The Irin Chronicles Box Set

by T. G. Ayer

  "Well, when you're done, my boots need polishing," remarked Ling.

  Evie smiled and returned to the girls. "Sorry, I think better when I'm moving. So did you come up with a better plan?"

  "Obviously not!" Ash snapped. "So how do we do this, then?"

  "It has to be late. We have to make sure he won't be around. We can use our glamor but it's not a hundred percent. Who knows if he's using anti-glamor magic to ensure we don't break the rules." Evie wouldn't be surprised if he was using dark magic considering the company he kept. She looked at her two friends’ faces, both strained and pale. "So you guys in? Time to back out is now."

  The two girls nodded, then shook their heads in unison.

  Ash and Evie rose to leave, when Ling said, "Hey, hold on."

  Evie turned.

  "Take this thing. I want none of it." She tossed it to Evie as if it were seeping deadly poison into her veins.

  Evie reached out and caught it, already tensing her muscles for its weight. She tucked it beneath her clothes and left with Ash, leaving Ling to stare at the shambles of her room in dismay.

  Chapter 11

  Evie, Ling and Ash approached Marcellus' office in the dead of night. In his arrogance, Marcellus had omitted to alarm his office. Perhaps he'd assumed that his lackey Daniel would live within the walls of the room. Perhaps it was his intense sense of self-importance that allowed him to assume that nobody within the Irin would dare to trespass on his property.

  And maybe that would have been the case in the past. But for Evie and her friends, everything changed the day Marcellus crashed into their rooms and violated their privacy.

  "Are you sure he doesn't have an alarm or something?" Ash hissed into Evie's ear. Her friend's hot breath and the disturbance were both equally annoying. Rubbing her ear, she glared at Ash.

  "Shush. What's the point in whispering when it's loud enough for the whole East Wing to hear you?"

  Ash remained unaffected by the scolding merely glaring back at Evie and raising her eyebrows in further annoyance. "You convinced us this was a good idea. What if we get caught?"

  "Ash, if you want to go back, now's your chance. Once we're inside, that's it." Evie looked over at Ling, who leaned against the wall on the other side of the large glass doors. She nodded silently, and Evie smiled and nodded at her, comforted by her friend's support. Now if only Ash would grow some guts. "Make up your mind, Ashika. We can't stand on this balcony forever."

  Ash threw Evie a smoldering stare, tossed her braid over her shoulder, and thrust her shoulders back. "Fine. I'll shut up now."

  Evie grinned and edged toward the doors. Both were closed, and the drapes were drawn. No light flickered from within but lack of it would pose no problem for any of the Nephilim. Evie pressed the handle and pulled the door open with infinite care.

  Nobody breathed.

  Each girl expected some sort of alarm to blare and to be surrounded by Marcellus' thugs.

  Nothing happened.

  The trio exchanged glances and relaxed.

  Evie looked at each of her friends and made a masking motion over her face with her hand. They needed to glamor up. Once inside the glamor would protect them from being seen by any human who might enter the room. Evie hoped they would not be treated with any such intrusion.

  Ready, the girls slid into the room, and plastered themselves against the doors behind the thick, dusty, velvet curtains. Evie parted the drapes and scanned the room.

  Empty.

  They slipped into the room, careful not to open the drapes too wide. Once inside, the girls began their search. All the Nephilim had a feline night-vision—only sharper, clearer. Drawers opened in silence and papers were ruffled as they worked. They edged around the room, methodically searching every drawer, nook and cranny.

  At last, they met in the center of the room and stared at each other in frustration and disappointment. Evie hung her head, upset with herself as well for endangering her friends. Ash grabbed her arm and shook it, pointing at the door the balcony, mouthing the words "Let's go."

  Evie was about to agree when she stiffened with shock and snapped her head back down to look at the floor. Beneath their feet was a round rug, an intricate tapestry woven into it. The images of nine rings were woven within the fabric. Nine, not eight but close enough, A coincidence? Evie shivered. Nine rings. Had it been here right beneath their feet all along, masked by the fading threads?

  Slowly the girls stepped off the carpet, and Evie shoved it aside with her foot. Beneath the carpet, nothing struck them as out of the ordinary—just long panels of oak flooring. Evie pressed the floorboards with her foot, testing the wood for any area that felt different to her weight. The slight squeak of the floorboard announced a loose board, and Evie dropped to her knees. She grasped her knife from its scabbard and slipped its slim blade into the space between two loose boards. A little upward leverage popped the board out to reveal a dark, musty space filled with numerous wrapped objects.

  Evie understood the need to wrap them. They had the tendency to sing a loud musical song if they came into contact with anything hard. Evie could only imagine the noise they would make if two of those Seals touched each other. All three girls quickly sifted through the dark pile. They didn't have the time or the luxury of opening each parcel and confirming it as a Seal. It didn't take long before the space was almost empty. Three packages were much smaller and she felt certain they were not Seals, but she grabbed them anyway. For them to be hidden away with the Seals meant Marcellus believed they were important.

  Ling placed the floorboard back, tucking it into place in utter silence. Evie toed the rug into place turning it so it sat in the same direction she'd first noticed it. No sense in alerting Marcellus or Daniel that something was different.

  No sooner had the rug returned to its original position did the sound of a key in the door's lock reverberate through the room as loud as a gunshot. Hands weighed down with their tiny burdens, the girls scrambled back behind the curtain and out the door. Evie shut it as quietly as she could, using her elbow to depress the handle. They tucked the packages into every available pocket, raced for the balustrade and leaped over, no time to check for the Night Guard. A millisecond later three sets of wings were brandished in a muffled puff of feathers and feather dust. The girls flew west, around the building, remaining below the third floor. Probably Daniel entering the room at this late hour, but Evie preferred not to be the one to find out.

  Back in Evie's room, they tipped the contents of each package onto the bed. In total Marcellus had managed to accumulate seven Seals—four large and three smaller ones. Along with Evie's three and Ling's one, they had a total of eleven Seals-eight large and three small. Evie frowned.

  "That's strange. The seals have nine emblems engraved on the surface with each seal having a different emblem engraved much larger than the others. But we have eleven in total." She moved them around on the bed until eight sat in a perfect circle. But there were nine on Marcellus' carpet, the patterns of which were an echo of the engravings on the Seals themselves. Were they missing a Seal?

  Three smaller disks—merely large fat coins—were left. None of these disks had engravings which matched the other eight. One pair bore the engraving of an eye and a hand. The last one had three heads inscribed into it. The first head faced left, the middle one looked straight ahead and the third faced to the right.

  "How odd." Ling was the first to remark on the three Seals' strangeness.

  Evie sat on the bed and moved her hand to push aside her knife only to find the scabbard light . . . and empty.

  "Shit. Shit . . . ." Evie swore and stamped her foot. "Idiot. Stupid, foolish idiot."

  The other two girls stared at Evie in confusion.

  "What?" Evie barely heard Ling's questions, so engrossed was she in her self-recrimination. "Evie, shut up."

  Evie groaned. "My knife... ]I must have left it on the floor when I levered the floorboard open. Damn it. It must have been right at my
feet and we probably threw the rug over it. Damn. Whoever entered the room when we left is going to see it soon enough. I have to go back for it."

  "Are you crazy?" Ash stood up and grabbed Evie by both arms. "That's suicide. If you get caught, Marcellus will have the right to banish you, or worse."

  "I have to at least try to get it back. If anyone finds it, I'll be in deep trouble anyway. I can't believe I was so stupid. I never set my knife down, ever."

  "You were preoccupied. We all were." Ling tried to reassure Evie. "Look, you do need to get it back. What do we do with these Seals in the meantime?"

  Evie's eyes fell on the bed, which now seemed weighed down by the gleaming Seals.

  "Leave them, I'll find a place to stash them." Evie's first thoughts were of the warning issued by Baa'ruk. He'd been so insistent, so urgent that fear trilled through her at the very thought of anyone finding out that they were now in possession of all the Seals.

  But while Evie spoke, Ling's eyes remained trained on the Seals, almost entranced. Ash and Evie both looked at each other. Ash moved toward Ling, linking arms with her friend and dragging her to the door. "C'mon. We'd better head off to bed and get some rest. If we pitch up to morning classes looking like we've been partying hard all night, someone will get super suspicious as soon as Marcellus finds he's been robbed."

  Ling nodded and walked out. Ash's eyes were lined with worry as she closed the door behind her.

  Evie wasted no time in re-wrapping each Seal and taking the packages to the chimney. She felt for the space and tested the bricks on either side of the little cavity. Only one was slightly loose. After a few minutes of gently jimmying the brick, it finally dropped out, a shower of brick dust raining down on the wood arranged below. Evie packed the Seals in tightly, thankful they fit well enough not to threaten to fall out of their hidey-hole. She was tempted to keep the three smaller coins with her but thought better of it.

  Evie reached for her phone, sending a quick text to tell Baa'ruk she was ready. Seconds later she got a response, confirming their meeting at three thirty. She raced back to the Master's office. Evie had wasted enough time stashing the Seals. For all she knew, Daniel and Marcellus had discovered the robbery and were both going berserk.

  Chapter 12

  Evie hurried back to Marcellus' office, using the same route they'd used to get in earlier. On the balcony, she listened at the glass, straining to catch even the faintest sounds. She heard nothing.

  She threw a cloak of glamor over her, and cracked open the door, hoping to slide in quickly. Footsteps drew close to the curtain and Evie held her breath, shutting the door as quietly as possible. She plastered herself against the wall. Someone walked to the curtain and thrust the two drapes aside, reaching for the handle and shoving open the door.

  Marcellus stepped out onto the balcony and walked to the edge, looking left and right furtively. He was looking for something or someone.

  Evie's heart clenched.

  Did he know the Seals were gone?

  If not, what could he be looking for?

  Evie shook away the paranoia and used the opportunity to enter the room while the curtain flapped from the disturbance. Keeping to the wall beside the balcony door, Evie scanned the floor near the rug, desperation making her stomach roll with nausea.

  There. Under Marcellus' desk, the knife lay gleaming.

  A silent, shiny threat to Evie's very life.

  One of them must have kicked it in their hurry to leave. A step forward and she had to halt in her tracks as Marcellus bustled into the office and pulled the door shut behind him. Evie's heart sank when he withdrew a key from his pocket and locked the door.

  Damn.

  Now her escape route was officially out of service. First things first. Evie had to retrieve the dagger, then think about how she was going to escape from the room. Marcellus went to his desk and seated himself, a cunning, cold smile wrapped around his face. He opened a large, ancient tome and began to read, making notes as he went.

  Evie moved forward an inch at a time, taking pains to avoid the rug, which hid the now empty hole in the floor. She managed to stay off the squeaky floorboard beneath the round rug.

  Then her foot came down on another loose board and the wood squealed like a pig, the sound loud and coarse in the silent room. Marcellus' head snapped up. He looked straight at Evie, and it creeped her out. She had to reassure herself that he couldn't see her. The glamor was strong.

  Calm down.

  As he rose, she took a few steps forward toward his desk and the dagger.

  She'd been paying attention to her distance to the dagger, and when the floorboard creaked again behind her, she turned in slowest of motion. To come nose-to-nose with Marcellus.

  He can't see you. Calm down.

  "Who's there?" Marcellus voice now held a hint of steel.

  Evie didn't answer.

  She had enough potential troubles. Now she held her breath. If she breathed on him, he'd know he had company. The warmth of her breath would be clue enough that someone was with him in the room. He seemed to sense Evie as he scanned the room and came back to the spot in front of him. Only when he stepped forward again did Evie realized he was standing on the spot of the creaking board. Evie stood a foot away from her dagger.

  Almost there. Patience.

  Marcellus stood in silence. Listening. Waiting. Evie stayed still right in front of him.

  He tested the board a few times, then eventually returned to his desk, having tired of his vigil at the squeaky board. Evie took that opportunity to grab the blade and slip it silently back into the scabbard at her side.

  Now to find another way out of the room.

  Evie's breaths came in short silent puffs as she watched Marcellus at his desk. He looked up intermittently, scanning the room then returning to his reading. He'd have to have been dead not to feel Evie's eyes on him. The large room felt the size of a toilet stall, and Evie clamped down on spasms deep within her lungs. Hyperventilating now would be a very bad thing. He couldn't see her. That was enough.

  She had made her way to about ten steps away from the door so far. Each step was agonizing, muscles tightening and cramping as she took one slow-motion step at a time. Ball to heel, ball to heel, slowly does it. Thankfully, no more floorboards creaked as she made progress to the door. Never mind what she would need to do once she got to the door. Evie concentrated on getting there first.

  Worry about the hard stuff later.

  She turned to check on Marcellus. And stared straight into his eyes. His face was inches from hers. In fact, he was so close her chest would have touched his if he moved the tiniest step forward. She would have gasped in shock if he hadn't put a hand out. She took a few steps back, her heart thudding. Like a blind man searching for an impediment, he reached into the air in front of him, fingers outstretched and skeletal.

  He swiped wide and missed Evie's face by a finger’s breadth. The added shock of his hand moving toward her cut off any sound from her throat. She ducked slowly, dropping into a crouch, careful not to make any fast movements which would disturb the air in any way. The guy must have some amazing senses to still be bugged by Evie's invisible presence in the room. He stood there, hands now on his hips, scanned the air, a frown marring his pale forehead.

  "What are you doing staring into space?" Daniel's voice rang out. Marcellus and Evie turned to Daniel, who stood in the open doorway, surprise and curiosity filling his face. Evie, from her position at ankle level, was hidden from the doorway by a bank of filing cabinets. She craned her head to watch Marcellus—just in case he decided to trample her to death.

  "Just daydreaming." Marcellus covered his gaffe.

  "There are better things to do with your time, don't you think?" Daniel said coldly. But Evie was puzzled. His voice lacked any of his usual kowtowing deference to Marcellus. In fact, the table seemed strangely reversed with Marcellus the one affecting the respectful tone.

  How very interesting.

 
But Evie could waste no time contemplating their strange behavior. With the door wide open, she saw her opportunity for freedom right in front of her. She moved, silent as a cat, rounding the wooden cabinets and heading for the door still in a crouch. As luck would have it, Daniel decided at that particular second to join Marcellus where he stood still contemplating the empty air in front of his face.

  Evie was forced to dive out of Daniel's way to avoid a collision with him. She missed him by an inch, overcompensated and almost tipped herself onto the floor. Thankfully, she was close to the floor and placed a supporting hand on the carpet. Daniel turned and seemed to lock eyes with Evie, whose heart thundered with fear.

  Can he see me? No, silly, He can't. No human can see a Nephilim in glamor. Calm down.

  A closer look and it was clear he couldn't see her. His eyes were slightly unfocussed, as if he was looking at something behind Evie.

  "It is done." Marcellus' voice broke their concentration and Daniel's attention was redirected to the Master. Evie took the opportunity to hightail it out of the room. Once outside she paused and waited.

  What was done?

  "Good. Did you make it look natural?" Evie imagined Marcellus nodding in the silence that followed. "At last that particular obstacle has been removed. Now we can get on with it."

  "We just need the rest of the Seals—" The door slammed shut, cutting off the rest of the conversation. The room must have been soundproofed as Evie was unable to hear what they were saying no matter how close she thrust her ear to the door.

  Frustrated, she backed away. At least she had the Seals and they'd soon get the surprise of their lives when they discover they now needed eleven Seals.