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“Why didn’t he open it already? I told him to have it ready for us to leave,” Elijah said, clearly hating that someone didn’t follow his directions to the letter.
“Well, he couldn’t very well break open a wall in the center of the castle without drawing suspicion in the middle of the day,” E.Z. said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. “Good thing too, since you guys are late! But it’s all reinforced. Structures set. It just needs doing. It’ll be fine.”
“It better be. We are behind schedule because Liam needed to bring his girlfriend a present.” Elijah waved the bag Liam had brought me over his head as he propelled us ahead.
* * *
Elijah’s calculated twists and turns deposited us at the back side of the castle. It would have taken time and a lot of planning to map this out perfectly. It almost seemed too easy. Elijah was smart, but he wasn’t that smart.
Entering the courtyard, we stopped briefly to take a breath and take in our surroundings. Frosted cobblestones sparkled in the moonlight, and stars dotted the clear night sky.
I took a deep breath, welcoming the clean, crisp summer night air, but the chill hit me like a bucket of ice water. I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, shifting from foot to foot, the cold biting into my bare feet.
When my teeth started to chatter, Elijah smoothly removed his uniform coat and dropped it over my shoulders. His body heat and smokey chocolate smell enveloped me, quickly taking away much of the chill but leaving me more confused.
E.Z. sauntered over to a silent figure hidden in the shadows against the castle wall. They slapped palms and exchanged a brief one-armed hug before they hurried back to our group, side-by-side.
Sauntered is the only word I could use to describe E.Z.’s gait. He moved like the world was watching and he wanted them to enjoy the show. I don’t think he even tried to be this way. His boisterous personality was just so huge that it permeated everything, including his walk.
Griffin Greenbrier, the silent shadow, was another member of Elijah’s circle. I’d always wondered if his sheer physical strength and size allowed him to become a Denalian when no other Earth Users were welcomed.
His giant strides ate up the distance with little effort as he seemed to grow before my eyes. He towered over the rest of our group, a difficult feat with the height of the others. His shoulders were the biggest I’d ever seen, and his biceps, without flexing, were the size of my head.
Like E.Z., Griffin wore his uniform, sans coat. Unlike E.Z., his muscles were testing the seams of his clothes. Even with his arms straight at his sides, those enormous boulders he called biceps were trying to escape, and his thighs strained against the fabric of his black leggings, showcasing ripples with every step.
E.Z.’s grin was still in place as they approached and flippantly gestured at Griffin. “Look who I found skulking in the shadows.”
Goddess, even a jailbreak couldn’t bring down this guy’s mood.
Griffin, a man of few words, grunted in acknowledgment and nodded in our general direction, then jerked his head to the far wall surrounding the castle's perimeter. His long, thick chestnut hair fought a brutal battle against the wind.
Looking left and right, we crept along, quickly crossing the courtyard towards the ivy-covered border wall together.
At this late hour, the market was as asleep as the rest of the castle. The everyday wares were long since hidden away with the setting of the sun. The shutters were sealed, and the tarps pulled taut.
The men gathered around me in a protective circle while Elijah led me by the hand. Their long legs ate up the distance, so I had to jog to keep up.
Freedom was just on the other side of a door to which we had a key, making it easier to keep my head up and continue moving. I pushed through like I had been doing all along despite feeling weak, my bloodied feet, and pure exhaustion.
I stumbled and tripped along, taking advantage of my protective bubble. One hand or another usually steadied me before I registered the stumble myself, but the guys gave me the courtesy and respect of walking on my own unless I needed help, somehow knowing I would want that.
When we finally slowed, my hands and legs were shaky, and I was sucking in heaving breaths.
With quivering teeth, I wrapped Elijah’s jacket tighter around myself. When we were moving, the guys had blocked out most of the wind and lent me their heat. Standing still and alone against the capital surround, my sweat was drying in the night air, and the cold was biting. My feet had gone numb.
“We’re clear,” E.Z. informed us. He was standing with his back to Griffin as he searched the courtyard.
I anxiously watched Griffin work to remove vines from the imposing, tall stone wall surrounding the capital, internally begging for this to move faster. The owls hooting, trees rustling, and other sounds of the night were our only company, but that could change at any moment.
Once Griffin removed the vines, his eyes closed, concentrating as he ran his hands over the rough stone. Before long, a hole began to form.
The wall should have been impossible to penetrate. They were warded against even the most powerful elements, and it would have taken a vast amount of skill and preparation to accomplish this task.
A gloom fell over the courtyard as the moon seemed to flee. Shouting and pounding footsteps rang out— the sound of our approaching demise. I straightened, my eyes darting around, straining to peer into the darkness. I couldn’t see anything.
I jumped when a bang sounded to the left, but it was only a loose shutter smashing against a booth in the sudden wind. I jerked when an animal screamed somewhere beyond the castle walls in the forest beyond. I almost came out of my skin when E.Z.’s voice broke the deafening silence.
“Four from the east. Three from the west,” E.Z. said with his eyes closed, his hands moving to sense changes in the air.
