Chapter 27

Twenty-Seven

There were three floors between us and the crown, and each of them was likely swarming with Recondites right now. Our only saving grace was the fact that we were currently hiding in a stairwell with access to all of the building's floors—presumably. From here, we would be able to reach the right floor without being caught.

Lucien and I moved down the first floor, away from the rooftop access and pushing deeper into the Recondite temple. Even from within the stairwell, I could hear the sounds of life happening on the other side of the walls. They were all there, living, working, eating.

How many of them are there?

It sounded like hundreds, but they couldn't all have been mages; there were only a few mages left, mainly immediate families. Maybe these were all Recondite servants, their aides, their familiars… their flock.

Maybe the Recondites had convinced them they were better off in here. Either way, I didn't like the idea of having to go up against any of them to find out, and by the tenseness I could sense coming off Lucien, I doubted if he wanted to go up against them either.

"What do you think?" I asked, keeping my voice barely above a whisper.

"Think?" asked Lucien.

"Is this a suicide mission, or not?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Why?"

"Because I think we're two of the most powerful beings inside of this building. There probably aren't many that could stand up to the abilities we have."

"Speak for yourself. I've never been in a magic fight before. Also, too many humans being around us complicates our magic."

He shook his head. "Hurting people with magic is easy." He paused. "I'm sorry. That probably didn't come off right."

"Don't mention it. Seriously."

"I only meant, if we are going up against humans, we will have the upper hand."

"I still think we should tread carefully. I thought about phasing all the way down to the temple room, but if there really are a lot of humans around, that's going to be dangerous."

"Why would it be dan—" the door to the landing one floor below us hinged open, forcing us against one wall.

Beneath us, someone had exited the floor they were on and entered the stairwell. When I couldn't hear any footsteps, I dared get closer to the center part of the stairwell and look down. I couldn't see who was down there, but there was someone down there, alright.

Lucien tried to pull me back, but I was already too far out of his reach, so he joined me instead, and watched the shadow of the man one floor beneath us. For a moment nothing happened, then suddenly he spoke, his voice echoing through the well.

"Yeah, hello, I just got an email from you guys about getting an extended warranty on my car?"

I looked over at Lucien, my eyes wide, my mouth agape. Lucien shrugged.

"Right, yeah," the guy continued, "I just wanted to ask, how recently did you last go and fuck yourself? You heard me. Was it good for you? Did you enjoy yourself?" A pause. "Oh, yeah, that's real mature. Well, I have your father right here, he wants to speak to you—oh wait, he can't, because my dick is in his mouth. Ball-less piece of shit. Oh, I don't have to be that vulgar? How about you get a real fucking job, asshole."

I heard an electronic beep, then the guy one floor below us sighed. I couldn't believe what had just happened, and neither could Lucien.

"Fucking told him, though," came a smug voice from downstairs. A moment later, he was gone, back through the door he had emerged out of.

I didn't say anything for a moment, letting the seconds pass, just in case he came back. When I was sure he was gone, I opened my mouth to speak. "What the hell was that?!" I mouthed.

"I don't know," Lucien mouthed.

"Who calls back a number on a spam email?"

"What mage gets spam emails? We're supposed to be off the grid."

"I guess that answers that question," I ventured. "That guy didn't seem like a mage, but we should still be careful."

Lucien nodded. "Let's go."

Not wanting to linger in the stairwell, I moved quickly and silently down the next floor, and then moved just as swiftly past it to get to our target floor. The stairwell looked the same no matter what landing you were on, but this one felt different.

This one felt magical.

There was a slight hum in the air just powerful enough to feel it buzzing against my skin. All the other floors we had passed had felt inert, but this one, I knew we were in the right place, and that there weren't more than a few doors between us and the crown.

Lucien pressed his fingers against his lips as he approached the door. He gently pulled it open and peeked. I watched him, holding my breath while he took the lay of the land. We could've been discovered at any time. My heart was pounding, my chest felt like it was in a vice grip, and my head was spinning, but I held it together until Lucien shut the door.

"Two of them," he whispered, "In the corridor."

"Where?"

"First door on the right."

"That's the temple… I'm sure of it."

"We're going to have to get past them, somehow."

"How? They'll see us as soon as we go through that door."

Lucien considered. "We go in loud, then."

"No, we can't do that. We still have the element of surprise, we just need to get past those guys and into the temple. We can still do this."

"I heard other people on this floor. They aren't going to be alone… so, you're probably right. I could create a distraction."

"Distraction? How?"

"Diaboli don't just deal with demons. We have magic, too."

My eyes narrowed. "What kind of magic?"

"The kind that creates a distraction. I'll make them both hallucinate."

"And when they start hallucinating out of the blue, what then? The Recondites will know someone's messed with their minds, and they'll be on alert."

"Do you have a better idea?"

I looked to the right, at the wall immediately next to me. I placed my hand on the cold concrete and ran it up and down. The humming, those magic vibrations, they were stronger against the wall. The answer was obvious—I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it until now.

"I do what you brought me here to do," I said.

"What's that?"

"I'm going to take a shortcut inside." I reached for his hand. Lucien didn't seem convinced at first, but he took it. "Ready?"

"I'm not sure that I am."

"You didn't throw up the first time. You'll be fine."

With my hand placed against the wall I concentrated, summoned my power, and quickly turned my body to ephemera. In an instant, Lucien and I were phasing, caught between the material world and the Ether. Transitioning was getting easier, but it was also taxing. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep doing this all night.

This time, instead of phasing as quickly as possible, I pushed us through the concrete wall and held onto my concentration for as long as I could. I needed to see who was in the temple room first. I couldn't very well just let us both drop into a hornet's nest of surprised Recondites.

Luckily, the room was empty. I let us both drop, becoming again on the other side of the wall.

It was smaller than I remembered, probably because in the Ether, everything looked a little different—a little warped. It looked like any other small congregation room I had seen on television. The air smelled like burned out candles and old leather. Pews, lined up in two columns, went all the way to the back of the room. There were drapes on the walls with the Recondite symbol, that crown of light on top of a scepter.

Though the room was empty, neither of us felt confident enough to stand upright, so we stayed low.

"Okay, so, where's the box?" Lucien asked.

"Over there," I said, pointing at the wall behind the pulpit. "At least… wait."

"Wait?"

I perked up and scanned the room. "Fuck."

"Fuck?!"

"It's not there," I hissed.

"What do you mean, it's not there?"

"I mean, it was there, but look—it's gone."

Lucien arched his neck. "Fuck!" he hissed. "Where is it?"

"I don't know. They must have moved it."

"Why would they have moved—shit, get down!"

He hadn't had to tell me; I had heard the door open, too. I grabbed his hand again and pulled him toward me, concentrating on calling down my magic and phasing us both the hell out of here. But there was a problem. I managed to shift our bodies into ephemera, but I couldn't move through the wall.

When I tried to go through it, I was met with resistance; it was as if the wall had become solid even in the Ether.

"What's happening?" Lucien asked. I found it strange that I could hear him perfectly. I also found it weird that I could still see the room I was in, and hear the footsteps of the man entering, even though both Lucien and I had definitely phased.

Had I triggered another ability? Or was the person walking into the room blocking me from leaving?

Maybe both.

"I know you're in here, Ethera," came a man's voice. He sounded old, his voice laced with the kind of authority that only comes with old age. "I know what you want."

I kept trying to push us both through the wall, but it didn't work.

"You are the second Ethera to set foot in this temple in almost thirty years," said the man. "The last time one of your people were here, it was as friends. Now, you come to steal from us."

"Who is he?" I dared ask, keeping my voice low.

"I don't know," Lucien said.

"Come out," the man continued, "And you will not be harmed. You have my word."

The cold shiver running up and down my spine suggested the man was lying, and that I would absolutely be harmed as soon as he could get his hands on me. Right now, though, we were still phased, still hidden from the Recondite's eyes.

For how long that would remain true, I didn't know.

"We need to get out of here," I said.

"You can't get us through the wall?" Lucien asked.

I shook my head. "It's solid. He must be using some kind of magic… we're also not really in the Ether. I think we're… cloaked, or something. Invisible."

"Did you use the wrong spell?"

"I panicked! I'm not sure what I did."

"There's only one thing left to do, then," Lucien said, and I didn't like the look in his eyes.

"You want to fight him?"

Lucien shook his head and reached into his jacket pocket and produced the small ball that reeked of demonic power. It whispered, and hissed, as whatever was inside of it tried to get out. As Lucien held it in his hand, the ball gave off pulses of dark energy that I couldn't stand to be near.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to unleash a problem for our new friend."

"With that? How do you know you can control it?"

"I can control it… but you need to trust me."

I looked into his eyes, then, ignoring the ball as much as I could. Trust him. Trust that he could control the creature he was about to unleash. Trust that he could get us out of this. Trust that he would keep his word and not let me rot in his father's mansion.

"I know what they did to you and your family, Ethera," said the man, and my heart leapt into my throat. "They are a wretched people, murderers, and pillagers. I can protect you from them. I can even protect you from the one you are with now… all you have to do is reveal yourself, and the nightmare can end."

Lucien's eyes were hard as diamonds. He had heard the Recondite's words, too, and he knew what was running through my mind right now. Part of me wanted to trust Lucien, to put my faith in him. The other part of me still worried he would be powerless to stop his father from keeping me locked inside a cage.

"Do it," I said to Lucien, and he opened the ball.