Ariel stepped out from behind the vehicle with Michelle and walked alongside Ked toward the guards. The two men on duty were chatting quietly, and only noticed the trio when they were thirty feet away. The pair immediately stood up straighter.

“You there, where did you come from?” one of the guards challenged. He stroked the stock of the automatic rifle he held in a subtly sexual manner, leering slightly as he ran his eyes over Ariel. The other guard was unarmed—the bone gauntlets he wore were the only weapons he needed. Both men wore the usual headsets, and also the glasses with small metal attachments on the right lenses.

“We came from upstairs, of course,” Ked said. “Looks like we missed the shuttles to the city?”

Ariel was content to let Ked take charge for the time being. He knew how best to deal with these men, given his relationship with his insider. For all Ariel knew, one of these two was Ked’s contact.

“That’s close enough,” the armed guard said when the party was seven feet away. “Rings out.”

Ariel and the others extended their hands.

The guard held up a small RFID reader and approached. He moved from person to person.

“I didn’t hear the elevator ding,” the guard said.

Ked shrugged. “We took the stairs.”

“Really?” the guard said dryly. “From the twelfth floor?” That must be where the replacement RFIDs indicated they dormed.

“We’re fitness geeks,” Ked said.

The guard frowned when the reader passed over Ariel. “Just a second.”

He went to a small glass-walled booth nearby and picked up a phone.

Ariel held her breath as the guard talked quietly on the phone. He spoke too softly even for her enhanced hearing, and she couldn’t pick out any of the words.

The tense moments ticked past. The guard kept a suspicious eye on her and the others the whole time. Finally he nodded, then hung up the phone. He leaned out of the booth to tell his friend: “Guess you’re all alone tonight, bro.”

“Good thing I queued a couple of movies in my phone,” the witch said.

The first guard secured his rifle inside a locker in the booth, and then attached a pistol and holster combination to his belt. Then he walked toward the shifters. He had keys in hand. “I have permission to drive you lucky bastards to the city. Let’s go.”

They weaved between the different pillars and vehicles of the underground parking lot, which was half empty tonight.

The guard pressed a button on the key fob and the lights of a dark red SUV lit up ahead.

Ked exchanged a look with Ariel and then glanced over his shoulder toward the witch guard they had left behind. Ariel followed his gaze. The witch was currently concealed from view by a long concrete wall. Ked checked the ceiling next, and she knew he was searching for nearby security cameras. Ariel didn’t spot any.

When Ked looked back at the man who was leading them to the SUV, she knew immediately that he intended to jump him.

When Ked made his move, Ariel was right there beside him. Together they pounced on the man; Ked slammed him in the face with a fist, knocking him down. When he landed, Ariel wrapped one hand under his jaw, pressed the other into his head, keeping his mouth sealed tight as Ked wrapped it with duct tape from his pocket.

The man offered little resistance, still stunned from the blow, but Ariel and Michelle held him down anyway while Ked stripped him of his uniform, including the headset, glasses and pistol, and then bound the man’s hands and feet.

“You’re really a fan of that stuff aren’t you?” Michelle said softly, nodding at the duct tape.

“I am,” Ked said. “I’m just glad the witch wasn’t the one who volunteered to drive us.”

The bound guard attempted to yell through the tape, his vocal cords producing a muted wail, and Ked connected his fist to the man’s face, shutting him up.

“Help me move him,” Ked said. He wrapped the uniform around the purloined headset, glasses and pistol, and shoved the bundle under one arm.

Together the three of them carried the guard toward the SUV; Ariel glanced over her shoulder occasionally to confirm they remained out of the line of sight of the witch guard and any security cameras. When they reached the SUV, they set their burden down in the back seat.

Ked took the man’s RFID ring and then changed into his clothes.

“Why didn’t we just let him drive?” Michelle asked.

“Ariel wants to look for her dragon, who might be coming here at this very moment,” Ked said. “We can’t do that if we’re not in control of the vehicle.”

Good man, Ariel thought.

“Make sure he stays quiet back there,” Ked said as he loaded into the driver seat.

Ariel and Michelle lowered the bound and gagged guard to the floor, and sat in the seats just above him.

Ked started the vehicle and maneuvered between the lanes toward the exit. He waved at the witch guard, keeping his head turned well away.

In moments Ked was driving the vehicle up the ramp out of the parking garage and into the Tower grounds. It was night, though the inner courtyard was lit with floodlights.

Ked approached the main gate and slowed down at the checkpoint.

The gagged man underneath her started making noise again and Ariel gave him a good kick. That shut him up.

Ked rolled down the window and addressed the gate sentry. “Got some apprentices who missed the earlier shuttles.”

The black-clad sentry glanced suspiciously at Ariel and Michelle in the back seat, then he looked back at Ked. In the dim light, she thought his eyes were defocusing, maybe viewing whatever screen the small metal device attached to his right lens was projecting in front of him.

He turned his attention on Ked. “Your picture doesn’t match what we have on file.”

Ked scratched his beard. “I know, I gotta shave soon. The brass always give me shit for this.”

The guard studied him a moment longer and then nodded. He tapped the hood with the flat of his palm. “You’re good to go.”

The gate opened and Ked accelerated immediately, taking them away from the tower. He turned on his brights, as there were few road lights.

“All too easy,” Ked said.

“We’re not away yet,” Ariel said, glancing through the rear view window. The Steel Tower and the big wall that enclosed it slowly receded behind her, and then vanished entirely as a thick wall of trees enveloped the road.

The guard fidgeted underneath her, but she ignored him. She didn’t see the need to kick him, not anymore. He was suffering enough already, and was probably terrified, having no idea what these strange apprentices were going to do to him. Ariel planned to let him go when the chance arose.

Some moments later they reached another checkpoint. The prisoner remained quiet this time as Ked held up his ring; the soldiers on duty opened the red-and-white checkered boom gate and Ked drove through.

“Can I see you sat-phone?” Ariel asked when the gate was well behind them.

Ked turned in his seat and handed the phone to her. “What are you looking for?”

Ariel launched the mapping application. “Jett told me he parks his vehicle near a vineyard next to the Steel Tower grounds when he comes to visit. And then he walks the rest of the way through the woods on foot. I’m looking for that vineyard.” She reverse-pinched the map, zooming out. “There, found it.”

She activated the driving directions and handed the phone back to Ked, who set the device on the dash in front of him.

They reached the main road. He took a left at the next intersection, following the directions of the phone’s emotionless navigational voice. Dark wilderness veiled the land on either side. There were no road lights here.

Ked drove until the foliage fell away on the right, revealing a fenced-off vineyard. Ariel could make out the grapevines growing on trellises in the dim moonlight. She shook her head. Moonlight. She couldn’t believe that something as simple as that had betrayed her and Jett in the end.

Ked stopped near the entrance gate to the vineyard. That gate was low enough for Ariel to see a road leading away toward a dark chalet set amid the grapevines inside.

There was a car already parked beside the gate, just off the road. Someone sat in the driver’s seat.

“We’re just in time,” Ariel said.

She opened the door and hurried out of the SUV. She stopped as the driver side door opened. “Oh no.”

Flame stepped out of the car. The White Sword appeared confused.

“Where’s Jett?” Ariel said.

Flame looked across the road.

Ariel followed his gaze. In the distance she could see the upper half of the Steel Tower above the wilderness; a dark finger stabbing into the night sky, the light from many small windows delineating its cylindrical shape.

Ariel was too late.

* * *

Jett landed in the inner courtyard, cringing at the slight rustle of foliage around him. Though he had made this descent a hundred times, he still hadn’t found a way to completely muffle his landing. He retracted his wings and retreated into the shadows as he always did.

Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, in regards to the patrols he had observed from the top of the wall. Still, he waited a moment longer, wanting to be more careful tonight than usual. Finally he made his way deeper into the courtyard.

He moved between the hidden Strength traps and laser tripwires, knowing the locations of all of them by heart. He ducked behind a cluster of satellite dishes and waited for the scheduled patrol to pass.

He thought of the strange text Ariel had sent him earlier.

Looks like my liberty is delayed until next week. Could you meet me tonight in my room, usual time?

Something smelled off about the whole thing. The fact that Ariel should suddenly be called off liberty at the last minute, and then summon him to visit her on a night in the middle of the week, when she had been so adamant that he only come on weekends in the past? It wasn’t like her. He sent her a bunch of texts asking what was up, but she only answered with two more words.

Just come.

Yes, something definitely was up, but what, he hadn’t decided yet. He really wished Ariel hadn’t turned off the tracking app, because he had no way to confirm or deny whether she was actually still in the tower. Then again, if her phone had been confiscated, the witches could use it to make her appear wherever they wanted anyway.

He wondered if he would be captured tonight. The maneuver would have to be subtle, staged from a position of stealth, but it could be done. If he was caught, the president of the Tower, Savanna Kettleburn, would happily gift him to Yvonne, the Wayfarer queen. Jett, a dragon who had once been the queen’s chief rival on the Council of Seven, would be a great gift indeed. She would use him as leverage against his brother.

The patrol came right on schedule. Jett tensed up, ready to swing into action, but the guards passed by his position without pausing.

Jett exhaled in relief.

Maybe I’m being too paranoid about all of this.

He moved to the edge of the satellite dishes, scanned the courtyard, then dashed across the open space and into the foliage cloaking the Tower’s eastern side.

As he had done countless times before, he positioned himself at the base of the Tower, extended his wings, and began the ascent. At the fifteenth floor he moved horizontally until he hovered in front of Ariel’s window.

She wasn’t there.

Confused, he pulled aside the clotheslines and landed on the sill. He peered into the room. He thought he could make out a form sleeping on the lower bunk. The top bunk, meanwhile, was empty. That meant her roommate, Michelle, had been granted liberty.

“Ariel,” Jett said softly. “Are you there? Ariel?”

No answer.

He surveyed the tiny dorm room again, searching for any possible signs of ambush, but saw only the bare walls. He couldn’t sense any hidden Strength traps with his dragon abilities. It seemed safe…

He pulled himself inside and approached the bunk bed.

He stared at the hump formed by the sheets of the lower bunk and still couldn’t tell if anyone actually slept underneath.

“Ariel?” Jett said.

He pulled back the thin comforter, revealing three pillows.

Tricked.

He noticed a flashing light on the nightstand.

It was her sat-phone. The light was the low battery indicator.

Before he could react, a collar snapped around his neck. He tried to rip it off but it was too late. His dragon strength was contained.

He spun, swinging his arm to attack whoever might be there, but an invisible vise instantly sealed around his body, trapping him.

“Hello, Dragon King,” a woman’s mocking voice came from underneath the bunk.