Page 128 of The Other Omega

“Elowen?”

“Eira, I'm going to speak to my mates.”

She hurried after me, but we didn’t get very far before the sitting room stopped me in my tracks.

Almost everything was gone. The sofas, tables, and enormous rug had all disappeared, and the bare floor was now covered in equipment. Several parts of the walls had been opened. Two men used carving-looking tools around the windows; another fitted lengths of dark iron into narrow gaps around the frames; and three more people pointed some sort of handheld device at one of the exposed walls.

“Where is my sitting room?”

“In storage.”

I turned to Eira. “My entire sitting room?”

“Only temporarily.”

A horrible grinding noise started behind me. I looked around and saw someone working on yet another open section of wall.

“What are they doing?”

“Reinforcing the Residence.”

“Why?”

“I do not have that information. I expect the masters can explain the details better than I can.”

Yes. They could.

People stepped aside to let me through, and nearly everyone greeted me along the way.

“A new light to you, my lady.”

“And to you.”

Another group looked up from an open section of wall when I reached them.

“A new light to you,” I said. “Thank you for coming to help. I appreciate your hard work.”

Several inclined their heads.

“It is our honour, my lady.”

I smiled and kept going because I didn’t really know what else to say. They were here to help. Some of them were covered in dust and looked as though they’d already been working for hours. One man had taken off the outer part of his uniform and rolled up his sleeves as he worked inside the wall, while two others worked on the ceiling above him.

None of this was their fault. If Darius had let this many people into our home, I knew they were supposed to be here.

When I opened the office doors, at least two dozen people were inside. They surrounded the stone table. Documents, pads, and equipment covered most of it. Holographic screens were everywhere, and maps floated above the table’s centre, their lines and symbols changing so quickly I couldn’t make sense of any of them. More people stood near the library walls looking at other displays.

Nobody seemed idle. People talked over one another, moved between screens, passed documents across the table, and called things out without even looking up.

This wasn’t an office anymore. It looked like a military command centre, and all five of my mates were right in the middle of it.

My eyes found Caius straight away. He wore a dark uniform I hadn’t seen before and looked like a man about to leave, but he was still here.

I could say goodbye.

Darius was standing with two officers near one of the displays. Lucien had several holographic screens open in front of him, Leon was talking quietly to another man, and Alaric stood at the head of the table speaking to the room.

I went straight to him.