“Yeah. On the way to wherever you’re hiding.”
Valek glanced around, spotting evidence that Teegan had been living here for at least a week. A pile of books teetered near the couch. He couldn’t leave Teegan here, even though it was probably safer than the inn. “Tell me when we get there. We need to keep quiet.”
“Okay.” Teegan poured a bucket of water onto the fire, dousing the flames. Thick smoke boiled up the chimney. Teegan followed Valek’s gaze. “It’s too dark to see it.”
“But not to smell it,” Valek said.
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Remember it for next time. Let’s go.”
Many questions rose in his mind as Valek escorted Teegan through the tunnel and during the circuitous route around the Citadel. Only when Valek was satisfied no one followed them did he head to the inn.
Teegan stayed with the horses while Valek checked the rooms. His agent waited inside Valek’s.
“Report,” Valek ordered.
“All quiet. No trouble,” the man said.
“Good. Get some sleep. We’re meeting in the dining room in the morning. Tell the others.”
“Yes, sir.”
Valek fetched Teegan. Once the boy was comfortable, he said, “Tell me why you were alone in Irys’s tower and spare no details.”
“Do you know about the Theobroma in the Keep’s food?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know why everyone went basically crazy, believing the Commander is going to attack Sitia and they had to help fight. Convinced of the danger, groups of magician and students took off for the garrisons until only a few support staff remained. I didn’t feel this compulsion, and I thought it was because I’m a student of Master Irys and she must be protecting me. But when I surprised her by showing up for a morning lesson, she determined that I must be strong enough to resist the magic, even with Theobroma in my body. Just like her and Master Bain.”
Valek jumped on that bit of news. “Masters Irys and Bain aren’t affected?”
“No.”
“Then why did they follow Bruns’s orders?”
“Because they didn’t have anyone else but me to help them. Because they thought it better to pretend to be influenced and gather information until you and Aunt Yelena planned a way to stop Bruns’s Cartel.”
Such trust. Valek hoped not to disappoint them, but his main goal—rescuing Yelena—would come first. And then it hit him. “You have master-level powers!”
Teegan grinned. “I have to take the test first, but this kind of confirmed it.”
Great news, except Teegan was only fourteen years old. Which reminded him... “Why didn’t you go home and stay with your mother and father?”
“Master Bain thought the Cartel would be watching them, and it would be suspicious if I showed up there. Master Irys destroyed all record of my enrollment here, and she hoped the Cartel would assume they got everyone. Not many people knew I was working with her, and she told me to keep a low profile among the students. She sensed magicians would soon be under attack.”
“So when Irys and Bain left...”
“I stayed and waited for you.”
“What if someone saw your fire? Or decided to search the Keep?”
“I hid behind an illusion. Didn’t you... Oh, that’s right, you’re immune, so you only felt the magic. If anyone else arrived, he’d see nothing but an empty room.”
Valek had seen through the illusion. Did that mean he was stronger than Teegan or that he was closer to flaming out? This wasn’t the time to worry about it. “What if no one came?”
Teegan rummaged in his pack. “The Masters believed you’d come looking for these.” He held up a handful of glass pendants.
“Are they—”
“Yup. Null shields. And if you didn’t show, I planned to relive my days as a street rat and find Fisk.”
Smart. Valek smiled. With Teegan and the pendants, they had a better chance of success. A crazy scheme to rescue Yelena and the others swirled to life. “Besides illusions, what else can you do?”
Teegan gave him a cocky little grin. “It’d be quicker to tell you what I can’t do.”
Oh, yes, this just might work.
*
Fisk and Tweet returned to the inn in the morning, and they gathered in a private dining room. Valek scanned the people sitting around the table. Two of his corps, Fisk, Tweet, Zethan, Zohav and Teegan. The majority were under eighteen and had no prior experience with subterfuge or fighting.
“I dispatched a team to the Stormdance Clan,” Fisk said. “If there are Stormdancers who are willing to help, they’ll meet us at the rendezvous location near the Krystal garrison.”
Valek filled them in on Teegan’s information. Relief touched all their faces when they learned of the Masters’ resistance to Bruns’s brainwashing.
“How many glass shields do you have?” Fisk asked.
“A dozen,” Teegan said.
“Are there any more?”
“Not in the Keep,” Teegan said.