After a long silence, Portia asked, "How long from opening the door to death?"
Skylar read a section of runes on the left. "Half a second? Maybe less. Why?"
"Will they kill me if I'm in another realm?" asked Portia.
Skylar squinted before responding. "No, but how would that matter?"
"I can open them," said Portia. "Give me the Tether. I'll open the door and portal back to the Honeycomb."
"Are you sure? That's not a lot of time before you die, and we need the Tether to escape the Bastille when we're done," said Zayn.
"If we don't get the Word, there's no need to escape," said Portia.
"The ruby eyes might get us out safely," said Keelan.
"Might," repeated Zayn. "But I see your point. We'll have to chance it. You really ready to risk it, Portia? That doesn't seem like much of a window to open the door and portal out."
She stared back at him undeterred. She looked like she was ready to face down an army and win.
"Fair enough," said Zayn.
He handed Portia the amulet.
"Good luck," said Vin.
Portia stuck her tongue out at them. "I don't need luck."
Zayn expected a big windup, some neck cracking, or other physical psyching up, but Portia marched to the door with the amulet in her fist, performed an unlocking charm, and then winked out of sight before the runes all turned black and shot a dark beam at the location she had just been standing.
The reek of spent faez and burnt ozone filled the air as the unlocking charm continued its work, and the door opened, revealing a circular room beyond. At the center of the room, suspended within a matrix of light, was a scroll.
"I'm going to kiss her when we get back to the Honeycomb," said Vin.
"We all are, assuming we live," said Keelan.
Before stepping into the room, they checked for invisible traps.
"The Word of Annihilation," said Zayn when he was finally able to approach. He felt like it should have looked more majestic.
"Do we just go up and grab it?" asked Vin.
"Those look like proximity alarms reflecting off the Word itself. If we grab it, it'll let them know we're here," said Skylar. "There's no way we can fight our way past the Black Council."
"I see no way to disable them," said Zayn, examining the walls where the light was emanating from. "Could we replace it with something similar?"
Vin's face lit up. "O-M-B. A switcharoo."
"Don't you mean, OMG?" asked Skylar, tilting her head.
"No. On Merlin's Balls," said Vin. "Every heist has one. The part where the thief has to switch out the jewels with an object exactly the same weight, or trigger the alarm."
"The problem is the sensing lights are balanced against the power of the Word. This is artifact-level magic. We don't have anything that can reflect that back to put in there," said Zayn.
"I do," said Keelan, holding his fingers up as if he were holding something tiny. "It's the piece of crystalline root. I dug it out of my shoulder when you all were captured. O'Keefe said it was a perfect reflector. Now is the time to find out."
Before Zayn could ask who wanted to do it, Vin snatched the piece of crystal from Keelan's hand.
"Let me do it."
"Are you sure?" asked Zayn.
"I've been waiting my whole life for this moment," said Vin breathlessly, as if he were about to be crowned prince of a fae kingdom.
Vin approached the Word with both hands outstretched, one squeezing around a crystalline pebble, the other open, ready to snatch. He moved with unnatural speed, a gift of his imbuement, and in a flash, the Word was in his hand and the piece of crystalline root was floating in midair.
Vin turned around, eyes wide with victory. "That was the greatest moment of my life."
"Let's get the hell out of here," said Zayn.
Vin shoved the Word at Zayn. "I'm too shaky to hold it."
The scroll was surprisingly heavy, as if the condensed magic weighed it down.
"Now we see if we can actually get out," said Keelan.
They made their way back through the large room with the sphere, and then through the long halls filled with priceless art and magic, stolen from across the realms. Zayn recognized a few more originals from his world. He wondered what the curators would think if they found out their expensive artworks were fake.
When they reached the exit, a shimmering wall of light beneath an archway, Zayn addressed them.
"We're not out of this yet. But we're close. Hopefully the storm reached the city, and we can get back to Halfdan's quickly without being seen. Once outside, be ready to move. If anything happens, abort to the portal, and get back to the Honeycomb any way you can."
The others went first, disappearing through the door. Zayn took a breath before he stepped into the light, hoping that he'd still be alive when he came out the other side.
The transition was brief, but unlike the last time, he had no vast predatory mind invading his, checking for nefarious intent. He stumbled outside, but the relief he felt was blown away a second later, when a blast of sonic energy from the Gurken knocked him off his feet.
He slammed into the wall and fought to get back up, but the spell had scrambled his thoughts and turned his muscles into quivering Jello. His teammates were scattered about the entrance as if they'd been thrown by an invisible hand. No one was moving.
Crack. The sky split with lightning, followed by chest-thumping thunder, revealing two figures standing twenty feet away. The hair on Zayn's arms stood straight up.
Once the flash across his eyes faded, he couldn't see the rest of the city, but the two figures made his heart race. The first stood in shadow, his face hidden by a hood and darkness. The second was the Gurken, seven feet tall, wielding a humming sword.
Zayn clutched the Word of Annihilation, trying to form a spell, but his fingers were like noodles, his tongue like a dead frog. When he realized he couldn't even get to his feet, let alone defend himself with magic, he looked up into the slate-gray face of the Gurken and waited to die.
Chapter Thirty
Deathbird, April 2015
Not all is as it seems
"Stand back or I'll use the Word to destroy you," said Zayn, from the ground.
The Gurken hesitated, lifting the sword high enough to point at Zayn's chest in warning. Zayn looked up, expecting to gaze into its menacing eyes, but found a pained look instead. As a hint of floral perfume reached him, he began to question what was really going on.
"Kill him and take the Word. We need to leave before anyone else shows up," said the shadowed man.
The ringing in his ears from the sonic blast delayed Zayn's recognition of the voice.
"Halfdan?"
The second figure pulled back his hood, revealing his mustached face. "This is what your hesitation has cost us. You have to kill him now."
The seven-foot-tall assassin looked back to Halfdan before returning to Zayn. Something in the way he moved was familiar. When the Gurken didn't move to kill him, Halfdan surged forward, pulling his blade angrily.
"Fine. I'll do it."
But the Gurken put his hand out, stopping Halfdan before he could reach him. Halfdan tried to shake the assassin off, but his grip was too strong. The Gurken pushed Halfdan backwards, then leaned over and tugged the Word from Zayn's arms. The swirl of floral perfume brought back intoxicating thoughts.
"Come back," he said to the Gurken as it marched away.
When the assassin didn't slow, Zayn managed to reach into his pocket, gather enough finger dexterity to retrieve the silvery ball, and lob it at the assassin's back. The dispelling ball removed the illusion as soon as it hit, revealing the second-year student from Metallum Nocturn: Tally.
Tally half turned, the lower part of her face hidden by a bronze filter mask. Her eyes were red. Though she stood a head taller than him, the way they interacted, and the shared constellation of freckles across their noses revealed a relationship between Tally and Hal
fdan. He was her father.
"Everyone in the Hundred Halls is going to die if you take the Word," said Zayn.
"We have to go, Tally," said Halfdan, mouth contorted.
"Just tell me why," said Zayn.
Tally looked back to her father before answering. She jabbed a finger towards the Bastille. "My mother and grandfather are in there, being tortured for all time. It's not right, no matter what they did. We can stop it with the Word."
Zayn's gut roiled with revulsion. He immediately thought about his mom, Sela, and how he would feel if she were in the prison sphere. Or Keelan. Or any of his family.
"It's awful, Tally, and I get it. Trust me, I get it," he said thinking about how he felt about the Lady of Varna. "But it doesn't justify killing so many people. The world will fall apart without the Halls."
"No you don't get it. You can't," she said, wiping the tears from her face. "Every day I think about them. Every. Day. Why not kill them instead? That would at least be merciful. And your world. Your world spawned the Black Council and the Bastille. Half its members are from the Halls. It's complicit in the Council's crimes. And the virus, it's not going to kill anyone. Just take a few people's magic. The virus was only to scare you, make you think this was the only way."
"That's not true, Tally," said Zayn. "It's going to take the magic from anyone under fifty and many will die. One of our instructors might already be dead. And how many will perish in the chaos afterwards? How can you justify this?"
"Tally," said Halfdan. "We have to go. Now."
She met his gaze, lips squeezed to whiteness. Her shoulders crumpled inward from the pressure. Zayn thought she might give in, but she thrust them back out and marched after her father. Within moments, the storm and the darkness swallowed them.
It was another couple of minutes before Zayn could climb to his feet. He felt like a newborn foal. The others awoke around the time he was standing.
"My head," said Vin, from his hands and knees. "Did I get kicked by a mule?"
"What happened?" asked Keelan.
"They took the Word. It was Halfdan and Tally, the girl from Metallum Nocturn," he said.
"The girl you went on the date with?" asked Skylar. "Wow, you've got bad luck with women."
"We need to get back to Halfdan's place, see if the others are there," said Zayn.
Right as they started moving, a heavy downpour hit them. They were soaked to the bone within seconds. Even with their imbuements, it took them ten minutes to get back to the mansion.
As they approached the door, two shapes moved out of the darkness. Zayn brought flame to his fist, readying himself for battle, while his teammates did the same.
"If you want that flame shoved up your ass, keep it coming," said Instructor O'Keefe.
A magelight bloomed in the space between them, revealing Priyanka and O'Keefe covered in mud.
"Don't worry, this is honest mud," said Priyanka. "We had to tunnel out from that beasties pit."
"That's how you survived?"
She nodded.
"When the ceiling fell," said O'Keefe, "we dove in. The damn thing didn't know what to do with us up close, and fled somewhere beneath the Bastille. We couldn't go back up, so we had to keep digging down, and eventually we hit bedrock."
"We had the Word," said Zayn suddenly.
As much as he wanted to hear how they escaped the Bastille, there was still a chance of retrieving the artifact now that the patron was back.
"You got it out?" asked Priyanka incredulously, then added, "Had?"
"We managed to steal it," said Keelan. "Then Halfdan and his daughter ambushed us and took it."
"It was the perfect heist," said Vin wistfully.
"Halfdan," exclaimed Priyanka.
She went straight through the door, knocking it halfway off its hinges. Everyone followed her into the mansion, up to the ballroom, where Pennywhistle was still convalescing. Noyade was by her side, tilting her head forward so she could sip water.
On a nearby couch, one that hadn't been destroyed during Priyanka's lessons, Instructor Allgood was snoring. He came to the moment they stepped into the room, grabbing his staff as if to ward them off.
Noyade's forehead knitted. "You're back? I thought Halfdan said there was trouble at the Bastille. He went to go help."
"Halfdan double-crossed us. He took the Word," said Priyanka. "I was worried he'd done something to you before he left."
"How did he take it from you?" asked Noyade, clearly not believing it.
"I wasn't there." Priyanka put her hand to her forehead. "I'm so stupid. How did I not see this coming? He knew that I would try to steal the Word."
"So you admit it," said a voice from the stairwell. "You stole the Word of Annihilation and broke the Pact."
Eleanor Fields, the head of the Black Council, strolled into the room flanked by the other four members. Zayn glanced out the window to see many mages surrounding Halfdan's mansion.
"I did," said Priyanka defiantly. "And I alone should pay the price."
"This isn't a negotiation," said Eleanor, gaze angrily flitting around the room. "Where's the Word?"
"Halfdan took it," said Priyanka.
The identity of the second thief seemed to genuinely surprise the head of the Black Council. "Halfdan? That buffoon? Why?"
"I don't honestly know," said Priyanka.
"His father and wife are in the punishment sphere. He wants to use it to destroy it, free them from eternal pain," said Zayn. "He tricked us into stealing it to save the Halls from his virus so he could take it from us."
Eleanor barely reacted, but Zayn caught Tamako's head snapping around towards the Bastille. She took a step towards the stairwell as if she were going to head back right away.
"How do you know this and not Priyanka?" asked Eleanor as she came straight up to him. Though she was a few inches shorter, Zayn felt her presence keenly as if she were a raging fire. He understood why she was the head of the Council. He took a step back.
"Tell her," said Priyanka with a soft snort. "Though she may not believe it." She shook her head. "I don't believe it either."
"Believe what?" asked Eleanor. "None of you are making sense. Tell me what is going on."
"I..." Zayn glanced to his teammates. "We stole the Word. And when we left the Bastille, Halfdan and his daughter took it. She was the Gurken, or who we thought was the Gurken. Using an illusion to hide herself. Then we came back here and met with Priyanka and O'Keefe."
Eleanor blinked a few times. "Wait. You mean to tell me you four broke into the Bastille and stole one of the most heavily guarded artifacts in our possession?"
"We did," said Vin, face beaming with pride. He looked like he was about to explode into glitter. "It was glorious. It was the heist of my dreams."
"You're mad," said Eleanor with her hand to her forehead. "All mad. There's no way you took the Word."
"We had help getting into the Bastille, but then we got cut off from them," said Zayn, nodding towards the instructors. "But how we stole it doesn't matter now. We need to get the Word back, or the virus will run unchecked in the Halls."
When Eleanor continued to look confused, Priyanka added, "They set a magic killing virus loose in the Hundred Halls to trick me into stealing the Word. If we don't get it back, millions will die."
"That's not my problem," said Eleanor. "The Black Council and the citizens of Deathbird do not get involved with the outside realms anymore. You broke the Pact; therefore, you must pay. All of you. Whether you entered the Bastille or not. I'm sorry. It's our rules."
The moment Priyanka spoke, every hand went to a weapon. "Try and take me, Eleanor. You'll find we won't go quietly, and I promise you'll be the first I kill."
The patron of the Academy glared at the gray-haired Eleanor, who did not give an inch in her stare back.
"You can't kill everyone in Deathbird," said Eleanor.
"No," said Priyanka. "But I can kill you, and you know I can. I'm at the height of my powers, w
hile you've been retired for nearly three centuries."
"Then I suppose my reign will come to an end. But if I don't punish you, the rest of the Council will turn on me, as will our dutiful citizens. The Pact is the Pact. Someone must pay, and unfortunately, Halfdan left you with the bill," said Eleanor.
"What if we could find him?" said Zayn.
"If there's one thing that man is good at, it's going to ground and hiding. He's like a tick in a tornado—you'll never suss him out, and especially not before he uses the Word," said Eleanor.
Zayn thought back to his date with Tally. He remembered something she'd said about her father, and where their favorite place to go was. At the time, he'd thought it was a ski resort in this world, but he suspected the Ice Hold was in another realm completely.
"I know where they're at," said Zayn, projecting more confidence than his knowledge warranted. He thought it was a fifty-fifty shot that they were at the Ice Hold, but he didn't want to give that away.
"Tell me," said Eleanor.
"Why? You're going to throw us in the punishment sphere. I'd rather they keep the Word and destroy it, so at least we don't suffer that fate," said Zayn. "And besides, keeping that thing is horrific. It should be destroyed."
"Eleanor," said Tamako, the maetrie's harsh voice filled with need as she glanced towards the Bastille.
The head of the Council snapped her head towards Tamako. "I know."
Some communication passed between them, too quick or coded for Zayn to understand. Priyanka caught it as well, and her forehead was knotted with curiosity.
"You wouldn't say that if you knew who was in there," said Eleanor back to Zayn.
Zayn realized what Tamako had been implying at the same time as Priyanka. She nodded towards him to continue, catching that he had as well.
"You can't afford to lose the punishment sphere," said Zayn. "You've put far too many people in there. They'll overrun the Bastille, and the city, ruin your little place of retirement."
Eleanor stared at him with murderous contempt.
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