Cheating Death

by April White

  “What the hell!” Cole growled. “She can’t send that message to the bastard. He’ll take kids for leverage in a heartbeat, and you two are as good as dead if he gets his hands on you.”

  I turned around, but I only had eyes for Raven. “Send the message, Raven.”

  She held my gaze for the space of five heartbeats, and then she nodded once. “I’ll send it.”

  Olivia and Charlie had scoured the attics for every piece of dark clothing they could find, and the group assembled in front of us was dressed in the oddest assortment of vintage clothes I’d ever seen. There was a lot of Victorian-style men’s clothing spread around, which gave the solarium the distinct feeling of a Steampunk party. The girls had tried to give me a black topcoat and hat, but Archer’s closets held plenty of long-sleeved fitted black t-shirts, and my mom had packed a bag of clothes for me before she came to St. Brigid’s, so I was comfortable in black skinny jeans with ankle holsters for my knives, my combat boots, and one of Archer’s black shirts.

  Ava and Tom were the only ones not dressed in dark clothes. They would coordinate resources inside the building, and Tam would go with the rest of us into the woods so Ava would have eyes on the outside. Tam’s green hair was covered by a navy blue balaclava, and without all that distracting color, I found him to be quite handsome. Apparently Ava did too, because they were surreptitiously holding hands.

  On Tom’s advice, we had gone quietly to people, either alone or in small groups, and told them their part in the plan. Only a handful of people knew the whole picture – partly for security, but also because we really didn’t want everyone to know how ridiculous we were for imagining we could pull this thing off. It was a two-part plan. The attacks on the Mongers in the woods to free the school was part one – dangerous, but not outrageous. It was part two that made us feel like B-movie writers with no budget and an impossible task.

  It was nearly midnight, and the mood in the room was equal parts solemn and giddy. The first wave of trappers, with Adam, Archer, Connor, and Ringo among them, was ready. Tom came over to us and gave Adam a hug, then he slapped Ringo on the back, and surprisingly, shook Colin Zhang’s hand. His tone was stern when he spoke to me. “Five minutes, in and out.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said, grinning at the black knight chess piece in his hand.

  I made sure everyone was linked to both Charlie and myself, kissed Archer quickly on the cheek, and started tracing.

  We had counted on the moonless night to help conceal our traps, and it was so dark that Adam nearly fell into one when he stepped off the granite slab. Connor quickly Shifted, then led the group away into the woods, where the few noises they made melted into the silence.

  Charlie and I were back with the second and third groups as quickly, and by the time everyone was in position, Archer had returned and was ready to leave with me for phase two.

  Adam and Connor had been told where the warded shack was, so if things went bad, they could lead people there. Ringo flashed me three fingers – Archer and I had exactly three minutes until everything kicked off.

  I blew a kiss to Charlie in her tree, hugged Ringo quickly, then grabbed Archer’s hand.

  “Let’s do this,” I whispered.

  We Clocked directly into the walled garden at Elian Manor. Beck, Bauer, and Logan, who had flown in as Birds, waited for us there, already clothed with things that Liz had left for them. For this part of the plan to work, our assumption that the garden would be surrounded when we opened the gate had to be right.

  It was.

  “Hands up where we can see them,” growled a man’s voice in a tone that sent Monger-induced vomitousness straight to my gut. And just like that, it began.

  The Ring

  There were four guys in tactical gear pointing weapons at us as we exited the garden, and I don’t think any of us was immune to the fear the sight of them induced. Archer stepped out first, his hands high in the air, followed by the girls and Logan, with me at the rear. Knowing that Jeeves and the gardeners were hidden with rifles in the trees above us didn’t really quell the terror pumping through my veins.

  I protested that they let the kids go free, but the Mongers ignored me, zip-tied our wrists and ankles together, and loaded us into the back of a box truck. I struggled to push down the memory of the last time I was in this position, but my heart rate sped up and panicked breaths began to build in my chest.

  “Hey,” Archer murmured in my ear. “We knew they’d do this. It’s okay, you’re fine.”

  The whites of my eyes must have been showing, because Logan smirked at me. “Put a lid on the crazy, Saira. If I cut you out now, they’ll find the knives.”

  I nodded and swallowed, hard. The truck started moving, and I took a deep breath to shove the panic away. We made a couple of turns, which I tracked from memory, and when we made it onto the expressway, I nodded to Beck and Bauer. “Okay girls, when the doors open, get out of here and fly back to school. As soon as you get there, find Tom and tell him where we are.”

  They nodded silently.

  “I’m really proud of you both for how brave you were back there.”

  One of them, Beck, I think, whispered, “I just kept imagining them without trousers, and then I had a job not to giggle.”

  “Me too!” her twin announced, and this set off a wave of quiet laughter that made the panic loosen its grip on my throat.

  The truck turned off the expressway, and I closed my eyes to imagine the route we were taking into London. Anticipating where Seth would have us taken was the biggest question mark of the night. There were a lot of variables and things that could go wrong, but others’ ability to find us was the key to getting out of this alive.

  “All right, it’s time,” Archer said.

  The girls nodded again, and they both curled forward like they were going to do a somersault. When they circled back up, their bodies had Shifted into perfect Blackbirds. The zip ties had fallen off their wrists and ankles, and even though Logan must have been dying to do the same, his expression looked a little like pride as he watched the Blackbird twins hop toward the back doors and settle down to wait.

  We slowed to a stop, and the front doors opened and closed. We thought it was likely that the Mongers still believed Archer was a Vampire, which meant they would probably have their guns aimed at him as they opened the door. This was why Logan was lying at the back of the truck. The second the doors opened, the Blackbirds exploded out and Logan began thrashing around wildly as if he was having a seizure. I screamed at the guards, both of whom had their weapons drawn.

  “Help him!” I threw a choked sob in my voice for good measure, and Logan’s mouth quirked in a grin. I would have kicked him if my legs had been free.

  One of the guards shone a torch at Logan, which, admittedly, made him look like something that had escaped Bedlam. They were so morbidly fascinated by Logan’s fake seizure and so afraid Archer was going to lunge at them that they failed to notice the absence of the two girls. I decided it was time for hysterics.

  “Get him out of here so he can breathe!” I screamed at them. I drew on some of the panic I’d felt during the ride, and my eyes actually filled with tears.

  It wasn’t Oscar-worthy, but it was something.

  One of the guards yanked a knife out of a holster on his belt, and I thought for a second I’d gone too far. But he used it to slice the zip tie at my ankles, and then snarled at me to get out. Headlights hit the back of the truck as a vehicle pulled up behind us, and the two other Mongers who had been at Elian Manor got out of the sedan with weapons aimed at me and Archer.

  “Hey, there were two other kids,” one of them growled.

  The guard who was reaching for Logan stopped and stared around the back of the truck.

  “What the …?” He turned to me. “Where are they?”

  I said nothing.

  The guards frantically shone their torches around the inside. Logan stopped his seizure act and sat up to watch them search, his eyes shi
ning with mischief. I glared at him to remind him to keep his mouth shut.

  The guards were starting to panic, and the quiet conversations between them became a debate between telling Walters they’d lost two children or pretending they’d never had them in the first place. They hadn’t reached a consensus by the time one of them snarled at the others to shut up.

  “The boss knows we’re here. He’s going to wonder why we’re not inside yet.”

  The men were terrified to cut Archer’s ankle ties, but he calmly informed them that he had no intention of harming them while their weapons were pointed at me.

  “If either of my friends comes to the slightest harm, however, I will most certainly slake my growing thirst,” he said in his most pompously menacing voice. It seemed to work, because the guards kept their distance from all three of us, and although we were surrounded by weapons and had no use of our hands, I felt relatively secure.

  I saw immediately where we were, and despite the nasty case of Monger-gut I’d been sporting since they took us from Elian Manor, I was glad. We were outside the building that housed Seth Walters’ office, and although it hadn’t been the only place they were likely to take us, it was the one I knew the best. Ringo and I had broken in here about a million years ago, and I knew the basic layout of its three floors fairly well. It was also situated on the same side of the Thames River as Kings College, where I knew we could hide with Bishop Cleary if we had to run.

  After we’d stolen the ring.

  Because that’s what this was all about – we had to steal Doran’s ring from Seth Walters’ hand. On the list of things that could go wrong with our ridiculous plan was the fact that he could use it to compel at least one, or maybe two of us. I was the only one who was immune to its power for sure. Archer had been, when he was infected, but now that he was mortal, we weren’t sure how he’d react. And Logan was pure Shifter, and therefore completely vulnerable to the ring’s power.

  If I had stopped to think about our odds of success, I would have run away screaming.

  The guards led us up the central staircase and halted us at the landing. One of them knocked on a door that I remembered was Seth’s office, and it was flung open.

  Seth Walters moved like an impatient man, but his voice was all calm coolness. “Hello, Clocker.” The words sent a shiver down my spine because they were spoken in exactly the same slick tone he’d used the first time he’d said them to me on the road outside Elian Manor over a year before.

  He stepped back from the open doorway to usher us inside. Logan was next to me doing his best impression of a meek and frightened child, and Walters stopped him. He put a hand under his chin to lift his face. “And who is this?”

  “He’s the son of one of the people you kidnapped.” I needed to make Walters think we were all immune to the ring’s power so he wouldn’t try to use it on us.

  Walters’ eyes narrowed and he looked at his guards. “Surely there was more than one. Where are the others?”

  Before they could answer, Archer spoke. “They were Shifter Birds. They Shifted and flew away from Elian Manor when they realized we were caught.”

  Walters studied Archer for a long moment, and I could see the guards struggling to decide whether to let the lie stand. One had been about to speak when Walters smiled, and he quickly schooled his expression back to neutral.

  “All the better if the Council knows I have you. They’ll work themselves into a frenzy of fear, and I won’t even have to say a word,” he said in a voice that reminded me of gleeful James Bond villains setting their plans in motion. All he needed was to tap his fingers together in front of his face to become a giant cliché.

  I glanced down at his hands and was very glad to see there was no ring, but I sincerely hoped he hadn’t moved its hiding place.

  Two of the Monger guards remained in the room with us, which left at least two others, and possibly many more, in the building. I’d been cataloguing every risk factor, and I knew Archer was doing the same. Logan seemed to be the most relaxed of all of us, and I just hoped Seth didn’t realize that he was the one to watch.

  Seth sat on the edge of his desk and studied us. His eyes landed on Archer first. “I thank you for your donation. It will be quite useful once I’ve secured full control.”

  “Useful in what way?” Archer asked. His words were pleasant – his tone was not.

  Seth’s smile was an ugly thing. It reminded me of a wooden doll with a painted grin that didn’t change the glare in its eyes. “I believe in keeping my options open,” he said. “My ascent to power is likely to draw the ire of people who haven’t yet been subjected to my very compelling speeches. Even with the limitations of your condition, I do look forward to being impervious to assassination.”

  “Vampires can be killed.” I was able to keep his gaze when I spoke, even though the Monger-gut he inspired made me want to puke.

  His eyes flicked to Archer and his smile sent a shiver of fear up my spine. “Yes, they can, as my dear, departed brother Wilder can attest.”

  Wait, what? Wilder? As in Bishop Wilder, who had died long before Seth was born? As far as I knew, Seth Walters had never traveled back in time, so how much could he possibly know about Wilder beyond his authorship of the Descendant genealogy?

  “Though I suppose it didn’t matter in the end, since he failed at the Vatican,” Seth said, with a false tsk, tsk sound in his tone.

  “He … failed?” I asked in genuine confusion. I felt like Alice down the rabbit hole as Seth’s words got curiouser and curiouser.

  “He failed to steal the ring, which was the entire reason for his presence in Rome,” Walters said, his voice laced with derision. “And then he failed use his immortality to find favor with War.”

  Confusion was making my skin itch, and I stared at him with a million questions hurling themselves against the inside of my skull. “How … how do you know anything about Wilder at the Vatican?”

  “The moment of one’s turning is a noteworthy occasion, don’t you think?” There was an odd glint in Walters’ eyes that was like light catching the edge of a spring-loaded trap. I couldn’t see the jaws of it yet, but I knew it was there, so I decided to step in it to see what was underneath.

  “If you knew about Wilder, then you know that your son was the one who infected him.” Goading him was dangerous, but it might get him to talk.

  The grim stillness of Seth’s expression melted into a tight smile. “Well, wasn’t that fortuitous for me? My father said I was the best of his sons, and my own son helped to secure my favor.”

  “Your father?” I asked.

  The strange tone in his voice hinted at a smirk, but this time he didn’t hold back. Seth’s grin grew wider. “The Immortal War, of course.”

  The room swayed suddenly, and I locked my knees to keep from going down.

  Duncan was Seth Walters’ father?

  I forced myself to avoid looking at Archer. I needed to keep Seth talking, and he seemed delighted to oblige as long as he could see the shock in my eyes. He explained. “Duncan’s eldest son, Wilder, failed to complete the task he’d been groomed to do, his second son made the fatal error of bringing Weres into the business with the Council, and his third son rendered himself useless by repeatedly drawing the attention of ungifted law enforcement. Therefore, he decided it was time to take a hand in shaping my power.”

  And the shocks just kept coming. “Wilder was Duncan’s son?” I breathed, trying not to throw up. “And … you’re talking about Rothchild at the Council massacre?” He said nothing, just smiled wider. “Who was the third son?” I swallowed hard, not sure I really wanted the answer.

  “My ‘grandfather,’ George Walters.” Seth air-quoted the word grandfather like a douchebag, and I might have scoffed if I hadn’t felt so sick. I should have let Tom kill George when he’d had the chance.

  “But how could you be Duncan’s son? If George was his son, you’re Duncan’s great-grandson.” I said, trying to wrap my head around
his words.

  “No, my brother is the one descended from George Walters. My father – Duncan – decided my mother should be, how shall I say, one of the spoils of War.” He actually sounded proud.

  “Ew,” I grimaced, not bothering to hide my revulsion.

  “Like father, like son,” Archer murmured, too low for anyone’s ears but mine.

  My mind was racing, and I felt my world tilt on its axis. All this time I’d believed I was fixing time stream splits to save history – as though my skills and those of my friends were the stars of the show. But now the curtain had been lifted to reveal the Immortal puppeteer in the rafters pulling strings, making all of us dance to the music he wrote, in the theater he built. I felt powerless and insignificant, but I fought to hide it from Seth Walters, who would suck strength from my despair like a leech.

  “This whole thing has been about getting power for War?” No matter how fierce I made my voice, it didn’t cover my incredulity that such elaborate machinations could be about one very simple thing.

  "Absolute power. With no other Descendants to rise up against Mongers, Duncan stands alone at the pinnacle.” He smiled again, and anger began to creep into my powerlessness. “And I stand by his side as his soon-to-be immortal heir.” He turned the full nastiness of his grin toward Archer, and I felt my resolve snap back into place. No matter how big and overwhelmingly awful War’s plan was, the removal of one small ring could undermine all of it. If I kept that in focus, maybe I wouldn’t run away screaming.

  “What do you want with us?” I finally asked.

  “I’ve taken what I need from him,” Seth tossed his head at Archer, “and this one,” his eyes flicked to Logan, “is leverage. But, you know, accidents can happen during prisoner exchanges.”

  Logan went wide-eyed, gave a convincing squeak of fear, and Shifted into the form of a Snapping Turtle that immediately tucked head and legs into its shell and hid.

  Seth glared at me. “You said he was a mixed-blood’s brat. Mixed-bloods don’t Shift.”