Chapter 15

Carrow

The next morning after a night in my own bed—alone—I waited at a café table tucked behind a vine-covered trellis. My coffee sat before me, untouched, and the newspaper I held went unread. The morning sun beat down brightly, and I watched Black Church for any sign of movement.

The massive building sat on the other side of the square, and I'd chosen a table at one of the many cafés that lined the open space. It was perfect for watching the front doors of the church.

Council members had gone inside regularly since I'd arrived, but I'd yet to see Ubhan walk in. Considering he was a night owl, he might not have left last night.

Quinn strolled up, looking casual and perfect for a day out. He grinned when he saw me and sat down. "So glad you could join me for our date."

I gave him a cheeky smile. "Wouldn't miss it."

Quinn, Grey, and I were planning to break into Ubhan's office this morning while Eve stayed behind care for Mac and Seraphia. Since Grey wasn't the type to enjoy a morning coffee on the square—it would draw attention if he sat around like a normal person—Quinn and I were pretending to be on a date.

Not that anyone was looking that closely at us. But Grey could hear us through our comms charms, and I had a feeling that Quinn would flirt with me just to annoy him. He didn't realize the truth of our dire situation, and I wasn't about to tell him.

"The coffee is excellent," I said to him as the waitress approached. "My cappuccino is the best I've had in town."

It was a lie, but the waitress smiled, as I'd hoped she would. Better to have her on our side. Quinn placed his order for the same. After she'd left, I gave him a quick update of what I'd seen.

As soon as the visitor from Glasgow arrived—in a kilt, according to Miranda's sources—we were going to make our move.

The waitress returned with Quinn's coffee, and he thanked her before she left. Instead of drinking it, however, he pressed his fingertips to his comms charm to turn it off and nodded for me to do the same.

I frowned at him, knowing that Grey wouldn't be able to hear us, but did as he asked. "What is it?"

"Are you sure about this thing with the Devil you have going?" His voice was pitched low enough that no one else could hear.

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen the way he looks at you, and Carrow—he's dangerous. Too dangerous."

"I know he is. But he's not a threat to me." To himself, maybe, because I had a feeling that he would walk right into hell to spare me, but he was not dangerous to me.

Quinn frowned. "I don't like it."

I scowled at him.

He raised his hands in apology. "But it's not my place to have an opinion on it, I get it. I like you, Carrow, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

A bit of warmth pushed aside most of the annoyance. "I get it, Quinn. And thank you for caring. I understand that Grey has a certain…reputation around town. But I'm fine."

He nodded and turned to the church. "Let's keep a lookout."

"Great." I uncovered my comms charm.

Grey's voice drifted out, quiet yet concerned. "Is everything all right? The line died."

"Everything is fine," I said.

A slight frown tightened Quinn's lips, but he said nothing as he gazed at the fire-darkened exterior of Black Church. The structure looked ominous against the bright blue sky.

I spotted a man wearing a kilt striding toward the front doors. "He's here," I murmured, but loudly enough for Grey to hear. "Meet you soon."

Quinn paid for our coffees, and I stood, grabbing the bag full of potion bombs that Eve had given me. We left holding hands for good measure. I assumed no one gave a damn about Quinn or me, but you never knew who might be watching.

We strolled along the edge of the square, and I gazed into shop windows as if interested in the wares. Slowly, we made our way closer to Black Church and ducked into a narrow side street. I tried to make it look like I was pulling Quinn in to make out with him, but I had no idea if the effect worked.

From the scowl on Grey's face, it was at least somewhat effective. The vampire stood in the shadows of a small intersecting alley, still as a statue and dressed in simple black tactical wear that would make running and fighting easy.

Quinn removed three small vials from his pocket and handed them around. "Drink these. Eve made them. They'll make it so that it's difficult for anyone who sees us to remember our faces. But it only works for short encounters, so if you have a conversation, it won't work."

"Thanks." I swigged it back, appreciatively. It would be a big help with any admin staff or guards that we came across in the halls.

"Come," Grey said. "My contact is waiting."

Though we'd broken into Black Church through the dwarves' underground tunnels last time, we didn't have that option now. The Council had blocked off that secret entrance into their dungeons.

We followed Grey down the side streets, working our way to the back of Black Church. He'd said he had a contact in the kitchens, and they were going to let us in the back.

A young man stood outside, smoking a cigarette as he leaned against the brick wall. His apron was scattered with flour, and his face was sullen.

"This guy?" I asked skeptically.

"He wants out," Grey said.

"Out?"

"Out of Guild City. After he does this for us, he's going to make himself scarce for a while."

"The perfect candidate, then." It made sense. If the Council found out that he'd sneaked us in, he'd end up in jail.

The back street was empty, so we hurried toward the kid. He gave the Devil a look, then turned and pressed his hand to the door. Magic sparked around his palm, and he pulled it open, the cigarette hanging from his mouth as he held out his free hand to Grey.

As Grey strode through the door, he passed the kid a thick envelope—cash, no doubt—and our accomplice grinned.

I nodded at him and walked through, Quinn bringing up the rear. The door shut quietly behind us, and I could imagine the kitchen boy already hightailing it for one of the gates at the edge of town. I hoped he had a damned good time wherever he ran off to.

The hallway in which we stood was quiet and dark.

"The kitchens are near here," Grey murmured. "They keep a staff since so many Council members spend all day in their offices."

I shifted the bag over my shoulder, reaching inside for a stunner. The smooth glass ball fit perfectly in my hand as I gripped it loosely.

Grey met my eyes and raised an eyebrow.

I grinned. "Just in case."

"You know the way to Ubhan's office?" Quinn asked.

"Yes," Grey said. "We'll drop you at the main meeting room on the way."

"Perfect." Quinn nodded. He was going to deploy an alarm on the doors that would alert us when the meeting was out.

As we slipped silently through the halls, the thrill of the chase raced through my veins.

We were going to get him.

I didn't know how Ubhan was involved, but he was. And there were answers here.

Our footsteps were silent as we hurried down the hall, three shadows that stuck close to the wall. Grey led the way, as he knew the layout well, and I took the middle. Behind me, Quinn moved with lethal grace, making it easy to imagine him as a leopard.

Faint footsteps sounded up ahead, and I peered around Grey's shoulder. A hallway joined with our current one. Someone was headed in our direction. My heart rate jumped, and I tightened my grip on my stunner bomb, ready to throw it.

A guard dressed in black tactical wear like Grey's appeared in the intersection. Shock flashed across the man's face when he spotted us.

"Intruders. You shouldn't be back here." He raised his hand, magic sparking around his palm, and hurled the blast at us.

Grey lunged forward, dodging the blast and punching the guard in the face.

The man's head snapped back, and he staggered. Grey grabbed him before he fell, hauling him upright, but

the man sagged, unconscious.

"Nice hit," Quinn said, sounding impressed.

"Thanks. Carrow, can you get his belt?"

I quickly unhooked it, and Grey turned him around. Wrapping the guard's wrists together, I bound them tightly behind his back. Then I knelt and untied his shoelaces, binding his ankles together in a triple knot he couldn't reach even if he tried. Last, I took the knife Quinn handed me and used it to tear off a strip of his shirt to gag him.

"There's a closet here." Quinn held open the door he'd found, and Grey stuffed the unconscious body inside.

The whole ordeal had taken less than a minute, and we were on our way once more.

When we reached the main foyer that led toward the meeting room, Quinn peeled off. "Listen for the alarm," he said, his gaze on mine. "And good luck."

"You, too. Get out of here after you've deployed it. Don't get caught without backup."

He nodded, then looked at Grey. "Take care of her."

I raised my eyebrows. "How about we take care of each other?"

Quinn grinned. "Sure."

"Boys." I shook my head as he hurried toward the doors he planned to set with a trigger-based alarm.

"This way." Grey's voice was low as he led me down another hall and up a wide staircase to the next floor. "I believe his office is over here."

There was no one about as we walked, but I kept my senses on high alert. Tension hung heavy in the air as we moved through the old stone corridors, our footsteps silent on the wide wooden floorboards. Tapestries and dim sconces dotted the walls, giving the place an ancient feel.

At the end of the hall, we reached a wide door marked with Ubhan's name. The script was gold and gaudy, and I raised an eyebrow. "That's very appropriate for him."

Grey's lips twitched as he inspected the door, hovering his hands over the wood. Intricate carvings decorated the stone surrounding the frame. I'd bet my last adult juice box there was a spell on this door.

"It's enchanted," Grey confirmed. "Protective spells to lock it."

"Good thing I came prepared." I reached into the bag Eve had packed for me and withdrew a small silver stone, a spell reader. Hopefully, it would give us an idea of what protected his office.

Carefully, I ran it over the door, holding it close to the wood but not so close that it touched. When I ran it past the carved stones around the door jam, it vibrated slightly. I pointed to the spot. "The enchantment is there."

"Can that stone break the protection charm?"

"Eve said that it can break some charms, but not all. This seems to be too strong." I glanced down the hall, my heart racing faster. We were exposed. Any second, someone might walk by.

"The carvings on the stones say something, but I can't decipher it," Grey said.

"Same." There were twelve of them, each about ten centimeters square, positioned at regular intervals around the door. I pressed my fingertips to one, calling on my magic. How do we open you?

I had a vision of myself stepping on one of the stones set into the floor in front of the door, but nothing about the carved stones around the door jam. They were important, though. I could feel it.

I withdrew my hand. "Let's ask the others."

I took my phone from my pocket and snapped a picture, then texted it to Eve with a note that said:

The protective spell on Ubhan's door. Any idea how we get in?

My phone buzzed with a reply about thirty seconds later:

Seraphia says they are the months of the year, written in Sanskrit. Press them in order.

The end of the text included the translations for the months.

"Thank fates we have a friend who's a librarian." I raised my hand, ready to press the stone.

"Wait." Grey gripped my shoulder gently. "Ancient sorcerers used to start the year in June. They don't anymore, but he may have done it that way."

I nodded, moving my hand toward June. One after the other, I pressed the stones, feeling them vibrate beneath my touch. The last one pulsed hardest, and the door began to glow.

Grey reached for it, twisting the knob, but nothing happened. The vibration increased.

"An alarm," Grey said. "We're missing part of the spell."

Shit.

Heart racing, I studied to door, searching for the clue. The trembling became a loud hum that grew, climbing to a shriek.

My gaze went to a spot on the floor. The stones looked unassuming, but one of them matched what I'd seen in my vision.

I pressed my foot on it, hard.

The stone depressed, and the alarm stopped.

I sagged, relief chilling my skin.

Grey tried the door again, and this time, it opened easily. We slipped inside, and he closed the door behind us. I leaned against the wood, panting.

"Did you hear the alarm?" Grey spoke quietly into his comms charm.

"No, you're good," Quinn responded. "I've just deployed the alarms on these doors. Your comms charm will ping when they are tripped."

"Good," I said. "Get out of there."

"See you on the outside," he replied. "Call for backup if you need it."

We cut the connection, and I stared at the office.

It was filled to the brim with books and papers. Crowded shelves climbed to the ceiling fifteen feet above us.

"There have to be thousands of them," I said. "Have you been in here before?"

"No," said Grey. "He doesn't let anyone in."

Three huge tables and a massive desk were covered in papers, as if a mad scientist were hard at work.

At the edges of the room, a faint mist began to seep from beneath the walls. "What's that?"

Grey frowned. "I've never seen the like."

The mist moved quickly, filling the room. I breathed it in, unable to help myself.

My mind fogged, and my thoughts and memory became fractured.

Why were we here?

Mac.

"It's a mind-numbing spell," Grey said.

My thoughts tumbled over themselves as I tried to figure out what was going on and how to fix it. But I was so slow. So tired.

The weight of my potion bag pulled at my shoulder, and an idea pushed through the haze that clouded my mind.

Hadn't Eve given me something that could help with spells like this?

Frantic, I scrambled in my bag for the tiny star-shaped bottle she'd shown me. My fingers closed around it. Opening the bottle with trembling hands, I took a small sip, then passed it off to Grey. "It should clear your mind."

It was already working on me, giving me a magical resistance to the mist that still hung heavy in the hair. My thoughts cleared, and I remembered why we were there.

Grey drank some of the potion, and his gaze sharpened. "That worked well."

"Let's search the room." I took a staggering step. Was I tired, or was another spell at work?

Impossible to say.

Grey and I quickly rifled through the papers. I scanned documents and books, trying to keep my power in check so my mind wouldn't become polluted by too many unrelated visions.

Ubhan had varied interests, most of which seemed to be focused on different parts of history. Many of the documents were related to the rules and regulations of the city and the Council. He was a rule follower through and through, as all sorcerers tended to be.

"I think I may have found something," Grey said.

I hurried toward him, my eyes riveted to the ancient, yellowed papers in his hands. "What is it?"

"They appear to be redacted minutes from a Council meeting a few hundred years ago. From the Council of 1642, specifically."

"After your time."

"Yes. I'd left by then."

"Why is he so interested in redacted minutes?"

"Because the Council doesn't redact minutes. At least, we didn't when I was on it. To my knowledge, they still don't."

"Ubhan wouldn't like that. He's a big fan of the rules."

"Sorcerers." Grey shook his head and looked back at the paper. His brow creased. "He either wanted to get to the bottom of the redacted minutes or he had something to do with it."

"My bet is on the latter." I ran my gaze over the writing, noting the parts that were heavily blacked out. "What decision was the Council trying to hide?"

"I can't tell. Someone's marked through the text."

On the desk, there were more collections of minutes. Black lines crossed through some of the lines on them as well. I reached out to touch one, calling upon my gift.

What do you hide?

I'd hoped the blacked-out words would appear in my mind, but I was out of luck.

Instead, an image appeared—an interior stone wall and wooden floor. Near the floor, one of the stones glowed, calling to me. I turned, feeling the pull from behind me. One of the stones in the wall caught my attention. There, near the floor.

I walked toward it, my movements oddly sluggish, but I was too enraptured by the wall in front of me to care. I reached it, knelt, and pried at the stone. It budged slightly. I pulled harder, and the stone came out. A small cubbyhole appeared.

"What's in there?" Grey hunkered down beside me.

I reached inside the dark space, anticipation streaking through me. My fingertips touched paper, and I pulled out a pile of pages that had been bound together.

A Most Elucidating History of Guild City.

The title of the book was scrawled across the top of the first page. I looked at Grey, grinning. "It's the pages that were torn from the book."

I untied the bundle and began to read, shock racing through me.

"Oh my God…" I murmured.

"Another guild." Surprise sounded in Grey's voice. "That's the memory that was taken from me."

"The Shadow Guild." At the words, recognition flared within me. "A guild for all those who don't fit into the others. For the misfits and the strange ones."

Like me.

But it had been erased from history.

The comms charm around my neck buzzed, a harsh alarm sounding.

"The meeting is out." Grey stood, his movements oddly slow. "We need to go."

I struggled to my feet. It was hard to walk. The air in the room was viscous and thick, trapping us. I glanced at Grey. His brow was creased in concentration.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Why can't we move?"

"It's a spell of some sort." He frowned and tried to force his body toward the door. "We triggered it at some point. Perhaps when we touched the papers."

I pushed against the sludgy air but couldn't get more than a few inches. The alarm continued to sound from around my neck, the seconds ticking down.

Ubhan would be here any moment.