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Around us the room continues to crumble, falling in at the corners, and turning to dust. If I hadn’t had Dante to help me there was no way I could have extracted him in time. Dante pulls Albert up, and the old scientist rests against our shoulders as we dash toward the front door.
Amid the crumbling of wood and walls, Albert leans into me and whispers something in my ear. With time crashing in on us, the words barely process in my distracted mind, but they lodge there. I don’t have time to contemplate their meaning now.
Outside, the others wait. Jost paces the porch and Erik leans against the frame of the house, but Valery grips the railing, looking out on the choppy waters of the bay.
“It worked?” Jost says, jumping to help Dante bring Albert into the night air.
“Yes, but we’ve got to get out of here. The house isn’t stable,” I say.
“My papers,” Albert says with a moan.
“Where are they?” Dante asks. “I’ll go for them.”
“My study. The third door on the second level.” Albert’s voice is small and tired.
Dante and I exchange a look. Going back in will be dangerous, but he rushes into the house before I can say anything to stop him.
“We should go now,” Valery calls.
“Let’s give him a minute to catch his breath,” Jost suggests.
“No!” Valery’s refusal startles me, and I turn to her. Her shape is small against the blank night sky, but I see why she’s pushing us. In the distance, an aeroship is hovering over the water, coming closer to the island by the second.
“We’ve got company,” I yell.
“Who?” Erik asks, coming to my side. “Kincaid?”
“I can’t tell,” I say.
Valery turns to us, and even in the dark I see her face is hollow. “The Guild.”
“How can you know that?” I ask.
She pauses, and I already dread her answer.
“Because I told them we would be here.”
FORTY
“WHAT?” I ASK, MY MIND TRYING TO process the rapidly decaying house behind me, the sight of the hovering aeroship in the distance, and Valery’s betrayal at the same time.
It’s a bit too much to take in at once.
But Erik has his gun drawn. “I thought you landing in our party was a little suspicious. What did it take, Valery?”
She cowers back and he moves forward, edging closer to her, but she doesn’t run from him. “They did things to me. You saw the labs, Erik. Don’t you remember?”
“And now you’ve conveniently had a change of heart?” he snarls.
“Erik!” I call in a sharp voice.
“It wasn’t like that,” Valery says. She points to me as tears begin to stream down her face. “They told me it was your fault. That if I helped them, I could have Enora back, but…”
“But?” I prompt.
“They tried to make me forget her. Make me want other things. Cormac said they made me normal, and that when I returned to Arras, I would be happy,” she says, choking as she speaks, “because I had served the Guild.”
“They sent you here to spy on us,” Erik accuses.
