A chill went through me, and all of a sudden, I had a very bad feeling. I scrolled through the menu, found a volume icon, and turned it up.
Anne’s voice came from the speakers, faint and tinny. “. . . does it do?”
“It’s an imbued item,” Vihaela said. “A powerful one.”
Anne looked dubious; she said something I couldn’t hear. “Because it doesn’t work for Dark mages,” Vihaela told her.
I frowned. Something about that box looked familiar. I’d seen it before, but . . . closed, instead of open?
“. . . to be a tourist,” Vihaela was saying. “Do something useful.”
Anne was looking down into the box but wasn’t moving to take it. The lid was blocking my view of what was inside, but something was nagging at my memory. Darkness and fire . . .
And suddenly I remembered. The raid on Christmas Eve; the bubble realm and Ares. This was the relic I’d carried out of there. The same one that Morden had wanted the first time . . .
And with that, I remembered what Arachne had said. But underneath it, the essence remained. A human who called up the jinn according to the old rituals, with the jinn as a willing partner, could still unlock their full power . . .
Dread spiked through me, and horror. It wasn’t me at all. I hit the transmit key, shouting into the microphone. “Anne! No! Don’t touch it!”
Neither Anne nor Vihaela reacted; the audio feed was one-way. But Vihaela glanced past Anne to the camera, and just for a second I could have sworn she smiled. Then it was gone, and Vihaela turned and called to the remaining Dark mages. “All right! Last one out, get the lights!”
“Wait!” Anne called. “Where’s Alex?”
“Last I heard, he was on his way,” Vihaela said over her shoulder. “Hang around if you like, but we’re not waiting.” She walked away to join the retreating Dark mages.
I scanned through the futures frantically. Something caught my eye; I brought up the other cameras and hissed under my breath. There were men hurrying down the main corridor, mages striding at the centre, gunmen flanking them and covering the lines of fire. They were only minutes away from reaching Anne.
In the few seconds I’d looked away the vault had all but emptied. Rachel was one of the last ones out. “Deleo,” Anne called out. “Where’s Alex?”
Rachel didn’t bother to answer. “Hey!” Anne shouted.
Rachel paused, glancing over her shoulder. “Crusaders probably got him.” She looked at Anne with an unpleasant smile. “Too bad for him. Maybe if you stuck around, you might be able to help.” She turned and walked away out of view. Anne was left alone.
“Oh no, no, no,” I muttered. The last Dark mages were leaving through the gate; Rachel stepped through as I watched. Anne was the only one visible on her camera now. From where she was standing, she couldn’t see the gate; she didn’t realise she was about to be left behind. The Crusaders would be at the doors. I started to look to see how long she had—
No. All of a sudden, I knew that was the wrong thing to do. It was what I’d been doing for too long: just standing and watching, looking ahead without doing anything. But I didn’t have any way of reaching her—
Yes I do. Alone in the control room, I reached into my pouch, pulled out the dreamstone, and looked down at it, seeing the facets glint amethyst in the light of the monitors. I’d already scanned the futures in which I tried to get in touch with Anne and I hadn’t seen this working—
But that was what Arachne had been telling me, wasn’t it? I hadn’t been making it work; I’d been looking into the future to see if it would work.
For once, I didn’t stop to think. I focused all of my concentration on the dreamstone and threw my mind into it, picturing Anne in my thoughts.
For an instant, I had a sense of vertigo, like falling across an impossible gap, then there was the sense of something tearing and all of a sudden I could hear voices. It felt like opening a door, as though they’d been there all along and I’d just never found the way through.
. . . where he is, one voice was saying. There were two of them; both were Anne’s, and yet both were different. He could be coming, maybe she’s lying, maybe they’re all lying . . . can still feel that dragon, how it felt, no, have to think. Have to think. If he’s coming, I should wait; if I leave I’ll be abandoning him, he might need me, can’t leave him alone if he needs my help, but I hate this place, I want to get out . . .
“Yes,” I said. “Get out. Can you hear me?”
. . . could fight them. No, not fight, kill; but no, I don’t . . . you don’t have a choice, you remember that house, cutting and tearing . . . No. I can stun, paralyse, I don’t want to go back . . . wouldn’t be enough, you know what you have to do. I’m afraid of what it does. Take it. No. Don’t have a choice . . .
She can’t hear me. I focused my thoughts into a beam, projecting the words. Anne.
On the screen, I saw Anne start. Alex?
It’s me. You need to get out of there.
Where are you?
Don’t worry about where I am.
I have to! . . . hurt, nearly dying. Where are you?
Still in the facility. Follow the Dark mages, I’ll find my own way out.
No! I’m not leaving you! . . . besides, it’s too late. They’re gone.
I looked at the monitors and saw that Anne was right. The gate was closed. Then find a place to hide. The Crusaders are going to reach the vault any minute.
Can’t hide. All of a sudden, Anne sounded weary. On the monitor, I saw her eyes shift down to the open box. One choice left.
No! I sent the thought as forcefully as I could. I could sense Anne’s feelings, tired and desperate and afraid, but there was something else underneath it, something darker that wanted to be unleashed, and that scared me more than the Crusaders. Anne, you can’t. That’s what he wants!
Anne’s hand had been drifting towards the box; now it paused. Who?
Richard and Vihaela. This is what they’ve been planning all along, leaving you here. Whatever you do, whatever that thing is, don’t take it!
Planning how? Anne asked. I don’t understand. But she drew back a little from the box.
I felt a tiny surge of relief. We can figure that part out later. Right now we need to—
There was movement on the monitors. Anne and I looked up as one.
The Crusader team came through into the vault. There were nearly a dozen of them with more behind, and they had a direct line of sight to Anne, and for the first time I got a clear look at the two mages in the middle team. It was Lightbringer and Zilean. Zilean and Anne saw each other at exactly the same time.
For a frozen moment Anne was absolutely still, then her face twisted in terrible rage. I heard both voices inside my head snarl as one, and on the monitor I saw Anne’s hand disappear into the box.
Every camera inside the vault went black.
I felt a flash of something from the direction of the vaults, powerful enough to sense even through the distance and the walls. Inside my head I felt anger, fear, chaos. Anne!