The guard rattled his keys. “I said time’s up.”
Arik stood and walked out of the cell. “Send a curer to her straightaway.”
Antonio rushed after him. “Arik, they’ll hurt her again. We must get her out.”
The guard slammed the door and locked it.
“What have you done to her?” Uncle Philip shouted from his cell.
“Shut your mouth, you,” the guard said.
“Arik, come back,” Uncle Philip pleaded. “Listen to me. They’ll scryer her. You can’t leave her in here.”
“They won’t harm her.” Arik’s voice sounded farther away.
There was a bang as if Uncle Philip had kicked his door. “Gia, are you all right?”
Pia went to the door. “She’s been beaten badly, but she’s talking.”
“Thank you,” he said, sounding defeated.
She came back to me and continued washing my face with what little water she had. “I can’t believe Arik would let them do this.”
My mouth was dry. “Water?”
She put down the cloth, picked up a metal cup, and put it to my mouth. I flinched when it touched my cracked lip. “Too bad I can’t create my water globe. This stuff isn’t the best, but it’s wet.”
I drank it and choked a little. “That is horrible.”
The curer, a young woman with curly red hair, arrived and slathered gunk all over me. Before leaving, she placed a tattooed hand on my head. “Don’t give up. Keep fighting. And don’t be scared if the power goes out tonight. It’ll be extremely dark down here, but it’s only a few moments.” She slanted closer to me and whispered, “Even the wards and charms will be down.”
After the curer was gone, Pia came and sat at the edge of my bed. “I’ve been here for months and the power has never gone out. Why do you think she told you that?”
“Whoever she’s with is giving us a window to escape,” I said. “But what can we do with a few minutes? I doubt our battle globes could do anything to that thick steel door.”
“Then why did she even tell you that?”
“I don’t know.” I rolled over and faced the wall. “Let me think.”
She adjusted on her squeaky bed.
The pain made me restless. I stared at the dimmer lights just above our door, thinking about my globes. Glass would just shatter. Fire wouldn’t do anything. The ice and stun globes would be useless. Pia’s water globe would probably only drown us.
A dimmer next to the door glinted against one of the hinges. I needed a tool or something to undo them. There wasn’t anything in the room that could break them.
Hinges.
I sat up at the memory of when I’d used the Chiave to get Carrig out of a cell. The Chiave could cut metal. I just had to wait for the power outage to get the sword off my skin.
A yawn stretched my mouth. “No. You can’t sleep now,” I scolded myself.
“What?” Pia groaned and pulled the pillow over her head.
Worried I’d fall asleep and miss the power outage, I stood and paced the cell, keeping my eye on the dimmers above the door. Hours passed, and I paced.
Memories played through my mind.
And I paced.
Sweet memories of the past when Faith, Kale, and Sinead were alive. When my birth father, Carrig, had first found me outside the Boston Athen?um. When Arik wasn’t such an ass.
And I paced.
When it was just Nick and me, before Afton. And then when Afton had joined us. And when Pop and I were alone after my mom had died. Sunday dinners and Saturday picnics on the Boston Common with Pop.
And I stopped.
The light flickered. I pulled up my shirt, found the raised sword in my skin, and pressed my fingers to it.
The lights flickered again.
A loud pop sounded somewhere in the gallows.
And dark.
“Reditum.” I grimaced as the sword ripped from my body. It grew and floated in front of me, and I grasped it.
“Get up, Pia.”
I waited until the light came back on and hit the sword against the top hinge. Metal sang against metal.
“What’s happening?” Pia stumbled out of bed.
“We’re getting out of here.” I hit the next one, then the bottom.
With all the strength I could gather, I threw my body against the door and crashed with it into the hall. Pia helped me to my feet. Footsteps and voices came from farther down the corridor. I limped to Uncle Philip’s door and broke each hinge with the sword.
“Back up,” he warned before pushing the door out. It hit the floor like thunder. When he was out, I hugged him tight.
“Come on,” Pia said. “Where are we going?”
“This way.” I bolted up the corridor in the direction Odran had taken Nick, Deidre, Toad, and me when we’d come to get a Chiave from Toad. At the end, I found the narrow door Odran had brought us to and tugged it open. With every step up the tight, winding stairwell, my head felt as if it would fall off.
Suddenly the door below us flew open.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Uncle Philip struggled up the spiraling steps behind me. I hadn’t realized he was hurt, and when I stretched my hand back to him, he grasped it.
“We’re almost there,” I said. “Keep going.”
We reached the top and another lean door, and pushed it open. On the other side, Arik stood with his fire globe balancing on his hand. I stumbled, practically falling back on Uncle Philip.
Emily darted around Arik and caught my wrist. “Hurry up. Get inside.” She dragged me up the final steps into the Vatican Library. The familiar scent of dusty books and pine cleaner filled my nose.
Uncle Philip, then Pia, darted inside. Arik tossed his globe and slammed the door.
A deep yelp and then a series of thumps, like someone falling down the stairs, came from behind the door.
I threw up my hand, created a white globe, and slammed it against the panels. Ice shot across the door and onto the wall, sealing the opening. After creating another one, I turned to Arik.
It was ironic to see him framed by the murals of saints and bible scenes painted on the walls, pillars, and arches, since I was pretty sure he was the devil incarnate.
“Gia, put it down,” he said, his hands up in surrender.
Emily leaped between Arik and me. “Stop. Because of him you’re out.”
I glared over her shoulder at him. “Because of him, I was in there in the first place. Move out of the way.” The wound in my lip split as I spoke, blood seeping onto my tongue.
Uncle Philip hobbled over, still breathing heavily, and placed a shaky hand on my forearm. “Drop it. This can wait. We must get out of here.”
With anger firing through my veins, I spat, “I hate you,” at Arik and dropped the globe. It hit the floor, ice spreading across the tiles.
Arik pulled his eyes from me, opened the gateway book to a page, and placed it on the floor. “You jump first,” he said to me.
“No. Uncle Philip and Pia will go, then me.”
I didn’t trust Arik enough to leave them behind with him. And he knew that’s how I felt, because it showed on his face like the bruises on mine.