Page 34 of Road To Runes

"A little," I whispered, feeling my way down to the doors. My fingers found mossy, partly rotted wood and the cold bite of chains. "Keep your eyes peeled for booby traps when we're in."

"Did you bring your bolt cutters?"

"Ha ha." I dug into the pouch full of crystals I had brought with me; my arsenal against any obstacle in our path, magical or otherwise, and felt around for the one I was looking for.

I had etched different runes into each of them, so I could differentiate between them by touch alone. When I felt the rune "insert" etched into one of them, I took it out and pulled the glove off my other hand. This had to be one of my favourite crystals to use.

The moment my skin touched the crystal, a red beam of light shot out the end, bathing the door with fiery hues. I held the crystal to the chains and the light sliced through them like a knife through butter. The chains clattered in pieces onto the trapdoor and rolled down it to the ground.

I took the crystal in my gloved hand and the beam of light shrank back inside the crystal.

"Are we ready?" I whispered to them both, sliding the crystal back into my pouch.

"Ready to get paid."

I rolled my eyes as I yanked the trapdoors open. Of course whatever shiny trinket she could steal was at the front of her mind.

I waited for Hecate to hop over the lip of the doorframe and down into the passage before feeling my way after her. Asher clambered down behind me and pulled the trapdoor shut. The moment we were safely inside, I felt around in my pouch again for a light crystal. Once I held it in my ungloved hand, light burst from its surface and illuminated the entire corridor with an angelic light.

Asher's face lit up, and not just from the crystal. Adventure and intrigue blossomed in his eyes, just like they used to whenever we went on jobs together way back when. I bit my tongue to stop from saying anything. Hemissedthis.

I turned to face down the corridor. Maybe I hadn't realised so much until now, but I had missed this too.

Hecate stood on a stone ledge that stuck out of the wall a little way down and batted a paw in my direction, squinting.

"It's not like I can turn down the power on this thing, I just charged it." I sneaked down the corridor toward her and gave the top of her head a little scritch as I passed. "Can you focus, please?"

Hecate leapt onto my shoulders and pressed a paw to my cheek."You try focusing with your retinas burning out of your face."

Such a drama queen.

I headed down the corridor, every step taken with care and caution, but Hecate didn't alert me to any enchantments. The trek down the passage felt endless as too many minutes tickedpast, and on a few occasions I had to press my sleeve to my nose and mouth to discourage brewing sneezes.

Dust particles drifted in the air, thick and cloying, and seemed determined to irritate my throat enough to make me cough. I didn't want to so much as sniff the further underneath the Franklin house we got.

We traversed the corridor in almost total silence for about ten minutes, navigating past broken barrels, crates, and other long forgotten items. Hecate grew bored with walking and jumped up onto my shoulders for a rest, swishing her tail into my face at random moments.

Asher kept close behind me, as if scared I would run off without him. It wasn’t a completely unfounded fear.

Eventually, we reached a solid stone wall marking the end of the corridor, and in the ceiling above another trapdoor waited for us. Hecate dug her claws into my shoulders as I reached for it.

"Magic," she said."It's definitely enchanted."

Chapter 19

Half of me celebrated the fact a magical security measure faced us; security meant they didn't want us to get in. In my experience, breaking into a place too easily meant someone wanted to catch you inside. But the other half worried that the Franklins had some fancy measures in place that would catch us unprepared.

"Got a read on it?" I asked, wincing as she kneaded my shoulder.

"Feels like something offensive."

That bode well. Detection-only enchantments risked an alarm sounding, but if the Franklin family had installed something that would disintegrate my face, I had a much higher chance of dismantling it without incident. Or at least, Hecate would.

"Anything you can handle?" I asked.

Hecate thrust her nose in the air."Please."

"All right then Miss. Hoity-Toity. Don't leave me in suspense."

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