Page 102 of Daemon Master

A nearby watcher shot them a warning look, and Adrian fell silent. No need to antagonize the guards more than necessary. Judging by the way they glared at Seymour and shoved him forward, his friend had already done enough antagonizing for both of them.

Freya exited her cell with far less fanfare, her head bowed and shoulders slumped. Her red eyes suggested she’d been crying. Adrian’s heart ached for her. He might mourn the loss of Elana and the other villagers while struggling with guilt over the parthe’d played in their deaths, but they had been her friends and family. And now, they were gone.

He looked away, unable to meet her eyes. She must hate him after everything that had happened. Surprise shot through him when her shoulder lightly nudged his.

“It’s good to see you,” she whispered. “I worried what they’d do to you and Seymour.”

His throat constricted, and he could only nod.

Thankfully, Seymour picked up his slack. “Adrian’s got something up his sleeve. Stay close and—”

“Shut up, traitor!” a watcher barked, slamming his fist into the side of Seymour’s head. Seymour stumbled and would’ve gone down if Freya hadn’t caught him against her side.

She glared at the watcher. “Keep your hands to yourself!”

“Or what?” The watcher glanced pointedly from their shackled hands to their caged daemons. “Looks to me like you’re in no position to toss around orders.”

“It’s notmyorders you should be worried about,” Freya retorted, arching her brow. “I doubt Seeker Jasper would be happy if you damaged his property in transit.”

The bottom of the watcher’s face reddened beneath his helmet. He opened his mouth to respond, but the woman Jasper had spoken to shook her head. His back rigid, the watcher turned away, grumbling to himself. That was something, at least. If push came to shove, the watchers had orders to deliver them unharmed.

With all three prisoners retrieved, the procession set off down a series of stone corridors. Adrian didn’t spy a single other soul as they walked. They’d likely cleared their route ahead of time to avoid any slowdowns. The watchers kept Seymour, Freya, and him huddled together in the middle of their ranks while lugging their caged daemons at the back of the column.

Adrian had no idea how long it would take to reach the airship. This fortress appeared more akin to a maze than a place intended for comfortable habitation, blank passages and unmarked doors branching all around them. Best, then, to go ahead and initiate his plan while he could.

When they turned the next corner into another empty stone corridor, Adrian bumped into Seymour. “Tunic, front pocket,” he whispered. “Activate the triangular shard first, then toss the smaller square one behind us.”

“Hey, what are you doing? Get away from him!”

Adrian slumped against Seymour as long as he could, praying he’d heard and could reach the indicated pocket with his shackled hands since Adrian couldn’t. When a guard yanked him back, Adrian gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry. Lost my footing.”

The guard glanced between them as he doublechecked their manacles were still in place. Seemingly satisfied, he grunted and turned away. “Watch your step from now on, traitor. Your usefulness to the seeker doesn’t render you immune to discipline. Test us, and you’ll find out exactly how far our patience extends.”

They continued down the corridor, and Adrian held his breath. Had Seymour retrieved the ceramic pieces? Could he figure out how to activate them? It should only take a thread of aether to charge them, much as Adrian had done with Kali’s relics, but what if Seymour couldn’t find the activation points? Or what if Adrian had messed up the aetherforgings? He’d checked them last night, but that didn’t guarantee he hadn’t missed something.

He breathed in and out, struggling to keep his nerves from spiraling out of control. Whatever happened, happened. All he could do now was wait, watch, and remain ready to act.

They had just started around another bend when a cloud of dust erupted to fill the hallway. Confused shouts rang out around them, followed by cries a moment later.

“There! I see him, running down the other hall!”

“Behind us, quickly!”

Feet pounded the stone, moving back the direction they’d come. Adrian allowed himself a small grin. Seymour must’ve thrown the other relic as directed, this one storing aMirror Imageof Adrian posed mid-run. It had been set to fade after only a few seconds so the guards would assume he was getting away.

With the dust cloud still obscuring everyone’s vision, Adrian hissed“Down!”and dropped prone. Twinthumpsa moment later suggested Seymour and Freya had followed his lead. He scooted back until he found Seymour. “Three bracelets, inner pocket on the left by my waist,” he whispered. “One for each of us. Activate yours as soon as you can, then keep perfectly still.”

Adrian fought down a furious blush as Seymour rustled around in his pockets for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Seymour grunted and extracted his hand, shoving a cloth bracelet into Adrian’s fingers before shuffling to hand another off to Freya. Fiddling with the cloth behind his back, Adrian managed to tug the bracelet on and activate it with a spurt of aether.

He didn’t feel any different, but in theory, he should now appear identical to their armored guards. The manacles might be a problem, though. While the illusion should hopefully cover the metal itself, it would still look like they had their arms clasped behind their backs.

Remaining motionless, he kept his eyes cracked only enough to tell when the illusory dust finally cleared. Most of the watchers had pursued his imaginary doppelgänger, leaving the daemon cages on the floor. A handful of guards hovered nearby, their daemons summoned. So far, none seemed to have noticed anything amiss.

Footsteps echoed nearby, and Adrian feigned a groan.

“Hey, are you hurt?”

Shifting air signaled someone kneeling beside him. Belatedly, he realized a flaw in his plan. The first thing a concerned watcher would likely do to a fallen comrade was check their pulse, and the instant someone touched him, they’d see right through his hastily madeMirror Image.