“Yes it is,” Dean says. “I owe service to Danyl. I’ve allied myself with your family instead. I’m already involved. I’ve given you my loyalty—I need yours in return.”
My nails dig into my palms.
“You understand the risks in this—”
“Yes,” Dean says. “I understand.”
I sigh. “Alright. Leo and Hedeon are coming—meet them inside, at the door by the tapestry.” I give Kade the Chancellor’s keyring. “In fact, wait for me inside the staircase so nobody sees you.” I swallow hard. “I’ve got to go get Nix.”
The walk across the dark lawn to the Solar seems to take forever. My stomach is twisted up in so many knots it might as well be macrame. I’m sick with guilt, so fucking sick I could choke on it.
The sight of Nix already waiting for me at the base of the Solar is like a slap to the face.
She looks so hopeful as she turns those clear green eyes on me. She smiles up at me, saying, “So what are we doing?”
My throat is too tight to even swallow.
I say, “I’ll show you. Come on.”
She walks along beside me, trusting as a lamb.
I’m really fucking hoping she’ll come along quietly. I don’t want to have to physically subdue her.
I already feel like I’m going to vomit.
“Are you okay?” Nix asks me, her coppery eyebrows drawing together. “You look . . . stressed . . .”
“I’m fine,” I mutter.
“What’s in the backpack?”
“Just . . . come on,” I say.
We’re coming up to the Keep. I need to get Nix inside, to the stone staircase that leads down to the Chancellor’s boat.
Tipped off by my tension, Nix is starting to become less amenable to this “surprise” excursion.
“What exactly are we doing?” she presses.
“I’ll show you, it’s right in here,” I say, holding open the door of the Keep so she can pass inside.
Nix is still following me, but slower now, as we approach the small, recessed door that leads down below the school.
This is not an area that students visit. Only Luther Hugo has the key to this door. Or, I should say, only Kade has it now.
“Ares,” Nix says, standing in place and refusing to go any further. “You’re kind of freaking me out.”
“Come on,” I say. “It’s right through here.”
“What is?” Nix demands. “Tell me what we’re doing, because you look weird.”
“I can’t,” I say.
I don’t want to tell her any more lies.
Nix narrows her eyes at me. Something in my face, something in the way I’m standing seems to tip her over the edge from wary to frightened. She tenses up, then takes one swift step, trying to run away from me.
Too late.
I grab her by the arm, yanking her back, wrapping my arm around her throat, clamping my other hand over her mouth.
I didn’t want to have to do it this way.
I didn’t want to do it at all.
But I have no choice.
Slowly, I start to apply pressure to her neck, holding her still while she rages and struggles against me.
She’s clawing at my arm, kicking with her legs, squirming in my grip, trying to scream against my palm.
She’s strong.
But I’m so much stronger.
I bear down on her throat, cutting off her air so I can subdue her without injuring her any more than necessary.
I murmur in her ear. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you . . . but you have to come with me.”
I start to drag her over to the door.
Only to be intercepted by Sabrina Gallo.
Sabrina steps in front of me, arms folded over her chest, gray eyes fixed on Nix, who’s still bucking and kicking—though weaker now—trying to wrench out of my grip.
“I don’t think she likes that,” Sabrina says, coldly.
“Oh, fuck,” I mutter. And then I call out, louder, “Leo!”
The door cracks open. Leo pokes his head out. “Need some help?” And then, his eyes fixing on Sabrina, “Oh, shit.”
“Oh shit is right,” Sabrina says, eyes narrowing at the sight of her cousin. “What the fuck are you two doing?”
I’m still dragging Nix toward the stairs, not wanting to be interrupted by any more unwanted guests.
Sabrina looks between me and her cousin. She’s trying to calculate exactly what the fuck is going on, but she’s coming up empty. Uncertain, she darts after us before the door can close in her face.
I enter the dark stone staircase, Nix finally going limp in my arms from the extended headlock. I loosen my grip enough for her to breathe, but not enough for her to squirm free.
Kade, Dean, Hedeon, Leo, and Anna all wait in the gloom. A pile of scuba suits and a dozen tanks lean up against the wall—Leo faithfully bringing everything I asked. And something I wasn’t expecting.
“What’s Anna doing here?” I demand.
He shrugs guiltily. “I tell her everything.”
“You should have told me yourself,” Anna says to me, with a stern look. “I thought we were friends.”
“We are friends,” I say. “Or at least, I hope we still are.”
“Why’d you bring Sabrina?” Kade asks me.
“No one brought me,” Sabrina says, eyes darting from person to person as she tries to make sense of the madness. “I saw Anna leaving our dorm dressed like a fucking cat burglar, and I was curious. I thought you guys were doing something fun without me.”
“We are,” Leo says, bluntly. “So go back to your dorm.”
“I’m not going anywhere! And I’m especially not leaving Nix,” Sabrina says, with a furious look at her half-choked roommate.
“Sabrina’s too young to come with us,” Leo says to me. “Plus her dad will murder us.”
“I don’t fucking want her,” I say.
The minutes are slipping away. We’re on a tight schedule—I don’t have time to deal with Sabrina Gallo, or any other interruptions.
With no clear understanding, but an intense desire not to be left out of anything exciting, Sabrina declares, “I AM coming with you, and if you try to stop me, I’ll wake the whole goddamned school up.”
I round on her, still supporting the limp and dazed weight of Nix.
“I don’t have time for this!” I shout. “I’ve got to go right now. So come or don’t, but get the hell out of the way.”
Sabrina looks startled, then intrigued.
“You’re not taking Nix anywhere without me,” she says.
“Hurry up then,” I say.
With that, I throw Nix over my right shoulder and start jogging down the stairs.
Leo, Anna, Dean, Hedeon, and Kade scoop up the suits and the heavy metal canisters. Sabrina grabs several canisters of her own and trails after me.
The stone steps spiral down, down deep under the school. Sometimes the tunnel flattens out, sometimes it descends steeply. Sometimes we can hear water running behind the walls.
Our footsteps echo all around us. Once or twice someone stumbles behind me, the passageway gloomy and lit only by the flashlight Kade carries.
I’m careful where I put my feet. I don’t want to drop Nix.