She searched the hallway, spotted Gideon, and knelt beside him. Raising her hand, she released a pulse of energy, sending it racing across the ether. If it worked the way she had planned, her Magic would trigger an alarm, warning Niffin and Malita to get moving. Then she lowered her palm to Gideon’s chest. If he was dead, they’d be out of luck. She had many talents, but bringing people back to life was not one of them. She released a second, smaller pulse—a jolt to wake him from unconsciousness. He flinched and cried out.
“Good, you’re not dead. Evie will be so pleased.” Brigette rolled back on her heels, clutching her temples as her head throbbed.
Gideon groaned, struggled to his knees, and groaned again. “What happened?” He stumbled to his feet, eyes shut, and pressed his hands to his temples. “Where’s Evie?”
“C’mon.” Brigette fumbled a cigarette from the tin in her pocket and lit it. “I’ll tell you everything I know.”
They fled from the basilica and raced along the beach, pausing when they reached the pile of gear Gideon and Evie had shed before taking their late-night swim. He bundled clothes and boots, using Evie’s Thunder Cloak as a satchel to hold everything together. Glancing at Brigette, he winced. The first inklings of dawn diluted the gloom, painting their surroundings in murky shades of grayish-purple and sickly yellow. By the way he looked at her, Brigette suspected the light had done nothing to improve her complexion.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She inhaled from her cigarette, holding the smoke deep in her lungs. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
By the time they’d found their boat and shoved off from shore, the basilica’s reinforcements had stormed the beach. The guards fired, and bullets pinged the water. Several pierced the boat’s hull before she could raise another Magical shield.
“Come on, come on,” she grumbled. “Get us out of here.”
Gideon fiddled with the boat’s controls. “I’m working on it. It takes time for the pressure to build.”
Having finished her first cigarette, she fished out another. “If I pass out, you’ll watch over me, right?”
He nodded, expression grim.
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. A voice in the back of her head screamed for a dose of mordid as she stirred up a current that sent the ship racing away from the island, farther than the reach of the soldier’s bullets. Her shields held until Gideon managed to get the boat’s propeller working. He leaned on the throttle, and the boat rocketed across Isolas Bay.
“Where were you?” His voice was a bear’s growl. “You were supposed to show up if things started falling apart.”
She sneered. “Things were always going to fall apart. Taviano’s involvement guaranteed that. This plan was doomed from the start, and I made her no promises. It’s not my fault Evie has unreasonable expectations.”
Gideon’s face turned a deep shade of red. “I should throw you overboard and save her the trouble of dealing with you.”
“You could.” She chuckled and paddled her hands in the air. “But I know how to swim. And I can still be useful. I saved your mangy hide, didn’t I?”
The muscle in his jaw bulged, and she wondered if his teeth would crack from the strain. “I don’t care what happens to me,” he said. “If there’s ever a question, the answer is always: save Evie. Save her at all costs.”
“Funny.” Brigette rolled a shoulder. “She said the same thing about you.”
His fury fled, and he blinked dumbly at her. “She said what?”
“Her last request to me was that no matter what, I had to save you.”
“She shouldn’t have asked you to do that. She should never waste those kinds of resources on me.”
“That’s a subject you’ll have to take up with her when you see her again.”
He grumbled under his breath, his mood darkening as he changed the subject. “Have you sent the signal to Niffin and Malita yet? We’ve got to warn them. Let them know it’s time to move on to Plan B.”
“I have.” She tapped her nose. “It’s been done.” Sighing, she slumped against Gideon, thankful Evie had such good taste in her choice of guardians. Brigette had met plenty of powerful Magicians who’d come in all shapes and sizes, but something about the corporealness of Gideon’s big frame, his solid muscle beneath her cheek, comforted her. Made her feel safe.
She released her hold on the Magic and gave in to her exhaustion, letting consciousness slip away...
She awoke when Gideon lifted her from the boat. She blinked until her vision sharpened and awareness returned. He’d brought them to a grungy, narrow canal in what appeared to be an industrial area of factories and warehouses. Oil floated in globs on the murky water, and a foul, sour stench filled the air. “Where are we?”
“In a service canal. We needed to hide and get rid of the boat.” He set her on her feet on a narrow dock, holding her until she nodded, signaling she could stand on her own. “It was already taking on water from the bullet holes.” He shrugged. “I made the holes bigger.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You’ll sink it?”
“Tide’s coming in. Should make the canal deep enough to hide it until after we’re long gone.”
He had dressed, putting on his shirt and boots, but he’d left his black cloak and mask in the boat. She shrugged off her own cloak and tossed it in beside his. “Let’s get a taxi. Assuming Plan B goes right, Niffin and Malita should already be waiting for us.”
“How’s your pain?” he asked.
Her head felt like it had swollen to twice its usual size, and her brain weighed ten times as much as it should, but she could bear it. For now. “Don’t worry about me. How about you? Faercourt hit you hard back there.”
Gideon grimaced. “I’ve survived worse, believe me.”
They kept to the shadows until they reached a busier thoroughfare and hired the first empty taxi they came across. Huddling close, they kept their faces hidden, looking to the outside world like two young lovers on a sunrise cruise through the city. Halfway through their journey, Brigette asked the pilot to pull over. After paying their taxi fare, she and Gideon disembarked, hiked several more blocks on foot, and boarded another boat. If anyone tried to follow them, she hoped they’d sufficiently muddied their trail.
Their pilot rowed them to their next destination, and they exited quickly, blending in with the other early-morning pedestrians on their way to work. Several blocks later, they reached the shop where Brigette had taken Evie to buy her peacock mask. Three horses waited outside, and Niffin, wearing his shaded spectacles and a slouchy cap concealing his vibrant hair, sat astride a reddish-brown stallion loaded with saddlebags. He held the reins to two more horses, a grey mare and a big black stallion.
He smiled when he recognized the two figures approaching him. “I was not certain you would make it, but I am very relieved you have.”
“Where’s Malita?” Brigette asked.
“In the shop. She is, um... procuring disguises for us.”
“The shop’s open at this hour?”
