Chapter 50

MAEVE

I standbeneath a bus shelter across the road from a disused building, heart banging. The theatre's name is painted in white on the brick, faded and ghost-like. As the windows boarded with graffitied wood, and the entrance doors now covered in metal panels, the theatre no longer welcomes patrons. Positioned on the corner of a secluded street amongst older redbrick houses, few cars pass and nobody else joins us at the bus stop or walks along the pavement. A useless spectre of the past not needed or noticed by anybody.

"How do we get inside? The place is locked down."

Ash chuckles. "Really, Maeve?"

I scowl. "Okay, how do we get inside without somebody noticing five people breaking and entering?"

"Seems like Gabriella can," says Ash.

"If this is definitely the address," says Jamie.

"Mother Dearest likes her theatrics," says Andrei way too casually as he strides from beneath the shelter. "I'm positive she'd hold a ritual here rather than at that other address."

If we've located the building, we're prepared that numerous Dominion recruits could attend. Unpredictable recruits. We've little information about the situation we're facing but have reached agreement on several things.

Find all exits and ensure they're usable.

If the number of Dominion appears to large, even for us, leave.

If we find Gabriella, detain and not kill her straightaway.

Stop the ritual.

Don't call on Dorian unless absolutely necessary—something that adds to our determination to win this battle alone.

The ‘find and don't kill' Gabriella part caused the most dissent, Andrei understandably keen to end the woman who ended his life both literally and figuratively. Jamie surprised me in his supporting Andrei, still subscribing to the kill or be killed point of view. Both their attitudes disturb me because once we kill Gabriella, tens or maybe hundreds of others will die.

The argument this may be another of the First's lies doesn't wash with me. Andrei died when Dorian ended Gabriella's life. Ash remained quiet, not sharing his thoughts and Tobias merely repeated the plan several times over the last few hours.

The addendum to the plan annoys me: don't allow Maeve to come under threat. I protested I'd no such intention and if I can take down Andrei, I've the shadows at my disposal.

But the reason behind makes sense. Andrei and Ash in particular won't react logically to my life under threat. But, if the ritual's attendees are also the ones from the catacombs, they'll recognise Andrei and his capabilities.

Let's hope he doesn't need to use them—or choose to raze the place.

"Two of us should find a way inside the theatre, and the others continue to ‘wait for the bus' and keep an eye out," suggests Tobias. "Ash?"

With a mock salute, Ash hurries after Andrei and the pair disappear from sight behind a side wall. Andrei scaled the red brick without anybody noticing, including me, and I hold my breath as Ash effortlessly climbs over.

The cool, drizzly weather assists in not looking out of place in our dark clothing, and using the bus stop distracts from our loitering. Andrei may look odd wearing sunglasses, but he's already freaked out humans once today. I've watched him carefully since our time together earlier and although there's no hint of the shaking, scared guy, I prefer when I can see his eyes.

"How will we know this definitely is the place?" I ask Tobias, hand firmly in Jamie's.

"With luck, there'll be evidence of preparations," he replies, taking in every inch of the building's condition.

"I don't want to think what the preparations might entail," says Jamie.

We're also prepared for the possibility there're Dominion inside—some with the blood or stronger allies of Gabriella's.

We sit on the uncomfortable metal bench beneath the shelter waiting for one of the guys to return, Tobias and Jamie either side of me. I chuckle. "We really could be waiting for a bus. Where do you think we're going?"

Tobias looks at me oddly, but Jamie taps his lips. "Hmm. A train station to get far away from this shit?"

"I thought the zoo."

"What?" Tobias looks sharply at me. "Why on earth would you want to visit the zoo?"

I flick his nose. "Joking. I prefer Jamie's idea."

"Would there be tigers at the zoo?" Tobias replies with a small smile. "I've only seen a shifted one."

"Omigod. Could you imagine if shifters snuck into zoos and hid? Or Dominion captured them? Or Confederacy?" I cross my arms tight. "Why does everything I think about always circle back to this stuff?"

"Until we catch my train, it always will," says Jamie then stands. "Wait. The door's moving."

I peer across at the metal panelled doors with the black spray-painted tags. One's open. Ever so slightly.

Tobias places a hand on my knee to indicate I wait as an elderly woman and her tiny brown dog wearing a bejewelled harness passes. We exchange the expected hellos and the moment the woman passes, the three of us cross towards the rundown building.

The force used on opening the theatre doors snapped the thick metal chain that held them closed from the outside, but I don't pause to examine the damage, instead sidling through the small gap. My jacket snags on the doorframe and I glower at the tear in the sleeve. As if a torn jacket will be the worst that happens today.

I step into the old foyer, where the once gleaming tiles are now obscured by debris and scattered leaves that have fallen through cracks. Cobwebs drape the faded, peeling blue walls, and the once sparkling chandelier above me hangs with crystals dulled and layered with grime.

Andrei stands on top of a dust-covered counter beneath a black letter board once used to announce shows and times. Past intruders rearranged the white letters into names and swear words, and Andrei's also busy rearranging them.

Jamie groans at Andrei as he places the last letter.

FUCK U GAbrIELLA.

"Perhaps don't leave an obvious sign that we're here," says Tobias with a sigh.

Andrei smirks and pulls the small letters from the board. "Just messing." He drops them on the floor out of sight.

Leaving dusty footprints on the cracked tiles, I walk across to Andrei and beckon him with a finger. He hops down and I lean closer. "I told you, nothing's changed, Andrei. That's a typical you thing to do."

"Teen idiocy?" asks Tobias.

Andrei scowls at him. "I'm not a teen."

"But still an idiot," says Ash with a grin and shoves him.

I straighten. "When did you turn twenty, Andrei?"

"A few weeks ago."

"You never told us!" I protest.

"I missed the date because slightly more important things were happening." He shrugs. "Come on, we can't hang around and chat. If there're people around, they'll hear."

I open my mouth to respond but he's ducked through the nearest doorway.

"Huh. Never knew," says Jamie.

Tobias shakes his head in answer to my questioning look. "I didn't pay attention to birthdays."

"Besides, my birthday party was enough to deal with," says Ash and wrinkles his nose.

Andrei forgetting his birthday—or deliberately not telling us—shouldn't slug me in the stomach this hard. But I'm bothered by more than the missing birthday. Birthdays should be a big deal, a moment in life to celebrate. But does an immortal stop celebrating their birthday? Why do I continue to hold on to my idea that normality could blend with this world? Andrei obviously didn't care at all.

Although recently disturbed dust covers the foyer, once we walk towards the theatre stalls everything's shrouded with the untouched past. Mildew spoils the two rows of folding velvet seats that face a narrow stage. Stained burgundy curtains, torn and musty, hang from the walls either side, and another across the stage.

Everywhere looks untouched for years, the smell one of decay but not death.

"Sense anything, Andrei?" asks Tobias.

"Nothing immediate. The First isn't here though."

"Thank fuck," mutters Ash and sets off down the aisle between the two rows of seats. "I can't sense anyone either."

"I agree. The place feels empty currently," adds Tobias. "This helps."

Andrei turns and tips his head up then points at a mezzanine with an artfully wrought black barrier. "Balcony. If we watch the show, I'm sitting there." I shove him and he turns to follow Ash. "Please?"

"We check every room we can find," says Tobias, eyeing Andrei. "Back stage, upstairs, bathrooms, probably a cellar and maybe an attic."

"Together," I put in hastily. "No splitting up."

"That's what we agreed," says Jamie.

At Ash's dinner, we discussed clear plans, as with the catacombs but some emphasis on Andrei not becoming the wild card. Or the wild creature. Whatever he and Tobias spoke about at length, may've helped, but my earlier encounter with Andrei reassures me he's less likely to lose control. His capabilities scare him as much as us and I've threatened to bind him with shadows. After a quip that he might enjoy that, Andrei added that he'd rather avoid the pain.

A series of backstage rooms still hold remnants of their pasts, the mirrors unbroken with lightbulbs surrounding the edge and hanging rails with moth-filled clothes. The ghostly aura from the theatre's fa?ade extends into these rooms, as if the dead perform nightly shows.

"Basement here." Jamie walked ahead with a witch light guiding his way and stopped at a door opening onto steps. "Storage probably."

"Hmm. But storage of what," says Ash.

I eye the darkness as the cool, dead smell grows. "Props I hope." Why are Andrei and Tobias exchanging looks? "Or not?"

"Something down there's connected to the supernatural, but not hemia or witches," says Tobias softly.

"Shifters?" I offer. Ash shakes his head. "Are there heartbeats?"

If I can't hear any, that's one positive—nothing to do with the First.

"Faint," says Andrei. "Let me walk down first."

The dark cellar engulfs him, and I walk beside Jamie and his witch light, the others behind. Before he follows, Ash hauls a rusted fire extinguisher to prop the door open. Good. If that slammed behind me, I'd change my mind about walking down here.

Jamie discovers a switch at the base of the creaking steps and snuffs out his witch light before flicking on the lights, and a bare bulb reveals the room. The concrete walled space must span half the length of the theatre, colder than the rest of the rooms we've explored.

I've never taken part in anything theatrical, avoiding school productions once they became optional. I finished my stage days after my role as a star in the nativity play, aged six.

So, I've no idea what to expect a theatre to store in a basement, but I'm positive no other theatre stores this.