“I don’t know why,” Mr. Tom said, pulling a bowler hat and a pair of sunglasses from his disguise suitcase. “You’re doing what you always do—sit on your butt and drink.”
“No, no, don’t ye get out that stuff a’tall. Ye look like a clown, so ye do.”
“I don’t want to stand out in places where I can’t blend in,” Mr. Tom said.
Niamh stared at him for a long beat. “Then why in the beejeebus are ye putting on that garb? Are ye out of yer mind or what? Of course ye stand out, ye donkey. Who in a dark tunnel wears a feckin’ bowler hat and sunglasses? Ye’ve got to be takin’ the piss altogether.”
“We’ll all go.” Austin walked from the bedroom with tousled wet hair and a five o’clock shadow. He’d clearly overheard our conversation and decided not to primp. No watch lined his wrist, and he wore a simple T-shirt and jeans. “A Jane and some animals made laughing stocks of mages yesterday. That won’t sit well.”
I slipped my arm around his middle and gave him a quick squeeze. “Wise.”
“Cyra, at the back,” he said, pulling the door open for me. “Watch our six. Weakest in the middle. Shifters flanking.”
Shivers ran down my arms and a strange feeling quaked in my middle. We started walking before I could decipher it. The banter and relaxed chatter from a moment ago had completely dried up, everyone now on their guard. Austin was entirely correct—we’d been noticed yesterday and might be a target today. No one wanted to be made a fool of by the butt of the joke.
“Where to?” Austin asked, and I handed over the note. Rather than take it, he read the message and then nodded. As we made our way to the meeting point, cutting through the repaired and empty lobby area (with a longing look through the new double door), and into the smaller, danker tunnels, he dropped his voice to address me privately. Or mostly privately. “You let the shifters upstage you yesterday.”
“I didn’t want to accidentally kill anyone. I almost did anyway.”
“I know. And that made sense at the time. But we’re at a meeting of mages. You need to shine. You need to show them the full extent of your power, your ferocity. I think Cyra was right: Elliot knows why you’re here. He’s keeping himself away from you. He’s playing games with you, just like he was with that lesser-powered mage. You shouldn’t play by his rules. I wonder if he expects you to break them. You certainly haven’t come across as a rule follower in the past.”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t want to kill anyone.”
“I know. But sometimes you don’t have a choice if you want to survive. Try your best, but if the worst happens in this place, make no apologies. He should’ve known better than to let you loose on these people.”
I nodded but made no comment. My anger toward Elliot Graves burned a little hotter because of the position he was forcing me into. I didn’t want to hurt people. I didn’t want to battle. I didn’t want to be stuck in a cave dealing with the belittling buttheads. All of this was on him, solely, and I would not forget it.
“The other thing that has become clear is that he’s treating you like an honored guest,” Austin whispered as he glanced behind us. “Our rooms are much more spacious and high-ceilinged than one would expect in a tunnel, and judging by these other paths, the other suites aren’t as nice.”
“I know. That had occurred to me. Someone is bound—”
A flash preceded what felt like a heavy hand slapping me sideways. I hit the wall headfirst, and blackness dragged me under.
Twenty-One
My vision swam for a moment and my head pounded. Something wrapped around my body from my elbows to my knees, cutting into my skin and squeezing. Lifting me into the air at an angle. Hair cut off my vision, hanging in my face.
“She’s awake, sir!”
I craned my neck, finding myself in a circular area covered in couches and chairs. A common room, half the size of ours but laid out in the same way, with the kitchen at the back and an archway that probably led to other rooms.
“Well, well.”
The man from dinner, Chambers, walked up and stopped in front of me, his dress shoes shined up and his suit expensive, one hand in his pocket. He wore a smirk as calculated as that impeccable bow tie from the other night.
“We’re not supposed to battle until tomorrow,” I said, wheezing. I set to work healing myself immediately, checking on my team through the links. Austin was unconscious, but Niamh was awake and mad as hell. Mr. Tom mirrored her sentiment. Cyra seemed patient and Hollace equally so; they were probably waiting for the others to join them. None of them seemed worried about me. But then, why would they be? They could feel me, a little dazed, a bit confused, but otherwise fine, at the end of the tunnel they were in.
Edgar seemed groggy, so he would be good in a bit. That vampire was incredibly hard to keep down for long. Nathanial was coming along too, but Ulric and Jasper and the basajaun were lights out like Austin. All of them had been on the same side of the line and had clearly gotten the brunt of the spell.
I breathed slowly, keeping calm. They were just unconscious. On my radar but without emotions. I didn’t know when I’d learned the difference between sleeping and dead, but I felt it with an assurance that I didn’t question.
That I wouldn’t question.
I sent some healing energy through the links to speed things along. I didn’t want to drain too much of my energy, since I’d likely have to fight my way out of this, but I needed to make sure everyone else was okay first.
“I don’t think we’re going to battle at all, are we?” He motioned at me.
Feet came into my vision. Something tugged at me from behind. A rope, like what was wrapped around my body.
“Clever,” I said through a grunt as the ropes jerked me to an upright position. “Can’t magic my way out of a rope.” I thought about that for a moment. “Or can I?”
Chambers crossed his arms over his chest, looking me over. Three other people were in the room, one who’d just stood me on my feet, and two others loitering by the far wall, probably security in case something happened.
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.
“Handling your shifters. I told you to bring a few people, not your whole posse, but no matter—they are handled.”
It hadn’t been Elliot who’d sent me that note at all. It had been Chambers. Thank God, because a situation like this with Elliot would’ve been much harder to navigate, I was certain.
I huffed out a laugh. “You think a few mages can handle Austin Steele, a phoenix, a basajaun, an alpha gargoyle, a thunderbird— Stop me when you realize what a terrible idea that is.”
“That polar bear will get an offer he can’t refuse. They all will.”
“Austin can’t be bought.”
“Oh no? What if I guarantee his brother’s safety? Word on the street is, Momar is through with that meddling shifter trying to organize. It’s a big, strong pack, but with my help, he has a way to take them down. And he will.” A vicious grin spread across Chambers’s face. “If I help. I have some experience in those matters. I could just as easily choose not to, of course.”