by Linsey Hall
“Yes.” It wasn’t an exact description, but let him believe it. “I’ll read any object you like.”
He pursed his lips. “Good. Payment first.”
“No.” Grey’s voice was firm. “You’ll have the money first—I’ll see to the transfer—but we need to begin immediately. Time is of the essence.”
Ogden grumbled, then nodded. “Make the transfer.”
Grey stood and strode toward the stairs, raising the comms charm at his wrist to his lips. His voice drifted away as he spoke.
Mac pulled out her mobile and began to surreptitiously type a text message. I caught sight of Quinn’s name. She was telling him that it was time.
Ogden’s eyes moved to me. “You’ve got quite a bit of magic there, girl.”
Girl?
Normally, I’d bite a man’s head off that, but this wasn’t a normal situation. We needed his help. I gave him a pinched smile and doubled down on my signature.
Fortunately, Grey returned a moment later with another Dwarf attired in an emerald-green suit with a magenta tie. I was starting to sense a trend.
“It is done,” Grey said.
The shorter man next to him nodded. “The money has gone through.”
“Thank you, Fortirue.” Ogden nodded. “Devil.”
“Shall we leave?” Grey asked.
“It seems it is time.” Ogden clapped his hands and hopped up. Grabbing a last bite of cheese from the plate, he popped it in his mouth.
“Excellent,” Grey said. “My men will be here in one moment.”
Ogden frowned. “Your men?”
“We’re attempting to break into Black Church to stop a black magic bomb,” he replied with a raised brow. “Wouldn’t you bring backup?”
15
Carrow
A black magic bomb.
Grey’s words echoed in my mind.
This was the real deal. Just a week ago, my life had been normal. Now I was here, running toward a black magic bomb.
We returned to the main tower where we’d entered the Dwarves’ Guild. Grey’s security forces arrived a moment later, a dozen shifters wearing identical black special-ops wear. There were roughly equal numbers of men and women, strong and capable looking, with firm jaws and serious eyes. The shifters were perfect for this work.
Quinn arrived last, nodding at the other shifters before joining us. His dark hair was tousled, as if he’d run all the way.
“Are we ready?” Ogden grumbled.
Grey nodded. “Ready.”
Ogden turned and led us through another door. Grey and I followed closely, my friends behind us. His shifter guards took the rear, and we made our way deep underground, following the wide staircase to an even wider tunnel.
“This is The Below,” Ogden said. “Territory of the Dwarves, and don’t you forget it.”
“Thank you for permitting us entrance,” Grey said.
Ogden muttered and started down the stone-lined tunnel. As he walked, his clothing transformed from a dapper suit to rugged clothing suited to a miner—albeit in the same bright blue and yellow. It should have looked silly, but somehow, Ogden pulled it off.
The underground space was lit by golden lamps that shone on the stone walls and ground. A fine carpet ran down the middle of the hall, and the doors on either side were made of beautifully carved wood. All were shut, but magic seemed to spill out of the cracks, different scents and sounds that lit up my imagination.
What was happening behind those doors? This whole place made me want to explore, but we kept up a fast pace that made it impossible.
One door was open, however, revealing an enormous cavern and a glowing blue waterfall. Gems seemed to glitter from the stone in every shade of the rainbow, and the pool of water looked inviting.
“Wow.” I leaned toward Mac and whispered. “Have you ever been here?”
“No. It’s hard to get past the restaurant.”
We passed another open room. I peered in, spotting a gorgeous library full of thousands of books. The shelves soared toward the ceiling, dotted with tall ladders here and there. Plush armchairs sat in front of a roaring fire, and magic seemed to sparkle in the air. It was utterly fantastic, and I itched to get inside.
“That looks amazing.” Eve’s eyes gleamed with interest, and I remembered her book collection from earlier.
For the first time ever, I didn’t see her raven at her side. Now that I thought of it, the bird had disappeared once we’d entered the Dwarves’ Guild. “Your raven isn’t here.”
She shot me an annoyed look. “I’ve told you and everyone else a million times, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her tone was so exasperated that I believed her, though how she could miss the raven was beyond me. Did it appear to everyone but her?
Eventually, the lovely hall gave way to more rustic tunnels. The lights were spaced farther apart, and the carpet and doorways disappeared. From the sides, earthen tunnels diverged off the main passage, stretching far into the distance. It was too dark to see what they led to, but my imagination ran wild.
Mac leaned close. “There are rumors of gems down here. Gold, too.”
“In London?”
“Crazy, right?”
I nodded.
“It’s said they’ve always been here,” Eve whispered. “But the Dwarves kept them hidden from humans with magic. Now they mine it for themselves.”
Eventually, the main tunnel joined with a more modern one. A track ran down the middle of the cement floor, and the arched ceiling was inset with electric lights that flickered weakly.
“Is this part of the Underground?” I asked.
Ogden looked back. “It’s human. Some of these are abandoned from World War II. Destroyed in the Blitz. Others are still used but exist on a slightly different plane. They’re shadows.”
“Shadows?”
A rumbling noise cut off the thought, and Ogden darted to the wall and pressed himself against it.
“Come on.” Grey did the same, and the rest of us followed.
Bright lights blared from up ahead, speeding toward us.
“Holy crap, a train?” I squeezed myself hard against the wall.
“Not quite,” Ogden said. “Getting hit wouldn’t kill you, but it doesn’t feel nice.”
The train zoomed by, loud enough to make my head hurt. A rush of wind whipped my hair around, and the side of the train car passed two feet from my nose. It was oddly transparent, like a ghost.
Beside me, Mac slowly reached out a hand, letting the train rush through her fingertips. Heart pounding, I did the same. It stung but didn’t leave a mark.
Finally, the train passed.
I sagged against the wall, heart still pounding.
“That was wild,” Eve said.
“We need to keep moving.” Ogden pushed himself off the wall.
He led us through endless tunnels, several of which had been damaged by bomb blasts. Tumbled rubble and bricks were a haunting reminder of man’s inhumanity. But then again, supernaturals weren’t any better. This Ivan fellow was going to blow up an entire city, simply as part of a vendetta against Grey.
After two hours of walking, I said, “This seems to be much bigger than Guild City itself.”
“It is,” Ogden replied. “The tunnels take a circuitous route, so we’re covering far more ground.”
We passed a dark tunnel to the right, and movement sounded from inside. A rough scraping, like stone against stone. Or shifting rubble.
Ogden shouted into the darkness. “That you, Jack?”
A shrieking laugh from within made the hair on my arms stand on end. I shivered, squinting into the dark.
The Dwarf reached into one of his many pockets and withdrew a lighter and a little metal canister. They didn’t look like magical charms to me.
The laughter sounded again, and Ogden said, “I’d step back if I were you. Jack has sharp claws.”
I retreated onto the tracks, keeping an ear out for the sound of an oncoming t
rain. The odd laughter came closer and closer.
I leaned toward Mac. “Do you know who Jack is?”
“No idea.”
“It’s Spring-heeled Jack,” Grey said. “A bogeyman from Victorian times. He used to terrorize the humans in London until the witches trapped him down here.”
“That old urban legend?” I asked, vaguely remembering.
“A legend, yes. But a true one,” Grey said. “Same for the pigs.”
My eyebrows rose as I looked at him. “The pigs?”
“Another urban legend that’s true. Slightly later than the Victorian period. It says there’s a herd of feral pigs down here.”
“That’s hogwash,” Ogden said. “No pun intended.”
“You just don’t want anyone coming down and hunting them,” Mac said.
Ogden grumbled, and I could almost sense the truth to the rumbling noise. Another laugh sounded, shrill and close. From the shadows, a slender, cloaked figure leapt out. A manic grin stretched across the skinny face, and the eyes gleamed like fire. Long claws tipped the ends of its fingers, and the creature leapt two meters into the air as it approached.
I flinched backward as Ogden flicked on his lighter and pressed the button on the metal canister. An enormous jet of flame shot out, and Jack shrieked and scuttled back into the dark.
“You just have to speak his language,” Ogden said.
My heartbeat thundered as I searched the darkness for Jack. I could hear him scuttling about, laughing and muttering to himself. He really was the stuff of nightmares.
“Come on, now.” Ogden turned and strode past Jack’s tunnel, continuing down the old Underground line toward our destination. He shouted to the back of our queue, “Hurry up at the rear! Jack recovers quickly. You don’t want to meet those claws.”
I heard a few of the shifters growl. I had a feeling they’d be a good match for Jack. As we continued down the tunnel, we passed Tube stations that I recognized. The platforms were empty, though they shouldn’t be at this hour.
“Why are the platforms empty?” I asked.
“These are shadow stations,” Ogden said. “Just like the train. There are people at the real station, most likely—but we’re not really there. Our territory was expanded into the human realm using our magic.”
I met Grey’s eyes and whispered, “So there were magical Dwarves in the Tube lines when I was riding from place to place?”
“In a sense,” Grey said. “It’s like how the Fae realms are located on earth but in a different realm. Two realities on the same piece of land—human and Fae—neither ever seeing the other.”
Scarcely able to wrap my mind around that, I turned to Eve. “Can I visit one?”
“Maybe.” She smiled a bit sadly. “Not mine, though. Even I’m not allowed back there.”
I shot her a sympathetic look and stored the info away for later, glancing back at the Tube station that we’d nearly left. It was nicely familiar.
Unfamiliar, however, was the horrible scent that filled the tunnels.
“Dark magic,” Grey said. “Coming from Black Church, no doubt.”
I covered my nose with my shirt, breathing shallowly. It got worse as we walked, becoming a horrible prickling sensation against my skin.
We passed places where the Tube lines seemed to connect. The District line crossed with the Central line, which should be impossible. Not only would the trains crash, but those two lines never even met at a station.
“How are they crossing?” I asked.
“Magic. Part of our empire,” Ogden said. “They wouldn’t be much use to us if we could access them all easily. No need to transfer at stations. We can stick to the tunnels and make our way all over London.”
Holy crap. My head spun with the idea that there were dapper Dwarves under every bit of London.
Soon, the tunnel ahead of us began to glow with a faint blue light. As we neared, I spotted the same barrier I’d seen arching up over the town.
“Those bastards,” Ogden muttered, stopping in front of it.
“It looks like they can affect The Below as well,” Mac said. “Aren’t you glad you helped us?”
Ogden grumbled. “I don’t like the look of this.”
Carefully, I reached out to touch the barrier. It pricked sharply against my fingers, burning. “It’s not as bad as it was on the surface, but we can’t walk through.”
“I’ll be leaving you here.” Ogden backed away. “I’ve things to see to.”
“I paid you to take us all the way,” Grey said.
“I’ll reimburse you.” Ogden shook his head. “No way I’m tangling with whatever is down there. This is dark, and I have things that need doing.”
“Hiding away all his treasure,” Mac murmured.
He did have shifty eyes, but I had seen the same kind of panic on fellow recruits at police training. He was spooked, and there was no coming back from it.
“Tell us how to reach Black Church, at least,” I begged.
“You’re nearly there, but it’s complicated,” he said. “Try to follow the dark magic.”
That was too difficult. Too uncertain. “What human Tube station is it near? I can find that.”
Ogden frowned. “It’s closest to Hyde Park Corner on our magical grid, though you’d never find it if you were above ground.”
“Which way?”
“Southbound from that station.”
I nodded. “Thanks. We’ll take it from here.”
His gaze moved to the magical barrier behind us. “If you can get through that.”
I faced the barrier, my skin itching from my proximity. It really was repellent.
Ogden left, his footsteps echoing into the distance as the five of us stood in a line, staring at the magical shield. The twelve shifters of Declan’s security team waited silently behind us, all at attention.
“I could try to blast it with my lightning,” Eve offered.
“It’s dusk now, according to the time,” I said. “Mariketta said we could cross at dusk.”
“Might as well try,” Quinn said.
No one else had any ideas, so we stepped back and watched as Eve raised her hand. Her hair seemed to prickle with white light, which arced down her arm. Thunder cracked as it burst from her hand, shooting into the barrier.
The shining white bolt collided with the shield, and the force of it blasted us all backward. I landed hard, pain screaming through me, then scrambled upright, my head ringing.
The barrier stood strong and undamaged.
Grey rose gracefully, striding toward it. He picked up speed, his footsteps pounding the ground. His speed blew my mind, and when he plowed into the barrier, he broke through with sheer force.
It sent another shock wave toward us, slightly weaker this time. I stumbled backward, watching him appear on the other side.
He turned to us, face tight. “I don’t recommend that. Hurts like hell.”
I approached, staring at him through the barrier. It made his form appear wavy, as if I were looking through water.
“Step aside.” A gravelly voice sounded from behind me.
I turned to see the biggest of his shifter guards preparing to run through the barrier. Quinn shot him a look like he was crazy, then got out of his way. I did the same, clearing the path.
The shifter charged, transforming into a bear as he ran. His gleaming brown fur rippled over enormous muscles as he hurtled toward the barrier. He moved like a steam train, and I watched in awe as he slammed into the barrier.
And bounced off.
I stumbled back, forced by the reverberation of the shockwave.
The bear groaned, then rolled over and stood on shaky legs.
“I’m out,” Mac said. “If the bear can’t do it, none of us can.”
I looked toward Grey. He was the strongest by far, but he couldn’t face down Ivan’s whole team alone.
From the look in his eyes, though, that was exactly what he planned to do. Frustrated, I approached the
barrier again.
“Carrow, don’t.” He held out his hand. “It’s too difficult.”
“I’m not going to try to blast my way through like you did.” I knew my limitations.
And my strengths.
I just needed to understand the barrier better.
I raised my hand, hovering it over the shimmering surface, not quite touching.
How do I get through you?
Would my magic work without touch? Could I possibly figure this out?
A vision flashed in my mind, bright and pure: a light, gleaming from a tiny crystal.
Orion’s Heart, hanging on the chain around my neck, suddenly felt heavy and solid. I reached for it, pulled it up, and slipped it over my head. The chain dangled from my hand as I raised the crystal to the barrier.
“Careful,” Grey said.
The barrier pricked painfully against my hand as I pressed the crystal into it. It was definitely weaker down here, as Mariketta had said. It felt even weaker than it had been when I’d touched it just moments ago. Dusk must be fully here.
Orion’s Heart seemed to warm, softening the barrier, almost melting it. I pushed hard, forcing my entire arm through the now gelatinous barrier. I kept pushing, and soon, I stood on the other side.
Grey’s eyes moved between the crystal and me, and I shrugged.
“Hey, help a girl out,” Mac’s voice sounded from the other side of the barrier, and I turned.
She grinned at me and stretched out a hand.
I wrapped my fingers around the crystal and reached for her. “Grab my wrist, not the crystal.”
If I was the only one who could hold it, I didn’t want it to hurt her. The barrier prickled against my hand as I forced it though. On the other side, Mac gripped my wrist. I pulled her through, having to put some serious muscle into it.
She popped out on our side.
“Nice work.” She grinned widely and released my wrist.
I repeated the movement fourteen more times, pulling through Quinn and Eve and each of the shifters. Finally, we all stood on the proper side.
The shifters eyed me warily, and I turned away, uncomfortable. They looked at me like I’d done something impossible.
“You’ll speak of this to no one.” Grey’s voice brooked no argument.