“We won’t,” she replied. “We’ll have to go in via the tunnel. But first, why don’t you two take a concealed walk around the tower just to confirm where the response came from?”
Luc held out a hand. Once I’d twined mine through his, we headed toward the street that circled the tower. The surge of his power flowed across my senses, and the air began to glimmer gold. He was manipulating the darkness to conceal us and, as before, it felt as if a thousand tiny gnats were biting me. My skin twitched, but it was more uncomfortable than truly painful.
The glimmer formed a veil that not only covered us both but provided a visible boundary. To anyone beyond it, we were now completely invisible.
We crossed the road and walked around the base of the mound to the parking lot side of the tower. As we neared the small chapel—a squared-off portion built between the two lobes—I raised the shield again. This time, the response from within the chapel was barely more than a sullen glow being emitted from a slit close to the chapel’s stone foundations. Maybe proximity lessened its force.
I frowned. “Is there a room or vault under the chapel?”
“I daresay Mo would know better than me.”
We continued around the rest of the tower, then headed back to the SUV. Mo leaned back against the rear hatch, her arms crossed and her gaze narrowed. Communicating with either the wind or the earth, I guessed.
“Anything?” she asked, though I daresay she already knew, given she’d basically been watching us.
It was a thought that suddenly had me wondering just how often she’d kept an eye on us like that when we were younger. There’d certainly been a number of times that she’d suddenly appeared to “save the day” when things had gone wrong for either Max or me.
And it might also explain the guilt she still felt over our parents’ death—maybe she hadn’t been watching that day. Although in truth, why on earth would she have been, given they were both adults?
Luc released his cloak of darkness. “The response came from an area close to the foundations of the chapel.”
Mo frowned. “That’s odd—the location would suggest a vault, but there’s none in that area.”
“This entire area was once a part of a wider castle complex,” I said. “I know there’s nothing much left of it above ground, but what about below? Have you ever asked the earth?”
She smiled. “Her power doesn’t quite work that way. It hasn’t a voice and can’t answer direct questions, as such. She is a force of energy that can provide impressions but nothing more.”
“Surely the presence of a vault or some kind of underground structure would leave an impression on the earth though?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Can you feel the weight of the tower on the ground?”
“No, but that isn’t surprising given—”
“Why would Gwen feel its weight?” Luc cut in, his brows furrowing. “That’s not a skill that comes with the sword.”
“No, it’s not.” Mo patted his arm lightly. “And that, dear boy, is definitely a conversation you and Gwen can undertake at a later point. Are you able to get the three of us unseen into the tower?”
Luc didn’t look happy with her avoidance, but he’d been around Mo long enough by now to understand it was pointless arguing. “I can get us in, no problem, but I can only shield one other person. After the last break-in, they’re monitoring the external cameras.”
“Then we’ll just go in through the abbey tunnels.”
He nodded and, once we were all back in the SUV, drove across to the Museum Gardens, where the ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey were. It had once been one of the richest in England, but it, like so many others, had been destroyed in King Henry’s dissolution of the monasteries. Little enough remained these days—just a long sidewall and a solitary corner edge that was disconnected from the rest.
Though it was dark, there were spotlights on the abbey’s walls, and they provided just enough light to see by. The entrance into the vault had been hidden in the smaller chunk of wall, and the thick veil of spells protecting it was probably the only reason it still stood.
Mo stopped in front of it and ran her fingers across the curve of a column. Golden sparks followed her touch, a comet tail of energy I now suspected was caused by her connection to the earth, rather than all the old protection spells that crisscrossed the entrance.
There was a soft click, followed by a soft rumble. The air shimmered, and the layers of protecting spells parted to reveal a slowly opening and very narrow stone door. Steep stairs descended into a deeper darkness, and they were just as wet and slimy-looking as they’d been the first time we’d come here.
I glanced up and down Luc’s tall frame. “Are you going to fit in there?”
Devilment momentarily danced in his eyes. “I’ve been in tighter places.”
“Oh, I just bet you have,” Mo murmured.
I gave her the look—the one that said behave—but she merely grinned and motioned me into the lead. I dug out my phone and flicked on the flashlight, holding it in front of me as I squeezed sideways through the door then carefully moved down the steps until I reached the bottom. The air was rank and smelled of disuse, while the tunnel walls were wet with moisture and decorated with long strands of slimy green moss. The tunnel floor was little better than the walls, making any sort of speed impossible.
It was, to put it bluntly, a fucking horrible place to be in.
Our footsteps echoed hollowly in the otherwise dank silence, but this time, at least, there was no tightening in the air or any other indication of trouble waiting up ahead.
The tunnel did a long curve around to the left and ended in a solid wall of stone. It was an illusion—a very good illusion—rather than real.
I pressed on; the spell’s energy tingled across my skin, briefly resisting my presence, and then I was through into the main vault area. It was a large space that was these days used for storing whatever artifacts weren’t currently on show upstairs. The human members of staff who worked here took the space at face value and had no idea that there were, in fact, multiple magically protected areas leading off it. I knew of two—one held an extensive library that included the full birth records of all seven houses dating back since before the time of the Witch Kings. The other was another—decidedly more decrepit—tunnel that had not only led down to the old sea wall and port, but also an open gateway into Darkside. Luc had sealed that thing pretty damn fast, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other gates out there we didn’t know about.
I stopped and looked around. “Are there any other storerooms here we can’t see?”
“Two,” Mo said. “But neither of them lie underneath the chapel.”
“The response came from inside the chapel at ground level,” Luc said, “so unless there’s a hole in the floor maintenance is ignoring, it can’t be from a vault.”
Mo grunted, though whether that meant she agreed or not, I couldn’t say. She motioned me on.
I headed for the heavy wooden door that led into the unadorned stone corridor and ancient stairs that spiraled up to the ground floor. We climbed cautiously, making little sound even though the air gave no indication there was anyone else about.