Terryn, Triad’s down here. Repeat: Triad has infiltrated the Archives. We need Guild agents here immediately, she sent.
On my way, he sent back. He didn’t ask her to elaborate.
She walked toward the guards as if nothing were wrong. “I’m looking for a brownie from the Guildhouse. I was told she was down here.”
The two guards exchanged glances.
“She was here earlier, but she left,” one of them said.
“How long ago?” she asked.
“Over an hour,” the same one said.
She tilted her head. “That long? Did you see which way she went?”
He shrugged. “Upstairs.”
Laura didn’t need any ability to see he was lying. They hadn’t been there five minutes earlier, so they definitely weren’t there an hour earlier. She was about to challenge them when she heard a door close. Another Triad guard appeared at the end of the hall. He disappeared around a far corner in the opposite direction of the basement vault.
Laura stepped away from the guards to follow the other. “Maybe he saw her.”
The guard who spoke moved into her path, his hands flickering with indigo light. “Ma’am, that’s a restricted area.”
Laura arched an eyebrow at his primed essence. “I have all access.”
The other guard joined the first. “Not down here.”
Laura glanced up the hall, then back to the guards. “The most sensitive material is in the vault. What could possibly be down there?”
His face set with determination, the first guard stepped closer. “You have to leave now, ma’am.”
They drew in more essence, their hands burning brighter. In a blur of motion, sparks of essence flew from Laura’s hands. “Sleep,” she said. They crumpled to the floor.
She rushed down the hall. Outside a locked door, she found a concentration of Saffin’s essence. Laura grasped the doorknob and sent a surge of essence into it, the metal resisting. She pushed back, the tumblers inside moving grudgingly as she forced them with essence. The door swung open.
The musty odor of old cleaning materials wafted out. Saffin’s essence blazed in green flames on the floor. Laura hit the light switch and gasped. Bound with rope, gagged, and blindfolded, Saffin huddled. Her body trembled in spasmodic pulses as she screamed against the gag. Long claws flexed at the ends of even longer fingers. She had gone boggart.
Laura crouched in front of her, holding her hands wide to cast a soothing spell. “Shhh. It’s okay, Saffin. You’re safe now.”
She stroked the air, chanting essence into the spell. Saffin shimmied back with a growl. Laura darted her hand in and pulled off the filthy gag. Saffin threw her head back and shrieked.
She struggled against the ropes. “Bomb, bomb, bomb,” she chanted.
Laura interrupted the spell. “A bomb?”
Saffin’s face suffused with anger. “Bomb, bomb, bomb.”
Laura activated her body shield. In her boggart state, Saffin could be extremely dangerous. “My name is Mariel. I’m going to take off the blindfold, Saffin. You are safe. Safe. Do you understand me?”
Laura feared she was too buried in the boggart shape to understand, but, amazingly, Saffin nodded. Laura grabbed the blindfold and lifted. As soon as her eyes were freed, Saffin lunged at Laura. Laura leaned away and brought her hands up again with the soothing spell. “Safe, Saffin. You are safe. You need to relax. If you relax, I can get these ropes off you.”
Saffin’s eyes bulged as her jaw dropped open to reveal long, jagged teeth. As the soothing spell took effect, some of the fierce green light in Saffin’s eyes dimmed. Her swollen skin remained, the ropes biting her flesh. “Bomb spell,” she rasped.
“Where, Saffin?”
“Stop. Stop. Bomb,” she said.
Laura held her shoulders. “Where is it, Saffin?”
“Stop. Stop,” she said.
Laura wanted to shake her, but knew it would make things worse. Saffin had come to check security, and someone had not only stopped her but prevented her from doing her job, which triggered her boggart mania. She wouldn’t revert to her normal state until she completed her task.
“I will help you, Saffin. Tell me where the bomb is,” she said.
“Treaty. Treaty. Bomb,” she said.
“I’m going to get the ropes off, Saffin. You have to tell me where the bomb is,” said Laura.
She nodded. “Treaty. Laura. Treaty.”
Laura struggled with the intricate knotting on the ropes. “Yes, Saffin. We will find Laura and tell her about the bomb. Tell me where the bomb is. Tell Mariel.”
“Treaty. Treaty. Treaty,” she said. Her frustration rose, and her skin pulsed.
Laura paused. “It’s the Treaty, Saffin? Is that what you’re saying? The bomb spell is on the Treaty?”
Excitement lit Saffin’s face. “Yesyesyesyesyesyes. Stop. Stop.”
Laura pulled at the rope knots. Saffin bent her arm at an unnatural angle and yanked it free. She shoved Laura away and slashed the remaining rope to shreds. She loomed over Laura with a feral grin, her limbs long and flexible. “Bomb. Bomb. Bomb.”
Laura backed away. Cornering a boggart was never a good idea. She backed into the hallway. Saffin’s eyes bulged wider. Behind you, Laura! she sent.
Laura dropped and spun, kicking out behind her. She struck someone-a man-who fell, then rolled away. Laura jumped to her feet. Gianni lay faceup on the floor. He pointed his gun in her face. “You weren’t supposed to be here, Agent Tate.”
Laura raised her hands and gave him a winsome smile. “I don’t recommend you fire, Gianni. You shoot, the woman behind me will be on you before you feel the recoil.”
He stood, keeping the gun on Mariel. He tapped his headset. “Breach at Position 12.”
Saffin growled and surged forward. Gianni lost the cocky attitude as his aim drifted toward Saffin. Laura shot a burst of essence in his face. He staggered back, clutching at his eyes. With an essence-hardened fist, she laid him out with a roundhouse punch to the head. He hit the wall and slid to the floor.
“That was for Janice Crawford.” She kicked him for good measure. Moving quickly, she spun a binding spell on him that functioned with razorlike ribbons of essence. The more he struggled, the more the binding would burn into his flesh.
Saffin tackled her from behind. Laura scrambled beneath her in panic, expecting sharp claws to pierce her skin. Essence raked the air above them. She twisted her head to look down the hall. Three Inverni fairies in Triad uniforms came toward them.
“Stay!” Saffin growled. She bound down the hall on all fours, jumping from floor to wall and back again, evading essence-fire with an astounding agility. She launched at the lead Inverni, arms and legs forward. He screamed as she landed, the claws on her hands and feet ripping into his torso.
The other two Inverni fell back in terror, firing wildly. Panicked, one of them took to the air, but in the close quarters, he hit the wall and careened against his partner.
Saffin evaded their fire with every leap and turn. She sprang from the wall, flipped across the ceiling, and swiped her claws. An Inverni shrieked as her hands tangled in his wings, sparks of white essence bleeding from the tears she made. Saffin lifted him and flung him at his retreating partner. Their bodies met with a sickening crack, and they fell motionless.
Saffin whirled to face Laura. “Bomb, bomb, bomb.” She raced toward the basement vault.
Laura pulled herself to her feet. Terryn, the Treaty’s primed with a spell bomb. I need Cress back down here, she sent. She ran after Saffin. As she neared the vault, she heard Saffin’s raging howl punctuated with essence-fires and screams.