Cut rope in hand, Mei alighted on the railing running beneath the arches then dashed into the corridor beyond. Below in the pit, there were shouts of surprise as the only way to get up into the Arena disappeared.

  “It’s her!” Huan had used magic to get down into the mud pit. “She’s up there. Catch her!”

  Where Mei would have given chase, would have used the knives’ magic to stay on her quarry’s heels, Huan sought to make others do it for him, even though he had the only means of quickly getting back up here. After using her dagger to hack the rope into pieces, leaving twenty wirs worth to toss over her shoulder - Mei snuck over to the railing and peered down into the pit. At Huan’s prompting, the monks were on the move, their three lanterns spiraling their way up the other side of the shaft, using stairs Mei could just see in the gloom. That was another mistake. In order to escape or to get in the way of their plans, Mei had to climb down into the pit, so all her brother and the monks had to do was wait and watch. But Huan hated waiting.

  These unbidden critiques made Mei uncomfortable, but devotion was hard when its target had set out to hurt her friends. Maybe when she caught him, Mei’s devotion to her brother would return.

  Time to move. After putting distance between herself and the stairs, Mei found a series of thick hooks that ran down through the levels of the shaft all the way down to the bottom. Their original purpose was unclear, but they were just the right shape for Mei to throw her rope over, grab its ends, then rappel down two levels before repeating the process. On the other side of the shaft, the monks continued to climb.

  As she descended, Mei considered what she did and didn’t have. What she did have was a dagger, her rifle, and enough ammo to take down a dozen monks. What she didn’t have, with Maggie and the spy still up above, was any magic to stop the Greencloaks from putting the bomb in place. She had to stop them before it got that far.

  After going down six levels, Mei swung onto the corridor and crept up to the railing to check on her pursuers. The monks had reached the fifth level, and the Greencloaks were standing around the drum bomb having an argument with Huan. At least that’s what the tone of the conversation told Mei. She was too far away for words. Still even at this distance, the bomb was in range, but that risked killing everyone around it, including her brother. Unfortunately, shooting anything else would reveal her position and, at best, take down one mage. However, she’d seen many prey animals freeze even when she shot and missed, and among Mei’s opponents, only Huan had seen her weapon in action.

  She took aim, verified the non-existent wind, waited for one of the mages to step away from her brother before-

  Bang!

  As the mages scurried for cover, Huan looked up.

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  Mei pulled back, but without light, there was no way that he could-

  Her brother couldn’t, but the beast could.

  Mei was already running when, clink, pop, her brother arrived. She aimed her empty rifle at him, and he froze long enough for her to throw herself over a nearby railing and drop down a level.

  “She’s over here!” shouted Huan.

  As the monks redoubled their stair-climbing efforts, Mei hightailed it back to the hooks, but Huan dropped in behind her, forcing her to turn and face him, her rifle ready. When he threw a knife, she batted it away with her rifle, sending the blade spinning out into the main shaft. Pop. Huan disappeared. He was fine. He had to be. Mei ran over to the hooks and rappelled down, reaching the tenth level just as the monks reached the eighth.

  One of them looked over and down. “Sky, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine!” shouted Huan. Good, he’d survived. “She’s close. One of you watch the hole. The others search the rooms.”

  The monk glanced at her fellows, one of whom shrugged. “Okay.”

  The monks separated, one going right, another left, and the third to watch the hooks for Mei. Another mistake: they should stay together and keep the numbers advantage. Mei descended to the ninth level, made her rope into a noose, hung it over a hook, and waited.

  “Cups, who does Sky think he is?” Judging by the light and sound the monk was right under Mei. “Just because Kay wants him doesn’t mean he can boss the rest of us around. He’ll get what’s coming to him on the Day of Cleansing. I bet she’s not even here.”

  When the monk’s face appeared below Mei, his lantern-blinded eyes peering upwards, her noose dipped, looped around his neck, then hauled him into the air. His lantern fell from his stunned fingers to smash onto the floor far below.

  “What was that?” shouted Huan.

  “What was what?”

  “Where’s Elm?”

  Mei’s captive monk grabbed at the rope, tried to loosen it with his fingers, but his bulk was too much. Not yet.

  “I’m coming,” shouted Huan.

  “He was watching the hole.”

  “Did he fall?”

  “His lamp did.”

  The monk’s hands dropped to his sides. Not yet.

  “He’s not here!”

  “Sky, Elm is-”

  “Mei has him,” said Huan. “Check the rooms.”

  The monk went still. Now. Mei grabbed the monk’s feet, eased him onto the floor then removed the noose. She checked for breathing with the back of her hand. Good, he was alive. After tying the monk to the railing with his own belt, Mei gagged him with his surcote.

  “She’s not here.”

  “Then go a level up,” said Huan.

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “She tossed you around like a rag doll, she nearly killed a mage, and she spirited away Elm. We’re going back.”

  “She’s magic.”

  “She doesn’t have magic,” protested Huan.

  “You don’t know that. We’ll find Elm later. Right now we protect the bomb. Those are our actual orders.”

  “You don’t understand,” said Huan. “She’ll-”

  “You ain’t our boss, Sky.”

  “Yeah, find her yourself.”

  Part of Mei was annoyed at the victory of good sense, which meant she’d be unable to thin the herd any further, but the rest of her was relieved she wouldn’t have to strangle another monk. Using the monks and Huan’s retreat as cover, Mei continued her descent and had finally reached the third floor when Sioned called down from the well: “Dwayne’s next!”