“For flames were scattered around among these tombs. The pits were therefore so intensely fired, no tradesman needs his iron half so hot.”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
I sat down on the sofa and covered my face with my palms. I was ready to start pulling my hair out in frustration. There was only so much that I could take after everything that went on in the past several weeks. The potion wasn’t going to work, and the dreadful silence was making me queasy.
“What am I going to do now?” I asked, my anger evident. I needed to see Ricky, hear his encouraging voice. There was nothing wrong with Ronan; we just weren’t very close. It’d been over two weeks since I had been locked up in that cell by Alexis and I had no idea what happened with Zach and Emma. Also, who was looking after her daughter?
“This complicates things, Maxine. Maybe if I …”
Ronan trailed off without finishing his thought, so I looked up wondering what the hell was wrong with him this time. A moment later he smiled brightly, scratching his jaw.
“What? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The potion is beginning to work. Your appearance is changing,” he said and I instantly shot back on my feet and ran to the mirror. He was right—my skin became darker and my hair was shorter too. It took over half an hour for the potion to take effect. Paul’s barmaid’s mother or father must have been black. I didn’t care, she could have been from the moon if that meant that I could become her for a day.
Maybe everything wasn’t completely lost yet. There was still a chance to make things right, to clear my name. I had to get in touch with Cyril. Only Ricky, Emma and Zach knew that he helped me to get into the palace—other than Alexis and Rodriguez—and he was the only one that knew what happened to my crew.
My clothes didn’t fit me anymore. Paul’s barmaid was shorter and much fuller. She was very pretty and she was a mongrel like me, although her magic didn’t just transfer over. I wished that Ricky’s potion could work like that.
“Great, because I was ready to give up,” I said, feeling relief. “We need to hurry. I have a million things to do.”
Suddenly I was pumped with new energy, ready to take back my dignity. Ronan looked slightly hesitant. I really had to get used to having him around. It’d been so long since we worked together.
“I don’t know, Maxine, you’re taking a great risk. You’re still a human and the potion might lose its effect sooner than you think.”
“I have to take my chances. There is no point wasting time,” I said, packing whatever was necessary into my backpack. Ronan wanted to temper my excitement, but I wouldn’t let him crush my spirits. I was done being miserable. My face was plastered all over London, but there were other more pressing matters.
Ronan poured a bit of my potion into a small bottle and we headed out shortly after that. It was a busy morning, and humans as usual were in a hurry. My old mobile was gone. Alexis must have confiscated it when she caught me in her chamber. We went to the phone booth and Ronan called Cyril’s office.
Then I took over and Cyril sounded tense, but he asked me to meet him in Angel Station. He told me to get a quarter past twelve tube, and apparently we were going to talk in there, so no one would suspect anything. He was obviously taking a lot of precautions, or maybe things had gotten out of control when I was caught. I had no idea what to think, but what mattered was that he agreed to talk. I had never mentioned Cyril’s name during the meeting with Nameless, but Rodriguez had always been careful.
I was astonished that my picture was on the front cover of most papers and the headlines were really making me mad.
Prince’s mistress is still on the run!
Armed and dangerous. Stay away.
I mean come on. The media as usual was blowing things out of proportion while the real killer was sitting in the palace right under their noses.
Other demons were noticing Ronan; his energy was still pretty strong. No one was paying any attention to me, and that was working in my favour. The spell held on, at least for now. Walking around London with a potion in my system that might not hold for too long was a risky business.
I suspected that Rodriguez and Alexis were alive and well. I was ready to bet that he had made some sort of deal with Berith and now the Watchers were after me too.
We went down to the station and then took the tube to Angel and then waited for the quarter past twelve tube. I kept glancing back and forth, hoping to see Cyril, but he must have been traveling from the other station.
The tube was crowded, and it took me a while to find him. There was a Watcher in our car, glancing around. Cyril sat with other passengers, reading a paper. No one knew how I really looked, and I had to let him know somehow that I was Max, without attracting too much attention to myself.
“You asked me to meet you here, Cyril. You showed up in Doomed Cases once and accused me of conspiring against Lucifer’s faction,” I said, in a hushed voice. He didn’t lift his head or indicate that he had heard me but continued reading the paper.
“I’m being followed. Rodriguez doesn’t trust me anymore. My assistant was arrested the other day. It’s just a matter of time before he cuts me off,” Cyril muttered. “It’s good to know that you’re all right after Alexis had you locked up. No one knew where she had taken you.”
A young boy around seven years old was staring at me from the opposite seat. I suspected that he was just a nosey human.
“I need to know what happened to Ricky and Paul,” I said, and Cyril turned the page of his paper. I saw my own face and my heart skipped a beat. Alexis wasn’t wasting any time. According to the article that Cyril was now reading I was being officially charged with the murder of Prince Arthur.
“They are being kept in the old steel factory by the embankment. They are waiting for a trial. Rodriguez has deep pockets and some agreement with Berith. Zach and Emma were sent to psych in the Royal Infirmary. You just have to pass over medical staff,” Cyril said, still not lifting his eyes on me. Warmth spread down my abdomen. It was his energy or maybe the fact that I was finally getting some solid information.
I swallowed hard thinking about Emma and Zachary. They were placed in a mental institution. Well, that made sense. Both Rodriguez and Alexis wanted to make sure they wouldn’t try to help me again, so they had them locked up in the insane hospital.
“All right, I’ll get them out,” I said, clearing my throat. I had to find a way to get my magic back.
“How did Alexis manage to take your magic away?” Cyril asked.
“Don’t know. It was a hell of a few weeks. I’m working on getting it back. Take care of yourself, Cyril,” I told him and then got up, heading towards the other side of the car where Ronan waited.
This news complicated things a little bit, but I was confident that I could get Zachary and Emma out first. Rodriguez must have found out that Zach didn’t have the relief licence, so he acted upon it. Emma became a problem for him too, so it was probably easier to get rid of both of them.
“Come on, I think we should get out of here.” I nudged Ronan when the train stopped at the next station.
I waited until we were out on the street to tell him about Zach, Emma, Ricky and Paul. We stopped in the nearest bakery for a coffee. When I was a mongrel, I never had regular meals, but those days were long gone. Now I was always hungry and I couldn’t think on an empty stomach. We sat inside while I polished off some pastries, at the same time talking about my plans.
“We need to go to Andrew Dostojevsky,” I finally said, and then told him what I had in mind. Ronan was most likely aware we couldn’t ask demons for help. Maybe there were other demons in London that were still loyal to me, but I couldn’t be sure. Getting Emma and Zachary out of psych should be pretty straightforward, but breaking into the old steel factory required the help of one of the biggest scumbags in London. I bet that place was guarded by both demons and humans hired by Rodriguez.
I once played poker with Dostojevsky and I had managed to win quite a lot of money from him. He was the head of a gang in East London. I never really paid any attention to the gangs on the streets, but Andrew had a soft spot for me. He asked me out a few times, but I always said no. He just wasn’t appealing enough and at the time I still longed for Arthur.
Ronan and I agreed to head to the hospital in the night, and we needed to rent out some uniforms to look legitimate. Ronan could use his demonic abilities to tamper with humans if necessary.
At the end of the day we needed to be ready in case anything went wrong. There were demons that worked in such a huge hospital and I was certain that Rodriguez stationed a few Watchers around.
My mentor kept in touch with a few key demons around the city, but no one had heard from Nameless. I had a feeling that he went back down to the cross-worlds, because he knew that his father was after him. He had burned bridges with too many people.
“As long as we don’t bump into any demons, I think we won’t have any issue with getting Zach and Emma out,” Ronan said.
“Yes, this should be easy. You will need to convince the nurse that Emma and Ricky are being transferred out to a different facility,” I said as we tried on the uniforms back in Paul’s flat.
This was it. Now there was no going back.
It was the first stage of this rescue mission.
“I need to find my son, Max. We are connected by blood, but he needs to pay for what he did,” Ronan said, when we were walking to his car.
So much had happened that I didn’t really have time to think about Nameless Thief. Ronan was planning to take care of him. I had no idea what that meant, and maybe it was easier if I didn’t find out.
The Royal Infirmary hospital was located on the other side of the city. We drove to the main station in East London and then took a tube. I was worried that something might go wrong. Zachary had stuck with me for a long time and he most definitely wasn’t crazy. My daughter had been in the back of my mind quite a bit too. Hot, soaring guilt filled my gut every time I wondered if she was happy with Matilda. I knew my warlock friend was looking after her, but it was my turn to take on the role of her mother.
I really hoped everything went smoothly today. It had to.
We headed straight to the psych ward located on the top floor. Ronan asked me to be quiet when we got to the lift. He was gathering his energy. Tampering with human emotions and thoughts was very draining and I needed him to be focused.
Shortly after that, the lift opened up and we found ourselves at the psych reception desk. A dark-skinned nurse looked busy writing on her clipboard. The potion in my system was making me more receptive to anyone around. I felt agitated, my heartbeat unsteady. This wasn’t the best time to go back to my normal appearance.
When we approached the desk, Ronan cleared his throat and smiled.
“Can I help you?” the nurse asked, eyeing both of us with her sharp rich chocolate eyes.
“We are here to take Mr. Quinton and Miss Carter to another facility,” Ronan said, placing a blank piece of paper in front of her. “Here is the paperwork. Are the patients ready?”
Ronan was using his demonic abilities to reach out to the woman’s mind. He was telling her that she didn’t need to worry about the procedures or letting the doctor know that our ID’s were fake.
Her eyes flickered at the corners, and after a few moments of hesitation she smiled.
“Mr. Quinton had been causing some troubles this morning, so we had to lock him up in an isolation room,” she said. I glanced at Ronan who was staring intensely at the woman.
“We need to see them right away,” I demanded, raising my voice. The nurse shook her head, looking uncertain about what to do. Ronan was very good at shit like this, but she seemed a little resistant to his charms.
“Of course, follow me,” she finally said, scratching her head in confusion. The whole ward was silent as we walked through the empty white corridors. The nurse unlocked the door with a bunch of keys and then we followed through to another long hallway. The antiseptic smell wafted around, reminding me that not long ago I was stuck in a small cell myself. The psych ward couldn’t have been any better.
We stopped in front of a white, metal door. There were screams coming from the other set of doors.
“Just show us which key unlocks Mr. Quinton’s room and we will take care of that as well as Miss Carter,” Ronan said. She nodded, handed him a small blue key, and then she walked back the way she came.
I quickly opened the door and barged inside.
“Emma, Emma, are you all right?” I hissed, trying to wake her up. There was no response, so I walked up to her. She just lay there with her eyes closed, didn’t even move when I tried to shake her.
“There are too many drugs in her system. We might have to carry her out of here,” Ronan said.
It looked like our rescue mission wasn’t going to be as straightforward as we suspected.