Carrie Vaughn - Dreams of the Golden Age

“That’s what has me worried. Ghost, how do you feel about scouting on a bit more stealthily?”

“What, me? Yeah, sure.” Settling a determined frown on his features, Teddy raced ahead and vanished.

Anna resisted shouting after him to slow down and be careful.

They passed the sixth landing. Anna really ought to start working out. Teia, Lew, and Sam obviously worked out. They were pulling ahead. Anna probably could have chased after them but found herself lingering near her father.

“Kids, slow down!” Analise called as the Trinity climbed farther ahead, passing even the SWAT officer Paulson had put in the lead. “God, to have that kind of energy again.”

Arthur held out an arm. “Everyone, stop. Be quiet.”

It seemed impossible that the whole crowd of them could be quiet. Anna held her breath, trying to hear what her father obviously listened to, his head tilted, focused.

“It’s gas,” Analise murmured. Anna heard it then, a hissing, as if several helium tanks were filling balloons at once. The sound came from somewhere above them. Her nose started tickling, which might have been her mind playing tricks. She held her breath, just in case, but that would last only so long.

The stairwell started to fill with a pale orange-tinged fog.

“Is that knockout or poison?” Analise asked.

“Doesn’t matter, we’ve got to move,” Paulson stated, pushing his SWAT guy back down the stairs. “Get out of here, get gas masks—”

Above them, Lew leaned over the railing, his hands outstretched. Somewhere far overhead, a vent grating started rattling. A harsher blowing of air overcame the hissing, and what started as a slight draft quickly swelled to a gale. Anna and the rest of the party hunched over, bracing as the wind carried away dust, debris, scraps of paper all the way from the building’s lobby, drawing it spiraling up along the stairs and away. The blast of wind thundered upward for several minutes, carrying the poisonous fog with it. Finally, the wind faded, the air stilled. Teia held on to Lew, who slumped on the railing, drained. But the stairwell was clear, the air fresh. The gas nozzles had stopped hissing, presumably after running empty.

“Wow,” Analise murmured. Her smile seemed wistful.

That would be only the first of the traps.

Braced against the railing, Paulson was shaking his radio, not getting a signal. “Damn it. This whole situation is ridiculous. You”—he slapped one of his SWAT guys on the shoulder—“go back downstairs, get the tech guys to shut off power to the whole building. It’s probably not even on the grid, so tell them to go into the basement and look for generators. And watch for traps.” Paulson sighed, and the wrinkles on his worried brow seemed even deeper. “If I’d known we had a fortress sitting in the middle of the city all this time, I’d have shut it down.”

“Save it for later, Captain. Let’s keep moving.”

“My heart is not going to thank me for this,” he muttered.

“If you need to stay—”

“No. I’m fine. Let’s go.”

About ten floors up, the stairs gave out. One minute Anna stood on solid floor; the next, the floor had dropped, the individual stairs collapsing into a seamless ramp that curved endlessly downward. Letting out a yelp, she rolled a few feet before managing to grab the railing.

The chaos seemed to go on for a long time. Startled shouts echoing, the scraping as one of the SWAT guys, thrown off balance by his gear, tumbled all the way down. Arm wrapped around the railing, clinging, Anna was able to survey the damage. Even the landings had tilted, offering no safe haven on the now impossible stairs. Paulson had slipped down to the next flight before stopping himself; Teia and Lew clung to each other. Analise had already been hanging on the railing and managed to stay upright, bracing now to keep from falling. Arthur had stabilized by pushing up against the wall.

“Is everyone all right?” Arthur called. Which was weird—he should have been able to just know, reaching out to them with his mind. Which meant—

She looked for Teddy and couldn’t find him. Even if he’d been far ahead of the rest of them, even invisible, she should have been able to sense him. But she just couldn’t tell. She closed her eyes, and the world became a blank, all her friends and family invisible to her. She opened them again quickly, lest the vertigo of it overtake her. “Dad, I think we’re within range of that telepathic block.”

“Yes, I’d noticed. This is your chance to think all those terrible thoughts you work so hard to hide when I’m around.”

She stared. “I don’t think horrible thoughts. Much.”

His smile was wry. He was close enough to reach out, brush her cheek. “You had some dust on you,” he said.

“Dad, are you scared?”

He thought a moment, looking up the endless turning of stairs to their unknown goal. “I’m cautious. The block shows how close we’re getting.” He must have seen some look of consternation on her face. “If I stopped to think of it, I would be scared, so we can’t stop. We must find your mother. We’ll be scared later, all right?”

The trek up the stairwell became a mountain climb, stepping carefully and hoping the soles of their shoes gripped, clinging to the railing and hauling themselves up, hand over hand. Anna’s father got in front of her, sandwiching her between him and Paulson, as if that would keep her safer. She glanced up once and spotted Teddy in the lead, looking back to catch her gaze. He offered a grim smile before turning to run ahead and flashing to invisibility.

Paulson got rid of his suit jacket, and damp circles of sweat showed at his armpits. Arthur kept his trench coat on, like it was part of his uniform.

The worst trap came on the twenty-fifth floor, so close to their target Anna had already felt the first flash of elation at impending success. Almost there. They’d find Mom, catch the bad guys, and be home in time for dinner. Never mind that the details still hadn’t completely clarified.

This time, Sam stopped them, managing to look anxious even under his mask. The brash fighter had turned into a grim campaigner.

“Hissing again,” Sam said. “You guys hear it?”

“More gas?” Arthur said. “I’m starting to smell it, sulfury…”

“Oh, God,” Analise said, pure dread in her tone. “That’s propane. Something’s on fire.”

They looked up. A light was coming toward them, yellow flickering to orange, wavering with heat. The sound was like distant jet engines coming on, one by one. With each hiss and flare, a flame shot from a projection on the wall—not part of the girders and bolts in the building’s framework as they’d been disguised to appear, but nozzles and ignition systems, shooting out gas, lighting it, filling the stairwell with fireballs.

Waves of heat roiled toward them, and the paint and drywall were scorching, bubbling. The fire was scouring the stairwell.

“Move,” Paulson shouted. “Get to that door, get inside.”

Teia was already there, both hands around the doorknob, yanking on it, rattling it. “Locked!” she called back.

“Teddy!” Anna shouted. “Teddy, ghost through the door and unlock it!”

Lew shouted back, “He went scouting ahead, I don’t think he’s here!”

Anna cursed. Well, at least he’d be safe from this. Weirdly, she thought of prom. Wondered if he’d ask anyone else, after she was roasted. So simple a trap in the end. They’d be burned to cinders before even reaching the thirtieth floor. She was too stunned to even be afraid.

The lead SWAT guy pushed past the teens to make his way to the door, drew a pistol to fire a shot at the doorknob, when Paulson yelled, “Do not fire that gun in a roomful of propane, Mitchell!”