Skye makes Gustus

The wooden door behind them opened, and Cole’s heart leaped when Gustus came through. The chameleon-eyed man looked taken aback. “What is this? Leona, I sent you ahead!”

“General alarm, sir,” the guard said. “This passage is closed. Nobody has come through here in the last couple of hours.”

“Well done,” Gustus said. “But we need to quietly make an exception. We have strong reason to believe an escaped slave is already outside our perimeter. We’re going out to bring him in. There isn’t time to wait. Every moment counts. Open the way on my authority.”

“You’re in charge, sir,” the guard said, opening the door. Skye moved ahead, and the guard walked with her to a solid iron door, which he opened with a key. Cole passed the guard in silence.

Behind Cole, Gustus paused beside the guard. “Though necessary on occasion, bending protocol like this sets a bad precedent,” Gustus said. “Don’t speak of it to anyone.”

“Understood, sir.”

“And don’t let anyone else through. As far as I’m concerned, this never happened. I’ll never admit to it.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Excellent. Keep a sharp watch.”

They continued down the hall with Gustus at the rear. After finally turning a corner, Skye collapsed against a wall, panting. Her seeming vanished, as did Jace’s. Gustus disappeared. Skye was bathed in sweat.

“You improvised that?” Dalton asked in astonishment. “You held together an unanchored seeming through a scrubber?”

“That was heavy lifting,” Skye said, her eyes closed. “I almost lost my hold on everything at the end there.”

“I don’t know if any of the enchanters here could have done that,” Dalton said. “Maybe the head enchanter on a good day. You even made it look like the door opened.”

“The guard needed to see Gustus come through the scrubber,” Skye said. “It put his authenticity beyond question.”

Chapter 19