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He tried to hand it back to me, but I shook my head. “You keep it. So the Empyrea can grant you good luck.”
“I couldn’t get to Valentin,” Lisette said under her breath. “Not even close. I tried all day. They’ve got an entire floor closed off. At least ten guards at every exit. Father has it locked down.”
I recalibrated my plans around this new information. “We’ll have to make some kind of diversion. Start a fire or something. Wait till they go running—?”
“We can’t,” she said, putting her hand on my arm. “There’s more. I heard him talking to the guards. They’re going to seal the gates shut tonight. No one will go in or out. We have to be out before they do.” She glanced up at the castle behind her. “And before they know that we are gone.” She swallowed. “I told Father I wasn’t feeling well, that Conrad and I would retire early to our beds. I’m not sure he believed me, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
I nodded. “We’ll get you two out before the gates close. Once you’re safe, I’ll come back for Zan. I’ll find a way.”
I went over the ledge first; then I helped lift Conrad down from the bottom. Lisette’s boots were still hanging over the side when we began hearing shouts from above. “They must have already figured out we’re not in our beds,” she said as she touched her feet to the rocky ground of the inlet. “They’re going to come after us.”
“They won’t find us,” I said. “I promise. But you need to stay calm. For me, and for Conrad. Can you do that?”
She took a breath and nodded, and we had already gotten several feet into the tunnel when I remembered that I’d left the Founder’s blood relic hidden under Aren’s statue. I hadn’t thought of it in days.
“Wait!” I said. “I have to go back; I forgot something—?” But I was cut off by the sound of hoofbeats on the ground overhead.
“Whatever it is, you don’t need it,” Lisette said. “It’s too late to get it now.”
She was right. I hated when Lisette was right. I had to trust Aren to watch over the vial now.
I led the way, and we sloshed through the red-toned sludge that was coating the inside of the passage. With Conrad beside me, I was sharply aware of every serrated piece of rock underfoot, every slippery turn; I could hear the soft tones of Lisette’s voice: “It’s all right, little prince. Not long now.” But the reassurances seemed more for her own benefit than for his; he was marching with a gusto that suggested he was enjoying himself.
When we got to the wall, our plans to scale it disintegrated and scattered like dust. Guards were stationed along the top of the wall now, each patrolling a section of one hundred feet. There was no way we could go up the staircase now; we couldn’t leave the shelter of the trees without risking being seen. We were forced to retreat, scurrying like rats into the city’s maze of alleys.
A crowd was gathering near the base of Forest Gate, its statues cleft and crumbling now that their magic seal was broken. Men were moving chunks of stone to clear the way for the portcullis to descend past the damage and close off the gate. Guards pressed the simmering mass of people back in a great half circle while they shouted their outrage at being denied exit.
“What are we going to do now?” Lisette asked. “There are guards everywhere! They are sure to see us.” She shook her head. “My father will be so angry.”
“They won’t find us,” I said. “We’re going to get out. Can you trust me, just a little?” I didn’t wait for them to answer before I drew my knife. “Give me your hands,” I said.
“What?” Lisette said, recoiling. “No.”
“Don’t be afraid. Conrad, look.” I pointed up to one of the guards on the wall. “He has a bow and arrow on his back. Can you tell? Yes, look closer. There it is.” My brother squinted. “A bow and arrow is a weapon.” I turned his face to me. “I am not a weapon. I am a person. Your sister.” I turned to Lisette. “Your friend. And magic is as much a part of me as the prints on my fingers or the color of my eyes.”
Conrad asked in a small voice, “Isn’t magic dangerous?”
“Yes, it can be—?the way a knife or a bow or a staff are dangerous. But I can control it, and I will not let anything happen to you. Understand? Not one thing.” I cast a prayer to the stars that I could make good on that promise.
And there it was: the barest flicker of a smile. He held out his hand.
He believed me.
I peered around the corner to survey the layout of Forest Gate. “If we come at it from the east side, we can cross there, see?”
“That’s right out in the open,” Lisette said. “They will catch us.”
I took out my knife and drew it in a slim line across the very center of each of my hands. I could feel the magic immediately, drawing on my fear at crossing the wall and my elation as Conrad put his small hand in mine. I held out my other to Lisette. “Well?”
Reluctantly, she removed her glove and clasped my hand. “Walk slowly,” I said. “Follow my lead. And whatever you do, don’t let go.”
Together we walked to the street while I murmured the spell under my breath, hoping that it would work as well for all of us as it had for just me so many times before. “Nos sunt invisibiles. We are unseen. Non est hic nos esse. We are not here. Sunt invisibiles. We are unseen . . .”
I could feel my magic wrapping around them in threads; I crossed it back and forth, weaving it like a net.
“Aurelia,” Lisette said from the corner of her mouth as we moved toward the gate with aching slowness.
I couldn’t stop. We were past the line of the crowd, too far ou
