“I’m here,” I said, leaning close to Jake’s ear to be heard above the noise of battle. “I’m wearing the Helm.”
“Stay close,” Jake said, “so I can protect you.”
Three fireshapers stood arrayed against Jake, lined up shoulder to shoulder just inside the golden door. Between them and Jake, a furnace roared, in which I caught occasional glimpses of the half-melted suits of armour lying on the floor. Whatever magic had animated them obviously wasn’t proof against the fireshapers’ power. Hephaistos had probably only been expecting mortal thieves.
“Friends of yours?” I asked.
“I would have said so once,” Jake ground out between clenched teeth. His face showed the effort he was putting into his barrier of flame. “The one in the middle is a fellow councillor, and the other two are the Ruby Adept’s nephews.”
Shit. This was worse than I thought. It seemed the Ruby Council was taking its usual “strike first and ask questions later” approach. You would think that there might have been some leeway given to a fellow councillor, but apparently not. It was a dog-eat-dog world out there in fireshaper-land.
I cast a longing look back at the wall of weapons. I didn’t dare risk leaving Jake’s protective bubble to grab one now, though. But I still had my knife.
“Which one do you want me to skewer?” This would be like shooting fish in a barrel. They wouldn’t even see the knife until it left my hand, and with all this fire between us, chances were good they wouldn’t notice it until it speared them right through the eye.
“Wait a second,” Jake said. “Let’s try negotiating first.”
I had a feeling negotiating wouldn’t work with these guys. I gripped my knife, ready to let it fly as soon as he gave the word.
“What do you want, Owen?” Jake shouted above the roar of flame.
“Your head on a stick, if it were up to me,” the guy in the middle replied. “But the Ruby Adept wants you alive, unfortunately.”
“Is there no one left on the Council who isn’t in league with the shadow shapers?” Jake roared. His face glistened with sweat. He was a powerful fireshaper—one of the most powerful on the Council—but three against one wasn’t a fair fight. “I thought Anders was the only rotten apple in the barrel, but it seems I was mistaken.”
“Shadow shapers! You think you can scare us with your children’s fairy tales?” I couldn’t see his face clearly through the flame, but I could picture the sneer on Owen’s face from the venom dripping from his tone. “You killed a fellow councillor, and now you think you can excuse it by sending us on a wild goose chase for something that doesn’t even exist. Justice isn’t that easy to escape.”
I bristled at the shaper’s easy use of the word “justice”. What did any of them know about the subject? This guy had probably just been waiting for a chance to take Jake down. It seemed that climbing over the bodies of their fellows was the only way they knew to get ahead.
“You’re a fool if you don’t believe me,” Jake snarled. “Let me talk to the Ruby Adept. I can’t believe you have his blessing to attack me like this. What happened to due process? What happened to the judgement of my peers?”
“You happened to it,” said a new voice. Beyond the wall of flame, the golden door had opened, admitting a new figure. He strode forward, right through the flames, until he stood just the other side of Jake’s fiery shield. My heart sank. I knew this guy. Last time I’d seen him, he’d been lying naked on the carpet at my feet, but I still recognised that balding head, that fleshy face. He was wearing more clothes now, but it was the Ruby Adept himself.
“Robert,” Jake said, and his shield of flame faltered a little. “You too?”
“You said you wanted to speak to me, Jacob,” the Ruby Adept said in a conversational tone. “Here I am. Talk to me.” He folded his hands over his sagging belly, and assumed an expectant expression.
“Remember, he was wearing the ring,” I whispered in Jake’s ear.
Jake nodded, the smallest of motions. When I’d stolen Apollo’s ring from the Ruby Adept, we’d both expected it to be hidden away in a safe. But it turned out the guy was wearing it, which, at best, suggested a lack of respect for the god of his order. At worst, it made him a shadow shaper.
“What’s the point, if you’re in league with them, too?” Jake’s voice was heavy with bitterness. Perhaps, in spite of the irregularity with the ring, he had believed the Ruby Adept was still on the side of righteousness.
“In league with whom, Jacob?” The Ruby Adept assumed the patient expression of a man speaking to a small child. “There are no such things as shadow shapers. Not outside your imagination, anyway.”
One of the fireshapers behind him sniggered. They’d dropped their flames for this conversation, although they stood ready to renew the battle at a moment’s notice. Jake, I was pleased to see, wasn’t so trusting. His fiery shield was still in place, separating us from the Ruby Adept.
“But there is the small matter of the murder of Erik Anders,” the Ruby Adept continued, his voice hardening. “I’m afraid you can’t explain that away. Cameras all around the Plaza of the Sun caught your attack on him—and then he disappears, and you expect us to believe you had nothing to do with it? You were also in the company of a woman believed to have stolen something very precious from me, though I see you have abandoned her just as easily as you abandoned your fellow councillors.”
I bristled on Jake’s behalf, even though the accusations were untrue. Sure, Jake and Anders had fought in the plaza—very publicly—but it had been Hades who’d later killed him, in Berkley’s Bay. And gotten rid of the body. Without that, how were they so sure he was dead? Maybe I’d send my knife whizzing into the Ruby Adept’s eye, the crooked bastard, instead of Owen’s. And how could he know that I was the one who’d stolen the ring, unless Erik Anders had told him? All he had seen of me were my boots. If he had been in league with Anders, he wasn’t one of the good guys.
Clearly, Jake had come to this conclusion as well. “How do you manage to sleep at night?” he marvelled. “You had the avatar of Apollo himself in your possession, and all you could think of was your own power. You didn’t spare a thought for the god you professed to worship, did you? I suppose you knew what he was enduring and you just didn’t care.”
The Ruby Adept gave up all pretence of politeness. “Where is that ring now?” he snarled.
“On Apollo’s finger, where it should be,” Jake said.
The Ruby Adept laughed. “Oh, really? You selflessly returned the avatar to Lord Apollo, did you? One wonders why he has not returned in all his glory, then. You’re lying, Jacob. I know you still have it.” He lowered his voice to a menacing growl. “And I want it back.”
Jake laughed. “And what’s in it for me? I give you the ring, you kill me. Hardly an incentive, is it?”
The Ruby Adept beamed. “Well, I’m glad to see you haven’t completely lost your mind. Let’s talk about that, shall we? If you return the ring, I’m sure we could come to some arrangement about those murder charges.” His eyes gleamed demonically, reflecting the flames from Jake’s wall of fire. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could kick his flabby arse.
“I don’t have the ring on me,” Jake said.
“I didn’t expect you to.” The Ruby Adept sounded almost approving. “I imagine you have it hidden somewhere safe. Why don’t you drop those shield flames, and we can talk about this like reasonable men.”
“Give me a moment. I’ll pray to Lord Apollo for guidance.”
The Ruby Adept eyed him thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged. “Go right ahead.”
Jake turned slightly away from the man and bowed his head.
“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered, fear strangling my voice. “You can’t trust this guy. He’s going to stab you in the back the minute he gets the chance.”
“Not until he gets that ring,” Jake muttered, head still down, doing a good impression of a man communing with his god. “I can stall
them for a while. He’ll expect me to try to cut some kind of deal now, in the hope of doublecrossing him later.”
“Let me kill him. That will even up the odds a little.”
“Not enough. I can’t beat those other three. I don’t even know how much longer I can keep this shield up for. And the minute I drop it, they’ll be on me like a pack of starving wolves, unless I make them think I’ll play their game.”
“Then what do we do?” All I had was my knife. “Maybe I can sneak around behind them, knock them out or something.”
“No, don’t do that. It’s too risky. The important thing is to free Apollo. Take the metal from my pocket and get it back to the underworld.”
“But Hephaistos—”
“—can’t work the star-metal anymore now he’s dead. Yes, I know. But Apollo is a smith, too. Give it to him. He can make the key, probably better than I can.”
“Even with the collar on?”
“Smithing doesn’t require magic, only muscles.”
“But what about you? If you don’t get back to Styx in time, you’ll die.” He couldn’t afford to spend an extended period behind bars. Or any period, actually. His life was measured in hours unless he fulfilled his side of the bargain with the nymph of the black river. I was so afraid for him I could barely think.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure something out. Free Apollo.”
“There’s got to be a better way.” I hated the thought of leaving him, but in my panic, I couldn’t come up with an alternative. Four fireshapers on one side versus one fireshaper on the other, and no prospect of any help finding us here, tucked away from reality. We were out of options, and my heart beat a panicked tattoo against my ribs.
“Just do it. Take the star-metal now. Go.”
I reached into his back pocket and withdrew the small bar of precious metal. Was it really worth this kind of sacrifice? Jake placed himself in danger so calmly, but I was a long way from calm. The ticking of the clock in my head grew louder, adding to my fear. We’d already used a couple of those precious hours searching for the star-metal. What if Apollo couldn’t make the key in time?
I threw my arms around him for a moment and pressed my lips to his, inhaling his familiar smoky scent. “I’ll come back for you. I swear it.”
Jake finished his “prayers” and dropped his shield. The Ruby Adept smiled as the flames winked out, and my desire to put a knife through him increased tenfold, but I clenched the star-metal in my fist and held back. If I could have thought of any other way out of the situation, I wouldn’t have let Jake do it. His devotion to Apollo was unprecedented, and I felt sure it was leading him to a terrible mistake. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised; I already knew how much he’d been through for the sake of his god. I’d seen the vicious scars of the whip on his back. How would it feel to be the object of such complete devotion? I felt a twinge of jealousy—I’d probably never know. Apollo had better bloody be worth it.
“Excellent choice,” the Ruby Adept said, still wearing that infuriating smirk. “I’m sure we can work out something to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Oh, yeah? The only way I was getting any satisfaction out of this arrangement would be when I got to watch Apollo smite this guy. Until then, I had to be content imagining all kinds of painful deaths for the Ruby Adept and his minions.
But Apollo was waiting—the undeserving swine—and Syl, too. Vengeance would have to be delayed a little longer. Quietly, I moved away, towards the golden door.
“It will take me some time to retrieve the ring,” Jake said as the Ruby Adept beckoned his minions forward.
“Owen and the boys will be happy to take care of that for you,” the Ruby Adept said. “All we need is a location.”
The other fireshapers surrounded Jake. He made no attempt to defend himself as they closed on him. Something glinted in Owen’s fist, and I whipped my knife up again. Plan be damned; I wasn’t standing by while he stabbed Jake in the back.
But it wasn’t a knife, only a hypodermic, as it turned out and, in the split second I hesitated, he’d plunged it into Jake’s neck.
They’re not going to kill him, I told myself. They want that ring.
Standing by and letting him do it was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Grow a set, Lexi. If Jake can handle it, so can you.
Jake’s eyes rolled back in his head and he sagged against a waiting fireshaper. Two of them ducked under his arms in a well-rehearsed movement and took his weight, while Owen diverted to pick up the backpack Jake had left on the floor next to the heavy wooden chests.
Oh, shit. The backpack.
Inside it was the horn I needed to get back to the underworld.
12
God, how could I have been so stupid? My own pack was firmly on my back—much good that did me. Admittedly, the last few moments had been kind of busy with life-and-death decisions and avoiding being fried, but how could I forget the horn? Here I was, all ready to take the star-metal back to the underworld, and my way back was heading for the door, surrounded by fireshapers. You had one job, Lexi.
I hurried after them, fuelled by the fear that slammed into me as I realised that if I couldn’t follow them back to wherever they’d come from, I had no other way of leaving this place. I’d be stuck here forever.
Owen had the door open and was out in a flash. I hung back as his two companions manhandled Jake’s dead weight through the door, frantic to get my hands on that backpack. The Ruby Adept followed them and I slipped through on his heels, anxious to get out before they slammed the door and trapped me in the forge. It was a delicate dance, making sure that no one bumped against me, and for a moment, I was oblivious of the world we had stepped into.
When I realised where I was, my mouth fell open. I spun to look back at the golden door, but it was no longer there. From all appearances, we had just stepped out of a solicitor’s office, and now I was standing on the pavement in downtown Crosston. This was insane. Where was the tropical island that we’d seen when we first arrived from the underworld? How had they managed to open the way to Hephaistos’s forge from here?
A long black limousine idled at the curb, and the fireshapers bundled Jake into it with ruthless efficiency. I leapt forward, my heart beating a panicked staccato against my ribs, but there was no way to get into the car with them without being discovered. I was forced to stand there and watch it pull away. There was nothing I could do.
I guess I knew where they were taking him anyway. The Ruby Palace in the centre of town was the heart of the fireshapers’ empire. I knew it well, and my feet instinctively turned in its direction as the car rounded a corner and disappeared from view.
But I had other responsibilities. The bar of star-metal was still clenched in my invisible fist. It was heavy, but not as heavy as the weight on my heart. My instinct was to run after them and do everything in my power to free Jake, but if I did, we risked losing everything. The tension between my desire and my duty thrummed in every part of my body. I didn’t even know what time it was, much less which day. Night had fallen and the street lights were on. How much time did Jake have left?
And how the hell was I going to get to the underworld now?
When the street was clear, I took off the Helm and stowed it and the star-metal safely in my backpack, then set off in the opposite direction to the one which the car had taken. I felt an almost physical pain at turning my back on Jake, but he had sacrificed a lot for this chance and it was up to me to make it work. I had no phone, no wallet, no money, and no friends. I needed a miracle, and I had only one faint hope of finding one.
My path took me through the famous Plaza of the Sun. The great bronze statue of Apollo was back on its plinth, and someone must have found an earthshaper to rebuild the wall around it. No one had bothered to fix the facade of the building that Apollo’s spear had plunged into, though. The sight of that jagged hole made me smile in spite of our dire situation. I hurried through the Plaza and up the hill of Jackson
Avenue. Popular restaurants lined the road on either side, boasting cuisines from all over the world. Most of them had tables and chairs out on the pavement, and inviting smells wafted from their open doors—garlic and steak and the sharp tang of rosemary, cinnamon, and fennel, plus other herbs I couldn’t identify. Many of the tables were full already, and the sounds of clinking cutlery and laughter followed me up the road. My empty stomach rumbled as I marched determinedly on.
Away from the bright lights of the restaurant strip, I came to a less affluent area, where apartment buildings huddled together, all squashed in cheek by jowl. This close to the centre of town, they’d be worth a pretty penny, and they were certainly better than the building where Syl and I had lived so briefly, but I much preferred my little apartment over the bookshop in Berkley’s Bay. It was small, but nothing beat the view of the ocean and the sound of the waves lulling me to sleep at night. I could hardly wait to get back there.
My shoes tapped on the hard concrete, echoing in the empty street. The air smelled of rain, though the ground was dry. Must be a storm on the way. I cast my mind out, just because I could, for the joy of touching those little sparks of animal life that lurked everywhere in a big shaper city the size of Crosston. I hadn’t realised how much I had missed my ability to do this until it was taken away from me. I sharpened my eyesight with a link to a cat prowling the rooftops above me. It felt so natural. The scarcity of animal life in the underworld had made me feel as if I had lost one of my senses.
Most of the people I had known when I lived in Crosston before had died in the fire that destroyed our apartment block. The ones who hadn’t probably wouldn’t welcome me. That left me with only one person to turn to, although I had never met him. I wasn’t precisely sure where I was going, but in one of those conversations where Joe was always singing his brother’s praises, he’d said that Lucas worked as a bouncer at a nightclub on Dixon Street. I knew that Dixon ran off Park Avenue, and I was nearly there. There probably wouldn’t be more than one nightclub in the street.
Rivers of Hell (Shadows of the Immortals Book 3) Page 13