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I was dragged kicking and fighting into a blacked-out room. A light flared—only a single candle—but in the dense dark it shone like a searchlight. It highlighted a small table cluttered with papers and the man sitting behind it. His curls were in disarray and his cashmere sweater was dirty and torn. But the bright brown eyes and quick smile were the same as ever. “Rafe!”
He stood and moved around the desk and I all but threw myself in his arms. I’d known he was probably okay, but some part of me hadn’t believed it until now. My heart expanded in my chest at the sight of him, whole and unhurt, exhilaration flooding my veins like bright water.
“Look what I found prowling the corridors,” Marlowe’s voice said cheerfully from behind me. “She has two mages with her, Pritkin and one I don’t know.”
“I assume they are the cause of the gunshots?” Rafe asked, smoothing my tangled hair.
“They’re doing mercy killings of the experiments,” Marlowe said, sounding amused.
“Now?”
“Why not now?” I asked.
“Because the wards will fail in fifty-three minutes,” Marlowe answered, “rather taking care of the problem.” The ground rumbled under our feet again as if to underscore his words.
“Then why are you two still here? We haven’t found any bodies, so I’m guessing there’s a way out.”
“There are several,” Rafe agreed, glancing at Marlowe.
I turned to find the Senate’s spymaster regarding me thoughtfully. The candlelight gleamed off the small hoop in his left ear and leapt in his dark eyes. I knew that look; I’d been getting it a lot lately. It usually meant, I wonder if she’s actually stupid enough to fall for this? And usually, the answer was yes.
“I’m going to hate this, aren’t I?” I asked, resigned.
“Perhaps
not.” Marlowe tapped the roll of papers on the desk, which I now realized was a schematic, presumably of MAGIC. “You are here on a rescue attempt?”
“Yeah. Only, so far, we haven’t found anyone to rescue.”
“Most of those who survived the blast have already been evacuated. However, one area remains populated—the mages’ holding cells.”
“The prisoners are still here? Why?”
“A cave-in,” Rafe said. “For security reasons, there is only one way into the cells, and the wards failed in that section.” One long finger traced a line on the map two levels up from our position. “It cut them off from any hope of rescue.”
“We went over the schematics and questioned the mages, but there’s no convenient back door,” Marlowe added. “And the cave-in is too extensive for us to clear in the time we have. Almost the entire length of the passageway was affected.”
I blinked at him. “I must have heard wrong. You remained behind to rescue humans?”
He grinned behind his goatee. “Well, one, anyway.”
“What about the others?”
He shrugged. “You can rescue them, too, if you like.”
“Oh, thank you! Now tell me what this is really about.”
“The answer to a prayer,” he said piously.
“You pray?”
“Naturally,” he said innocently. “Of course, I didn’t say to what.”
“Stop teasing her, Kit,” Rafe reproached. He looked at me. “If we are to rescue anyone, we must hurry.”
I decided I could get the story out of Rafe later. “It’s not that simple,” I told them. “Spatial shifting doesn’t work the same as time travel; my power doesn’t give me a preview. Without knowing where I’m going, I could end up inside a wall or, in this case, a bunch of rock.”
“It is thirty meters to the area we believe to be clear,” Marlowe told me.
