by Lily Webb
I smashed the down button so many times I feared it might break.
Chapter Fourteen
On the ground floor, I burst out into the casino lobby and tore toward the front door. Amazingly, there weren’t any police or security guards waiting to arrest me when I emerged, and not even Belinda seemed to care. The shrill shrieks of the alarm wailing across town from the bank seemed to have erased everything else.
Still, I reached into my pocket and flung Belinda’s badge in her direction. It spun away and disappeared somewhere in the sea of the casino’s red carpet, but I didn’t have the time or the luxury to care.
Outside, the cool air blasted me along with the needling, skull-piercing sound of the bank’s alarm. It wasn’t likely I would beat the police with the alarm making that much noise, but I had to try.
I dashed down Fang Street, holding my robes in both of my hands to keep from tripping on them. I skidded around the corner at Crescent Street and bolted north toward Veilside and the bank, my shoes clicking across the cobblestone streets. As I passed, people stood outside their shops and homes, staring at me like a crazy woman as I blazed past them.
After what felt like forever, I hung a left on Midnight Avenue and breathed a sigh of relief when I didn’t see it anyone on the steps of the bank. Veilside and its library breezed past me in a blur and I froze when I reached the foot of the bank’s stairs.
Shards of glass littered the floor and stairs where the grand doors had been shattered. The howl from the alarm was so loud it overpowered everything else, even my thoughts.
I pulled out my wand and threw my bag down on the ground by the stairs. It would do nothing but slow me down inside if there was going to be some sort of confrontation — and at that point, it was inevitable.
Crouching, I crept up the stairs, my eyes darting left and right like a gecko’s for any sign of motion. When I reached the door, I stayed hidden by the stone frame and carefully peeked around the corner.
I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from gasping when I saw a figure wearing all-too-familiar black leather robes standing near the vault. The burglar had their back to me and the wand in their hand didn’t match the one they’d used the first time I saw them. Was it Victor’s? In their other hand, they held a sheet of paper that they seemed to be reading from as they drew complicated shapes with the tip of the wand on the vault door.
It was happening, right before my eyes: Xander, or whoever he was working with, was trying to break into the vault again. I had to stop them, but I didn’t know what to do. If I charged in headfirst I could end up dead, but if I did nothing, the burglar would no doubt get their hands on Merlin’s Heart. I couldn’t let that happen.
I stepped over the shards of glass, careful not to step on any to avoid alerting the thief to my presence, and scuttled to the nearest desk to crouch behind it. From the cover of its corner, I peeked around in time to see the vault door slide open.
The robber glanced over their shoulder and I whirled around, my heart hammering as I prayed they hadn’t seen me. I held my breath and counted to ten before I dared look again, but when I did, the burglar was back to their business. The vault door opened further with a sigh, as if it were vacuum sealed, and the robber pocketed the piece of paper.
It was now or never. If I waited another second, the burglar would disappear down into the vaults. Before I could convince myself otherwise, I stood and aimed my wand at the robber’s. Since I’d already had some practice with it that evening, I decided to give the summoning spell another go. If I could get the thief’s wand away from them, it would make things that much easier; maybe I could keep them busy until the police arrived.
I flicked the tip of my wand upward and muttered “Devoco,” but the robber must’ve heard me because at the last second they whirled and I groaned in horror as the mask they wore lifted off their face and flew through the air into my hand — not their wand.
I nearly dropped my own when a jagged-toothed smile appeared on the thief’s face, revealing a stained mess of yellow stumps. Age spots marked their forehead like a trail marker, but it was a face I would’ve recognized anywhere — even though I’d only seen it once.
It was Ash Norwood, the millionaire venture capitalist and co-investor in the casino.
“I knew it was only a matter of time before you charged in here trying to play the hero,” Ash shouted over the noise of the alarm. He took a few steps towards me until I jabbed my wand at him.
“Don’t move! I don’t want to use this on you, but I will,” I said and Ash chuckled. He tossed the wand he’d used to open the vault to the ground and whipped another from the folds of his robes in one fluid fashion.
“Interficio!” he shouted and I dove through the air out of the direction of the killing curse as it roared past me. Glass sliced into my skin as I rolled across the ground, but I paid it no mind. I was alive, for the time being, and that was all that mattered.
“You can’t hide forever, Zoe,” Ash shouted. His boots crunched against the glass that covered the floor as he headed in my direction. I pushed myself to my feet and ran for the cover of the nearest stone column.
“There you are!” Ash shouted and hurled another ball of murderous magic in my direction, but I spun around the corner of the pillar and bolted for the next as the spell crashed into the stone, sending chunks as large as boulders tumbling across the floor.
I peeked around the column where the vault door hung open. If I was going to have any chance, I had to get inside and to Merlin’s Heart before Ash did. I had no idea what waited inside the vault, but I couldn’t stop to think about it.
“Why are you doing this?” I shouted. If I could keep Ash talking, it might buy me some time to move closer to the vault — and for the police to arrive. What was taking them so long? It didn’t make any sense. The screech of the alarm reached all across town, so what were they waiting for?
“Why do you think?” Ash asked. I strained against the wailing of the alarm to hear. His boots crushed the pieces of glass like ice being chewed. “I’m dying, Zoe.”
“Because of blood magic?”
“You’re smarter than I thought,” Ash said. “Maybe even smart enough to know when you’re in over your head.”
“I think I can handle a dying old warlock,” I said and Ash’s laughter echoed throughout the bank, mixing with the shrieking of the alarm like some sort of evil carnival show.
“Then why don’t you face me and prove it?” he asked. If it meant keeping him talking, it would be worth it, so I took a deep breath and rolled around the pillar, my wand pointed right at Ash’s chest. He stood less than twenty feet away from me in the center of the lobby.
“That’s better,” Ash said.
“You sent me those messages, didn’t you?” I asked. Ash nodded.
“You’ve made quite a name for yourself in the short time you’ve been here, Zoe. It wasn’t difficult to come up with a way to manipulate you, and when I heard the Messenger was implementing an anonymous tip line to help curb crime, it was almost like they were feeding me an opening,” Ash said.
“Have you been following me this entire time?”
“Yes, we have,” Ash said.
“We?”
“The Black Brotherhood, of course,” Ash said. “I couldn’t risk getting too close to you myself, given my day job, so I assigned a network of other warlocks to do it for me.”
“Are you saying you’re the—”
“Head of the organization? Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” Ash said and my head spun. It was one thing to realize I was looking in the eyes of a cold-blooded murderer, but it was another thing entirely to know they were also the leader of a cult of warlocks.
“You won’t get away with this, not now that I know who you are,” I said.
“Why do you think we invited you to come? We knew you’d figure things out eventually, so it seemed logical to finish things where they started: here in the bank,” Ash said. “It was always meant to be this
way, you and I.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You mean you don’t know? Well, I hate that you have to hear it from me, but better now than never,” Ash said. “I only wonder if you’ll scream the same way your parents did.”
I plunged into a pool of ice at his words, and chills covered every inch of my body. Was he telling the truth, or was he just trying to mess with me? Either way, it worked.
“No, no you didn’t,” I stuttered, unable to form a full sentence. Ash nodded.
“Yes, I did. It was quite easy to dispose of your human father, especially once your mother was out of the picture, flying away like some sort of frightened bird,” Ash said, flapping his arms to mock her as he laughed.
“You’re a monster, you deserve what’s coming to you,” I spat and Ash chuckled.
“Your mother was a bit more difficult, even while she was in the hospital. But how could anybody deny the advice of their doctor?” he asked.
Everything Heath told me about my parents blazed through my mind: the Brotherhood member disguised as a police officer who pulled them over, the infiltration of Willowvale that led to my mother’s death; it was all Ash.
“That’s how you did it. You made yourself look like a doctor and lied to weasel your way into her trust, and then what?” I asked, though I’d didn’t really want to know. The only thing I wanted was to see Ash behind bars for the rest of his short life while his own magic ate him from the inside out.
“I’ll let you use your imagination, we don’t need to get into the details,” Ash said. “She’d seen and knew too much. I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice. Unfortunately, it looks like the same is true for you. If you’d just learned your place, none of this had to happen. You’re a talented witch, Zoe, though it’s hardly surprising. It’s a shame, I’d love to have your power and lineage on my side. Albert Clarke would be proud.”
I fumed at the mention of my distant ancestor, a warlock I’d learned had founded the dangerous Black Brotherhood cult decades ago.
“You don’t know anything about me or my family,” I snapped.
“I beg to differ. I’d say I’m more familiar with them than you are,” Ash said. “Did you know Albert wasn’t the last Clarke to belong to the Brotherhood?”
“Stop,” I commanded. Whether what he said was true or not, I didn’t want to hear it. None of it mattered; if there were other stains on my family tree, all I could do was try to right them — and the only way to do that was by stopping Ash.
“What happened the first time you tried to come after the bank? Did you kill Percy?” I asked.
“No, that wasn’t part of the plan,” Ash said. “I’d intended to return Percy safe and sound after I got what I came for, but as much as I’d learned about the interior of the bank, it turned out not all of my information was correct. He was killed by a trap on the second floor of the vault.”
So there were at least two floors, probably more, and there were traps — I filed that information away in my brain as I stared at the open vault beyond Ash. What other surprises waited for me inside, assuming I lived to get past him? Though he looked like he was in no physical shape to chase after me, I knew from experience he had the magic to move much faster than I could.
“And who was feeding you that information?”
“Oh, I think you know the answer to that,” Ash said, smiling. “But now the pieces are all in place and the board is set.”
It had to have been Xander, but if that was the case, where was he? Why wasn’t he helping Ash pull off the biggest heist in Moon Grove’s history? The alarm ceased, suspending us in an eerie silence until glass crunched behind me.
“Checkmate,” a voice whispered as a wand jabbed me in the back. I didn’t need to look to know I had my answer.
“It’s about time you joined us, Xander,” Ash said. “I was starting to worry you’d gotten scared when it counted most.”
“Move,” Xander ordered, pushing the tip of his wand further into my back. “And don’t try anything.”
I took a cautious step forward, my heart pumping blood through my veins so fast and hard that the whooshing of it filled my ears, matching my footsteps in rhythm. What were they going to do with me?
Xander steered me to the vault door. A frigid draft blasted me in the face as it rushed from Lilith only knew how far underground.
“Let’s hope the second floor doesn’t give us as much trouble this time,” Ash said and I shivered as the truth crystallized in my mind. They were going to use me the same way they’d used Percy: as a human shield.
I closed my eyes and breathed as steadily as I could while I gathered my courage. I couldn’t use my wand, but I had access to another kind of magic, though it wasn’t one I’d ever purposefully conjured. I had to try. It was all I had left.
Ash pulled the vault door open further and the air engulfed us, sending my robes and hair flying. I thought of my mother and father, what little I remembered of them, and a tingle started in the tips of my toes and worked its way upward, warming me despite the dank chill roaring from the vault. When it reached my fingertips, numbing them, I unleashed.
A wall of magical energy burst from me, forming a protective dome around me and sending Xander sprawling onto his back. Ash stumbled and fell, cursing as he tumbled to the marble floor, and I bolted down the stairs into the vault while I had the chance.
Chapter Fifteen
The slick, moss-covered stairs seemed to stretch on forever. My hand traced an equally slimy brick wall to hold me steady as I circled down the infinite stretch of spiral stairs leading down into the darkness.
Xander and Ash shouted from somewhere behind me, their voices bouncing off the tight enclosed walls and making it sound like they were at my shoulder. Though my heart threatened to burst, I kept pushing, desperate to put as much distance between me and the two of them as possible.
I burst out onto a dimly lit floor lined by row after row of what appeared to be safety deposit boxes. They towered hundreds of feet in the air, and each held thousands of boxes in neat rows. It must’ve been where the majority of Moon Grove’s citizens kept their money, but there were far more valuable things inside the bank that my pursuers were after — and I had to get there first.
I broke into a run, clutching my wand like it was my last lifeline — in many ways, it was — and screamed when one of the columns of safety deposit boxes exploded above my head, showering me with coins. They rolled and slid underneath my feet, but I manage not to trip as I continued running. I stole a glance over my shoulder and nearly screamed again when I saw a flash of light hurtling in my direction.
I dove behind one of the columns and the spell whizzed past me, crackling with murderous energy. I couldn’t stay put, so I kept running, bobbing and weaving between columns to keep myself from being an easy target. Xander and Ash both hurled spells at me, which bounced and destroyed everything they touched.
Another staircase appeared from the darkness and I nearly fell as I stumbled down it. Did this lead to the second floor? And if so, what was there waiting for me? I didn’t have time to think about it or prepare, so I kept charging down the stairs, my feet and knees screaming from the force of the impact. The deeper the stairs lead, the brighter the light from below seemed to grow, flickering and licking at the walls like an open flame.
And when I reached the next landing at the bottom of the stairs, that was exactly what I found. A sea of flames roiled in a pit so large I couldn’t see across it to the other side. Embers flashed and danced as the flames undulated and a sweat broke out on my brow from the sudden increase in temperature.
Now I understood why Percy had come out of the vault singed. Xander and Ash’s footsteps echoed down the staircase and I ran as close as I could get to the lip of the pit of fire without getting burned.
As far as I could see, there wasn’t anything I could use to get myself across. There wasn’t a bridge, and even if there had been, it most likely would’ve caught
fire within seconds of being placed. I had to think of something and fast, otherwise Xander and Ash would be right behind me, and I didn’t think they would hesitate to push me over the edge.
“Zoe,” a whisper echoed and I spun on my heel to see where it had come from, but there wasn’t anyone there. “Zoe,” the voice said again, louder this time, and chills rippled down my spine as if they’d breathed the words right into my ear.
“Who’s there?” I asked.
“Open your eyes, all of them. See what can’t be seen and cross through the flames,” the voice said, and I laughed. Was this part of the trap? Was it some sort of spell that got into the intruder’s head and urged them to walk into the fire?
Then again, what choice did I have? It was either I risk it or be caught by Ash and Xander, which surely wouldn’t have been much better. I closed my eyes and gulped down my fear, and almost immediately the flames that lapped at my skin seemed to retreat.
When I opened my eyes again, I gasped. Though I couldn’t see its surface, a clear path had emerged through the flames, winding like a maze until I couldn’t follow it any further — but was it a trick? There was only one way to find out. Cautiously, I edged toward the invisible bridge and when I didn’t burst into flames, I kept going, taking one perilous step at a time.
The path turned right, obscuring my vision with a wall of flame as Xander and Ash reached the landing. They shot spells at me, but the flames swallowed them whole. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be able to follow me — according to Ash, this was where they ran into problems the first time they tried to rob the bank — but I walked faster in case.
The path seemed to wind in every direction until I was completely turned around. Flames surrounded me, bearing down on me and threatening to swallow me whole. As my throat began to close from the smoke, I realized I was remarkably cool, despite the intense heat roaring around me.
That must’ve been the trick. It was all psychological. Only those who were brave or foolish enough to attempt it would think to walk through a lake of fire. I took a series of deep breaths and pushed forward and the flame opened up around me, as if I were parting the seas.