Divided: The Alliance Series Book Four (4 page)

I ran for the nearest archway, hoping it led to the stairs up to the first level. My feet skidded on the wet floor, and I ducked a swinging fist. It slammed into the wall, knocking pieces of rock over my head. The magic-recovery from near-death had slowed me down, but I pushed my newly-healed body to its limits all the same, running through one chamber after another. The beast was on my heels—literally. Cursing the Multiverse, I put on a last burst of speed and found myself in a smaller chamber. The door was too narrow for the beast to follow me.

I didn’t know this part of the Passages, because it was hidden. But there
had
to be a way to the first level. Ada had used these Passages all the time, even with the threat of Cethrax around the corner.

Speaking of which… A sloping corridor was on my right, and I was willing to bet the murky stone walls led right into the heart of Cethrax. No way in hell was I going in there.

A slithering sound told me the chalder vox had figured out how to follow me through the narrow doorway. Just what I needed. An enemy with an iota of intelligence.

I backed away, swearing. Only one way to run, aside from the tunnel into enemy territory. There had to be a way out.

Crash.
Stone crumbled under the chalder vox’s fist. The ceiling was too sturdy to cause a cave-in, but the walls trembled. I ducked as a small boulder soared over my head, shattering on the opposite wall. I backed further up, feet skidding in swamp water—and blood. Old blood. Wyvern. I
must
be near an exit.

The chalder vox had sunk into shadow again, and I threw caution out the window and ran full-pelt across the chamber. Yes—a door lay ahead.

Something heavy struck me in the ribs and for about the tenth time that day, the breath was knocked from my lungs. I slammed into the wall, gritting my teeth against the pain. The stone fist withdrew into the shadows. Clever bastard. Few of the vox-kind made use of their semi-corporeal state.

I dropped to the ground to avoid another punch, ignoring the sharp pain. I was pretty sure the bastard had cracked a rib or two. I crawled, pressed flat to the floor.

I need a goddamned weapon!

I dragged myself through the door, and saw the shroud of magic hiding a concealed stair.
There.
I pulled myself to my feet again and sprinted. It hurt like hell, but I ran up the stairs, and fell onto cold metal. The first level. Gasping, I rolled onto my back. The blue light of the Passages swam before my eyes.

Get up, Kay.
I staggered upright, sending swamp water flying everywhere. Shadows moved behind me. Damned monster had followed me.

I let magic gather above my hand. “Get out of here.”

Quick footsteps. Voices, echoing. A spark bounced off the nearest wall. An Alliance stunner.

A voice spoke. “Kay, what are you doing in here?” Carl, head guard. He must be leading a patrol. Before I could speak, the beast reformed itself from shadow in layers of rock, and Carl swore, shouting out a warning to the other guards. A concrete foot slammed down, and I ducked out the way as a guard fired his stunner, sparks of magic rebounding.

“Don’t do that!” Carl shouted. “It’ll enrage it.”

Too late. The beast roared, and charged. Carl was on the case, moving between the beast and a petrified-looking guy who was clearly a novice-in-training. Carl fired the stunner at the ceiling, forcing the beast to lower its head and giving him the chance to climb the monster’s back and stab it behind the neck. Instant kill.

“You lot, clear this up,” he ordered the others, climbing back to ground level. The three novices all seemed to have frozen behind him, eyes wide with terror. “You get used to it or you get out. Kay,
what
are you doing in here? Is that
blood?
”

“Cethrax is using the hidden Passage,” I said. “That’s how the monsters kept getting out. It’s probably where the invisible ravegens came from, too. But it’s not them.” I paused for a painful breath. Like I needed to be incapacitated now. “It’s not them. Not Cethrax. I’ve never seen anything like them before, but they took Ada with them. They nearly killed me. I couldn’t save her.” I breathed in, fists clenched, trying to hold myself steady while the world tilted under my feet. “I have to go after her. They opened a doorway.”

“Kay, slow down,” said Carl. “We need to deal with this situation first—why in the name of all gods didn’t you send in a report before running in here? You’re saying one of our employees is missing because you decided to take it upon yourself to enter a restricted area alone and unprotected?”

Shit.
“We weren’t unprotected,” I said. “We were armed. Those creatures are like nothing I’ve seen before. They’re made of—” I glanced at the novices, who were blatantly listening in. The information was probably classified. “I need to talk to you. Alone. This is urgent. The chalder vox can wait. We’re talking a legitimate threat to the Alliance here.”

“Kay, did you get
stabbed?”

I’d reached to brush hair from my eyes and probably left a trail of blood. It didn’t show on the black uniform, but now Carl’s eyes widened. Dammit. The novices gaped at me.

I shook my head. “I’m fine,” I said. “Look, I’m telling the truth. I realise I broke the rules, but they have Ada. They might be in any world, doing… anything to her.” Every second we wasted in here they might be torturing her. They said they needed her for some reason, but that didn’t mean they needed her in one piece.

The walls were tight, confining. I clenched my teeth, willed the ringing in my ears to disappear.
She’s not dead. Don’t think.

“Go back to Central,” said Carl, his face tight. “You need the infirmary.”

“You’re shitting me,” I said. “You’re not going to hear me out?”

“I’ve heard enough to know I’m not talking to someone in their right mind. You’re covered in blood and talking like a lunatic. If what you say is true, I’m the head of the guards at Central, and it’s my job to clear away this creature before half of Cethrax swarms the Passage. I’ll let your boss know you’re injured, but there are stories of wyverns down in the—”

“Those Stoneskins were worse.”

“Those
what?”

“Stoneskins.” Each time I said the name, the very idea of those creatures sounded more absurd. If anyone had tried to tell me the same story, I’d have disbelieved them. Even the Passages had a limit. “If you see them, don’t fight, run. They’re—it’s like they’re made out of rock.”

Carl’s expression grew even more incredulous. “Made out of rock. Kay, you’re dripping blood everywhere. You’ll draw every monster this side of Cethrax.”

For crying out loud.
“Fine, I’ll tell Ms Weston and get a report to the council. And you guys watch your backs in here,” I added to the novices, who looked more terrified than ever.

Once in a corridor alone, I paused. This was my last chance to find Ada’s signal again. I pulled out the tracker, which wasn’t broken—unlike my communicator. Noise drifted down from the corridor on my right, which led to the main Passage.

The last thing I needed was to get arrested. If anyone saw me covered in blood, in a place I wasn’t supposed to be, I’d be in even more trouble than I already was. At least I had my Alliance ID as proof I wasn’t a random drunk wandering in off the streets, not that it would be any consolation to anyone who saw me like this. But I couldn’t worry about that now.

I took the tracker instead, and tapped into the amplifier.
Ada. I need to find Ada.
I’d been vaguely aware of her trace as I’d been in the lower Passage… but it had disappeared.

No way. I’d kept the amplifier on. I
should
be able to sense her, even if she was on a different universe. Perhaps I’d been wrong in my assumption. But we’d used it before, following her brother’s magic-trace to rescue him from the Conner family on Valeria. And that had been a far weaker signal. Ada’s blazed like a torchlight. But there was no trace of it. Not even a whisper, even though we’d walked
down the same corridor not two hours ago. At least, I didn’t
think
it had been that long…

I hadn’t been unconscious all day, had I? Maybe something was blocking the signal. Something on a distant world. I took the Passage fragment instead, but even amplifying it didn’t work. It was dead. A lump of useless metal. I threw it at the wall, where it bounced off rather than shattering.

I left. There was nothing else I could do. This was God-awful timing of the highest order—right after I’d ditched a bunch of rules to find out what was happening on Vey-Xanetha, including sneaking off alone, using a world-key without backup, confronting an angry god without any kind of preparation. I’d expected backlash from what I’d done, but I never could have known
this
would happen less than twenty-four hours later. I didn’t have an excuse, least of all for taking Ada with me. We’d run into danger without a plan and she’d paid the price for it.

People stared at me in the entrance hall to Central. My reflection in the glass doors told me why. I looked like a madman even without the blood all over my face, not to mention the Cethraxian swamp water and blood dripping from my clothes. I met wide eyes wherever I walked, including from the offworlders hanging around the door to the Complaints Division. They’d been here to gripe about the issues Earth’s fluctuating magic levels had drawn up, forcing half the Alliance guards to abandon their normal duties and go chasing after griffins. Even now, a flock of rainbow-coloured birds zoomed around the entrance hall. I’d been too out of it to pay attention, but Earth’s magic levels had gone back to normal. So our actions on Vey-Xanetha had been of some use. Not that it would in any way help me now.

Someone blocked my path. “Kay—I’m told you’re injured.” It was Saki, the nurse, and she looked about as happy to see me as a guard faced with a wyvern.

Dammit. “I’m fine.” I glanced down at my feet, where a trail of blood dripped from my sopping wet clothes. “Might need a change of uniform. I have to see Ms Weston. Now.”

“
Not
in that state.”

Seriously?
Sure, I should probably make sure that blasted chalder vox hadn’t broken any ribs when it hit me. I wouldn’t be able to walk so fast if it had, but having a high pain threshold didn’t help judgment at the best of times, especially after I’d technically died. Or close enough.

“Kay, what in the world are you doing?”

Crap. I turned slowly to face Ms Weston, who stared for a moment, then her eyes narrowed into their usual disapproval.

“I need to speak to you. It’s urgent.”

“I gathered, seeing as Ada Fletcher’s tracker has disappeared from our system.”

No.

She had no way to communicate with us now, from whichever world she was on.

“They took her,” were the first, stupid words that came out of my mouth. The world tilted and swam, like through a half-formed doorway. The bright ceiling lights made my headache even worse. I had to make her believe me. “Cethrax has been using the hidden Passage to attack patrols. Ada and I went to check, and we ran into the creatures who’d been enslaving the Vox. They’re not human. They took her, and I was left on Vey-Xanetha. Someone there saved my life, but I was too late. I don’t know which world they’re on.” Ms Weston’s eyebrows rose higher with every word I spoke. “Look, it’s urgent. Whoever those Stoneskin people are, they’re dangerous, and now they have hold of Ada. I can’t find her.”

A pause. Saki and Ms Weston stared at me, at the blood dripping from my hands, soaking me through to the skin. Then Ms Weston beckoned me downstairs. Not to the lifts, but to the stairs that led to the infirmary and the cells.
Oh, shit. Tell me she isn’t going to lock me away.

“Hold on,” I said. “I want to speak to the council.”

“Kay, you’re in no fit state to speak to anyone, and I won’t discuss confidential matters in the entrance hall.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but I guessed she didn’t want me dripping blood all over her office, either. Smothering an impatient sigh, I followed her downstairs, the nurse trailing me. Ms Weston pushed open a door to the nearest office, which was unoccupied.

“Let me get this story straight,” said Ms Weston, who’d taken out her communicator. “Carl tells me you’re claiming a group of non-humans have captured Ada. These… Stoneskins.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“You saw them?”

“They killed me. Tried to,” I amended, as Ms Weston’s eyes landed on the blood pooling at my feet. Crap. “Someone we helped on Vey-Xanetha saved my life. It’s the truth.”

“Where did that blood come from, then?” she asked. “It
is
yours, isn’t it?”

She thought I’d killed someone? “Yes, it is,” I snapped, momentarily forgetting this was my boss I was yelling at. “Look at the files on Vey-Xanetha and you’ll see some magic-wielders with a particularly strong link to Xanet are able to heal people even close to death. Those Stoneskins—the name speaks for itself, but they’re made of adamantine. Real adamantine. We had no way to fight them. We were outnumbered, and they somehow opened a door to Vey-Xanetha from the Passages.”

“Speaking of Vey-Xanetha,” said Ms Weston, “there are gaps in your report. The council want an explanation.”