Luciano, despite having done the unthinkable in siring the mayor, was working out well. Revenues were back up since the curfew had been lifted. Just then, a soft roar rose from the Pits, muted by the French doors behind him that opened onto the balcony overlooking the fighting arena. He nodded at the sound. In fact, revenues had never been better.
He knew part of that was because Maddoc had lifted the long-standing ban on pride members patronizing Seven. That Maddoc would do such a thing with the bad blood between them spoke to his strength as a leader.
Dominic tapped his gold pen on the desktop. Perhaps it was time to make peace. He tapped the screen of his tablet and scrolled through his suppliers list. A gift maybe. To show he was open to reconciliation.
Someone knocked on his door. He wasn’t expecting anyone. He reached for the blade he kept hidden under his desk. “Come.”
Jacqueline, the slender brunette who acted as the house mother for his stable of comarre, poked her head in. “Mr. Scarnato?”
Even her tone was worried. He took his hand from beneath the desk and gestured toward a chair. “Come in, Jacqueline. What can I do for you?”
She shut the door behind her and walked toward him, wringing her hands. “I think something bad has happened.”
Inwardly he groaned.
“No, that’s not the problem.” She dragged in a breath. “I haven’t seen Ms. Tanaka since last night. I was supposed to go over the quarterly numbers with her, so I tried her office. The door is locked, but she’s not answering.”
“That doesn’t mean anything bad has happened.” He pulled open a drawer. “I have a spare key.”
“None of the comarre or floor staff have seen her since last night either and none of the doormen remember her leaving.”
Dominic set the key on his desk and shut the drawer. “Come to think of it, she hasn’t checked in with me either.” Katsumi never went home without saying good-bye. He picked up the key, a sense of unease settling in his belly. “Come, we’ll go open her office together. I’m sure she’s just hard at work.” But he wasn’t sure at all.
He went as fast as he could without alarming Jacqueline. By the time they got to the office, a thousand scenarios, both good and bad, had worked through his head. He tried the knob, but it was definitely locked. He rapped his knuckles on the door. “Katsumi, are you in there? Answer me if you are.”
But he was greeted with silence.
He notched the key into the lock and opened the door. It hit something metal as he pushed it open. A bitter, familiar odor rose up to greet him. He didn’t need the lights, but he flicked them on anyway, not wanting to believe his eyes. Her
Covered in ashes.
Chrysabelle gasped, prepared for whatever might happen. Then she realized they were already through. “That was fast.”
Augustine dropped her hand. “That’s why we travel that way.”
Fi looked a little dizzy. “I’m going ghost.”
“You should,” Augustine said. “And you should stay that way until you’re back out.”
She nodded, instantly ghost and now hovering so she was eye level with him.
Chrysabelle glanced around but there wasn’t much to see. The fae plane resembled an endless gray field capped with an endless gray sky. Here and there drifts of fog obscured the horizon with more gray. Wind moaned in the distance, a lonely, eerie sound that made her shiver. “Not what I thought it would look like.”
“This is the landing for the Claustrum. There’s a lot more to the fae plane than this.”
“How do we get into the Claustrum?”
“Turn around.”
She did. “Holy mother.” A great black rock formation towered over them. An entrance was carved into it, the edges of it guarded with slivers of jagged stone pointing toward the center. “Those look like… teeth.”
Fi whimpered.
Augustine nodded. “They are.”
She didn’t ask from what. She didn’t want to know what creature had grown teeth that large.
“It’s meant to intimidate any fae brought here.”
Fi hovered closer to Chrysabelle. “Mission accomplished.”
He started forward. They followed. The closer they got, the more she could pick out a path between the teeth. And the more the stink of unwashed flesh and refuse reached them.
Fi wrinkled her nose. “This place smells really, really bad. Like fish left in the sun. Then covered with sewage. And vomit.”
Chrysabelle nodded. If she didn’t keep it together, she’d be adding to that vomit. “Breathe through your mouth, that’s what I’m doing.” She slanted her eyes at Fi. “Why are you even breathing? You’re in ghost form.”
Fi’s face was all twisted up. “I’m not breathing, but I can still smell it. I feel like I’m soaking in it.”
Augustine kept moving, winding through the jagged teeth until they came to an enormous silver gate. He pointed to the ground beyond it. “See that path?”
Chrysabelle stared, shaking her head. “No.”
“Close your eyes for a bit so they adjust to the darkness.”
She did, annoyed at how much her senses were depleted. When she opened them again, she saw what he was pointing at. A faint phosphorescent strip about two feet wide disappeared into the tunnel. “Okay, I see it.”
“Stay on it. Do
“Stay on it. Do not deviate until we find the raptor.”
He nodded. “You step off that path and you may not return.”
“Why?” Fi asked. Chrysabelle had never been happier about her curiosity.
“Because,” he answered, “that is a safe line. It runs the exact right distance away from the creatures who are most likely to try to grab you and haul you into their cells. It’s the path the wardens walk when they come here. Which isn’t often, I promise you.”
She pulled the cell number Mortalis had given her from her pocket and held out the slip of paper. “How do I find this cell?”
“Numbers get smaller the closer to the bottom of the Claustrum you get.” His finger stopped on a fae letter she didn’t know. “This means the twelfth floor from the top. Can you read faeish?”
“No.”
“Then you’ll have to count as you descend. Floor and cell numbers are written in the same phosphorescence as the path. There’s very little light beyond that, but you should be okay after a minute or two.”
He took a pocket watch from his leathers. “You have fifty-two minutes left. I suggest you move.” He grabbed the gate latch. “Just like the cells, this gate can be opened only from the outside. I’ll be here to let you out when you return.” Flipping the latch, he pulled the gate open. “If you go into the raptor’s cell, be sure Fi stays on the outside so she can let you out. Fi, if you have to take solid form to do that, do it fast and be careful.”
After a quick glance at Fi, who’d gone uncharacteristically quiet, Chrysabelle nodded. “Anything else I need to know?”
“No.” He hesitated. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” She walked through, nodded to him, and then, with Fi at her side, began the descent through the cavernous maw. Every edge of the rock jutting toward them seemed razor sharp. In a few spots, water dripped from the ceiling and patches of phosphorescent moss clung to the sides adding tiny spots of ambient light.
The deeper into the tunnel they went, the more sounds scudded up to meet them. Sounds that bordered on
