That would mean I just had to find her before a hundred armed guards did. Shadow or no, they would gun her down if she really had caused all this.
“Agreed,” I murmured. “And that means we need to get through here to look for her. If I barely know all these old passages, she’s sure to be disoriented.” I scanned the hangar again, taking in the deserted equipment, the corroded doors that had once accepted ships now lost to time. Old ventilation shafts and power cables were everywhere, hanging from the ceiling and snaking across the floor. The design was old, belonging to a more practical and urgent age.
“There.” I pointed to a small door directly opposite us across the yawning space.
My sister narrowed her eyes. “If we can make it that far without being seen. And how can you be sure she went that way?”
“There are four ways out of here. We’re in one, and the other two are crawling with guards. What choice do we have?” I unsheathed one of my Disruption Blades from my back. “We can’t cross the hangar with this many people in here, or someone will report us. On my signal, take twenty paces in a straight line as fast as you can. And you might want to remove your heels.”
Solara looked annoyed. “I was just dancing in them, brother dear; I can manage a run. What’s your plan? What signal?”
“You’ll see.” I slipped out into the open.
I wasn’t being dramatic. I had to make my exit at that moment, because a palace security guard had just walked by. He’d obviously been assigned a perimeter patrol because his commanding officer wanted to look as if he was accomplishing things, even though no one had any idea what to do.
Normally I would have helped bring order to the situation; instead, I was about to do the opposite. I put that unsettling thought out of my head as I shadowed the guard, walking in perfect, silent pace with him. No one paid attention to the motion already in their periphery, and the guard was unsuspecting. I rotated my blade and raised it high, point down. Blue light flowed down the white band of energy in the middle at the flip of the switch.
As I stepped over a power coupling strung across the floor, I drove the point of my blade into it with all my strength. Electricity arced out from my sword into the air, sparks trailing behind.
The entire hangar went dark. The old electrical system couldn’t handle the load on the circuit, and somewhere a breaker had blown. I’d guessed something like this would happen, but I didn’t have time to congratulate myself on being right. I tapped the hilt of my Disruption Blade to snuff its light.
I turned on the spot and ran at a measured pace through the blackness, counting my steps. If I’d calculated wrong, Solara and I would be separated or, worse, I might run into the wrong person and risk discovery. But my hand connected with what was unmistakably her shoulder, and I gave a silent sigh of relief.
Holding tight to each other, we ran pell-mell through the cavernous darkness. Helmet lights and plasma torches flared to life, giving their owners some measure of sight. But if we were spotted, we were just another bit of indistinct movement along with everyone else.
The next minute, we tumbled into the room on the other side of the hangar.
Solara shook her head, gasping. “I lost one of my favorite shoes.”
“Sacrifice noted, Sol.” I instinctively called her by the childhood nickname I hadn’t used in years. But then I realized something. “If the security finds your shoe, won’t they know you were down here?”
Solara looked unconcerned. “They can know I was here, just not why. I’ll imply that I was using this abandoned place for more clandestine affairs.”
That was good enough for me. I looked around. “I think this is the way to a control room. Look”—I pointed—“there’s an old lift.” I jumped onto the platform that was mounted on a single pole—technology that belonged in a museum rather than in the Dracorte citadel. “Come on.”
Solara climbed on with me, after pulling off her other shoe and tossing it over her shoulder. I kicked the pedal that activated the lift and, with a hiss, it propelled us upward. The room we arrived in was covered in dust, and strange buttons and levers punctuated the consoles along the walls.
I started to smile as my eyes found an exit, but it died on my lips. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Solara asked.
It had been faint, but I knew without a doubt that I’d heard it. There it was again.
A moan…Qole.
Fear and relief clawed at me so strongly that our next dash through the hallways became a frantic blur. Qole was alive. She was likely hurt by the sounds of it, but alive.
We finally found her curled up at the corner of a hallway, eyes closed. Her skin was ashen, and there were bruises and blood on her arms and legs. Cuffs, I thought grimly. Her hair was wild and disheveled, as though she had just survived a windstorm, and her dress was in such tatters that it could barely have been considered decent. In any other circumstances, I would have had a hard time not staring like an idiot, but right now I couldn’t take my eyes off her for a vastly different reason. All I felt was a deep, burning rage.
Solara sighed nearby. She’d managed to keep up with me in her bare feet. “Shame. That was an exquisite dress.”
Qole shuddered. My chest constricted, my rage vanishing in an instant. I dropped to my knees beside her and scooped her into my arms without thinking. Her skin was cold to the touch, and I fumbled for the pulse in her wrist. It was weak and erratic.
The words were out of my mouth before I could contain them. “Qole, I’m here. I’m with you. Are you hurt? What happened?”
I didn’t expect her to be able to answer, but her voice came, hoarse and cracking. “It…burned them. I…broke apart.”
That was hardly reassuring. It didn’t matter; I just had to get her out of here. “Can you move? Can you stand?”
“I talked to…I talked. I could see.”
“She’s not making sense.” I glanced up at Solara in despair. As far as I could tell, Qole was physically whole, but she didn’t sound or feel right. It was like she was crumbling from the inside out, and I was deathly afraid that moving would finish her off in some way I couldn’t understand. I could only imagine that drawing Shadow had caused this, but the last time she’d done so, she had remained coherent after she’d blacked out. A cold thought settled into my mind: Both of her parents had gone insane and died. Maybe the same was happening to her.
“Forgot…I need to…” Qole groaned and shivered. I clutched her closer to me, trying to will away her cold and pain, feeling utterly helpless.
“Well, she’s not going to get very far like this.” Solara seemed unaffected by her predicament, but at least she was being practical. “Did you have a plan for what to do when you found her?”
I brushed away a few strands of hair from Qole’s face. “I was going to get her to her ship so she could get as far away from here as possible.” And from me.