Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(133)

Both Princes blanched, neither knowing where to move or where to look. Some members of the Communications department already had their hands up in defeat, while some looked as utterly baffled as their leaders standing in front of them.

“Acts . . .” Director Prince stared up at Blackwell. “Acts of terrorism?”

“You made the wrong move this time, Arthur.” Blackwell shook his head with an almost theatrical sweep of his head. “It’s a wonder why Abrams would tell you such a thing. Or how he would get such an awful idea in the first place.”

“Blackwell.” Prince gathered the situation with flaring eyes, his neck reddening by the second. “Did you—”

“Yes, I called the police,” he answered. “And don’t worry, we’ll also be taking Abrams into custody, as well as anyone else in the Council who shared his views. My meetings with various foreign dignitaries have been fruitful indeed. We’ve already decided that the Sect can no longer be allowed to run amok in dealing with affairs that should be in their hands. This latest infraction is just proof that you’re not fit to rule. And your kingdom isn’t fit to stand.”

“We said, put your hands up,” the police officer repeated. “Sir, we will not ask you a third time.”

As more officers spilled into the room and began taking the willing into custody, Blackwell cleared his throat, gathering Prince’s attention again.

“It’s better if you cooperate. As criminals under the law.”

“I am not . . .” Prince’s teeth clenched tight. “I am—”

“What you are, Arthur,” Blackwell began, “is a father willing to kill your own son in order to hold on to the power and reputation your family has given you. A spoiled, sad little boy with blood on his hands.” And he grinned wide. “Like father, like son, I suppose.”

“Effigies! Come with us!”

Several police officers surrounded us, cornering us against the wall. They looked terrified as they pointed their guns at us, one holding out handcuffs with shaking hands. The metal jingled in his grip.

“Yeah,” Chae Rin said. “No.”

Lake sent a gale crashing into them, and before the rest could raise their hands to shoot, Chae Rin broke open a hole in the wall for us to escape through. We leapt out and began running once again down the hall. Belle’s wall of ice sealed the hole after us and blocked off the path so that the other officers in the corridor couldn’t follow. I could hear their gunshots clink against the ice.

“Belle,” I started. “You—”

My next words vanished as I remembered Rhys’s confession. Her devastation. Belle didn’t look back at me as she ran. She didn’t say a word as we made our way through the building.

“Blackwell,” Sibyl said quietly once the communication link was back up. “If he manipulated Director Prince into using Minerva . . . then he was part of this too. A part of Project X19. But all they did was turn the world against the Sect, against the Effigies. Maybe that was the plan all along. Maybe that was Phase III, not the weapon itself.”

“Where can we go?” Lake said once we stopped to catch our breath. “Those police said the building was surrounded!”

“There’s an underground pathway beneath the building that will take you outside the facility,” Sibyl said. “Not many people know about it. You need to leave the city until we can get you transportation to our safe house. Dot, Pete, and Cheryl are all already on their way. Keep going down the hall, and at the first bend, turn left.”

We followed Sibyl’s instructions. My thoughts were racing, blurring pain and confusion together as my legs carried me down stairs, through corridors. We couldn’t stop Saul. We hadn’t stopped Prince. And now Rhys and who knew how many others were dead. And June? It didn’t make any sense. But even if I could piece it together, it was too late to save any of them.

Five minutes had already passed.

“The beam hit.” Uncle Nathan had whispered it. “It . . . the city . . .”

He didn’t need to say anything more. We were failures. And now we were fugitives.

Rhys . . . I’m sorry. Tears stung my eyes. I was broken.

I’d lost someone again.

So many words left unsaid because of my own cowardice. My body felt as if it would collapse into pieces on the floor. I was already haunted by it: his smile, that beautiful smile I would never see again. The boy who’d confessed that he’d fallen in love with me. I wanted to scream, to cry, to curse, to die. But I had to keep going. I had to. He would have wanted me to. I blinked my tears away as Sibyl guided us to a small underground hangar, empty but for two cars. Once again, there were agents waiting.

“From here, we should split up,” Belle suggested suddenly.

“I would advise against that,” Sibyl said. “I don’t understand exactly what I just saw, but people around the world saw Maia Finley, an Effigy, help Saul essentially cause the destruction of a city.”

My stomach lurched. “Uncle Nathan . . .”

“I know. I saw her too.”

He sounded so small. I’m sure he could hear the sob in my voice as I breathed in, trying to keep myself together.

“This is a catastrophe on the level of the Seattle Siege,” Sibyl said. “And in the eyes of the world, the Effigies—the entire Sect is implicated. You have to stay together.”