I turned, intending to go back to my room, and stopped.
Murdo sat in one of the lobby chairs, talking into a cell phone. As I took a step towards him, he ended the call and dropped the phone on the arm of the chair with a sigh. Only then did he see me, and he smiled as I approached.
“Hey,” I said, and I dropped into the chair facing him, my legs outstretched and my ankles crossed.
“Hey,” said Murdo. “The meditation technique must be helping you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing shorts before.”
“Don’t stare at my legs, you creep,” I said, but I smiled as I said it. I was getting better at the meditation technique Murdo had taught me to keep the magical chill at bay. “I helped Russell dye his hair, and I didn’t want to be wearing three layers for that. So, I had the motivation.”
“Glad it helped,” said Murdo.
“That phone call,” I said.
Murdo sighed, glanced around the lobby, and then looked back at me. “Some people I know through the Graysworn.”
I nodded. “Help against Nicholas?”
“To clean up if we fail,” said Murdo.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what the Sky Hammer is,” said Murdo, “but we both know what Connor is like. We have to assume that the Sky Hammer is a weapon of mass destruction, like a nuke or a biological agent or something we’ve never even heard of. We know that the minute Connor gets his hands on the thing, he’s going to use it to kill a lot of innocent people.”
“Yeah,” I said, staring at my shoes.
And I was helping him to get the damned thing.
Not that I had any choice in the matter.
Didn’t I?
I thought of Russell haggling with Nicholas. Could I have gotten out of this situation if I had been a little more forceful, if I had been willing to take more risks with Russell’s life? Maybe, but I wasn’t willing to take those risks. But Russell could risk his own life, and I couldn’t stop him. If only it was, say, August or September instead of June. Then I could walk away from the deal and have months to find a dragon pearl for Mr. Vander to use to heal Russell.
But it was nearly the end of June, and Russell needed his next cure spell at the end of July.
Well, once we found the Sky Hammer, all bets were off. I would kill Nicholas if I could. If that wasn’t possible, maybe I could damage or disable the Sky Hammer and flee with Russell and Murdo.
“An insurance policy,” I said aloud. “In case we fail and get killed. That way someone will know that Nicholas has the Sky Hammer.” I looked up from my shoes and at him. “If Nicholas realizes that you did that, he’s going to kill us.”
“I know,” said Murdo. “But the stakes are too high, and if we screw up, we’re going to get a lot of people killed with us.”
“Yeah,” I said. I stood up. “I’m going to get some sleep. Tomorrow’s probably going to suck.”
“Probably,” agreed Murdo. “Sleep well.”
I turned to go, and as I did, I noticed something.
He had been looking at my legs. That pleased me more than it should have. I mean, he was involved in all this to rescue a woman he loved. That got me thinking about Riordan, starting the whole tangle of guilt and regret and…
Oh, to hell with it.
“Night, Rory,” I said, and I leaned down, kissed him on the cheek, and walked away without saying anything.
###
The next morning, we drove to the restaurant to meet Morelli and whoever Nicholas had chosen to accompany him. Murdo drove his SUV, I sat in the passenger seat with a cardboard cup of coffee, and Russell waited in the back. We didn’t have any guns or other equipment with us. There was no way we could get it past the casino’s security, at least not yet, and I wanted to have a look at the Grand Warrior before I made any plans.
For that matter, it was four hundred miles and an eight-hour drive through deserts and mountains to Las Vegas from Reno. I really hoped Nicholas had a base or at least a warehouse or something that we could use in Las Vegas. Otherwise, we were going to waste a lot of time driving back and forth. Still, we ought to arrive along the Las Vegas strip at about 5 PM, just when the casino’s busy hours began, which would give me the chance to observe the casino while crowded.
I prayed silently while Murdo drove. It wasn’t something I did all that often, but I had done it more and more lately. Mostly, I did it because I was afraid. I talked a big game with Murdo and Russell, and I definitely wouldn’t show weakness in front of Nicholas, but I was scared. Not for myself, but for Russell, that I might see him get killed in front of me. Or Murdo, and he would never free the woman he loved from Nicholas.
But I was going to do what I had to do.
So, promptly at 6 AM, we pulled up to the curb in front of Nicholas’s restaurant. Morelli was waiting there, wearing a white button-down shirt, a black sports coat, and black slacks, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Next to him stood…
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.
Hailey Adams stood next to him. She was wearing an outfit that I could only describe as business attire for rich women – a knee-length white pencil skirt, a white blouse, a white jacket, and four-inch white heels. With my usual black jeans, gray sweater, and black pea coat, I would look like a crow standing next to her. (Worse, a short crow.) Her clothes were just a bit tighter than they should have been, but she had the physique to pull it off.
I glanced at Russell, who looked at Hailey, away from her, and then back at her, almost like a moth bobbing around a light.
Hell. Russell was smarter and braver than most sixteen-year-old boys, but he was still a sixteen-year-old boy. Teenage boys didn’t always think about women, but they thought about women a lot, and making Russell sit next to a woman as attractive as Hailey for eight hours…
Damn it. Nicholas wanted her to pump Russell for information. And if she got him alone, she could use her mindtouch spell to dig out anything she wanted from inside his head. I wondered what Hailey thought of her beloved Nicholas ordering her to flirt with a teenage boy, but she looked as satisfied as a cat who had just found a nest of baby birds. I suppose she would enjoy playing the femme fatale.
Murdo parked by the curb and Morelli and Hailey headed for the back door. I got out, holding my coffee cup.
“Miss Moran,” said Morelli.
“Hi,” I said, giving them my death rictus of a grin. Hailey looked at me with distaste. “Morelli, get in front.” I walked to the passenger’s side back door and opened it. “Russell, scoot over. Hailey, you’ll be next to me.”
“Very well,” said Morelli, opening the door. Hailey looked like she wanted to argue, but I got in first, planting myself in the middle of the back seat, which left her with no choice but to climb in after me. I suppose it worked since I was smaller than both Russell and Hailey, which meant I fit the best in the middle seat.
Wasn’t comfortable, though. It was going to be a long eight hours.
“Oh, God, Murdo,” said Hailey, setting her purse on the floor between her feet. “What happened to your SUV? It looks all beat up.”
“I keep running over things with it,” said Murdo.
“Yeah,” I said. “You should have seen Lorenz’s face.”
That got an interesting reaction. Hailey started to look at me with distaste, and then her expression changed to a smirk. She had detested Lorenz, considering him a creepy pervert (which, to be fair, he had been), and that had possibly been the only topic we had ever agreed on or would ever agree on.
I’d better not tell her that Russell had been the one to kill Lorenz. Hailey might try to kiss Russell then and there.
“Oh my God,” said Hailey as Murdo pulled into the early morning traffic. “Did you really run Lorenz over?”
“Let’s just say he’s not getting up again,” I said.
“He was such a creep,” said Hailey, pulling off her sunglasses. “A nasty, smug creep. I hoped he would screw up and Nich
olas would shoot him. I don’t even know why Nicholas let him into the Revolution in the first place.”
I wanted to point out that the “Revolution” was full of nasty, smug creeps, that Venomhold had a brothel full of drugged, enslaved women the Rebels kept for their soldiers. I also wanted to point out that if Hailey hadn’t been a Gatekeeper and a wizard, she would likely be doing her duty to the Rebels inside one of those brothels.
But, it was going to be a long drive.
“Maybe Nicholas isn’t always the best judge of character,” I said instead.
“He’s a great judge of character,” said Hailey, “but no one’s always right about everything.” She leaned a little past me and turned a brilliant smile towards Russell. “And he thinks you might be the one who killed Lorenz.”
“Gosh, that’s flattering,” said Russell. “Why would he think that? I’m just a high school student.”
“Because Nadia wouldn’t kill Lorenz,” said Hailey. “Lorenz pushed her before, but she wouldn’t kill him then. She was too afraid of alienating Lord Morvilind and getting you killed.”
“Lorenz wasn’t stupid enough to go after my family before,” I said. “Then he did, and look what happened to him. Seems like there should be some sort of obvious moral there.”
“Well, duh,” said Hailey. “I’m not stupid enough to go after your brother. No. I think we should recruit him.”
“Really, now,” I said.
“One of the members of your organization,” said Murdo, “just tried to kidnap him with the help of anthrophages, orcish mercenaries, and a necromancer so loathed that even the Archons wouldn’t hire him. That same member of your organization promised to hand over an infant and several other innocent victims to the necromancer in payment for his services. That’s not an effective recruiting pitch.”
“I just said Lorenz was stupid and he got what he deserved, Murdo,” said Hailey, making no effort to hide her scorn. Her smile returned at full wattage as she looked at Russell. “So, with Lorenz dead, we’ve got an opening, right? Why not join the Revolution? You’re going to be at a disadvantage all your life otherwise.”
“What do you mean?” said Russell.
“They wouldn’t let you be a man-at-arms,” said Hailey. “The Elven nobles, I mean, because of your frostfever.” Russell didn’t say anything. “And the High Queen has everything set up so that veterans get all the privileges and the perks. You can’t even buy cigarettes legally unless you’re a veteran, and they get discounts on everything. People hire them first for jobs. All your life, you’re going to be overlooked and passed over and ignored, because you never served as a man-at-arms. And getting a girlfriend?” She did a good job of looking sympathetic. “Good luck finding a woman who doesn’t want a veteran.”
“Okay,” said Russell. “That’s stuff I already know. What’s the point?”
“The Elves did this to you,” said Hailey. “Everything bad in your life, it’s the work of the Elves. The frostfever? You only have that because your dad caught it fighting in one of the Elves’ campaigns in the Shadowlands. The special privileges for veterans? That’s because the High Queen treats humans like dogs. She’s got us trained to sit up and beg for her scraps. And if she doesn’t find you useful, then to hell with you. But the Revolution is going to change all that. We’re going to overthrow the Elves. There’s going to be no more Elves, no more nobles, no more Homeland Security, no more Punishment Day videos. Everyone is going to be equal, and Nicholas is going to find a way for all humans to use magic. And you can be part of it.”
As it turned out, she was a really good speaker. Combined with her beauty, it made her charismatic, almost compelling.
“Well, damn,” I said, peering at Hailey. “It looks so lifelike. Nicholas’s hand is so far up your backside that I can’t see where he’s turned you into a puppet.”
I expected her to get angry, but she only snorted. “Don’t be snide, Nadia. This is serious. And this isn’t about you. This is about Russell. You can’t decide his life for him, and you’re not always going to be there to protect him.” She moved closer, leaning over me to look at Russell. I was sure that it wasn’t a coincidence that the movement exposed a considerable amount of cleavage. “Russell, Nadia can’t decide for you. You’ve got to choose for yourself. And the Revolution needs men like you. Lorenz was a wizard and knew his way around a fight, and you still killed him. You could go a long, long way with us. What do you think?”
Russell didn’t say anything at first. I got the impression that he was trying not to look at Hailey’s chest.
“That all sounds really nice,” Russell said. “But I just have one question.”
“Of course,” said Hailey.
“When you got possessed by that Dark One in your skull, who did you have to kill?” said Russell.
Hailey’s white smile froze on her face. “What?”
“I know you’re a Gatekeeper, which means you have a Dark One inside of your head,” said Russell. “And that means you had to kill someone in a spell of dark magic to get the Dark One inside of you. So, who did you kill?”
“That’s not important…” started Hailey, her face reddening a bit.
“I don’t know,” said Russell. “I think it’s kind of important. Murder’s bad, you know, and you guys seem to have trouble remembering that. Plus, a beautiful woman trying to recruit me? That’s really suspicious. Normally, I would worry that I’m going to wake up in a hotel room bathtub with my kidneys missing or something. But since Lorenz is dead and you need a new Gatekeeper, I figure you’ll use me in the sacrifice to summon a Dark One.”
“That’s not…” started Hailey.
“Who was it?” said Russell. He sounded like he was chatting over coffee. “Like, was it some random stranger you grabbed off the street? Maybe you smiled at him and led him up to your room, and then…gak!” He mimed cutting his throat. “Or was it someone you knew? I bet it was someone you knew personally. Someone you didn’t like.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” snapped Hailey, her pleasant mask vanishing.
“Then it was personal,” said Russell. “I bet it was your father. You seem like you have, what’s the word…daddy issues, that’s it. Explains why you follow Connor around like a puppy and have no idea about all his other girlfriends…”
That did it.
“You little shit!” snarled Hailey, her eyes going wide and wild. “You’re just like your bitch of a sister, and we’re going to get rid of you both…”
She leaned closer, starting to cast a spell, and I lifted my hand and called a fireball into existence over my palm. Hailey flinched back, and Russell’s eyes went wide.
“For God’s sake,” said Morelli, not looking up from his phone. He was playing some sort of crossword puzzle game in Italian. “Don’t fight, children.”
“And if you start casting spells while we’re driving,” said Murdo, “we’re going to die in a car accident.”
He was right. We were on Interstate 80 by now, and the traffic was heavy. If I pushed things too far, if Hailey and I started flinging spells at each other, it would be easy to make the SUV crash into the side of a semi.
I stared at Hailey. She stared back. At last, she lowered her hand, and I dismissed the fireball I had summoned.
“Fine,” I said, sitting back. “Let’s play a road game. Whoever stays quiet the longest wins.”
“Whatever,” said Hailey, reaching into her purse and digging out her phone.
I wanted to point out that she had just lost the game, but that would be childish. Hailey started playing a sudoku game on her phone. Russell pulled out yet another Malcolm Lock novel about the Crusades from his backpack and started to read. I merely sat back and cleared my mind, focusing on the exercises that Murdo had taught me to keep the chill at bay from my constant use of magic.
It was a long drive. We stopped twice for bathroom breaks and to get coffee, and I took over driving for a stretch so Murdo could rest. I had to ad
mit that Nevada was beautiful, in an arid sort of way. There were lots of deserts and mountains.
I wondered which one of those mountains concealed the Last Judge base.
The Sky Hammer was waiting under one of those mountains, and I had the uneasy feeling that I was going to find out what the Sky Hammer was sooner rather than later.
It was about 6 PM by the time we arrived in Las Vegas and reached the Strip, the downtown area that hosted most of the major casinos and the prominent hotels. It was big, bright, and crowded, with lots of high-rise buildings that had been built with chrome and glass and polished steel. I had never seen so many neon signs in one place in my life.
“We’ve got a problem,” I said.
“Just the one?” said Murdo.
“I’ve seen something like twenty Elven nobles and their entourages walking into the casinos,” I said.
“Las Vegas is one of the few places to legally gamble in North America,” said Morelli. “Many Elven nobles visit here frequently, sometimes to gamble, sometimes to conduct business.”
“And Elves can all use magic, and they can sense it,” I said. “We won’t be able to use any spells in front of them.”
Hailey sniffed. “That makes you a lot less useful, then.”
“There are more ways to steal things than by using magic,” I said. “Magic is just a tool. Relying too much on any one tool will get you into trouble.”
“Agreed,” said Morelli. “We need to have a look at the Grand Warrior before we start considering any plans.”
Murdo maneuvered through the traffic, and we came to the Grand Warrior Hotel and Casino, which occupied a prominent position on the Strip. It was a huge building, nearly fifty stories tall. I had gotten bored and started reading the casino’s official website during the drive, and the Grand Warrior boasted gambling and entertainment facilities on the first few floors (though in marketing-speak they always called it “gaming” facilities instead of “gambling” or “enormous waste of money”) and several levels of hotel rooms. The top levels were occupied by luxury apartments that Duke Orothor rented to other Elven nobles or wealthy humans.
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