The Elders (Mind Dimensions #4)(35)

The masked attacker jumps up and makes a run for it.

Ignoring the pain, I scramble to my feet and follow.

He slams the door shut when I’m a foot away.

I hear a click, and rage blazes through me.

The bastard must’ve had a key to the library door.

In my crazed state, it takes me only a few kicks to break the flimsy lock, which is clearly meant to be decorative. When the door swings open, my attacker is nowhere to be found.

Damn it.

At random, I choose a direction and run, checking rooms as I go. He’s not in what looks like a chemistry lab. Nor is he in a room filled with gorgeous rugs or the one filled with murals.

A few more doors down, I find myself near a relatively small room that looks like a painter’s studio.

There, without a care in the world and with his back to the door, a man is standing in a black kimono.

What’s more, I see the strings from the mask that’s tied around his head.

I enter the room silently, filled with grim anticipation. My heart is pounding from the fight and the chase.

Maybe I’ll grab his head in a lock the way he did to me, or maybe I’ll do a karate-style neck chop first; the pain might disorient the f*cker.

Halfway to my target, I marvel at how quiet I am, despite my faster-than-usual breathing. Stealth isn’t something I ever thought myself capable of.

“Darren,” a voice says from behind me, “what the hell are you doing?”





Chapter 11





Amazingly, the voice doesn’t startle my attacker. He’s still standing with his back to me. There’s something very ballsy about his lack of concern; he’s either really self-confident or deaf.

Ignoring the voice, I continue on toward my strangely behaving target.

He still doesn’t move.

“Seriously, Darren, what in the world—”

I think I recognize the voice. It sounds like Gustav. I don’t dwell on it or turn around to verify I’m right.

Gustav, if that’s him, doesn’t get the chance to finish his monologue, because I grab the masked man in a deadly lock.

Oddly, the masked man doesn’t react in any way. Something is weird about him—a stillness that is kind of familiar.

Another masked figure materializes on our left.

“Who are you?” the figure asks. I don’t recognize his voice. “Is it Celebration time already?”

“It is,” Gustav says as I turn toward him, battling my confusion as I hold on to my unresisting victim. “Jamie, this is Darren, our visitor.”

“Why did you pull me in in such a strange manner?” Jamie asks. “And why are you choking my frozen body?”

“I would also very much like to know the answer to that question,” Gustav says, staring at me the way one might look at a rabid kangaroo.

I release my hold on Jamie’s body and step back, more than a little baffled. “He just attacked me, in the library.”

“I did not,” Jamie says, sounding outraged.

“That’s impossible,” Gustav says. “You just pulled him in.”

I ignore my attacker’s denial. “He must’ve been in this Mind Dimension before running back to his body and Splitting.”

It’s the only explanation that makes sense to me.

“I would have seen him enter this room,” Gustav says. “I came here right after we spoke, and I’ve been here reading. I was planning to pull him in in a few minutes.”

“He must’ve done it somehow,” I persist. “How can you defend someone who’s clearly up to something shady? Just look at him.”

Gustav looks the guy over, appearing more confused than before. “What about him?”

“Do people often wear masks around the Castle?” My hands tighten at my sides. “It’s not exactly a—”

“Wait,” Gustav says. “Jamie, please leave.”

“He’s not leaving until—”

“He is leaving right now,” Gustav says. What shocks me isn’t his words, but where he is when he says them.

A moment ago, Gustav was sitting in his chair, but now he’s suddenly standing next to me.

For someone of his late age, or for someone of any age, he moved very fast. He must’ve leapt so quickly and quietly that I didn’t even notice.

Placing himself between Jamie and me, he says, “Please don’t do anything rash, Darren.”

He says it calmly, yet there’s enough command and threat in his voice that I unclench my fists for the moment.

I look at the guy he’s protecting and belatedly realize his mask may actually be slightly different from the one my attacker was wearing. He might also be a bit smaller in the shoulders. Still, I’m hesitant to let go of my only suspect so quickly.

Taking my stunned expression as his cue, Jamie rushes out of the room.

“Now,” Gustav says, “please tell me about this attack.”

“Not before you tell me why you let my number-one suspect get away,” I say, my voice clipped.

“I explained why he can’t be your attacker.”

“But the mask—”

“The mask and the black outfit are common during the Celebration, as are white and gray robes.”