Chapter 41

Chapter 41

I t had taken her longer to leave Solare and the area surrounding the palace unnoticed than she had expected, and by the time Fey had made her way to the shipping district, there was a distinct brightening to the sky that heralded the coming dawn.

Shit . She was running out of time. Without her mask, she was incredibly vulnerable out here, in the open. Under the cover of night, she could move relatively unseen, using her skills to blend into the shadows was second nature to her after so many years. But once the sun came up, she would be an obvious target, with her bright red hair and fighting leathers. Too obvious, too vulnerable.

Fey wasn't sure what compelled her to come here, what compelled her to leave the relative safety of her old, abandoned room to be here—out in the open, with no plan, no idea of what she might be walking into. If Alice had left that note as a clue to whatever had led to her death, it was months old at this point. Had she met someone here, at this address, before she was killed? Was it an accusation? Alice pointing the finger at her murderer from beyond the grave?

Fey had no idea. And even knowing she should go back, even knowing she should find a way to get to her sisters—the ones still alive, still in need of her protection—she couldn't stop herself from coming here. She was compelled to see where Alice was leading her.

At first glance 1601 Eternity Road looked like every other factory in the shipping district. This whole neighborhood was nothing but shipping containers and factories, and Fey triple checked the address before she was even convinced that she'd found the right building.

There were no guards outside, no security cameras, and while it appeared empty, there were enough signs of occupation to convince Fey it wasn't an abandoned building. The windows were relatively clean, the main entrance marred with muddy boot prints from workers arriving for their shifts.

Down to every detail Fey could find, it appeared to be nothing but an ordinary factory, no different from every other building on this block.

Why would Alice send her here? Fey didn't doubt for a second that the note was meant for her to find. There was no reason for anyone else to be in that room, no other person she could have left it for. And it had been too deliberately placed to have been left by accident.

Fey circled the building one final time. The sky was becoming brighter by the second, and it would be dawn soon. And that meant it wouldn't be much longer at all before the factories around her filled with Fallen workers. She was out of time.

Aside from the front door the employees obviously used to enter and exit, there was one other way in: a nondescript locked door at the rear of the building. An emergency exit, more likely than not. A simple unlocking sigil was all it took for Fey to open it.

This is a bad idea, Fey told herself, her hand on the door handle. Coming here was a bad idea, and going in would be a very, very bad idea. She was potentially trapping herself in a building that would likely be overrun with Fallen within the next two hours.

But she didn't have any other ideas, did she? And even a bad idea felt better than nothing.

Taking a deep breath, Fey eased the door open and crept inside.

It was easier inside to keep to the shadows, to keep hidden. The building was huge, full of equipment and inventory. Full of places to hide.

The main space was exactly what Fey had expected—machine after machine, in assembly line formation, filled the first floor, some equipment tall enough to almost touch the high ceilings. The emergency exit Fey had entered from put her near enough to the assembly line's end, where the final products were collected and boxed. Fey flipped a box open, peeking inside.

Soda bottles. Innocuous, marginally unhealthy soda.

She was in a factory that made soft drinks.

Fey found herself feeling a touch… disappointed.

This? This was where Alice sent her? This was the clue she'd been searching for, for months?

There had to be something more. Anything more.

But searching the factory floor, examining each station around the room, yielded nothing suspicious, no additional clues.

No , no no no, there has to be something here .

Fey could feel her time running short. All around her the city would be waking up, and she had nothing. No more clues, no plan of where to go from here.

There had to be an office, on a higher floor. Somewhere the factory managers did paperwork and supervised their workers. Maybe that's where she should go—maybe that's where she'd find something.

A metal staircase snaking up the wall clearly led to the upper floors, and Fey had started toward it when she heard the sound.

Subtle, but there to the trained ear—a single intake of breath. Someone was here, with her, in this building. She heard them shift, just a whisper of a sound, heard the scuff of their feet on the concrete floor.

Fey didn't pause or glance around in the hopes of catching them. She didn't want to reveal what she'd heard, but she did grow a little bolder in her movement toward the staircase, a little more obvious. Let them think they could sneak up on her, let them think that they were hunting her …

Sure enough, as she crossed the room the sounds of someone moving behind her grew closer, and Fey grew bolder, still, luring them in, letting them get close enough to?—

The scuff of their shoes on the ground alerted Fey her prey had gotten close enough to strike. Whipping around, Fey struck first, diving toward the noise, and drawing her blade.

The rising sun outside did little to illuminate the room around her, and Fey's opponent clearly knew how to use that to their advantage. The moment Fey had turned, they had moved back, ducking into the shadows of the equipment around them, and when Fey launched herself at the space where they had once been, she found herself striking at nothing.

A blur of movement to her right, and Fey struck out again, and this time the tip of her blade snagged skin, earning her a hiss of pain from the darkness. Fey moved again, and again, and again, striking out at the shadowed figure.

But the shadow kept retreating, keeping just out of arm's length. Never attacking, but always one step ahead of her.

With a snarl, Fey feigned an attack, and when her opponent went to retreat again, she was ready. She spun, moving into the path the Shadow retreated to, and angling her blade toward their neck.

Thunk .

Fey hissed in pain as the Shadow lashed out, striking her wrist as she spun and forcing her to drop her blade reflexively. They had known, had seen through the feint, and somehow knew exactly what Fey was planning to do. Had been ready for it.

Before Fey could react, before she could retreat herself to regroup and think of a plan, the Shadow attacked.

It was vicious. Like no one Fey had fought before, a flurry of quick, effortless blows, pushing her back, back, back into the room.

Except… Fey had sparred with someone like this before. Had been taught to fight by someone who moved exactly like this…

Fey's arms moved up in front of her body, her forearms raised to protect her face and neck, and she didn't see the box behind her until she stumbled back into it, losing her balance and falling, hard, back against the concrete, the breath leaving her lungs in a rush of air. She twisted, coming to a crouch and readying herself to rise again .

"Stay down, Fey," a familiar voice insisted. "I'm not trying to hurt you."

Fey's head snapped up to the Shadow in front of her, just as the sun crested the horizon and the first rays of dawn spilled in through the factory window. And in the warm light of dawn, she could finally see the Witch standing in front of her.

The ghost standing in front of her.

"Hey babe," Alice said, a sad smile on her face. "It's been a while."