know about this guys. We could get in serious trouble.”
“I know. That’s why I don’t expect you to stay with me. I just need you to get me close enough, however you can. Then I’ll do the rest by myself. If I get caught I’ll say I was acting alone,” I said.
Delagio’s expression was pensive as he mulled over my request.
“ Please.” He sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it.” I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” “But we have another problem. How’re we gonna get outa here without raisin’ any suspicions? After all, it’s your party.”
“I’ve got an idea, hold on.” Rachel weaved over to where Sophia was sitting on the edge of a worn sofa, playing her handheld computer. As usual her tongue was sticking out at the side. Rachel bent down and whispered something in her ear. Sophia nodded. Rachel stood up and threaded back over to us.
“Delagio, follow Alex out half a minute after he leaves.”
“I don’t under-“ I started to say.
I was cut short by the sharp wail of pain followed by the stifled sobs of a child. I snapped my head around to see Sophia sitting on the floor clutching her foot. Midnight was there in seconds. “What’s wrong pint size?” he soothed. “I did something to my ankle. It hurts so much,” she wailed. “Okay hun, don’t worry. We’ll go get you a booster.” He went to lift her up, but she pushed him away. “I want Alex to take me,” she sniffed. Midnight looked at me with the unmistakable expression of someone contemplating murder.
That is going to cost me. I walked over, trying to avoid his skull-boring stare. Gabriella motioned to join me, but I shook my head. “It’s okay, I’ve got this. I’ll take her to the training area in the gymnasium. We won’t be long.” Gabriella smiled, resting a hand on Sophia’s leg. “Okay.”
I felt awful deceiving her, but I knew that this was one thing that we wouldn’t agree on. I scooped the girl into my arms, noticing how she barely weighed anything. Looking around, I noticed that only Chosen remained in the room. All of the Sages had gone — including Faru. I hurried out of the doors. In the Entrance hall, I pressed the elevator and waited.
“It’s okay, you can put me down now,” whispered Sophia. I placed her gently down on her feet. “Rachel told me to hide for a bit. Don’t worry, I’ll tell Midnight what happened so he isn’t mad at you.”
“Thanks Sophia.”
She waved goodbye and vanished down a corridor. The elevator arrived at the same time as Delagio appeared on the balcony. He vaulted off and landed soundlessly next to me.
Inside, he pressed the button for the temple. We raced through the Nexus. As the elevator began to slow, Delagio leaned over and slapped the emergency stop button. We cranked to a halt. He lifted up a hatch in the ceiling and hitched himself up, until he was halfway out. “What are you doing?” I asked his dangling legs. “Checkin’ how much further we need to go.” His reply was muffled. “I don’t follow.” His legs disappeared as if some invisible beast had dragged him into the darkness. “Del?” His face reappeared in the hole.
“Over the decades the Nexus has been redesigned accordin’ to changes in London’s layout.” He slipped deftly back down, his uniform covered in streaks of oil and dirt. “The old passages still exist; the elevators just don’t run along em anymore.”
“So where are we going?”
He raised a finger towards the ceiling. “But I need to get us in the right position first.”
I watched as he moved into the centre of the lift. He held his hands out at his sides and shut his eyes. For a while nothing happened, and then the elevator started to groan and hiss. Slowly it rolled forward like a train pulling out of a station. “Okay, we’re good to go.” He opened an eye and grinned at me. “You may want to hold on. This could get a lil’ bumpy.” I grabbed a rail with both hands. Delagio gritted his teeth together. He took a deep breath and threw his hands upwards. The elevator launched like a rocket.
I held my breath as we flew up the old tunnel. The elevator screamed and hissed as we were bumped from side to side. It was then that I realised with utter horror that we weren’t on rails. The only thing keeping us airborne was Delagio.
He stretched one hand out towards the doors. They cranked apart and I could see the dank outside walls lurching back and forth as we pinballed up the old tunnel. Out of nowhere an old door appeared in a small recess. In a split second it was gone.
“Del! I think that was it!”
The kinesist coiled his hands into fists and the elevator screeched to a standstill. Slowly he lowered us back down until we were level to the door. He nodded a head towards the pouch at his side. “Take one of these. It start’s vibratin’, you’ve got one minute to get back before me and this puppy take a nose dive.”
“Okay,” I said, scooping a silver marble out of the bag. “Thanks Del.”
“Yeah, yeah just get going and for god’s sake don’t get caught!”
I winched the doors open further and leapt into the recess. Wrapping a hand around the handle, I gingerly pushed against the warped wood.
It was pitch black. In the distance, I could hear the unmistakable sound of voices. I ushered the door closed. Lowering myself onto all fours, I crawled forward.
What am I doing? I asked myself as I shuffled deeper into the gloom.
I noticed a glow ahead. The small amount of light was enough for me to understand that I was on a walkway high above the Temple. The grand pillars reached a ceiling only a few feet above my head. I reached out and my hand pressed against the cool stone of a low wall. I hoisted myself up and peered over the edge.
The Sages were standing in a large circle. They were so far away they looked like ants, but their voices boomed around the area as if they had microphones fitted. “How many settlements have fallen?” I recognised the speaker as Glid — the Bejing leader. “At least ten,” replied Etorre. “What of the Iron City?” asked Asmund. “Gone,” sighed Faru. “What do you mean gone?” “He means it has been wiped from the face of Pandemonia.” “My God! Did anyone survive?” “Those it didn’t kill it turned into Depraved.” A rush of groans and gasps filled the room. I remembered what Faru had said about the poor soulless creatures. I shuddered. “How many follow it now?” asked Sylvia, Fae Sage of Conduit — the Manhattan base. “Over a hundred at least.” “Including Prince Ashan,” admitted Faru in a solemn tone. A fresh round of horrified gasps swept around the room. A few of the Sages began to weep. “Then that’s it. The battle is lost”, sniffed Sylvia. “Pandemonia belongs to Hades.” “The hell it does,” growled Glid. “I’d sooner forfeit my soul than let that cowardly bastard rule my home world!”
Faru made an agreeing sound. “Glid is right. It is not the end. We all know that someone else will rise in Prince Ashan's place. The Luminar will not lie down without a fight.” “There is also some good news. Prisoners have broken out of the Colosseums and joined the fight,” said Etorre. There were murmurs of confusion. “They still live? How many?” asked Glid. “At least two hundred.”
There was a universal sigh. I leaned further over the wall desperate not to miss a thing. Each of their words mixed with the sound of my own pulse, which roared in my ears.
“Unfortunately, there is more bad news,” sighed Etorre. “We think we know where it is headed.”
As I heard the words, a chill swept through my body. I finally understood why they all sounded so fearful. The Sorrow. They are talking about The Sorrow! It’s tearing across Pandemonia, destroying everything in its path. “Where?” asked a Sage whose name I couldn’t place. I held my breath. “Here.” My heart stalled. A deathly silence rolled into every crevice of the Temple, hanging in the air like a shadow.
“The path it has taken,” explained Faru, “is a direct path to the Water City. As you know, this is where the section of the Veil that connects to Chapter Hill is situated. There are only a few settlements around it, and behind stretches a thousand miles of the Dark Sea. Simply put, there is nothing else it could be heading for.”
Barely contained fear seemed to pour from everyone. Even from my place in the shadows — high above the crowd — I could feel it.
“You think it has something to do with the boy?” asked Asmund. “That’s what you told me earlier.”
“I am not sure. Perhaps. Perhaps not. It appears to me that the timing of his Awakening and the sudden movement of The Sorrow seems a little to co-incidental.”
“If this is true then we must be missing something — a connection of some kind,” Glid pointed out.
“Maybe there’s no connection at all,” countered Sylvia. “No doubt Hades has learned of his Awakening. Perhaps his accelerated use of The Sorrow is simply to destroy the major cities and claim victory over Pandemonia before a new wave of Chosen are born.”
“You could well be correct Sylvia. However, I do not wish to take the chance. And that is the main reason I have asked you all here to the Warren tonight. For your permission.”
A sharp pain in my knuckles made me realise that I’d been gripping the wall. I released them and used one
