Curse the Dawn

"But. . Pritkin—"

"The commander is staying behind to control the crowd. Otherwise, no one would get out."

I looked up and met Pritkin's eyes. He was watching me narrowly, and I knew that expression. It meant he was about two seconds from coming over, grabbing me and dropping me down the hole headfirst.

"Okay. Let's go." I didn't give Tremaine time to say anything. I turned and, as soon as the people who had just entered dropped out of sight, I followed.

The hastily constructed tu

I had to wait until the previous spelunkers cleared the way, and then took their place. A few seconds after I entered the second tu

He helped me out, but a rock slid under my foot, sending me stumbling into a bulbous green fender. Caleb set me on my feet, and I quickly moved out of the way so he could help the next person to exit. That turned out to be Tremaine, who joined me along the wall. For a moment, we stared at the very odd sight of a corridor filled as far as the eye could see with cars.

And not any old cars. I didn't know the names of most of them, but a couple Bentleys and a silver Rolls-Royce sparkled under the emergency lights not too far away. Buttery leather, gleaming chrome and a rainbow of custom colors marched away from us in a long line.

"What is this?" Tremaine asked softly.

"Our way out," Caleb threw over his shoulder. "The Consul generously donated her antique car collection when I pointed out that having convicts drive it out of here was the only way to save it."

"But I thought MAGIC's garage was on the surface," I said. I clearly remembered stealing a car from there once.

"Yeah, for your common Porsches, Jaguars or Ferraris," Caleb said sardonically. "The junk they keep around for the servants. Apparently, it isn't good enough for Her Highness."

"Lucky for us," Tremaine murmured. He looked at me. "We need to get you a place in one of the cars."

"The vampire Raphael is holding one for her in the black Bentley," Caleb told him. "Better hurry. They're starting to move out now." And sure enough, I could hear the growl of powerful engines starting up from the front of the line and smell the exhaust of unfiltered emissions permeating the air.

"Which car are you taking?" I asked Caleb.

"Whatever one leaves last."

"Then I'll go with you," I said, folding my arms and leaning against the wall.

"You said you were leaving!" Tremaine reminded me, putting a hand under my elbow.

"I never said anything of the kind. And get your hand off me."

Tremaine looked at me helplessly and then at Caleb. "Take over for me here," the older war mage instructed him. Tremaine moved to the tu

"I'll leave with you and Pritkin," I repeated, deliberately keeping my voice even. It wasn't easy. I felt like I wanted to jump up and down and scream at everyone to move, damn it! To stop creeping and start flying out of here. I knew that wouldn't help, that they were already moving as fast as they could, and that starting a panic would only slow things down even more. But it still wasn't easy to simply stand there.

"You're the Pythia," Caleb told me. "You can't die in here."

"I'm Pythia?" I did a slow blink. "Since when? The last time I checked, I was a rogue initiate you were trying to hunt down."

"You know what I mean."

"No," I told him honestly. "I don't."

Caleb put a meaty hand behind his neck and rubbed it as if he had a headache. "There might have been some kind of. . miscommunication. . about you."

The panic of a dozen near misses in the last twenty-four hours crowded the back of my throat, jostling for room with more current fears. Like Pritkin not making it out of the death trap I'd dragged him into. Like the fact that that little speech of his was suddenly sounding a lot like good-bye. And the fact that there wasn't a hell of a lot I could do about it as drained as I was.

I really needed somebody to yell at, and Caleb was handy.

"A miscommunication?" I asked him furiously. "Which one would that be? When the warrant was issued for my arrest? Or when the shoot to kill order was given? Or, hey, maybe it was when the huge freaking bounty was put on my head!"

It was Caleb's turn to do the slow blink thing. "If a mistake was made, you have a legitimate grievance," he said. "But dying to prove a point won't help anybody. Pritkin was right: there's a war on and we need a Pythia. If you're it, you have a responsibility."

"My responsibility is the people I brought down here!"

"Pritkin and I will get out!" Caleb said, looking exasperated. "And when you do, I'll be with you."

"Cassie!"

"I can shift away if need be," I reminded him. "Shouldn't you send someone in the car who doesn't have a life preserver?"

He regarded me narrowly. "You can still shift?"

"Absolutely."

Caleb didn't look happy, but he nodded. "All right, then. Stay here. I'll come get you in a few minutes."

"I'd rather be doing something."

"All right. You could help by getting people sorted into a vehicle with a competent driver. They don't have to navigate—there's only one way out. But they have to be able to drive a stick."

"Got it."

Caleb took over at the tu

And then the end of the line rolled into place, the last car for the last group out the door. I slipped toward the tu

"Pritkin!" I ran toward him, almost dizzy with relief, only to hear a thundering thud overhead and to have him obscured by a billowing cloud of thick red dust.

"In the car! Everybody in the car!"

I distantly heard Caleb's voice, but I couldn't find him. The exhaust fumes and the dust were a choking, blinding mist, the floor shook violently under my feet and rocks and gravel rained down on my head. Then something hit me in the temple, driving me to my knees, and the world went red.

And then nothing.