“Your dad is going to kill me.”
Savannah grinned. “Lucky for you, it’ll be too late by the time he realizes I left Tennebris.”
Savannah snuck into the fourth wave with us. It was the last wave Kallon and I were portaling. If Sie, Rainer, and Brock were successful, the fifth wave should be boarding the underwater monorail by now. If everything went to plan, everyone would be in Lux by dawn. And judging from the light smearing the horizon, it was soon.
I had my mask pulled over my face, making the air stifling. Lux was hot and sticky, such a contrast to Tennebris, that I kept having to use my water powers to manipulate the steam off it.
We portaled the fourth wave to the middle of the jungle by the waterfall. It was equal distance between the hut Tezya brought me to and the castle.
The third wave was already brought to the bayside. They were made up of water and air users so they could hide under the surface until it was time, while our wave slowly made our way through the jungle. Our only job right now was to be ready for whenever Tezya and Dovelyn blew up the lab, and now that we were close to the castle, I could sense him through the bond.
How’s it going?I asked into his mind.
Good. We’re in the lab now. It took us a while to navigate through the castle. The King has every single guard on patrol. He knew we were coming.
I nodded even though there was no way he could see me—no one could see me right now. Multiple air users were stationed in each wave so they could cast invisibility over everyone, and even though we should still have the cover from the trees, we didn’t want to take any chances.
We should be done in about five minutes, but wait until you see the explosion before you guys blow your cover,Tezya said.
Okay, be safe.
“Tez and Dove made it to the lab,” I whispered out loud, knowing Kallon and Savannah were close by. “He said they’ll need another five minutes before we can go and to wait for the explosion.”
“Okay,” Kallon replied. “Have you heard from Sie yet?”
“Not yet.” He was supposed to locate me and enter my mind once they overtook the monorail. Only Brock and Rainer were going to ride it back to Tennebris, so Sie should be nearing the castle by now. Everyone else in the second wave should be positioning themselves around the castle like we were, waiting for our signal. Unless something happened to them…
“We need to stop here,” Kallon ordered, and I heard numerous feet behind us come to a halt. We were close to the castle now, but if we went any further, we’d be putting ourselves at risk for being discovered too soon.
I nodded at Kallon, constantly forgetting that no one could see me. “I’m going to take a quick look.”
I left the group and started making my way toward the tree line. We were on the furthest side from the gardens toward the training grounds. I expected to see the miles of open fields that surrounded the castle—which technically I did—but they weren’t vacant. Hundreds and hundreds of people were standing on the field, but something was off about them.
They weren’t wearing the sun-symboled uniform of the Luxian army. In fact, they didn’t have on any uniform at all. Most of them were standing awkwardly, barely able to hold up the weapons in their hands. I squinted, trying to get a better look. All of them were different sizes—andages.
I gulped, realizing what I was seeing at the same time Savannah came up next to me, and gasped, “They’re humans.”
SEVENTY
SCOTLIND
Scotlind?Sie’s voice came through my head at the same time the explosion went off.
Yeah, I’m here.
Good. Brock and Rainer just took the monorail back to Tennebris. There were more soldiers than we anticipated, so the last wave will take longer to get here.
“What should we do?” Savannah whispered.
“I don’t know,” I admitted to her, but it also must have gone to Sie.
What don’t you know?he asked.
Sorry, I was talking to Savannah,I shot back.We’re at the border of the jungle and—
The mortal is with you?he snapped.
Yeah, but that’s not the point. Sie, the King has…
