Page 9 of Angel Lost (Fates Academy #3)

Chapter Nine: Lorelei

“You better be right about this.” Chano scowls down at Hewie, water plastering his shirt to his body. Sheet lightning illuminates the hard lines of his face, and Hewie gulps. Thunder booms as I make a dash to the next building, slipping and sliding in my stupid sandals but somehow staying upright. By the time we make it to the back of the squat gray building that houses the fae, we’re all soaked. Of course it wasn’t as simple as getting a tattoo. I should have known. Only after he’d started did Kai drop that bombshell. It needs to be finished in a place of elemental power.

Slime oozes between my toes. I squelch onward, following Hewie’s shrieks into the darkness. The place is disgusting. Why would they force the fae to use this as a shower block? It should be condemned. The contrast between Kai’s quarters and here…I shudder. I’m surprised the other fae still trust him at all.

One by one, we slip and slide down the side of the building and through a woody copse to a dilapidated gardener’s hut. I’ve passed it a hundred times, and it never once caught my attention. My neck prickles, and I still, peering back into the darkness. Nothing…

Under Hewie’s instruction, Chano heaves the decaying door open, its water-swollen underside catching on the ground. It refuses to budge any farther, forcing us to squeeze through the narrow gap. Lightning illuminates dust motes in the air as Hewie bustles forward, squeezing between rusty tools. He tugs at a fusty hay bale. The baler twine snaps in his hand, and he lands on his butt with a yelp. I bite the inside of my cheek. Must not laugh. Nope.

“A little help?” he calls from the ground, pulling straw out of his hair.

Chano cocks an eyebrow at Farrell and together they heave the bale to the side, muscles bunching under their drenched shirts.

“Brutes,” Hewie mutters.

“Now what?” Chano stares him down. “If I were coming for a roll in the hay with Lorelei, it’d be in better weather and without the company. Explain what we’re doing here, screamer, and quickly.”

“J-j-just pull that blue fork handle,” Hewie says. “If you please, Chano.”

“What if I don’t please?”

“Enough.” I stride forward and yank on the handle. With a low rumble, the stone at my feet starts to move.

A secret passageway. A goddess-be-damned real-life secret passageway. I tap my foot as the ancient mechanism grinds a hatch slowly open. With a thunk , it slams down the remaining distance and knocks me off balance.

Chano catches my elbow, steadying me. “How are you still so clumsy? You spent all that time with Silas training you.”

I snatch my arm back, too excited to retort, and peer into the hole. Pale gray flagstone steps disappear into a darkness so black it swallows all light.

Hewie slips a lantern from a hook on the wall and mutters a spell. It sputters to life, creating a tiny pool of light at his feet. He glances at Chano. “It’s not connected to the other tunnels, the ones the Maveriks use.”

Other tunnels? Ones Chano knows about?

Chano peers into the darkness before snapping his fingers and creating a ball of fire far brighter than Hewie’s sputtering flames. It illuminates the steps down to the point they disappear around a corner out of sight. “Good find, screamer.”

I nudge him hard.

“Hewie. Good find, Hewie,” Chano corrects, rolling his eyes .

Single file, we descend the passageway. It quickly branches into a rabbit warren. Hewie strides confidently on. I trail a hand over the rough, rocky walls. First right, then left, left again, then straight on…or was it right? Shit. I’m lost already. Hewie leads us on and on. Eventually it’s obvious we’re in a tunnel far older than the rest. The roof is lower and the marks on the walls make it seem as if this was dug by hand. No magic-blasting here. My aether thrums in my chest like an excited wasp, and I rub my sternum. Must be near a powerful ley line. I always get unsettled around them.

“It’s a dead end, idiota ,” Chano growls, cuffing Hewie in the back of the head.

Past them the passage opens into a wide, sand-floored cave with a domed ceiling. Chano straightens, standing to his full height after twenty minutes of hunched walking.

“Not a dead end,” Hewie grumbles. “I h-h-hope.”

He gestures to a series of runes hacked into the rock in a rough arc. “I’ve been beyond this archway, but not the next. I’m guessing about the final room.”

Chano frowns.

“It’s a good guess, promise!” Hewie rushes to add.

I trace the runes, sounding them out. I know them individually, but together, I’m not sure what it says.

“Blood of the most murderous,” Hewie offers. “When I came alone, it accepted my blood. But…I haven’t actually killed, so it’ll be one of you lot.” His eyes dance. He’s desperate to know who has the most kills. Sick little gossip.

Zephyr holds his hands up. “Harmed people, yes, but actual kills, none.”

I toe the sand. “Just one. Just my foster carer. But I’d have killed him over and over if I had the chance.”

Kai sends me a wicked grin. “He deserved it. Maybe I’ll find a way to bring him back for you to do just that, killer.”

Not weird at all .

“Forty,” Farrell says. I let out a low whistle and he scowls. “I’m not proud of it. This summer with the Angel King’s little search parties…”

Chano snorts and quickly slits his palm with his knife, glancing sideways at me, apology written all over his face. “I’m a Maverik, chica. It comes with the territory.” He slaps his blood-covered hand to the rune in front of him and…nothing.

We exchange stunned looks. Chano doesn’t have the highest kill count?

Pop .

As a unit, we whirl, Chano with his knife out, Farrell belching smoke. Hewie, though, hits the ground, covering his head with his hands.

Kai leans against the rocky wall, blowing bright pink bubble gum, counting on his fingers. Shit. Just Kai’s stupid gum. I felt like we were being followed before. I was so sure…

He glances up as if he just realized we were all watching. “Sorry, Chano, big man, don’t mean to destroy your bragging rights in front of your girl and all, but…”

He shoulders Chano as he steps toward the runes. Chano’s large frame barely moves, and Kai rubs his arm ruefully.

“Big man indeed,” he gripes, snatching Chano’s knife.

With the first drop of Kai’s blood on the runes, the wall moves. The ground shakes, groaning and creaking until a section of rock slides entirely out of view.

Cautiously, we step into the next chamber. This is more like an actual room. A chair and a desk sit in a corner, with an academy blanket, a single clean mug, and a notebook stacked neatly on top. All out of place compared to the hand-hewn shelves hacked into the wall, and a single faded mosaic.

Hewie blushes. “I used to come here, just to be alone when the other students were being especially mean.” He casts a sidelong look at Chano and I smack Chano’s arm .

“Not fair, chica. I didn’t know him then, not properly” Chano says. “Anyway, screamer, this is still not a place of power.”

Chano, lithe for his size, dances away from my next smack.

“No. I-I…” Hewie swallows. “I could never get into the next room, but I did decipher the runes. Lorelei can. An aether can.” His eyes shine with excitement. “I nearly stole your blood once…I so wanted to enter.”

I pause in my attempt to pinch Chano. “Stole my—”

“I didn’t, of course. So…you’re welcome. But I really wanted to.” Hewie’s eyes flick to the knife at my belt. “Even a nosebleed, a scratch. You were always getting hurt. You wouldn’t have missed it. Not really.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I, uh, I’m glad you didn’t.”

Hewie beams. “Cut your hand already!” He bounces on the spot, eyes wide. “Let’s get in!”

Slowly, I draw my knife from my belt. “In where, exactly?”

“It’s called Fates for a reason.”

“You’ll need to expand,” I say, opening my palm, placing the cool of the knife blade against my skin.

“The Fates lived here, for a time.”

The Fates, the actual Fates, at the academy. He’s having a laugh. “The academy is a few hundred years old, Hewie, at best.”

He giggles. “No, silly. In the caves. The room you’re about to open was some kind of observatory judging by the runes. I don’t know why it was forgotten.”

“No aethers to open it?” I hazard, letting my blood drip slowly onto the aether symbol carved into the door mantel.

The first drop sizzles on impact, spilling bright light across the rune. The glow spreads, igniting the surrounding runes until the entire archway gleams. Then, the rock wall melts—actually melts—vanishing into nothing. Beside me, Hewie moans, and promptly faints. Hecate, Hewie. The boys won’t let you live that down.

Taking a deep breath, I step over his slumped body and through the arch .

My eyes widen. So bright. So beautiful.

A gleaming white marble floor surrounds a pool of silvery water. The curved walls are mirrored, reflecting the surface from all directions. The glow from Chano’s fireball dances across the ripples, shining back from hundreds of surfaces. I crane my neck, following the curve of the vaulted ceiling. No corners anywhere. Just mirror, marble, and the weirdly ethereal silver water. Water that looks so enticing. The surface ripples again. I slip my sandals off and pad across the cool marble.

“Uh-uh.” Chano’s strong arm loops around my waist, turning me away. “You may have walked in here without concern for your welfare, with no regard for what traps the Fates might have left, but you are not going paddling in an infinity pool like it’s a day at the beach.”

Stupid, overprotective asshole. “I’ve never been to the beach,” I snap, glaring into his face. His eyes soften.

A splash echoes through the chamber and we both wince. I peek past Chano’s bulk. Zephyr is floating fully clothed in the water, gazing at the ceiling. His eyes are wide, unfocused.

“Fucking angel,” Kai grumbles, pushing past. “Someone get him out and let’s do this. This ink and blood mix won’t keep forever. This isn’t the time for gazing at the future.”

“That’s what he’s seeing?” I ask.

“Possible futures,” corrects Hewie, popping up at my elbow, apparently no worse for wear from his impromptu nap. He dusts himself off as he gazes wide-eyed around the chamber. “If he turns and looks into the water, he might see the veil and those soon to pass or recently passed. So the books say.”

“I’ll hold him face down until he passes if he doesn’t get his ass out the water,” Kai snarls.

“It’ll work though, right?” Hewie snags Kai’s sleeve. “This place is powerful enough? ”

Kai blinks, his gaze dropping slowly to the banshee’s grip on his arm. Hewie snatches his hand away.

“You did well. It’s perfect.”

Hewie’s cheeks pink up and I swear he grows half an inch. That’s how to deal with Hewie. I wish the others would stop poking fun at him, scaring him.

Farrell finally resorts to physically dragging Zephyr out of the water, but he just stares ahead, blank—like someone flipped a switch in his brain. With a sharp motion, Farrell backhands his cheek.

“Ow!”

He does it again.

“Alright! Stop.” Zephyr shakes his head, flinging water across the room.

Farrell lifts his hand, but I catch his wrist. Zephyr shoots me a grateful smile, rubbing his cheek where a red weal is already forming. “Did you have to hit so hard, asshole?” He flips Farrell off, then turns to me. “They’re unveiling one at the academy this year, you know.”

“One what?”

“Observatory. But it’ll have nothing on this. Can’t you feel the power here?” He clasps both my hands in his. “You have to bring me back here, Lorelei. You have to.”

A smile pulls at the corners of my mouth until he squeezes me harder.

“It’s not funny. I have to come back,” he says.

“Okay, fine. I’ll bring you back.” Sheesh, talk about intense.

I stand in the middle of my friends while Kai completes the final shading on my tattoo. The mirrored walls reflect the light strangely on their faces, shadows dancing across them. I can trust these guys, can’t I? They’re going to own me. I study each of them in turn. They’re worried, every single one of them.

Zephyr plays with a strand of his silky blond hair. Chano’s brow is pulled down and even Farrell has a tell: the hard set to his jaw, the clenched teeth. Kai’s the unknown in all of this. The assassin. Apparently .

He catches me watching him in the mirror and his hand stills. “You can change your mind, killer.” He cocks his head to one side. “You want me to stop?”

And there it is. My out. He wouldn’t offer an out if he had bad intentions. “Finish it, Kai. Bond me.”

Zephyr flinches, but before I can apologize, I feel it. Kai puts the last line in its place at the nape of my neck and there’s a tightening, a constraint around my very being.

“Now,” Kai commands, and together they chant.

For such heavy dark magic, it’s a short spell. I know it is, I read through the thing with them, but each word worms into my brain. Each beat, each line adds another weight to my chest, more fog to my head.

Gone. It’s gone.

I can’t feel my power.