Page 52 of Ashes of Gold
“I do not know her to trust her. And judging from earlier…” She shakes her head and looks away.
Bri purses her lips, but says nothing, takes her own swig of the potion, and stuffs the rest away.
“She might change her mind,” I whisper to her.
She snatches up her suction-cup gadget and holds it out like a flashlight. “I won’t freeze like that again.”
“Bri—”
“Just let me be mad at myself, okay? I need to get it together. Be harder on myself.” She presses a button on top of the gadget and a blue light blares. “I’m ready.”
The storm clouds have stopped crying, but they hover above, gloomy and foreboding. A ball of light thrashes in my hands as I step inside the fallen structure. The ground glows blue in the light from my magic. I scan, watching out for booby-trapped hot spots like the one Bri stepped on. Maybe there was a subtle mark on the ground and she missed it.
Jhamal and Zora are on my left, Bri on my right, and around us is a maze of concrete walls dotted with rods of steel stuck out at odd angles. Faint light shines up ahead through the broken building like a beacon. I point, then press a finger to my lips. I walk as softly as I can, easing each breath out, darkness growing thicker than the humidity. The walls groan and I conjure energy in my empty hand too.
“Maybe this is just a fallen building?” Bri asks. Her gadget light is swirling but not going off. “Not another trap?”
It’s definitely a trap. The question is why the Chancellor’s laying traps, watching from his tower, sending Loyalists after us this way instead of fighting us head-on.
The building shifts, metal rustled by strong winds groans, and chills skitter up my skin.
Clang.
My breath is tight in my chest, and the hostage, being draggedby Zora, backs into me. I steady him on his feet. We survey each direction, Zora with her javelin out.
“They are definitely here,” she whispers.
Loyalists.My shoulders cinch.
“Do not panic,” Zora says. “That is the most formidable foe.”
We stalk over piles of rock, around metal sheeting. I step on something sticky and the hem of my pants is red. A pungent smell curls my nose, but I shove down the urge to hurl and keep moving. If darkness is their cover, it will be ours, too.
We stumble upon a fractured wall and our path is blockaded. The curtain of concrete has a hole in the center, only big enough for one of us to squeeze through at a time.
“I’ll go first,” Jhamal and Zora say at the same time, stepping forward.
“No, I will.” This is a death trap. “If whatever is on the other side of that wall is magic, I’ll need to face it. You can follow right after me. The hostage goes last. Keep him safe.”I’m not done with him.
Questions hang on their lips, but they don’t disagree.
Bri waves her gadget around the opening in the rock and the blue light flashes faster. “I silenced the beeping,” she whispers, and I can hear the pride in her tone. “Magic or someone with magic is on the other side. I’m sure of it.” Bri’s gadget only confirms my suspicions.
“There has to be another way,” Jhamal says. “Blow it open!”
Steel beams run the length of the stone box around us. Blowing a hole in the wall wouldn’t work. This place could come crumbling down on top of us. I have to go through this narrow opening, alone… and first.
“Bri, do you have any sort of tracker in that bag of yours?”
I hear quiet jumbling and she presses something cold into my hands. “It’s sticky. Just toss it and it should stick on contact.”
“When I come through, if things go… bad… track whoever is over there and root them out.”
“Jelani, let me,” Jhamal says.
“No, you come through last with Zora and the hostage. Bri behind me, with anything in that bag that might be of use in hand and ready, you understand?”
She nods.
