Page 197 of The Dark Mirror

In the time we had been underground, Rome had turned even colder, and the fog had thickened. We emerged into a chaos of sirens and screaming. Across the city, I could hear detonations and gunfire.

Mistry ran beneath the marble colonnade that surrounded the Piazza di San Pietro, which the Buzzers had strewn with limbs and heads. With unsteady hands, he unlocked a door and led us up a flight of steps, to an elevated path. My breath came in white puffs as I ran between its battlements, staying ahead of Pleione and Arcturus.

The Buzzers were no longer magnetically drawn to the basilica, but I could feel them nearby. If we were quick and quiet, the Passetto di Borgo would allow us to avoid their notice.

We stopped at the sound of planes overhead, impossible to make out through the fog. It took every ounce of my strength to keep moving.

‘Mistry,’ Nick said, ‘any idea who our visitors are?’

‘They’re most likely Italian. Beatrice had planes at the ready,’ Mistry said, ‘but the French have an airbase and a missile launch facility on Corsica. They could be supporting the attack.’ Hestopped. ‘Underqueen, give me that device on your lapel. I’ll contact Beatrice.’

I passed it to him and looked between the battlements, clutching a stitch.

On the streets, the Buzzers were reorienting. Most of them stood upright, their heads turning. It was as if they were using an internal radar to find the latent Rephs. Even if we were one misstep away from being spotted, I had never been so relieved to be off the ground.

‘There are so many of them,’ I murmured.

Pleione came to my side. ‘Another lamentation has ceased. Now there is but one.’

‘I think I know where. Cade said he was going to face me at the Colosseum.’

We pressed on, trying not to draw attention. I stopped when gunfire came from below. Sensing a dreamscape I recognised, I looked back over the edge.

Eliza was down there, cornered by three Buzzers.

She handled a rifle with more assurance than I had anticipated. In the gang, she had generally avoided conflict, but more than nine months as interim Underqueen, living under martial law, had clearly hardened her. When one of the Buzzers stalked closer, a poltergeist drove it back.

‘Ah, there’s my Martyred Muse,’ Jaxon observed unhelpfully.

‘Eliza.’ I grasped the balustrade. ‘Pleione, can you bring her up?’

She vaulted between the battlements. As she landed, the spirits around her gave a hum that raised every hair on my arms. The Buzzers retreated, hissing. Pleione dumped Eliza over her shoulder and climbed back up to the passageway, pursued by Jean the Skinner, who returned to Jaxon.

‘Eliza.’ I helped her down. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes, but—’

‘In the fullness of time, you will pay for your treachery,’ Terebell told her. ‘You broke my trust, interim Underqueen. Do not think I will forget it.’

She strode after Mistry again, leaving Eliza even more shaken. When she clutched her right arm, I saw that a Buzzer had slashed away most of her sleeve, leaving gashes.

‘Paige,’ she said, ‘it clawed me.’

‘You weren’t bitten.’ I ushered her in front of me. ‘You’ll be fine. Come on.’

Another plane flew past. To my right, part of a building exploded, spraying dust and masonry. I wondered if Sala might really be willing to fire on her own city to destroy the Buzzers.

The fog was so dense, I could barely see Eliza in front of me. The Passetto let us bypass the fighting around the Vatican, though we now had three hungry Buzzers on our tail. The Italian soldiers were fighting back with all their might, their guns drowning out the shouts of panic. Eliza faltered as the poison threw her balance off, making her sweat rivers. At my behest, Pleione picked her up and carried her under her arm like a rag doll.

Eliza Renton was the closest thing I had to a sister. No matter what she had done, I was not leaving her behind.

The corridor ended at the Castel Sant’Angelo. Mistry tried the door, but found it locked. Terebell smashed through it with ease, taking it right off its hinges.

‘I could get used to having you around,’ Mistry said, with a weak chuckle.

‘We have beenaroundfor two centuries,’ Pleione said. ‘Expect us for a good deal longer.’

Castel Sant’Angelo was a blur. We slammed every door we could in our wake, stopping the Buzzers from following. I had avoided their claws, but their presence was still tarnishing the æther, even outside the Vatican. I resisted finishing the vial of fortified ectoplasm, wanting to save the last few drops to bolster me against Cade.

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