by Linsey Hall
I spun in a circle, eyeing the whole place.
A flower with dripping petals…
My eye caught on the waterfall.
Duh.
I hurried toward the spilling water, edging around the pool and climbing over rocks to reach the falls. The water glowed with an eerie white light, sparkling as I neared.
Maybe the water was what helped the flower become so powerful?
Droplets splashed my face as I neared, refreshing and crisp. They fizzed, like champagne pops on the tongue. I folded my wings into my body, slipping behind the falls into an alcove. The small space glittered with light from more of the strange stones that were in the ceiling. They shined on the ground, illuminating a single flower.
A red flower with a purple center—dripping water from the petals.
Joy burst in my chest, a buzz that sang through my whole body.
Shaking, I dug the hard, plastic container out of my pocket and unscrewed the lid. Water soaked through my jeans as I knelt and picked the small bloom, placing it carefully inside the container and screwing the lid back on.
I tucked it back in my jacket pocket and zipped it up to keep the flower safe. It took some wiggling of the zipper to make it fit, but I managed.
As soon as it was safe, I sprinted from behind the waterfall and raced through the field of flowers. Cade waited for me on the other side, a grin stretched across his face.
“You found it?”
He didn’t have to shout, and he knew it. My new hearing picked it up. I nodded enthusiastically and unfurled my wings, taking off into the air and flying high over the crevasse. I eyed it for more of the dark gray vines, but Mayhem flew below me, a furry escort with breath of fire.
I was panting as I landed, excitement racing through me. “Let’s get out of here.”
Cade nodded and turned, expression now businesslike. As he started up the stairs, I grabbed his arm. “Slowly. Just in case that death wall pops back up.”
Fortunately, it didn’t. But by the time we made it up to the main level, I could hear commotion in the tiny harbor. I tugged on the back of Cade’s shirt, but he’d already stopped.
“You hear that?” I whispered.
“Aye. My wolf gives me better hearing. Sounds like they’ve found the boat. And noticed the missing guards.”
I nodded. The demons’ bodies would have disappeared by now, returned to their underworld.
“I’ll make us invisible.”
“Aye, good plan. But we’ll need to go out another way. We won’t be able to get through the enchanted gate.”
I stuck out my hand. “Hang on to me, then, and let’s find another way out.”
He grinned, a devastating sight, and took my hand.
A frisson raced up my arm, and I shivered.
Shaking away any distraction, I called upon Loki’s magic, imagining us becoming invisible. It raced over me, cool and bright, and Cade disappeared in front of my eyes.
He tugged on my hand, and I followed, keeping my footsteps silent. We paused at the door, and it slowly swung open an inch.
Cade must be peering out.
After a moment, he tugged harder on my hand, and I swiftly followed him out of the stairwell, trying not to bump into him.
The stone platform in the harbor bustled with guards, all of whom were facing away at that moment. Four demons were inspecting the boat, while another was shining a light onto the water.
Carefully, I shut the door behind me.
Not a moment too soon.
I turned to see a demon facing us, his gaze sweeping over the door. I stood stock-still, heart thundering, praying that he wasn’t a species with great hearing or sense of smell. He had dark green skin and yellow eyes, a breed I’d never seen before.
He began to approach.
Cade pulled my hand, and I followed, chafing slightly at him being in the lead. But we’d started it this way, trapped in the narrow stairwell, and I didn’t want to switch anything up. The two of us jockeying for power was dumb.
I might hate not being able to make my own moves, but if I was going to give someone else control, he was the only one I could tolerate. Besides Ana and Rowan.
We strode silently toward the only open door in the room, passing the demon with only a few feet to spare. His nose twitched briefly, but he kept going.
As we finally slipped through the open doorway and made our way up the stairs, my heart was pounding so loudly it would give me a headache later.
After so much time spent in Death Valley, I hated feeling trapped. And this hulking castle definitely qualified as a trap.
The stairway led into a hallway that reminded me a lot of the older section of the Protectorate castle. Heavy stones made up the floor and wall, while flickering sconces shed a golden light on the walls.
We leaned against the wall and took stock of our surroundings. There were no doors save for the heavy wooden ones at either end of the hall.
At times like these, I wished I had Cass’s dragon sense to lead me out of here.
“We’re still fairly low,” Cade said. “The basement, I think. We need to find our way up to the castle wall.”
“The gates will probably be pretty fierce there as well.”
“You can fly.”
“Yeah, but you can’t.”
“I can jump. My wolf is not…normal.”
“I’ll say. Those walls looked to be thirty feet high.”
“It’s nothing.”
I couldn’t see him, but I could hear his grin. “All right, then. Let’s make it to the top.” I turned left, figuring that door was as good as any other, and kept the illusion of invisibility going as we made our way down the hall, our steps silent and in sync.
We stopped in front of the door.
“Ready?” I whispered.
Cade squeezed my hand in affirmation, and I opened the door.
The interior was dark as pitch, but I stepped in anyway. Cade followed. I blinked as I tried to adjust my vision, but even Heimdall’s magic couldn’t help me see through this inky blackness.
I stepped forward tentatively, and the smell that rolled toward me made me gag. Old blood and…
Ugh.
I couldn’t tell what. But I didn’t like it.
I spun, dragging Cade with me, determined to get out of this hellhole.
The door slammed. My heart leapt into my throat. I drew my sword from the ether as the lights flared on.
It was just a flickering flame, but after the pitch darkness, it was as bright as the sun. I turned back, Cade still gripping my hand. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel that he, too, had his sword drawn.
A man stood across from us, slight and pale. Long white hair hung around his cadaverous face, and the light that burned from his white eyes was pure evil.
The furnishings in the room drew my attention. They were massive, hulking things, and horror dawned on me as I looked closer.
Torture chamber.
This wasn’t furniture. And this wasn’t a normal room.
And this dude…
He seriously was not normal.
I swallowed hard, quietly stepping backward and thanking Loki for the power of invisibility.
“Ah, ah, ah. Don’t go so fast.” His voice creaked like an old rocking chair, but there was nothing comforting about it.
Could he see us?
“Of course I can see you. Or rather, I can sense you. Your life force.” His voice shivered with anticipation and I gagged. “I’d like to take it from you. Slowly.”
Oh, screw this.
I darted for the door, dragging Cade behind me. He didn’t hesitate. Normally, we’d fight.
But this dude…
He couldn’t be fought. I could just tell.
My hand was around the door handle when something cold and wet exploded against my back. My whole body froze solid. Cade’s hand went stiff in my own.
“What the hell?!” It took me a moment to realize that I’d screamed in my mind,
not out loud. I couldn’t scream out loud.
Potion bomb.
I thrashed, trying to break free of the magic that held me frozen, but my muscles stayed stiff. Solid. I was a human two-by-four, with as much mobility.
The bastard had frozen us solid.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had visitors.” His voice came from nearby, but all I could see was the damned door.
Visions of the torture devices were burned into my mind, however. Strange benches and vises and metal things that made no sense.
My skin chilled with fear as breath wafted over my neck.
It smelled of dust and death.
Was this guy even alive?
He hadn’t looked alive.
“Now what should I do with you?” he hissed.
I shuddered inside, the rest of me frozen. No matter how I struggled, this monster’s power kept me frozen. Cade was silent next to me, unable to talk. But his energy flared, his magical signature bombarding me.
He was fighting this.
Of course he was.
The monster pinched my side. I tried to flinch away, to gag. But I couldn’t even move.
The freezing spell is so damned strong.
Tears burned my eyes, unable to fall. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t leap into action.
I was trapped.
With Rowan’s antidote in my damned pocket.
My muscles burned with pain as I fought the freezing charm.
Motion exploded next to me. Cade’s hand yanked away from mine. A shriek sounded from behind me, and the magic that bound me snapped apart.
I gasped and swung around, dropping the invisibility magic.
Cade had thrown the man across the room, but he rose like a spider. One arm dangled at his side, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Zombie,” Cade muttered.
Ah shit. It was hard to kill a zombie.
Cade lunged for it, moving so quickly that he was nearly a blur. He severed both arms and legs, then went for the head.
The creature was in pieces moments later, and I sagged with relief.
“Who’s ever heard of a zombie torture master?”
“I don’t know how this one kept his wits long enough to become a master of anything. Even torture.”
I shook my head. “No idea.”
On the floor, the arms crawled back to the body. The legs followed, drawn by the dark magic that still stank like death and dust. Finally, the head rolled against the stone ground.
It was literally the worst thing I’d ever seen.
As soon as it attached to the body, the creature leapt up, grin firmly in place.
I swallowed hard, skin chilled.
“So, we can’t kill it.” I raised my sword. My gaze darted around, searching for anything.
A large cage in the corner—I so did not want to think about its former use—caught my eye. I pointed. “There!”
“Got it.”
Cade raised his sword again, decapitating the zombie once more.
The beast was still fast, despite its lack of head. Cade dismembered the creature so fast that it didn’t have time to get its claws into him.
“Quick!” he said.
I stashed my sword in the ether and grimaced as I bent to pick up the two arms. They felt awful. Squishy yet firm.
Ugh, ugh, ugh.
I sprinted for the cage, heart thundering.
The fingers wiggled and clawed for me. “Oh, this is the worst.”
I reached the cage and dropped the arms, then yanked the door open and kicked them inside before turning to Cade.
He ran toward me, the head and torso in his arms. A grimace of disgust twisted his features, and he threw them into the cage like a morbid baseball player, not even waiting to reach the entrance.
“Get the others.” I pointed to the legs. “I’m on door duty.”
A brief grin sliced through his grimace, and he wheeled, making quick work of tossing the legs into the cage.
I slammed the door shut and turned to him. “You took the head.”
“Aye.”
“You are literally the greatest guy I have ever known.”
His right brow quirked. “For making it so that you didn’t have to carry a decapitated zombie head?”
“I have my priorities.” I swung my arms around his neck and kissed him hard on the mouth, then pulled away.
There was no time to linger, but joy over what we had glowed inside me.
Sure, this wasn’t a normal relationship. But you really got to know a person when fighting for your lives. And he was good and kind and strong.
And he carried the zombie head so I didn’t have to.
The perfect man.
And I might want a real date one day. But until then….
This was good.
As long as we survived and got out of this creepy place.
A scraping noise from behind me indicated that the zombie was starting to piece itself together. Since I didn’t want to see it clawing at the cage walls, I tugged on Cade. “Let’s find a way out.”
“Couldn’t do it soon enough.”
Fortunately, there was an exit on the other side of the room, away from the door we’d entered through. Dimly lit stairs led up to another level. We stopped at the closed door and listened.
“Coast sounds clear,” I murmured.
Cade nodded. I reached out my hand. He took it, and I turned us invisible.
We stepped out into the hallway, which was slightly more modern. The floors were wood instead of stone, and the lights electric. Some kind of old-timey sconce style, but they’d at least attempted to modernize the living spaces in the castle.
Both directions down the hall looked the same, so I went right. We wove our way silently through the castle, seeking an exit.
This place was big.
And fairly empty, besides the guards down below. And the creepy torture zombie. I shuddered at the thought.
Would the Viscount be mad that we’d locked up his monster? Or did he even know that thing was down there?
We stepped out into a large, empty room. The ceiling soared far overhead, and over a dozen chandeliers dripped sparkling crystal drops. On the far side, a throne sat against the wall. It was a massive golden thing that dwarfed the man within.
The Viscount?
What the heck was he doing, sitting here all alone?
It reminded me of Great Expectations, actually.
I glanced at Cade before remembering that I couldn’t see him. As much as I wanted to investigate, my priority was Rowan.
I hurried toward the exit on the side wall.
“Who goes there?” The Viscount’s voice cracked down the hall.
I glanced toward him, startled. Our footsteps had been silent, and the invisibility was working. Though I didn’t know what type of supernatural he was, I put money on something with great hearing or smell.
We picked up the pace, silently running toward the exit.
“Guards!” the Viscount roared. “Dogs!”
Oh shit!
Dogs definitely had a great sense of smell.
I broke into a full-out sprint, Cade at my side. Didn’t matter if they could hear us if there were freaking dogs.
We spilled out into a foyer, then shot for the large double doors. Two guards stood in front of them, their beefy arms crossed over their chests. Their eyes widened as they heard our footsteps approach, and they drew their wickedly sharp blades.
Cade’s hand yanked away from mine, and his footsteps thundered louder ahead of me.
The guards lifted up into the air and flew aside.
He’d thrown them!
The doors burst open.
I raced out into the night, my lungs burning. As soon as I hit the open courtyard, I unfurled my wings and took off into the sky. Behind me, dogs barked, their feet pounding on the ground as they sprinted across the yard toward us. Wind tore at my hair, excitement bursting through me.
Sure, we were runni
ng for our lives. But flying was fun.
Flying while escaping with a cure for my sister? That was double fun.
I soared over the large castle walls, the city and river spread out around me. I spun on the air, searching behind me. After a few seconds, I dropped the illusion of invisibility. I had to see Cade—had to see if he needed my help making it over the wall.
A wolf appeared in midair, flying over the high castle wall.
Holy crap, he could jump.
He sailed down onto the lawn below, landing in a crouch, then stood and shifted back to human.
Man, he was no ordinary wolf shifter. God powers were badass.
I dropped to the ground next to him and folded my wings back into my body. It was the coolest trick, allowing me to look totally normal out in the real world. And to sleep well, since sleeping on wings would suck.
“Good work.” I panted. “Let’s get to the drop point.”
Cade grinned and nodded. I spun and raced off, him at my side. We sprinted down the city streets, leaving the castle and its creepy denizens behind.
It didn’t take long for us to reach our bags, and Cade called the Protectorate. A minute later, Emily and Ana showed up.
“She insisted on coming,” Emily said.
“Did you get it?” Ana demanded.
“I did. Let’s go. Can you take us straight to Hedy’s workshop?”
“Sure thing,” Emily said.
Ana grabbed Emily’s shoulder, and the dark-haired girl reached for my hand. I took it. Cade took her other, and she transported us all back to the Protectorate castle.
The night was cool and the moon large, gleaming on the castle. The windows shined golden and bright, a welcome home that I would never get sick of.
This place really was our home now, and I couldn’t wait to bring Rowan here.
Sure, I needed to finish at the Academy, but I’d do anything to make that happen. Because this place, and these people, were what I wanted more than anything.
Rowan would be the icing on the cake.
I turned to Emily. “Thank you for getting us.”
“Of course. Resident taxi.” She grinned. “At least when transportation charms are low.”
“Could you do us a favor?” Cade asked. “We stole a barge from the Zwarte Kat brewery. And left a nice kid locked up in their wharf. Could you find a way to replace his boat and untie him?”