eventually to Maximus and life as a vampire. Unlike her brother, she had no arcane talents.
"Justin, what's up?" Adam said, sounding pleased to hear from me.
I hated to burst his happy bubble. "I just heard from your sister."
"You did?" Apprehension tightened his voice.
I filled him in.
"Son of a—Justin, she can't stay in that vipers' lair any longer. We've got to get her out."
"I'll have an army of Templars helping, Adam. I'm sure we can do that."
He made a frustrated noise. "I'm coming with you. What? Justin, hang on." The sounds of muffled talking filtered through the receiver. After a moment, I heard his hand slide off the microphone. "Um, we're coming."
"Adam, I really don't want to drag you into my mess—"
"Both of our sisters are in trouble, Justin. Hold tight. Meghan and I will meet up with you."
I looked at Elyssa. "Are we taking the Obsidian Arch at the Grotto?"
She nodded and checked the time. "Father says we're shipping out at midnight."
I relayed the information to Adam and ended the call. I knew Adam would want in. I mean, who'd pass up the opportunity to die screaming with me as a traveling companion? At least I'd feel a lot better adding another strong Arcane to the group, not to mention Meghan and her expert healing abilities. Geez, with Bella and Shelton coming along, this promised to be the bestest Justin Party ever. Except I forgot to bring cake. Maybe one of the Arcanes could pull cupcakes from behind our ears. "Your dad has this all planned out, doesn't he?"
Elyssa shrugged. "Commander Borathen doesn't mess around when he makes a decision."
When we rejoined the others near the exit, Bella and Shelton were in a heated discussion with Thomas.
"I take it you have no compunction about taking untrained civilians into this conflict?" Thomas said, his voice deadly calm as always.
"Dude, I'm probably the least trained here and you obviously don't care about tossing me to the wolves." I set my arms akimbo and gave him the look my mom reserved for me when she caught me doing something naughty. "Don't for a minute think you've fooled me into believing you're doing this for my benefit. I'm sure you have some ulterior motive I haven't figured out. Even this morning, you seemed eager to kick me back down to Colombia."
His cool expression didn't flicker as he replied. "What I do is uphold Overworld law, Mr. Slade. For that, I will do anything or sacrifice anyone without compunction. In this instance, our goals coincide. I happen to believe you can play a pivotal role in bringing down Maximus, thanks to your history with that criminal."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as we digested Thomas's blunt words. I forced myself to maintain eye contact with his cool, blue gaze and found no shred of doubt lingering within.
I cleared my throat and shifted my feet. "Alrighty, then. Shall we go?"
Thomas turned and left, followed by the rest of us. We piled into the back of a large black SUV, and headed toward the Grotto. I had no idea what to expect once we reached Bogota except for one thing.
Maximus would not go down without a fight.
Chapter 7
Bogota welcomed me with cold, gray arms. Dark clouds scudded overhead, drowning the sunlight. The Obsidian Arch at La Casona sat in the middle of a sprawling plaza in the center of the city, seemingly in plain sight. At the back of the square stood an ordinary wooden door, which—according to Bella—led into the pocket dimension housing La Casona. Since Colombia was her turf, she gave me a quick history lesson as we hustled from the large circle of polished stone beneath the arch.
"Illusion hides this place from the noms, and wards keep them from wandering too close," she said as we crossed the plaza toward a group of waiting Templars.
"We're going into La Casona," Adam said, taking Meghan's hand in his.
"I need some supplies," the Arcane healer added. "We'll meet you at the compound in a couple of hours."
I noticed the way her face hardened every time she looked at Shelton. I also noticed how Shelton kept a healthy distance from Meghan. She'd told me Shelton's hands were dirty when it came to the death of her father. That he'd had dealings with Vadaemos Slade or someone close to him. Even though Meghan had never made any outright threats, I had the feeling it might be best to clear the air between the two just in case. Adam