On reflex, I set my palms against my ears. If anything, the background noise is louder here than in the Cloud Carrier itself. Beneath my feet, the igni flicker and disappear, their work now done.
I scan the containment wall behind us. It shifts oddly in some places. “Walker, can you talk to the engineers in the Control Room? Now that we moved through, they’ll need to re-calibrate the containment field. Oh, and have them go on lock-down, too. Who knows what Adair’s doing here? I don’t want any escapees.”
“Got it.” Walker takes off at a run.
Lincoln points across the Tower floor. “And there she is.”
Adair stands at the far wall of the Tower beside her two ghouls, chatting up Frederick, our Lead Warden. Is this what Adair does when she’s not stalking me…Work over my Tower Wardens for information?
Lincoln has to yell above the din, which is good, since we don’t want you-know-who to hear a word. “You still practicing those igni cords?”
“Yup.”
“How fast could you tie someone up?”
I can see where Lincoln’s going with this, and I likes it. We can’t use weapons in here, but I could restrain Adair with igni. That way, we can question her. “Fast.”
“Good. Wait for my signal.”
Up in the Control Room, Walker gets the Tower on lock-down. Instantly, the chamber goes from an overwhelming racket to creepily quiet.
The shut-down makes Adair jump, and she immediately scans the room. Once she spies Lincoln, and her cheeks burn red with embarrassment. Evidently, she didn’t count on us following her here. Good. Now, she has to deal with the fact that she ignored Lincoln in the alleyway.
A yummy sense of satisfaction warms me to the core. So nice to be on the stalker side of the stalker-stalkee equation, for once.
Lincoln and I walk slowly towards Adair, who slaps on an angelic face as we approach. Once again, Lincoln raises his arm, like he did in the alley. “Lady Adair, you defied a direct order from your High Prince. I asked you to halt and speak with me. If we were in Antrum, you’d be in irons by now.”
Adair looks to Lincoln, her tiny eyes blinking innocently. “Did you speak to me before? I didn’t hear anything.” She turns to the Lead Warden. “That’s so interesting about the Ghost Carriers, I mean, the Cloud Carriers.”
I stifle the urge to roll my eyes. Nice. She knows I suck at my job, but she can’t remember what to call the things I spend most of my day worrying about.
“Yes, Lady Adair.” Frederick glares at me, something I’ve never seen from him before. “The Carriers can be incredibly dangerous when they aren’t managed properly.”
“Of course,” says Adair. “We’ll talk again soon.”
Talk again soon? What the Hell?
“You got it,” says Frederick. They share a knowing look, and then my soon-to-be-ex-Lead Warden returns to his post.
Adair twiddles her fingers in his direction. “Thanks, Freddie.”
Freddie, not Frederick? Really? How long have these two been hanging out?
A nasty realization trickles into my mind. First Celia, now Frederick. In her spare time, Adair’s been doing more than schmoozing my Wardens for information. She’s been poisoning them against me. That’s why Celia confronted me. Adair’s been visiting the Towers, telling the Wardens what they want to hear: that I need to move souls, and that we all need to return to the ghoul-rules.
Unholy Hell.
Adair fiddles with her gown’s long, loopy sleeves. “Thank Heavens I became a Diplomat here. Poor workers like Freddie have no one to advocate for them.” She offers a look of overblown sympathy to Lincoln. “And you? Our thrax warriors will be forced to murder all those ghosts once they break free and ravage Purgatory.” She shakes her head sadly. “And all because the Great Scala is so incompetent.”
Lincoln and I pause about five feet away from Adair and her pair of ghouls. We may be standing still, but my mind is whirling through her latest comments. Manipulating my people? Accusing me of not moving souls because I’m incompetent? Screw her. My fingers itch to have igni swirl around them. An igni-cord on her neck would be quite nice in particular.
Adair snaps her fingers. Her ghoul opens a portal behind her. “I’m afraid I must take my leave now. So much work to do. I’m sure you understand.”
Without giving Lincoln a chance to reply, Adair quickly steps towards the open portal behind her.
Lincoln turns to me. “Now!”
Instantly, igni blast forward from my hands, creating two long silver ropes that whip across the Tower floor. In the blink of an eye, Adair and her two ghouls are all looped along like beads on a string. My igni-cord wraps tightly around their waists, holding their arms firmly to their sides. Adair’s ghouls writhe frantically in my bonds as they try to escape. No dice.
All the blood drains from Adair’s face. “I wasn’t here causing trouble,” she says quickly. “I am not abusing my role as thrax Diplomat.”