Page 199 of Empire of Shadows

“This is so much worse than a flaming sword,” she spluttered. “Adam, do you have any idea how terribly dangerousknowledgecan be? Imagine if you could learn the secrets of every member of Cabinet. If you could see into war rooms. Steal the technology of the future. If there truly are more… morethingslike this out there, you could use the mirror to find them all. It could pave the road for you to achieve absolutelyanything you desired. Nobody should have that much power—certainly not the sort of people who would hire a man like Jacobs to do their work for them.”

Adam didn’t answer right away. Silence settled in, thick and tense around them, accentuated by the utter darkness in which they were wrapped.

Ellie was still soaking wet from her drop into the cenote. The cave wasn’t terribly cold, but it was cooler than the humid tropical spring of the world above. She shivered.

Adam laughed—a resigned and tired chuckle.

“Aw hell,” he said at last. “We really are gonna have to find some way to stop the bastards, aren’t we?”

“The two of us. Against a small army,” Ellie said numbly as her mind continued to whirl.

“Hey, at least I got my knife back,” Adam pointed out wryly.

“And I have a magnifying lens, and a needle and thread in my pocket.” Ellie ran her hands over her face, unsure whether she wanted to break out into hysterics or simply lie down on the ground. “We are going to get ourselves killed.”

“If it’s any comfort, I’m not really sure running away would be any smarter,” he said. “It’s pretty clear those two don’t want to leave any loose ends hanging around. If they do get that mirror, then they could use it to find us no matter where we disappeared to.”

It was true, of course. If the mirror could really do all that it was purported to do—which was the risk they were now forced to consider—then Dawson or Jacobs need merely ask it where Adam and Ellie were, and it would show them, as simply as that.

Adam tugged one of Ellie’s hands up and pressed something into it. She recognized the feel of the other torch.

There was a scratch and a flare of light. Adam set a match to the pitch-soaked wood and it flickered to life, bringing his face back into view. He looked battered, muddy, and beautiful.

“Thread,” he said with a tired grin.

“And a magnifying lens,” Ellie confirmed. “I’m afraid I lost the broken pencil—but I do have a flask of some sort of illicit spirits.”

“Did you drink any?” Adam asked.

“Goodness, no!” Ellie frowned crossly. “I am sure it is vile.”

“Never know until you try it,” he pointed out.

She fixed him with an authoritative glare.

“I am saving it for an emergency,” she retorted.

“Knife, needle, thread, lens, and booze,” Adam listed. He shrugged. “Pretty sure I’ve made do with worse.”

Ellie fought the urge to giggle. “This is madness,” she pointed out.

His eyes narrowed wickedly.

“Uh-uh,” he countered. “It’simprovisation. And who knows? Maybe you’ll figure out another way to make something explode.”

Ellie’s mind began to calculate enticingly. “If I do, will you let me do it?”

Adam slipped his arm around her shoulders.

“If there was ever a time to blow something up, Princess, I’m pretty sure this is it,” he replied.

The thought was a bubble of excitement inside of her.

Ellie eyed Adam skeptically.

“You aren’t going to try to talk me into making a run for it while you attempt to do it all yourself?” she pressed.

“I think at this point, I know you a little too well to bother,” he returned with a wry look.

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