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I sighed. “Alright, fine.”

Lucien smiled at me encouragingly before looking at the chart again. “Once we get inside, we’ll phase down three floors, sneak into that Recondite ritual room, retrieve the box, and get out.”

“You make it sound so easy. I’m exhausted just thinking about how much power I’ll have to burn though.”

“There’s another alternative.” Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

“No, we’re not using your feral demon.”

Lucien nodded. “In and out then,” he said, “No fuss, no complications.”

“And if there are any?”

“We’ll improvise.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but there was a confidence to his voice which was infectious. With all the other potential problems with this plan, hurtling over the street at night on a thin rope sounded absolutely pleasant.

Chapter

Twenty-Six

It was worse, way worse.

As soon as the rooftop guard left, we had four minutes to secure the zip-line, use it, and dispose of the evidence before the next guy showed up.

That window was starting to look really small.

While our henchmen chaperones prepared the zip-line equipment, I noticed Lucien fishing a small, circular box out of a backpack. It was made of a golden colored wood, and about the size of a tennis ball. Curved metal brackets held the ball shut, a small lock in the ominous shape of a crucifix kept the thing sealed.

I didn’t like the look of it.

I liked it even less when Lucien stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

“Is that the thing?” I asked.

Lucien looked over at me. Nodded. “It is.”

“I thought we weren’t going to use it.”

“With any luck, we won’t have to.”

I decided not to prod any further, because doing so was kind of pointless; he was going to bring it anyway. I put it out of my mind and turned my attention toward the contraption I would be hurtling through the air at high-speeds on.

Our end of the zipline wasn’t attached to the edge of the building, but to the top of the stairwell exit we had used to get up here. It had been bolted into place and looked secure enough. Looking down at the countdown timer we were using, I realized there were only three minutes until shift change.

“Time to go, huh?” I asked.

Lucien was already heading over to me with what looked like a harness in his hands. “Arms up,” he said.

I stuck my arms out. He came up to me and slipped the harness on, with a cocky grin whispering “Don’t get too excited.”

“Wrong kind of harness,” I whispered. “And they’re going to hear you.”

“Maybe I want them to.”

“Now isn’t the time for that!” I hissed. “Get your head in the game.”

“You first.”