Divided: The Alliance Series Book Four (10 page)

I had absolutely no intention of messing with magic implants, but if I could amplify a pure source, I fully intended on getting my hands on some of that sciras. It was a rare source, but then, so was adamantine, and Earth had no shortage of that.

I searched all the boxes until I found the right crate, removed a small sample of the sciras, and pocketed it.

I had to do it,
I told the warning voice in my head. If nothing else, at least we’d be prepared if the Stoneskin people declared war on us. If the implants worked the way I thought they did, I could amplify sciras like any other source, and it would turn
me
into a temporary shield. I’d be able to face those Stoneskin bastards head-on, long enough to take Ada back before they realised what she could do.

Ada’s magic was so dangerous, it would only take one mistake to knock out the Balance, and the Multiverse along with it. Ada knew that, but the Stoneskins might not.

Or they might be counting on it.

I closed the crate and moved swiftly around the rest of the storage room. Most offworld substances were volatile as gunpowder in the Passages, and even attempting to use them on Earth or in the between-world would be worse than running headlong into a group of those Stoneskins again. No, sciras was the best I could get. And bloodrock. I backed out of the stores and found the place where the spare weapons were kept, swiping a couple of daggers.

I tapped the earpiece. “All clear?”

Jeth’s voice was a whisper. “Yeah. Be quick, though, Carl’s headed over that way.”

That figured. I’d deliberately chosen a time when he’d be out dealing with novices, but as head guard, it was his responsibility to make sure no trespassers got in again. I eased the door open, slipped out, and let it close behind me. After a few seconds, when I’d checked no one was nearby, I re-inserted the key and locked it again. The guard office was doubly locked, so I had no chance of getting hold of a new communicator yet.

I ran for the back door to Central and circled the building to the car park. At least Central’s front gates were open. I wasn’t stupid enough to meet Jeth in a place the Alliance might see us, so I walked halfway back to his house, losing myself in a crowd. The roads were packed with early-evening traffic and commuters walking to the Tube station. Everyone was in too much of a rush to notice someone invisible knocking into them.

I ducked into an alley and switched off the camouflage once I’d put a good distance between myself and Central, and power-walked back to Ada’s house. I knocked, and the door opened in an instant.

“Where’s my son?” Nell demanded, her hair straggling down, eyes blazing.

“Behind me.” I tapped the earpiece. “I figured we shouldn’t draw attention. Here.” I passed her the bloodrock, and her eyes narrowed.

“The accursed stuff has caused us enough trouble,” she muttered.

I said nothing. There was no arguing with that.

She took the bloodrock into the kitchen and tipped one bag of powdered transparent substance onto the table. “How much do you need?”

“Enough for everything we’re using, just in case. It’s partly a precaution. I don’t think the Alliance will check up on you yet, but—”

“It’s better to be safe,” Nell said, cutting me off. “Pity you didn’t remember that before, Walker.”

It took a great deal of self-control not to snap at her for not preparing for this eventuality, or to direct some of the guilt eating at me in the direction of the person who’d signed her life away to protecting Ada.

Who are you kidding, Kay? You’ve lost it. And you’re going to drag Ada’s family down with you, just like you did to her.

Shut it,
I told the unwelcome voice, and pulled out the bag of adamantine. “I have this, too, but I don’t know the details on breaking it down to make a protective covering,” I said. “Nor, to be honest, exactly how it’s used.” I’d only known the name. It wasn’t like the Academy had taught Dangerous Offworld Substances 101. And as for the sciras, I hadn’t even known it existed until a few hours earlier. Like lustre. What a goddamned mess.

“What’s in there?” Nell’s head snapped up from where she was dividing the bloodrock into heaps, and fixated on the bag of adamantine. Our eyes met, and I couldn’t say the word. It was like looking into an abyss of such pain and loss, I jumped when the door opened, breaking the silence.

“Jeth,” said Nell, recovering in a second. “I hope you have a better explanation for this plan.”

“I have one,” I said, “if you’d give me the chance to explain.” Seeing that look in her eyes had unnerved me beyond measure. Too close to what I saw in my own eyes whenever I looked in the mirror.

There was no trace of it now. “Fine.”

“I got everything we need. You?” I said this to Jeth, who nodded.

“Yeah. Got all the spare parts. They leave all kinds of junk in the storerooms. I reckon I can adapt one of my computers to set up the communication channel.”

Jeth hitched his rucksack off and opened it to show gleaming bar-like contraptions which appeared pretty similar to Valerian hover-car engines. “It’ll give it a boost beyond Earth levels. What’s your plan?”

“Go back to the Passages and try to find her signal. It’s all I can think of.” I had the tracker and the world-key, just in case. “But first, I’ll need protection.” I pulled out the sciras. “This is a source. Is there any way you can make it into a device like the Chameleon?”

Jeth frowned. “What is that?”

“Sciras,” I said. “It’s a power source, one which can turn you into a human shield. Klathica uses it in their magic-boost implants, and if it can punch through concrete, it can take down a Stoneskin. I can’t amplify adamantine—it’s the best we’ve got.”

“I can try,” said Jeth, looking doubtful. “Punch through concrete?” But he took the sciras from me.

“It’s logical,” I said. “There’s some kind of rule behind what I can and can’t amplify, but if I’m touching something in pure form, like the bloodrock on the outside of a Chameleon, it works. Why should sciras be any different?”

Nell tutted. “It sounds like you’re making theories up just to suit yourself.
Nobody
is invincible.”

“Nell,” said Jeth warningly. “Cut it out. This is our plan, and it’s all we’ve got.”

“How long will the communication take to set up?” I asked him.

“I’ll go as fast as I can, but probably twelve hours—or more. It’s a tricky one. I’ve never done it before. I’ll keep you updated.” Jeth handed me a battery. “That thing has an hour’s life in it, but if you can amplify it, it’ll last longer.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking it. “Keep me updated. I’m going into the Passages, and if you aren’t done by morning, I’ll go to Valeria and see if there’s anything I can bring back with me. I’ve got a hover bike, they aren’t going to kick up a fuss if I remove any parts you need.”

“Screw offworld security,” said Alber, appearing in the doorway. “You’re going to try and find her tonight? Can I come?”

I shook my head. “I can’t transfer the invisibility to just anyone. Not even most magic-wielders. It’s too dangerous in there at the moment.”

“Come and help me,” Nell told Alber. “You, Walker, had better keep your word.”

“I will.”

Sure, finding the right world was a long shot. But it was better than doing nothing. Better than letting her slip away again.

***

The Passages were a bust. Hours later and I hadn’t picked up so much as a trace of Ada’s signal. All I’d managed to do was get lost in the hidden Passage, and had to sneak around a prowling chalder vox. At least it was too stupid to notice an invisible presence. But there was no sign of any unknown doorway, Cethraxian or otherwise, and none of Ada’s trace. Even if I had found a doorway, wandering into the swampland without a plan would be a stupid move. I’d made enough of those already.

Even walking around the areas of the Passages not in the UK time zone was precarious, with the number of new patrols. Whenever I reached a deserted stretch of corridor, a patrol would appear a minute later, and I’d have to move. Even amplified, all the world-key did was open the in-between place, the endless void, and I couldn’t get a handle on any particular world from there. It was like being thrown into empty space without gravity to anchor me. Not even magic could reach me there.

Frustrated, I went downstairs to the hidden Passage again. There were three different stairs to the first level, and I ran into several doorways to Cethrax. Despite everything, I hovered on the threshold of one doorway, looking out into the swampland. Typical Cethrax. Dull purple sky, bleached-white trees like shattered human bones—for all I knew, that’s what they were. And mile after mile of swamp. The Cethraxians were predators one and all, because no plant life grew out there. I had no idea why the air was even breathable to humans, if you discounted the stench of decay, like their whole planet was rotting from the inside out.

The Stoneskins
had
been using Cethrax as a transit point.

I tapped the earpiece. “You there?” I said, in a low voice.

“What?” said a sleepy voice on the other end. Then, more urgently, “What happened?”

“Just had an idea. I’m in the hidden Passage, and there’s an overlap with Cethrax. I know it’s unlikely, but suppose the Stoneskins pass through Cethrax again. I can leave a message here. In that code you mentioned.”

I thought he’d argue, but he said, “All right. This communications thing’s being a pain in the ass, but I reckon I can sort it by morning. I can’t believe you’re in that place at night.”

“It’s only night time in the UK’s time zone area, isn’t it? What’s this code?”

I found a nearby rock and used the side of one of the daggers to carve the code into it, at Jeth’s dictation. Then, with a last look around, I backed through the doorway.

I left the same message at a half-dozen sites, having to stop once I reached the apparent dead end of the Passage. No more doorways here, but they moved around frequently. Cethrax refused to acknowledge not only the Alliance’s rules but also the rules of nature in general—at least in the Passages. It had confounded the Alliance from the start, because it seemed at first glance to be a habitable planet… were it not for the monsters. The air had the right levels of oxygen to support human life, gravity worked the same way it did on Earth—but the inhabitants were half-corporeal, half-shadow, and doorways seemed to open at random. Nobody knew why. Unsurprisingly, the Academy was more concerned with teaching us how to kill the monsters in the lower levels of the Passages rather than pondering the philosophy of doorways.

Possibly, it was the sleep-deprivation talking. There was one more thing I needed to try. I’d taken one small piece each of sciras and adamantine, and now there didn’t seem to be any patrols around, I let the invisibility drop. I searched for a signal, but the adamantine remained a cold, lifeless piece of metal-rock.

Dammit, Kay, you idiot.
Adamantine must be so resistant to magic it even blocked my amplifying abilities. I’d never been able to absorb Ada’s powers, though she could project hers onto me. That was how she’d saved my life from the mad god on Vey-Xanetha by grabbing my hand. But pure adamantine didn’t seem to work. Not that I had any way to test it unless I zapped myself with a stunner or walked into a magic-creature, and I wasn’t overly keen on the idea of being taken out by amplified magic burn again.

So adamantine wouldn’t work. At the same time, though… it was magic in itself, even if it blocked or absorbed all other magic. It ought by rights to have had some kind of signal—Ada did. Those Stoneskins…

They
were made of adamantine. It was hammered into their skin. Could it be blocking Ada’s signal? Even if she was
dead,
her signal would remain, for a while at least. And it shouldn’t have disappeared from the Passages so quickly.

I pocketed the piece of adamantine. Once the skin contact disappeared, awareness of magic flooded me again. I hadn’t even noticed the buzzing sensation was missing. Like it had never existed in the first place.

Bloody magic
. Ada herself had a signal despite the adamantine in her blood, but maybe it was different if it was somehow melded into the skin like those Stoneskins. Or maybe magic was just goddamned incomprehensible.

I took the sciras in one hand, sensing its faint signal. It wasn’t a powerful source. But it
was
harder than diamond.

I clenched my fist around it. Magic flooded me, but for an instant, I hesitated.
If it doesn’t work, this is really gonna hurt.

I punched the wall.

My fist bounced painlessly off the rock. I stared at the unbroken skin on my knuckles, then hit it again. A buzzing static pulsed against me, and I took a swing with the other hand.

No pain. Nothing. The wall was undamaged, but so was I. My skin buzzed, and I ran into the next chamber, where the wall was stone, not metal. The hidden Passages were a mixture of both, suggesting they’d been man-made, or perhaps built in a hurry. The Alliance couldn’t have a never-ending supply of whatever metal made up most of the Passages on the first and second floors.

I drew back and punched the stone wall. This time, I left a fist-shaped hole, and it didn’t even leave a mark on me. I stared at the gap in the stone. Better not try again in case I brought the wall down. But with my new weapon, I could go up against a Stoneskin.