Page 96 of The Song Rising

My brow was knitted. I had more questions now than I’d had before.

I shook myself. I couldn’t dwell on this, not when I was getting so close to solving the mystery of what might power Senshield. And not when another devil could be watching us, preparing to cast another net around me—a devil named Hildred Vance.

“There’s a reason I came to find you,” I said. I looked between the voyants. “I need to know exactly where the Edinburgh Central Depot is.”

Elspeth’s expression was guarded. “Why?”

“I—I can’t explain now. But it’s important.”

She pursed her lips. “You’ll not find the depot on any map,” she said, “but those of us who have lived here for years know fine well where it is. It’s in Leith—a military district beside the port, off-limits to denizens. Don’t try to get in. You’ll wind up dead or captured.”

Just going outside put me at risk of winding up dead or captured. If I let that daunt me, I’d never do anything.

17

Blood and Steel

Nick and Warden eventually found me, after making their way through a convoluted network of tunnels. We emerged from the Vaults into the light of a low sun, which had banished much of the fog and now glared off the snow. I was armed with a military-grade pistol from Elspeth, whose people had been able to build up a cache of weapons over the years, stolen from vehicles bound for the depot. She had promised that if we needed assistance, supplies, or somewhere to hide during our time in Edinburgh, we were welcome to come back.

As we made the return journey to the safe house, I pictured the faces of those who were suffering under Scion. The Mime Order, entombed in the Beneath. The factory hands, shorn and beaten. The Irish, ostracized. The night Vigiles, threatened by a technology that might destroy us all.

Yet now I thought of others, too: the living, the defiant. Elspeth Lin, the last of a family that Scion had torn apart, resolved to fight back. My commanders in London. The Ranthen. The people who were here with me now. I didn’t know if we could stop the machine, but a fire had started deep within it. Even the smallest flame could raze the strongest house.

Some had to suffer. And some had to stand.

Eliza and Maria were waiting for us in the parlor. From their frustrated expressions, their investigations in the citadel had been fruitless. When we entered, Eliza stood.

“Did you find the voyants?”

“Yes,” I said. “And they’ll help us.”

Relief crossed her face. “And the depot?”

“It’s in Leith, on the coast. We go now.”

Maria was already entering the district’s name into the tracker. “Ah,” she breathed. “Yes. Look at what happens when you try to zoom in on Leith.” She showed me the screen. The district was a nebulous smear on the coast, not too far from the center of Edinburgh. Blurred. “Scion doesn’t want any satellites to see what’s going on there.”

“All the more reason for us to go. Eliza, you stay here,” I said. “We need someone on the outside if we get into trouble.”

“Be careful,” she said.

We set off for Leith as soon as it was dark. Instead of an Underground or a monorail, Edinburgh had a system of automated trams that ran round the clock. While the Rephaim went their own way, preferring to move quickly through the shadows, the rest of us found a tram toward Leith and took seats at the back, away from the other passengers. We got off at the terminus, where Lucida and Warden were waiting.

A fence stood between us and Leith, covered with red signs. All I could see beyond it was more buildings. I spied a camera jutting from a wall and backed into the shelter of a doorway.

WARNING

SCIONIDE MILITARY INSTALLATION

ACCESS TO THIS ZONE IS RESTRICTED BY THE

GRAND COMMANDER IN ACCORDANCE WITH

SCION LAW. USE OF DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED.

“We’re going in,” I said.

“How?” Maria asked, looking mystified.

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