The Rebel Queen (Outlaw #1) - Lexi Blake Page 0,142
Chad put a whammy on me. Also, Sarah took care of most of the planning. She’s very organized, and she does not mind yelling at contractors. God, I hope the lights still work.” He fumbled around and suddenly a thin trail of lights illuminated the gloom.
“What kind of whammy?” Lee looked around the space we found ourselves in.
We’d only left Dev and Danny a few moments before. The park they were meeting Myrddin in wasn’t far from the Council building. A group of shifters had agreed to provide security. This was the North Texas Pride, and they’d always been close to the royals. Danny was talking to the leader on the way to the meet.
Neil had led us to a building on Pearl Street a couple of blocks from Ether. The entrance to the tunnel was on the lowest level of the parking garage. The door was in the stairwell, behind the stairs. It was hard to tell there was a door there at all, but Neil had found it.
Neil stood back to allow us in. “When I need to do something that I do not want to do—like keep a secret from your mom—Chad kind of digs around in my brain and plants a suggestion that my metabolism will die if I do that thing. No more werewolf physique. All I have to do is make one wrong move and I’ve got the gut I truly deserve.”
Naturally that’s where he would go. “How did you build it? Is it magic?”
“It doesn’t feel that way. It looks like it’s solid.” Lee stepped inside and then put a hand to his stomach. “Well, except for that. Wow. That ward is rough. I’m not sure I can get through. Not without vomiting. Aunt Sarah was serious about keeping other people out.”
“Here, sweetie.” I reached into my backpack and pulled out the charm Lily had made. “Lily was one of the people who could get through. She helped Sarah on the project. This should make the ward think you’re her.”
I placed the small charm in his hand, and his whole body seemed to relax. “Thank the goddess. That’s better. So that’s what any human would feel if they tried to walk through? That was some powerful dread. I’m going to be honest. If I didn’t know what I know, I would have walked away and never come back.”
That’s what a really good ward could do to a person.
“You should see what happens to a witch who isn’t allowed through,” Neil said. “I’m sorry it affects you. Sarah was slowly working on the wards when she could. I guess she hadn’t gotten to the kids yet. And it’s a physical tunnel. Chad worked his magic on a construction crew.”
“Danny is Chad’s vampire master. How did he keep this from him?” I was sure it was one of the reasons Myrddin hadn’t wanted to let Danny go through the painting. Danny’s blood could influence any vampire or werewolf who took it.
Neil chuckled. “Oh, Chad will tell Daniel anything he thinks the king needs to know. He genuinely thought this was in his master’s best interest, so he kept it from him. Chad is pragmatic when it comes to his servitude. It’s the difference between a vampire and a wolf. After all those years, Zack would have told Danny no matter what. Which is why he was left out of this project. I always thought we should have made it prettier though. It’s got a very latter-day mine vibe about it.”
The walls looked solid, though the whole thing was way too confining. Lee could barely walk without hunching over, and his shoulders nearly brushed the sides. “So this will take us all the way to the basement under Ether?”
“Yes. From there you’ll need to sneak up the back stairwell. Sorry, Z. I’m afraid you can’t use the elevator,” Neil announced with a frown. “They wouldn’t be able to see you, but they would see the doors opening and closing, and that might attract attention. They’ll be less likely to see the stairwell doors open and close.”
It looked like I was getting a workout in. “All right. We should get going. I won’t be able to call you. Believe it or not, cell service doesn’t work under the cloak. Are you meeting the fake me?”
The lions were giving us a lioness who didn’t mind wearing a Zoey glamour and shopping with my bestie in case the witches were on the lookout.