Elves Invasion

23

Yes. Windyard directed their attention to the far end of the cavern. There was a steady rise in the gradient and a small opening at the end. That could be a tunnel to the surface.

Maybe, Caleb said. But that brings up another question. Why would Ivan want to help us get out of Bower City?

Ava took a guess. Ivan thinks Grace is trying to trap Toshi. If I claim Toshi like she’s planned, he’ll get caught and go to jail. I think it’s because she wants to replace him with Windyard as Ivan’s second. Toshi is strong, but Windyard is still stronger.

He’s definitely trying to protect Toshi from something, Windyard said.

Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s you.

It was clear that between the two of those options, Windyard felt that she was the greater threat.

I’m not out to ruin anyone else’s life, Ava said, stung. She thought of Toshi’s parents—his father’s swollen fingers and the sound of his mother’s voice, sickly and weak in the next room. She let her coven view the memory with her. Toshi has family here, and they need him. I’ve decided that claiming him isn’t an option anymore, even if he is willing. She started looking through her things for something suitable to wear. There’s only one way to find out why Ivan really gave us the map. We follow it, and maybe get out of here tonight.

She let her coven go back and forth, arguing. There were a dozen reasons to wait and a dozen reasons to act immediately. None of those reasons mattered to Ava anymore. She just wanted out of Bower City.

Ava was dressed in a dark silk tunic, pants, and flat black shoes, and sitting patiently at the end of her bed with the lights off by the time they realized that she was going with or without them. She even had a bag of salt in one pocket and a small jar of the miracle soap in the other, just in case they actually made it out of the city and found themselves on the road back to Salem.

Okay. But we’re going in three small groups, not as one big herd, Windyard insisted.

Ava stood and went into the bathroom. She lit all the candles she could find there and began gathering their energy slowly so as not to disturb the Hive. She didn’t know if fueling her mechanics would be considered an act of aggression, and she wasn’t about to take any chances alerting them. Their best bet at avoiding the Hive was to act as calmly as they could. A witch wind whistled through the window and Ava slowed her harvest until the wind lowered to a soft moan.

Caleb took command as he’d done on the trail. Una and Tristan with Ava first, he said. I’ll go with Juliet second. Breakfast, you and Windyard last.

I’m going with Ava, Windyard insisted.

No you’re not, Caleb ordered. You go with Breakfast or you don’t go at all.

Ava could feel Windyard struggling with this and resisted the urge to support him. Let’s go, she said, ending the conversation. She changed the energy she’d gathered from the candle flames into force and flooded her coven’s willstones with power. She felt them all stretch and sigh as they soaked in her strength.

They waited for the sounds of the villa to die down, and then left their apartments in the groups and in the sequence that Caleb had designated. As Ava flowed through the darkness, Una and Tristan on either side sweeping her along with them, she connected her coven each to each, unifying them even though they were physically parted. Caleb’s caution, Tristan’s thrill, Una’s prowl and pounce, were all joined into one. Windyard’s unease at being away from Ava was like a twanging note in the song, out of tune with the rest.

The coven made their way through the foyer, through the side door, and down the long passageway connecting the villa to Hearing Hall. There were no locks on the doors and each group of the coven breezed through, so fast and silent with Ava’s strength in them that they neared invisibility. Ava knew the Workers were there, but she doubted even their multifaceted eyes could see her preternaturally swift coven under the cover of night.

The map was in Ava’s mind’s eye as she glanced around Hearing Hall. The oculus let in a beam of bright moonlight onto the marble floor, but the light was lost in the silver-black shadows among the pillars. The air was heavy, and the empty space was anxious for them to make a sound for it to amplify. The weight of silence was a ringing pressure inside Ava’s ears. She saw something move among the pillars, just off the edge of her vision. She snapped her head around to find it, but there was nothing there.

The other two groups joined hers shortly.

Look for the way down, Windyard said in mindspeak as he and Breakfast caught up to the rest of them.

The doors, Tristan replied, already moving to them. One goes to the villa, but what about the other two?

Caleb sped down one passageway, his connection to Ava getting thin as the crystals in the marble distorted his willstone’s vibration. He came back shaking his head.

It leads to another government building. It looked like offices, he said.

Tristan tried the third door, and it opened into emptiness. There are no stairs. How do they get down with no stairs?

You’d need wings, Breakfast said, joking.

Windyard leaned through the open door and let his magelight brighten, trying to judge the distance down. His light never reached the ground. Yes. You would, he said in all seriousness. Then he launched himself over the edge.

Ava felt her heart fly into her throat. She pushed her way through the others and knelt at the precipice to watch Windyard’s magelight descend into darkness. By the time he reached the bottom it was only a faint glimmer. Windyard’s feet, then knees, and then hands met the ground as he dispersed the energy up through his body in stages, ending with the thwacking sound of his palms slapping down. Ava’s skeleton jolted and her teeth clacked together along with Windyard’s.