Page 46 of Anchor

After everything, after spending almost two years trying to come to terms with the fact that he would spend the rest of his life in the Tomb Penitentiary and I was never going to see him again, now I knew that I would. Now I knew that he was out there. If I couldn’t find him, he’d asked me to meet him on September twenty-first, which was only eighty-four days away—yes, I’d counted. He said he’d send me the location before then, but that I had to be there at midnight, and I planned to get there even if I had to travel to the other side of the world by foot.

Eighty-four days, that’s all. That’s how soon I’d see him—if I didn’t find him myself first. Which I really,reallyhoped I would.

And that’s where this suddengreedto find the veler came from, thisurgeto find out if I could, in fact, take it and use it without anybody knowing, and figure out where Taland was. I could be on my way to him right now; I could see him, touch him, kiss him, make sure he was okay.

Goddess, please let him be okay…

“Rosabel.”

I blinked my eyes and realized that I’d been too distracted by my own thoughts that I’d forgotten to pay attention to the real world—namely the guard who was telling me to spread my arms to the sides so he could run his magically enhanced X-ray wand all over me. This to get to the other side of the maze of hallways at the other end of which was the Vault.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away,” I muttered and spread my arms while my cheeks flushed.

The X-ray wand remained green.

Cassie raised a brow in question. “Do I even want to know?”

No, you really don’t.“Let’s just get to the Vault,” I muttered.

The maze-like corridors went on for about three minutes, no doubt made to distract and confuse people who came here on their own for the first time. Another protective measure, though with the number of wards in the air I doubted anybody would even make it past the first turn.

Another guard searched us when we made it to the doors of the Vault, then cleared us for entrance. Both mine and Cassie’s badges opened them, and the two guards who stepped by the wall watched our every movement while we went through.

Another three were in the reception room, where they cleared and took note about who came through and who walked out with what. On the other side was the actual Vault.

It washuge—so big you could hardly see the other end of it, even though most boxes made of reinforced glass were on the walls, one over the other, so many of them I got dizzy just looking. In the middle was the pillar that held the ceiling up, a thick piece of concrete full of led lights that changed color every now and again. There were also these smaller cabinet-like stands spread all over that served as containers with little transparent drawers full of smaller artifacts underneath, and a flat top that served as tables. The first half of the oval-shaped room was chockfull of wards that guarded artifacts that fell in the first level protection protocol. The second half was about thirty percent under second level protection, and the very end was third level. I’d never been to the second half of this room, and now as I looked at the many glass boxes and tried to catch a glimpse of the veler, I’ll admit I was a bit afraid. A bit freaked out. Knowingthat in here were artifacts that could destroy the world as we know it made me a bit sweaty.

Cassie laughed. “Scared, Mud—I mean, Redfire?”

I forced myself to roll my eyes. “I’m not a weakling like you.”

“Pfft—you’rethe weakling in our midst, baby.”

“Me—the girl who won the Iris Roe while being Mud—I mean, Redfire?”

Cassie didn’t see that coming, so her loud laughter echoed in the tall ceiling. She brought both hands to her mouth to stop herself, and her eyes teared up instantly.

“Good one, good one,” she said when she got herself under control again.

“What are we here for?” I asked, trying to talk myself out oflooking—impossible. I couldn’t help but search every box I could see for the veler.

“Just a pair of dice, believe it or not. The Hershman trial is coming up soon and the DA office wants to present them in front of the jury—blood and all.”

This time I was the one flinching. “Do I want to know?”

“How a man killed his parents by spelling dices to crack their skulls and go through their brains? Nope. No, I don’t think you want to know.” She grinned.

“You’re awful.” I could have done without that information, especially since it triggered my memories ofblood—so much blood, puddles of it all over the ground…ugh.

“Thank you muchly,” she said with a deep nod. “Go ahead and explore. I’ll be right back.”

Opening the folder she’d had under her arm, she began to walk toward the middle of the room, to the cabinets full of drawers to look for the murdering dices. Iridians did some fucked up shit with their magic. Some twisted minds they had—and not just the people, but the Council, too. The IDD—everyone, especially those in charge of the Iris Roe.

I began to go closer to the walls made of boxes, the glass revealing everything inside them. So many ordinary things—pots and wallets and picture frames and even books, things you’d never even suspect could actually harm or evenkillyou, but they could. They were spelled to do so, cursed to obey their master. Innocent objects becoming deadly at the whisper of a few Iridian words. And nulling them, taking away their magic didn’t always work. In fact, in most cases traces of the original curse remained in objects forever, and that’s why the IDD kept everything here to make sure something didn’t accidentally kill people out there because it was deemed harmless when it wasn’t.

The heavy magic that hung on the marble floor and concrete ceiling, every inch of thick class surrounding me could suffocate you if you spent enough time in this room, despite the size of it.

I wondered how Taland would have done it. I wondered what his plan was, if he even had a plan to break in here when he asked me to just stand by and do nothing.Lethim try to steal the veler.

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