He motions for me to lift my own visor, which masks my face, keeping my identity a secret from my own crew as well as them.

  I hesitate. I can't let anyone see my real identity, but I can't make a scene either.

  Zorin stiffens beside me as I pull the visor up, bracing for whatever is about to happen.

  The guard waves his hand. "Your back left tire is a bit flat," he says.

  I sigh with relief. “Must have run over something on the way here.”

  “Drop the truck off at maintenance after you deliver the prisoners.” He pauses, studying me up and down. “You're new here, aren’t you?”

  I swallow, my throat and mouth too dry. “Yes.”

  A voice comes through my eGlass. It's TR, panicking. “They’re onto us. We need to hit them before they hit us.”

  I discreetly type my response on the ePad on my wrist. Wait.

  The guard studies me again, and his eyes widen a bit. “I know you. You’re…”

  Shit. I lift my hand to my eGlass.

  “You’re Scarl—

  And I cut the comms.

  “Scarlett Knight,” finishes the guard. “The Initiate at Castle V.”

  I freeze, hand held up awkwardly. This has never happened before… people recognizing me as Scarlett. But of course, it was bound to happen. I mentally kick myself. I should have been prepared for this. I should have stayed in the back of the truck with Raven. Zorin was right. But then I wouldn't be able to use my power if necessary.

  “I saw you on the eScreens with the Prince of Ravens," the guard says. "The funeral. I’m… sorry… about what happened. Seemed like you were close.” His face softens.

  My heart cracks a little bit. “We were.”

  There's an awkward pause and I fidget, wondering what I can do to move this forward.

  And then I realize… he's flirting with me. Shit. This is a complication I didn't expect.

  He leans against the door, smiling. “So, what’s an Initiate doing working here with us plebs? I can’t imagine you need the extra cash.” He chuckles.

  I force a chuckle as well, like this is just a nice way to pass time at work and I'm not in the middle of trying to sneak into the most guarded prison in the world to kill the warden and free several prisoners. “Order assignment," I say, thinking quickly. "They want us to work in a variety of jobs, for real world experience. I thought this would be a good fit."

  He nods approvingly. “Well, if I can give you a bit of advice?”

  I nod.

  “Follow commands to the letter, and stay on the warden’s good side. He can be… difficult, if you know what I mean.”

  I nod again.

  “Man,” he says, half to himself. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “Speaking of that," I lean out the window and he leans in as if we are sharing as secret. "Would you mind not telling anyone else? We’re supposed to get an authentic experience. If people know I’m an Initiate, I think they might treat me differently.” I smile and hope it looks flirtatious and fun.

  He runs a finger over his sealed lips as if zipping them up. “Don’t worry, Scarlett. Your secret’s safe with me.” He still stands there, as if trying to think of something else to say.

  "Scarlett," Evie says in my ear, " this man's pupils are dilating and his heart rate is increasing. His vocal inflections are changing when he speaks to you. My assessment is this man would like to have intercourse with you."

  I nearly choke on my own tongue and fake a cough to recover. “It was nice meeting you… "

  "Dillon," the man says with a wide grin. "I'm Dillon."

  "It's nice meeting you, Dillon. Maybe we'll see each other at lunch sometime. But for now, we should probably be off,” I say, “before we’re late and the warden gets… difficult.”

  He nods with a smile. “I look forward to it. And you're right, best not keep him waiting. Proceed.”

  I give another flirty smile as I roll up the window, taking a deep breath as I put the truck back in drive and gently press the gas.

  Zorin speaks softly. “That was close. Do you think they heard your name?”

  “No,” I say with certainty. "I cut communication between our eGlasses instantly."

  He nods. “You shouldn’t be on this mission. Your other identity is too important. Your safety is too important.”

  I roll my eyes because we keep having this fight. “So what… I’m supposed to issue orders from the Cathedral where I can’t see anything?” I say it half-jokingly, but he's clearly not in a joking mood.

  “Yes,” he says plainly. “Better that, then blowing your cover. Besides, you have me and Raven and TR and Trix to execute your plans.”

  “Plans never work out perfectly," I say, following the road toward the garage. “I need to be able to adapt in the moment.”

  “Indeed. But sometimes, a leader must know when not to lead.”

  His words irk me, but only because I suspect he is right. “We’ll talk about this later,” I say as I turn the comms back on, knowing TR is probably having a shit storm back there.

  “What happened, N?” asks Trix the moment we're connected again. “Why did the signal go dead? TR’s about ready to bust out and start shooting.”

  “Everything is fine,” I say. “Unexpected signal interference.” Zorin glances at me with a nod of approval at the lie, and I wonder if lying to everyone is second nature to him.

  “Right…," Trix says. "So what’s the plan, N?”

  “Proceed as we discussed.”

  We park outside the main building, and Zorin and I get out of the truck. If getting through the gates was tricky, this next part will be extra exciting. Hopefully, we don't have to depend on my flirting skills again, because they didn’t cover those in Initiate training. At least… not yet.

  "First priority is getting more uniforms," I say through our comm. Trying to steal enough ahead of time would have caused a lockdown in the prison, so we settled for the one truck and two uniforms we were able to attain off-premises, with the idea that Zorin and I would collect more for everyone else.

  Now, Zorin and I follow the guards leaving their shift, walking past corridors that twist and turn like a maze… until we reach the changing rooms. There are eight people here, including Dillon, the man who recognized me, each changing out of their armor, and I casually walk them, brushing up against their hands with my own. I command them to leave their armor out, instead of returning it to the armory. I command them to go home and find new jobs. I command Dillon to forget he ever saw Scarlett Knight here, and as I do I dip into his memories. He's still thinking about me, about whether it's too soon to ask me out, or if it would be viewed as appropriate given the disparity in our ranks. He feels bad because though he's attracted to me, he also likes the idea that I could help him move up in the world, but he doesn't want to use people like that. In his mind, I feel his conflict. His disdain for this job and his life. I make a mental note to ask Evie to help him out. Get his resume into the right hands so he can get a leg up. He's a good guy, he deserves better than this. I try to view his memories for information on the prison, but memories are not a map, and it is hard to orient myself, particularly since his thoughts are mostly focused on me. He likes my eyes a lot.

  I release him, and all the guards leave. Zorin helps me quickly collect the uniforms, and we head back toward the truck. Another guard eyes us on the way out and chuckles. “Newbies, huh?" he says, glancing at the armful of clothes we carry. "You know, you don’t have to take anyone’s armor back for them. It’s their job.”

  “Oh,” I say, faking confusing. “They said they took turns—"

  “They always play pranks on the new recruits.”

  I grimace as if upset. “I see. Thanks. Well, we might as well get it done now.”

  I shrug and keep walking as the man laughs at us good-naturedly.

  But instead of heading to the armory, we continue toward the truck and enter through the back, to a very agitated and impatient TR, Trix and Raven.

  They each grab a uniform and suit up. TR and Raven's fit fine, but Trix gets stuck with one that's way too baggy for her petite frame. She flaps her arms around and stands, watching as her pants fall right off her hips. "Um, I don't think this is going to work."

  Raven smiles. "Not a problem. Give me a sec."

  She grabs her bag and pulls out a small Eden Wearable sewing kit. They are insanely expensive and everyone's eyes bulge when they see it.

  "What are you like royalty or something?" Trix asks, half-chuckling.

  Raven and I exchange a glance as we try not to laugh. "I have means," is all she says as she pulls in the extra fabric and attaches the device to the clothing. It doesn't take long for the little machine to do to its work, with Raven's expert guidance. When she's done, Trix's disguise looks better than everyone else, and she smiles widely.

  "That's amazing. Thanks, Raven."

  Raven nods and I can see she's pleased to have earned some points with her new crew. The Dark Templars still have a hard time with the fact that I keep my identity a secret. They really hate that Raven does as well, but Zorin helped them reluctantly adjust to the fact that we need these disguises to keep our second identities safe, which are extremely important. Sometimes, I think they trust him more than they do me. After all, he doesn’t hide his face.

  Zorin and I leave the truck first, and the others wait, coming a few minutes later to avoid raising any eyebrows. No one questions us as we move confidently through the prison. This is a big facility. Too much going on for everyone to know what should be happening and what shouldn’t be. At a glance, we just look like new guards arriving for the shift change.

  I've found that if you look like you know what you're doing, people generally assume you do. Attitude makes all the difference. And if I've learned anything about leading a double life, it's how to fake it. I've gotten so good at faking it, I'm not even sure what's real in me anymore. But that's an existential crisis for another day.

  Right now, we need to be in place for the prisoner transfer that will soon be on the schedule, though no one here knows it yet.

  We split up, though Zorin's eyes linger on me, and I can feel his reluctance. I shoo him impatiently, reassuring him through my comm that I'm fine and can manage. The man worries too much.

  Each member of our team will hit a different cell block. They will say they have orders to transfer a select group of prisoners. They will not say that the prisoners are those who fought in the Nephilim Wars.

  Then they will present the proper identification codes. Which we don't actually have yet.

  That's where I come in.

  I need to get to the mainframe of the prison, hack it with Evie, and generate all the proper codes and permissions, then send them over eGlass to my team before they are in position to need them.

  I wander the halls looking for the right room. This place is truly impossible to navigate. I think I've passed the same bathroom four times. "Evie, anything?"

  "I am mapping our current trajectory, but am unable to find anything that will help you. You are going in circles."

  "Yeah, I got that." I sigh and look around. "Time to do this the old fashioned way."

  "Old fashioned? I do not understand," my AI says.

  "Watch and learn." I plaster on a smile and straighten my back. When another guard exits a room and heads for the bathroom, I gain his attention. “Which way to the digital security room? Boss needs me to pick up a package, and I'm new.”

  The guard grunts in sympathy. “Two right. Three lefts. Another sharp right, not the lazy right. No… wait, two right, four left and then a sharp right. Yeah.” He scratches his head as if unsure.

  “Thanks. This place is pretty complicated.”

  He grunts. "You don't even know the half of it."

  I follow his direction to the letter and come to the turn that could be lazy or sharp. I turn sharply and find myself in front to the server room.

  “Impressive,” says Evie.

  I ring the buzzer on the door and a woman dressed in simple office wear opens it. Her eyes widen, but before she can say anything, I touch her hand and command her.

  She turns to the room. “Hey guys. They’re doing server repairs. They want us out immediately.”

  “Again?” says another woman, irritated, dressed in a white coat, her hands typing at a computer. “I swear they don’t tell us anything.”

  The digital security team, all ten of them, exit, heading to the break room. I slip in and lock the door behind me, then sit down where the woman in white had been sitting. Her computer is password protected, but that's not a problem. I connect my eGlass to the computer with a cable, bypassing any remote or wireless security measures, and let Evie hack into the database.

  “Evie, generate mass prisoner transfers for…” I recite the prisoner numbers I memorized. I learned their names too, but sadly, those are not important in a place like this.

  “Done, Scarlett,” says Evie.

  “Relay the permission codes to our team.”

  She does.

  My part in the escape plan is finished. But before I can leave, there is one more thing I must do. I must find the warden. After all, saving the prisoners is a cover. A bonus mission, though my team doesn't know it. It's not why we're actually here.

  “Evie, can you generate a map of the prison from the database?”

  “Scarlett, it is impossible. There are no location identifiers for any of the cells or security systems.”

  Nothing is impossible, I think, and start typing, hacking the database myself.

  There must be a way. I scour files, open everything I can find, explore all the nooks and crannies of the system.

  There! The power grid.

  There's an area at the center of the maze that's using more power than the rest. It must be Jacob’s personal quarters. A safe-room defended even more aggressively than the rest of the prison. I download the data and erase the camera footage of me ever being here.

  As I stand to leave, Trix calls out over the eGlass. “N! We have a problem.”

  My heart quickens, but I keep my mind and voice calm. So much could still go wrong, and I'm not even close to completing my task. “What happened?”

  “One of the prisoners attacked TR. He says he needs to speak with you.”

  “TR needs to speak to me?” I ask, confused.

  “No. The prisoner.”

  “Tell him we’ll speak later.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to tell him yourself.”

  “What do you mean—”

  “We’re here.”

  There is a beep. The door opens.

  And the largest man I have ever seen enters the room. He bends his head to fit through the doorway and has to squeeze in sideways because his shoulders don't fit through the door. He wears no shirt over his unnaturally muscled body covered in black tattoos. In each of his massive hands, he holds one of my friends like dolls. TR in one. Trix in the other. Their eGlasses now removed.

  I turn swiftly, lifting my assault rifle. “Let them go.”

  “If you shoot, I will break their necks,” he says, his voice powerful and booming. “If you move toward me, I will crush their spines.”

  I lower my gun. In truth, I’m not sure bullets would even be enough to kill this thing. I need him to get closer, so I can use my ability.

  “Are you truly Nephilim?” he asks. I am not sure which answer he seeks.

  I glance at Trix, and she nods, straining against the giant hands around her waist.

  “I am,” I say.

  “Show me.”

  I pause a moment. This is risky, but I don’t have much choice unless I want to start a full-on battle and alert the entire prison. So be it…

  I unleash my wings. They fill the room with silver light. The power that flows through me is intoxicating as always.

  The man’s expression softens. No, not softens. It fills with awe. With the wonder of a man who has seen his god and is finally content. He lets go of my friends and drops to his knees, bowing his head. “Forgive me, Darkness. But I had to be sure. I am Neravar. Grandmaster of the Dark Inquisitors. My order served your people during the war, and we shall serve you again, if you will have us.”

  “Your order?” The Dark Inquisitors. This is news to me.

  “We fought for Nyx in the Great War. We were his bodyguards. His hands of justice.”

  I message on my ePad. “Zorin. Do you hear this?”

  He responds. “Yes. Neravar speaks true. Accept his offer.”

  “Did you know he was here?” I ask Zorin.

  “No.” His voice is curt, but I don't have time to press him more.

  I had found Neravar’s file online. But all I knew was his name and his crime. I look at the man bowing before me. Even on his knees, he is taller than me by at least a head.

  “I have never met a Dark Inquisitor before. You are like no man I have ever seen,” I say.

  “I have undergone many GenMods,” he says. “I tolerate them better than most. And there is nothing I would not do for my master. Will you have me?”

  I pause. He frightens me. But I know he will frighten my enemies even more.

  “I will have you.”

  “Then I, Neravar, Grandmaster of the Dark Inquisitors, pledge myself and my order to your will, Darkness.” He looks up finally, making eye contact with me. “What is your bidding, Master?”

  I let my wings fall away, letting them disappear. “Escape with my generals. The ones you were holding hostage. Follow their commands. Shed no blood.”

  He nods. “Will you free the rest of my people?”

  “If they fought in the Nephilim Wars, then they are already freed.”

  He nods and looks to Trix. “What are your orders, red woman?”

  She smiles at that, patting him on the back. "Let's get this done," she says, and they leave, though TR looks none too happy about my choice. Then again, he never looks happy.

  Once they are gone, I return to my plan and quickly hack the security cameras, deleting all evidence of this exchange and more. Fortunately, no one walks in as I work.

 

1 2 3 4 5