Page 58 of Blightfall

“Hoid says the illusion is up,” Alanik said, and I tested it, watching my hand slip through the illusion of the coliseum wall two feet in front of the physical wall. We could climb up the space between them without being spotted from the surrounding buildings.

I stepped through the illusion so I could watch as Suki ascended. She stopped her platform with her eyes level with the bottom of the arch, nothing but her tiny ears visible to anyone inside.

She lowered herself again, stopping in front of my face. “I saw no one,” she said. “Do you want me to proceed down the hall?”

“Just a little,” I said. “Get the lay of the land while we climb.”

Suki nodded and held a fist up to me in solidarity, then ascended through the second-floor archway.

I made sure my pack with Naga was secure on my back and shot a light-line to the first row of open arches, then tapped the device to release it. The line remained connected at the top of the wall, hanging behind the illusion like a rope, ready for climbing.

“Gilaf, stay here to watch our backs,” I said, handing him my light-line. “Use this if you need to come after us.”

He gave me a thumbs-up—another gesture he learned from Nedd—and stepped back against the perimeter wall on the far side of the alley to keep watch.

“You ready?” I asked Naga through the mesh of the bag.

“Ready!” Naga said.

“All right,” I said to Alanik. “Ladies first.”

She looked at me like she wasn’t sure if I was mocking her or not.

“Or trained spies first,” I said. “If you prefer.”

Alanik smiled, grabbed hold of the light-line, and began to climb, quickly disappearing behind the illusion. I ducked inside it again to monitor her progress. I could still see Gilaf through the illusion, but he would no longer be able to see me.

“Isn’t it strange the way these illusions only work from one side?” I asked.

“No,” Alanik said. “If they worked from both sides, I wouldn’t be able to see through the color Hoid put over my eyes.”

“Good point.”

The first floor of the arena was twice as high as the ones above it, so we had to climb maybe six meters. I held the line steady at the bottom and, when she was about halfway, climbed up after her.

Alanik hoisted herself through the arch, turning back to check on my progress. I hauled myself up, and we ducked around the corner, backs pressed to the white stone. We were in one of the walkways that circled the coliseum, rimmed by seats and interrupted every fifty meters or so by stairs to the higher levels. The floodlights had been turned off, leaving the arena dim, lit only by the twilight sky.

Suki waited several banks of seats ahead. She brandished her fist at me, which I understood as both a greeting and a sign that she hadn’t yet encountered security.

Alanik tucked herself behind a row of seats, and I joined her, staring out at the darkened arena. “There,” she said, pointing over the bench.

Sure enough, I could make out someone moving along a walkway one level above us, pacing the arena on the far side. We waited for another minute, scanning for others, but didn’t see any.

“There’s probably one on our side too,” I whispered. “Somewhere above us.”

“Probably,” Alanik agreed, “though security may be heaviest near the gate.”

That made sense, given how thoroughly guarded the gate had been while we were cleaning.

“Come on,” I said, waving to Suki to follow.

We kept to the shadows as we worked our way down so the guard across the way wouldn’t spot us. When we got to the ground level, Suki lowered her tiny platform beneath the benches and cruised away from us toward the ramp where Timon had left for Elysium. Alanik and I took a set of stairs sheltered by a meter-tall barrier wall, then circled along the bulwark that separated the crowd from the fighting floor. The shadows of the scion corpses on the arena floor looked more sinister in the dark—twisted, gnarled branches and roots curling into the air like tentacles.

“The ramp looks unguarded,” I whispered.

It couldn’t be, though, could it? If the answers to where the gladiators went lay beyond it, Ivy would keep it well protected. I scanned the area for cameras, but I didn’t see any, and the floating drones that had filmed the competition were also nowhere to be seen.

I’d lost sight of Suki beneath the benches, which was a good sign. The ramp was only accessible from the floor of the arena, which was a story or two deeper than the first floor of the coliseum itself. It was sheltered from the audience by another low wall, about a meter in height, probably to keep people from pushing onto it as they crowded around to watch an ascension.