I was soaked to the bone. Shivering from the unexpected cold, though the water hadn’t felt chilled.
That’s when the tears came. Not poor-me tears, I told myself, feeling them wash against me. But WTF, I’d-had-enough tears. Even they didn’t last long enough to help.
Besides, I had to check on the girl.
I crawled on knees and hands toward her, curled in a sodden S against the concrete.
“You alive?” I hoped she could hear me. She hadn’t responded since I’d pulled her out. It just felt better to hear a voice, even my own.
“What hit me?”
I’d just about reached her, my hand extended to touch her arm when her voice jerked me back.
“You alive?” I repeated, knowing I sounded like an idiot, but I was afraid I’d drowned her.
“Damn, this sucks,” she mumbled, rolling onto her face and gagging.
I knew that feeling.
Like a swimmer underwater too long, she kept spitting out water, and who knew what else, until her shoulders sagged and she lay flat.
I eased myself against the rock wall, my legs straight in front of me, my feet dangling over the water. Across the way I spied that red light again. Above us and glaring. But how to get there? And would there get us out?
“Who are you?” The girl turned her head toward me.
“Name’s Alex Noziak.”
“You’re the damn witch who wouldn’t help me earlier,” she shot back. Which stung, given I’d been dragging her sorry ass around for who knew how long, almost killing me in the process.
Okay, killing us both, but sometimes righteous indignation felt good. Like now.
“Where are we?” she demanded, raising her head a little and sniffing. “Damn, it stinks.”
“That stink would be you,” I said. Yes, snark was my second language, except in incidents like this when it was my first.
“Are we …?” She raised herself higher, which was pretty impressive given what she’d been through lately, but I wasn’t ready to give her credit for much yet. “Are we in the freakin’ sewers?”
“No.” I brushed my sopping wet hair as far away from my face as possible, not that it was helping anything. I was beginning to think a Sinead O’Connor look might be the way to go instead of my waist-length braid. I’d never get it clean. “The Savoy was booked so we’re in the lower level of the Ritz.”
“Asshole,” she snarled, pulling herself to a sitting position.
“That would be me.”
She must have decided silence was a smarter option as she looked around. She was a mess. But then so was I. If we ever got out of here, we’d have to find dry clothes to have a sinner’s hope in heaven of getting help.
“That a door?” she said, pointing to the rectangle of red I’d eyed earlier.
“Looks like it.”
“Then why don’t we … I dunno … go over there?”
I looked at her then, not that it’d be easy for her to see my glare in the murky shadows. “We’d been aiming for that. Damn near drowned us.” I turned away before I added, “That pool is way deeper than it looks and has a hell of an undertow to boot. You a good swimmer?”
“Don’t know how to swim at all.” Her voice suddenly sounded very young.
Great. I was going to have to play nice here. As the baby of my family, I didn’t get a lot of chances to play mercy nursey with younger siblings. Besides, the Noziak way seemed more along the lines of suck-up, buck-up and shut-up.
I went with the latter option. Until I heard the sounds.
“You hear that?” I scrambled to my feet, looking toward the tunnel that had spilled us out into the pool.
“No. What is it?” She stood too, inching herself up the wall, using it to support herself. Still, she didn’t complain. Which made me feel worse for verbally beating up on her.
A PIA I could deal with easier than someone trying to act brave when they were anything but. Which didn’t say a lot about me.
“There.” The echo had come again. “Not far now.”
“What’s not far?”
“Whoever is coming down the tunnel.”
I could hear her suck in a breath. I would have too but it’d take too much energy. Energy I needed to find a way out of here.
“Someone coming to help?” she asked, her voice ending on a high note.
“Don’t think so.”
She glanced my way, as if I were being a meanie on purpose. “It could be. You don’t know that for certain.”
“You’re right. I’m not certain about anything right now.” I didn’t bother looking at her, preferring to keep focused on the biggest threat. The one stomping through that tunnel. “But I do know there were several—” I caught myself, aware she was human and I’d almost said too much.
“Several what?” Did her voice hold an I-dare-you tone?
Nah. Too much yucky liquids on the brain. Though I was tempted to tell her the seven dwarves might be following us. I did say I could be snarky when stressed.
“Several bad guys, the same ones who hurt you back in the cell. My best guess is some, or all of them, will be arriving at the end of that tunnel any moment.”
I’d underestimated my timing as first one, then another appeared. Their shadows loomed against the walls, thicker blackness against the grayer tones, their breathing raspy as if they’d run more than we had, even the sound of them sniffing the air reverberated against the stone walls.
“What now?” the girl whispered. She didn’t panic, no matter how her heartbeat picked up.
And why could I hear that? Or maybe it was my own.
Either way, it looked like we might be in luck. Well, a very thin slice of luck, but given how much I’d found recently I’d take it.
There were only two threats, neither of them had spoken yet, but remained quiet, as predators did when hunting prey. Waiting for fear to spook their quarry.
“Do exactly what I say,” I mumbled in a half breath to the girl. “Exactly.”
She didn’t reply but did give me a hesitant nod.
I’d take it.
“Hey, assholes, come and get us,” I shouted, startling my companion beside me as I began jumping up and down. “Over here!”
I’m sure the girl thought I’d lost what marbles I might have possessed, but bless her heart, she started waving her own hands, after placing two fingers in her mouth and whistling.
That was above and beyond. I doubt I’d ever put my fingers in my mouth again if we got out of here.
But it worked.
The two Weres, for that’s what they were as I could smell their stench even here, growled in return.
But they didn’t move.
Great! We were probably up against the only two smart Were goons in the city.
My plan was simple. Weres, like shifters, had the same type of physiology, even in their human forms. They were dense masses, which is why they were so lethal as assailants. But put them in the water and they sank like stones.
All I wanted them to do was get riled enough to step forward, fall into the pool like I did, and let the water do the rest. If there’d been a half-dozen of them the ploy might not work, but with two, it just might.
If I could get them to move.
“Come on, idiots,” I called. Not too loud because I didn’t want their friends to join these two. My guess was the group had split up, sending an advance recon team in this direction, the rest taking the easier route back at the V in the tunnels. Shouting too loudly might attract the attention of the rest and that would be bad. Very bad.
“Assholes, afraid of fighting two women?” the girl beside me yelled. “Cowards.”
She was good. Aim for the ego if nothing else more vulnerable was available.
It seemed to work too, as one dark shadow threw off the restraint of the other and leapt forward. Just as fast, he disappeared.
The other must have edged too close to the lip of the tunnel as his arms churned, then splash, he hit the water.
Yes!
“What now?” The girl elbowed me. “Shouldn’t we find someplace to hide?”
“No.” The word held a finality to it that caught her attention. Snagged and held as her gaze followed mine toward the center of the pool.
Like spinning crocodiles in a death throw, the water whisked into a froth with too heavy arms beating uselessly against it. No voices cried out. Probably, because in panic a Were’s first instinct was to morph. Which would only hasten what was happening to them.
I swallowed. Deeply. Death, even to the bad guys, wasn’t an easy sight.
Within a few moments, all that was left was a lingering ripple across the pool’s surface. And silence.
“What happened to them?”
“What almost happened to us,” I snapped, hating that I stood by as two died, but knowing it’d have eventually come down to this. Survival of us, or survival of them. Besides, these two might have also been involved with my brother’s death, and if so, dying quickly was too easy for them.
I turned from where the girl stared at me. Probably wondering what kind of monster she was with. Didn’t blame her. I’d thought the same thing about myself more than once since joining the IR Agency.
But if we were going to get out of this hellhole, we didn’t have the luxury of a long memorial over the bodies of two wanna-be killers.
I started edging myself along the lip of concrete, aiming away from the tunnel opening and toward the beckoning red light. One hand on the wall for guidance, I inched one foot at a time ahead of me into the shadows. One unexpected dunking was enough, thank you very much. Wasn’t going to go ass over teakettle again, not if I could help it.
“Wait. Where are you going?” the girl cried behind me, catching the back of my shirt with her hand.
I paused but didn’t turn around. “Looking for a way out.”
“Is there one?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Certain?”
I knew what she was really asking. Since we’d both nearly drowned and then watched what looked like two adult males do just that, she wanted reassurances.
Somehow, I didn’t think she’d like the only kind of faith I could offer her. The one that went something like we’ll-get-out-or-die-trying.
So instead I lied. “Yes. I’m certain.”
Another step forward.
Chapter Twenty-two
I stumbled against the sudden blast of Bran calling my name. At least it felt like a cry, but as fast as it pierced me, it was gone.
“What is it?” the girl behind me asked.
I shook my head. Imagining things. “Nothing. Let’s keep going.”
What was happening to Bran? Why should I care? It wasn’t as if I didn’t have enough problems to deal with, but like a lingering echo, his voice haunted me.
Later. I’d figure out what was going on with him as soon as I could catch my breath.
It seemed like we’d snailed our way across the concrete far longer than the time it actually took to reach the end of the lip. Because I’d been moving so cautiously, this time I didn’t topple headfirst back into the pool. Barely.
“That’s it?” the girl’s voice was raising an octave a word, the pulse of her heart keeping pace. “What now?”
Like I had all the answers. I didn’t. But sharing that wasn’t going to help us. Instead, I squinted into the shadows around us, a little lighter here because we were nearer the red glowing door. Across from the base of the steps actually, though there was still a good dozen feet of murky liquid between the first stair and us.
It wasn’t still water either. Here I was close enough I could hear the churn of the whirlpool and guess at its origin. “I’d say there’s another tunnel beneath the water here, leading away and sucking anything in the pool toward it.”
“You thinking we can get out that way?”
I shook my head. “Not my first choice. We have no idea if the outflow tunnel here is solid water with no headroom for air or how far it might go on.”
“Or even if there is an exit,” the girl added.
“Good point.”
“So?”
I looked across the ten to twelve feet and weighed our odds. If I were by myself, I might make it. Maybe. I had no idea how long it’d been since I’d last eaten but could feel the fatigue weighting my limbs. Fighting exhaustion and a whirlpool were not a good mix. Then there was the whole dread of voluntarily easing back into the water. It was enough to have my stomach heaving.
And what about the girl?
She’d admitted she couldn’t swim. Could I get her across? Alive?
“I think we should stay here,” she said, all belligerence leeched from her voice.
“We have no food. No clean water, unless you want to drink that sludge. We’re not going to get stronger by sitting around in wet clothes.” Yeah, I was being intentionally brutal but I had to break through to her. It’d be hard enough helping her across with her assistance. I had no idea what would happen if she fought me.
Okay, I did know. We’d both drown.
“Look.” I turned toward her. “Last thing I want to do is get back into that pool and fight my way across to the other side … ”
“But?”
I turned away, ignoring the knotting in my stomach as I straightened my shoulders. “There’s no choice. You can come with me and I’ll do everything in my power to get us both out alive. Or—”
“Or you’d leave me.”
“I’m not going to fight you on this. Everyone should have their own choice.” And I meant it. It always came down to hard choices. My going after Van on my own with only Bran and his friends. Us ending up here instead of staying in the cells. My sending Bran to help my brother, which led to Van’s death. Choices always had ramifications and they were not always happy endings.
Sucking in a deep breath and thrusting my grief about Van back into an open bleeding wound somewhere inside of me I asked, “So you coming or not?”
She released a rusty laugh. “Yeah, death by drowning or starving.”
“I think the dehydration will kill you first.”
“Thanks.”
I eased myself down to the slab, sliding my feet and legs into the chilly liquid. Crapola, I didn’t want to do this.
“You don’t have any spells?” the girl asked, still standing, her back pressed so hard against the stone wall I was surprised she didn’t disappear into it.
“You mean a levitation spell? Or maybe a flying monkey leap?”
She wasn’t even looking at me. She was looking at the water. “I’d be happy with a stink-stink-stay-away spell.”
I actually caught a rough laugh bubbling up before I tamped it down. “Sorry. Fresh out of one of those.”
“Some all powerful witch you are,” she grumbled, like a petulant child, but she flopped down beside me before the last word was out of her mouth so I guess she’d made her choice. “Next time I end up in a cell it’s going to be with someone who has more magic than you.”
“You do that,” I said, turning myself to lower myself in deeper, holding on to the concrete lip like the edge of a swimming pool. When I was holding my upper body above water with my elbows, I looked at the girl. “The way I figure it, if you get in like I am, I’ll get behind you to hold your head up and out of the water.”
“While it’s pulling me down?”
“While it’s pulling both of us down,” I snapped. “I’ll use my left shoulder against this wall.” I tapped on the stone to my left. The one with an opening down its length somewhere. “You—” Damn, this was going to be harder than I thought. “If you can keep your legs and feet raised as high as possible, you’ll act like a wedge against the stone.” I slapped the wall again. “We’ll scrape along until we reach the steps there.” A nod indicated the end goal.
“And if I can’t do that?” she asked.
“We die.”
Yup, I could be the queen of bitchiness when needed. And boy did we need it.<
br />
Chapter Twenty-three
Bran said nothing as three simin fae flanked him on each side, silent and deadly. Until one spoke in a high-pitched, scratchy whisper, “This way.”
Not a lot of options. So he followed where they led, surprised when they headed toward Le Trianon. The building the Council of Seven met in a few days ago, and where he’d been headed when an attack by Weres on Alex derailed him.
Now he marched as if to an execution, which it very well might be. His own.
Not up the front stairs like visitors who posed to take photos, but around to a black side door. It’d always been said a black door attracted demons he recalled as he stepped from the spring freshness of outside, to the closed, stuffy air of a building created for a dead queen—Marie Antoinette.
Not that now was the time for history lessons, or any thoughts not focused on his survival.
No one knew where he was. No one expected him elsewhere, except for his business empire, whom he’d contacted earlier before he left to meet with Stone and left a message that he might be out of communication for a few days. No one who would raise an alarm if he never walked out of this building.
Knowing he was being brought before the Council, that was a very real possibility.
Time to end this charade, knowing the simin fae would slice him down before he moved far, though he was willing to take the risk. Besides, he possessed mage abilities that could take them off guard. All he needed was a moment or two.
He paused, causing the fae to halt, their gazes snapping to his.
Their leader spoke, “We’re late.”
“You might be,” he mumbled as he braced himself to cast a spell he’d only attempted once before.
“Air to wind, Earth to dust.
By water and by fire, I call thee.”
The fae started rustling, looking between one another. That was the Achilles heel of simin fae. They were warriors, through and through, but not generals.
He raised his hands ever so slightly but enough to call to the east and to the west.
“Trouble to heed and trouble to disperse.
INVISIBLE FATE BOOK THREE: ALEX NOZIAK (INVISIBLE RECRUITS) Page 10