enough for me to see my friends—and the stairs up ahead. I was sure Lord Smyth hadn’t entirely seen through my innocent act, but surely he wouldn’t expect us to go after the Moonbeam so soon. It’s not like we’re actually planning to steal it.
Kit led the way upstairs, because he’d been to this part of HQ before. The mages’ valuables were stored in high-security rooms, but most wards were fixed to react to anyone who intended harm, and we didn’t fall into that category. I made sure to keep thinking: we’re not going to steal it. We’re not going to steal it, in case they were listening. How those wards even worked, I didn’t know. But I breathed out when we’d crossed the wide, carpeted corridor without incident and reached the door to the Moonbeam’s room. It was easy to spot because all the corridor’s guards were congregated over there.
Including… Lady Clare.
Oh, shit.
Not being able to see us meant she couldn’t read our minds, as far as I knew—from the clues I’d picked up since I’d been here, mind magic tended to require eye contact to work. I held my breath all the same, ducking between two guards carefully so I didn’t touch them. The door was open, two mages inside the room talking in low voices. Various glass cases and cabinets filled the space. Ordinarily, I’d have more interest in examining them… were it not for the glow circling the middle of the room. The fist-sized piece of black rock inside the cabinet lay dormant, not at all like it had been before, lit up in dazzling white light. It’d glow pale grey if any of us drew closer—and give away that there were shifters nearby.
How in the world were we meant to get a closer look with all these guards swarming around?
I stopped, Cori beside me. Will and Becks had disappeared, though Kit lurked near the door, looking decidedly shifty. Oh, no.
Lady Clare turned in my direction, frowning. Shit. Shit. Maybe she picked up on someone else’s presence, after all. I tried to make my mind go blank, but if she knew I was present at all, it made no difference what I thought about. We were still trespassing.
Her gaze snapped to the nearest guard. “No,” she said. “You’re not going to sneak off to have a look at our new collection as soon as I turn my back.”
The guard stuttered. “I—I wasn’t.”
“You can’t hide your thoughts from me. I’ll replace you with someone else if you even think about touching that damned rock.”
I tried to keep my breathing quiet. It wasn’t us she’d picked up on. But to catch every wayward thought of everyone standing nearby—damn, she was good.
“Sorry,” said the guard sheepishly. “I was just curious. I heard it opened a portal.”
“A team of mages has been assigned to investigating it,” said Lady Clare. “Not you. Your duty is to guard it.”
There was a crash, like the sound of filing cabinets toppling downstairs. Then another. A flash of purple light outside indicated the wards responding to a threat. Damn. I hope it doesn’t see Will’s pranks as on the same level as that zombie.
The two mages in the room with the Moonbeam ran outside. “An intruder?” one asked.
“Perhaps,” responded the guard.
“I’ll take care of them.” Lady Clare marched ahead. The mages hesitated, then followed her, leaving us alone with three guards, all of whom wore expressions which suggested they wanted to go and take a look at what was happening, too. I supposed with all the wards, the need for human guards was obsolete.
Kit waved a hand and a film of green light settled over the door. He walked through it, and the air rippled like a curtain as he turned around and beckoned us to come after him.
Cori and I followed. The green light blurred my vision, a faint whistling ringing in my ears as I entered the room. Immediately, the door closed behind us.
What the hell? I mouthed at Kit.
“We can talk,” he whispered. “I put on a shield and made the room soundproof. It won’t last if anyone else walks in. The glamour hides all of us from view.”
“Damn.” Cori eyed him with admiration. “I didn’t know you could do that. Where are the others?”
“Causing a distraction,” I said. “Won’t someone notice?”
“Not if we leave everything the way we found it. As long as nobody else comes in, we’re fine.”
“Kit, I didn’t know you were experienced with burglary and trespassing,” I said, with some surprise.
“I got bored in jail, and I’ve been practising.”
“Fair enough.” I wasn’t at all sure on the mages’ level of experience with faeries, either. They’d know witch spells, so whatever Will had done wouldn’t distract them for long.
It was time to face the Moonbeam.
I whipped out the notebook and strode up to the unassuming piece of rock. I suspected opening the cabinet would trigger alarms, but the Moonbeam lit up the instant Cori and I drew near. Greyish light shone over the notebook’s pages.
I knew those markings.
“It’s a good job I got this back,” I murmured. On the page, the text jumped, like the ink was running up, not down.
Cori inhaled sharply. “I can read it.”
Light spilled onto the page, and words revealed themselves one at a time, as my mind comprehended the lines and arched symbols.
Then the world disappeared.
6
Cold air whipped past as my wings beat, over and over, carrying me above… mountains? I’d never lived near mountains. But the undulating snow-capped shapes were unmistakable—like an image out of a picture book I’d had as a kid. Forbidding peaks which few humans would dare to climb. The perfect place for a dragon. My wings continued to beat, though something nagged at me. Was I supposed to be here? Where was Cori?
My vision blurred as I flew into a cloud, and the cold, clean air was abruptly replaced with London’s thick smog. I jerked upright and Will nearly dropped me.
Wait, since when was I being carried? We weren’t in the mages’ place anymore either, but walking down a street lined with Victorian houses. I blinked a couple of times, the world shifting back into focus.
“She’s awake!” Will put me down on my feet, slowly. “Unless you’re gonna pass out again?”
“No.” I shook my head, confused. “How’d we get here? Cori?”
“She passed out, too.” Becks walked up, carrying Cori in her arms. “It’s a good job we managed to get you outside the mages’ place.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I said. “I didn’t expect that.”
What had I seen? It wasn’t the past. Cori and I hadn’t been present at all. More like looking at a screen… or through the eyes of a dragon. Surely not myself. I’d only shifted in London, not near any dragons. So whose eyes had I seen through?
Cori blinked in Becks’s arms, her gaze clouded until our eyes met. Did she see the same as I did? “You okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah. How’d we get out?”
“Kit dragged you out of the Moonbeam room when the guards started swarming back over there again,” Becks explained. “Will and I ran back to help.”
“But did the mages know?” I looked at Will. “What did you do this time?”
“I sort of accidentally left some adhesive on the inside of Lord Smyth’s office door.”
“You idiot,” I said.
“Relax, it was glamoured,” he said. “He thought the door got jammed. There was some really creative cursing and throwing furniture around. I hated to leave it to come and get you, but Kit was freaking out. He thought you’d died.”
“You weren’t moving,” said Kit solemnly, walking in his usual half-brisk, half-gliding manner.
“Oh.” I rubbed the back of my head. “Shit, where’s the notebook?”
“Chill,” said Becks, handing it to me. “What happened back there?”
“I saw something.” I’d sort through what I’d seen later. Because that wasn’t all that had happened in there. “But the Moonbeam—when it was shining on the book…” I trailed off as I opened it. The words covering the first pages weren’t unreadable anymore. They weren’t in English, either. But… I could read them.
