Chapter 14

"Me?"I squeaked. Everyone stared, including the mute twins. I huffed a laugh and shoved my hands into my pockets. "I'm just Victor's assistant."

Agatha folded her arms and leaned back against the lab tables. "I see, I see, but if that's the case, why is Gideon Cain so interested in you?"

"Cain who? What?" My heart thumped.

"Perhaps Mr. Cain is looking to poach my assistant?" Victor suggested, the epitome of calm composure. "Gideon Cain and I had something of a disagreement recently. Adam is really quite average, as you can see."

I really was exceptionally average.

Agatha narrowed her eyes. She wore glamor, and she may have sensed that I did too. But it would be socially rude to point that out, and the fae were sticklers for politeness. "He does seem particularly dull." She removed a rectangular, black, thumbnail-sized device from her jacket pocket. "Which makes this all the more mysterious."

Alright, but what was that? I glanced around, hoping someone was going to ask but nobody did. "Erm, what is that?"

"The backup for your Tom Collins unit. I'm sure you've noticed your bartender has not been performing as it should of late."

Thattiny thing was our Tom Collins? Then there really was a backup, and our Tom was still alive?! "We had noticed a small change in Tom." Such as him being super nice, until he tried to murder me. "Why uh... why do you have that?" I asked, hoping it sounded casual.

Reynard was proving to be of no help, and instead of helping, he watched me stumble about in the dark.

"That's a good question, Mr. Vex. I'm asking myself that same thing. Why do I have this?"

Was this a riddle? Was I supposed to know the answer?

I glanced at Reynard but found his face politely blank. He seemed to be holding back, content for the moment to let me ask the questions. Had he known his friend had Tom all this time? I was going to have some stern words with Victor Reynard. "Well, then... if you don't know? May we have him back?"

She gave that all-over body sigh that bad people sometimes do before plowing into a monologue. "You see, some time ago now, Mr. Cain was very insistent you should be in receipt of a modified Tom Collins unit." Ah, Gideon Cain... "We rarely trade in tech, not least because I do not wish to tread on Baron Reynard's toes."

"Much appreciated, Agatha," Reynard said.

"However," she continued. "Mr. Cain offered a substantial sum of money to ensure one particular AI bartending unit was placed in your hotel. I'm not one to turn down a good deal, so we arranged it. A few days ago, Mr. Cain demanded we hand over the backup for your Tom Collins unit. At which point, I became rather curious." She held up the thumb drive and examined it under the lab's bright lights. "What could a real-estate developer such as Mr. Cain want from a Sex Hotel spybot?"

"Oh, that's not... The hotel isn't called that."

"It's not called the Sex Hotel?"

"Erm, no. It's SOS. Like, save our souls? Because the hotel is a sanctuary, you see, for those in need?—"

"But you have a porn demon on staff?"

"Yes, but he doesn't offer, uh, adult services anymore."

She screwed up her nose, then arched a thin eyebrow. "Well, that really does make this a mystery. I assumed Gideon's spying on you was a kink thing. How intriguing. Victor, what is your interest in all of this?"

"I reside at the hotel," he said flatly, as helpful as a stone statue.

"You live at the Sex Hotel?

She really wasn't getting this. I raised a finger. "It's uhm, not called that."

Reynard went on. "As I'm sure you've heard, I've been cast out of the royal family."

"I had heard. Which at least explains why you're sniffing around my operation. But all of this does smell a bit fishy, don't you agree, Victor?"

"We are in an aquarium, Agatha."

Agatha gave a fake laugh, then glared. "A million dollars and you can have your Tom Collins back."

Reynard visibly tensed. "A million dollars for a malfunctioning AI barman?"

She blinked slowly. "I doubt it's the bot you want, but rather the secrets it's been told. Even if the recording functions were off, a good hacker can extract them. I'm sure you know a few, since you're in the tech business."

Reynard huffed an edged laugh. "You're being unreasonable. I doubt there's anything in that unit worth anywhere near a million."

Only how to save the world, or doom it. "Let's not be too hasty, Victor." I sidled closer to Agatha. "A million is a good starting point. Let's talk?—"

"We'll buy another unit, Adam," Reynard said sternly. "Gideon may keep whatever secrets he believes are on there."

A new unit? Was he serious? "But if we buy a new one it won't be our Tom Collins." I glared, and Reynard blinked back, his face unreadable. He'd said he missed Tom too, and while it wasn't my place to give his money away, surely Tom Collins was worth negotiating for? Setting aside the need to keep my secrets out of Gideon Cain's hands.

"Shall we tour the rest of the operation, Victor?" Agatha prompted after several tense moments. "While you have a think about how best to proceed. Naturally, we'd appreciate the Reynard name attached to our brand, lending it a great deal of legitimacy," she continued, leading us out a door and down another tunnel-like pathway. Her sentinels followed close behind, giving off moody stalker vibes.

Victor's omitting the truth had left me feeling uneasy. I'd trusted him—and still did—but his lies had left me unbalanced, and the deeper we walked into the damp, dark building, the more that sense of unease grew.

"Where are you taking us?" I asked, trying to keep the quiver from my voice.

"To the heart of the operation."

I tried to catch Victor's eye, but he stared ahead, chatting with Agatha about profit margins, expansion, and a lot of business jargon.

The sentinels loomed closer behind us.

Nope, I was not liking this one bit. "Victor?"

I'd fallen behind their long-legged strides, and jogged to catch up. "Victor, a word? In private?"

"Of course. Agatha do you have somewhere I might converse with my assistant?"

"Just up ahead, here." A metal door loomed. Agatha heaved it open and ventured into the gloom first. Victor followed, and I stepped through. A distant light flickered, illuminating only a fraction of the vast, dark space. What was this?

"Would you like any refreshments? Some snacks?" Agatha asked. "We're branching out into nibbles too."

Ugh. "Please don't say pies."

"Oh no, that would be a little on the nose, don't you think?" She laughed, and slammed the door closed—with her and the sentinels outside.

The glow from the single dangling lightbulb didn't touch the sides of the room, giving the impression of standing in an empty atrium. Our breaths echoed. This was not good.

"Adam—"

No, nope, I wasn't falling for his charm. Daddy Vampire needed a telling off. "Look, I get that you have to be Mr. Mysterious with your bajillion secrets and tragic past. I do. But you should have told me you knew her. I trust you. Zee trusts you. And when you don't tell us things, that trust gets eroded, like... grated cheese." Was that the right metaphor?

"Adam—"

"No, hear me out, or you'll say something reasonable and I'll agree with you and I don't feel much like agreeing with you right now. We need to get Tom Collins back and we need to leave. Maybe we've got enough for... the thing... we're here to do. Maybe we haven't, but I am not liking the vibe of this place at all."

Reynard peered into the gloom, not even looking at me. Irritation and frustration joined the heady mix of weird vibes this place was giving me.

"Adam, if you'll allow me to sp?—"

"And another thing. I get that a million for Tom Collins is a lot, and it's not my money. But buy another one? Really? Tom Collins is more than just AI. I don't know what he is, I mean I have some ideas, but he's one of us, and that means he's under my protection—our protection. You're acting like you don't care about any of this. I'm beginning to wonder if I know you at all, Victor."

He straightened and took a single step closer so I had to lift my chin to look him in the eyes. "I stand by my decision not to reveal my association with Agatha," he said. "I cannot risk you rescinding my invitation to remain at the SOS Hotel, and an association with someone of her profession risks exactly that."

"The very fact you didn't tell me gives me a reason to throw you out."

He swallowed hard. "That is your prerogative."

I sighed. I wasn't going throw him out, but we clearly needed to discuss what we were, if anything. "We're going to have to work on these trust issues."

"We are, but prior to that, we'll likely need to escape this enormous aquarium tank Agatha has locked us inside."

"What?" I looked around anew. The gloom was so thick, I couldn't see the tank's edges. Just nothingness. That might explain the heavy sense of doom pushing in from all sides.

"Try the door, but I suspect you'll find it sealed and warded," he said.

I did try the door and did, in fact, find it firmly sealed and warded. I should have known it was odd when I'd stepped over the two-foot-thick door seal. She'd been leading us here the entire time. Zee was right. Agatha had not been fooled by Reynard's sudden interest in her operation. Okay. This was fine. There was no need to worry. There had to be a way out. "What about the top, can you see it?" He had better night vision than me. Aquariums had to have open tops, so the divers could climb in, but all I saw above was a curtain of darkness.

"It's a lot higher than I can jump, the sides are too smooth to scale and too thick to break, plus the filtration vents are too small to crawl through."

He'd been working on possible escape routes while I'd been ranting. "Right." I planted both hands on my hips. "Just once, I'd like to leave the hotel and not get kidnapped. Or arrested. Or put in a pie. But no, Adam Vex can't catch a break."

"This isn't your fault."

"I know that, Victor."

Reynard blinked and turned his face away. "My apologies, you're clearly upset."

"A little. Yeah. I am. Just when I think I've got a handle on things, it all goes poof. Every time. Now I'm in a fish tank. This is not good."

"Indeed. Agatha has little interest in killing us. I suspect there are other forces at work—applying pressure. Agatha is looking out for her own interests."

"Other forces such as Gideon Cain?"

Victor glanced back and bowed his head in thought. "What did you tell Tom Collins, Adam?"

"Nothing." I paced, and the sound of my shoes crunching on dry gravel echoed in the vast space. "Not much. Nothing worth all this fuss. We sometimes talked about... maybe... unaliving bad people?" Like murdering Gideon Cain. We'd talked about that a lot.

"Hm." Reynard considered it. "Anything more personal, that Gideon Cain could use against you, or wield to have the hotel closed?"

Gideon Cain knew more than he should. He'd made that clear when he'd handed me the torn prophecy page from the Wilson's Guide. But he didn't have anything to prove his suspicions. Unless he listened to Tom's astute character references for us all, and how sometimes, late at night, I'd tell Tom that fate had me in its crosshairs. "Possibly."

"We must retrieve Tom's backup before Agatha hands it over to Cain, and we still need to secure the evidence that will keep you and Zodiac out of jail."

"And get out of this tank." I peered up, into the void. Would screaming into it help? At least it wasn't full of water, right? "It could be worse."

A rumbling sounded, like distant thunder. Underfoot, the floor vibrated. I glanced at Reynard.

His eyes widened. "Can you sw?—"

A blast of water swallowed Reynard, snatching him away. I gasped, and the same wall of water slammed into me, punching all the air from my lungs in a sudden whoosh. I tumbled, spinning among bubbles. The light was gone, drowned, like we were about to be. But a new light spun in my vison. A way out? The churning slowed. I pinned that light in my sights, and kicked toward it, then broke the surface, gasping.

A surging waterfall thundered into the tank and drowned out the sound of my pounding heart.

"Victor?!"

Where was he? Choppy waves splashed my face.

"Victor?!"

Above, some kind of plate covered the top of the tank, and with the water rising, it wouldn't be long before I'd reach it. Of course, our tank had to have a lid.

Okay.

This was good. And bad.

Good, because the water was rising, lifting me closer to the top.

Bad, since the lid appeared to be welded shut. The only other way out was the waterfall.

"Victor?!" Where was he?

Reynard broke the surface next to me, gasping. "Adam!" he spluttered. His black hair stuck to his fraught face. His wild gaze darted. "This is alarming."

The water's churn pushed us toward the pounding waterfall.

"Now might be a good time to demonstrate some of those abilities you claim not to have," Reynard suggested.

I glowered. "We don't talk about that."

"Alright, but we have roughly four minutes before the water rises enough to lift us to the top and drown us under the lid."

"Don't you have abilities, Victor?"

"Indeed," he spluttered water, "but strength and speed are of little help against that force of water." He nodded toward the raging waterfall.

"What do you think I can do that you can't?"

"I realize you are displeased with me. And we will discuss it. But in order to do that, now would be a fabulous time to demonstrate what you supposedly cannot do, Adam."

"I am very mad at you."

"Naturally. Now, please focus on perhaps preventing our impending deaths so we might survive to argue later."

I eyed the plate, fast approaching us. Trapped within my curse and my glamor, my choices were limited. The whole idea of hiding was that I wouldn't need to display any kind of supernatural talents, because I was obviously a very basic and boring human, who did not have any special abilities. At all.

"Do you need to breathe?" I asked him.

"I am quite fond of it, yes."

"But is it necessary?"

"For living? I'd say so."

The plate hovered a few inches from our heads now. Water still poured in, and if water was pouring in, it had to flow from somewhere. Victor might not have been able to fight the current, but I could. I offered my hand. "Calm your heart and hold your breath."

He grasped my fingers. "I apologize for the deception. For all of it. I am in your debt. My life is yours."

My head bumped the plate. Water sloshed between us, stealing the last few seconds of eye contact. Seconds in which Victor's terrified eyes locked on mine.

I squeezed his hand, took a deep breath, and pulled him under.