Raelia (The Medoran Chronicles Book 2) (34 page)

“Sir, you’ve ordered that he receive no visitors,” the same guard said.

“Well, I’m un-ordering it,” Skyla snapped. “Now, take us there at once before my other guests wish to see the juggler as well. We’re sneaking away as it is.”

“As you wish, Sir Oswald.”

The guard stepped away from his companion and led the way down the corridor.

He stopped to open a door, motioning for them to go through first. The door opened to a staircase that took them underground. At the bottom of the stairs they followed a corridor until they reached yet another door, this one guarded by two beefy-looking men.

“Kerway, Stibbins,” their escort greeted the other guards. “Sir Oswald and his lady friend want to see a performance from the juggler. Let us through.”

The men looked curiously at the trio before the one on the left pressed his ID tag against the touch-screen sensor on the door, unlocking the seal.

“If you’ll follow me, Sir Oswald,” their escort said, and he
led Skyla and Alex into a stone corridor lined with cells, the door sealing shut behind them.

“Ooooh, what a pretty dungeon,” Alex squealed girlishly, while secretly wondering what kind of person had a stone prison underneath their home to begin with. “Sir Oswald, this place is simply charming.”

“It is?” Skyla sounded as weirded out as Alex felt, but when Alex pinched her, she quickly corrected, “I mean, of course it is. I own the best dungeon in all of Medora. In fact—”

Alex squeezed Skyla’s arm and the other girl got the message to stop rambling.

Their guard led them to the very end of the corridor and Alex had to force herself not to react when she saw her classmates gaping at her through a set of bars. Both she and Skyla had to remain in character for their ruse to work, so she barely spared them a glance before she turned to look at the lone man lying on a pallet in the next cell.

“You, juggler,” the guard called. “Sir Oswald wishes to see you perform.”

The man didn’t move from his position. “Sir Oswald can bite my—”

“Are you sure this is necessary, sir?” the guard asked Skyla, interrupting the performer’s gruff—and rude—response. “Perhaps your young lady would prefer a stroll in the gardens rather than watching this crass man’s pathetic attempts to throw a few balls into the air.”

“Pathetic?” the performer repeated, sitting up angrily. He was scruffy looking, which was probably a result of his recent incarceration, and he had a black patch of material covering one eye. “Who’re you calling pathetic?”

“I don’t
want
to visit the gardens,” Alex said to the guard in a whiney voice. “Those animal hedges give me nightmares. What I
want
to see is this man juggling.”

“You heard my guest,” Skyla said. “She wants to see him perform.”

The guard looked like he wanted to argue, but when Skyla added a firm, “
Now
,” he relented.

“On your feet, Graver,” the guard ordered the man in the cell.

The performer remained in place. “Who’s gonna make me?”

The guard wasn’t impressed. “You’ll do as you’re told.”

The performer smirked and lay back on his pallet, his hands casually resting beneath his head. “I don’t feel like following your orders right now. But thanks for the offer, mate.”

The security guard actually growled as he yanked out his ID tag and pressed it to the panel at the entrance to the cell. The lock clicked and he yanked the door open to storm right up to the performer.

“On. Your.
Feet
,” he spat, hauling the man up from where he lay.

“Now, that’s not a very nice way to treat your houseguest,” the juggler mocked.

The guard didn’t miss a beat. “I won’t ask again,” he said in a voice heavy with menace.

Alex had seen enough. They were exactly where they needed to be with the cell now open, so it was time for her to act. She drew the stolen weapon from Skyla’s jacket and aimed it at the guard, telling herself that, like the real Sir Oswald, he’d only be unconscious for ten minutes. It wasn’t like she was going to kill him—just stun him. He’d be fine.

On that thought, she pulled the trigger. Light flew from the weapon and the guard fell to the ground.

The juggler’s visible eye widened and she gave him a comforting smile.

“Hey, I’m Alex,” she said. “Hunter sent us to get you out of here.”

He appeared both surprised and sceptical. “Us?”

Alex motioned to Skyla and then pointed to her stunned classmates who were staring at her from their cell. “Us,” she repeated.

“There’s nothing like a good prison break,” he said, his stoic features transforming into a beaming smile. “I’m Samson Graver, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” Alex said, aware of how ridiculous their situation was. “As much as I’d like to swap life stories, we really need to get moving.”

“Agreed,” Samson said, and he pointed to Skyla. “Want me to get rid of him or can you handle it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Skyla asked, crossing her arms with a pout. The petulant gesture looked decidedly odd from Sir Oswald’s body.

“Uh, she—
he’s
not a problem,” Alex told Samson. “He’s not who you think he is.”

Samson seemed unconvinced. “If you say so.”

“We’ll explain everything once we’re safe,” Alex said. She ran her eyes over the performer, noting that he appeared to be standing all right, but she didn’t know what might have happened to him in the few days he’d been imprisoned. “Are you hurt or anything? Can you walk?”

He seemed puzzled, but then his expression cleared with understanding and he sent her a reassuring look. “I’m fine, love. They didn’t do anything except bore me to death.”

“Good to know,” Alex said. She reached down and retrieved the security guard’s ID tag before leading the way out of the cell and over to her classmates. She could see their mouths moving as they tried to talk to her, but no sound came out of the cell they were in. The moment she touched the ID to the panel the door unlocked, and whatever was keeping the cell soundproofed disappeared. Alex was inundated with so many exclamations
that she glanced back up the corridor in concern, hoping the other guards wouldn’t hear the disturbance.

“Quiet!” Alex hissed at them as they made their way out of the cell. “We’re supposed to be
stealthy
, remember? Jeez.”

Immediately they all shut up.

“Alex, what are you doing here?” Jordan asked, his disbelief obvious. “And why are you with him?”

He pointed at ‘Sir Oswald’ and Alex motioned for Skyla to join them.

“Hey, guys,” Skyla said with a wave. “It’s me.”

They looked at her blankly, clearly wondering if Alex had managed to drug the host of the party.

“I told you we’d look after you if something went wrong,” Skyla continued, oblivious to their confusion. “We
totally
have your backs.”

“
Skyla?
” Pipsqueak gasped.

“Yeah?” Skyla answered. When Pip didn’t say anything further, she added, “I don’t have all day, Pipsqueak. What do you want?”

“Uh… nothing,” Pip said, her eyes wide. “Just… good job.”

“We’re not out of this yet,” Alex told them, and she turned to Samson who was watching their interaction with unveiled curiosity. “Our instructions are to retrieve you and escort you back to your home. If we can get out of the building, can you lead us to your place?”

“That’s a little more complicated than it sounds, love,” he said. “I’m not exactly a local.”

“You don’t live in the village?” Kaiden asked.

“No,” Samson said, eyeing him warily. “But if we can get to my juggling bag, I have a secret stash of Bubblers that will get us all out of here.”

“Where is it?” Alex asked, already knowing she wouldn’t like the answer.

“My best guess? Hopefully near the side of the stage upstairs, hidden in the corner behind the fake pot plant. That’s where I left it.”

Great. Just perfect.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Alex said, taking charge. “Skyla and I are the only ones who can be seen walking around upstairs, so we need to get the rest of you outside. There are two guards stationed at the door to the dungeon, and one left at the entrance to the mansion. If we can get you past them, then you’ll be outside and you can make a run for it up the hill. Skyla and I will meet you there after we grab Samson’s bag.”

“But Alex, you said I wouldn’t have to do anything else once we found the others,” Skyla whined. “I want to be me again. It’s tiring holding this man’s shape.”

Alex looked at her with alarm. “How much longer can you stay as Sir Oswald? He’ll be waking up any minute but he’ll still need to find some clothes, so we should have just long enough to reach Samson’s bag and get out of here. Can you handle that?”

“I don’t know,” Skyla said. “But I don’t
want
to stay like him anymore. I want to go with the others. I don’t like it here.”

Alex tried to rein in her frustration. It wasn’t Skyla’s fault they were stuck in such a dangerous situation, but Alex wished the other girl would be a little more willing to help.

“Fine,” she agreed, anxious to get moving. “Skyla, you go with the others. I’ll find Samson’s bag and meet you all back where we started.”

“You’re not going on your own,” Jordan told her sternly.

“Apparently I am,” she replied, with just as much attitude. “None of you can be seen.”

“I won’t be seen,” Jordan said pointedly. “And I’m coming with you, so don’t argue.”

She frowned at him, but if he was adamant about going with her, then she might as well take advantage of it. “Can you use your gift on me, too? That’ll hopefully speed things along.”

He nodded, relieved by her easy acceptance.

“Here, take these,” Samson said, handing over three juggling balls. “If you need to make a quick escape, throw them as hard as you can at the ground, and run like there’s a fire-breathing draekon on your tail.”

Wondering what the heck a draekon was but deciding now was not the time to ask, Alex took the balls and handed them to Jordan for safekeeping before she turned back to the performer. “Why didn’t you use whatever these are when you were captured?”

“You have the element of surprise,” he said. “I was ambushed in the middle of a performance. I didn’t have the chance to activate them.”

“I heard you spilled wine all over Sir Oswald,” Declan said. “Wasn’t that enough of a distraction to use whatever is in those juggling balls?”

“Technicalities,” Samson said gruffly. “Are we going?”

“We’ll head out first and clear the way,” Jordan told the others. “Give us a minute to take down the guards before you follow.”

When the rest of them nodded, Jordan reached out and grabbed Alex’s hand. Almost immediately she felt a tingling sensation and her vision turned slightly blurry as his gift took effect. Only Jordan remained perfectly clear, since he was transcended along with her. But he looked paler than usual, and almost like he was in pain.

“Are you all right?” Alex asked as they hurried towards the door to the dungeons.

“Tired,” he said, and Alex knew he didn’t just mean physically. “Keeping my gift active the whole time Kaiden and
I were in the military compound took it out of me. I tried to get out of the cell earlier, but it’s reinforced against gifts, just like our dorms at the academy. The effort drained me even more. But I can keep it up for a while longer.”

“Jordan, really, maybe you should go back with the others,” Alex tried again.

“I’m not leaving you on your own,” he told her. “We’re in this together, remember? You’re stuck with me, Alex. Deal with it.”

She squeezed his hand, knowing she didn’t have to say anything for him to understand how relieved she was to have him with her.

“Here,” she said, handing him the Stabiliser as they approached the entry to the dungeons. “I’ve shot enough people today. Can you…?”

“I’ve got this,” Jordan assured her.

“Just one shot, remember?”

Jordan snorted. “As if I’d forget. I don’t relish the idea of becoming a murderer.”

She nodded in agreement and reached out with the guard’s ID, pressing it against the door panel until the lock clicked open.

“It’s about time you—Hey, what’s going on? Kerway, did you open the door?”

The guards looked at the doorway with confusion as Alex and Jordan snuck through unseen. Jordan quickly raised the weapon and released the quiet burst of energy into Stibbins and then Kerway. They collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Jordan turned the weapon over in his hands. “Make a note, Alex. I want one of these for my next birthday.”

She shook her head at him and waited for their companions to catch up.

When they did, Jordan said, “We’ll escort you all to the front door and help with the guard, but then you’ll be on your own.”

“We’ll be fine,” Tom said. “Just get us outside.”

Eighteen

They hurried up the stairs with the
transcended Alex and Jordan taking point. When they reached the front of the mansion, the guard was still there, along with another man in place of the one who had escorted Alex and Skyla to the dungeon. Jordan didn’t hesitate in shooting them both, and they fell to the ground with a quiet
thud
. Declan and Blink moved the unconscious men outside and around the corner of the mansion until they were out of sight.

“We’ll see you in a bit,” Tom said, and he ushered the others out the door.

“Wait,” Alex called, taking the Stabiliser from Jordan and asking him to release her from his gift.

“What?” Tom asked her when she was visible again.

She offered him the weapon and said, “Here.” At his repulsed grimace, she passed it to Kaiden, who took it from her and held it confidently.

“What if you need it?” he asked.

“There are two of us and seven of you. You need it more,” Alex said. “And besides, no one will be able to see us.”

“And you have my juggling balls,” Samson pointed out, although Alex didn’t find that to be much of a reassurance.

“Go,” she told them. “We’ll see you soon.”

She felt proud that she’d managed to refrain from adding a ‘hopefully’ at the end of her sentence.