Page 103 of Avalon Tower
“I can’t wait, Nivene.”
“What? Wait, Nia—”
I pull the conch shell from my ear and pocket it.
“Third time lucky?” The stall owner hands me the horseshoes.
“Sure, why not?” I take them and quickly toss them again. Two land right on target, cluttering as they clunk together.
“Blood hell, how did you do that?”
“I must have got the hang of it.”
He goes over to pick them up, then looks around for the third one.
“Listen, mate,” I say, leaning in to whisper. “Can you do me a favor? See those two guys over there?” I point at Tarquin and his friend. “They’re students I know, and I want to prank them.” I pull two twenty-pound notes out of my pocket and slide them onto the counter. “I’m gonna hide. Can you call them over? Act as if you have something important to tell them.”
He pockets the cash. “What do you want me to say?”
“Tell them you’ve got King Arthur’s sword. You know, Excalibur?”
He raises an eyebrow. “I don’t get it.”
“It’s an inside joke. Ask them to guess a password, and if they get the password right, they get Excalibur.” I slide another twenty-pound note onto the counter. “It’ll be hilarious, trust me. Give them the doll I just won, tell them it’s a clue. All I need is five minutes, okay? Just buy me five minutes.”
He shrugs and stuffs the third twenty into his pocket. Tana had insisted we all bring cash for bribing, and she was—as usual—correct. “Happy to oblige.”
I race around the church to the entrance at the other side, my feet pounding over the flagstones. As I run, I hear the stall owner calling Tarquin and Horatio.
I find the arched stone doorway and push inside. The veil mage left it unlocked. He didn’t want any cadets to get lost, of course.
It’s dark as I enter, but the hum of his magic fills the air around me.
CHAPTER 35
My heart batters my ribs as my eyes slowly adjust to the pale moonlight streaming in through stained-glass windows.
“Did I win?” My voice echoes off the high stone ceiling. “Did I get here first?”
He steps into the aisle, his golden eyes glowing. As my eyes adjust, I can see the smile on his lips. He thinks I’m his first prey of the day, a dumb cadet jumping headfirst into the trap. I take two steps toward him.
“Do you have the sword?” I ask eagerly. “Do I need to, like, give you a password or something?”
He’s holding the Excalibur replica but not handing it to me. Instead, he raises his hand and whispers an incantation. The hum intensifies as tendrils of veil shimmer into existence around me.
But I’ve been expecting it.
Unleashing my banked powers, I lash out at the newly formed veil, shattering it. The hum goes silent, and the veil mage stumbles, shocked. He drops the sword, and it clatters to the stone floor.
I lunge for him, gripping the horseshoe that I’d palmed a few minutes ago, and smash him in the nose, hearing the crunch of bone. He shrieks, the sound echoing off the towering vaults, and stumbles back, still screaming. The air smells of burned flesh.
I am so glad I don’t have that reaction to iron.
Without wasting another breath, I rush for him and press the horseshoe onto his cheek. He screeches, trying to pull my hand away in panic, but I only press harder. With the metal on his skin, he’s growing weaker.
He falls into the aisle. I leap on top of him, shoving the iron against his face. A disturbing sizzling sound rises from his skin, and I ignore the growing nausea in my gut.
We keep struggling. He never stops screaming, scratching ineffectively at my face and hands. My jaws are clenched in fury, my arm trembling with effort.