We quickly made our way up some stairs to the Draconi greenlab. Once again, the glass doors were unlocked, and the three of us slipped inside and moved through the area, which was part chemistry lab, part greenhouse, where a variety of magical and other plants were grown and harvested. The long, sharp needles on the stitch-sting bushes quivered as we hurried past them, but we didn’t get close enough for the evergreen plants to lash out and try to scratch us for disturbing them.
We made it to the opposite side of the greenlab, and I sidled up to the glass doors there and peered out into the hallway beyond. The lights were turned down low in this part of the mansion, creating more shadows than not. Just the way I liked it.
Since the coast was clear, I opened one of the glass doors and stepped out into the hallway—
I spotted a glint of metal out of the corner of my eye. Even as I turned toward it, a sword zoomed out of the shadows, heading straight for me.
CHAPTER TWO
The sword stopped an inch from my throat.
I froze, my eyes wide, my body tense, my hand curling around the hilt of my own sword, even though I knew that I wouldn’t be fast enough to draw the weapon, much less defend myself with it, before I got skewered.
“You’re late,” a familiar voice growled.
Deah Draconi stepped out of the shadows, her sword still at my throat. I looked down at the weapon and the stars carved into the dull, ash-colored metal. A similar pattern adorned my own sword. Each of our weapons had been given to us by our respective mothers, and both were black blades, so named because the more blood you got on the blades, the blacker they became.
Deah was quite pretty with her golden hair and dark blue eyes the same color as my own—another sign of our Sterling Family blood, along with our black blades. She was wearing white shorts and sandals with a red T-shirt, but my gaze dropped to the gold cuff stamped with the Draconi dragon crest that gleamed on her right wrist. Deah might be helping us now, but part of me still wondered whose side she would choose in the end, when Victor finally tried to destroy all the other Families, starting with the Sinclairs.
“Why, hello, cousin,” I drawled. “I didn’t see you there. You’re getting better at sneaking around. I approve. We might make a thief out of you yet.”
Deah rolled her eyes at my calling her cousin, but she dropped her sword from my throat. Neither one of us had known about our connection until a couple of weeks ago when it had come out during the Tournament of Blades, and we were both still getting used to the idea that we were family and trying to figure out what kind of relationship we wanted to have.
“Where’s Seleste?” I asked in a kinder voice, referring to her mother and my aunt.
“Right here, darling,” a lilting, almost sing-song voice called out.
Seleste Draconi rounded the corner and skipped down the hallway toward us. She was beautiful, with long blond hair that rippled around her shoulders like a river of gold, and a gauzy white dress that fluttered about her body like wisps of mist. She had this light, ethereal air to her, like the fairy queens in all those old tales that my mom used to read to me when I was a kid.
Seleste stopped in front of me, smiling wide, her dark blue eyes glowing as bright as any monster’s. Even though she was looking right at me, I could tell that she wasn’t really seeing me. Like the rest of the Sterling women, Seleste had sight magic, but her Talent let her see the future, which led to her doing and saying all sorts of strange things. Most people thought that she was crazy or made fun of her, but I’d grown to like her odd ways. Besides, Seleste and Deah were the only blood family that I had left now, and I was going to look out for them. That’s what my mom would have wanted.
“Lila, darling!” Seleste said, taking my hands in hers. “Come walk with me!”
In addition to her sight magic, Seleste also had a strength Talent that let her pull me halfway down the hallway before I dug my sneakers into the carpet. Even then, she still managed to twirl me around, as though we were dancing, before I could stop her.
“Hello, Seleste,” I said in a gentle voice. “It’s good to see you too.”
She tightened her grip on my hands, holding me in place with her strength magic. “I’m so glad you’re here, darling. I need to talk to you.”
Despite the fact that we were several feet away from Deah, Felix, and Devon, who were talking among themselves, Seleste still glanced around, as though she expected someone to be hiding in the shadows, listening to us. When she was satisfied that no one was eavesdropping, she leaned forward and gave me a dreamy smile, staring straight into my eyes, the magic in her own gaze burning brighter than before.
“Don’t be afraid of the lightning,” she whispered in an urgent voice. “It’s your friend, just like the monsters are. Monsters are your friends. Never forget that.”
Seleste had said some strange things to me over the past few weeks, especially during the Tournament of Blades when I was first getting to know her, but this was just plain bizarre. What lightning? And why did she think that monsters were my friends? They were just monsters. I paid their tolls, and they left me alone. Nothing more, nothing less.
Her message delivered, Seleste let go of my hands and stepped back. Then she gave me another dreamy smile, turned around, and skipped back down the hallway to the others.
“Seleste!” I hissed, wanting to ask her exactly what she meant. “Seleste!”
But she just waved goodbye to me and kept going, right on past Deah and the guys.
“Mom!” This time, Deah was the one who hissed at her. “Mom!”
“Don’t worry, darling!” Seleste called out over her shoulder. “I’m going to bed right now! Promise! Have fun with your friends!”
A second later, she rounded the far end of the hallway and disappeared from sight.
I walked back to where the others were, all of us staring in the direction that Seleste had gone.
“Well,” Devon said, breaking the silence. “She certainly was . . . cheerful.”
“How has she been?” I asked.
Deah looked at me. “She’s actually been doing a lot better these past two weeks. It’s like seeing you at the tournament and then us working together has quieted her mind and made her sharper, clearer, more focused.”
I nodded, still wondering about Seleste’s strange warning. Lightning and monsters. Worry rippled through me. Whatever vision she’d seen of my future, it didn’t seem to be a good one.
“Um, I hate to be whiny, but can we get on with things?” Felix asked, shifting on his feet and hoisting his duffel bag a little higher on his shoulder. “These things are heavy.”
Deah stared at him, her eyes softening. “You know, I really like seeing you every night. Even if it is because of my dad and what he’s planning to do.”
Felix’s face lit up. “I like seeing you too.”
Then he grinned, stepped forward, and slung his free arm around her shoulders. “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight—”
He started whispering to her as they walked down the hallway in front of us. Devon grinned and nudged me with his elbow. I rolled my eyes, but I was grinning too. I was glad that Felix and Deah had found happiness with each other, despite how dangerous it was for them to be together.
The four of us reached Victor’s office, and Deah gestured at the double doors, which had two gold dragons for knobs. The snarling creatures looked like they were ready to come to life and bite off the fingers of anyone who tried to open them.
“Locked,” she said. “Sorry, but I haven’t been able to get a key yet. I tried to open it earlier with those lock picks you gave me, but I’m still not as good with them as you are.”
“No worries,” I said, smiling. “Finally, something fun for me to do.”
Deah shook her head. “You are seriously strange, Merriweather.”
My smile widened. “You have no idea, Draconi.”
While the others kept watch, I reached up and removed two thin chopsticks that were st
uck through my ponytail. The sticks were the same black as my hair, but a twist of the lacquered wood revealed the lock picks hidden inside. The tools felt as familiar to me as my own fingers, and I started humming a soft, happy tune as I bent over the lock and inserted the picks.
Over the past two weeks, I’d had a lot of practice on this particular lock, and it snicked open less than thirty seconds later. Still, we all tensed, knowing that we were stepping into the dragon’s den—and that he could come and catch us at any moment.
I stuck the chopstick lock picks back into my ponytail, then took hold of the knobs. “Here we go,” I whispered and opened the doors.
The four of us crept inside, and I shut and locked the doors behind us. Victor’s office was as richly furnished as the rest of the mansion, but I ignored the glimmers of gold and went over to the wall behind his desk. An enormous dragon was carved into the white stone there, with flames curled all around it, as though it was continuously setting itself on fire.
I stopped a moment, staring at the fist-sized ruby that was the dragon’s evil eye. I shivered. No matter how many times I snuck in here, I never got used to looking at this particular dragon—or having it stare right back at me. Or perhaps it was what was behind the carving that worried me so much.
But I forced my unease aside, stepped forward, and pressed on the ruby, which sank into the stone. A second later, the wall slid back, revealing a large, secret room—one that was filled with weapons.
An overhead light clicked on in the room, revealing the black blade swords, daggers, and other weapons that lined the shelves covering three walls. Each weapon was on a peg by itself and carefully labeled, with codes like TT29, CC2, and RM55—for all the tree trolls, copper crushers, and rockmunks that Victor had trapped and killed over the years.
Black blades were made out of bloodiron, a special metal that could absorb, store, and transfer magic from one person or monster to another. Victor had used these weapons to rip the monsters’ magic out of them, so that he could harness it for his own evil plan to destroy all the other Families. I could feel the creatures’ power pulsing through the blades, each one proof of Victor’s cruelty and his delight in sickening slaughter. The cold burn of magic made me sick to my stomach.
“Let’s move,” I whispered. “I don’t want to be in here one second longer than necessary.”
Devon and Felix put their duffel bags down on the floor and unzipped them, revealing the swords, daggers, and other weapons inside. They grabbed the weapons and handed them to Deah and me, and the two of us switched out the real black blades with the fakes. We also labeled each weapon with a small sticker with Victor’s code written on it.
We’d been breaking in here and doing this same thing every night for the last two weeks, slowly exchanging the magic-filled weapons with empty ones. We’d removed most of the black blades, but not all of them. I hated leaving a single sword behind for Victor to use, but he had a lot of Talents, and it was possible that he could sense magic the same way that I could. So we had to leave some of the real weapons here or he would realize what we’d done. Still, I made sure that we only left the blades that pulsed weakly with magic.
We worked quickly, and it only took us ten minutes to switch out the last of the weapons, although it seemed much longer than that. By the time we were done, Devon and Felix were both sweating beneath their long, black cloaks. Deah was too, despite her T-shirt and shorts. I wasn’t sweating, but my stomach churned and churned at the cold chill of all the magic in the air and what Victor had done to get so much of it.
Devon and Felix zipped up the duffel bags with the real black blades and slung them over their shoulders. I pressed on the dragon’s ruby eye again, and the wall slid back into place, hiding the secret room from sight.
“Well, I guess this is it,” I said, trying to make my voice light. “No more late-night trips to raid Victor’s secret weapons stash.”
Nobody moved or spoke for a moment.
I looked at Deah. “Thank you again for helping us.”
She nodded, but she stared at the floor instead of at me. Betraying her Family and her father was no easy thing, despite how evil Victor was.
I glanced at Devon and Felix, who both nodded. We’d discussed this for several days now, and it was finally time to ask Deah to do one more thing.
“Come with us,” I said.
Her head snapped up, and she looked at me with wide eyes. “What?”
“You heard me. Come with us. Go pack a bag, get Seleste, and come with us. Right now.”
She stared at me, and my soulsight kicked in, letting me feel all of her emotions. Electric shock. Sharp worry. Stomach-churning fear. For a moment, warm happiness mixed in with the other feelings, but it was quickly smothered by cold sorrow. I knew what her answer was going to be before she even opened her mouth.
She shook her head, her golden ponytail slapping against her shoulders. “I can’t do that. You know I can’t.”
Felix stepped forward and grabbed her hand. “Please, Deah. You’re not like the other Draconis. You don’t belong here.”
“But I am a Draconi.” She glanced at me for a second. “At least, part of me is. But that doesn’t matter. I can’t go with you. My dad would flip out if he realized that Mom and I were gone. And you all know what he would do if he realized that we’d defected to the Sinclair Family.”
We all winced. Victor would attack the Sinclairs with every guard he had in order to get them back. Deah’s mimic magic and Seleste’s visions were Talents that he didn’t have and would never let slip through his fingers.
But Felix cared too much about Deah to give up so easily. “Please,” he repeated. “Just come with us. We can figure out the rest later. Let’s just get you and your mom out of here while we still have a chance.”
Deah stared at him, and I saw and felt all the warm, soft love she had for him. She bit her lip and shifted on her feet, as if she were actually considering changing her mind and going with us—
One of the knobs creaked, and the double doors rattled in their frames.
We all froze.
Someone was trying to get into the office.
CHAPTER THREE
The doors rattled again, harder than before.
Devon, Felix, and Deah stared at the doors, but I darted forward, grabbed the back of Devon’s and Felix’s cloaks, and pulled them across the office.
“Hide! Hide! Hide!” I hissed, shoving them down behind a long red couch shot through with gold threads near the back of the room.
Devon and Felix dropped the duffel bags with the real black blades onto the floor. I winced at the loud clank-clanks of the weapons rattling around inside the bags, but the two of them quickly crouched down out of sight. There wasn’t enough room for me to hide behind the couch too, so I sprinted over to the wet bar in the corner, dropping behind the gleaming wood. Then I peered around the end of the bar, looking at Deah, who remained frozen in the middle of the office, right in front of Victor’s desk. She stared back at me, her hot, sweaty panic flooding my own body. Deah wasn’t supposed to be in here any more than we were, but I stabbed my finger at the door.
“Open it!” I hissed again. “Remember that this is your mansion!”
Deah stared at me another second; then her mouth tightened, and she gave me a sharp nod, understanding what I was saying and what I wanted her to do. She drew in a deep breath, then squared her shoulders, marched over to the doors, turned the lock, and threw them open.
A guy wearing black cargo pants and a red T-shirt emblazoned with a gold dragon stumbled through the opening. His golden hair was a shade darker than Deah’s, and his thick, strong body was all muscle. He would have been handsome, except for his brown eyes, which were cold and empty, just like those of all the dragon carvings in the mansion.
Blake Draconi, Deah’s older brother, Victor’s second-in-command, and the guy who’d helped murder my mom.
Blake straightened up and stared at his sister. “What are you
doing in here? Especially with the doors locked behind you? You know that Dad doesn’t like anyone being in his office when he’s not around.”
Deah chewed her lower lip, and I could almost see the wheels turning in her mind as she tried to come up with some explanation that wouldn’t make Blake any more suspicious than he already was.
My hand dropped to my sword. If necessary, I would draw the weapon, leap to my feet, and defend Deah, but I decided to see how things played out. Devon, Felix, and I still needed to get out of here with the real black blades, and I’d rather sneak out undetected than have to fight my way through Blake and the rest of the Draconi guards.
But Deah had been dealing with Blake her whole life, and she knew exactly how to handle her half brother. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him the same flat look that he was giving her. “First of all, the doors weren’t locked.”
“Yes, they were,” he insisted. “I couldn’t get them open no matter how hard I tried.”
“Maybe they were just stuck,” she replied in a cool, slightly mocking voice. “Or maybe you need to start hitting the weight room a little more often.”
An embarrassed flush stained his cheeks a dark, mottled red. Blake had strength magic, so he should have easily been able to open the doors, something that Deah knew. His eyes narrowed at the insult, and he opened his mouth, but she cut him off.
“Besides, if the doors had really been locked, then how could I have gotten in here to start with?” she scoffed. “It’s not like I’m a thief or anything.”
I rolled my eyes. Now she was just being snarky.
“Well, why weren’t the doors locked?” Blake snapped, still not ready to believe her.
Deah shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe Dad forgot to lock them before he went to meet with Nikolai Volkov. He left in a hurry, remember?”
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