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A bell rings, its sharp cry cascading through the narrow courtyard, and the voices around us fall silent. Alindra’s hand tightens around my arm. The air is thick with magic, something I doubt any of the humans can sense. It feels like an itch just under my skin, like silent eyes watching me from inside the white stone walls. Alindra’s breath catches as a human in gleaming white robes and long white gloves steps out from a darkened doorway in the wall.
“Welcome,” the human announces, in a voice that sounds like he’s portending some great doom. “Welcome to the secrets of the Silver City.”
A soft murmur sweeps through the crowd. The white-clad human waits for it to subside before continuing.
“Prepare yourself,” the human continues. There’s an edge to his voice that makes me think of knives. “For tonight, you will witness magic unlike anything you have ever seen. Magic, under human control!”
His voice cracks. The crowd shuffles forward, chattering excitedly. Alindra raises an eyebrow at me, and fear whispers across the back of my neck like ice water. I try to dismiss it as another effect of the strange magical energy of the Towers, or the fact that we just climbed out of a window, escaped down an alleyway, and are currently wearing illusions and trying to blend into a crowd of humans. Still, the low, reptilian part of my brain rustles uneasily in the shadows. Something seems wrong here, something large and just out of sight.
I swallow hard as the crowd moves toward the door, humans digging excitedly for coins in their pockets and purses. Of course this is dangerous, I tell myself, clenching my jaw beneath my illusion. This was always going to be dangerous, no matter how we got in. We’re here to steal the Tower’s magic, by all the beasts and whispers of the voids, and then Alindra is going to tear a hole in reality and throw me into it. A quick death is probably the best I can hope for out of any of this.
I sigh and move forward, letting Alindra tug me toward the door. The white-clad human raises his eyes at us, and fear dances across my skin like a creature with many legs. My illusion shivers as I give the human the biggest, dumbest smile I can muster. The human cackles, takes the coin Alindra is offering, and sweeps off into the darkness.
Shit. Here goes nothing.
I feel colder than I’ve felt in the Worlds Above as I follow Alindra beneath the stone lintel and into the tower. It’s dark in here, probably deliberately so, and I can sense more than see the crush of humans around us. Someone laughs nervously. There’s the rustle of feet on stone, then another cough.
And then, suddenly, there’s a spark. It’s a flash of white light in the darkness, burning in midair, casting just enough illumination to reveal the cage of gloved fingers enclosing the little shard of magic. It’s a casual trick, summoning a spark that might then light a candle or a piece of dried wood, but still, Alindra’s breath catches and her grip on my left arm tightens.
Because the man holding the spark is a human.
Mutters and whispers spread through the room as the crowd seems to realize what we’re witnessing. The spark grows, casting twisting shadows through the crowd, until the man opens his fingers like a beast opening its jaw and the light drifts above him to settle on the wick of an oil lamp suspended from a chain hanging just above the crowd.
Several faces turn back to glance at the doorway, which is now closed. Great. I try to look big, dumb, and harmless as the crowd rustles around me.
“For too long,” the human begins, his voice thin and sharp, “humans have been ignored. Overlooked. For too long, magic has been out of our reach.”
A few half-hearted grumbles rise from the crowd. The man looks up, his sharp eyes grazing his audience.
“No longer!” he snaps.
Alindra jumps.
“Here in the Towers,” the man drawls, “I will show you power beyond your wildest dreams. Human power!”
The man’s eyes rest on me. My skin prickles in a way that makes me very aware of my sword, Skyfire, strapped to my back and hidden only by my illusions. He’s still staring at me as a door opens in the wall behind him, and the crowd of humans shuffles through the narrow entryway.
Alindra and I follow, drifting along at the back of the crowd. I notice another man in white robes standing just inside the open doorway, gesturing at something out of sight. Power beyond my wildest dreams, perhaps?
And the door slams shut in my face. Alindra gasps. The magical illusion surrounding both of us pulses with alarm.
“You’re a long way from home,” the human drawls from behind us.
I turn around, my heart beating like a war drum inside my skull. My eyes jump around the stone walls of the little room, taking everything in. One lamp, two closed doors. One old man.
Voids damn it, I figured it would come to fighting at some point. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.
“We—we’re visiting,” Alindra stammers.
“We heard the tours were, uh, spooky,” I add.
The human’s lips twist into an expression that might be a smile. “Yes,” he says. “I see.”
He raises an eyebrow in a way that lets me know in no uncertain terms that he sees directly through my bullshit. Possibly all of our bullshit. Fear pools low and hard in my gut, like a stone. I cross my illusion arms over my chest and rest my real fingers against the dagger hidden under my cloak.
“There’s something about one of you,” the man continues, narrowing his eyes. “Something different. Some humans have it, you see. A certain glow, shall we say. An innate proclivity to magic.”
“We don’t want any of that,” I growl.
