Taken

“Here’s how it is. What Morden sent you here to do is the same thing I’m trying to do right now. Now I don’t like you and you don’t like me, but for today at least we’re on the same side and this’ll go a lot faster if we work together.”

Onyx curled his lip. “And what are you going to do?”

“I find things out,” I said. “It’s what I do. You, on the other hand, break things and kill people. I can do things you can’t. This is why mages cooperate.”

“If I want something from you,” Onyx said, “I’ll take it.”

“And that worked out so well for you last time, didn’t it?”

Onyx stared at me. “Let’s start small,” I said. “You’re thinking of cutting through that wall, right?”

Onyx’s eyes flicked to the wall to his right before he could catch himself. “What’s it to you?”

“It’ll set off the same alarm you triggered the last time you trashed this place. The tournament might be keeping the other mages busy, but not that busy.”

Onyx didn’t answer but I saw the future of him carving through the wall with his force magic waver and vanish. I hadn’t been able to see many details, but I’d seen enough to know that the reaction would have been instant: that same psychic scream that had come before. “My turn,” I said. “If you’re thinking of going digging, you’re looking for something. What is it?”

Onyx stared at me a moment longer, then gave a tiny shrug. “Bodies.”

I relaxed very slightly, though I didn’t let myself show it. To my left I could feel Anne watching, keeping silent. “So Morden thinks the missing apprentices are here in Fountain Reach,” I said. “Why?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“He didn’t tell you, huh?”

Onyx stared at me again. He had a flat unblinking way of fixing his eyes on someone that was really creepy, like a predator picking out a target. “Why here?” I said.

“Sealed room.”

“Then let me find a way in.” I moved to the bookcases, studying them.

The wards over Fountain Reach damped all kinds of scrying magic, reducing the range at which I could use my divination. To a new diviner, they’d probably be crippling. But I’m not a new diviner and I hadn’t wasted the free time I’d had since getting here. Since I couldn’t see as far into the future, I put the energy I would have spent into searching a larger range of short-term futures instead, and as I looked at the bookshelves a thousand future copies of myself studied them in a thousand different ways. I stepped back. “That one.”

Onyx gave me a look. “There’s a way in behind it,” I said, giving it a nod. “The bookcase isn’t fixed to the floor. Move it sideways.”

Onyx didn’t react. “I know you can do it,” I said. “I’ve seen force mages lift ten times that weight.”

“You don’t tell me what to do.”

“Fine. Please could you help move that bookcase so we can see what’s on the other side?”

Onyx looked as though he was trying to think of a reason to say no, but after a moment he grudgingly twitched a hand. With a creaking, scraping noise the ten-foot bookcase rose and pivoted in midair. Dust bloomed around us and books toppled and fell to the carpet with thumps but the bookcase didn’t wobble, held by bands of force. As it twisted away, a door was revealed in the wall. It was faded and looked ancient. “It’s locked,” I said. “Give me a second and I’ll—”

Onyx made a flicking motion and the door burst inwards with a crunch of splintering wood, leaving the lock still attached to the door frame. Beyond were stairs descending into darkness and a clattering sound echoed up to us as the bits of door went bouncing down the stairs to hit the bottom with a double thud. “Or you could just do that,” I said.

Onyx walked forward and down, disappearing into the gloom.

I waited for Onyx’s footsteps to fade away, then looked at Anne. “Might be safer if you stayed out here.”

Anne thought for a second and shook her head. “I’d rather go with you.”

*  *  *

The basement at the bottom of the stairs was pitch-dark and silent. The air was dead and foul-smelling; there was obviously no ventilation. I clicked on my torch and its bright white beam revealed benches, shelves, strange equipment. Beakers and boxes were piled around the room and an open doorway led farther in. There was no sign of Onyx.

“What is this place?” Anne whispered.

“Looks like an old lab,” I whispered back. Something about the basement made me keep my voice down. I moved to one of the tables and studied the contents, then angled my torch downwards.

“Do you think anyone’s here?” Anne whispered.

I moved the splash of light from my torch across the floor. The stone foundations were covered by a thick layer of dust, broken only by the two halves of the door. Onyx’s footprints were clearly visible leading through the doorway and there were no others. “We’re the first ones to set foot in this place for years.”