by Linsey Hall
There was a platform to my right, guarded by four demons who stood near the entry to the spiral stairs that led up to the city. Their massive green horns glinted in the light, and their spear shafts were decorated with dark iron swirls. Their black eyes burned toward me, and the demons didn’t move or shout.
I grinned, though my skin chilled with awareness. Lachlan and Bree’s charms were working well, but any moment, the demons could figure out that something was up.
Slowly, I directed Nessie toward the platform. She pulled up alongside, and I scrambled off, dragging myself onto the stone quay. I patted Nessie, then nodded toward the water.
“Go on, now,” I whispered. I hoped Lachlan’s sound dampening charm allowed Nessie to hear.
Because of the illusion, I couldn’t see her and she couldn’t see me, but I felt her when she left. Off toward freedom. Maybe she’d terrorize some sailors—who knew?—but I was glad to see her headed off.
“I’m here,” Bree whispered.
“Me too,” Rowan said, so close that I thought she might be an inch from me.
“Same,” Lachlan added.
“We’ll sneak past them up the stairs.” I climbed to my feet and approached, bumping into someone only once. As long as it wasn’t a demon, I’d be okay.
As we neared the demons, I shivered. Their eyes were dark and soulless, their fangs as long as my hand. I swallowed hard and slipped past them.
“Who’s there?” one of the demons demanded.
I stiffened, cold shooting across my skin.
Crap.
The demons drew their blades and spun, searching the area around us. Their noses twitched as they smelled the air, their heads turning unerringly toward me.
“They’re on the stairs,” one rumbled.
Well, there went the stealth plan.
“Drop the illusion,” I said. We didn’t want to kill each other by mistake, after all. Last thing I needed to do was shoot fire at my sister.
Immediately, the illusion faded. Bree and Ana were still in the middle of the platform, with Lachlan right behind me. The demons growled, their lips pulling back from their fangs as they raised their spears.
I lifted my hands and called on my magic, sending a blast of fire at the nearest demon. It plowed into him, lighting him up like a torch. He spun, wheeling toward the water. Before he could get there, Bree beheaded him with her sword, then turned to take out the demon closest to her.
She dodged the strike of his spear, then struck out for his legs. He toppled onto his back, and she finished the job, spearing her blade right through his throat. An arc of blood shot up, but she avoided that, too, ducking low and spinning out of the way.
Lachlan moved so fast I could barely see him. One second he was standing there, and the next, he was on the demon in front of him, narrowly dodging the spear and reaching up to break the beast’s neck.
Rowan finished the job with a sharp dagger to the eye of the last one. He slammed onto his back, heavy as a falling tree.
“Nicely done, every—”
A hand grabbed me around the throat from the back, cutting off my words. Panic raced through me, and I kicked and thrashed, trying to break free of whoever had grabbed me. They must have come from the stairs behind, their footsteps silent as the grave.
Hot, rancid breath wafted over me. I gagged, sending my elbow back into my attacker’s gut. He barely winced, just tightening his grip even more.
“Let her go.” Lachlan’s voice was cold as winter.
“What are you doing here?” my captor demanded.
“Breaking in, you moron.” Bree shot Rowan and Lachlan a glance and said, “Now!”
Lachlan’s magic surged on the air as my captor froze solid. My lungs spasmed from lack of air as confusion flashed through me. When Lachlan froze someone, it was impossible to manipulate their body, so my captor wouldn’t be able to remove his hand from my throat.
A half second later, Bree and Rowan ran toward me. Lachlan’s magic unfroze the demon right before Rowan stabbed a dagger into his eye. Bree used her super strength to yank his arm away from my throat. And last, the icing on the cake, Lachlan caught my falling body.
I gasped and croaked, “Nicely done.”
“We do make a good team.” Bree brushed her hands off. “But let’s get out of here before any more guards come down those stairs.”
“Agreed.” I coughed and stood.
“Are you all right?” Lachlan’s concerned eyes blazed into my own.
“Fine. Learned a good lesson. Don’t put my back to the stairs.”
“It is a good lesson.” He smiled, then turned to leave.
I followed him, stepping onto the first of the hundreds of steps that led up to the surface. They twined around the well shaft as a spiral, with windows every ten feet. There was no glass in the windows, so it was easy to lean out and see down to the water below.
Soon, my lungs were burning as we raced up the stairs. When we reached a massive stone door about halfway up, I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Crap.” I stared at the thing, which looked as solid as the mountain that concealed Hider’s Haven.
I’d been able to move that boulder with my magic, but it was too dangerous to try it here. Probably wouldn’t work anyway. This wasn’t regular rock. There had to be enchantments on the door.
“Check that out.” Rowan pointed to a hand imprint in the stone.
“I bet a pint of beer it would ignite at the touch of one of the guards,” Lachlan said.
Panic flashed. We’d just killed the guards. Had their bodies disappeared back to the Underworld yet?
The same thought seemed to dawn on everyone’s faces. As a group, we turned and raced right back down the stairs. My heart thundered as I prayed that we’d be able to find a guard who hadn’t already disappeared.
When I finally reached the platform, I glanced around, frantic. Two of the guards were entirely gone, one was just a foot and a head, while another was so crispy from my fire attack that he’d never work.
The demon who’d grabbed me around the neck was the only candidate, and he was already halfway gone, fading away to the Underworld that he’d come from.
Lachlan leaned over him and yanked his arm clean off.
I gagged and spun around, not wanting to see. I’d killed a lot of bad guys in my day, but ripping off limbs was too much for me.
“Let’s go,” Bree said.
I turned and followed them back up the stairs, racing behind. Lachlan moved so fast that I lost sight of him quickly. By the time I reached the great stone door, he was pressing the hand to the indentation in the stone.
Magic swelled briefly on the air, and the lock clicked.
“Jackpot.” Bree grinned.
The door began to disappear, the stone fading away to nothing. Bree went first, sprinting through the door and onto the other side.
The door immediately reappeared, blocking our way.
“What the hell?” Shock coursed through me.
“One person for every handprint.” Lachlan threw down the arm, clearly disgusted.
“There are no more arms left.” Rowan leaned against the wall, scrubbing her hand over her face.
I hurried to the nearest window and leaned out, looking up. Bree peered out of the next window that was about ten feet away, on the other side of the wall.
“Hang on,” she said. “I’ll figure something out.”
I nodded, praying to fate that she could manage something. Because right now, we were sitting ducks.
We waited, every second passing by in tense silence. Every few minutes, I’d go to the window and lean out, looking up and down the well to see if Bree had a solution yet. Lachlan spent his time trying to figure a way out of the door, while Rowan inspected the walls.
On my third trip to the window, I looked up just in time to see a heavy rope uncoil from above, flopping down onto the wall with a thud. Bree peered out from a window at the very top, her hand gripped around the rope.
“You have to be kidding me.” I pinched my nose. “Why didn’t I go through the door first? Why?”
11
“Sorry, pal.” Rowan patted my back as she climbed up onto the wide stone windowsill. “It’ll be over soon. Just don’t look down.”
I swallowed hard, wishing that I were descending a fiery staircase into hell. Anything was better than heights.
Quick as a monkey, Rowan climbed out the window and began to ascend the rope, climbing up the inside of the well shaft. Every ten feet or so, she could use a windowsill as a footrest, but even that didn’t make me feel better.
“Go first,” Lachlan said. “I’ll catch you if you fall.”
“I don’t want to take you out, too.”
“Ha, as if I can’t hold you.”
“Thanks.” I pressed a quick kiss to his mouth, determined not to fall and test the theory. Just because I hated heights didn’t mean I couldn’t conquer them.
I sucked in a deep breath and climbed onto the stone windowsill. With a trembling hand, I grabbed the rope and began to climb, propping my feet on the wall and pulling myself up with my arms.
Every second counted while I was out here in the open. Anyone could peer over the edge from above and see me down here. Hand over hand, I went as fast as I could. But my palms were sweating like mad.
Fear iced in my veins.
Muffin appeared at my side, fluttering in midair, his wings going wild to keep him aloft. You got this!
“You my cheerleader?” I asked, trying to give my movement some extra speed to keep my mind off the fear.
Top cheerleader. Top of the pyramid!
A laugh escaped me as I climbed. I should’ve told him to go away—he might draw attention—but who was I kidding? I would draw attention if someone looked down.
Up up up! As he said it, his weight dragged him down, his little wings flagging. He found a perch on one of the windowsills and kept shouting encouragement, most of which involved promises of tuna.
“That doesn’t work on me, you know.”
Weirdo.
Almost there. Almost. A few moments later, I scrambled onto the windowsill where Bree crouched, holding on to the rope.
“Damn, you’re strong,” I said. Then I frowned. “Hey, why did we climb all the way up? Why not just a few windows to get beyond the door?”
“There was a room full of guards partway up. I didn’t want to go back past them. Climbing seemed safer, until you started talking to Muffin.”
“Oops, sorry.”
Who wouldn’t want to talk to me? He preened, licking his paw.
A second later, Lachlan climbed onto the windowsill.
“All accounted for. Let’s move.” I gestured to Bree. “Want to lead? Did you learn anything while finding that rope?”
“A couple places to avoid, yeah. And maybe a plan for getting into the cathedral that Ali and Haris mentioned.”
“Perfect. Lead on.” I followed Bree up the stairs to the main level of the city.
Further research into Orvieto had shown that the cathedral was the oldest thing in town—particularly the crypts at the bottom. There might even be some stuff down there from the time of the Fates. Since Christianity had often absorbed some of the local pagan cultures in order to convince people to convert, there was a reasonable chance that we’d learn something about the Fates down there.
At the top of the stairs, there was a small atrium that led out into the main city square. The well sat right in the middle of town, surrounded on four sides by buildings and shops, the most magnificent of which was the cathedral.
“Wow,” I breathed. The cathedral was incredible, with marble and stonework that would rival anything in Rome.
“They sure know how to do their churches here in Italy,” Rowan muttered.
“That’s the truth,” Lachlan said.
Bree pointed to a narrow alley at the side of the cathedral. “There. I think we can stage our entry from that alley.”
The bells at the top of the church tolled, and light gleamed from inside, making the stained glass glow like jewels. There were clearly people in there.
“How will we get in?” I asked. “We won’t exactly blend like this.”
“I saw some washing on the lines,” Bree said. “We go in disguise. I could use my invisibility when we’re in the church, but we don’t know where we’re going or what we’re looking for. We could lose each other that way.” Her head tilted, as if she were listening to something with her super hearing. Her face paled. “Go! To the alley. Someone is coming up the stairs. I’ll hide us.”
Her words jumpstarted us. When her magic flared and my friends disappeared, I stepped out of the atrium and strode across the city square, hurrying toward the alley that she’d pointed to.
My skin pricked with awareness as I crossed the great open space. There were a few people around, mostly sitting in front of cafes or walking somewhere. They were all dressed in similar dark, drab clothing. Definitely not modern. This place seemed trapped in time. None of them looked toward us as we walked, and I prayed that we didn’t cross anyone with a superior sense of smell.
Finally, I ducked into the alley and concealed myself in a nook in the wall. My shoulder pressed against someone else. Lachlan, from the leather and pine scent of him.
A few moments later, we all appeared, huddled in the same stone alcove.
“Whew, that was close,” Bree said.
Rowan pointed to a little walled-in backyard that was across the alley. A washing line was strung across the space, and drab black clothes fluttered in the breeze. “Are those our disguises?”
“I think so,” Bree said.
Lachlan dug into his pocket. “I’ll leave them some money to cover the cost.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks.”
He nodded.
Quickly, we snuck into the little backyard and took clothes off the line. Lachlan stuck a few bills in a crease between the door and jam, then grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt.
We snuck back into the alley and tugged on our stolen finds. They were so big and loose that they went right on over my own clothes. My dress looked like something a nun would wear. Oh, fates. Please say we didn’t steal from nuns.
“Well, we will certainly blend.” Rowan spun in a circle, staring down at herself. “We look just like the people we saw in the square.”
“It’s perfect.” We all looked like something out of medieval times, and it was awful.
“Let’s go,” Lachlan said.
“You lead the way,” I said. “This place is old-school. It’ll look more normal if a dude leads.”
“Freaking patriarchy,” Bree muttered.
“Ain’t that the truth.” I shook my head. “But it’ll help our disguise.”
“I’m all for that,” she said.
“Once we’re inside, we’ll look for the crypts,” I said. “That’ll be the oldest part of the church, so it’s most likely to lead to info about the Fates.”
Everyone agreed, and we followed Lachlan out of the alley and up the enormous stairs to the church. An organ played from within, the loud noise rolling over the stairs and making my hair stand on end.
“Eerie choice of song,” Rowan muttered.
She was right. It didn’t sound like a hymn at all.
Lachlan stepped up to the enormous wooden door that was carved with dozens of figures and flowers. He pulled it open, and we stepped through into an enormous space that was literally covered in gold leaves and fancy paintings. Every inch of it was covered. The whole ceiling was done up in fabulous style.
“Who needs the Sistine Chapel?” I asked, awe streaking through me. I’d never been in a place quite this fancy before.
A church service was going on at the front of the cathedral, which was over a hundred yards away, given the enormous size of this place. It was a small one, an evening session with only a couple dozen people.
Lachlan led the way to the right side of the church, where
statues lined the wall and alcoves dotted the length of it. I searched for any sign of a door that would lead down to the crypts.
“Heads up,” Rowan whispered.
I looked up, catching sight of a priest walking our way. His robes flapped around his legs and his eyes looked solemn, but intense.
Crap.
“I’ll take care of this,” Lachlan said. “Stay here. Look boring.”
My heart thundered as he strode toward the priest, confidence in his gait. I studied the painting on the wall, not seeing the details but pretending to be interested in it. I could hear a low murmur of Italian from Lachlan and the priest but had no idea what they were saying.
“Holy fates, this is tense,” Bree said.
“Not like we can attack some priest and fight our way in,” Rowan said. “We’re freaking stuck.”
My mind raced with ideas for a way around this, but they were right. We couldn’t attack these people and fight our way in. Demons were the only fair game here, and those who were obviously on the side of the Fates. This old priest clearly wasn’t that.
Finally—finally—Lachlan walked back to us. The priest had turned and gone back to the front of the church.
“Well?” I searched his face for clues.
“I convinced him we’re here to visit an old saint in the crypts.”
“You told him where we’re going?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Seemed the easiest way to ease his suspicions. He told me where it was, by the way.”
“How did you know which saint to say was buried there?” I asked.
“I just hinted. He filled in the rest, and I jumped on it.”
“Good work.” It wasn’t what I’d have done, but it had gotten us in, so I’d take it.
“This way.” He led us to the far back corner of the church, where the wood was darker and the candles dimmer. There was a heavy stone arch around a little wooden door. At the top, it read 323 AD.