Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“The main entrance is through a private tunnel in Grand Central, but there are hundreds of tunnels that empty here. I think it’s why Walter chose this for one of his checkpoints.”
Kierse chewed on her lip and then dug through her pockets to find a hair tie. She needed to look a little less feminine. She tugged out the bobby pins and slipped them up her sleeves. She brushed her hair forward into her eyes, giving her a shaggy look, then tied the rest back into a ponytail. She used a few of the bobby pins she frequently broke into residences with and tucked the hair up underneath itself. Then she flipped up the hood on her jacket.
The biggest problem was her height. She was about average height for a woman, short for a man. But perhaps an adventurous boy.
“How do I look?”
“Like you’re going to get in trouble.”
She winked at him. “Give me some credit.”
Then fell into step with a figure that passed her.
“Keep your phone on,” Graves insisted.
She tapped her pocket to let him know she’d heard, but otherwise he was completely out of her mind. He’d given her the plan. She now knew how to execute it. Kierse integrated herself with the frat boys. She stepped forward, bumping into the nearest guy. “Oh, sorry.”
“Hey, man, no problem,” the guy said with a laugh.
She put her hand on his shoulder, careful to keep her gaze down as she slipped her hand into his back pocket. “Always running into people.”
But the dude-bro had already stopped paying attention. He hadn’t even felt her slip out his wallet. He’d been too focused on her running into him, the hand on his shoulder. Diversion. Slip of the hand. She stepped in front of him, making sure she was clear of the frat boys before rifling through his wallet and finding the access card. Didn’t hurt to have a second card to look into later. Plus, it would cause a distraction at her back when he realized his was missing.
The vampire went in ahead of her, paying extra for the girl at her side. Kierse watched the machine with curious eyes as it let the pair pass. No indication from the machine or the wards other than a picture of the people then a green light to indicate it was okay to go through. And then it was Kierse’s turn.
She held her breath as she came up to the machine. If it didn’t take the card or she couldn’t go through the wards, then she’d be found out. Walter and King Louis might even discover they were trying to access the underworld. But if she didn’t test it, they’d never know if she could get through.
Finally, she tapped the card onto the touchscreen. With her heart in her throat, she watched a picture of herself appear, and then the green light flicked on.
“Pass,” the goblin who manned the checkpoint grumbled.
Kierse grinned to herself, but the real test was next. Graves’s contact had gotten the machine to work for her. Now her magic had to do the rest.
She took a step into the checkpoint. She could almost read the language carved into the wall now that she knew what she was looking for, but it always stayed out of reach. Walter’s wards were unique, as Graves’s was threaded with holly and Imani’s were with sankofa. She could make out what appeared to be a sun symbol at its core. She wondered how that reflected in Walter.
With a deep breath, she waited to see if she could feel the magic absorbing into her skin, but it felt much the same as it always had. Walter’s wards felt like nothing at all as she absorbed the magic and stepped through to the other side. First test passed.
She looked back only once to see Graves watching her. He looked hungry. This was a victory for them. A big one.
Now on to Third Floor.
Chapter Forty
The tunnel didn’t immediately open up to the market beyond. Instead, Kierse wound and curved for a while before she finally came upon it. Swallowing her fear, she marveled at the market before her. It was an underground cavern so big that she couldn’t even see the other side. Dark and ominous and yet full of life. And monsters. Monsters were everywhere.
Solid structures had been built around the perimeter while the inside had hastily erected tents and shanties. Kierse moved with the flow of traffic as she entered the bustle of the market. The main thoroughfare deposited her at the center of a market square, and in the middle of the row of vendors was a statue of Coraline LeMort.
Kierse blinked in confusion. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself, but what the hell would a statue of Coraline be doing in the underworld? She was a symbol of revolution and peace. Her statue outside of the Met had been erected post–Coraline Convention, when the world was ending the Monster War, but the underworld was the antithesis of that. King Louis and the Men of Valor wanted to end the Monster Treaty.