Chapter Sixteen
After two straight days of studying and receiving quite a lot of help from Finn, Lily was as ready for this mission as she would ever be. Alea had been awesome when Lily called and asked to use her personal days. She told Lily that she had everything covered and not to worry about a thing.
“You good?” Birk asked.
As much as Lily wanted to say no, she’d committed to this. “Yes.”
He escorted her out of his condo and toward the elevator. “Remember, not only will I be nearby, your brother, Nessa, and the rest of the group will be too. You’ve got this.”
“What if I get lost?” She patted her pocket to make sure she had the magical amulet, along with the piece of paper on which Finn had drawn a detailed map of the maze.
Birk squeezed her waist. “You’ve repeated the directions to me so many times, you can’t get lost. The whole idea that no one can see you should keep you calm.”
Unless some guard came toward her and she freaked. “I know. I think the biggest risk will be when I’m leading the prisoners out. What if one of them forgets and lets go of a hand?”
He pushed the elevator button. “You worry too much.”
She didn’t know how Birk remained so calm. He’d spent hours trying to talk her out of doing this. In the end, she’d won, though it wouldn’t be called winning if she landed in a cell.
Once on the rooftop of his building, Birk faced her. “You have the amulet that Fay gave you, right?”
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Yes.” Just to be sure she stuck her hand in her pocket again, pulled it out, and waved it at him.
Birk smiled, but the joy didn’t reach his eyes. He was worried. Damn. “Let’s do this.”
He shifted before she could ask him if he thought this whole escape plan was stupid. When he reached out his claw, she climbed into her usual resting place.
As much as Lily tried to slow her heartbeat, she failed, and it wasn’t because of flying. It was from all the warnings Birk had thrown at her last night.
A few minutes later, the castle appeared in the distance. Instead of taking her to the entrance, Birk landed quite far from it. Once he shifted, many of the Guardians emerged from the woods.
Kaleena rushed up to her. “You’re doing a brave thing, Lily. Fate did a good job pairing you with my cousin.”
Birk had told her she was brave too. To her, bravery implied something could go wrong. “I hope so.”
Declan nodded at several of the others. “We’re going to circle above. If we see anything suspicious, we’ll return to our designated meeting place next to the castle,” he told Birk.
It all sounded so well planned, and his calm delivery spoke of many accomplished missions. They discussed a few more details and then took flight. For some reason, Kyle was going to fly her to the castle entrance instead of Birk. She sensed that Birk’s father or uncle suspected he might try to sabotage the escape.
“Ready to see if this invisibility shield works?” Kyle asked.
If it didn’t, the plan would be called off. “I probably should have tried that before everyone arrived.”
He shrugged. “I trust Fay.”
She stuck her hand in her pocket, and her fingers touched the amulet. She removed it and placed it over her heart and mentally recited the words. “Pure of soul, kind of heart, I shall be free to do my part.”
“Lily?”
When she blinked and looked down, she wasn’t there. “I did it!”
Kyle smiled. “You did—but I have to say, hearing your voice when I can’t see you is very strange.”
Everyone had been worried she might not be able to be heard. Just in case that happened, she’d written out what she wanted each of the captives to do. Even now, she might pass the note as a way to communicate. She didn’t need a guard overhearing an unfamiliar voice and investigating.
Kyle backed up, shifted, and then held out his claw. Unless she spoke, she had no idea if he’d know when she was securely in his grasp.
“I’m good,” she said after she settled in for the ride.
Up he went. They flew over the castle and then landed in the field that bordered the forest in back. He set her down, and Lily crawled out of his grasp. Even though she wasn’t touching him, he remained invisible. He must have cloaked himself.
“Wish me luck,” she whispered.
Of course he couldn’t answer, but it was just as well. Right now, she needed to focus on freeing the innocent white lighters. He said he would deposit her in back of the castle instead of the front, because there were fewer guards there.
What difference did that make since no one could see her? Lily jogged around to the side of the castle toward the entrance Finn had used to enter the basement. While she’d toured the place once when she was on a school trip, she hadn’t remembered it being so expansive.
When Lily reached the designated door, she mentally ran through the first few turns: two lefts, three rights, and then one left. There was no need for panic. She had Finn’s map in case she had the jitters. Oh, damn. If she were invisible, so would be the paper the instructions were written on. Hopefully, her memory didn’t fail her.
Just as she reached to pull open the door, she stopped and looked around. The moment she touched it, it would disappear. Having an entrance with no doorway could attract attention. Just then two tourists walked by, laughing and gawking, and pointed to something high on the castle. Once their backs were to her, Lily opened the door and slid inside.
Here goes.
The inside smelled of mold and what she could only guess was urine. It was quite disgusting.
Focus.
No guard was in sight, which helped Lily to relax. The first turn couldn’t come soon enough. It was a left.
So far so good. After many more turns, she spotted the metal box on the wall that contained the keys, and she let out a breath. She hadn’t taken any wrong turns—so far.
Moving quicker now that she’d made it without any incident, she continued. Voices sounded, and she plastered her back against the wall. The last thing she needed was for a guard to run into her—literally. If he did, she feared she might let out a moan and give away her position.
Two men rounded the corner and one man chuckled, totally oblivious to her presence. Thank you, Fay.
After making many more turns, she finally rounded the corner and spotted the jail cells. She did it! Her heart pounded as Lily glanced to each of the cells, trying to place the faces from the pictures. Not everyone would be saved. Some deserved to remain there.
One second she was congratulating herself on her achievement and the next she went flying, the force on her back driving her to her knees. With tremendous effort, she held in a shriek.
“What the fuck was that?” a deep voice said, sounding royally pissed.
Oh, shit. Lily crawled to the wall and slowly rose to her feet, praying they’d have no idea what the man had hit.
“What happened?” a second man asked.
“I don’t know. It was like I hit a wall.” The man who’d run into her scanned the cells.
“It was probably one of those fucking white lighters playing a trick on you,” the other man said.
“Probably.”
The guard who’d knocked her down swung his arms around, but thankfully she was out of his reach. The second guard nudged him. “Come on. The prince wants a report.”
When both of them strode past the cells and disappeared from sight, Lily wasn’t sure she could go on. Why in the hell did she think she was able to pull this off when the Guardians hadn’t been able to?
She stuck her hands in her pockets and felt the three pieces of paper that had the instructions written on them. She studied those in the cells. All were thin, drawn, and quite filthy. Oh, my. Lily had to help them. Inhaling deeply to calm down, she had to hold in a cough. The mold and stench of unwashed bodies was assaulting her.
I can do this. I want to make Birk proud.
Lily walked up to the cell where the woman Kaleena had befriended was being kept. Lily retrieved the instructions from her pocket, and then slid the invisible piece of paper through the bars. The moment she released it, the paper appeared.
Danita stilled and then smiled. It was as if she understood what was happening. She picked up the paper, read it, and then nodded. Thank goodness for white lighters. Magic was second nature for them.
Because Lily feared those who wouldn’t be saved would make a fuss, the instructions made it clear that those she was helping were to say nothing—only nod if they understood what they needed to do.
Once all three received their instructions and agreed, Lily needed to open each cell door. Without that step, nothing would work. Starting with Danita’s cell, Lily stuck the first key in the lock and twisted it. Of course, the cell door became invisible once the key touched it, making it harder to work. Nothing clicked. Too bad Lily couldn’t tell if she’d used the wrong key or if the locks had been changed. On her fifth attempt, the lock finally turned, and relief rushed through her.
As soon as Lily removed the key, the door appeared. Lily looked right then left, to make sure no other guards were coming. “Stay here while I unlock the other doors,” she whispered. Once more, Danita nodded.
After a few mishaps, Lily finally had all three doors opened. The man inside the cell farthest from Danita’s was shaking. Lily wasn’t sure if it was because he had no idea what was happening, or because he’d been abused and was weak. Lily grabbed his hand and led him out. Thankfully, he became invisible.
“Close the door,” she whispered.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter. Now be quiet, and whatever you do, don’t let go.”
He squeezed her hand as if to let her know he understood. She opened the second door. This time, the frail woman was smart enough to grab hold of the man’s hand. She moaned a little and then followed unseen.
Oh, shit. “Pick up the paper so there is no evidence,” Lily whispered.
Back they went to the first man’s cell.
“Hey,” yelled one of the prisoners who she wasn’t supposed to help.
Shit. He couldn’t see her or anyone else, but he could hear her. She then remembered that the door had squeaked when she’d pulled it open. Lily could only hope the man holding her hand didn’t respond.
“I heard his cell open. Who are you?” the prisoner called out again.
“Shh.” Lily hadn’t meant to give away her position, but she couldn’t help it.
“I know you’re there. You’ve got to help me. I’m here against my will. Please. Open my cell.”
Damn. He wasn’t one of the ones who deserved his freedom. As much as Lily was tempted to help, she had to free Danita and then get the hell out of there before the guards came.
The problem was that Danita had a set of cuffs on her wrists like the ones they had used on Kaleena when she had been held captive.
She stepped from the cell, but then grunted. Damn. As much as Lily wanted to move fast, she couldn’t chance someone letting go.
Footsteps sounded. “Hey, what’s all the yelling about,” one of the guards said to the man in the cell.
“I think someone escaped,” he said.
Lily’s muscles froze. She moved her train of people against the wall, but from the resistance, one of the prisoners wasn’t able to move as quickly as she would have liked. It was probably Danita. Thankfully, none of them said anything.
The guard ran down the length of the cells. “Hey,” the guard shouted. “Three of the prisoners have escaped. What the fuck?”
She and her crew made it around the corner and couldn’t see what the second guard was doing—but she could hear the panic in their voices. Very slowly, she moved sideways edging her way farther from the corner. If they could make it to the first turn, they might be safe.
“Spread out,” a second guard shouted. “They couldn’t have gone far.”
Oh, how had Lily believed she could pull this off—even with an invisibility amulet?
One of the women at the end of the line moaned, and Lily stilled.
“I’ll look down this corridor,” the first guard said.
“I’ll check out the other one,” the other guard called out. It was where they were.
With their backs against the wall, Lily thought it best not to move in the hopes he’d travel down the middle of the hallway. Given these were white lighters, he probably figured they could cloak themselves. It might be why he was waving his arms, hoping to run into one.
Please don’t let him find us.
What seemed like an eternity, the guard returned and swept past them. Lily prayed that Birk and the men weren’t out there freaking, wondering what was taking so long.
Once the guard was out of sight, Lily squeezed the man’s hand. He in turn must have passed on the signal that it was time to move. As much as Lily wanted to walk quickly, she had to take care not to stress the escapees.
They were probably halfway to the exit, when a female voice rang out. Lily stopped and looked behind her. Crap. Danita was on the ground, head down, and very visible.
“Grab her hand,” Lily demanded of the woman who had been holding it.
“Sorry,” Danita whispered. “I tripped.”
A moment later, Danita was invisible once more. Better understanding what weakness could do to a person, Lily waited until the man squeezed Lily’s hand before she continued. This time, she walked even slower.
What seemed like a million hours later, they finally reached the exterior door where Birk and several of his relatives would be waiting for them. She turned around. “Don’t let go until I tell you.”
They grumbled their response. She touched the door to open it, and it immediately disappeared. Lily led her entourage outside. All three whimpered, probably because of the fresh air and warmth of the sun on their faces.
The Guardians had to be somewhere and had hopefully seen the door temporarily disappear. Lily looked up, hoping to see some colorful dragons, but she didn’t spot anyone. Damn.
One moment she was shielding her eyes against the sun’s glare, and the next she was up in the air. Oh, no. The three prisoners were now visible. Lily struggled. How had this dragon known where she was? Whoever he was. Was it Birk, her brother, or some Royal Guard?
When she lost sight of the escaped prisoners, she clasped the dragon’s talons harder. If this wasn’t Birk, she had to let him know she’d been taken. Lily rubbed the ring, and the dragon slowed and headed to the ground.
He set her down on shaky legs and then shifted. When she saw it was Birk, she ran to him.
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry to have scared you like that.” He hugged her and kissed her hair.
“I thought it might be you, but I couldn’t be sure,” she said, her chin trembling.
“You are amazing.”
She didn’t feel so amazing right now. The prisoners had been the brave ones, trusting her like they had. Wanting to be seen again, she pressed the amulet to her heart and recited the words. When she became visible, Birk smiled. He kissed her lips lightly. “You taste good.”
Silly man. “How did you know where I was just now? I was invisible.”
“Because I was close by, the tracking device allowed me to hone in on you. What you didn’t see was how slowly I approached. I didn’t want to barrel into you.”
“Thank you.” All of this was too much to grasp. “I can’t believe we did it.” Her chin trembled and a few salty tears trickled down her cheek.
“All that matters is that you are safe.”
“What about the escapees?” she asked. “Where are they?”
“They will be taken someplace safe.”
“To the mine?”
Birk smiled and dragged a knuckle down her cheek. “No, we can’t chance them seeing our facility, but rest assured they will be well taken care of.”
“Thank you.”
“Ready to head back to SinCas?”
Lily tried not to show her disappointment. She wanted to clean up and snuggle with Birk. “Why do we need to go there?”
“We always debrief after a mission.”
A mission. She liked the sound of that. She’d run a mission. “Then fly away, dragon-boy.”