Page 21 of Fortress of Ambrose
Jordan
The L train whooshes by underground. Knox urges me to push her faster, but I can’t stop glancing over my shoulder. Being out here like this, exposed, with the world’s magic inside me, isn’t my idea of being discreet.
“Hurry, we’ll miss it,” she says.
But we aren’t proceeding toward the platform where the next train will halt. We hurry beneath the glowing signs for the blue line. Quell hasn’t said much since leaving Headquarters. Since I told her about Maei’s body, her expression hasn’t changed from a pinched glower. Would Nore know what this means? We cross the platform, and the train we want comes to a screeching halt.
I turn to Knox. “Where exactly—”
Quell’s scent assaults me when she presses in beside me as the car fills. I forget what I was going to say. Her warm brown gaze is riddled with worry, still unsettled by what we saw at Headquarters. I adjust where I’m standing to put plenty of distance between us. Her lashes dip with disappointment before she looks away.I’m sorry, I want to say. Knox points at a sign for O’Hare airport as the doors close.
When we reach the last stop, we get off in a flood of passengers rushing to catch their flights. A person lingers a bit too long on my periphery. As Knox leads us down the platform, toward the airport’s check-in, the figurefollows. I usher us along faster but catch a glimpse of his face; stringy, long dark hair; and a gangly frame.That face.His dark glasses and bulky coat make the rest of him hard to see. We cut a sharp left toward the bathrooms before security, and I look back. But he’s gone.He looked like…
“What is Abby doing? Is she still dating that sorry excuse for a Dragun, whatever his name is?” I ask.
“Mynick,” Quell says. “And no. She’s still at the Tavern, waiting for me to write. We loitered long enough to convince the owners to let her do the costume design for one of their shows. She’s living her wildest Vestiser dream, healing career and her parents be damned.”
“Good for her.” At least someone is squeezing happiness out of this sour world.
Inside the women’s restroom, we get a few weird glances. But when it empties, I lock us inside.
“The last stall.” Knox pulls off her necklace and holds it tight in her fist. “I’ll hold the stone. When I grab the stall door, everyone needs a hand on me. When we step inside, we’ll arrive at our destination.”
“Wait.” I stop her, eyeing the blue stone pendant in her hand. Transport powder is how Marked travel if they’re privileged enough to have access to a supply. Draguns use toushana to travel by cloak. But this? “I’ve never seen magic like this before.”
“You have.”
I lean closer and see granules glow beneath its glassy surface.Sun Dust.“A cloak veil?”
“Astute. Cloaking magic has been tethered to the bathroom stall door with tracer magic. When the veil or key touches where the cloak has been placed, the stall door summons toushana. You step through and it works like any cloak would, taking you where you need to go.”
“Cloaking magic is proprietary information.”
“You still think the world is that black-and-white, Mr.Wexton?”
I don’t know how the world works anymore. This cloak veil is one more piece of a re-forming puzzle I’ve never seen before.
“You knew this?” I ask Quell.
“Your brother and I traveled by regular cloak.”
“This is—” I stare at the pendant in disbelief. It wasn’t taken from Knox when she was captured because it looks like some kind of jewelry. But it’s a magic more sophisticated than I’ve ever seen, and it was right under the Order’s nose. “Brilliant.”
“A network of thousands of safe houses has existed for generations,” Knox goes on. “We’re in hiding, not inept. Every major airport in the world has a cloak veil. We are well coordinated, well funded, and invisible, Mr.Wexton.” She gestures at the bathroom. “Shall we?”
We enter the bathroom stall, my pulse rattling.
“To,” Knox says, “Monsieur Audubon.”
The grand estate where the financier lives is ornate and sprawling, like a petite Order House in a gated community. The travel cloak sets us in a wedge of shrubbery beside the pool. As we pull ourselves out of it and find the gravel path, my irritation bristles. The last time I saw this man, he got away from me as I tried to corner him handing off money to Knox for a new safe house.
He is an untouchable Unmarked, well connected. He isn’tinthe Order, but he knows enough to be dangerous. The Dragunhead issued execution orders on him multiple times, but they were always quickly recalled.
“The deal you blew up last fall was going to secure us a new safe house because our location became compromised.” Knox looks at Quell, who shuffles on her feet. “But since I was captured, I have no idea where my partner relocated us. Audubon will.”
“I don’t like this,” I whisper to Quell as we follow Knox up the gardening path.
“Knox knows what she’s doing.”
