“Are you making any headway with our strange friend?” Ronad asked as we walked along, stopping at every corner to peer around walls and make sure nobody was watching us, like spies in a comedy.

It was weird—there never seemed to be anyone around this place, except for Kaido and occasionally Jareth, when he returned from a day at Gianne’s beck and call. Ronad visited Lorela now and again to keep her company, but I was never invited along. I got the feeling Lorela didn’t particularly care for me, and neither did Jareth. I was a necessary thorn in his side, one that I sensed he couldn’t wait to get rid of, once he had his son back.

We stopped at the intersection of another set of hallways. “You mean Kaido?”

He nodded. “How’s your bonding coming along?”

“He’s a tricky one to read. Sometimes, I think we’re getting along just fine, and then he says something and I’m back at square one.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, he’s like that,” Ronad said.

“Well, it’s not like he can help it.” I felt suddenly defensive again. “He was born that way. He doesn’t process things the same way we do.”

Ronad arched an eyebrow. “You really think so?”

“I know so. I’ve seen humans like him before. They’re just wired a little differently, that’s all,” I explained. “We might think they’re hard to read, but, to them, we’re even harder to gauge.”

“Guess I never thought of it that way. I always assumed he was deliberately being awkward, to get attention. I doubt it’s easy being one of eleven boys in a house of twelve kids,” he mused. “Anyway, do you think you can convince him to help us?”

I made a doubtful sound. “I’m going to need more time, and that’s something we don’t have. For now, I say we stick with plan A. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to use some of my finest friendship moves and hope they register with him.”

Ronad smiled. “I have to say, I’ve never seen that kid warm to anyone except his mother, but he seems to gravitate toward you. He likes you.”

I pulled a face. “No, he doesn’t!”

“Not like that, I’m sure.” Ronad chuckled. “I just mean, he sees you as friendly territory. You don’t speak to him the way other people do, and I think he responds to that. But you’re probably right—we need to get word to the others fast, and this bonding stuff is anything but fast. Plus, you’ll end up looking like a pincushion if you keep doing those experiments!” He tapped one of the tiny holes in the side of my head, sending a dull ache across my temple.

“Tell me about it.” I grimaced, still feeling a little woozy from whatever Kaido had given me. “So, we’re sneaking out tomorrow then, during the public execution?”

We’d discussed a few ways we might get word to Navan and the others, in the days that had followed since our arrival at the Idrax house, but only one solution had presented itself so far. We knew that Ianthan might have one of the black boxes at his hidden cabin—the kind of black box Navan had once used to transfer sensitive material to Orion. According to Ronad, it was what he and the others—Navan, Bashrik, Jethro, and Ianthan—had used to secretly communicate during their creation of the deep-space tech. Those black boxes were the only way of contacting Brisha’s side without detection.

I wished Navan still had his. His cabin would be way easier to find and break into, especially as Ronad had lived there for a while, but that black box was lost to us. As far as I knew, it was still trapped at Queen Gianne’s palace, in the hands of Navan’s IT buddies, never to see the light of day again.

Ronad nodded. “It might be our only shot.”

“What about Kaido? Won’t he be watching from the lounge, like he did last week?” I wondered. “I’m not being funny, but I think he’d notice if the two of us were suddenly missing.”

A grin spread across Ronad’s face. “Already dealt with. I sent a message to his comm device this morning, demanding his attendance at the execution tomorrow. I made it look very official.”

“Who’s going to look after Lorela?”

“We’ll only be gone a few hours, tops. She’ll be fine until we get back,” Ronad assured me. “Besides, I’ve already offered up my services to Kaido, to take his place as caregiver while he’s out, and he’s agreed. He might love his mother, but he loves his queen a whole lot more.”

I sighed, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. “And you’re sure you know where Ianthan’s cabin is?”

“We used to go there all the time,” Ronad replied confidently. “I mean, I can’t promise it’ll still be there, what with Jethro being a traitor and all, but I’m hopeful.”

I wished I was as hopeful, but a niggling fear remained in the back of my mind. This part of Vysanthe was getting more dangerous by the second, especially for outsiders like us, and we were risking everything for a communication device that might not even be there anymore.

“What if Navan is already making his way over here? What if we’re too late?” I asked, unable to help myself.

Ronad flashed me a comforting glance. “He’s not stupid, Riley. He’ll know he needs to wait until some of the heat has died down before he can come after us. Besides, he’ll have Queen Brisha to deal with before he can do anything about you and me.”

That thought didn’t exactly ease my racing mind. I still couldn’t shake the concern that Navan and the others hadn’t been well-received by Queen Brisha, not only because Pandora wasn’t with us anymore, but also because we’d come back with no solution to the elixir problem. At any other time, Brisha might have been more understanding, but she was at war—her people needed immortality more than ever. After all, it was a sure-fire way to win.

I was starting to realize that the gamble Kaido had taken in bringing us here was massive. Navan didn’t have an easy route back to Queen Gianne’s side. Plus, if they did make it over, that would immediately put us in Queen Brisha’s bad books. The whole thing was a complete mess, but even though it seemed like Kaido was to blame, I knew he wasn’t the puppet master; he was merely following the orders of Jareth Idrax, who wanted his sons home at all costs.

“You’re sure we can get in touch with the others through this black box thing? I’ve only seen Navan try to use one, and that wasn’t exactly a roaring success,” I muttered, as we continued on through the labyrinth of the Idrax house.

Ronad grinned. “Trust me, I can make this work. I can MacGyver anything.”

I laughed. “MacGyver anything? You really have watched too much Earth TV.”

“What can I say? I love a rerun!” Ronad said. “Do Navan and Bashrik have a comms device on them?”

I shook my head, remembering how Pandora had removed all personal devices. “We’ll have to get through to them via Brisha herself, or someone close to her. A soldier, a guard, an advisor—anyone in her court,” I replied grimly, knowing it was easier said than done. As I spoke, an idea popped into my head. “Or, we could try getting a transmission through to her central control room. I’ve seen Gianne hack the system, so we could always try that on a smaller scale. One screen would be all we’d need to hijack, to get her attention.”

“Damn, I can see why Navan likes you.” Ronad whistled. “Brains, beauty, banter… the ultimate trifecta. My Naya was the same.” I hadn’t wanted to ask too many personal questions about Naya, but piece by piece, he was giving me a better picture of her.

“This would be so much easier if Seraphina had just agreed to help us out,” I muttered. I was still disappointed she couldn’t do anything for us. Then again, I hadn’t exactly stuck my neck out for her either. Navan was still in the dark about her engagement to Aurelius. Now, I had no idea if I’d ever get the chance to tell him about it.

Shuffling off the guilt that stung me whenever I thought about Seraphina’s unfulfilled request, I focused on keeping up with Ronad. We’d gone down two floors, taking lefts and rights seemingly at random. It still surprised me just how many corridors and hallways there were in this place. Without a guide, it would be easy to get lost within its walls.

“I imagine she’s got a lot on her plate. She’s a busy woman,” Ronad said with a shrug. “I’ve got to say, I admire your balls where she’s concerned.”

I laughed. “You really shouldn’t go around admiring people’s balls.”

“No, I mean it. I’m guessing you know the situation between her and Navan. It can’t be easy, knowing he’s engaged to another woman,” he said. “I mean, obviously nothing will ever come of it, and he definitely doesn’t have romantic feelings for her, but it must still sting a bit. Jareth tried to marry Naya off to a bunch of unworthy dudes, and that almost drove me mad.”

The words twisted in my stomach. I really hoped that nothing would ever come of it, but then where did that leave Seraphina? I knew the choice would be taken out of my hands once the truth was truly out, especially if Navan returned here.

“So, once we’ve snuck out, what do we do then?” I asked, not wanting to dwell on the subject of Navan and Seraphina. Ronad didn’t know what I knew about Aurelius, and the thought of what might happen made me too sad.

Taking the hint, Ronad turned away. “Well, once we’re away from the house, we’ll need to get a cab. We can’t exactly risk stealing a Snapper, as much as I’d like to,” he said wryly. “The only problem is, we need some credit to pay for the cab. For that, we need a pay device.”

“The Idraxes must have one lying around somewhere…”

“Let’s hope so,” Ronad murmured. “I know Kaido has one, if you can figure out a way to get it from him.”

I frowned. “I’ll have to see what I can do. He seemed eager to stay in his lab all night, going over the findings of our experiment. If you show me where his room is, we can have a look around.”

A sad expression fell across Ronad’s face. “I’ll show you where it is, but I can’t go in there anymore.”

“Why not?”

“It used to be Naya’s room. Being the only girl, she always had the biggest room in the house, aside from Jareth and Lorela’s. When she died and everyone flew the nest, Kaido moved his things into her room,” he explained bitterly.

Now, I was beginning to understand where Ronad’s resentment stemmed from. Then again, I had a feeling Kaido probably had no idea he’d caused offense. He would have seen it simply as the biggest room, with the most space for his day-to-day needs. He wouldn’t have seen it as improper to take the room of a dead girl, because his mind didn’t work that way. That was my guess, anyway, but I imagined Ronad didn’t want to hear any of that reasoning.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, resting a hand on his arm.

He offered a sad smile. “Even with all her stuff moved into the attic, I can’t go into that room. I can still feel her presence there.” During the many times we’d scouted out the house, I had noticed that he avoided a certain hallway on the second floor, and now I knew why.

“Did you visit her there?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t overstepping any lines.

He grinned, his eyes twinkling. “I certainly did. It was easy when I lived here. I could sneak along the landing at night and wrap her in my arms. But when things got awkward, and I left, it wasn’t so simple. Still, we made it work. We stole any moment we could together.” He sighed wistfully, closing his eyes as though picturing her. “Rask, I miss her. What’s worse, she fades a little more each day—her face, her scent, her laugh, her voice. The harder I try and grab for her memory, the faster it slips through my fingers.”

I felt a lump in my throat. I couldn’t even begin to imagine his pain. “I’m sorry,” was all I could give in return.

“Her hair always smelled so sweet, like Sakaros, this flower that grows at the bottom of the Idrax garden. The other day, when I was in Lorela’s room, the same smell drifted toward me, and it all came rushing back,” he murmured. “Lorela had a vase full of Sakaros by her bed, and the scent almost killed me. I wanted my heart to stop, then and there, so I wouldn’t have to live another day without my Naya. But then the scent faded, and my mind cleared, and life carried on, same as always.”

“She sounds like quite a woman,” I said as we reached a stairwell on the lower ground floor. It led down into the darkness of what looked like a basement. I paused, uncertain about descending any deeper.

“That’s the cruel beauty of death—you only ever remember the good things,” he mused, smiling. “Don’t get me wrong, me and Naya used to fight like savage beasts, but we’d always kiss and make up. The funny thing is, now I can’t even remember what we used to argue about. Small, stupid things, probably.”

It was almost refreshing to know that a seemingly perfect relationship had the same problems as everyone else’s. Throughout my childhood and into my teens, my role models in love had been Jean and Roger, and though they adored the very bones of each other, they always argued over silly things, too. It seemed it wasn’t just human nature, but universal nature.

I was just glad I hadn’t taken any relationship goals from my biological parents. Who knows where I’d be if I had.

With Ronad leading the way, we descended into the basement. It was colder down here, where the rest of the house was deceptively warm. Ahead of us lay a wide hallway, which opened out into a cavernous room. The walls were made of exposed brick, and the vaulted ceiling was drenched in shadow, the whole place dimly lit by two feeble lamps.

It didn’t look like anyone had been down here in a long time, but the floor was surprisingly clean, although the bric-a-brac that surrounded us was covered in a thick layer of dust. In fact, there was sheeted furniture scattered all over the place. This was evidently the dumping ground for things the Idraxes no longer wanted upstairs.

“Why have you brought me here?” I asked, confused.

“You’ll see.” Ronad weaved through the junk to the far corner of the room, where a large piece of furniture stood, draped in a moldering sheet of white fabric. He pulled the sheet to one side, revealing a tall wardrobe, the doors of which were fastened shut.

With a look of determination, Ronad whipped a pin of some kind out of his pocket and set to work picking the lock of the wardrobe door. I watched, enraptured, until I heard the subtle click of it opening. However, what followed was something of an anticlimax. Ronad opened the wardrobe door, and I expected to see something incredible beyond, but there was nothing inside except a rail and a wooden backboard.

“Are we going to Narnia?” I joked.

“I doubt there are any fauns where we’re going,” he answered, impressing me with his knowledge of Earth literature. Stepping into the wardrobe, he pushed hard on the back of it. Something whirred as the panel slid back.

I waited with bated breath, only to be disappointed again. There was nothing behind it except more exposed brick. I couldn’t see anything amiss at all, until I took a closer look. There, subtly carved into the masonry, was a faint outline—the merest hint of a doorway.

Ronad grinned, turning over his shoulder to look at me. “It’s a secret passageway!”

I guessed we were about to find out what lay beyond it.