by Linsey Hall
Cade’s brow wrinkled. “We’ll bring you a replacement if we can’t get this one.”
The man’s shoulders slumped.
“We’ll try,” I promised. “We’ll make this right.”
Cade bound the man’s mouth quickly. While he worked, I scouted the barrels for a few that said Tripel. I spotted them close by and gestured Cade to follow me.
“Let’s load a couple of these. Make it look real.”
“Get the empties off the boat. I’ll bring these.”
I did as he asked, heaving three empty barrels off the boat so he could replace them with full ones. Then we climbed on the boat and undid the lines. The engine hummed quietly as we started it up, and I took one last look at the guy we’d just screwed.
I wanted to say sorry again, but it was more for my benefit than his, so I kept my mouth shut.
Rowan, I reminded myself. Rowan.
Cade drove us down the river back to the castle. As we neared, I called upon my magic from Loki, building an illusion that made Cade look like the beer delivery man and made me disappear into thin air.
“Well done.” Cade maneuvered the boat up to the gate and pressed the bow to it. “Ik heb een levering voor je van je grootste bewonderaar.”
Man, this Viscount guy had to be totally full of himself.
“Wat is er?” a voice barked.
Cade glanced at me. He couldn’t see me, but I’d bet my eyes were as wide as his right now. We didn’t know Dutch.
“Shit,” I murmured.
“Tripel.” Cade said, trying to pitch his voice to that of the delivery guy’s. “Tripel.”
There was a smattering of Dutch, no doubt the guards debating. My heart leapt into my throat as I waited.
Come on. Come on.
Finally, the gate creaked slowly open.
Yes.
I stayed stock-still as Cade drove the boat through the gate, trying not to move a single muscle. Trying not to even breathe.
It was damp and dark within the castle’s tiny underground harbor. A demon stood on a narrow walkway next to a gate, glaring at us. His horns were sawed off, and his vest was hung with wicked-looking blades.
I wanted to hit him with a dagger right off the bat, but what if there were a lot more of them? Or another checkpoint?
Better to play by their rules.
“Password?” he growled.
The question didn’t sound like the last one. So the answer couldn’t be Tripel.
Jeez, looked like I needed to study languages and learn to walk in high heels if I really wanted to be successful at the Protectorate. This undercover spy stuff was hard. Even looking like the delivery guy didn’t assuage this guard’s suspicion.
Cade’s brow wrinkled briefly, then he said, “Pompoen.”
The guard frowned, then nodded, gesturing ahead of us.
My shoulders sagged.
Thank fates.
Cade steered the boat slowly toward the wider part of the tiny harbor. The guard ambled along beside us, eyeing the contents of the boat. Good thing we’d put the Tripel barrels in.
Cade pulled the boat up to the dock, where two more demons waited. Same species, all with sawed-off horns and magic that smelled like mold. Or maybe it was this dank underground cave built of stone and filled with gross water.
As Cade tied the boat off, I laid my hand on his back and leaned near to his ear, close enough to breathe, “Now.”
I lunged up, drew my daggers from the ether, and hurled them at the two farthest guards. The blades shined as they turned end over end, finally sinking into the necks of the demons. Chests were bigger targets, but with demons, you never could quite tell where the heart was located.
But everyone needed their necks.
Blood spurted from around the blades as the demons grabbed at their necks, eyes wide. They tumbled onto their backs, landing with a thud.
Beside me, Cade drew his sword from the ether and lunged toward the last remaining demon, swinging gracefully. He decapitated the beast before it could draw its own weapon, and I dodged an arc of arterial blood.
When the demon fell and the blood stopped spraying, I straightened. “Well, that’s our good deed for the day. Sending those bastards back where they belong.”
“They’ll be back again, eventually.”
“True enough.” I hopped out onto the stone quay.
It didn’t take demons terribly long to wake up in the underworld once their bodies had disappeared from Earth. But getting out was often harder, requiring dark magic that was most frequently sponsored by some lowlife scum like the Viscount.
I didn’t like to throw around the phrase “low-life scum,” but the guy had a torture dungeon. That was enough for me.
Cade followed me off the boat, and we began to search the underground harbor. There wasn’t much. Just a stone quay wedged between the murky water and a wall. One door clearly led up into the castle, but a few more went to mysterious places.
“Where the hell is the waterfall?” Cade asked.
I studied the dingy water that our boat floated upon. It looked still, but the boat was being dragged slightly to the back of the harbor, which was a dead-end. The motor was off, so how was that possible? I peered hard at the water. Just barely, I could make out the movement of the murky stuff.
Jackpot.
I pointed toward the back wall. “Some of the water is headed that way. The boat is tugging at the lines.”
“You think some of the water is flowing out and going down into the earth? Under the castle, like a waterfall?”
“Yep. So we need to go deeper into the castle.”
“Let’s find out which door conceals our prize.”
I headed straight for the door closest to the back of the harbor, which was where I hoped the waterfall was located. When I pressed my ear to the wood and used Heimdall’s power, I picked up the sound of trickling water. “Let’s try this one.”
I tugged at the door, but it wouldn’t budge. The door handle felt weirdly sticky beneath my palm, and I drew away, inspecting it. “Ew. Spiderwebs.”
I tried to shake it off my hand—an instinctual freak-out reaction that obviously did no good—then rubbed my palm against the rough stone wall.
“Looks like they don’t use this often, then.”
“Try never.”
Cade grinned and tugged open the door, putting his strength into it until the lock broke and the door swung open.
“That works,” I said, staring down the dark spiral staircase leading down. A sickly yellow light glowed from below. “Right out of a ghost story.”
“I’m telling you, this place is creepy.”
I stepped into the hall. “Don’t worry, hon. I’ll protect you.”
He pressed a kiss to the back of my head. “I’m counting on it.”
I grinned, liking his slightly teasing tone. It was playful, but also like he really might trust me to do it. And couldn’t I? My new powers were making me mega capable. And he’d always been mega capable.
So we’d protect each other.
Yep. I liked that idea.
Cade quietly shut the door behind us, and I made my way down the stairs, my steps silent and all my senses alert. A faint glow came from below, the only illumination in the dark, damp stairwell. My improved eyesight probably helped, because light couldn’t have an easy time traveling up a spiral staircase.
This was the worst part of castles—the cold reality of ancient stones and dampness. I dragged my fingertips along the walls, steadying myself as I tried not to lose my footing on the tiny stairs.
The glow grew brighter, bluer and fiercer, bringing with it a clammy feeling and a dusty scent.
“Do you feel that?” Cade murmured from behind me.
“Yeah.” I shuddered. “Feels awful.”
Whatever this magic was, I wouldn’t like it.
As the light shined brighter on the walls, I noticed the deep scratch marks in the stone. Creepy.
By the time we
reached a small landing that glowed with a bright blue light, the dark magic had made me queasy. My heart thundered and my stomach turned.
The space was small. Eight feet by six feet, max, and a glowing blue wall blocked our way. It was semi-transparent, but hard to see through. The magic that emitted from it made my skin crawl and my muscles weaken.
“What the hell is it?” I asked.
Cade stepped closer to me, gripping my hand. His warmth flowed up my arm, strengthening my muscles. I still wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight—not with this weird magic affecting me—but he made me feel better.
And not just because it was him. Because he was alive and that wall felt like death.
Cade leaned in front of me, reaching for the stone wall at my right. He pulled a clump of strange yellow moss off the rock—how the hell did it live in this kind of environment?—and tossed it at the shimmering blue wall.
The moss sailed through, crumbling into brown dust as the light surrounded it.
“The wall is death,” Cade said. “An ancient magic. One that cannot be manipulated by humans.”
“So we can’t cross it?” Panic welled in my chest, my gaze riveted to the crumbled brown moss that was turning to dust.
I’d die for Rowan. For Ana.
No question.
But if I died before I got the antidote to the spell? That’d be pointless. My mind scrambled.
How the hell could we pass through this wall? I studied it, taking in everything, hunting for an idea. Anything.
When the wall in front of me shimmered, I almost didn’t notice.
Cade squeezed my hand. “Look.”
My gaze darted toward it.
A figure stepped out of the shimmering blue. It was made of the same blue light, but a haze of gray surrounded it. A cowl covered its features, long robes dusting the floor. As it drifted nearer to us, I flinched, stepping backward.
It reminded me of a Phantom, but this creature was death. Far worse than any Phantom.
“Stop!” I commanded.
I couldn’t fight this thing, and I didn’t want to run. Not when we were so close.
The creature didn’t stop. I drew my blade from the ether and pointed it toward the figure. The feeling of death closed over me, a darkness that seeped through my muscles and tried to drag me to the floor.
The figure’s chest pierced itself on my blade, but it didn’t seem to notice. My muscles tensed. I stepped backward, but the creature drifted to a stop, my blade still piercing its chest.
“You dare to trespass upon my domain?” Its voice sounded like the winds of death.
“I’d prefer not to, honestly,” I said.
“We seek a flower,” Cade said. “A single bloom.”
“A bloom with more magic than you can comprehend,” the creature hissed.
“Well, that’s why we want it,” Cade said. “We must pass.”
“Perhaps you might.”
“Are you death?” I asked.
“I am not, but I am his minion.”
That wasn’t much better. “How do we cross?”
“Seven seconds to answer a riddle. Do not fail, or you shall fall. The kiss of death I shall place upon thee.”
I shivered, colder than I’d ever been in all my life.
If this creature lunged for us, I couldn’t escape. Its magic had weakened me too greatly. And if it touched me…
Death.
No question.
“What’s the riddle?” Cade asked.
The creature hissed, soft and fast,
“As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were there going to St. Ives?”
Oh shit—math.
My mind raced. Seven times seven times seven times seven. Or was it plus seven?
A noise buzzed in my head as I tried to calculate how many there were. Beside me, Cade murmured softly. Quickly.
Come on. Come on.
I tried to recite it again in my head. Had I missed something? As I was going to St. Ives.
It pinged in my head. This wasn’t a math problem at all. It was a freaking riddle.
I looked up at Cade. His eyes were wide as they met mine, sudden understanding dawning in their green depths.
“One.” We said it at the same time, then turned to death’s minion. “One.”
“It’s just one,” I said. “Only he is going to St. Ives. The others don’t go with him. He meets them on the way, so they’re going the other direction.”
Death’s minion inclined his head, then swept his arm out to the blue wall. The terrible magic shimmered and disappeared, along with death’s minion.
“Oh shit.” A shuddery breath escaped me, and I raced through, sparing a glance for the crumbled brown remains of the moss.
Sweat dampened my skin as I continued hurrying down the stairs, finally spilling out onto a narrow platform at the edge of a great cavern. I teetered on the edge of a cliff that plunged downward, arms pinwheeling and the sword in my hand glinting in the light from above.
Cade grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me back. I collapsed against the wall next to him, panting.
“This place is incredible,” Cade said.
“No kidding.”
The sight before me was stunning. It was massive, a huge domed cavern that glowed with light emitting from large shining rocks in the ceiling. A ledge ran high along the wall, circling around the cavern to the far side, where it spilled water in a thin waterfall. The water glowed clear and light blue, almost like the muddy river water had been filtered through the earth before being poured into a pool.
I pointed to it. “It must flow from the river above, around the cavern, and then spill into there.”
“Not easy to get there, though.”
“No, it’s not.” We were a good hundred yards away, and there was a massive crevasse in the ground in front of us. It stretched twenty yards, with spindly spires of stone sticking up to form a hopscotch of a bridge. On the other side, a field of flowers sat sandwiched between the crevasse and the pool of water.
I crept toward the edge and peered down into the blackness. I could fly across, but Cade…
He stepped up beside me. “You fly. I’ll walk.”
“No. Too dangerous.”
“This is nothing.”
Dark magic shimmered up from the depths. “Let me test it. This doesn’t feel right. After death’s minion tried to stop us, no way this will be easy.”
Cade frowned, brow creased.
I called on my wings, letting them flare behind my back. I pointed to them. “Let me test it. These will protect me. Falling won’t be an issue.”
He nodded, and though he clearly didn’t like me testing the dangerous stuff, he wasn’t dumb enough to tell me not to. And he trusted me.
I liked that.
I sucked in a breath and gripped my sword—my security blanket—then stepped onto the first stone. It was only about a foot in diameter, and who knew how tall it was.
I certainly didn’t want to find out.
My heart thundered as I hopped from stone to stone. I was ten feet from the edge when it crumbled beneath my feet. I plummeted, a scream trapped in my throat and my stomach jumping.
I nearly dropped my sword from the shock, but I gripped it tightly. My wings caught the air, and I forced them down, flying upward.
Something grabbed my ankle.
I kicked and looked down. A dark gray vine twined around my ankle, pulling me down.
“Bree!” Cade shouted, fear in his voice.
I doubled over, swinging my sword downward to sever the vine. My steel clashed with it, but bounced off, as if the thing were made of impenetrable rubber.
Oh, shit.
10
My head roared as the vine dragged me down. No matter
how hard I moved my wings, I wasn’t strong enough. My heart drummed against my ribs.
A flash of ghostly blue shined in the corner of my vision. It darted down toward the vine.
Mayhem!
She blasted her flame at the vine, a massive plume bigger than any she’d ever created. The vine recoiled, releasing my ankle and jerking away.
I shot into the air, flying high over the crevasse and toward the waterfall. When I’d cleared the dangerous gorge, I landed at a run, panting. I finally found my footing and spun to check on Mayhem.
She was fluttering high up, a pleased grin on her face, but it was Cade who caught my eye.
He was scaling the far wall, descending into the crevasse to rescue me. He was going to go down, across, and up. And damn, he was fast.
“Cade! Stop!”
He halted and turned. Relief flashed on his face when he saw me, and he hurriedly began to climb back up. A whip of dark gray vine extended up from below him.
“Mayhem!” I pointed to the vine.
She flashed toward it, blowing her flame at the vine and escorting Cade up to the top.
“Thanks for trying!” I shouted at him, really quite thrilled that he kept leaping into danger for me. Not that I wanted him to get hurt trying to save me—hell no—but the idea that he would? Repeatedly?
Yeah, I liked that a lot.
I shook the thoughts away and turned. We didn’t have a lot of time, and I needed that damned flower. At least the Rebel Gods needed Rowan for her magic. That would keep her alive. I hoped.
A field of flowers spread in front of me, in every shade from the rainbow glinting in the strange white light from overhead.
“Ah, crap.” It was a lot of flowers.
And they all looked different.
Like, whoa different.
This would take hours.
I called upon Heimdall’s magic, hoping to strengthen my vision to be able to spot the red flower with the dripping petals. It worked, but I still had to sort through them all, gazing at each one for at least a half second.
Slowly, I walked through the flowers, anxiety rising with every step. What if it wasn’t here?
I sucked in a calming breath and kept going.
After ten minutes with no luck, I groaned and dragged my fingers through my hair. This wasn’t working. There were just too many.