“Madeleine,” he grabbed my wrist, “if you do this—”
“I won’t be able to do anything strapped to an autopsy table, Elijah,” I interrupted.
“If we leave, then what?”
“We stop the Dark from coming back to Camelot and we find your cure.” I wrenched my arm away. “Now finish getting dressed.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course, you do. Just admit you want to help Camelot as much as I do.”
He snorted and shoved his legs into his pants. “I’ll never admit anything, not after the scars your fancy doctor friend left me with.”
I threw his boots at him. “Chicks dig scars.”
“I assume you have a plan,” he said as he laced himself in. “I like chaos as much as the next mutant, but not when we’re surrounded by a hundred Naturals and a magical sword.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled him close. “First of all, Excalibur is a person. And I don’t need a plan.”
He whistled. “You talk a big game.”
“Just you wait.”
I grabbed his hand and drew his presence against mine. The more I tested my limits, the more they seemed to expand. Piece of cake.
We stood at the opening in the tent with Wilder’s barrier clearly visible. A transparent silver veil covered the exit, one that I hadn’t seen when I’d walked in.
“Are you sure?” Elijah asked. “After everything I’ve been through, I don’t want to turn into a pile of ash.”
“I’m sure.”
He screwed up his nose at the two Naturals who were standing to attention with their backs to us. “What about the guards?” he whispered.
“I told you. Stay with me and no one will stop us.”
He grunted and narrowed his eyes in challenge. To prove my point, I dragged him out of the infirmary, past the guards, and down the row of tents until we reached the outer edge of the camp. The outer wall loomed before us and all we had to do was keep walking and we’d be free.
“Stop,” Trent called after us and we froze.
“I thought you had this invisibility thing down,” Elijah hissed.
“Uh, I guess not.” It was far more likely that deep down, I desperately wanted Trent’s forgiveness, just like I secretly wanted him to see me back in the village. What unfortunate timing for a loophole to reveal itself.
We turned to find Trent a few paces behind, with his arondight blade drawn. The sword glowed with silver Light as he pointed the tip at us. His warning was clear.
I stepped in front of Elijah, shielding him from my friend—at least I hoped he was still my friend somewhere underneath all that anger.
“We just want to be free,” I murmured. “We don’t want to cause any trouble.”
“You made your choice, Madeleine,” Trent spat. “You chose a demon over your people.”
I shook my head. “I helped an innocent who risked his life to save mine.”
He scowled and stepped closer, the point of his blade pressing against my throat. “You betrayed us.”
Elijah hissed and I grasped his hand, silencing him.
“I may have gone about things the wrong way,” I said to Trent, “but I was trying to save a life.”
“And she found out who she really is,” Elijah snapped.
“Shut up,” Trent exclaimed, the point of his sword pricking my flesh.
“You know I can’t stay here,” I said, holding my hands up. “I can do more good out there than I can while I await my death sentence.”
“Wilder would never execute you,” he argued.
“Wilder is bound by the Codex as we all are. As the Inquisitor, he will do as it decrees.”
Silently, Trent shook his head.
“I have to go,” I urged. “The Dark has its eyes on Camelot and this thing inside me might stop it before whatever it is begins.”
“And him?” Trent demanded.
I tightened my grip on Elijah’s hand. “I will keep my promise. I will help him find a cure.”
He shook his head and curled his lip. “What’s stopping him from returning to the Dark and betraying us all?”
“Me,” I replied.
Trent’s arm began to shake, and I felt a single drop of blood trace its way down my neck.
“You know me, Trent,” I murmured. “Nothing’s changed other than my awareness of what I’ve always been.”
He glanced at Elijah. “Not always.”
“No,” I shook my head, “just the last five years.”
“Semantics,” Elijah muttered.
Trent hissed and lowered his sword. “Go.”
I backed way, forcing Elijah to do the same. “Thank you.”
“If I see you again…”
I understood. He’d be forced to follow through on orders, no matter what they were.
I dragged Elijah away, drawing him into the embrace of my unknown power. Trent blinked and looked around in bewilderment. I knew to his eyes, we were gone. The score between us had been settled and now it was about what came next.
No one stopped us as we walked out of base camp. The barrier of Light around the outer wall was nothing more than an illusion as we stepped through to our freedom. Not even Excalibur stirred in his castle.
We were ghosts moving from one life to the next.
“Come,” Elijah said as we climbed the hill hand in hand, “we have work to do.”
I nodded as I glanced over my shoulder one last time, despair tugging at my heart.
Goodbye, Madeline Greenbriar, I thought. It was fun while it lasted.
17
We found a cheap hotel on the outskirts of Birmingham.
After a little alteration on the clerk, we got ourselves a room at the back of the building, away from other guests. I was just thankful that part of my power still worked the way it used to.
The hallways were empty, though it was past midnight. A few ‘do not disturb’ hangers were on the door handles as we passed, and the faint hum of televisions ebbed through the walls here and there. If it wasn’t for those few indicators, it would have been easy to think the entire hotel was empty.
Our room was next to a fire escape at the end of the longest corridor known to man. I slipped
