Chapter 41

41

A nother day, where both Gurlien and Chloe gather information and bribe people for copies of access badges; another day, where Delina practices breaking runes and grabbing onto magic with dead bugs and goes almost stir crazy, and another day, where Maison paints the last remaining sheet in his sketchbook and immediately starts on printer paper pilfered from the dusty photocopier that Delina's bio-mother had tucked in one room.

And another day, and then it's Sunday.

There's a pool of dread inside Delina, as she lays in bed, listening to Maison's deep breathing as he sleeps next to her. Their go time is late into the evening, and everyone else elected to sleep as long as they were able to.

Which means a halfway normal time for Delina, based just on the amount of nerves inside of her.

Pushing out a breath, she wiggles out from underneath Maison's arm, creaking the door to the bedroom open and stepping into the cold light of the main room.

In the middle stands the wight, the one with wiry gray hair and a severe expression on her face.

Delina blinks at her, long, before pointing at the coffee machine. "Do you drink caffeine?"

The wight shakes her head, her eyes narrowed.

At least this time, Delina's wearing pants in the main room. "Mind if I do?"

"If you go in there, there's a wight trapped in room eight hundred and nine," the wight says, instead of replying to Delina. "We've been trying to get her out for six years."

The hair raises on Delina's arms.

"If you give me your word you'll get her out, my people will create an escape route, past all the runes and the demon traps and everything," she says, and for the first time, Delina notices that her hand is on the map scroll of the base. "Nobody has been willing to try for six years."

"Uh," Delina says, then rubs her face and grabs a pencil. "Room eight hundred and nine?"

"It's a stasis wing, the entire thing," the wight says, and Delina scribbles that down on another piece of printer paper. "We can't do anything about the stasis spells, only humans can, and not all of them. Take down the entire wing spells, and she'll be able to get out without further help."

"Stasis wing, got it," Delina says, "one of us will be able to?"

"Not the alchemist, not the Half Demon," the wight says. "The spell weaver should know how to direct you, he'll recognize it."

Delina stares down at the map, at the different levels, and desperately wishes at least Chloe was awake, with her encyclopedic knowledge of the base. "That's three floors off where we're trying to get to."

"If you do, you'll be able to escape, even the older woman," she countered. "We will know once you do it."

It is too good of a plan, as the biggest problem with the day ahead of them, is getting back through all the traps. "She'll be able to get past the locking pits?"

The Wight turns her unreal eyes to Delina instead of the map. "Remove the stasis spell and she can get out of anything. Once you drop the stasis, we will provide the way out in one hour."

Delina nods, scribbling it down.

"You will need to get the older woman during that hour, and survive the remaining time," she continues, her eyes eerie. "After an hour, you will be safe."

"Okay, and—" Before Delina can even finish the sentence, the Wight disappears, like she had never even existed. "Of course."

And now she's going to have to explain an additional complexity to the group the day of their mission.

The group is split on whether or not it's a good thing.

"Absolutely not," Gurlien immediately replies, crossing his arms. "The stasis wing is full of monsters."

"It'll eliminate us going past the locking chambers twice and eliminate the fire trap," Chloe points out, and Maison sits at the table, pouring over the map.

"Plus, the monsters might be willing to help," Maison says, lifting his eyes up to Delina's. "We free them, we might be able to get an extra hand."

"When I say monsters, I don't mean the kind that are easy to reason with," Gurlien restates. "I mean they had a cell for Terese there, that's the sort of people they put in there."

"And a wight, apparently," Delina says, though it bothers her in the back of her mind. "Who may or may not have done something."

"They always told me they would keep me in a stasis cell," Maison murmurs, so quiet she almost missed it. "That was the threat."

"Jesus Christ," Chloe remarks, then shakes her head. "Okay, I'm down with breaking the stasis."

"That would be a stupid place to keep you," Gurlien says, crossing his arms again. "You'd be useless."

"Anyone going to explain to me exactly what stasis cells do?" Delina asks, and they all turn to stare at her. "I mean, I can guess, but I'd like solid information."

"The cells don't let you change, at all," Maison says, still squinting at the map. "You can't sleep, you can't eat, you can't heal, you can't age. You're just…aware in a white box that's unchanging. It breaks people, usually within a month."

"And there's a wight who's been there for six years, I have my doubts on her sanity," Gurlien says, before he sighs. "So everyone's on board with freeing a bunch of dubiously sane monsters while we're there?"

"For a guaranteed way out? Yes," Chloe shoots back. "Leave the dubiously sane monsters to tear the rest of the place down."

"We'll hit it first," Maison says, tapping on the map. "Let everyone panic about the chaos, get my mom out with less guards, and have an escape route."

Delina raises her eyebrows at him.

He's hopeful. He's actually hopeful.

Chance the cat stares at them, wide eyed, as they pack Chloe's backpack, before he lets out a small, pitiful meow.

"Aww," Gurlien says, then crouches next to him to pet his chin, and the cat preens against him. "I'm gonna…"

"What?" Chloe replies absentmindedly.

"I'm gonna leave the entire bag of food where he can reach it," Gurlien says, unsteady. "And I'll text Axel to come rescue him if he doesn't hear back from us."

In case they don't come back.

Delina swallows, then crosses her arms. "We're gonna make it out, Gurlien."

"Obviously, yes," he snips back, but still, a frown tugs on his face. "We might not be able to come back here, we might have to abandon town, I don't want Chance to starve."

Chance perks up his ears at hearing his name, then meows again.

"And now Chance is distressed because you're upset," Chloe chides, her voice fake and cheerful. "Look what you did, you upset the cat."

"Still gonna do it," Gurlien replies, shuffling for the bag of food from the top of the fridge.