Page 82 of Serpent and Shadow

Bones seemed to think she wasn’t being held in the dungeons.

Maybe I get her out of here at least, or at least learn whether she was being imprisoned in the Black Tower at all. Varya had a place to go, a place Bones seemed to think she would be safe. Her family in St. Petersburg would take her in.

I couldn’t go back empty-handed. I couldn’t.

Not when I was this close.

I began to make my way slowly to the mouth of the alcove.

If I could find Varya, that would potentially ease two areas of worry.

One, I’d been worried about her safety for months. I’d desperately wanted to know if she was okay, and if she was Malefic’s prisoner. It would be a huge relief to get her out of here, assuming that was even remotely an option.

Two, Varya would help me. She would help me try and save Bones.

Varya knew a lot more about this castle and Malefic Bones than Malefic himself likely suspected. Before we sent her to Russia and her family, maybe she’d be able to tell us how to break into the dungeon, or how Bones’s collar worked. There was even some chance she could tell us about “Ascension,” or other areas of Malefic’s plans.

I began to slide carefully out of the deepest part of the crevice.

I kept my hands balanced lightly on the stone, moving my boots and clothing as quietly as possible, my body angled sideways, my face aimed towards the magical candlelight. When I got close to the mouth of the crevice, I mouthed another spell and concentrated on my primal to reinforce the quiet around me.

I knew it had worked when the next step I took on the stone was dead silent.

I would look out, first, and maybe see if I could make my way down more of the corridor before I activated the talisman. I had to factor in that one minute recharge period, and timing would be everything. If I spent the full five minutes walking to another part of the castle, I could end up in a much worse position if I got trapped where there happened to be people and nowhere to hide because I’d timed things badly.

I thought about where to go first.

Varya’s private sitting room? Was there any chance she’d be locked in there?

I tried to calculate times in my head.

Maybe four minutes to the stairs. Another minute to Varya’s rooms.

No. That was cutting things too close. I should break the trip in two. My mind scoured that part of the castle, everything I remembered from staying here and from the map Alaric drew, until I finally lit on something.

The reading nook.

There was a small fiction library just past the informal sitting room down the south hall. I could hide in there long enough to wait out the remainder of the invisibility shield. I knew that library pretty well. There was even a dumb waiter I could hide in, if I got really desperate during the minute I needed to recharge the talisman.

From there, I could make it to Varya’s sitting room in roughly two minutes.

If I got stuck, or if someone other than Varya ended up being in that room, there were two guest rooms on the same floor. The whole place was littered with guest rooms, and while they might be in use with all the Dark Cathedrals currently staying at the castle, they likely wouldn’t be in their bedrooms while some kind of attack was being planned.

Maybe I could even wait until most of them left the castle, and get Varya out then.

My breathing slowed as my mind coalesced around the plan.

Of course, a million things could go wrong. But any path I chose contained risks.

The decision to look for Varya calmed something in me.

I was about to stick my head out of the opening in the stone, to peer carefully down the corridor to decide if I could hear or see or sense anything––

––When strong fingers clamped around my wrist.

18

Out Of The Dungeon