12

JANCO

“What’s your rush?” Maren asked.

Janco hustled her along the hallways of the castle. The need to hurry pulsed in his veins. “Something’s not right,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Outside Valek’s office. That darkness was...odd...weird. I felt strong magic. And his knife was on the floor. Didn’t you see it?”

“No. I was—”

“Too busy sleeping. And that was strange, too.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Maren remained quiet for a while. “Do you think something happened to Valek?”

Did he? He considered the clues. “Yes.”

“But he’s immune to magic.”

Janco forgot that Maren didn’t know about null shields. No time to explain it to her. “Yeah, well, Owen could have shot him with a dart of Curare.”

“Where are we going?”

“To get Ari. We need reinforcements.”

“You need a couple magicians to fight them.”

“Ari’s got the best aim with the blowpipe. Curare works on magicians, too.”

“But can’t that one guy move objects with his magic? A dart wouldn’t reach him.”

Janco skidded to a stop. “Oh, hell.”

“And I’m sure they’re gone by now.”

They wouldn’t wait for Janco to figure it out and return. What to do? Janco closed his eyes. He ejected his chaotic thoughts, suppressed his worry and fear for Valek and concentrated on the logic. If Owen killed Valek, the Commander would be upset, but if Valek disappeared... But he couldn’t hide a dead body, it would stink after a few days. They could smuggle the body outside the castle by hiding it with an illusion. Too risky. Maybe they planned to keep him locked up. But where? And would they risk the possibility of Valek escaping? Probably not.

This was going nowhere. He switched his line of thought. Where was the one place the Commander had said was off-limits? The guest suites! Janco opened his eyes.

Maren waited with her arms crossed. “Got something, genius?”

He ignored the insult. “Come on.” Janco ran and didn’t bother to check if Maren followed or not.

Ari jumped to his feet when Janco burst into their apartment. “What’s wrong?”

Janco raced to his room, grabbed his bag of tricks and dashed back. “Reema, stay here. Ari, come on.”

“Weapons?” Ari asked.

“Got ’em. Let’s go!”

Maren remained in the hall. Janco shot past her, heading to the nearest stairwell. Her and Ari’s pounding footsteps sounded behind him.

“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” Ari asked him.

“He thinks Valek’s in trouble,” Maren answered.

“Thinks?”

Maren explained about the oddness in the hallway outside Valek’s office. It didn’t take Ari long to reach the same conclusion.

“The three of us can’t fight three magicians,” Ari said.

Janco reached the stairs and bounded up them three at a time. At the fourth floor, he stopped, putting his hand up to signal all quiet. He peered down the hall. Empty.

Giving Maren and Ari the wait signal, he crept down the corridor until he reached the turn that would lead to the guest quarters. A quick peek confirmed no one lurked in the shadows. But a creepy-crawly sensation brushed his skin.

Magic nearby. Lovely. At least it wasn’t the sharp pain of an active illusion. Janco returned to his friends. He explained his plan in a whisper, then dug into his bag of tricks.

Ari raised his eyebrows when Janco handed him a blowpipe and darts.

“Just in case,” Janco said. Then he gave Maren the most important item. “Make sure it gets as close to the action as possible.”

“What if there’s no action?” she asked.

“Then we find it,” Ari said. “No stopping until Valek’s safe.”

Janco flashed his partner a grin. While Maren might doubt him, Ari was all in.

In silence, they ghosted through the hallway. When they reached the door to the guest suites, Janco knelt on one knee. He twisted the knob. Locked. Janco whipped out his lock picks. Using the one with the mirror, he inserted it under the door and confirmed no one guarded the door. A cool breeze blew over his hand and voices murmured from inside.

“A window is open,” Janco whispered. “We’ll have to move fast.”

Inserting his diamond pick and tension wrench into the lock, he aligned the pins in record time and slowly turned the cylinder. Even though every nerve tingled with the desire to hurry, he eased open the door. It about killed him to move that slow.

Owen, Tyen and Rika stood in front of the window with their backs to the door, talking. Strange, but good fortune for him. Where was Valek? He scanned the rest of the room.

“...Valek,” Owen said.

Janco’s gaze jumped back to the others and he spotted his boss through a gap between Tyen and Rika. Valek sat on the ledge with Owen gripping his shoulders, talking to him. Pushing the door wider, Janco entered the room and signaled Ari and Maren to follow.

Owen said, “...Yelena’s next.”

“Now!” he yelled at Maren.

The three magicians whipped around just as she threw a glass ball at their feet. It shattered on impact. A knockout gas hissed from the broken shards, fogging the area. But the breeze from the outside would soon clear the air. Then they’d have three pissed-off magicians.