Mark Del Franco - Skin Deep

Will you please tell me what this means, Terryn? Laura sent.

She shuddered at the wave of anger that preceded his response.

War.

TERRYN AND CRESSfollowed Laura down the long hall, mental sendings flying among them. They passed the two Capitol police guards at the turn in the hall and went out to the theater lobby.

What do you mean, war? Laura asked.

The Seditious Acts targeted the Inverni opposition to Maeve. It makes us criminals if we object to Maeve’s rule. That is what my father died to prevent. Maeve did it anyway. They all lied, Laura. The Inverni will declare war over this.

Laura considered the implications, her mind racing as she tried to understand how the hidden agreement factored into an assassination threat against Hornbeck. She couldn’t see a connection. Her thoughts jumped to Blume. Triad had added security spells to the Treaty casement. They had to have noticed the interference between their security spell and the Treaty’s masking spell like she did. She grabbed Terryn’s arm. “He knows about the clause.”

“Who does?”

“Blume,” she said. She remembered the nearby guards in the lobby and switched to sendings. Hornbeck’s not the target, Terryn. Orrin ap Rhys helped write the Treaty. He’s the real target. Blume’s going to try to provoke war between the Inverni and Dananns. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He wants to weaken the Celtic fey with a fairy war. We need to shift the alert to Rhys and detain Blume.

She felt several strong flutterings from Terryn. I agree with the assessment. I’ve shifted security. I’ll deal with Blume personally.

I’ll join you in a moment, she sent.

Where are you going? Terryn asked.

Saffin’s down here, and she better not be dead, Laura sent back. She opened the door to the theater lobby, and Terryn and Cress slipped through. Laura returned to the junction in the hallway. In the brief space of time, the guards had changed. The Capitol police had been replaced by Invernis in dark green fatigues. She didn’t recognize them until they turned toward her. She stopped. The Triad logo emblazoned their breast pockets-block capital letters except for the “A,” which was replaced with a bright red triangle.

A memory thrust itself into her awareness: Sanchez scraping lines in the blood on her hand, turning the hand so Laura could see it. One of her guesses about the lines in his blood was right-it had been an “A,” but not for Aaron. The “A” in a logo replaced by a red triangle. Sanchez hadn’t said “stop” and “try.” He’d said “Stop Triad.”

Terryn, Triad’s down here. Repeat: Triad has infiltrated the Archives. We need Guild agents here immediately, she sent.

On my way, he sent back. He didn’t ask her to elaborate.

She walked toward the guards as if nothing were wrong. “I’m looking for a brownie from the Guildhouse. I was told she was down here.”

The two guards exchanged glances.

“She was here earlier, but she left,” one of them said.

“How long ago?” she asked.

“Over an hour,” the same one said.

She tilted her head. “That long? Did you see which way she went?”

He shrugged. “Upstairs.”

Laura didn’t need any ability to see he was lying. They hadn’t been there five minutes earlier, so they definitely weren’t there an hour earlier. She was about to challenge them when she heard a door close. Another Triad guard appeared at the end of the hall. He disappeared around a far corner in the opposite direction of the basement vault.

Laura stepped away from the guards to follow the other. “Maybe he saw her.”

The guard who spoke moved into her path, his hands flickering with indigo light. “Ma’am, that’s a restricted area.”

Laura arched an eyebrow at his primed essence. “I have all access.”

The other guard joined the first. “Not down here.”

Laura glanced up the hall, then back to the guards. “The most sensitive material is in the vault. What could possibly be down there?”

His face set with determination, the first guard stepped closer. “You have to leave now, ma’am.”

They drew in more essence, their hands burning brighter. In a blur of motion, sparks of essence flew from Laura’s hands. “Sleep,” she said. They crumpled to the floor.

She rushed down the hall. Outside a locked door, she found a concentration of Saffin’s essence. Laura grasped the doorknob and sent a surge of essence into it, the metal resisting. She pushed back, the tumblers inside moving grudgingly as she forced them with essence. The door swung open.

The musty odor of old cleaning materials wafted out. Saffin’s essence blazed in green flames on the floor. Laura hit the light switch and gasped. Bound with rope, gagged, and blindfolded, Saffin huddled. Her body trembled in spasmodic pulses as she screamed against the gag. Long claws flexed at the ends of even longer fingers. She had gone boggart.

Laura crouched in front of her, holding her hands wide to cast a soothing spell. “Shhh. It’s okay, Saffin. You’re safe now.”

She stroked the air, chanting essence into the spell. Saffin shimmied back with a growl. Laura darted her hand in and pulled off the filthy gag. Saffin threw her head back and shrieked.

She struggled against the ropes. “Bomb, bomb, bomb,” she chanted.

Laura interrupted the spell. “A bomb?”

Saffin’s face suffused with anger. “Bomb, bomb, bomb.”

Laura activated her body shield. In her boggart state, Saffin could be extremely dangerous. “My name is Mariel. I’m going to take off the blindfold, Saffin. You are safe. Safe. Do you understand me?”

Laura feared she was too buried in the boggart shape to understand, but, amazingly, Saffin nodded. Laura grabbed the blindfold and lifted. As soon as her eyes were freed, Saffin lunged at Laura. Laura leaned away and brought her hands up again with the soothing spell. “Safe, Saffin. You are safe. You need to relax. If you relax, I can get these ropes off you.”

Saffin’s eyes bulged as her jaw dropped open to reveal long, jagged teeth. As the soothing spell took effect, some of the fierce green light in Saffin’s eyes dimmed. Her swollen skin remained, the ropes biting her flesh. “Bomb spell,” she rasped.

“Where, Saffin?”

“Stop. Stop. Bomb,” she said.

Laura held her shoulders. “Where is it, Saffin?”

“Stop. Stop,” she said.

Laura wanted to shake her, but knew it would make things worse. Saffin had come to check security, and someone had not only stopped her but prevented her from doing her job, which triggered her boggart mania. She wouldn’t revert to her normal state until she completed her task.

“I will help you, Saffin. Tell me where the bomb is,” she said.

“Treaty. Treaty. Bomb,” she said.

“I’m going to get the ropes off, Saffin. You have to tell me where the bomb is,” said Laura.

She nodded. “Treaty. Laura. Treaty.”

Laura struggled with the intricate knotting on the ropes. “Yes, Saffin. We will find Laura and tell her about the bomb. Tell me where the bomb is. Tell Mariel.”

“Treaty. Treaty. Treaty,” she said. Her frustration rose, and her skin pulsed.

Laura paused. “It’s the Treaty, Saffin? Is that what you’re saying? The bomb spell is on the Treaty?”

Excitement lit Saffin’s face. “Yesyesyesyesyesyes. Stop. Stop.”

Laura pulled at the rope knots. Saffin bent her arm at an unnatural angle and yanked it free. She shoved Laura away and slashed the remaining rope to shreds. She loomed over Laura with a feral grin, her limbs long and flexible. “Bomb. Bomb. Bomb.”