Crown of the Queen (The Wardbreaker Book 3) Read online

  “Can we still make it into the prison even with those ghosts hanging around?”

  “They’re guarding it just as much as the flesh and blood guards are, but the ghosts don’t change shifts, they don’t get tired, or lose focus. We’ll have to defend ourselves when they attack… it’s the only way.”

  “How can we defend ourselves against something we can’t see?” RJ asked.

  “Oh, you’ll see them,” Karim said, “These ghosts are powerful enough that they can, and will, make themselves known when they’re coming at you with mouthfuls of ephemeral teeth.”

  I shuddered at the thought. “Okay, options?”

  “Again, I can’t stress enough how important it is that we don’t hurt these ghosts. I can try and come up with a way to protect us against them when they come for us, but if we attract too many of them at the same time, I may not be able to hold them all off for long.”

  “Do you think we could come up with a powder, or a potion, or something?” Danvers asked. “A potion that makes us harder to hurt?”

  Karim considered the idea. “That could work, but we don’t have a lot of time.”

  “Psionic magic works on ghosts, too,” Axel said, “I can help.”

  “Trust me when I say, I don’t want this mission getting out of hand,” I said. “I mean, it’s already bad enough we’re entering Harrowgate prison to rescue someone who has no idea we’re coming for them. That’s going to complicate things, but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. The point is, I want this mission to go as cleanly as possible. While we have time, we should prepare as much as we can.”

  “Another thing,” Karim said, “This noble quest, I mentioned earlier… do you even know what Hugo did to get himself thrown into prison? We aren’t breaking a murderer out or anything, are we?”

  I shook my head. “Walter told me he ran afoul of the Coalition. They wanted him to make Aetherglass for them, he refused. They accused him of working for the Magistrate, of being a double agent, and they threw him into prison.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that. The Coalition are judges, juries, and executioners here. We can’t get caught. If we get caught, we’re on our own.”

  “Alright, well, I don’t plan on scratching my bollocks this whole time. I’ll need to come up with a way of keeping the ghosts at bay… so I’m going to go and do that. If anyone needs me, I’ll be on the roof.”

  Karim stood, walked over to the window, and climbed onto the fire escape that would take him to the roof. I followed him to the window, not because I wanted to go to the roof, but because I needed some air. My heart was pounding. None of this felt right, or safe. We were out of our depth here, so many unknowns to deal with.

  I breathed deep, hoping for a little crisp freshness… but Devil Falls stank of spoiled magic. The air was thick with it, and dark. I hadn’t noticed it last night, but it hit me now, and it hit me hard. Shutting the window, I shook my head. Taking that breath had left me reeling, and a little dizzy. RJ cocked an eyebrow. “You alright?” he asked.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. I turned my eyes over at the prison, dull and grey beneath the thickly clouded sky, and opened myself to its power… bracing for the hammer that was about to hit me. “Let’s just get this done.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  My head felt six sizes too big, the others weren’t faring much better. It had been two full days since we got here, and we’d been hiding out in Walter’s loft, for the most part. Besides Karim, RJ had been the next to adjust to being so near Harrowgate’s awful, debilitating aura. Karim was our designated information and bagel gatherer, while RJ kept a vigilant watch to make sure we weren’t going to get ambushed.

  Meanwhile, between the rest of us, we’d managed to put together what looked like a decent plan—on paper, at least. Walter had proved to be useful, after all. He had knowledge about the prison, its workings, its security measures. I wasn’t sure how he knew so much about it, but then again, Walter has plenty of friends in low places.

  With the psychic drone now down to a more manageable level, it was time to let the others know what the plan was, and finally make our move. It wasn’t going to be easy. Breaking someone out of prison hardly is, even under the best of conditions. Hugo West didn’t even know we were coming for him, and Harrowgate was a prison operated by supernaturals, and containing supernaturals.

  The word dangerous didn’t even cut close to describing the conditions we found ourselves in.

  Walter looked across at me from the other side of the loft. He’d kept a respectable distance from me while I finalized my ideas, while the others settled. Good. I didn’t want him too close. He’d loaned us a place to stay, and he’d been forthcoming with the information I’d needed from him, but I wasn’t ready to have him standing too near me. The wounds were already open again; proximity to him would only make them worse.

  “Alright,” I said, “I feel like by now we all know how this works.”

  “Yes, you tell us the plan, and we argue with you about it,” Karim said. “That sounds about right, does it not?”

  “You argue, the rest of us offer constructive criticism,” Danvers put in.

  “Maybe you all just have a little more patience than I do. I’m positively up to my nose hairs chasing this drowned Queen, and yet this job doesn’t offer vacation days.”

  “Karim,” I hissed, glaring at him. I hadn’t wanted Walter to know what we were up to, and Karim had just spilled the beans.

  He put his hands up. “Sorry,” he said, if a little grudgingly.

  I didn’t give Walter any of my attention, deciding instead to move the topic on as quickly as possible. I took a deep breath. “So, Harrowgate is a scary place,” I said, “But it’s far from impenetrable. The people that run it, the Coalition, depend on the psychic aura and the prison’s reputation to keep people away from it, that’s going to make them slow and complacent.”

  “All I’m hearing is good news,” Karim said, “Which means you’re obviously hiding the worst part.”

  “Not even I know what the worst part about that place is. But yes, I thought I’d start with the softball stuff.” I handed my notepad over to RJ who was sitting nearest to me. “The prison’s defenses aren’t going to be difficult to bypass. I thought I’d have to try and break a couple of wards, and I could, but trying to figure out who put them up so I can take their essence and unravel them just isn’t doable with the amount of time we have. So, instead, we’ve got a couple of workarounds. First, the outer wards.”

  Axel pointed at the notepad circulating the room and took over. “Besides the psychic aura, there’s also a ward in place to detect unauthorized personnel that try to go into and out of the prison. It’s probably old, powerful, and impossible to just walk through. Then there’s the ghosts manning the walls… the solution to both of these problems is pretty genius, actually.”

  Karim patted himself on the back. “You’re welcome.”

  Axel nodded. “Right. So, the outer wards have a blind-spot—they only track living people who go through them. If they also accounted for all the dead people wandering through them, they’d constantly be going off. The solution, then, is to be dead.”

  “I don’t like the sound of this,” Danvers said.

  “Oh, calm your farm,” Karim said, “It’s not nearly that drastic.”

  “Said the Necromancer?”

  “It’s simple. I’m going to suppress your living auras you so you can slip past the wards undetected. Making you dead will also trick the ghosts into leaving you alone… I think.”

  “You think?” RJ asked. “I don’t know how to beat the crap out of a ghost.”

  “You won’t have to. I have an idea on how to keep them distracted, anyway. And for that I will need your help.”

  RJ nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t entirely on board with whatever idea the crazy Necromancer was cooking up. I didn’t blame him. Even though I was the one breaking into the prison,
I still preferred that over having to deal with Karim’s otherworldly exploits.

  “Anyway,” I said, “Danvers is going to bottle up Karim’s life suppression spell. This will allow Axel and me to drink them just as we approach the prison, to make sure we get as much use out of them as possible. Axel’s also going to cloak us with his psionic magic so the guards won’t see us even if we’re standing out in the open.”

  “That’s all well and good,” Karim said, “But how are you planning on getting in? I told you, the gate only opens at certain times. And you can use as much magic to cloak yourselves as you want—you’ll probably fail if you try just waltzing in through reception.”

  I looked over at Walter. “That’s where he comes in.”

  Walter nodded. “I’m owed a favor,” he said. “You’re going to go in on a delivery truck.”

  RJ cocked an eyebrow. “On a delivery truck?” he asked, “This is Harrowgate. That place is locked up tight. How are you gonna pull that off?”

  “I told you. I’m owed a favor.”

  “And you can trust this guy?”

  “I saved his life; he owes me his life. That’s how it works around here.”

  “That sounds like straight bullshit to me. There’s no loyalty here.”

  “Just because the Magistrate isn’t welcome here doesn’t mean there isn’t a code amongst the dregs who call this place home. Trust me.”

  RJ looked over at me. “Do you?”

  I shook my head flatly. “No, I don’t, but I hardly think Walter wants to throw any of us into Harrowgate. There are far easier ways of doing that than having us plan a prison break only to foil it at the last minute.”

  “I don’t know,” Karim said, “It seems more efficient to have the potential inmates get themselves captured than having to expend resources capturing them.”

  “Yeah, it does, but that’s not going to happen. Anyway, can I keep going with the rest of the plan?”

  Karim gestured with his hand. “Sure, go on.”

  “Alright, so, Axel and I are going to be the only ones going in. The rest of you will have secondary jobs to do. Karim, you need to make sure those ghosts aren’t a problem. Danvers, you’re gonna be pretty beat after you’re done doing what I need you to do, so I want you to hang with him. RJ, I’m gonna need you when we’re outside. There’s a chance we won’t be coming out quietly, so we may have heat on our tails.”

  RJ nodded. “I’m good to go.”

  “Good. Axel and I are gonna sneak inside, find a couple of guards, and thanks to a little of RJ’s magic, we’re gonna take their identities. Then, we’re gonna locate Hugo, extract him, and then make our way to the medical ward. From the med ward, there’s only one guard tower that’ll be able to draw a bead to us. I can disable the prison guards from the ground, or just cover Axel while he gets us through the outer walls.”

  “And you’re going to do that… how?” Danvers asked.

  “Same way we broke into and out of Asmodius’ compound. We’re gonna slip through the walls like they’re not even there.”

  Silence filled the loft, and in that silence, doubt. I could see it on their faces. I was playing fast and loose with the plan, but I had to, we didn’t know much about the prison and we couldn’t get any more intel than what we already had. We were going to have to improvise at least a little, and even though that wasn’t likely to have positive results for us, we didn’t have a choice.

  “Look, I know this isn’t ideal,” I said, “We aren’t used to working outside of our team. But we can do this. We need to get to Hugo. If Walter says he can get us into the prison, and I say I can get us out, we have to believe we can do it.”

  A pause. “Okay, so, once you’re inside,” RJ said, “The prison takes your magic away. How are you gonna get Hugo out?”

  “Cass, grab the notepad. There’s a list of spells there I want to have powdered or made into potions we can drink. Healing spells, stunning spells, explosives, something to unlock doors. That kind of thing.”

  Danvers eyed the list. “Looks… intense. Good thing I have a portable lab.”

  “I need it done yesterday.”

  She looked over at Karim. “Fancy a trip out into town?”

  “I’d be happy to,” he said, “What do you have in mind?”

  “We’re in Devil Falls. There’s bound to be a place where I can buy ingredients somewhere.”

  I nodded. “Go do what you have to do,” I said, “But be careful out there.”

  Danvers and Karim stood, then left. I had no idea how they were going to do what I needed them to, but as long as they got it done—and got it done quickly—I didn’t care how.

  “Want me to keep an eye on them?” RJ asked.

  “Please. But don’t let them see you.”

  RJ nodded, and in a flash, he was gone—up and out the window to trail Danvers and Karim. Only Axel, Walter and I remained in the loft. I got up, grabbed my notepad, and gave it another glance. There were a lot of moving pieces here. The worst part was, we had no idea how the cellblock looked.

  “Think we’re ready?” Axel asked.

  “Absolutely not,” I said. “I’d feel a lot better if I thought we were gonna find some allies in there, but the way that place is run? Everyone we meet is going to be hostile.”

  “Keeping our cover is going to be more important than anything else, then. How exactly are we going to do that?”

  I grinned. “Another page out of the playbook of our past. We’re going to turn ourselves into other people. Maybe guards.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “I’ve done it before. You’ll be fine.”

  I caught Walter chuckling out of the corner of my eye. “What’s funny?” I asked.

  He stopped. “Oh… nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

  I turned to face him. “No, come on. What is it?”

  Walter paused, watching us both. “Nothing, it’s just… you keep reminding me of your mother. The way you talk, the way you move your hands, the way you fiddle with your hair.”

  My chest tightened, anger rising like a catch in my throat. “We talked about that,” I said.

  Walter put his hands up. “That’s why I didn’t want to say anything.” He paused, turned toward the door, then glanced at me again. “I think you have this under control for now. Tomorrow at noon, that’s when you’ll be going into the prison. The driver will have a four-leaf clover tattoo on his wrist.”

  A quick glance at us both, and then he left. Abrupt, sudden, and without—really—any reassurance that he was coming back. That felt familiar.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The prison loomed large ahead like a dark castle full of horrors. Under the dull, grey, noonday sky there was little to separate Harrowgate from any other prison in the country. But if you looked a little bit closer, you started to notice the things that set it apart. Like the gate that looked to be about ten meters thick, the aura of darkness surrounding it, and the specters floating silently above the prison’s parapets.

  They were ghosts; once people, now almost monsters twisted and warped by their own pain. Many looked like people, still, but there was something off about each of them. A constant twitching of the head here, a stuttered shudder there.

  I couldn’t understand why I could see them. Karim had told me it was because they wanted to be seen, because they were powerful enough that they could show themselves to those with the sight—like Mages.

  In my gut, though, I thought the real reason was more of a cry for help. Please, see us. Help us. They were slaves, after all; bound to servitude with dark, Necromantic magic. Watching them float quietly above the prison’s walls filled me with sadness, more than it did fear.

  “Are you ready?” Axel asked.

  “No,” I said. I shook my head. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  “I hope Walter has come through for us.”

  “He’d better have, otherwise I’m gonna set Danvers on him.”

  A black
sedan pulled up to our street corner, and a bald man stepped out. He scanned the street, then looked directly at us and signaled for the two of us to get into the car. I still wasn’t sure if I could trust this whole thing, but we’d already come this far.

  I walked over to the car with Axel by my side. When I reached the driver, I asked him to show me his wrist; and there it was; the four-leafed clover tattoo my father had told me his contact would have.

  “You here to take us inside?” I asked.

  “Don’t ask too many questions,” he said, “Get in, then get ready to jump into the truck.”

  Nodding, I entered the backseat, Axel sliding in beside me. A moment later, we were on the road again, circling around the prison and then putting it into the rearview. I wasn’t sure exactly where we were being taken, and the nerves in the pit of my stomach were already making me bounce my knee, but I had to keep it in check.

  I had to keep myself in check.

  If this was going to go off properly, I needed to keep my head in the game and not let it wander. Axel placed a hand on my lap, then looked across at me. He nodded, without saying a word. I returned the gesture, silently letting him know I was okay, that he didn’t have to worry about my state of mind.

  The car came to an abrupt stop at a four-way intersection. The driver craned his neck around and grunted. “Get out.”

  I stared at him, but I didn’t question his order. I stepped out of the car. Axel did the same. Then the sedan burned rubber and made tracks away from us, leaving us stranded in an unknown area of Devil Falls. The streets were dead, no cars, no people, not even shops. Most of the windows and doors were boarded up. It looked like a ghost town, except it wasn’t. There were people here, haunting the darkest corners, watching, waiting.

  A sickly waft of rotten, magic air passed between us, and as the seconds ticked by, so did my anxiety continue to rise. I waited, the cold and the noxious air, and the nerves building with no sign of release until I heard the rumbling of a large, powerful engine. Seconds later, a military truck made a turn around the intersection. It didn’t stop—it slowed just enough that, if I ran, I could catch it.