Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade, #3)(54)

A bit of disappointment flashed in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant. Devon wrapped his arms around me, pulling me even closer. “I know exactly how you feel. But we’ll get through this—together. You’ll see. Everything will be okay after we get the others back.”

I nodded and laid my head down on his shoulder again, listening to the steady thump-thump-thump of his heart. I didn’t believe him about everything turning out okay, but I knew one thing for certain.

I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that Devon and the rest of my friends made it through the night.



Finally, around seven o’clock, we gathered up our gear and left Tiny behind to guard the library basement. Devon wasn’t supposed to meet Victor until nine, but we were too tense to stay in the library any longer. Besides, the sooner we got to the warehouse, the more time we’d have to look around and hopefully spot any traps that Victor might have set for us.

I took the lead, since I knew the bad part of town a whole lot better than Devon, Felix, and Oscar did. The Draconi warehouse wasn’t all that far from the library, and I stopped at one of the street corners. In the distance, I could see the lochness bridge arching over the Bloodiron River, but we couldn’t go that way right now, since it was within view of the front of the warehouse and the Draconis would spot us coming. Devon would cross the bridge later on tonight, though, when he went to meet with Victor.

I led the others through the side streets and around the bridge, finally stopping in an alley across from and at the opposite end of the street from the warehouse. I bent down and peered around the corner at the warehouse, with Devon beside me.

The Draconi warehouse looked like any other in this part of town—a sturdy building made out of faded red bricks that had seen better days. A door was set into the center of the building, framed on either side by a couple of large rectangular windows. Even though the sun hadn’t started to set yet, lights blazed in the warehouse, the golden glow spilling out onto the street and highlighting the more than two dozen guards patrolling outside, doing a slow, steady circuit around the entire building. Through the windows, I could see more guards moving inside the warehouse, their red cloaks billowing around their shoulders.

“Victor certainly has a lot of guards here,” Devon said.

“Of course he does,” I muttered. “If he captures you, then he’ll have all the Sinclair Family leaders and the black blades. He’ll have everything he needs to exterminate the other Families and finally take control of the entire town.”

“We’re not going to let that happen, remember?” he said, flashing me a grin.

I made myself smile back at him, even though my heart wasn’t in it. But I wasn’t going to just let Devon walk straight into the monster’s den without doing my part to help, so I studied the warehouse again, looking at the doors, windows, and all the other ways that I might sneak inside and rescue the others.

Given all the guards, going in through the ground floor was out, as it so often was, so I studied the upper level of the two-story warehouse. Windows lined that floor as well, but I didn’t see any guards patrolling up there, so I moved on up to the roof. No guards up there either. The roof it was then. Now, how to actually get up there?

A rickety fire escape was attached to the side of the warehouse, but we couldn’t get to it, much less actually climb up it, without being spotted by the guards. So I looked at the building next door, which seemed to be deserted, judging from the lack of lights and the busted out windows. A narrow alley ran between it and the Draconi warehouse, creating a five-foot gap between the two buildings.

Five feet. I could make that jump and so could Felix, who was coming with me while Oscar stayed behind to watch Devon’s back. Once Felix and I were on the warehouse roof, we could find an access door and stairs leading down into the building itself. After we were inside, well, I didn’t know what we would find, but Mo, Claudia, and the others were there and we were going to save them.

We were going to save them.

Devon and I eased back around the corner and moved deeper into the alley to where Felix was waiting, pacing back and forth, while Oscar hovered in midair beside him. Devon and Felix both wore black cloaks to help them blend into the shadows as much as possible, while a small one fluttered around Oscar’s shoulders as well. I sported my mom’s sapphire-blue trench coat like usual. We all had swords belted to our waists, and a black duffel bag was leaning up against the alley wall.

“Anything?” Felix asked. “Any sign of Deah and my dad?”

Devon shook his head. “No, just a lot of guards, but Victor has every single light in that place on. It has to be where he’s keeping everyone, just like Blake said.”

Oscar twitched his wings. “Now what?”

I drew in a breath. “Now, Felix and I get into position and see if we can sneak into the warehouse while Devon waits to meet Victor.”

We all looked at each other, our faces serious, our bodies tense, our hands curled around the hilts of our swords, including Oscar with his needle-size pixie sword. The real danger was about to begin.

“All right then,” Devon said. “Let’s do it.”

Devon and Oscar stayed behind in the alley to keep a watch on the guards and text Felix and me if anything changed. I led Felix out of the far side of the alley, around the block, across the street, and to the far side of the warehouse that was next door to the Draconis’ building. I started to reach for the chopstick lock picks in my hair, but a breeze gusted down the street, and the door in front of us cracked open a couple of inches.