“We’ll explain everything once we’re safe,” Alex said. She ran her eyes over the performer, noting that he appeared to be standing all right, but she didn’t know what might have happened to him in the few days he’d been imprisoned. “Are you hurt or anything? Can you walk?”
He seemed puzzled, but then his expression cleared with understanding and he sent her a reassuring look. “I’m fine, love. They didn’t do anything except bore me to death.”
“Good to know,” Alex said. She reached down and retrieved the security guard’s ID tag before leading the way out of the cell and over to her classmates. She could see their mouths moving as they tried to talk to her, but no sound came out of the cell they were in. The moment she touched the ID to the panel the door unlocked, and whatever was keeping the cell soundproofed disappeared. Alex was inundated with so many exclamations that she glanced back up the corridor in concern, hoping the other guards wouldn’t hear the disturbance.
“Quiet!” Alex hissed at them as they made their way out of the cell. “We’re supposed to be stealthy, remember? Jeez.”
Immediately they all shut up.
“Alex, what are you doing here?” Jordan asked, his disbelief obvious. “And why are you with him?”
He pointed at ‘Sir Oswald’ and Alex motioned for Skyla to join them.
“Hey, guys,” Skyla said with a wave. “It’s me.”
They looked at her blankly, clearly wondering if Alex had managed to drug the host of the party.
“I told you we’d look after you if something went wrong,” Skyla continued, oblivious to their confusion. “We totally have your backs.”
“Skyla?” Pipsqueak gasped.
“Yeah?” Skyla answered. When Pip didn’t say anything further, she added, “I don’t have all day, Pipsqueak. What do you want?”
“Uh… nothing,” Pip said, her eyes wide. “Just… good job.”
“We’re not out of this yet,” Alex told them, and she turned to Samson who was watching their interaction with unveiled curiosity. “Our instructions are to retrieve you and escort you back to your home. If we can get out of the building, can you lead us to your place?”
“That’s a little more complicated than it sounds, love,” he said. “I’m not exactly a local.”
“You don’t live in the village?” Kaiden asked.
“No,” Samson said, eyeing him warily. “But if we can get to my juggling bag, I have a secret stash of Bubblers that will get us all out of here.”
“Where is it?” Alex asked, already knowing she wouldn’t like the answer.
“My best guess? Hopefully near the side of the stage upstairs, hidden in the corner behind the fake pot plant. That’s where I left it.”
Great. Just perfect.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Alex said, taking charge. “Skyla and I are the only ones who can be seen walking around upstairs, so we need to get the rest of you outside. There are two guards stationed at the door to the dungeon, and one left at the entrance to the mansion. If we can get you past them, then you’ll be outside and you can make a run for it up the hill. Skyla and I will meet you there after we grab Samson’s bag.”
“But Alex, you said I wouldn’t have to do anything else once we found the others,” Skyla whined. “I want to be me again. It’s tiring holding this man’s shape.”
Alex looked at her with alarm. “How much longer can you stay as Sir Oswald? He’ll be waking up any minute but he’ll still need to find some clothes, so we should have just long enough to reach Samson’s bag and get out of here. Can you handle that?”
“I don’t know,” Skyla said. “But I don’t want to stay like him anymore. I want to go with the others. I don’t like it here.”
Alex tried to rein in her frustration. It wasn’t Skyla’s fault they were stuck in such a dangerous situation, but Alex wished the other girl would be a little more willing to help.
“Fine,” she agreed, anxious to get moving. “Skyla, you go with the others. I’ll find Samson’s bag and meet you all back where we started.”
“You’re not going on your own,” Jordan told her sternly.
“Apparently I am,” she replied, with just as much attitude. “None of you can be seen.”
“I won’t be seen,” Jordan said pointedly. “And I’m coming with you, so don’t argue.”
She frowned at him, but if he was adamant about going with her, then she might as well take advantage of it. “Can you use your gift on me, too? That’ll hopefully speed things along.”
He nodded, relieved by her easy acceptance.
“Here, take these,” Samson said, handing over three juggling balls. “If you need to make a quick escape, throw them as hard as you can at the ground, and run like there’s a fire-breathing draekon on your tail.”
Wondering what the heck a draekon was but deciding now was not the time to ask, Alex took the balls and handed them to Jordan for safekeeping before she turned back to the performer. “Why didn’t you use whatever these are when you were captured?”
“You have the element of surprise,” he said. “I was ambushed in the middle of a performance. I didn’t have the chance to activate them.”
“I heard you spilled wine all over Sir Oswald,” Declan said. “Wasn’t that enough of a distraction to use whatever is in those juggling balls?”
“Technicalities,” Samson said gruffly. “Are we going?”
“We’ll head out first and clear the way,” Jordan told the others. “Give us a minute to take down the guards before you follow.”
When the rest of them nodded, Jordan reached out and grabbed Alex’s hand. Almost immediately she felt a tingling sensation and her vision turned slightly blurry as his gift took effect. Only Jordan remained perfectly clear, since he was transcended along with her. But he looked paler than usual, and almost like he was in pain.
“Are you all right?” Alex asked as they hurried towards the door to the dungeons.
“Tired,” he said, and Alex knew he didn’t just mean physically. “Keeping my gift active the whole time Kaiden and I were in the military compound took it out of me. I tried to get out of the cell earlier, but it’s reinforced against gifts, just like our dorms at the academy. The effort drained me even more. But I can keep it up for a while longer.”
“Jordan, really, maybe you should go back with the others,” Alex tried again.
“I’m not leaving you on your own,” he told her. “We’re in this together, remember? You’re stuck with me, Alex. Deal with it.”
She squeezed his hand, knowing she didn’t have to say anything for him to understand how relieved she was to have him with her.
“Here,” she said, handing him the Stabiliser as they approached the entry to the dungeons. “I’ve shot enough people today. Can you…?”
“I’ve got this,” Jordan assured her.
“Just one shot, remember?”
Jordan snorted. “As if I’d forget. I don’t relish the idea of becoming a murderer.”
She nodded in agreement and reached out with the guard’s ID, pressing it against the door panel until the lock clicked open.
“It’s about time you—Hey, what’s going on? Kerway, did you open the door?”