Adamant (19 page)

“I wish you’d told me that before I gave Nell and Skyla the go-ahead to bust you out of there.”

A pause. “Oh,” I said.

Another blast rocked the room. Now I could tell what was happening. Someone had caused such a magical disturbance, it had a ripple effect on all the other magic in the vicinity. But my arms were held above my back and Kay wasn’t budging despite the trembling floor. I wriggled, trying to grab for the communicator still in his hand.

Boom.

This time, the blast shook one of my hands free, and the split-second advantage was enough for me to touch the communicator. My skin buzzed with the magic, so strong it blanked out my thoughts, and before I could hesitate and think about how stupid my plan was, I’d already sent a bolt of magic into the communicator.

Kay swore and let go of me as the magic exploded. The device burst in a shower of bright, purplish sparks and sent both of us flying back. But Kay had left the door partly open, and I ran for it.

“Ada!” Kay’s shouts followed me as I pelted out the room and upstairs. Again, I found myself weaving through panic. Guards ran everywhere, and with every step, the noise grew louder. Purple sparks flew overhead, and I picked up speed, cursing the stairs for slowing me down—hands grabbed for my feet. and I kicked out—like hell was I going to be dragged back now.

And then I was out in the entrance hall. I ran flat out for the exit, my heart lifting when I saw the silhouette of a familiar figure, one I’d missed more than I’d ever thought possible.

Nell.

A beam of red light whizzed over my head, and sparks ignited the air. Skyla. She was throwing magic, and each blast triggered a backlash that made the air vibrate.
Hell—that’s second level!
Guards ran about, dodging the blasts, and it was easy to strike out a path through the centre—to freedom.

Nell and Skyla stood back to back by the exit, and a few unconscious guards lay around them. I laughed with relief and sprinted the rest of the way out the door.

Nell’s hair straggled loose from its bun and she’d acquired bruises on her face, but appeared otherwise unhurt. “Skyla, that’s enough!”

Skyla laughed. “God, I’ve always wanted to do that. Okay, okay. Let’s run.”

And damn, did we run. Nell must have taken out an entire guard patrol. I recognised one of the fallen guards as Aric. Ha. We skirted the building and made for the gate, while shouts and bangs from Skyla’s magical assault echoed in our wake.

“Thanks,” I gasped between breaths. We turned and headed down the road. “I mean it—thanks.”

“We’re not safe yet,” said Nell, who as usual was several strides ahead of me despite us being the same height. “We need to find a crowded place.”

We aimed for London Bridge, running out of a tangle of side streets, and saw the tube station ahead. Crowds of commuters poured in and out of the station, and the streets were clogged with people. I half-expected Nell to order us to run out into the road.

“I’m not going to get mowed down by a bus!” I said, clutching at a stitch in my side. “At least use the crossing like normal people.”

Nell shot me a glare. “Normal people don’t break out of prison and escape through the middle of London!”

“Fair point.”

Skyla laughed between gasps. “This is the most fun I’ve had in months.”

“I’m glad to hear you two find this amusing!” said Nell. “What you did in there, Skyla, was dangerous—
so
dangerous—you shouldn’t be playing with second level magic, even on Earth!”

“Lighten up, Nell,” said Skyla. “It was all I could think of to get her out of there.”

“And it was amazing,” I said.

“Thank Jeth,” said Nell. “Did you know you were wearing the earpiece?”

She knew me too well. “Don’t ruin my victory, dammit!”

The lights changed and we hightailed it across the road. I was riding high on adrenaline and though the fear of being followed hadn’t quite dispersed, this was one of the most crowded parts of London. Still, I went tense again as we queued to ride the tube—Nell had had the foresight to bring my Oyster card. It’d be ridiculous to get apprehended for not paying train fare after breaking out of Central.

The train was rammed, so we didn’t get a chance to talk until we’d disembarked and were hurrying from the station, heading home.

Home. I could have cried. At last. I practically skipped to the front door, realising belatedly that I didn’t have my key. In fact, the Alliance still had my purse and ID and phone, too. Good job I’d used a fake address.

“Crap, my stuff’s back at Central,” I said, stepping back to let Nell unlock the door. “Is Jeth around, by the way?”

“The earpiece’s battery ran out,” said Nell. “That’s why it took him so long to answer your call.”

“Glad we got to trounce Central, anyway,” said Skyla, grinning. “That was fun.”

“Holy freaking crap,” said a voice, and I almost tripped over the doorstep as Alber tackle-hugged me.

“Alber—I can’t breathe, you idiot!”

“You’re the idiot,” he said, voice muffled in my shoulder. “I thought—dammit, Ada, don’t you do that to us again!”

Nell shoved me from behind. “Get in the house, people will come outside to see what the racket’s about. Honestly.”

I couldn’t stop smiling.
We won,
I thought.
We beat the Alliance…

But Nell wasn’t smiling. A cold feeling grew, masking the happy buzz. Did she know what the Royals had done to me?

Was that really a conversation I wanted to have with her right now?

Tainted blood. Something had been
implanted
in me, when I was a baby, back on Enzar. Something that gave me the ability to use magic…

I’d never thought of it as unnatural before, but it chilled me to think of someone doing that to a baby. Even though I knew what the Enzarian Royals were capable of. I’d long since accepted that I could do nothing about my heritage. But now it gave me a bad taste in my mouth. I wished I’d stayed ignorant.

“We need to leave,” Nell said. “As soon as Jeth gets home. Alber, Ada, go and pack a rucksack for a few days away.”

“Wait, what?” I asked.

“We can’t risk staying here. People have seen us, and the Alliance will have circulated our names and faces within the day. All three of us. It’ll only be one step to finding where we live. We’ll go and lie low at one of the shelters.”

Alber, like me, gaped at her. “You can’t be serious,” he said. “They don’t know we live here.”

“They’re clever, and there are far more of them than there are of us. Once our photographs get into circulation… well, it looks like we’ll be needing to get some of that bloodrock back.”

My heart lurched. “You mean, change our own appearances. Like the refugees.”

Nell had never wanted to do that to me. Yes, I had to wear coloured contacts, but nothing else about my appearance screamed
offworld.
Same with Nell. Obviously, safety came first, but if I was honest with myself, I always wondered what it would be like to be able to walk around without my real eyes hidden. Sometimes I even slept wearing the lenses, and I certainly didn’t remove them anywhere other than home. Most people would run screaming from diamond-white eyes with pitch-black circles around the pupils. I could keep the lenses in for up to a day and not notice, but by now, it was like a constant itch. I had to take them out.

“We don’t have a choice, Ada,” she said quietly. “Every second we waste here gives the Alliance more opportunity to strike. One bag, each. Skyla, can I have a word?”

Skyla was peering through the letterbox. “Sure.”

I could hardly believe this was happening. Would I ever see my comfy box-sized room again? I grabbed a rucksack, giving myself a mental kick, and started filling it. Clothes. A battered sci-fi paperback. All the knives I had (sheathed, of course). After changing from the outfit the Alliance had given me into my own clothes, I stuck one in my boot. Too bad I’d have to leave my last spare pair behind—those combat boots didn’t come cheap. But carrying them would only slow me down.

I ran to the bathroom to pick up other essentials—toothbrush, towel, spare contacts. Getting the old contacts out was a relief to my sore eyes. I’d have liked to leave them out, just for a short time, but I hated even Nell seeing my real eyes. Hated that they marked the difference between me and her, that they were a reminder that she’d been a slave and I’d have been—what? A soldier? I didn’t like to think about it. Magic-wielders tended to have an odd quality to their eyes, like Skyla’s glittering black ones. But mine were practically transparent, while my pupils were like gleaming dark orbs. They’d have creeped me out on anyone else.

I was used to being different. But not like this. Not knowing there was something… alien in my blood. Whatever they’d done, I had no memory of it, but I’d only been a year old when Nell had brought me here.

Nell.

I went back into the hall to find Alber already packed and waiting, and Skyla hovering near the door. A rucksack lay at Nell’s feet, too. My throat closed up with unasked questions.

“Nell,” I said. “Where are we going, exactly?”
Coward.
But I just couldn’t ask with Alber and Skyla standing right there.

“To the Knight family’s place. It’s the nearest, and they have bloodrock in stores.”

I knew that because I’d been the one to deliver it what felt like a lifetime ago.

Nell’s phone buzzed. “That’ll be Jeth,” she said. “He’s almost home.”

The minutes stretched into awkwardness, no one wanting to acknowledge the humongous elephant in the room. Eventually, Alber asked, “Did they mistreat you? Because I’ll kick the ever-loving shit out of them if they did.”

“No…” I hesitated. “Some of the guards were douches, but I
did
try to escape a few times.” And then there was Kay Walker. I had no idea what to even think about him. Let’s face it, I’d been a total ass. He might be annoying, but he was only doing his job. He’d said his supervisor was going to try to get me out…

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to think about the Alliance, not now I was free.

“Bet you gave them a run for their money,” said Alber. “Come on, give us the details.”

Nell flashed him a warning look, but the silence was really getting to me, so I gave him a rundown of my capture, and the times I’d tried to escape. I didn’t mention Ms Weston’s assessment of me. I’d confront Nell in private, later.

Skyla listened with detached interest. “Good on you for fighting back,” she said. “Did they really not plan to let you go?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “See, there was another murder when I tried to escape the second time. I couldn’t have done it, and they knew that, but it slowed everything down. The woman who was interrogating me—Ms Weston—she was going to take my case to the Law Division. But then Jeth contacted me.”

“Weston?” said Skyla. “She interrogated you?”

“You know her?”

“I’ve eavesdropped on enough patrols. She has a reputation.”

“That figures,” I said, with a slight shudder. “She’s scarier than you, Nell. No offence.”

Nell glared. I smiled benignly back.

Then there was a click of a key in the lock, and everyone jumped about a foot in the air—Nell ran to the door and slammed the person into the nearest wall.

“It’s only me!” said Jeth, hands raised, as Nell came within inches of getting him in a chokehold. “Jesus Christ, Nell.” As she stepped back, he saw me, and grinned. His fair hair stood on end like he’d been running his hands through it. “Holy shit, Ada. You’re alive.” He wrapped me in a bear hug.

“Cheers, Jeth,” I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. “It’s… it’s good to be home.” Dammit, I’d shed more tears over the past twenty-four hours than in the previous year. I stepped away from Jeth and looked at Nell. “Guess this is it?”

“Gimme a sec to get my stuff,” said Jeth.

“You are
not
bringing any computers,” Nell shouted after him.

“But my Xbox,” said Alber. “Seriously, Nell, is this
really
necessary? We just disappear? My friends will wonder what happened to me.”

“And my coworkers,” said Jeth. “But safety first, right? I hoped this wouldn’t happen, but well, you know, we’re in a risky business.”

“You’re not,” I said. “It’s my fault. I brought this on all of us.”

“Don’t you ever say that,” said Alber. “Seriously, stop talking, now. It is
not
your fault. Blame the dickheads at the Alliance.”

“Yes,” said Skyla. “This is all their doing. If it wasn’t for them making life so difficult for us…”

“Enough,” said Nell. “Jeth, are you ready?”

“Sure.” Jeth emerged from his room wearing a camper-style backpack. “All right. Where to?”

“Tube station. We’ll head west. Pretend we’re tourists.”

“Easy,” said Alber, eyeing Jeth’s backpack. “All right. Let’s go.”

No one was outside, and the street was quiet. We moved in a tight-knit group, not speaking. We passed by the broken-down pub by the alley that led to the Passages.