Blood Oath (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book Two) (42 page)

We heard the outer door slam, with loud voices and heavy footsteps quickly approaching.

He looked toward the left tunnel with agitation. "I think that’s another way out through the back of that tunnel. Get out of here. I’ll distract them."

I looked at him, panicked. "Are you serious? If they catch you, they’ll tear you apart."

His gray eyes were thunderous. "Gabrielle, get out of here. Believe me, this is way too much heat for you to handle," he sneered angrily.

Brooklyn, Jessica, Rosalinda, and Zora were jumping up and down anxiously.

"Please, I’m freaking out here. We have to go," Jessica squeaked.

He pointed angrily toward the left tunnel. "That way. When you get to the end, take the door on the left. I believe that it leads down to the back stairs, where there’s an emergency fire exit. Hustle. They’re coming."

I instantly knew what I had to do. Still looking at him, I handed over the book. "Zora. Take the book." I grimaced when I noticed that she was already heading out of the chamber in a panic.

Rosalinda quickly stepped forward with hands out. "I’ll take it, Gabi. We’ll meet you back at the room." She reached to snatch it of my hand, but something in her overeager glare made me hang on. An annoyed look crossed her face. "I’ll keep it safe."

Justice looked at me angrily. "What do you think you’re doing? Get out of here."

I reluctantly released my grip as Rosalinda snatched it, smiling smugly, then ran out of the chamber without a backward glance.

Justice grabbed my arm roughly. "I said get out of here."

I pulled back, looking at him stubbornly. "Nope. There’s no way I’m going to let you take the fall for the missing book."

He shook his head with dismay. "You’re going to regret this, first leveler. I’m trying to save you from a world of trouble."

I looked at him coldly. "I don’t need your protection, Justice. I can take care of myself."

A loud commotion erupted at the entrance to the chamber, revealing a squad of
Eternals
descending upon us with swords ready.

Orion barreled into the chamber, screeching to a shocked stop when he saw us and looking at me steadily. He stormed over to us with a thunderous look on his face. "What in the world is going on here?"

Justice smiled chillingly. "No clue. I was just taking the first leveler on a tour of our beautiful
Eternals’
chamber, and all hell broke loose."

I was seriously terrified by the enclosing
Eternals
looking at us like they wanted to tear us apart limb by limb. Maybe Justice was right. This much heat was scaring me to death, and I started to kick myself for sticking around. It just didn’t seem like a very smart idea right now.

Orion looked over at the
Eternals
who came charging back from investigating the statue of Themis. They shook their heads angrily, and they approached us with deadly intent in their eyes.

"It’s gone," they responded briskly.

Orion’s body shook with rage, his eyes flashing angrily. "
Neophytes
! Do you have any idea just how much trouble you’re in?" He looked over at Justice with disdain, then back at me. "Did your boyfriend explain that the punishment for even touching the
Book of Eternals
is death?"

I crossed my arms angrily.
Now why in the world would he even think that Justice is my boyfriend?
I was just itching to respond back when Justice shot me a warning glare.

More rapid footsteps approached. And I groaned silently when Thallo and Chaos burst into the chamber with frantic eyes.

Thallo stormed over to me and grabbed my arm roughly. "What is the meaning of this, Gabrielle? Where is the book?"

Justice sprang to knock her away from me, but was shoved away by some overeager
Eternals
.

Dumbfounded, I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Why are you yelling at me? I don’t have it." I snatched my arm away.

Thallo’s eyes flashed furiously. "But you do have something to do with its disappearance, that much I know." She looked at me cajolingly. "So tell me, where is the book?"

A faceless voice whispered in my ear,
"Hold your tongue, Akasha. Trust no one."

I felt Chaos’s hot, penetrating stare, but his eyes were unreadable. My jaw tightened determinedly as I looked at Thallo blankly.

"I don’t know where the
Book of Eternals
is. So, you can either let us go or waste more of your time asking me the same question over and over. Either way, it’s going to be a really long night," I responded rudely.

Priscilla burst into the chamber with her blonde hair flying around messily. She screeched to a stop, looking from Justice to me silently.

Thallo’s eyes narrowed coldly. "Okay. You want to play hardball? Well, let’s see how long you can stand the heat." She nodded at Orion. "Lock them up in the North Tower."

Priscilla gasped with shock and started to storm over to stop him, but Chaos gently held her back. I saw a quick, unfathomable look exchanged between them, and suddenly Priscilla’s eyes were cold and uncaring as she looked back at us.

Orion looked over at the
Eternals
grimly. "You heard Thallo. Take them to the North Tower."

Two burly
Eternals
grabbed my arm roughly and dragged me across the chamber. Their grip was so hard, I winced with pain.

Justice’s face tightened. He shoved the two
Eternals
angrily. "Hey, you don’t have to be so rough with her. She’s going with you peacefully."

One of the
Eternals
swung around and shoved him away. Justice flipped around and kicked him so hard that he went flying back with a hard thud.
Eternals
swarmed in from the sides, pinning Justice in preparation to really do some damage.

Chaos instantly swung into action. "
Eternals
, stand down," he barked quickly.

I watched with my heart in my throat. This was definitely not turning out as I had expected. I heard the faceless whisper again.
"Be steady, Akasha. Your time of vindication will come."

"We’ll go peacefully," I responded softly.

Orion nodded approvingly as they marched us out of the chamber. I gave Priscilla a sad look. Why didn’t she speak up for me? But as I was marched unceremoniously past her, Priscilla did something totally unexpected. She winked at me quickly before anyone could see. I knew then that she would figure out a way to get us out of this mess.

When we got outside the chamber, it was like a freak show, the way we were marched down the now-packed hallway with
Eternals
looking on with angry eyes. And it was worse when they marched us across the still-packed courtyard. I guess word had spread about the missing book, and the crowd erupted with jeers of anger and rage.

I heard a
Circle
scream out loudly, "The
Book of Eternals
is missing, and you hold one of our own? This is a plot by the
Banished
."

That caused the crowd to rumble angrily.

An
Ares
yelled over the roar, "First an attack on our queens and now the
Book of Eternals
is gone. We must strike back and strike back now."

The crowd erupted with angry rants and screams.

I looked at the crowd with terror. Something about this whole situation was so utterly wrong. Grandma Celeste was right. Someone was plotting against the
Eternals
, and I had walked right into the middle of it like a pawn.

The
Eternals
quickly marched us through the castle, down to a side door that led to what looked like a basement. I could barely see my hands in front of my face as we were dragged along a very damp-smelling passageway. Finally, we reached the part of the passageway that was lit with torches anchored to the walls, at the end of which was a large, brightly lit room. I looked around the room with dismay; it looked like something from an old horror movie. It was cold, old, and very uninviting.

Orion stormed over to a huge wooden door and unlocked it. I didn’t know what was behind it, but if it was anything like the rest of it, then this was going to be a very long night. Orion nodded toward the door, and the
Eternals
pushed us in unceremoniously.

I was relieved, to say the least, when I noticed that the room was actually a suite with two adjoining doors at the opposite end of it.

Orion spoke briskly to the
Eternals
. "Gabrielle will go in the room on the left and Justice on the right. Two Guardians will be stationed at each door with rotating shifts until we sort this mess out."

Orion looked at me coldly. "Come with me,
Neophyte
." For all of his brusqueness, I was surprised when he placed his hand on my elbow softly, gently escorting me toward the door. I snuck a peak at Justice, who smiled at me reassuringly.

Orion opened the door, gesturing for me to enter. I looked around quickly. To my relief, the room was not a dark dungeon cell, but a luxurious room with comfy chairs and a flat-screen television.

He closed the door behind us with a soft click. "Make yourself comfortable because you’re going to be here for a while," he barked, then stormed away. Suddenly he stopped, his big, burly hand tensely grasping the doorknob. "Be warned, Gabrielle. You’re but a pawn in this game, and you may not have the will or the heart to do what’s necessary to win." He opened the door, then firmly shut it behind him.

Exhausted, I flopped down on the overstuffed couch and just stared into space. I had to figure a way out of this mess because I knew that it wouldn’t take them long to figure out who my other partners in crime were. In fact, they were probably heading over there right now to interrogate them, and I wasn’t sure they would be able to withstand the heat without cracking under pressure.

With agitation, I jumped up from the couch and walked over to the wall-to-wall windows that overlooked the castle grounds. For all I knew, the
Eternals
had already gotten the book back and were now plotting some fiendish punishment to inflict on me and Justice. We could be locked up indefinitely without food or water; the
Eternals
were crazy enough to do it.

I needed Justice’s help badly. Right now, he was the only one who I could rely on and trust to help me out of this very bad situation. And he was locked up with me. Tired and mentally worn, I dragged myself over to the couch. Exhausted, I drifted off to sleep plotting how to escape.

chapter

TWENTY-ONE

Hours later, the
hard knock on the door woke me up abruptly. Wiping the dribble from my chin, I looked over to see Priscilla quickly approaching with a tray of some delicious-smelling food.

The
Eternal
Guardians peered at me coldly before shutting the door firmly behind her.

Priscilla looked at me blankly as she quickly walked over to a wooden table and dropped the tray with a clang. She held a finger to her lips, indicating silence before pulling me over to the windows.

She smiled with relief, grabbing me into a big bear hug. "Sweet pea, you’re in a hornets’ nest of trouble," she whispered.

I sunk into her hug with relief. "I thought you were mad at me, or worse, mad at me and on their side," I grumbled into her shoulder.

"Never. I would never leave your side, Gabi. Ever. I was going to whip fire on those
Eternals’
butts when they grabbed you like a bunch of heathens, but Chaos convinced me not to, and rightly so."

I looked at her with shock. "Chaos?"

Priscilla looked at me warmly. "Sweet pea, you’ll learn very quickly that people in our world are not what they seem. Chaos and I are smart enough to smell a rotten plot from a mile away. And this is a plot of major proportions." She sniffed the air, scrunching her nose as if she smelled something foul. "Can’t you feel the darkness looming?" she whispered.

My senses went numb for a second, bursting into action at the actual foul smell in the air. It was filling the air with a pungent, musky scent that smelled like day-old wet gym socks. Horrible. I scrunched my nose with distaste.

"I have for a while, Priscilla. This thing with Grandma Celeste, the queens, and Vineswell Academy are all connected, but I just can’t figure out how," I whispered with frustration. A pained expression flitted across her face. I instantly knew that something was terribly wrong.