Fated: An Alex Verus Novel (29 page)

The light at Rachel’s palm winked out and she walked
to me. ‘Once we’re inside, you get rid of these,’ she said, tapping her bracelet. Her voice was ordinary, as if she’d already forgotten about Khazad. ‘In exchange we keep you alive.’

I nodded slowly. ‘Agreed.’

Rachel was studying me, her head tilted. ‘You’ve seen her again,’ she said in sudden interest.

‘Um …’

‘She comes more often when you’re here.’ Rachel laughed suddenly. ‘You didn’t know that, did you?’

I met Rachel’s eyes. There was a curious distant look in them, and all of a sudden I was scared, really scared. I’d called Rachel crazy on top of Canary Wharf, then forgotten about it once I’d recognised her in the mansion, but I’d been right. Rachel really was crazy. Not all the way, but far enough. Lots of people think ‘mad’ means funny, but real madness isn’t funny, it’s terrifying. Looking into the spinning futures, I saw Rachel doing a hundred different things, and I had absolutely no way of knowing which she’d choose. ‘Rachel?’ I said carefully. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘That’s not my name any more,’ Rachel said absently, looking over my shoulder.

Rachel was standing just a few feet in front of me, eyes fixed attentively on something a little way past. If she struck from this distance, her beam would go right through me and the tree behind. I stood very still and didn’t make any sudden movements. ‘Deleo.’

Rachel suddenly turned back to me, her eyes alight. ‘Yes!’ She smiled happily. ‘I had to do that. You see that, right?’

‘Um, I think so.’

‘I mean, it’s not like I could just
leave
!’ Rachel laughed,
then frowned. ‘But she won’t go away.’ Her frown cleared. ‘She’s been quiet, though. It must be because of you.’ She smiled. ‘She always liked you. She wouldn’t say it, but I knew. Why don’t you carry on?’

I had absolutely no idea what Rachel was talking about. I tried to think of what to say. ‘Ra— Deleo. Onyx is going to be back.’

‘Onyx?’ Rachel’s brow furrowed for a moment, then cleared again. ‘Oh, he doesn’t matter.’ She smiled to herself again, then her eyes seemed to snap back into focus. ‘Make sure you’re ready to get rid of these.’ She raised her right wrist with the bracelet. ‘We have to see her again, don’t we?’

An instant later Onyx emerged from the trees, and I slumped in relief. The fact that I was relieved at having
Onyx
show up was scary in itself. He beckoned to me and Rachel, and we followed, Rachel smiling as if at some private joke.

‘So where the fuck are they?’ Khazad demanded.

We were in London again, having returned to the city in the evening twilight. Right now we were above a tourist shop in Great Russell Street, in the living room and kitchen of a second-floor flat. The flat looked recently occupied and I tried to stop myself from thinking about what might have happened to the owners.

The flat’s windows faced north, overlooking the front courtyard of the British Museum, and we’d been standing by the windows watching the museum for over two hours. Night had long since fallen, and the sky was dark, the stars drowned out by the city’s glow. Buses, cars and taxis buzzed past on the street, and a steady flow of shoppers
and tourists filled the pavement, but the British Museum itself was silent. Not a single person had gone in or out.

‘Why’s no one there?’ Cinder rumbled.

Because it’s a trap
, I thought silently. Luna had delivered her message.

‘Because it’s a trap.’ Rachel said. She glared at Onyx.

I sighed inwardly. Freaking Council. Luna had given them everything they’d needed to lay a perfect ambush and they’d managed to screw it up. There should have been guards, people coming and going, the occasional mage keeping up a pretence. Instead they’d kept their entire guard force hidden inside the museum … and in the process made their ambush so obvious that they might as well have stuck up a warning sign. This is what happens when politicians get put in charge of battle plans.

‘I said it’s a trap,’ Rachel demanded when Onyx didn’t answer. She was focused again, staring at Onyx. Khazad and Cinder stayed silent. ‘Did you hear me?’

Onyx made a slight gesture with his fingers. Black energy wreathed the bracelet at Rachel’s wrist, and she jerked, crashing to the floor as her legs spasmed and losing her breath in a strangled gasp. Rachel looked up, her eyes wild with fury, and sea-green light gathered at her hands.

Onyx gestured again and black lightning smothered Rachel, discharging into her arm, her body, the floor. Rachel writhed, helpless, spasming, trying uselessly to escape. This time the bracelet kept going and the stink of ozone filled the room. Rachel had no breath to scream, and the only sound was the scrabble of her fingers against the carpet. After five long seconds, the lightning stopped. The room was quiet again, and Rachel lay flat in the sudden silence, motionless except for the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

Onyx turned to the rest of us and raised an eyebrow. I dropped my eyes and felt Cinder and Khazad do the same. After a moment Onyx turned back to the window. Rachel took another half a minute or so to recover, then struggled to her feet, her breathing still shaky. No one spoke.

In case you’re wondering, nothing Onyx had just done was particularly unusual. Discipline among Dark mages is brutal; it has to be. A Dark leader who isn’t willing to hurt anyone who disrespects him doesn’t stay leader for long.

That didn’t change the fact that I wanted to get the hell away from this bunch of psychos as soon as I possibly could.

‘Tell me what spells are up,’ Onyx said.

I knew he was talking to me, and I considered lying before deciding against it. Any sign of deception now and I was done for. ‘The museum’s covered with a gate interdiction field,’ I said. Cinder and Khazad were looking at me, and I tried not to let my voice show how nervous I was. ‘It’s bound to the lines of the building, and it’s strong. There’s …’ I scanned. ‘one section unwarded in one of the basement rooms. About a ten-foot cube.’

‘Sink,’ Cinder rumbled.

I managed not to let my surprise show. The arrangement was a sink ward, like a magical whirlpool. Any attempts to gate into the area would be swept down into the centre, appearing in that ten-foot space. I was starting to think Cinder might be smarter than he looked.

‘So we break through the walls,’ Khazad said contemptuously.

‘They’re warded too,’ I said.

‘And?’

Khazad was looking at me and there was a glitter in his
eyes. Rachel finally straightened, and Khazad turned away as if he’d forgotten about me.

I wasn’t fooled. Khazad was still waiting for the chance to finish what he’d started in the forest. As long as I was useful I knew Onyx would prevent any infighting. I also knew that as soon as I stopped being useful Onyx would have me killed without a second thought.

I wasn’t intending to stick around long enough to give him the chance. I hadn’t been idle while we’d been waiting; I’d been path-walking, and the one bit of good news was that Luna was there, in the statue room at the back of the museum. All I needed was a few seconds’ distraction. I’d make a break for it, Luna would open the door, we’d lock it behind us and Onyx and the Dark mages could fight it out with the Council to their hearts’ content.

At least, that was the plan.

Onyx stirred. ‘Close up.’

We obeyed, standing in a cluster. I found myself brushing shoulders with Cinder, who gave me a single glance and then pulled his own mask on. Khazad and Deleo were weaving spells, black and sea-green light glowing faintly about their hands. Onyx held out one hand, and the floor underneath us darkened and turned black as a horizontal gate began to form. I watched uneasily. If Onyx gated us into that sink, we’d appear under the guns of the Council guard force. I knew Onyx was strong, but—

Onyx tightened his hand into a fist and the gate formed, linking us to the museum. For one moment there was a lurch as the interdiction field tried to take, then Onyx’s spell ripped straight through it with sheer brute force. We dropped down to the floor with a thump – a white floor, with a staircase behind and a high ceiling
above. We’d gated into the Great Court, right at the foot of the stairs.

We weren’t alone. A dozen people were scattered around the court, mages and guards. All had turned to stare at us, and as we came to our feet a mage threw out his arm. He was at the centre of a cluster of three. ‘Hold it! Who are you?’

At least, that was what he would have said if he’d had the chance.

It was quite terrifying what Onyx did to those men. Normal people, when they’re dropped into a hostile situation, take an instant to orientate themselves. Onyx didn’t. In the time the leader took to open his mouth, Onyx slammed a bolt of force into the mage on the left, spun and did the same thing to the one on the right, then sent a blast straight at the face of the one in the middle, who was just in the middle of getting out the word ‘who’. If the mage hadn’t jerked back, it would have broken his neck; as it was it took him off his feet. A heartbeat later Cinder and Khazad joined in, engaging the ones remaining.

While everyone else was fighting, I was running, sprinting up the curving stairs. Behind me I heard the roar of spells as the battle kicked off. It took me five seconds to reach the top landing, and for that instant I was completely exposed to the people below. But everyone was too busy to pay attention to me, and I made it to the top in one piece.

I was getting pretty familiar with the British Museum by now, and as I ran I could pick out the sounds behind me; the roar of Cinder’s fire magic, the flat slam of Onyx’s force spells, the chatter of the automatic weapons of the guards. An instant later there was an explosion and
the chatter cut off abruptly. I knew that Onyx’s side was winning, and that I wouldn’t have much time before they caught me up. I reached the staircase leading to the statue room. There were no guards and I raced up the stairs. Calling out the password and passing through the barrier without a ripple. As soon as I was through I dived and rolled.

A hammer of earth magic whistled above me, passing through the space where my head would have been if I hadn’t taken the tumble. I came up from my roll and threw my hand towards the man standing by the entrance. ‘Griff, you idiot, it’s me! Seal the stairs!’

Griff had just started a backswing with a maul of grey-brown energy; he checked, halting his swing. ‘Verus?’ He stared. ‘How did you get in? The guards—’

‘They’re getting their asses kicked, and so will we if you
don’t seal the stairs
!’

‘There’s a barrier—’

‘Which you just saw me walk through!’

‘I’d have to collapse the—’

‘Then
do it
!’ I was getting desperate; I knew Onyx and Khazad were less than twenty seconds away. ‘We’re out of time!’

Griff hesitated for a heartbeat, then turned and made a fist. There was a rumble followed by a roar, and the floor shook as a section of the roof of the British Museum caved in, turning the stairwell behind the barrier into a shaft full of rubble. The barrier shivered slightly, but held. Dust flaked from the roof as I picked myself up. I couldn’t hear anything from the floor below. We were sealed off – for the moment.

‘
Alex!
’

I looked around and there was Luna, standing alone in the corner of the room, her eyes shining. I felt something in my chest loosen as I saw her. ‘You’re okay?’

‘
I’m
okay?’ Luna’s voice wavered. ‘What about
you?
’

I grinned. ‘Let’s catch up later.’ I pulled the cube from my pocket and threw it to her; Luna caught it in reflex. Someone else peeked out their head from behind the statue; it was Sonder, his eyes suddenly alight with interest. ‘
Oh!
A crystal key! It must have micro-fissures that match the pattern of the light beams. Um, Mr Verus, where did you—?’

‘Sonder, this isn’t really the time,’ I said as I got to my feet. ‘And I told you to call me Alex. Luna? Do it.’

Luna shook her head with a smile as if at some joke, and slotted the cube into the statue’s hand. It fit perfectly.

For a moment there was silence, then a gentle white light sprang up around the statue’s hand. Needle-thin beams of light sprang out from the fingers, reaching into the cube and, as they did, the cube responded. It glowed red and more beams of light appeared, starting in the cube’s centre and stretching out. The two sets of beams moved, playing up, down, left and right as if searching for something.

‘Sonder?’ I asked after a few seconds. ‘What are we seeing?’

‘It’s …’ Sonder stared at the cube, utterly fascinated. The red-and-white light sparkled and reflected off his glasses. ‘Of course!
That’s
why we could never get it to work!’

‘What is?’

‘The crystal’s responding to the interrogation. Look!’ Sonder pointed eagerly. One of the needle-like beams from
the cube had intersected with one from the statue, and the two had merged and gone still. ‘They’re matching!’ Sonder said. ‘
That’s
the locking mechanism.’

‘It’d better open fast,’ Griff said sharply, cutting Sonder off. We turned to see that Griff had one hand pressed flat against the wall next to the barrier, and his eyes were narrowed. ‘You were right. Someone out there wants in.’

Now that we were looking, I could feel it: the distant
crunch, crunch, crunch
of force effects carving through rubble, the vibrations growing steadily stronger. ‘That would be Onyx,’ I said with a nasty sinking feeling.