Last Chance (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 3) (21 page)

At the bottom, we faced two tunnels, one straight ahead and leading to the northeast corner and the other at our right. One Wraith took up a guard post at the entrance to the tunnel while the rest of us hurried forward. I glanced at Cassandra, and she pointed up ahead, mouthing, “Last cell,” at me. The Wraith in front of me held out a hand in warning and fury rippled through me. He refused to allow us to follow them, pointing to us and then to the ground, ordering us to stay as if we were a pack of dogs. That got my hackles up.

Literally.

***

Anjelo placed a hand on my arm, his face apologetic but also urging me with a shake of his head not to do anything drastic. I gritted my teeth and looked away from him, down the tunnel at the band of Wraiths slowly approaching the shadowed end.

I glanced at Cassandra. “Guards?” I asked in a whisper. She nodded and raised two fingers. Then I heard two soft choking sounds that confirmed they’d taken out the guards.

I snuck forward, ignoring the Wraith’s instructions, and hurried to within ten feet of the door to Mom’s cell. I didn’t dare call out to her in case it warned any of Widd’en’s men who might be in the vicinity. My heart thumped with excitement. I wanted to see her so badly that tears began to film my eyes and I had to blink them away. I steeled myself against my rising emotions. Plenty of time later to be joyful.

Ahead of me the passage ran in front of a row of cells on the left, then it made a sharp turn to the right and went off into the darkness. I glanced at Cassandra and pointed in the direction of the passage. She shook her head, which I took to mean she had no idea where they went or if they might potentially be hiding more of Widd’en’s men.

For now I paid attention to Mom’s cell as keys clinked in the keyhole and I heard the lock click open.

Just as the sound echoed against the stony walls, I noticed a movement within the shadows to my right. Someone was lurking in the darkness, watching and waiting. I pulled my panther sight through and the darkness shrank away, revealing the outline of a waiting Wraith, one of Widd’en’s men.

I aimed my weapon, aware my sight was hampered by at least four Wraiths who moved around between me and my target. I controlled my breathing, easing my heartbeat into a slower, calmer rate. I saw the line straight through the crowd of Wraiths even before they moved.

And then I pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew through the air and with my panther sight, I watched it, watched the trail of air it raised in its wake, watched as it skimmed within a hairsbreadth of one Wraith’s neck, another’s cheek, and another’s temple.

The bullet slammed into the waiting guard with a soft thud. He grunted, then fell forward out of the shadows and flat onto his face among the feet of Wren’s men. They stared at the dead guard in shocked silence. Then they all turned to me simultaneously. I still had my bow aimed in their direction, but it didn’t seem to bother them to be staring down my weapon.

The senior soldier gave me a respectful nod, then motioned for the Wraith at the door to keep going. The cell door swung wide on creaky hinges, and we were all hit with the blast of the stench of the room. The odor of urine and feces overpowered the stench of rotting food and moldy straw. Two Wraiths entered warily, their swords stretched out in front of them. The silence from the room was ominous, and my heart thumped louder and harder. I had to force myself to take a breath despite the stink, calming myself more important than the possibility of puking my guts out.

Then I heard a gruff sound and the Wraiths reappeared from the room, disgust clear on their faces. Disgust and disappointment.

The Wraith who’d warned us to stay put marched straight to us. Then he glared at Cassandra. “I thought you said northeast cell?”

She nodded. “I did. She was there. I even whispered her name and told her we were coming to get her.”

“She isn’t there,” the Wraith snapped, and disappointment hit me like a blow to the gut. “Could you have made a mistake with the cell?”

Cassandra shook her head and snapped back, “No. No mistake. I am positive she was in that cell. Perhaps they moved her after I saw her.” She held the Wraith’s gaze, and he turned away, giving his men instructions to check all the cells. Soon Wraiths were walking up and down the passageways, peering into each cell and coming up empty. They’d just completed searching when the sounds of boot steps on the stairs filtered through to us.

Everyone froze, unsure for a moment what to do. Then we all turned together and headed for the only open cell. But we were too late. The soldiers bearing down on us were already at our backs and there was no point in running.

I swung around, my bow aimed at the oncoming Wraiths, ready to begin taking them down one at a time, but my finger froze on the trigger. I faced the rest of Wren’s team, including the general himself.

And none of them looked too happy.

He raised an eyebrow at the bow aimed at his heart but said nothing. “What happened?” I asked, daring to be the impatient female, but the general seemed far too furious to be bothered by my outspokenness.

“It was a false lead.” His voice rang out, grating on my ears. Then he rounded on Cassandra. “Shape-changer, you confirmed the Hunter was in that cell. I can see that you too have come up empty-handed.” His tone was almost accusatory, and I was not impressed.

But before I could tell him off, Cassandra moved ahead of me and said, “When I came through the castle, there were guards, plenty of them. And the cell was occupied. I spoke to Celeste and she answered me. It could have been no one else but her.”

“Fuck,” the general swore in response, and I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows. Swearing most certainly didn’t suit any creature that didn’t look human. “That means they knew we were coming. And they managed to get out before we came for her.”

My heart sank as I realized we’d failed.

Mom was gone.

***

As upset as the general was, he was in no way as devastated as I was. I wanted to believe we would still find her, but something in the back of my mind kept telling me it was over.

We’d come all this way, followed intelligence gained by Illyria’s mole in Widd’en’s army, almost been eaten alive by wolves on the Dead Plains, almost drowned on the Black Lake. But it was all for nothing. And that led me to suspect one of two things. Either the Rebel army couldn’t trust their mole, or I couldn’t trust the leader of the Rebel army.

I trudged along behind Anjelo, following his footsteps, paying little attention to anything else. Once or twice Cassandra had tried to talk to me, but I’d ignored every attempt. I was in no mood for consolation or small talk.

Anjelo seemed to sense it would be a waste of time to attempt to pull me out of my fugue, remaining silent but watchful. What did he think I was going to do? Jump in a lake that wouldn’t kill me with its poisoned waters?

I snickered to myself as I glanced around the frozen lake. Over to our left was the place I’d almost drowned, the area dark against the surrounding ice. A timely reminder of how fast things could change.

My thoughts steered me back to Illyria. I’d trusted her, and now my only hope was Lily was still safe. The last thing I wanted now was to return to the garrison to find Lily hurt or dead. But when I considered the respect the Rebel commander had for Anjelo, I had to admit I doubted she would betray him.

The woman certainly had her mysteries, but I wouldn’t put it as far as hurting Anjelo unless there was something inordinately valuable to gain from it. That could only mean the mole was the problem. I made a mental note to ask Illyria if she really believed she could count on the mole.

On the other hand, this could be one giant coincidence. Maybe Widd’en’s army had moved out just before we entered the castle, without knowing we were coming. Maybe they’d left before we even began crossing the grounds. It could be a plausible reason considering the birds hadn’t roused more than two guards, who also happened to be part of only a handful of sentries within the castle.

I gritted my teeth as my hands curled into fists. I wanted to scream and shout out my rage. We’d come so close. From what Cassandra had said, it would have been an hour at the most between the time she’d seen and spoken to Mom and when we’d entered her cell.

That brought my mind back to the conditions under which Mom was being held. I glanced over my shoulder at Cassandra to find her eyes already seeking my gaze. She lifted her chin as if already aware I had a question.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been a little quiet,” I offered, keeping pace with Anjelo. Then I cleared my throat. “When you spoke to my mother, how did she seem? Was she ill in any way? Did they treat her well?”

Cassandra frowned, as if knowing her answer wouldn’t make me happy, but I admired her for answering. “I believe she was in fairly good health. She didn’t appear to have been tortured, although the cell was squalid and she wasn’t too clean herself.”

I nodded, then looked forward, falling silent quickly, my thoughts pulling me into a seething morass of fear and self-blame. Cassandra’s voice drew my attention once more. “If you will permit me, I do believe your mother is quite a strong woman. She seemed in good spirits and was very happy to know you were coming to get her out. In fact, she said she was quite proud of you even though you were too stubborn for your own good.”

I laughed at that. I could just imagine Mom’s face as she said the words. “Thanks, Cassandra. The only problem is she would have been horribly disappointed to find out she was being moved. Right now she’d be furious with herself for not being there when we arrived.”

Behind me, the shape-changer chuckled. “I believe I can see where you get your stubbornness.” Then she paused for a while before saying. “I can also see a lot of Ivy Odel in you.”

“You know my Grams well?” I asked, happy to get off the topic of my lost mother.

“Yes. She took me under her wing when I first came on board with Sentinel. I am happy to admit I am glad I was fortunate enough to have her as my handler. She’s one smart woman.”

“I’m assuming she chose you for this mission?”

“Yes. She said she wanted someone she could trust, someone she knew would lay down their life for her family, so she chose me.”

“I’m glad she chose you,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at Cassandra. “Thank you.”

She waved the thanks off with a, “Pfft. Think nothing of it. I’m honored that Ivy chose me. Now if we can make it back alive, it might look good on my file.” Cassandra winked, and I laughed before turning around to follow Anjelo.

And to sink back into my pain.

***

The journey back to Illyria’s stony garrison passed in a blur of depression and pain. I fought back tears the whole way, and though there were many moments I wondered why this failure was taking such a huge toll on my confidence, I still wasn’t able to brush it off.

Being forced to move, to put one foot ahead of the other or be left behind was good enough incentive to prevent me from curling up in a ball and rocking myself to sleep. I was grateful for that at least, because I’d never been the type to feel sorry for myself. Action was always my answer in the face of failure.

Only this time action was hard for me because my hands were tied. I’d left Mom and Anjelo here in this dull, deadly land and went to save Greer instead. But in the end, that had been a waste of time because Greer had died.

In my arms.

Hot tears filled my eyes and I blinked them away. I didn’t want the reminder, but Greer was part of my problem; she was part of this pain I felt, the sense of being useless and a failure.

I hadn’t realized the line had come to a halt until I walked right smack into Anjelo’s back. “Sorry,” I said without making any stupid excuses. Both he and Cassandra knew I’d been struggling with my demons this past day, and they’d left me to it for the most part.

He turned and patted my shoulder then left the line and headed for the gigantic doors where Wren and Illyria were gathered with the other two generals, clearly having an unsatisfactory discussion.

From a distance, I had to admire the Rebel leader’s attitude, not arrogant or superior, just commanding. Even when speaking to her generals, who were all at least a head taller than her.

I followed Anjelo and heard Cassandra do the same. Even though it may have seemed rude or presumptuous, I didn’t care. I’d lost my Mom and I needed answers.

Anjelo was already talking with Illyria and her team when Cassandra and I drew level with them. When the Rebel leader turned to me, the first thing I saw was sympathy. Granted, I didn’t want sympathy, but at least it was better than being told to mind my own business until they were good and ready to talk to me.

“Kailin. I am truly sorry this has happened. I thought our information was sound.”

She’d given me the perfect opening. “Do you think your informant has been compromised?”

Her face fell and I knew she was already considering it a possibility. “Either that or we have a mole within our own regiment.”

I shook my head. “How would your mole have transferred that information if not physically?”