Soul of the Storm (The Wardbreaker Book 2) Read online

  “I wouldn’t have called you down here if I didn’t. Axel?”

  Axel grabbed the folder we’d been working from last night and set it down on the coffee table. RJ reached over, opened it, and started skimming the first page. “This is a detailed outline of what we’re planning on doing,” Axel said.

  Karim edged across RJ’s shoulder and glanced at the document he was reading. “Did chickens write this?” he asked, “Because it looks like you threw this paper into a coop and let them scratch all over it.”

  “It was late,” I said, “And I’d hurt my hand, and I’d had a lot of coffee. Not that I have to defend my penmanship.”

  RJ shuffled through the pages, skimming them all as he went. There were only three, each detailing an obstacle to our goal and a way around it, including who the major players in clearing that obstacle would be and how they’d accomplish it. I was nothing if not thorough. Of course, if I’d been the only one going in to retrieve the key, I’d probably have been a little lighter on the planning phase.

  Every thief knew there was a certain amount of luck involved in every heist.

  “Thirty snipers,” Danvers said, “I mean, sure, why not? I wonder why he stopped at thirty, though. What was the cut-off point?”

  Axel shrugged. “My father has always taught me looking like you could dominate your opponent was half the battle won. The snipers are meant to serve as a deterrent to anyone considering what we’re considering.”

  “No,” I said, “The snipers are there to stop someone from trying to attack his mansion. I’ve already broken in once before, remember? The snipers aren’t the biggest problem we’ll have to deal with. In fact, they’re probably gonna be the least of our worries.”

  “Tripwires,” RJ said.

  “Exactly. The mansion is filled with them, all the sensitive areas, anyway. There are also pressure sensitive sensors scattered around the grounds, hidden under sections of the grass, the path. If they go off, then we’ll have to worry about being shot at.”

  “Do you know where they all are?”

  “Not all of them. Axel’s contact told him his father had installed more of them after Axel’s sudden ex-communication from the family. They’re literally everywhere. But there’s two ways we can get around this.”

  I asked RJ to hand over the documents and laid one with a rough map of Asmodius’ property on the table.

  “It looks a lot smaller on paper…” Danvers mused.

  “Like a labyrinth,” Karim said, “They always look less intimidating than they are.”

  “There are pressure pads and tripwires all around the estate,” I said, “But, they don’t all get activated until after nine at night. I guess Asmodius doesn’t want them all going off at all hours of the day.”

  “Right, because that would be mental,” Karim said.

  “So, we strike before they all get turned on?” RJ asked.

  “That’s the plan, but there’s a little problem with that. We only have a ten-minute window.”

  “Ten minutes?” Danvers asked, “Why so tight?”

  “Because the snipers change their shifts at eight fifty, and I want us to go in and get this all done while they’re busy high-fiving each other in the lockers for being such awesome mafia people.”

  Axel shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m pretty sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Irrelevant. The point is, there are only ten minutes in the entire day where the mansion will be at its most vulnerable.”

  “Can’t we go in earlier?” Danvers asked.

  “The next ten-minute window is at three… two hours from now, and in broad daylight. It has to be later. There’s also a high chance Asmodius won’t be present in person to deal with us if something goes wrong.”

  Karim’s eyebrow arched. “And how do you know that?”

  I turned to look at Axel. “My person on the inside,” Axel said, “They’ve told me he’s meeting with someone tonight, outside of the mansion.”

  A pause moved between us like a cold breeze.

  “Alright, since no one’s gonna say it,” Danvers said, “Doesn’t that seem a little convenient? I mean, I’m not trying to get your contact in trouble, but sixteen hours ago the idea of going back to Asmodius’ place wasn’t even on the cards, let alone the table. Now things look like they’re lining up to make this doable for us.”

  “Every job has an element of luck to it,” I said.

  “We’re gonna need a little more than luck if we want that key,” Karim said, “Asmodius’ mansion is locked up tighter than my mum’s coin purse.”

  “You stole from your mother?” RJ asked, glaring at Karim from across his shoulder. Family was everything to RJ.

  “Well, my mother was a tight arse to begin with. But it was the alcoholism that kept me from seeing any sort of pocket money growing up.”

  “That’s dark, man…” Danvers said, then the room fell silent.

  “And, just so we’re clear,” Karim asked, “We’re doing this for a key?”

  I nodded. “Becket wants it back, and I don’t think I’m in a position to say no. I don’t think any of us are, considering all he’s done for us.”

  “True,” Danvers put in, “A few weeks ago we were all strangers to him, but he took us all in.”

  “I’m still not convinced we’re not part of some demonic experiment of his,” Karim said, “But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I do have a question about the scroll, though.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “You said a Necromancer probably put the spells in place that kept it from being ravaged by time, right? Could I have a look at it?”

  I angled my head to the side. “Do you think you can stop it from falling apart?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not, but I don’t like working with time limits, and I just so happen to be a Necromancer. I may be able to help.”

  “I don’t know… you could make things worse if you aren’t careful. That thing’s delicate enough as it is.”

  Karim flipped his middle finger at me. “Yeah, cheers for that delightful vote of confidence.”

  “No, I just mean—”

  “—do you honestly think I would do anything to damage the scroll? I’m not some hack.”

  “That’s not what I meant—”

  “—and between the two of us, I actually have a Guardian, which makes me more qualified to be handling the scroll at any rate.”

  “That’s enough,” Axel’s voice smashed through Karim’s ramblings like a sledgehammer, and not a moment too soon, because that last dig had sent fire into my chest. Fire I was going to hurl at Karim, if he wasn’t careful. “If you think there’s something you can do to help with the scroll, fine, but you’ll do it under Becket’s supervision. Understood?”

  Karim simmered down, and I took a deep breath in through the nose. I nodded. “Alright,” I said.

  “Where’s this guy been?” Karim asked under his breath.

  “Now,” Axel continued, “There are more parts of this plan we need to discuss, and precious little time discuss them in, so let’s get to it.”

  “I actually have a real question,” Karim said. I glared at him, warning him against saying something stupid with just my eyes.

  “What is it?” Axel asked.

  “Do you know if anyone was killed on the property?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Like a pack of wolves, we emerged, all five of us, from the tree-line near Asmodius’ manor. We’d picked a natural blind-spot to approach from, not that the mansion had any true blind-spots. It was the closest we could get to the outer walls on foot before being instantly spotted by the snipers guarding the perimeter.

  It was quiet outside, the air crisp, and cool, and rich with the smell of wet foliage. Ahead of me, the walls with their barbed tips looked more like penitentiary walls than anything else. Seeing them brought back the very real notion that, even though it may not have felt it at times, I was once a priso
ner behind those walls.

  That wasn’t something I wanted to do again.

  “Time check,” I said, “Eight forty-five. We made it with five minutes to spare.”

  “Enough time to turn back around and go home?” Karim asked, “I’m starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing. Also, I can’t be sure, but something may have licked me, just now.”

  “Do all Necromancers complain like you do?” Danvers asked.

  “It’s not a complaint, only an observation.”

  “Observe more quietly,” RJ said, “We need to keep sharp out here, because you can bet your ass they’re not slacking.”

  RJ gestured with a nod toward the parapets at the top of the manor. There were snipers there, three of them, each staring down the scope of his rifle. One of them looked like he was swinging the rifle toward me, and I backed deeper into the tree-line, hoping he hadn’t seen me. After a couple of seconds passed with no alarm raised, I allowed myself to breathe again.

  “We’re only gonna get one shot at this,” I said, “We get in, we find the key, and we get out.”

  “Right,” Karim said, “Well, if you’re all quite finished talking, I think it’s my turn to step up to the plate, is it not?”

  “That’s right. You said you had a plan to get us all in without worrying about having to worry about subtlety or being caught.”

  “And I do. Now, if you’d kindly step back, I’ll get started.”

  “I still don’t know what your plan is.”

  “Perhaps if you waited,” he said, scowling, “Then you’d know.”

  “You know I’m not one for secrets,” I warned.

  “And you know I’m one for theatrics. Your plan was good, I appreciate the work you did in trying to figure out just how tightly locked up this place was and that information will probably come in handy… but my plan is better.”

  Reluctantly, I stepped away from Karim. Danvers and Axel followed, giving the Necromancer a wide berth as he approached the edge of the tree-line. With every step he took, I worried a sniper would catch sight of his gaunt cheeks, his intense eyes, or the huge ego strapped to his back. My heart thundered through second that passed, beating like a hammer against my ribcage.

  Karim was readying a spell. A big one, too. For someone who claimed to have a love for the theatrical, there were no sparks, no shifting wisps, no cracks of lightning—only a lanky British guy waving his arms about like a crazy person. But then came the cold.

  It wasn’t the same kind of cold I’d become so familiar with living at Becket’s place. It also wasn’t a natural cold, the kind you could keep away from your bones with layers of clothes and a coat. It was a draining, debilitating kind of cold. Icy tendrils found their way into my very organs, and once they’d wrapped themselves around my innards, they squeezed at once making me stiffen up like I’d been suddenly frozen from the inside out.

  I wanted to speak, I wanted to tell him to stop whatever the hell he was doing, but my throat wouldn’t work. I managed a squeak, but that was all. I could only watch as a thin mist coiled itself around Karim, following the shape of his body all the way to his arms, and moving with them like he was directing it.

  I heard a snap somewhere in the woods behind me, then a voice. It was little more than a whisper. I thought for sure we’d been discovered, but even if we had, there wasn’t much I could do about it. Something was gathering here, a force like nothing I’d ever felt before. It didn’t feel like the calm before a storm—it felt more like that moment of breathlessness before a massive explosion.

  When the explosion came, it happened in an instant.

  Karim thrust toward the mansion with his hands, and the mist coiling around him streaked toward it like a giant snake lunging at its prey. The ephemeral creature struck the side of the building like a wrecking ball, and all the lights in the mansion went completely dark. I watched, a deep breath held in my lungs, as the snipers on the roof disappeared, rushing away from their posts and opening the way for us to approach the manor without being seen.

  Already I could hear voices yelling from inside, some people asking questions, others barking orders, no one really knowing what the hell was going on. I was among them.

  “What the hell did you do?” I asked.

  Karim glanced across his shoulder. “Well, I had a word with the local ghostly population,” he said.

  “A… word?”

  “Turns out, as I thought, the vast majority of them have several bones to pick with young master Axel’s family. They were quite eager for the chance to wreak a little havoc.”

  “Wait a second,” Danvers said, “Did you just unleash a whole bunch of ghosts into the manor?”

  “Oh, they were already there. I just gave them a little magic juice to help them vent their frustrations. We should probably get going while everything’s chaotic inside.”

  “I’m… not even gonna try to argue with you on that,” I said.

  “Will I be safe?” Axel asked, “Considering they hate my father…”

  Karim made a face like he’d just realized he’d forgotten to put on pants. He zapped Axel with a bolt of pale, blue light that left a cloud of glittering dust in the air. “There,” Karim said, smiling, “Now you’re good to go.”

  Axel coughed and patted the dust off his body. “Thank you,” he said.

  “Thank you for reminding me. There’s no telling what they’d have done to you once you set foot inside.”

  “Danvers, you’re up,” I said.

  The pixie-like teenager sauntered on over to where I was standing and cast her eyes over at the wall. She reached her little backpack and produced a small phial filled with a glittering blue powder. The spell she’d infused into the little phial in her hand was a clever one meant to create an invisible doorway through an otherwise solid wall. I watched her mark the edges of the portal with her fingertips, then she poured what was left of the dust into her hand and she slapped her palm against the wall.

  A section of the wall shimmered and wobbled like it had turned to jam. After a few seconds, the wall slowly steadied itself slowly until it started looking solid again. “Boys and girls,” Danvers said, gesturing toward the wall, “If you’d like to follow me.”

  She turned into it and disappeared, the wall shimmering as it swallowed her, then returning to normal.

  “That’s still only the second craziest thing I’ve seen all day,” I said.

  “It’s about to get a whole lot crazier inside,” Karim said, “Just try not to touch the ghosts. A lot of people try to touch them, and they don’t appreciate it.”

  Karim stepped through the portal behind Danvers, leaving Axel and I alone for a moment. I turned my eyes up at him. “How are you feeling about this?” I asked.

  Axel had his eyes on the manor itself. “I’m not sure,” he said, “I grew up in this house… now I feel like a stranger to it.”

  “You’re better than this house and the people who live in it… don’t forget that, okay?”

  “I won’t.” He inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “We should check my father’s study first. The door will be locked, and I don’t have a key. We’ll have to force it open.”

  I shrugged. “Subtlety has already gone out the window. What’s a smashed door compared to everything that’s going on inside that house?”

  Axel nodded. “You’re right,” he said, walking toward the wall. He waited for me and extended his hand, like a true gentleman.

  I took it and smiled at him, then I moved through the portal, emerging on the other side of the wall after a moment of stomach-twisting dizziness. Good thing I hadn’t eaten anything today. I hurried over to meet Danvers and Karim, already standing by the side of the manor.

  “Ready?” Danvers asked.

  There was shouting going on inside, not only people giving orders now but screams.

  “Ready,” I said.

  In three seconds flat, she picked the lock to one of the manor’s side doors, and then we were inside.


  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Inside was the realm of chaos itself. The manor’s huge, almost labyrinthine hallways carried the sounds of screams and shouts to every corner of it, bouncing all the disparate voices off the walls like ping pong balls. The lights were out, and the air reeked of burnt filaments from all the lights that had shorted out all at once.

  The worst part, though, was the very real feeling that there were dead people running around unchecked. I couldn’t hear them, I couldn’t see them, but all the hairs on my arms and neck were standing on their ends. A message came through on my comms unit from RJ—he was on the roof; the snipers were all gone.

  I asked him to keep an eye on the perimeter and make sure they didn’t come back onto the roof. We’d need him to help cover our escape, but the device fizzled out and screeched in my ear. I yanked it out and tossed it to the ground as if it was a spider that had dropped on my head.

  “What the hell?” I yelped.

  Karim glanced at the earpiece still shrieking on the floor. “Demons suck the heat out of the air,” he said, “Ghosts suck the juice out of electronics.”

  “Which means we’re not gonna be able to communicate… great.”

  “Don’t sweat it,” Danvers said, “We’re gonna be together anyway, right?”

  I shook my head. “Change of plans. With the house in chaos like this, I need you two to make sure nobody uses this exit but us.”

  “Is splitting up really a good idea?”

  “Axel and I are gonna go and get the key. Asmodius’ office is on the next floor up. We won’t be more than five minutes.”

  “And if you take longer?”

  “Leave.”

  Danvers nodded, and Karim didn’t put up a fight. I didn’t think he would. Guarding the door was more his speed.

  Without wasting another moment, Axel and I started heading through the mansion. We walked briskly, keeping our eyes and ears peeled for signs of movement. If we could avoid coming across any guards, we were going to. The last thing I wanted was to be on the wrong end of a sub-machine gun, especially considering the human holding it was likely to be panicked out of his mind.