Maria seemed hypnotised by the screen. I could see the whites of her eyes around the iris.
‘I am Hildred Vance, Grand Commander of the Republic of Scion England. As you are no doubt coming to realise, this is not where Senshield’s core is located.’ She didn’t blink once. ‘Such information would never be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. There is no . . . underground facility.’ Nick stepped back, knocking a piece of rubble across the floor. ‘This building is derelict. Tonight, however, it has been prepared for your arrival.’
She had trapped me. Lured me here like an animal for the abattoir. I thrashed wildly inside the net.
‘As we speak, your unique radiesthesic signature is being used to recalibrate Senshield. Thank you for assisting us.’
A white light beamed down from above, blinding me.
The ?ther trembled violently, pushing shudder after shudder through my body. Something skirted the edge of my dreamscape. Sweat seeped into my boiler suit as I hung there, powerless, feeling my pulse twang in my fingers and the backs of my knees and my aura flexing like a fist, reaching out and recoiling by turns. I curled around myself as if my clothes had been stripped away, suddenly certain that something was looking at me.
A soft beep sounded in the building. Warmth ran from my nose and over my forehead.
‘Shoot it, Nick,’ Maria barked. ‘Paige, don’t move!’
‘You have already made a grave error by coming here. Do not make the mistake of resisting detainment.’ Vance seemed to watch us, soullessly, from the screen. ‘Your allies may be shown clemency if you allow my soldiers to take you peacefully into Inquisitorial custody.’
My mouth rang with the taste of blood. The air was too thin, weak, and spidery in my lungs. I was going to black out.
Danica. Vance must know about her, somehow. Jaxon must have told her without Alsafi’s knowledge.
A bullet snapped the hook that held the net, and the pressure on my head abruptly released. I barely had time to gasp before I plummeted – only to have my fall broken by Nick. He let out a faint ‘oof’ before his knees buckled and we both slammed into the concrete, hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs and awaken all my old hurts from the scrimmage. Maria was already dragging me up by the back of my jacket.
‘There can be no escape for those who defy the anchor,’ Vance said. ‘No mercy for those who pervert the natural order.’
Chased by her voice, we sprinted towards the open doors of the warehouse, back into the snow. Floodlights were blazing at us from beyond the fence, exposing our position, but there were still no dreamscapes closing in – at least, I thought there weren’t until my sixth sense vibrated, and I looked up sharply. Eight shadows bloomed in the sky above us.
It took me a moment to understand. Maria got there first.
‘Paratroopers.’ Her hands viced my arms. ‘Run. Back to the ice!’
The seer was already tearing back to the fence. The redhead was waiting on the other side, shouting ‘Underqueen’. As Driscoll and his summoners ran after her, the first of the paratroopers landed on the warehouse roof. Maria fired her pistol at the next one, nicking the parachute.
‘Paige,’ Nick roared, ‘come on!’
Gunfire hailed from above. I watched as one of the summoners went down. When the second was hit, a choke of ‘no’ escaped me. Maria pulled me down before shoving me towards Nick.
‘Go,’ she snarled.
She flattened herself against the warehouse and reloaded her gun. I ran like I never thought I could, keeping Nick in my sights. They were amaurotic soldiers, immune to spools, but I could cover Maria. My spirit wasn’t like those of the dead. I could access any mind.
Heat flared behind me. I threw a glance over my shoulder to see a string of burning spirits flying towards one of the paratroopers, who had landed on the snow close to Maria. Before the soldier could take aim, the parachute was consumed by fire. Maria ducked behind the warehouse door. Beside the two dead summoners, Driscoll stood his ground and joined in with the gunfire. The redhead scrambled back under the fence to help him. When I was near the end of the concrete field, Nick ran out to meet me and grabbed my hand.
Everything about the trap had been perfect. Vance had known, somehow, that I would sense deception if her people were waiting nearby to arrest us; that dropping assassins in would keep them off my radar until it was too late.
The snow was misted with red where the summoners had fallen. ‘Maria,’ I shouted. ‘Get over here, now!’
She let off one more shot before she struck out across the snow. Nick fired at the soldier on the roof, but they had armour.
I squirmed through the gap beneath the fence, scraping my hip, and hauled myself out of the ditch on the other side. Somewhere behind me, Maria let out a cry. Instinctively, I threw my spirit towards the paratroopers. I was aware of tearing through a dreamscape and lashing one of them into the ?ther, of hearing a rifle clatter to the ground and seeing letters stamped on its side, but my silver cord whiplashed me back to my own body before I could take full control. Through tears of pain, I saw another soldier approaching from the left, his rifle aimed at the redhead, who was focused on driving off the one who had shot Maria. I tried to dreamwalk again, but it was as if two rusted gears were grinding in my skull. Locked in place.
A spray of bullets tore through her midriff.
Nick dragged Maria underneath the fence and swung her arm around his neck. Her face was white. Driscoll just about got through before the soldiers opened fire again, and we scrambled down the ladder.
A helicopter dropped from above us and shone its light across the river, on to the ice. A voice from inside told me to surrender immediately. I thought of the three dead voyants I had left behind, and with a surge of breathless fury, I turned to face it, throwing my arms wide. I motioned for Driscoll to move behind me and made sure I was shielding Nick and Maria. My hair whipped across my face as we gathered together.
‘Paige,’ Nick said, ‘what are you doing?’
‘They won’t shoot.’ I kept my eyes on the helicopter. ‘They can’t risk breaking the ice.’
‘Why would they care?’
‘Because they have to take me alive.’
Nashira wanted my spirit. If I was swept away by the river, she would never get it.
We were deadlocked. The helicopter hovered above the water. It might not shoot while we were here, but it would follow us until we had to leave the ice – and as soon as we were on solid ground, it would incapacitate me and kill the others. Sickening fear took hold as I pictured it. We might have eluded Vance for an instant, but she had us in a corner.