Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(39)

“So how the hell do we find her then?” I asked. “Do we just start knocking on doors?”

“Well, we can bypass this section completely, because these are the male dormitories,” Rylan said as we passed through one hall. “And this one too. But this one….” He stopped and sniffed, then let out a deep sigh. “This one is all women.”

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or roll my eyes at that. I wished the scry-eye allowed me to smell the scents Rylan was picking up on, because then I could just track Noria to her room. But it wasn’t built for shifters, and such a feature would be useless to humans.

Rylan walked up to the first door on the left and knocked. A woman with short blonde hair dressed in a white nightgown answered, her eyes heavy with sleep.

“Oh. Hello, Captain Witley,” she said, clutching at the doorframe as she regarded Rylan. “What is it?”

“Sorry to bother you,” Rylan said, sounding apologetic and a little embarrassed. “I was looking for Miss Melcott, regarding a security issue I need to discuss with her. Do you know which room she’s in?”

“Oh, that little redhead?” The blonde wrinkled her nose, then pointed down the hall. “She’s three doors down, on the left-hand side.”

“Thank you. Have a good night.”

“Anybody who’s awake is going to be listening now,” I told Rylan as he headed for the door in question.

“I know, but it’s not like you had a better idea.”

Rylan knocked on the door, then waited. My stomach sank a little when nobody answered—if Noria wasn’t here, then what were we going to do? Was she working late in one of the labs? If so, which one, and was there any way to get in? Tonight was our only chance—Rylan wouldn’t be able to stay here past morning.

“I’ll try again,” Rylan said just as I was about to ask him to. He knocked on the door. This time, we heard a muffled groan.

“Miss Melcott, it’s Captain Witley,” Rylan called through the door, keeping his voice as low as he could while remaining audible through the doorway. “I need to speak with you.”

A rustling sound ensued, followed by footsteps, and then Noria yanked the door open. “What do you want?” she growled at Rylan. She stood there, arms crossed over her chest, looking far too thin in the cotton nightgown she wore. Her red hair was a disaster, the mass of curls flying every which way, and her skin was too pale, making the bags beneath her eyes and the freckles smattered across her cheeks stand out like beacons.

“Noria!” I cried aloud, wanting to reach out and squeeze her tight against my chest. But then I remembered I wasn’t there, that I was sitting on a log out in the woods.

“You’ve found her?” Elnos exclaimed, hope in his voice.

Rylan darted into the room, pushing Noria back, and clamped a hand around her mouth before she could scream. She struggled mightily against him, flailing her arms and legs out as he closed and locked the door behind him.

“Stop it,” Rylan hissed as he dragged her away from the door. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m trying to get you out!” He shoved her away from him, and she stumbled backward onto the twin bed in what looked to be a very sparse bedroom. There was a single nightstand, and a small dresser for clothing, but other than that, there was nothing to occupy the windowless chamber. “If you shout, somebody’s going to come looking!”

“Why the hell would the captain of the night watch come to help me escape?” Noria sniped. Her voice wobbled ever so slightly, but her dark eyes blazed with defiance, and she gripped the bedspread beneath her hard enough that her knuckles whitened.

“Because I’m not the captain of the night watch,” Rylan said, keeping his voice low. “My name is Rylan Baine. My cousin Sunaya asked me to get you out.”

Hope flashed in Noria’s eyes for a split second before she narrowed them. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” she asked. “You could be making this all up. It’s no secret that I was friends with Sunaya.”

Rylan popped the top button of his uniform open and pulled out the necklace from beneath his collar. “Recognize this?” he asked, swinging the pendant back and forth.

Noria’s dark eyes widened. “That’s my scry-eye!” Scrambling off the bed, she snatched up the pendant and held it up to the light. “This is the very same prototype Elnos and I were working on,” she murmured, examining it critically.

“Yeah, he’s here too, along with Sunaya, Lord Iannis, and a wolf shifter named Fenris,” Rylan said. “We came to get you and Annia out before this place is leveled.”

“Before the place is leveled?” Noria echoed, the last bit of color draining from her face. “What the hell are you talking about?”





17





“This is all happening so fast,” Noria said as she paced back and forth alongside her bed. “One moment, I’m thinking I’m never going to be able to get out of here, and the next, I’m being told I need to leave now before the place explodes.” Brown eyes, heavy with worry, lifted to Rylan’s face. “Are you sure this place has to be destroyed? There is a lot of valuable scientific information here, even if so many of the experiments being done are horrible.”