Page 23 of The Song Rising

My shoulders were rigid. There was a short silence before Warden said, “As you command, Underqueen.”

When he stepped away, our auras untwined. I sank on to a chair and held my head between my hands.

4

Vance

November 29, 2059

Novembertide

I was losing him. Little by little, he was slipping out of reach. We were the bridge between the syndicate and the Ranthen, and unless I could somehow preserve our relationship, everything we had built together would begin to crumble. The Mime Order would not survive.

Danica came in at just past one in the morning, clad in the boiler suit she wore to work, and stamped the snow from her steel-capped boots. I was nursing my headache by the fire, raw-eyed.

“Give me some good news,” I said.

“All right. I think I’ve found Senshield’s core.”

I sat up. “You’re serious?”

“I don’t really like to joke. Do you want the bad news, too?”

I was still reeling from the good news. “Go on.”

“It’s underground. And the facility it’s stored in is probably going to be guarded to the hilt.”

I went to wake the others; they needed to hear this. A few minutes later, the four of us were sitting in the parlor. Danica unlaced her boots and took her hair down from its bun.

“Right. My idiot supervisor has some role in the installation of the large scanners. Today he got news that the core needs maintenance for the first time in a year. I wasn’t chosen to work on it,” she said, answering the question that had jumped on to my tongue, “but I overheard him talking to the group that’s been selected. I know where it is.”

“Go on,” I said.

“There’s a warehouse in II-1, which sits on top of the facility.” I wasn’t too familiar with the section, but I could find people who were. “A trapdoor inside leads to the core. While they’re carrying out the maintenance, the alarms will be deactivated. But there’s a catch: the work will only take a day, and they’re doing it immediately. Today.”

“And you still have no idea what the coreis?” Nick said.

Danica shrugged. “My guess is that it’s something volatile, which is why it’s kept underground. Still,” she said, “now might be your chance to find out. If you can go today, while there are engineers working on it, Paige could possess one of them and see for herself.”

“Dani,” I said, “you are brilliant.”

“Frankly, anyone could have eavesdropped on the morons in my department.” She wiped her oily hands on her boiler suit. “I’m going to bed. I’ve got an early shift tomorrow.”

The stairs creaked as she trudged upstairs, leaving us to contemplate our options.

“We have to make a quick decision here,” I said. “The core might not need maintenance again for years. This could be our only chance.”

Nick rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. This seems too convenient.”

“They don’t know about Dani. The double agent would have told Warden if there was even a whiff of suspicion.”

We had a lead. I needed to quash the exhilaration and think clearly, because if we did this, it would be our first direct assault on Scion’s infrastructure. It was risky, but it could be decisive for the Mime Order.

“I want Maria and Glym to help us decide.” I stood. “Jimmy O’Goblin, too—it’s his section. Make sure he’s sober.”

Eliza took her phone from her pocket. In the kitchen, I dug out a detailed map of the section.

“Paige,” Nick said, “should we get permission from the Ranthen?”

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