“Wow,” someone near me said. “They didn’t have that in the show the last time I was here!”
As Adrian and I continued our run to the hotel, the ex-Alchemist in me couldn’t help but wince at the public display of the supernatural I’d just made—especially with so many recording devices on hand. It went against every principle I’d been taught about hiding the paranormal world from ordinary people, and I tried to console myself with the knowledge that at least no one would be able to pinpoint how exactly the fountain had done what it did. And if the Alchemists were truly concerned with the public reaction, I had no doubt they’d find a way to spin it in the news.
We made it into the Bellagio unchallenged, and I had only a moment to admire the lobby’s beautiful glass flowers as Adrian asked a worker for directions to the tram station. The way was straightforward, but it required leaving the hotel again. We didn’t dare slow down and made the journey at a half jog, which was itself conspicuous. All the Alchemists would have to do when they eventually made their way out of the water was ask if anyone had seen a bride and groom running through there. I could only hope security would detain them and that there’d be a tram right at the station when we arrived.
There wasn’t, but we only had a five-minute wait, and no one showed up in that time. We got on board and sank into a couple of seats, both of us exhausted. “Catch your breath,” said Adrian. “We’re going to the end of the line.”
I nodded, weary from both the sprint and intense magic use. I crossed my legs and pulled off one of my shoes so that I could massage my sore foot. A woman sitting across from me in electric blue Skechers studied my shoes admiringly.
“Those are great,” she said.
“What size do you wear?” I asked.
“Seven.”
“Me too. You want to trade?”
Her eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
“I need something blue to complete the look.” I held up one white shoe, glittering with crystal embellishment. “They’re Kate Spade.”
Her friend elbowed her. “Do it!” she said in a stage whisper.
A little while later, I was suited up in new shoes. They couldn’t save me from the blisters I’d already accrued, but when we reached our stop and I stood, my feet certainly thanked me for the change in support. The tulle at the bottom of the dress settled over them, and no one was any the wiser about what lay beneath. No pursuers awaited us when we stepped out of the tram, and we had an almost leisurely one-block walk to the Blue Lagoon. I entertained a five-minute fantasy that we were here for our honeymoon, out enjoying the sights like any other normal couple. That pleasant daydream was shattered when we stepped into the Blue Lagoon’s lobby and spotted a suited woman leaning against a wall. When she saw us, she immediately straightened up and spoke into an earpiece.
“She’s getting backup,” I said, noting that she only watched us but didn’t move. “They’ve had all afternoon to set up spies in every major hotel out here while I shopped.”
Adrian was undaunted. “Ignore her. We’re home free now. They’ll never get enough people here in time to stop us.” He went straight to the front desk and asked, “Excuse me, could you direct us to your helicopter landing pad?”
I was nearly as surprised to hear those words as the desk attendant was. “Do you have authorization to access it? It’s in a very secure area, not open to general hotel guests.” He looked us over dubiously. “Are you even guests?”
“No,” said Adrian. “But we’re expecting a, uh, ride up there. There should be a helicopter coming in from Olga Dobrova Academy any minute now.” That was another surprise. Olga Dobrova was a small, newish Moroi school up near the border of California and northern Nevada.
The attendant typed something into his computer. “What are your names?” We told him, and he shook his head. “Sorry. You aren’t on the authorized list to go up there.”
“Can you even tell us if it’s arrived?” exclaimed Adrian. “We’re the whole reason it’s here!”
The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you unless you get authorization. Next, please.”
Adrian fixed his gaze squarely on him. “No, you’re going to—”
“He said he can’t help you.”
An impatient man in an Elvis T-shirt shouldered his way in front of Adrian, followed by a similarly dressed woman and a group of kids. They immediately began talking at once, launching into a tale of woe about how their air conditioning didn’t work. We stepped out of the way in dismay, and I noted that the watching Alchemist was gone.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Best laid plans going awry,” muttered Adrian. “This was Jill’s wedding gift: our escape plan out of Vegas. She convinced Lissa that I was in serious danger and got her to order the helicopter sent here to take us back to Dobrova and then catch one of their private planes back to Court. Long journey with all the refueling, but it’d avoid public places and no more chance run-ins with Alchemists. Jill said the helicopter was set to come here, but I guess no one realized that for us to even get to it, there needed to be some kind of paperwork done on this end.”
Although he kept using “us,” I wondered if Lissa knew I was with him or if Jill had simply convinced her to use royal resources based on a story—albeit a true one—about Adrian’s safety.
Adrian soon rallied. “Okay. No problem. We have cash and compulsion. As soon as the Elvis family leaves, we’ll just go back to that guy and—” His eyes searched the lobby, following various employees as they went about their duties. “Scratch that. We don’t need him. Someone around here will crack and tell us the way to that helicopter pad. Doesn’t matter if the hotel doesn’t think we should be there. If we’re there and that helicopter takes us, that’s all that matters.”
Two employees looked completely clueless when he asked, but an off-duty concierge hesitated long enough for Adrian to jump in and seize the opportunity. “You don’t have to do anything,” Adrian assured him. “Just tell us where it is, and there’s a hundred bucks cash in it for you.”
The man wavered and then shook his head. “You’ll never get to the pad. The elevator won’t even go to that floor on the Starlight Tower without the right card access, and hardly anyone has it. But …”
“Yes?” prompted Adrian. He wasn’t exactly using compulsion, but he certainly seemed very appealing. Or maybe I was just biased.
“An ordinary guest key will get you to the top of the Aurora Tower. From there, go down the west corridor, and there’s a door that goes out on the roof. At that point, you could theoretically walk over the maintenance bridge and climb the ladder up to the heliport.” He eyed my dress skeptically. “Theoretically.”
“Theoretical’s good enough for us,” said Adrian. “But we aren’t guests. I’ll give you another hundred if you can get us a generic guest room access key.”
“Easy,” said the guy. “But I can’t get you one that’ll unlock the door to the roof.”
“We’ll deal with it,” I said, hoping that was true.
The concierge held true to his word, and a few minutes later, he supplied us with a guest keycard. Adrian gave him the cash, and we headed for the Aurora Tower elevator bank.
“How much cash do we have left?” I asked.
“Not much,” Adrian admitted. “A couple hundred. But once we’re on the flight back to Court, it won’t matter.”
The directions and keycard were both good, and before long, we found ourselves at the door leading out to the roof. It was a heavy glass door, split vertically with two panes of glass, and it had a warning sign that said an alarm would go off if it was opened.
“If it’s opened,” I murmured. “I wonder what’ll happen if we remove a pane of glass? We should be able to fit through.”
“You thinking of breaking it?” Adrian asked. “Hopper’s in statue form, right? Maybe we could smash him into the glass.”
“I had a more elegant solution in mind.”
From
among Ms. Terwilliger’s supplies, I found a small pouch of bitter-smelling herbs. I sprinkled them on the larger, lower pane of glass and then double-checked a spell from the book she’d provided. After having been forced to wield so much improvised magic, having a standard spell and components seemed almost luxurious. I waved my hands over the glass and chanted the Greek words. Moments later, the glass in the pane began to melt like ice, dripping until it formed a puddle on the floor. That puddle soon solidified, but the lower half of the door was now wide open and exposed to the air outside. Best of all, no alarm went off.
“No question,” said Adrian. “I definitely married up.”
We each ducked through the opening and crossed the roof, which was full of vents and various maintenance signs. The walkway connecting this tower to the taller Starlight one was solid and steady, thankfully, but the ladder on the side of the building was a much more intimidating matter. It required climbing three floors, which wasn’t an enormous distance in a hotel that was already twenty stories high, but being in a dress certainly complicated matters, no matter how sensible my shoes were.
Any fears I might have had were dashed as we recognized the loud, telltale signs of a helicopter nearby. We exchanged excited looks.
“You go first,” said Adrian, as we stood at the bottom of the ladder and he took the bag from me. “If something happens, I’ll use spirit to keep you up.”
I shook my head. “No, you first. There’ll be guardians in the helicopter. Better if they see a Moroi first. I should be able to summon enough air magic to help me if I slip.”
“Should?” he asked pointedly.
“I don’t plan on slipping.”
Adrian kissed me and began the climb. Wind whipped around me as I watched with bated breath, every part of me tense as he made the painstaking journey one step at a time. But he never slipped or seemed to falter even a little. In no time, he made it to the top and stood firmly on the upper roof. He waved at me and then took a few steps away that put him out of my sight. The helicopter had gotten louder, and I hoped he was there clearing things up with the Dobrova guardians.
Then it was my turn. My new shoes had good grip, and the dress’s limitations didn’t matter so much since the ladder’s rungs were close together and easy to stand on. This ladder wasn’t meant to be a deterrent. It was there for maintenance workers, designed to be as easy for them as possible. My difficulties came from other things, like the way my dress and veil were tossed in the wind—and the disorientation I got when I made the mistake of glancing over the side. Las Vegas sprawled out before me, in a glittering nighttime display of lights that was both breathtaking and terrifying when I realized how far below me it was.
But I didn’t slip either, and after what felt like three hours, I was making my way onto the roof as well and getting my first glimpse of the helicopter and landing pad.
And that’s when things went bad.
There was a helicopter, yes, but it couldn’t land because two Alchemists—or Alchemist subcontractors—stood blocking the helipad. Two more Alchemists stood closer to my position, with guns pointed at me. That actually wasn’t what made my blood freeze, though. What made my heart want to leap out of my chest was the sight of Adrian, on the opposite side of the roof from where the Alchemists stood aiming at me, on his knees. A gun was pointed at him too, so close it touched his head …
… and Sheridan was the one wielding it.
“I’m disappointed,” she said, having to yell to be heard over the roar of the hovering helicopter. Its churning blades whipped all of us into disarray. “If I were you, I’d have been ten states away by now. Instead, I find you only a few hours from where I last saw you.”
I couldn’t formulate a response or even any coherent thought right away. All I could fixate on was the sight of Adrian, with that gun next to his head. No torture I’d faced in these last few months came close to matching the terror I felt at the thought of losing him. Everything I’d fought for, every challenge, every victory … all of it was empty if anything happened to him. Without him, I wouldn’t have had the courage to become the person I was. Without him, I wouldn’t have realized what it truly was to live and love life. Centrum permanebit. He was my center, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do, nothing I wouldn’t give up, to keep him safe.
Meeting his eyes, I knew he felt exactly the same away.
In my silence, Sheridan continued her taunts. “I admit, the whole Vegas wedding thing gets points for romance. You also get points for stupidity, I’m afraid, especially for applying for your license in your real names. We monitored local government offices as a precaution, but I didn’t actually think you’d give yourselves up like that. Reserving a chapel off the record was pretty smart, though. We had to call nearly every one of them in town, claiming to have a ‘surprise wedding gift’ for you. They nearly claimed ignorance at the Firenze, and then one of their coordinators remembered a coworker talking to your ‘husband’ there.”
“Let him go,” I called. “You came here for me, not him.”
“Sure,” she replied. Her face looked more ghastly than pretty in the weird interplay of lighting and shadows up here, brought on by a mix of the helicopter’s spotlight and smaller lights embedded on the roof. “Walk over and surrender to one of my agents, and I’ll let him go.”
“Her aura’s full of lies, Sydney,” Adrian yelled. Sheridan pressed the gun more closely against him and ordered him to be silent.
I knew lying was part of her nature, but it was hard to say if she was lying about hurting him. There would be consequences for killing any Moroi like this, let alone a royal one—especially when she had witnesses. In the doorway of the hovering helicopter, I could see a dark, muscled figure, undoubtedly some guardian from Olga Dobrova Academy. It had to be hard for him to know what was going on down here, but I had no doubt that if he did, he’d be right by my side fighting to save Adrian. I wouldn’t have minded an asset like that, but the guardian wasn’t in a position to help in a way I could be certain wouldn’t end up hurting Adrian if Sheridan got trigger happy. There were too many unknowns right now, and I needed to take control of the situation fast.
More elemental magic flared up in me, and I mixed what I knew of the fireball spell with some improvisation of my own. A wall of flame erupted from the ground, spreading out until it made an enormous, oblong enclosure around the two Alchemists nearest me and the two blocking the landing pad. The amount of magic required to summon it, let alone sustain it, was staggering, and I fought to keep my face cold and hidden of all stress.
“What are you doing?” exclaimed Sheridan.
“Offering you a deal,” I said. “Give me Adrian, and you can have your four agents back. Alive.”
Sheridan didn’t move—neither did her gun—but there was definite fear on her face as her eyes darted to the Alchemists trapped in fire. They were even more terrified and no longer had their guns aimed. In fact, they’d backed up toward each other, trying to keep away from the fire. The ones on the landing pad actually stepped off it in their fear, moving until they were nearly back-to-back with their colleagues. This allowed me to narrow the enclosure and free up the pad, though the helicopter didn’t attempt a landing yet with the flames still relatively close.
“They know the risks,” Sheridan called back. “They would rather die than let darkness triumph in this world. They’re prepared.”
“Are you?” I demanded. “Are you prepared to watch this?”
With a quick motion of my hand, the circle of flame grew smaller and smaller, forcing the Alchemists to huddle together. The tighter circle helped me, but it was still excruciatingly difficult to maintain the fire at its current level, keeping it close enough so that the Alchemists would feel the heat but not actually be harmed. Hearing their cries of terror made my stomach twist. It brought back too many memories of what I’d endured in re-education. For four months, my life had been filled with fear and intimidation. I was so, so tired of it. I wanted it to end. I
wanted us to be at peace. I didn’t want to hurt these people. I didn’t even want to scare them. Sheridan had pushed me to this point, and I hated her for it, hated her for making me act like this type of violent person.
And possibly making me become this violent of a person.
“You kill them, and I’ll kill him,” she told me.
“And then there’ll be nothing to stop me from turning the fire on you,” I retorted. “In every scenario, I walk free. Are you willing to pick the one that results in you and your colleagues burning alive?”
“You won’t do it,” she said, but even with all the noise and chaos around us, I could sense her uncertainty.
“Wouldn’t I?” I couldn’t bring the flames any closer to the trapped Alchemists without causing them injury, but I was able to make the fiery walls stretch higher. Sheridan’s eyes widened, and it took a lot of resolve to act like I didn’t hear or care the pitiful cries of those trapped within. “Test me, Sheridan! Test me, and see what I’m capable of! See what I wouldn’t do for him!”
With another wave of my hand, the walls of flame grew taller once more, eliciting new screams. The exertion of this kind of magic had me dizzy on my feet, but I kept my gaze fixed and stony as I stared at Sheridan. She believed I was a black-hearted evildoer who had turned her back on humankind. She also believed I was deeply, madly in love with a vampire I’d do anything for. Only one of those profiles was true, but I needed to convince her of both.
“Test me!” I screamed again.
“Okay, calm down, Sydney.” Sheridan looked between me and the other Alchemists, of whom only their fiery prison could be seen. “What do you want me to do?” she cried at last.