“Don’t know. His festival shift was from ten until two, and I didn’t see him afterward.”
“We need to find him.” My gaze scanned the bunkrooms above us. The Adlin were still running through the second and third levels, but I couldn’t see any sign of opposition. The soldiers I’d seen up there might have survived the air being sucked from their lungs, but it looked like they’d not survived the ravages of the Adlin.
I pushed away the possibility of death being April’s fate and caught the ammo loop Ava threw me. We reached the base of the stairs and headed up.
After a quick sweep through the first level to ensure there were no Adlin lying in wait, we joined six others and made our way toward the second level. A pack of seven Adlin immediately came at us, their screams ripping across the air, hurting my ears. We fired as one, and the Adlin went down, their bodies torn apart by the spray of metal. We reloaded and checked each bunkhouse to ensure no creatures remained. All we found was bodies. The remnants of at least a dozen soldiers were scattered in either the rooms or on the walkways, but it was obvious none of them had been caught unawares. They’d either died when the air had been sucked from their lungs, or had gone down fighting the Adlin with whatever they could get their hands on. But wood and steel was of little use against the greater strength and reach of the creatures.
We cautiously moved up to the last level—our floor. My gut twisted as we neared the coupling room April, Ava, and I usually used, but it was empty of both life and death. Relief spun through me, but it was a tempered with the knowledge that while he wasn’t here, he could still be dead.
We took out the remaining Adlin and then continued checking the rest of the rooms. They’d not only gotten as far as ours, but had also, in fact, torn it apart. Furniture had been broken, the bedding torn into pieces, and our personal lockers smashed beyond repair, their contents spilled all over the floor. Even the walls and the ceiling had not escaped the Adlin’s attentions.
Ava stopped in the middle of all the mess and looked around with something close to bemusement. I walked past her, looking for my uniforms. I eventually found a shirt that was only missing one arm, a pair of pants that were whole aside from a slight rip along the seam near my thigh, and—most importantly of all—a pair of boots for my beaten-up feet. Once I’d stripped off what remained of my sodden skirt and top, I quickly dried myself on the remnants of a towel and then got dressed.
Outside, the siren finally stopped and with it went the sound of the Adlin’s howls from beyond the walls. The silence was almost eerie. I sat on the edge of the bed and contemplated the mess, wondering again what they were doing here. The destruction in the other rooms had been nowhere near as bad as this.
“You know,” Ava mused, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were searching for something.”
Suspicion of what that thing might be stirred and I stood abruptly. “Ava, can you see that bracelet I brought back from Blacklake anywhere?”
She shook her head. “Mind you, it’s rather hard to spot anything in this.”
“We need to find it.”
“We need to find April,” she said. “The bracelet and this mess can wait.”
“No, it can’t, trust me on that.”
She frowned me, but nevertheless helped me search. We went through everything, searched everywhere; we found the gorgeous jewelry Ava had tucked away for a special event, and April’s dagger made from an Adlin’s claw, but the bracelet was conspicuously absent.
“It’s gone,” Ava said. “Though how that is possible I can’t say. None of them escaped us.”
Yes, the wind said. They did. The roof.
I turned and ran the door. Ava followed me out. I stopped at the railing but couldn’t immediately see anything, so I climbed up, balancing preciously before leaping for the roof. I caught the edge and hauled myself up. Ava soon followed me.
What we discovered was more bodies—bodies that hadn’t been there when I’d jumped down from the inner wall. Bodies that were both Adlin and Nightwatch.
“Well, these buggers are well and truly dead.” Ava lightly nudged an Adlin with her toe. “None of them appear to be carrying anything, though.”
“No.” I walked over to the edge of the building. Far below me, in the Bay of Giants, the ocean pounded against the white cliffs, a fierce and murderous force no human or Adlin could survive. Not that the Adlin would even consider jumping given their fear of water in general. So why did they come up here? They had to have known there was no escape. And as powerful as the Adlin were, there was no way even they could throw the bracelet across the distance that separated Winterborne from the white sand that lined the bay’s gentler shoreline. And by the time they had come up here, Hedra was dead, so the wind couldn’t have helped them. Unless, of course, there was another witch involved, one we didn’t know about.
Hell, it might even be Saska, for all I knew.
No, the wind whispered. The Adlin are accompanied by another witch. It is he who commanded the wind to snare the bracelet and bring it to them.
I briefly closed my eyes. Yet another traitor… or was it perhaps one of the many children Saska and the other stolen witches had given birth to?
“Neve! You up here?”
It took me a moment to recognize the voice—Trey. “On the roof, Commander.”
Ava walked over to the other edge and peered down. “So is this the commander? The one who sent you the dress and whisked you away to the Upper Reaches?”
“Yes.”
“Huh.” Ava paused. “I must say, he’s rather nice-looking. Well caught, you.”
“It’s hardly likely to be anything more than a passing fancy,” I said, my gaze on the distant shoreline. “I’m unlit, remember?”
“Unlit maybe, but not undesirable.”
I smiled and didn’t answer. Although the rain had eased, the sky remained thunderous, and there was little light glimmering on that distant shore. But it didn’t matter, because I could feel movement, through the stones and the earth. There was at least one sleuth, if not more, running away from that shore.
Why would they risk so much for the return of one bracelet?
I blinked at the thought. There wasn’t just one bracelet involved. There were two.
And if they’d gone to extremes here to retrieve it, what would they do at Blacklake?
I ran back to the other edge of the roof and jumped down, sprinting forward without really looking, and just about collided with Trey as he came up the walkway.
“Whoa,” he said, catching me firmly. “What’s the hurry?”
“The bracelet,” I said. “They were after the bracelet.”
Understanding flashed across his eyes. He didn’t say anything; he just grabbed my hand and ran back down the bunkhouse levels. Captain July was walking across the courtyard toward the infirmary area, but stopped the minute he saw us.
“Commander Stone,” he said. “I believe we have you to thank for the earthworks that saved Winterborne.”
Which was why the energy had seemed familiar—it had been Trey who’d called the earth into action.
“Indeed, Captain.” Trey came to a halt and released my hand. “And now I must ask a favor of you. We need to get to Blacklake immediately.”
The captain frowned. “It’s not safe, Commander. The Adlin still roam—”
“I know, and I don’t care. I have reason to believe Blacklake will come under a similar attack, and I will not remain here while they fight for their lives.”
The captain hesitated. “A speeder could be ready inside twenty minutes; the problem is the gates—”
“What I’ve done can be undone,” Trey said. “If you can arrange the immediate preparation of a speeder and weaponry for myself and Neve, I’ll make an urgent call up to Lord Kiro, requesting the presence of several earth witches. They can help you restore the gates into full working order.”