Devious Magic (27 page)

“And they actually thought turning traitor was an option?” Étoile scoffed. “They clearly don’t know you at all.”

“Thanks.”

“Plus, the health benefits would have been crap,” Étoile went on. “Bet the salary sucks too, right, Daniel?”

“Where’s my sister?” Gage cut in, saving us from Étoile’s amused ponderings. I noticed how strained he looked as he said to me, “Your note said she was hurt.”

I tried to keep it brief, to spare him the extra worry of how poorly Annalise had been treated. “When I woke up, I was in a room in the cellar with her. She’d been kept in wolf form and collared. I took the collar off but she stayed that way anyway. When they came for me, she went for one of the guards and he tased her. By the time they released me, she was out cold and I haven’t seen her since.”

“She’s alive,” added Daniel. “I haven’t seen her, but I’ve heard the guards talking. She’ll be kept alive until her execution, uh, obviously. Most of the Brotherhood have never seen one, uh, a werewolf that is, before. Auberon’s planning on making a big spectacle out of her. Like team bonding or something...” He trailed off, as Gage glared at him.

“This Auberon is the Brotherhood leader?” Evan asked.

“He’s the man from the TV; that night you saved me from them,” I told him, looking to Étoile. She and Anders nodded thoughtfully. The transmission was sent across every channel that night. Alone, that should have been enough to secure a conviction.

“They won’t stop with witches once they have werewolves on the agenda,” mused Gage, flexing his hands like he was getting ready for a fight. His eyes had taken on a dark hue, and he looked distinctly wilder tonight. “She’ll be their first kill.”

“The execution is planned for tomorrow,” I interjected, wishing I could give him some more assurance than that.

“Good thing we have a full moon tonight. Some werewolf rumours are true, you know. We’ll be at our strongest tonight,” Gage promised.

“Speaking of tonight,” Evan continued before I had a chance to ask about the possibility of turning from a wolf bite, like I’d threatened Nameless, “We need to get Annalise and go. Stella, it’s too risky to leave you here in this room. Daniel, how long do you think it will be before someone comes to check on Stella?”

I looked at Daniel. “No one’s been in for a few hours,” I told him.

“Probably not ‘til dawn, I guess,” Daniel said hesitantly. “It’ll be trickier getting Annalise out, I think. She’s been guarded constantly since she was here.”

“Will they let you down there?” Anders sat on one of the velvet chairs, crossed his legs and waited while Daniel shrugged.

“I haven’t been down there the past couple of weeks, so I don’t know.”

“So what do we do, storm the place?” asked Evan. We were still talking in low voices but that didn’t stop the threat from sounding in his voice. “That’s going to wake up some pissed-off killers.”

“What about that concoction Auberon tried to make me drink?” I asked Daniel. “You said you could spike their coffee or tea, or something? If they were knocked out, we could get Annalise easily and no one would know a thing until the next guard came.”

“That might work. I do make them drinks sometimes. I could add a charm to make sure they drink it.”

“How long will it last?”

“Depends how strong I make it. A couple of hours, at least.”

“More than enough time to get Annalise back to the tunnel and get the hell out of here?” Evan asked.

Daniel nodded, pulling his wrist up to squint at his watch. “The shift changes in ten minutes. It’ll take us five minutes to walk there.” He thought about it a moment longer. “Getting to the cellar will be difficult though. Like I told Stella, there aren’t any tunnels directly into the cellar, so we can only go so far until we’ll need to cross the kitchen. People are in and out of there all the time and that’s where we might be seen. At night, there aren’t as many guards usually, but closer to dawn, there will be more people awake.”

“Étoile, did you arrange a diversion for the front of the house?”

“Anders?” she said.

“Got that covered,” he grinned. “The first phase distracted them long enough for us to get in. Phase two is being put in place as we speak.

“If we’re going to go, we need to go now,” said Daniel. He handed me a small flashlight and that’s when I noticed everyone else was carrying one too. “When we go through the tunnels, stay close together and don’t make any noise. We’re going to pass a lot of rooms and go downstairs. I’ll tell you when we get to the exit. I’ll slip out and make the tea, then come back for you. From there, we’ll have to cross the kitchen, but it’s best if we don’t all go. There’s too many of us to go back and forth. When we’ve got the were... Annalise, we’ll take the tunnel I brought you in through.”

“I’m going,” said Gage. “She’s my sister.”

“Me too,” I added quickly.

“Then I’m going as well,” Evan threw in, just for good measure.

We had minutes to huddle together, working through our plan. It was flimsy at best; hopeful at worst, but it was all we had. After a few minutes, when we seemed to all be in agreement, Daniel handed me the bundle of clothes he brought, and my boots. Someone had laundered them and my boots had been cleaned, not polished, but the mud had all been knocked off and it looked like someone had even thought to rinse them.

I stood in the bathroom, the light off, Evan filling the doorway. Beyond, our small group were talking quietly so I peeled off my mother’s old dress, tossing it over the side of the bath. I wished I had time to take a shower, but that would have to wait until later. Evan stepped forward, and I relaxed against him when he put his hands on my head, examining the wound. “It doesn’t look deep,” he said.

“I got knocked out... and earlier, well, I hurt my head again.”

“You might have a concussion. Headaches?” He looked into my eyes, searching. “Blurred vision? Any sickness?”

“Just a headache and I’m tired; but it’s been a bad few days so that’s hardly surprising.” I stepped into my jeans, then pulled my t-shirt over my head, careful to avoid the parts of my head that ached.

“As soon as we get out of here, I’ll heal you. I promise.”

“Thanks.” I smiled up at him, already feeling reassured by his presence. “That would help.”

“How did your dress get ripped?” asked Evan, quietly, so no one else could hear.

I paused. I hadn’t realised he’d noticed. “One of them tried to attack me.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“No,” I said, bluntly. “He tried, but he didn’t.”

“If you see him tonight, point him out,” Evan replied in a thick tone that held the promise of nothing pleasant. “That asshole is going to pay for that.”

I squeezed his hand, because there were no words to reply to that. Despite his pledge, and the comfort I got just from his presence, there was nothing that could stop the heavy beating of my heart when I thought about how dangerous the next few hours would be to us all.

Fifteen

The passageway was narrow, dark and draughty, much as I imagined it would be. We filed in, one-by-one, Daniel taking the lead, then Evan, then I, still holding his hand, then Gage and finally, Étoile, Anders and Bree. We had to press ourselves against the wall for Daniel to slide back and fiddle with a pull cord that closed the door behind us. Then, he pressed again before moving back to the head of the line. Evan’s thumb stroked the thin section of skin between my thumb and forefinger, and I rested my head against his arm for a moment while Daniel readied himself. At last, a beam lit the way ahead and we were off.

Daniel had travelled the secret tunnels for years so he was surefooted and quick, while the rest of us just concentrated on making as little sound as possible as we passed between rooms, only a few bricks separating us from our enemies. Upstairs, the house was quiet, the rooms either empty or the inhabitants sleeping. When we descended a steep flight of stairs, with barely enough space to put a whole foot on a tread, I started hearing noises from the adjoining rooms, snatches of conversation, a scrape of a chair. Obviously, some of the household were still awake. Bad news for us.

As we reached a bend in the passage, Daniel stopped and we shuffled to a halt. I could just make out his face as he turned to us. “The kitchen is that way,” he whispered, pointing into the dark. “Wait here and I’ll make the guards their drink. I’ve already got the sleeping draught.” He patted his pocket. “I’ll be five to ten minutes, tops.”

“Be careful,” I whispered as his flashlight bobbed away from us. We switched ours off rather than waste the batteries. Crouching on our heels in the dark, we waited for what seemed like forever, until there was a scuffling in the corridor. Evan swung his flashlight up, the beam lighting on Daniel’s face. He recoiled, shielding his eyes and squinting.

“How did it go?” asked Evan as he lowered the light.

“Well, they were kinda surprised to see me, but I was right, they just started their shift. I added a charm so they would drink it and I tipped in the whole vial so they should be out cold in five minutes.”

Gage leant forward. “Did you see Annalise?”

“No, but she’s definitely in there. One of the guards was looking through the little hole in the door. I think he was taunting her.”

“What about the keys?” I asked, trying to ignore the last part because getting angry would only cloud my head more.

Daniel looked alarmed. “I don’t know. I didn’t think.”

“They were hung on a hook near the door when I was taken out. Did you see them there?”

Daniel thought about that for a moment, his mouth twisting in frustration. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I think I saw them. There was a big ring of keys up there.”

“What now?” asked Étoile.

“I’ll go and get Annalise,” said Daniel.

“You can’t go alone,” I pointed out, exposing the first flaw in our plan. “What if someone chances on you? Or Annalise gets scared and attacks you?”

“We can’t all go. There’s too many of us,” Daniel whispered back.

“I’m coming with you,” interjected Gage, and no one could possibly refuse him.

“Me too,” I added.

Evan sighed. “Then I guess it’s going to be the four of us. Étoile, Anders and Bree can wait here.”

“Fine by me,” said Anders. His head was bowed as he fiddled with his watch and I saw two short luminous lines spring up. “Sooner we get out of here, the better. We have a diversion going off in twenty minutes, enough to draw everyone out front while we head out back. Be quick.”

“Okay,” Daniel nodded. “This tunnel takes us to the kitchen.” He paused for a long moment when some voices, somewhere on the other side of the wall came closer, then receded, reminding us how close we were to the enemy. “We cross the kitchen, into the pantry where there is another set of stairs to the cellar. Once we get there, we come out into a little room and we need to cross two more to get where Annalise is being held. The kitchen is the place we’re most likely to be seen. People come and go at all times.”

“Then let’s get our asses in gear,” grinned Gage. His teeth looked awfully sharp in the gloom, but then, it was the full moon, the time when the wolf pack was at their most primal, and therefore, most dangerous. If we were at home, he’d be out in the woods surrounding our homes, leading the pack on the hunt. Tomorrow, he’d sleep in all morning. No such luxuries here.

“Be safe,” said Étoile, dropping a kiss unexpectedly on my cheek.

The three of us followed Daniel and, as we got to the door, he raised a hand, signalling us to stop and keep quiet. Someone was in the kitchen. I could hear whoever it was whistle as they walked around. A few minutes later, they were gone and Daniel was pulling a lever. The door opened slowly and Daniel had to push it the last little bit. When I stepped out, and moved around, I saw the secret door wasn’t part of the panelling, like in my room, but built so that it was part of a cabinet.

With a quick heave from his shoulder, Daniel shut the cabinet on the passage and we followed him, running across the broad kitchen, our feet flying over the flagstones. He waited until we were inside the pantry and shoved the door closed, just as Gage slipped inside. He pushed a sack of something in front of it, blocking the entrance. “Just in case someone comes back,” he whispered, “If you need to get back into the tunnel, and if, for any reason, I’m not with you, go to the fireplace. The second brick down on the left is the lever, push it and it’ll open; then pull the lever once you get inside to shut it again. I gave your friend Étoile a rough map showing you how to get out.” We nodded and I wondered if I were the only one thinking how hard that must be for Daniel, still helping us escape, even if he weren’t sure he would make it.

Daniel searched the shelves for a moment and grabbed a packet of chocolate biscuits. We followed him down the winding staircase, pressing our bodies close to the wall where the brick treads were at their widest. The temperature dropped a few degrees in the cellar and I shivered, despite my jacket.

“You okay?” asked Evan. I nodded quickly and Gage squeezed my shoulder, then pressed a pair of gloves into my hands. I pulled them on gratefully.

Daniel walked ahead, biscuits in hand, as we followed him through the small rooms he’d mentioned. With a flap of his hand, he signalled us to one side and we fell back, letting him go on alone.

“Oh hey, man,” I heard him say jovially. “Thought you might want these with your tea. I meant to bring them down before, but forgot.”

“Thanks, kid. Hey, no dozing on the job.” There was a sound like a kick, then a heavier sound. I saw an arm land across the doorway on the floor, and the top of a head. “What the hell happened to...” The man never got to finish his sentence, because Gage stepped forward just as the man stepped into the archway. Pulling back his fist, Gage planted it firmly in the guard’s face. He stumbled backwards and hit his head against the wall, sliding into a slump on the floor, unconscious.