Page 7 of Siege of Shadows

It was hard not to look at that straightforward fearlessness without feeling an awkward mix of awe and insecurity. It was almost reassuring seeing her focus back in full force, even if it was confined to the battlefield.

It always was, these days.

Chae Rin cracked her knuckles. “All right, then. Clear a path.”

Belle, Lake, and I made sure we were well behind Chae Rin as she brought her hands low. Effigies didn’t necessarily need to use their hands to manipulate elements, but it was just easier to—like our limbs were a lightning rod, the perfect conduit for such immense power. As she lifted her arms, the earth rose with her.

She did good work, moving away the sand, but I couldn’t help worrying. Saul would surely hear the sands shifting above him, wouldn’t he? And then just disappear. There were so many risks in this mission, but it couldn’t be helped. Sibyl wasn’t the only one under the world’s pressure to deliver a terrorist—we were too.

Sand slid away from us in sheets and billowed up into the night sky with the wind Lake summoned. It wasn’t long until we saw the white metal hatch, dirtied around its perfect right edges, big enough to fit only one of us at a time.

The four of us stood facing each other, exchanging steady glances. This was it. We were to work together. Beat the bad guy. That was the reason why the Sect gathered us, after all. We were an uneasy alignment created out of necessity, forged through a shared destiny.

The Effigies.

Sometimes, if I let myself, I could feel it: that unspeakable force linking one to the other. A connection. A bond. Or maybe it was just me. We’d already fought together and bled together. That may not have made us friends, but it made us something.

A team.

Yeah. And it wasn’t all that bad.

“No time to waste.” Chae Rin rolled up her sleeves. “If he’s down there, let’s go.”

“Wait—” Lake put out a hand to stop her. “Director Langley... are you one hundred percent sure that Saul is in that bunker?”

“We can still detect his frequency at the below location,” responded a Communications techie.

“He’s there.” Sibyl’s voice was solemn.

“We can only climb down one at a time,” I said. “He’ll definitely hear us coming. If he hasn’t heard us already.”

“I’ll go first,” said Belle. “I have more experience. I’ll neutralize Saul quickly.”

Bending down, she gripped the handle and, with care, lifted the heavy hatch.

“Belle—” I started, but she put up a finger to silence me, nodding meaningfully toward the open hatch.

Her foot hit the steps swiftly and silently, maneuvering down each rung until she disappeared into the darkness.

We waited. Chae Rin watched the dark open hole grimly, ready to react to any sign of trouble. Lake’s legs fidgeted, but not too much to shift the sand beneath her feet. Still nothing. I rubbed the sweat and dirt off my face and sucked in a quiet breath.

A blast shook the ground beneath us. My head snapped up. That was as good a signal as any. Each of us lifted up our goggles.

“Let’s go.” Chae Rin leapt down the hatch. After a slight hesitation, Lake climbed in next.

It was now or never.

I descended through the hatch last. The metal bars were greasy and dirty—easy to slip on. I made sure I didn’t. The moment I hopped down onto solid ground, I felt the chill. And when I turned, I found a forest of ice blooming in the small bunker. Frost sparkled under the dim lights, speckling the hot, humid air of the dingy room—a room empty but for a single cot covered in dirty white sheets. Belle’s ice crawled up to the ceiling, covering the black shadows on the wall.

Black shadows. Shadows of people. They were drawn in black spray paint against the red brick. Long and short, they lined the walls, their limbs thick and crudely sketched as if by a child.

And maybe Saul was the one who’d painted them. His form was distorted behind Belle’s cocoon of ice as he stood suspended inside. In a navy-blue armored bodysuit and black boots, he almost looked like a soldier. But his face was obscured inside a pure white metal helmet. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen before.

“He looks like a cyborg,” Lake said.

I could see that too. The wide, dark slits where his eyes would have been looked like they would suddenly light up bloodred at the slightest computerized command.

“Has he said anything?” Chae Rin paused. “I mean,didhe say anything? You know, before you literally iced him?”

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