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There seemed to be no way to lower it to the ground. The switch to do so was probably hidden along the wall, behind one of the curtains. Check wasted no time in leaning over the side to work the padlock on the cage. He shouted, though, pulling back. The lock was iron.
“Get me up there!” I could pick it, and the iron wouldn’t hurt me.
Teral and another of the guards took hold of me, boosting me up to stand on their shoulders as they braced my ankles and legs. I wavered, but managed to catch my balance, and as I grabbed hold of the cage for support, Rhia’s fingers crept out, wrapping around mine. Her face looked haunted and her eyes were bleak, but she was smiling and weeping.
I pressed my lips to her hands, then gently shook her off. “Let me get this open. We have to get out of here now, because the vampires will be awake in less than fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, Cicely…” She sucked in a deep breath. “Hurry! Leo said he’d be back to…”
I shushed her and went to work on the padlock. It was easy, and within a moment I had it sprung. The door swung open, and I reached in for Rhiannon and helped her scoot to the edge, hanging her legs over.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “Not…I don’t know how to answer that. I can run.”
“I understand.” I kissed her on the cheek and then leaped down. She waited till I had cleared away from the guards, and then she swung down, hanging from the edge as the guards caught her and helped lower her to the ground. She steadied herself, and I noticed the bruises on her wrists and face.
Chatter slowly walked forward. Rhia shivered, looking wide-eyed and afraid, but all he did was open his arms. She fell into his embrace, pressing her face against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her, enfolding her in his love and safety while avoiding her back, where we’d seen her being caned on the DVD. He kissed her hair, pushing it aside lightly with one hand, and then kissed her forehead.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered. “I thought I was going to lose you forever, and I couldn’t bear it.”
She squeezed her eyes tight, and I hated to break up their reunion, but time was ticking down. I turned to Peyton, and she held up her clock. Four fifteen. We had less than ten minutes.
As I glanced around the dungeon, the feel of decay and pain set in, and all I could think about was getting out of here. I wanted to stake Geoffrey and Leo, but they’d be awake in minutes, and it was far easier to think about fighting a sleeping vamp than one on his feet.
“Let’s get out of here. I don’t know if we have time before the vamps wake up, but we have to try. I want Rhia out of here and safe before we attack. I left word for Lannan and Regina. The second the sun sets, he and his men will be on their way.”
Check nodded. “Let’s go…” He took the front and led us out of the room, but the minute we were in the hall, I knew something was wrong. The hallway seemed convoluted, and though I was sure we’d come from the right, which should be downhill, everything was reversed. The hall to the right sloped up. Not sure what to do, Check looked back to me.
I thought for a moment. If we went back the way we’d come, we’d be heading…up? But what if it was an illusion, meant to make us think we were going the wrong way, yet instead leading us into a trap?
“Ysandra—” I turned to ask her if she could sense an illusion around us, but she was staring toward the right, her eyes wide. “What is it?”
“Something is coming. We have to move, now.” A look of absolute terror washed across her face. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to be around when it gets here. And neither do you. To the left.”
“But that’s not the way we came!” I protested for a second but then stopped, because on the slipstream, from what seemed like a million miles away, I could hear the hushed whisperings of creaking coffins and falling earth, of graveyard dirt scattering as creatures rose through soil and rock.
He comes…he has awoken early and now he comes in on the wind. The master is free…the great seer is risen from his isolation and he walks among us now.
In that moment, I knew who they were whispering about, and my blood ran cold. I turned, horrified, and shot off to the left like a bat out of hell. Crawl was coming—Crawl, the Blood Oracle. Crawl, the seer of the Crimson Court, and next to Myst, he terrified me more than any creature walking this planet. Crawl, who wanted my blood, who wanted to drink me and turn me into a hollow husk, who had ripped my throat open with his deathly hunger and wanted more.
The others followed as I tried to navigate the passage, but it started to twist and turn, and I realized that up and down—left and right—none of it made any sense. Reality had bent, my perception was askew, and there was no guessing where we were going. I didn’t care. I wanted to be anywhere but here because damn it, Crawl was on the move, and when he arrived, he’d mow through us like a herd of children after a packet of juice boxes.
As we raced along the hall, Chatter holding Rhiannon steady, I pulled out my cell and glanced at the clock. Not quite four eighteen. Three minutes and the vamps would rise, but as old as they were, there was a chance Regina or Lannan might be able to clear their coffins a little early. If they slept in coffins. I’d never bothered to ask, to be honest. Shaking the wayward thoughts from my mind, I glanced at the bars. We’d reached a point where there were two—not the greatest reception, but it might do. I punched the speed dial for Regina’s number and pressed the phone to my ear as I hurried along the convoluted passage.
“Emissary’s office, may I help you?”
I recognized the voice as belonging to Regina’s day-runner secretary. “I left a message earlier for Regina. This is Cicely and we’re running from Crawl. We need help.” I didn’t have time to be diplomatic, and the next moment, I found myself placed on hold. Another moment and Sasha was back.
“She’s getting up now. I told her you need her; she’ll be here as soon as…here she is.” The phone changed hands and Regina came on the line.
I burst into a breathless explanation of what was going on. As soon as Crawl’s name left my mouth, she reacted.
“We are on the way. Do your best to stay out of his reach, but, Cicely—be cautious; he is tricky and has many powers that you don’t know about. He can bilocate, which few vampires can do, but he is one of the oldest Vein Lords and he bears the mark of the Crimson Queen. She sired him and nurtured him and he suckled at her breast, fangs plunged deep in her alabaster skin, as he was reborn.”
I stopped for a second to tuck my cell phone away, but the image of Crawl’s insectlike limbs and hideous grin stayed with me, and I was on the run again. I remembered his teeth on my shoulder, and my body burned with the memory. The rasp of his tongue against my wrist, the ripping as his fangs sank into my skin, the fetid smell emanating from his body…these images rose to my thoughts, clouding out my reason as my fear rose up again. I let out a strangled scream, stopping as Check turned to make sure I was all right.
We rounded the corner and stopped short in front of a pair of double doors. But behind us, I could feel Death coming, in an ancient body, long, long past any humanity Crawl had ever possessed, if he had ever been mortal. He marched on, and I knew he would be here far too soon—before Regina and Lannan could arrive. And our guards, strong as they might be, were no force against the powers of the Blood Oracle.
