Silence. I held perfectly still.
“I know you’re there, Alex,” a voice said from outside. It was a woman this time, and British instead of American.
Caldera.
“You coming out?” Caldera said. “Or we doing this the hard way again?”
I skimmed through the futures, looking for ones in which I was able to get away undetected. It wasn’t happening. So much for the gate stones. I reached out through my dreamstone. Starbreeze. Are you there?
Hi!
I need you to come pick me up.
Mmmmm . . . Starbreeze said. In a sec.
Starbreeze! It’s important!
More footsteps sounded in the corridor, followed by the sound of a handle rattling. “Come on, Alex,” Caldera said. “We need to know what Drakh’s up to.”
Leaves are funny, Starbreeze said. Look how they move.
Please, Starbreeze. I’m in danger.
Fine . . .
The futures shifted, Starbreeze appearing in them. When she’d appear was another question. “So let me guess,” Caldera said from outside. There was another rattle of a handle, closer this time. I could imagine her out there, looking up and down the corridor as she checked the doors one by one. “Drakh grabbed you and now you’re on the run. You’re hoping to stay ahead of him and the Council as well. Sound right?”
I didn’t move. Like most earth mages, Caldera can sense vibrations in the ground. It’s pretty good for spotting people, but it doesn’t work if they hold still. I’d seen her do this before, making noise to spook targets into running.
“It’s not going to work,” Caldera said. “The Council aren’t going to stop. They’re going to bring you in, it’s just a matter of when.” There was the sound of another handle. She was maybe two doors down now. “They think you were working with Drakh, by the way. You and your aide. That snatch and grab convinced them. But it’s not true, is it? You’d never help him. I know you well enough for that. You can still help stop him.”
I felt a flash of anger. I’d watched Caldera take this line in interrogations so many times. Hey, I know you’re not really a bad guy. My bosses think so, but I know you’re not like that. You didn’t really mean to hurt that other guy, right? I mean, he started it, and it wasn’t like you were trying to kill him. Why don’t you tell me your side? Maybe I can help you. Now I was the one on the receiving end.
For years now, I’d been a Keeper and a Council official. Back in the old days, I’d hated people like that. It had taken me less than two days to remember why.
Another handle rattle. “You aren’t going to win a fight, Alex,” Caldera said. “I mean, you tried that last time and I’m pretty sure you remember how that ended.”
I didn’t answer. Looking through the futures, Starbreeze was ten seconds to two minutes away. Just a little longer.
More footsteps. Caldera was right outside the door now. I saw the handle turn, rattle. The wedge held and the handle returned to horizontal. “I guess you’re still thinking you can get out of this somehow,” Caldera said through the door. “Outsmart everyone and get away. It’s what you always do, right?” She paused. “Know the problem with that? You’re not as smart as you think you are.”
The lock on the door splintered as the door broke open, slamming against the wall. Caldera lowered her leg, recovering from her kick; her eyes locked onto me as we stared at each other from less than ten feet away.
“A lot of people have been telling me that,” I said, my voice tight and angry. “But I do learn from my mistakes.”
“Just stay—” Caldera began, then whipped her head around.
Starbreeze zipped into the room, gave Caldera a frown, then reached out and turned me into air. Caldera’s eyes went wide and she shouted into her communicator. “Elemental! Seal the building! Seal—!”
Starbreeze sent us both flying past Caldera, down the corridor, out the window, and upwards. I don’t like her, she announced.
I’m not surprised.
We soared up into the evening sky, the lights and cars and skyscrapers of Manhattan shrinking below us. The mainland was a looming mass lit up in the sunset, while Long Island stretched off to the other side. A clear sky arced above us, the evening sun fading from yellow to blue to dusky purple. At a few thousand feet, Starbreeze levelled off and zipped away into the east.
I reached out through the dreamstone. Luna.
You’re okay?
You know how Kyle wanted to wait a few hours?
Yeah.
Change of plan, I said. You’ve got twenty minutes.
The American coast was disappearing behind us, fading into the sunset. Above, the stars were twinkling in the clear sky, growing brighter minute by minute. It was hard to judge our speed over the ocean, but the sun was setting behind us so quickly that I could actually see it sinking below the horizon. Starbreeze is fast.
I felt Luna sigh. So much for waiting for them all to go to sleep. At least you got out.
Yeah, but now they know about Starbreeze, I said. Next time they’d be ready. I want to move within five minutes of landing. Be ready.
Will do.
I let the connection lapse and relaxed, floating on the air. There was no reason to worry anymore. I’d made my choice; now it was just a matter of seeing how it would play out.
Caldera had been wrong. I knew the ways in which this night could end, and none of them involved me being brought in by the Council. In a few hours, I’d be more powerful than I’d ever been, or I’d be dead. One way or another, my old life was over.
Starbreeze sped on over the Atlantic, carrying me towards my fate.
chapter 10
Starbreeze took me in a soaring dive down through the summer night and towards the darkened countryside below. I had one glimpse of the lights from Onyx’s mansion, then they were obscured by the trees and Starbreeze set me down next to Variam, Luna, and Kyle. Vari had called up a small flame, and its light illuminated their faces in flickering orange. Starbreeze turned me back to flesh and blood, then saw the flame and forgot all about me, leaning in to stare in fascination.
Kyle looked up at the sky, then back at Starbreeze. “There’s something you don’t see every day.”
“What’s the count?” I asked Vari.
“Three out, four in,” Variam said. “Assuming there hasn’t been any gating, we’re looking at twenty to twenty-five combatants.”
“And six noncombatants who are Onyx and Pyre’s slaves,” Kyle said sharply. “Make sure you don’t do that Keeper thing where you shoot anything that moves, all right?”
“We don’t want any shooting at all until we’ve reached the storeroom,” I said. “If we meet any single targets, we’ll try to subdue them quietly. Kyle, you said you had some sedatives in your box of tricks, so keep them handy. You’ll be on point with me. Vari, you’re the heavy artillery. Once the alarm’s raised, we’ll be depending on you for cover fire. Luna, you’re our way in with that cube, and you can do the most while staying subtle. If Kyle and I run into trouble, do what you can.” I looked around. “Any questions?”
“How long until the Council crashes the party?” Luna asked.
I’d been checking that on the flight here. “We have twenty minutes clear, another ten minutes safeish but getting risky. Anything past that, we’re playing Russian roulette.”