“That family of yours is involved in the attacks?” said Cal.
I ignored the jab. “They’re more likely to be watching Elysium. They’ve never shown much interest in Earth.”
“They’re the creators of the inferno cantrips,” said Ryan. “I’m taking a wild guess that they’re interested in seeing how much damage they can cause with them.”
They probably weren’t wrong. The idea of the deadly cantrips being unleashed on unsuspecting humans filled me with revulsion, but I didn’t relish the idea of the Houses being razed to the ground either.
A few more spirit mages entered the grounds, followed by the Death King, and Miles went to talk to them. The vampire, it seemed, had left, and I had words to say to His Deathly Highness before he sneaked off again. I marched over and planted my feet in front of him.
“Thanks for checking up on me after you abandoned us in the wilderness.” Sarcasm dripped from my voice.
“You seem to have made it back in one piece,” he said. “I did send the Spirit Agents to get you away from the House of Fire.”
“Did you expect me to end up getting locked in a cell while a battle broke out among the Houses?” I queried. “Because it would have been nice to have some warning.”
“Unfortunately, I am incapable of being in seven places at once,” he said. “After Olivia was injured upon her return from the abandoned citadel, I had to take care of some trouble here in the castle. I trusted yourself, Ryan and the Spirit Agents to make it back here successfully, and I was right.”
“You trusted us,” I repeated. “Do you trust me, though? You let me run around and do whatever I like, yet it seems like nobody except you ever knows what the hell is going on at any given time.”
“Welcome to my world.” Liv walked over, fighting a smile, for some inexplicable reason.
The Death King addressed Liv. “Can you tell your friend Devon what’s going on? We might be in need of her help.”
Liv returned to the castle, and the Death King faced me again. “I take it you mean to explain exactly how you got yourself arrested by the House of Fire?”
“They blamed me because Tay escaped from jail,” I said. “They assumed I helped her escape, but I didn’t, and frankly, I have no idea where she went. They also accused me of conspiring with the Family against them. Then they were attacked, and I took the opportunity to run.”
“Attacked by whom?”
I had an inkling he already knew, but maybe he’d be able to help me make heads or tails of this mess. “The House of Earth, along with assassins belonging to the Family. They’ve cut off the entire centre of Elysium so nobody can enter on foot. Now Liv tells me they’re after the Order in London, too.”
“I suspect Hawker and his allies decided to attack on multiple fronts,” he said.
“It might not be him who’s behind the attack in Elysium.” I drew in a breath. “The Family… I know where they’re based. They’re hiding in the ruins of their old estate north of Elysium. They tend to like to watch the chaos from a distance, so they probably won’t show up in person unless we hunt them down. But I’m no match for them alone.”
The Death King’s countenance radiated disapproval. “When did you plan to mention this to me?”
“When you showed your face!” I said, exasperated. “As soon as I got back here after finding out, you wanted me and the Spirit Agents to help Liv rescue those sprites and then we wound up stuck in the tower. Maybe I’d have been able to tell you if you hadn’t vanished with Liv and left us behind, but instead you let us fight our way back alone.”
Lex had all but warned me of her plans, but I hadn’t had the chance to pass on her warning to anyone else. I was exhausted, like a candle flame burned down to the base, and I wanted to lie down and sleep, not face off against my depraved family for the second time in the space of a day.
“And that friend of yours… is she with the Family?” he said.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I think she killed the jailor because he was conspiring with the enemy, based on a letter I found in his office which referenced the Withered Oak and illegal cantrips. But the House of Fire refused to listen to me up until the last possible moment. It doesn’t matter now, anyway. All the Houses are in trouble if the assassins are running around armed with the same cantrips which killed two people while hardly leaving a mark on them… and we know for a fact they have at least one box of them from the supplier.”
“Yeah, slight problem,” Miles said from behind me. “One of my people just got back to me and says the node isn’t working.”
“Which node?” said the Death King.
Tate walked over to join Miles. “We can’t get through to the centre of Elysium anymore. Someone turned off the nodes.”
17
I stared at the two spirit mages for a moment. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” said Tate. “The whole place is blocked off. I can get through to the edges of Elysium, but we’ll either have to walk to the centre on foot or find another way in. Which would be easy enough if someone hadn’t decided to put barriers on all the streets.”
“Wonderful,” said Shelley. “That’s us screwed then, isn’t it?”
Behind her, the other Elemental Soldiers approached us in a group, facing Miles and the other Spirit Agents.
“Change of plans,” Ryan said to Miles. “The Death King wants you to come to London.”
“What?” said Miles. “He does know the Order has total freedom to arrest us for simply existing over there, doesn’t he? They think spirit mages are the scum of the earth.”
“The liches can’t survive away from the nodes,” said Ryan. “It has to be living people who goes
