The Golden Lily (Bloodlines, #2)(108)

The only thing I could tell for sure was that I was no longer adjacent to the arena. That was good enough for me, though it would've been better if there was a door leading outside.

I'd have to make my own. Grabbing a chair, I swung it into the window and was completely astonished when the glass broke easily. A few shards hit me, but nothing large enough to cause injury. Standing on the chair, I managed to climb out the window without injuring my hands.

I was met by a warm, dark night. No electric lights were visible ahead, just open black land. I took this to mean I was on the opposite side of the compound where Trey had brought me. There were no roads, no sound from the highway we had traveled. There was also no sign of life anywhere, which I took as a good sign. Hopefully all the Warrior guards who normally paroled the grounds were off fighting guardians. If Sonya was out now, my hope was that the guardians would begin retreating - and grab me along the way. Even if they didn't, I wasn't above walking back to I-10 and hitchhiking.

The compound was sprawling and confusing, and as I walked around it and still saw no sign of the highway, I began to grow uneasy. How turned around had I gotten? I only had a limited amount of time to get off Warrior property. They could be hunting me right now. There was also the disconcerting problem that once I made it to the periphery, I'd have to deal with the electric fence. Still, it might be best to forget looking for the freeway and simply make for the edge of the Warriors' camp so that I could -

A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I screamed.

"Easy there, Sage. I'm no gun-toting crazy guy. Crazy, yes. But not the rest." I stared in disbelief, not that I could really make out much of the tall, dark figure standing over me. "Adrian?" The height was right, as was the build. As I stared, I became more and more certain. His hands steadied my shaking. I was so glad to see a friendly face - to see him - that I nearly sank into his arms in relief. "It is you. How'd you find me?"

"You're the only human out here with a yellow and purple aura," he said. "Makes you easy to spot."

"No, I mean, how'd you find me here? At the compound?"

"I followed the others. They told me not to, but... well." In the faint moonlight I could barely see his shrug. "I don't follow directions well. When Castile came out with Sonya and started babbling about how you'd gone out some random door, I thought I'd take a quick walk around.

I don't think I was supposed to do that either, but the guardians were kind of busy."

"You are crazy," I snapped, despite how happy I was to know I hadn't been abandoned in this miserable place. "The Warriors are so mad that they'd probably kill a Moroi on sight if they saw you."

He tugged my hand forward. Even through his banter, there'd been a hard tone to his words. He was fully aware of the danger we faced. "Then we'd better get out of here." Adrian led me back in the direction I'd come, then went around the opposite side of the building. I didn't see the freeway lights yet, but he soon turned and began running toward the property's far edge, away from the building. I ran alongside him, still holding his hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The guardians assembled near the back side of the compound, so they wouldn't be spotted.

That part of the fence has been deactivated - if you can climb it."

"Of course I can climb it. I'm practically a prodigy in PE," I pointed out. "The question is, can you, Mr. Smoker?"

The fence began to come into focus as we approached, mostly because its shape blocked some of the stars. "That's the section. Behind the scraggly bush," Adrian said. I couldn't see any bush but trusted in his eyes. "Go a little ways past that, and there's this country highway that the guardians used as a staging point. I'm parked there." We came to a halt in front of the fence, both of us a little breathless. I peered upward.

"You're sure it's still off?"

"It was when we came in," said Adrian, but I could hear a little uncertainty in his voice.

"You think those guys would have gotten their act together enough to fix it already?"

"No," I admitted. "But I'd still like to know for sure. I mean, most commercial electric fences won't significantly hurt someone, but we should know." He glanced around. "Can we throw a stick at it?"

"Wood doesn't conduct." I rifled through my purse and found what I wanted: a metal pen with a foam grip. "Hopefully, the foam on this will block the worst of it if the fence really is hot." Trying not to grimace, I reached out and touched the pen's barrel to the fence, half-expecting some intense charge to send me flying backward. Nothing happened. I slowly ran the pen along the fence, since most electric ones had an intermittent pulse. Sustained contact would be needed. "Looks clean," I said, exhaling in relief and turning to Adrian. "I guess we're good to - ahh!"

A bright light shone in my eyes, blinding me and killing whatever night vision I'd gained out here. I heard Adrian cry out in surprise as well.

"It's the girl!" a male voice exclaimed. "And... and one of them!" The flashlight was moved out of my face, and although spots still danced in my vision, I could make out two hulking figures rapidly approaching. Were they armed? My mind raced.

Whether they were or not, they were still an obvious threat since Warriors apparently liked to practice bashing each other in their free time, and Adrian and I didn't.