“Assuming they don’t just lock me up.” Which was a strong possibility, given that I didn’t know for sure how many of the House of Fire’s members were working with the enemy.
“I’m sure you can find a way to avoid it. You walked out of there at least once before.”
Yes, I did. Three times, in fact. This, though, was different. Higher stakes. Potentially deadly.
Not that I was one to back down from a challenge.
10
Dex waited for me at the other end of the hall when I left the Death King, hovering beside one of the newly decorated pillars.
“Off on another mission?” he said.
“You might say that,” I said. “I’m going back to the House of Fire. Want to come?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” he responded. “Those earth mages won’t still be looking for trouble, will they?”
“They ought to have given up by now.” I was more concerned with the House of Fire, and the impossibility of weeding out the traitors without getting locked up myself. Especially if Harris turned out to be one of them.
Once again, the pair of us travelled through the node to Elysium. The citadel towered over the rooftops, the sky was overcast, and the street was mercifully earth mage-free. The House of Fire’s door had presumably been replaced after the inferno cantrip had blasted the old one to pieces, but the only change to its design was that a heavy lock now bolted it shut from the outside. That did not look welcoming in the slightest, but I rapped on the wooden surface with my knuckles anyway. Nobody answered.
“What’s going on in there?” I tried peering into the building, but the windows were tinted so it was impossible for me to see if anyone was inside. “Dex, can you see anyone in there?”
“Two guards are downstairs. Want me to flush them out?”
“No,” I said. “Hang on.”
I walked around the side of the building to the back door and peered through the small pane of glass at the top. If I broke in, I could say goodbye to gaining the House’s cooperation. On the other hand, nothing said ‘go away’ like a massive lock on the door. Who was I kidding? The earth mages had blown up their door with an inferno cantrip, and there was absolutely no way in hell Harris would believe I hadn’t been involved. Even if by some miracle I made my way past him, I didn’t have the patience to talk to every member of the House until I found whoever had joined up with the Family, not when most of them were plainly not in the know and were more likely to think I was the one trying to recruit them. I might as well have put myself in a cell already and saved them the bother.
Screw that. Instead, I reached in my pocket for an unlocking spell and an invisibility cantrip. “Forget the espionage shit. They clearly aren’t open for business, so I’ll go in the back way.”
Dex hovered above the door, excitement fizzling around him in the form of fiery sparks. “Want me to slip inside and make sure nobody’s watching?”
“Please.” I used the unlocking spell and pushed the door open a fraction, and he darted ahead of me. Turning on the invisibility cantrip, I followed him.
Unnatural silence filled the space within. While the stairs leading down to the cells lay at the opposite end of the corridor, past the guards near the front door, I found myself wondering why it was so damn quiet in here. Had the House decided to close up entirely? Where in hell was everyone?
I debated looking for the cantrip that’d killed the guard, but I’d bet it was long gone by now. I climbed the stairs leading to the upper corridor and halted beside the closed door to the jailor’s office. Zade might be dead, but I doubted anyone had cleaned out the place afterwards. Which meant there might well be evidence sitting in there pointing to the culprit. Even if not, the files on every prisoner, past and present, were inside that office. Including me… and including the Family.
If Harris wouldn’t tell me how they’d escaped, then I’d find out for myself.
One unlocking spell later and I entered the former jailor’s office, closing the door behind me. The neat, sparsely decorated room brought a shudder of revulsion as I recalled being hauled in there for my first interrogation. Zade’s sneering face flickered in my mind’s eye, his taunts echoing in my mind. I felt no sadness at his death. Rather, relief… and suspicion. The office was a little too pristine, as though someone had gone through and cleaned it up after his death after all. Damn. Should have known it wouldn’t be that easily.
I walked over to the cabinets at the back, which contained records of all the prisoners here in the House of Fire. For a moment, my hand hovered on the case file of my own name before I forced my gaze away. That wouldn’t do anything but bring up bad memories. I moved on to the next row, finding Adair’s file next to a joint folder belonging to Lex and Roth, our guardians.
I pulled out the folder and skimmed to the final page, which ended on the words, moved to another facility.
I stared at the words for a moment. Moved to another facility? The House hadn’t actually acknowledged that the Family had escaped? Weird… or not, considering their reluctance to let the word get out of their escape. I flicked through the file for more details, then did the same with Adair’s, but nothing leapt out at me that I didn’t already know. They hadn’t noted down Adair’s relocation to the Death King’s jail, either, but of course that’d taken place after Zade’s death.
Still…
I slid the folder back into place, heading for the jailor’s desk. I knew where he’d kept the keys to the cells,
