Laura skidded to a stop. Terryn? She pumped more essence into the sending to give it the effect of a shout. Still no response. Cress? she tried. Nothing. Laura doubted both of them could have been taken out without warning. Her sendings were being jammed.
Another scream from the vault grabbed her attention. She hardened her body shield and charged into a blood-bath. Two guards lay dead near the entrance. Saffin sprang among the columns and ceiling beams, slashing at a retreating Inverni, his uniform shredded and bloodied. She evaded his essence-fire, but her blows landed, opening wounds on his face. Another Inverni worked behind him, sending the Treaty on its way through the ceiling to the Rotunda above.
Laura threw a jagged spear of light that hissed and crackled as it flew. The shot hit the lift mechanism and reacted with the metal. The odor of ozone filled the air, the scent of essence-fire and burned electronics. The Treaty ground to a halt.
The Inverni fired at her as he leaped to the manual controls, gears grinding with the speed and strength of the fey. The Treaty rose and disappeared into a ceiling shaft.
Saffin knocked Laura aside and jumped. She landed on the Inverni’s back and wrenched her hands down. He screamed and convulsed as Saffin stood over him, the shredded remains of his wings dangling from her hands.
Laura ran to the manual controls and pulled on the gearshift. It wouldn’t move. She couldn’t reverse its direction. Saffin howled and scrabbled at the grease-slick hydraulic system.
“Saffin! Stop!” Laura shouted. Saffin ignored her. “Saffin! Listen to me! You did it. You found the bomb. You did it, Saffin. Calm down. You finished your job.”
Saffin hesitated, uncertainty glimmering in her eyes. Laura stepped closer and lowered her voice. “You did it, Saffin. Good job. You can stop now. Mariel will take care of it.”
“Laura?” she rasped.
“I will tell Laura,” Laura said.
Saffin thrust a hand at her. “Laura!”
Laura did a double take. Was this something about bog garts she didn’t know? Could Saffin see through her glamour? She pushed the thought aside. Time enough later to learn about it. She hoped.
“It’s okay, Saffin. Yes, Laura knows about the bomb. Come with me,” she said.
Tension drained out of Saffin, and she slumped against Laura. Her mania subsided. Even as Laura guided her across the room, she felt the woman’s body shifting beneath her hands, the limbs retracting to their normal length, the elongated features smoothing out. Laura wanted her out of the area before she fully recovered. Extreme boggart mania resulted in blackouts. She didn’t want Saffin to know what she had done until she was prepared to hear it.
More Inverni waited for them in the hallway. Laura extended her body shield. Saffin clung to her sleeve as they staggered under essence shots. Laura counted five attackers, highly trained and focused. She had power, but she needed to tap organic essence to take on that many alone, and so far underground, there was little available. Saffin growled deep in her throat as her mania returned.
Laura bit her lip. She had to get upstairs. She hugged Saffin from behind, words freezing in her throat. She took a deep breath. “Saffin, we need to get past them. Do you understand me? We have to stop the bomb. Will you do this for me?”
Saffin broke from her embrace in a blur of hair and claws. She bounded down the hallway toward the Inverni, her passage a spiral of acrobatics as she avoided essence-fire. Laura forced herself to watch as the screaming started.
CHAPTER 37
LAURA RAN UP the stairs, Saffin’s raspy breath in her ears. She did not want to think about what she had seen. What had happened. What she had caused to happen. She did not want to think about what she would say to Saffin when it was over. If she lived long enough to give explanations. They left bloody footprints on the marble steps.
Saffin growled deep in her throat. Laura put a soothing hand on her head. She had never seen a brownie so deep in a boggart mania. “Stay with me, Saffin. It will be okay.”
They reached an unguarded landing on the ground level. Above, essence-fire and fighting echoed down from the main floor. Laura grabbed Saffin by the arm. “You need to get out, Saf. Find Terryn macCullen. Tell him about the bomb in the Rotunda. Can you do that for me, Saf?”
Panting, Saffin stared with a crazed light in her eyes. She trembled and made a sound between a cough and a bark. Laura fought tears at the sight of her twisted and bloody face. Saffin touched Laura’s cheek, using the flat of her palm to keep her claws from scratching. “Go, Saf. Hurry.”
The boggart burst into motion. Laura fought back her emotions as she watched Saffin leap from side to side toward the entrance lobby. With a deep breath, she ran up the last flight. As she made the final turn to the main level, a stray shot of essence ricocheted down at her. She flattened herself against the wall and called up her body shield. After fighting through the basement hallway, no one was left to pursue her up the stairs. That wouldn’t last long. Once the bodies in the basement were found, more fighters would be coming up behind her.
Where are you, Jono? she sent.
Public Vault. His sending came through rough and faint.
She breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. The Public Vault was on the opposite side of the Rotunda from her. Any fey support with you?
Foyle, he responded. The sending sounded forced and broken. Either she was too far away from Sinclair or his weak ability was failing. She was losing time. A short flight of steps separated her from the Rotunda. She bowed her head and said a prayer of protection. Tightening her body shield, she sank to the floor and crawled up the stairs. Another essence-bolt sparked around her. Laura screamed in panicked alarm, holding her hands out.
“Help! I’ve been shot!” she shouted.
Keeping her head down, she sensed an Inverni above her. She hunched forward, gathered essence in her chest, and released it in a single burst. She ran as it struck, and the Inverni fell. At the top of the stairs, she yanked him out of sight behind her.
On the opposite side of the loge, a door led to the Public Vault. She peered around the corner. Inverni fairies lined the loge area, powering an essence barrier across the entrance gate to the Rotunda. The barrier sizzled and crackled with light as the fey trapped inside fired at it. She leaped into a roll across the floor, wildly firing as she came up onto her feet. The Inverni returned fire, but their shots went astray.
She leaped over two prone humans at the entrance to the Public Vault, Capitol police officers who hadn’t even drawn their weapons. She didn’t stop to check if they were alive. Racing through the documents exhibit, she weaved in and out of display cases and room dividers to the back. Sinclair’s head rose from behind a bank of computer displays and waved her in.
“Get down!” she said. He ducked as she joined him behind a panel. Foyle lay on the ground, his uniform coat and open shirt soaked in blood. His gun was on the floor beside him. “Is he alive?”
Foyle’s eyelids fluttered open. “Yeah, he is. What’s the situation?”
“Unknown number of hostages in the Rotunda. What’s back here?” she asked.
“They made a sweep and took everyone down. We’re the only two left,” said Sinclair.
“Is the president inside?” she asked.
Foyle shook his head. “We aborted in time.”
Laura exhaled in relief. The fallout from the attack was going to be bad enough without the added nightmare of a trapped sitting president. She threw out her hand for silence. A faint whir carried on the air, the sound of gossamer wings in flight as they shunted essence. A wave of Inverni essence swept over them and passed on.