The treasury was packed. Boxes of Malovian currency, along with bags of gold coins, stuffed the room to the brim. There was hardly any room to walk. It was certainly more than we could take with us during one trip, but we’d have to make do.
“Take as much as you can carry,” I said. “We get what we can and leave.”
“Let’s just change. I can carry a million of these bags on my back if I’ve got saddlebags,” Stefan hissed.
“We can’t shift. If we do, it’ll blow our cover. We’re more identifiable as animals,” I said.
Stefan grumbled, but the rest nodded and began grabbing bags. I took three each in my hands. They were heavy, nearly twenty pounds, but that didn’t stop me. The rejuvenation potion did what it was supposed to, and bolstered what strength the demon had taken away. The leshane lashed against my insides like a whip— he didn’t like that I was using the Phantom persona for good instead of revenge, but I ignored the pain, taking an extra bag just to piss him off.
It wasn’t a few minutes before there were cries of panic. An alarm went off in the treasury, and the lights came on. Shit! They knew we were here!
“We gotta go!” I ran out the door. The rest followed me. By the sound of it, the shifters were still fighting, but the sorceresses had caught on that something wasn’t right. We slipped into the woods before they caught us, vanishing into the darkness. The guards immediately entered the treasury, giving us time to get into the woods and make our escape.
Branches cracked behind us. I bristled, thinking it was the guards, but as I turned back I saw it was only Alexei and Kiara. They were breathless as they ran for their lives.
“Where do we go now?” Stefan asked, his arms dragging as he tried to carry ten bags at once. Even with his shifter strength, the bags slowed him down.
“My lair. It’s underneath the university.” I took a sharp turn, and the others followed. My heart pounded as we left the woods and entered the grounds of the university again. I took the familiar path back to my lair, though I hadn’t used it in ages. We entered into the murky dungeon, and I used a match to light a torch on the wall for light. The only sound that could be heard was our ragged breathing as we all struggled to recover air, chests tight with the anticipation that we’d been followed.
Minutes passed, and there was no pounding against the door. If we’d been followed, the guards would’ve caught up to us by now, which meant we escaped— thank the gods.
“Do you think we got away?” Theo asked nervously.
“I think so,” I said. “They would’ve found us.”
“What about their shifter sight? Won’t they be able to follow the trail?” Odette asked.
“Alexei and I cast deception spells before we left, to throw them off. If they’re powerful enough, they should hold,” Kiara gasped. She wiped her brow of sweat and stood up slowly.
Emma strolled around the room, eyes puzzled beneath the mask of the White Rose. “So this is where the Phantom hides. It’s exactly what I expected.”
I was slightly offended. What was that supposed to mean?
“You know, Ethan, you really need an interior decorator,” Odette squeaked as she observed the room. “The Batman look isn’t doing it for me.”
Thanks for clarifying, Odette. It wasn’t like I’d ever planned to bring people down here.
The sound of coins clinking against each other rang off the walls. “By the gods. There has to be thousands here,” Stefan said as he shuffled through the bags.
“Yeah, and we need to get rid of it,” Delmare said. “That’s evidence.”
“It’ll be gone by tonight,” I said. “Now we wait. Once the festival is over, we can distribute what we have.”
“Everyone should be going home by now,” Kiara offered. “They’ll want to be up early, to sit vigil at the graves tomorrow.”
We waited a while longer, just to be safe, before we left campus. We kept to the dark parts of Dolinska and remained in the shadows on our way to our destination.
The Arcanea Alliance had obviously been alerted about the burglary. The police scanned the streets with spotlights, patrolling in droves. We avoided them by sticking to the city’s outer limits.
“Shouldn’t we just donate the money to a charity?” Emma asked as we walked.
“All the Malovian charities are being funneled into the royalty treasury currently,” I said.