My wet clothes were plastered to my body. Without the blanket, goosebumps rose on my bare arms.
“You look cold.” He didn’t move or say anything else, but the water evaporated from my clothes. In a moment, I was as dry as if I’d never fallen into the canal. He nodded in satisfaction. “That’s better.”
I stared. This guy had some serious power. Lucas and Syl removed their blankets, too, and they were also dry underneath. That would make Syl happy, at least. Lucas helped her onto the jetty. I patted my pocket, checking reflexively for the key before I joined them.
“Oh, shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Lucas turned back, instantly ready to defend me, but there was nothing he could do about this.
I could feel the blood draining from my face. We were so screwed. Our whole plan hinged on that key. “The key’s gone. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I went into the water.”
“Oh, no.” Syl’s hands flew to her mouth.
“Lost something?” Mac asked.
I nodded, my mind numb. What would we do? There was no more star-metal to make another. Hades would be trapped in that collar forever, if we could even break him out of the shadow shapers’ house. Our escape plan had depended on him being at full strength. Frantically, I cast my mind into the water, searching for fish I could use to find the key, but the water was strangely free of aquatic life. The Merrow must have frightened them all away.
“A key. I needed it for—for my friend.”
“Friends are important.” He turned and looked out over the dark canal. After a moment, he said, “Is it a dull silver colour?”
“Yes.” I stared at him, hardly daring to hope.
A column of water erupted beside the boat. Mac reached into it. Was that—?
It was. He held out his hand. The key lay in his palm, undamaged by its sojourn in the depths. I took it from him almost reverently. Who was this guy?
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Give my regards to your friend,” he said.
I nodded, unable to speak, and stepped off the boat. He raised a hand in farewell as the boat turned silently away from the jetty.
“What did you make of him?” I asked, watching until the boat disappeared into the dark. My mind was still blown by what had just happened.
“Fishy as all hell,” Lucas growled. “Had he been watching us? He just came out of nowhere.”
“Maybe he set those Merrow on us,” Syl said.
“So he could rescue us and make a big fellow of himself?” I shook my head. That didn’t feel right. Not only had he saved our lives, but he’d retrieved the precious key as well. “What would be the point of that? Maybe he was watching the shadow shapers himself.”
“Maybe.” That thought seemed to cheer her. “And he did get the key back. Just tell me that I don’t have to get back into a boat for the rest of the night.”
“Damn. There goes plan A.”
She growled and shoved me in the shoulder. “Don’t mess with me, girl.”
Cerberus appeared out of the dark, tongues lolling out in happy greeting.
“You’ll like plan B, though,” I told her. “I thought we’d swim up the river disguised as Merrow.”
“You think you’re such a comedian.” She stepped off the jetty, moving away from the hated water. “Don’t give up your day job.”
12
Two hours later, a small black cat strolled along the top of the wall that separated the shadow shapers’ property from its neighbour as if she owned it. Lucas and I, plus the three Cerberuses—Cerberi?—waited in the darkness on the other side of the wall. A couple of cars had left the mansion an hour ago and the people who remained had gone to their rooms on the top floor.
*Do you see anyone?* I asked Syl.
*Nope. No lights on anywhere inside the house. Just out here.*
The yard was still brightly lit, the spotlights blazing down on the tennis court as if they were about to play a tournament there. That posed something of a problem. I slid into Syl’s mind and looked out of her eyes.
*That balcony door up on the left-hand side looks good.* There were five smaller balconies on the top level of the massive house, all with sliding doors leading inside. Probably bedrooms. It looked as though somebody liked plenty of fresh air while they slept, because they’d left their balcony door open. All we had to do was climb up to it and, hey, presto—instant access.
*As long as you can get to it without being caught on camera.*
Yes, that was the problem. Four cameras mounted high up on the sides of the house were probably never even noticed by the guests, but they were a serious headache for us.
“This place has more security than the bloody Ruby Palace,” I complained to Lucas. There, I’d summoned cockroaches to swarm the lenses of a couple of cameras for the moment’s cover I’d needed. But I couldn’t pull that stunt again. Here, the shadow shapers would be expecting a rescue attempt. If four camera feeds went out at once, all hell would break loose.
Lucas crouched beside me in the shadow of the wall. “Maybe no one’s monitoring the cameras at this time of night. They might all be in bed.”
They might be, but I couldn’t afford to risk it. I sent my mind out in search of the bright spark that was the little dog I’d used earlier. He was asleep, curled up on the foot of someone’s bed, so I prodded him awake. Fortunately, the bedroom door wasn’t closed. He hopped down onto the thick carpet and trotted out into the hallway at my direction, and we hurried through the dark house together.
On the next floor down the living areas, with their huge glass walls open to the floodlit yard, were bright, their glittering elegance cold and empty, now, without people. We easily found our way through the kitchen to the small spiral staircase that led down to the basement area. The tiny clicks of the dog’s claws on the marble floor were the only sound in the stillness.
At the bottom of the stairs, the lounge area and the gym were dark, but light spilled in a bright rectangle across the hallway from the open door of the guard room. Damn. It had been too much to hope that there would be no one on duty in the wee hours of the morning. The shadow shapers knew that Hades had friends, and we wouldn’t let them have him without a fight. At least they hadn’t managed to get their hands on the Helm. Safe back in the underworld with Hephaistos, it was the only thing keeping Hades alive.
I paused the dog in the doorway. The man on duty was slouched in his chair, feet up on the long desk, his phone in his hand. He was scrolling through something on the phone, but every few seconds his gaze would flick to the monitors, checking that nothing had changed. Did we have time to sprint from the wall to the side of the house in those moments of inattention?
Maybe, but to then climb up to the balcony? Scroll, scroll, flick. I counted the seconds. Scroll, scroll, flick. Damn. Either he was too diligent, or his feed wasn’t interesting enough. I needed his girlfriend to send him nudes, or something equally distracting.
Outside, I stood up. “Get ready,” I said to Lucas.
*Are we moving?* Syl asked, peering down at me from the top of the wall. *What’s the plan?*
*You stay here and keep watch.* I said. *Lucas and I are going in. And make sure you don’t get distracted this time.* I didn’t want a repeat of the disaster with Rosie and Winston and the “trapped cat”. We wouldn’t be able to talk our way out of trouble this time.
*You said there was a secret compartment! What was I supposed to do?*
*You were supposed to stay on watch. But don’t worry, if I find any secret compartments this time, you’ll be the last person I tell.*
She stalked away along the wall with a grumpy flick of her tail. Lucas waited patiently beside me, his eyes trained on my face.
“We don’t have a big window,” I told him. Cerberus listened, too, red eyes unblinking, ears pricked. “There’s a guy watching the camera feed, and I’m going to try distracting him with the dog. When I say ‘go’, we have to move.”
*SAVE MASTER
NOW?* Cerberus asked, the tips of his tails twitching in the smallest of wags.
Should I get him to re-form into one giant hellhound again? Maybe once we were in. I wasn’t sure his massive bulk would fit through that door on the balcony. *Yes. Stay close.*
I turned my attention to the little white dog inside. The guard hadn’t noticed him yet. His feet were still on the desk, the chair swivelled away from the door.
Okay, time to get this party started. I sent the dog charging down the hall toward Hades’ room, barking his little fluffy head off. The guard’s feet thudded to the floor.
“Go!” I said to Lucas.
He boosted me up, and I caught the top of the wall and scrambled over, dropping to the soft grass on the other side. In a moment, he was beside me. The three Cerberi sailed over the wall as if it wasn’t even there, and led the way toward the house.
I pounded along in their wake, heart pumping. We were so exposed. All it would take was for one person to look out a window …
Inside, the guard flicked on the hallway light. “What the hell are you fussing about, dog? What are you barking at?” He carried a gun, and looked alert but not threatening. “Shut up before you wake the whole house.”
I thought he—and we—were probably safe enough in that regard. At least two levels of the house separated the subterranean hallway from any of the bedrooms. Most of the sleepers wouldn’t be disturbed by the dog’s high-pitched barking.
We ran up onto the terrace and paused beneath the balcony with the open door. It was higher than the wall we’d just climbed, and there were no handy trees—not even a drainpipe. Not that they usually worked, despite all the books I’d read where people managed to shin up a conveniently placed drainpipe as easily as if it were a ladder and not a smooth pipe that was far more likely to pull away from the wall and dump you on your arse. Noisily.
One of the Cerberi took a running start and leapt into the air, his front paws catching the railing above with a thud that sounded horribly loud in the still night. My heart leapt into my mouth as I watched his back feet scrabbling against empty air, fighting to pull himself up.
*Stand there and don’t move,* I ordered the nearest Cerberus, then threw myself on his back, feeling like a circus performer as I struggled to find my feet. He kept as still as he could, considering the urgency thrumming through his body. I could feel it through our link. He wanted nothing more than to rend his way through our enemies to Hades’ side. But despite his stillness and the broadness of his back, I wobbled like a kid trying to stand on a surfboard for the first time. I managed to grab hold of the balcony railing above me seconds before I lost my balance completely and ended up flat on my back on the flagstones.
The Cerberus above me nosed the balcony door open.
*Wait!* I shot at him. *Wait for the rest of us.*
He didn’t bother replying, just shouldered his way through the door. Dammit. I hauled myself up onto the balcony, trying to force him to stop, but with my attention divided between him and what was going on downstairs, I couldn’t summon enough power to compel him.
It all happened so quickly. One minute, I was clambering over the railing, Lucas by my side, watching the first Cerberus’s hindquarters disappearing into the dark house while another nearly shoved me back over the railing in his eagerness to join the first. The next minute, there was an almighty boom and a blinding flash of light. I threw my arms up to shield my face. Something pierced my leg, my shoulder, my arm. My ears rang, and I was only dimly aware of Lucas’s big body between me and the blast.
The balcony groaned, and one side dropped with a jolt that threw me from my feet. I landed on something large and warm. Cerberus. He wasn’t moving. I turned my head, forcing myself to my hands and knees. What was happening?
Lucas knelt beside me, shaking his head as if to clear it. He was covered in blood, and pieces of glass stuck out of him as if he were a werewolf pincushion. Something warm trickled down my arm. Blood. A jagged piece of glass stuck out of my shoulder. Broken glass lay everywhere, blasted out of the balcony door. Cerberus’s black fur sparkled as if a thousand diamonds had been scattered over him. His chest rose and fell, but otherwise, he was still.
I staggered to my feet, picking glass off me, surveying the gaping hole that led into the house.
*Holy crap, are you all right?* Syl’s panicked voice sounded in my head. *What the hell was that?*
*Bomb.*
Inside was a war zone. It may have been a bedroom once, but there was no furniture left, only pieces of kindling that might once have been a bed. Fire smouldered sluggishly among the ruins.
They had known we would come. That balcony door, so conveniently left open—why had I not seen it for the trap it was? Rage burned within me. I was a fool. We had walked straight into it.
On the far side of the room, a black shape lay, thrown against the wall like a discarded toy. I stepped inside.
“What are you doing?” Lucas hissed. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
I ignored him.
*Lexi, no!* Syl shouted. *You’ll be caught! Come on!*
I ignored her, too, sending my mind out toward the huddled shape. The red fire of his life force flickered, barely more than a spark. Shouts of alarm sounded through the house. The guard downstairs pounded up the stairs, the little white dog at his heels.
I dropped to my knees at Cerberus’s side. One of his front legs had been severed, and black blood pulsed sluggishly from the stump. Half of his body was raw flesh, his fur burned away in the blast. Through a gaping hole in his side, I could see the glistening coils of intestines—and blood, blood everywhere. I reached out a hand, but there was nowhere I could touch him that wouldn’t add to his agony. My hand fell limply back to my lap.
“We have to leave him.” Lucas tugged insistently at my arm. His words sounded very far away, lost to the ringing in my ears.
I snatched my arm away. “I don’t understand. He’s a hellhound. He took on all those shadow shapers without a scratch.” Back in Newport, nothing could touch him. How could he be lying here like this?
Lucas bent over, hugging an arm around his middle. He looked as though someone had poured a bucket of blood over his head. “Lexi, we only have a moment. We’ve got to get out while we still can. There’s nothing you can do for him. The others are both lying down like someone just flipped the off switch. We have to leave them.”
I glanced over my shoulder to the balcony, where the second Cerberus lay as still as death, though he was nowhere near as wounded as this one. The third hadn’t even made it to the balcony—and yet he had collapsed, too?
“Please, Lexi,” Lucas said, catching at my arm again. His eyes were yellowing, the wolf very close to the surface. “I have to change. I need the wolf to deal with this much damage. But I don’t want to leave you.”
Running feet in the corridor. Lucas gazed at me imploringly, his eyes blazing golden. We were almost out of time. I sighed, a great shuddering breath, and chased after that dying red spark deep within the wreck of Cerberus’s body. Lucas’s hand fell away from my arm, and I was dimly aware of him convulsing by my side. But I was focused on that spark, gathering it, folding it protectively into myself. If I could just hold onto it long enough to reunite it with its other two parts, perhaps he could be made whole again. United, they had been invincible. Perhaps it was only because they’d been separated that they were vulnerable.
The spark flickered, dangerously close to going out. A sob shuddered through me, but I clung to it with fierce determination, pushing some of my own life force at it. I was not going to lose him. With another part of my mind, I reached out, searching for the other two parts of him. Their red fires should be burning much brighter, easy to find. Hell, I could see one of the Cerberi right there on the balcony. His life force glowed, but I couldn’t reach it. It was as if it was on the other side of a pane of glass. I pushed against the barrier, but nothing happened.
Fur brushed against me—Lucas had shifted. His wo
lf stretched out, panting, at my side, his life force a vivid glow next to me. I laid a hand on his warm flank and pushed again with my mind, shoving the tiny spark of Cerberus’s life force toward that other red light, so tantalisingly close on the other side of the barrier. My head pounded with effort and my sight dimmed, but I kept pushing.
*Cerberus!* I begged. *Let me in!*
But there was no response, and the barrier wouldn’t fall. Suddenly, the room was full of people, but I could barely see, my consciousness slipping away. Cerberus’s tiny spark was slipping from my grasp, too. No! I couldn’t lose him. There was only one thing left to try. I clenched my fist in the werewolf’s fur. With my last remaining strength, I shoved the flickering spark at the bright glow of the werewolf beside me. Then I face-planted in his fur as blackness descended.
13
When I woke, my head throbbed as though someone in hobnailed boots was tap-dancing on the inside of my skull. Blearily, I blinked up at an unfamiliar ceiling, lit by a single globe. A small red light blinked back—a camera, watching my every move. I sat up, holding my head as if it might fall off if I moved too quickly. God, it hurt. Had I given myself some kind of magical injury in my attempts to reach Cerberus?
Something rattled as my feet hit the floor. In my bleary state, it took me way longer than it should have to realise that the something was a chain, and it was attached to my ankle. The other end of the chain was bolted to the bedframe. The bastards. I showed the camera my middle finger.
On the floor lay the two uninjured Cerberi, also chained. Their chains attached to a giant metal ring in the floor. If Jake were here, he would have made short work of those chains. I sighed. We could have used some of that metalshaping magic of his. But if he had been here, they would have collared him with one of their magic-blocking collars, and he would have been in the same boat as Hades, cut off from his powers.
My hand leapt to my throat in sudden fear, but I found only skin. Either they didn’t have enough collars to go around, or they didn’t find my power to control animals threatening enough to warrant a collar. That was something, at least. It meant I could still talk to Syl, and to Lucas, too, if he were still in werewolf form. They didn’t know I could do that, and we had few enough advantages over them.
Hidden Goddess (Shadows of the Immortals Book 4) Page 12