The light below her in the small room moved closer, and Victoria reached down carefully to take the small rose from Max, who’d stood, but was now leaning against the wall. He was holding his right hand over his shoulder wound, though his face looked a bit less tense. Whatever was in that vial had begun to work quickly.
When she rested the little candle on the narrow sill of the window, Victoria could see into the yard in front of the opening. “Yes, I see a small thing—it looks like a grate. It’s very small, though, Max…”
“As I thought. You can come down now. ”
She carefully handed down the candle, and found Sebastian to be exceedingly helpful in assisting her to get down from the window, his hands groping about and assisting in areas that weren’t off balance in the least.
When Victoria got back on the ground and extricated herself from Sebastian’s questing fingers, she saw Max on the floor by the wall.
“Max? Are you all right?”
“Stop blocking the light,” he snapped.
“What are you doing?”
She crouched next to him, aware that Sebastian was standing behind, likely watching the areas he’d recently had occasion to caress.
“That iron grate is just outside of the Magic Door,” Max told her. “I saw it earlier tonight. ” She could see that he was moving the candle around the floor near the wall. “It confirmed what Ylito and I had suspected—that this wall is next to Palombara’s laboratory. ” He looked up for a moment, his eyes faint with wry humor. “I, unlike you, have an excellent sense of direction when inside a building. ”
“Whatever it is you’re doing,” Sebastian said from his pose against the wall, “I suggest you do it quickly, for I expect our hosts to be returning shortly. I’d prefer not to be here when they return, if we can arrange it otherwise. I’m certain my relationship to Beauregard will hold me in good stead only long enough for Akvan to ask me a few pointed questions about my grandfather before he makes use of my head and its contents. ”
“Then perhaps,” Max said between obviously clenched teeth, “you might bestir yourself to assist. I have reason to believe there must be a way from the laboratory to this chamber. ” He must have heard Victoria draw in her breath, for he added, “Don’t waste time asking. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong—but there is no other way out of this room. But…” And he paused, then continued, “Apparently I’m not wrong, for here it is. ”
He pushed back onto his knees. Through the streaks of dirt and blood on his face, the hollowness in his cheeks, Victoria saw satisfaction. “A door?” she asked dubiously.
“A drop of gold. Melted gold. Going under the wall here…see this brick…here. ”
Victoria needed no further instruction or information. She began to work with Max, feeling around with her fingers to fit them into the groove under the brick.
But then, as a familiar, portending chill scuttled over the back of her neck, Victoria turned and met Max’s gaze only inches away.
“Damn,” was all he said.
“They’ll be coming for me,” Victoria said. “Most likely. ”
“Or to find out what the grandson of Beauregard
might know that would be helpful to Akvan,” Max said, a hint of relish in his voice. “Or for any of us. ”
“We’ll make it look like we’re still tied up,” Victoria said. “Then we can take them by surprise when they come in. Max, you can still be unconscious. ”
“Why, thank you. ”
“Sebastian, if you can manage to do so without getting distracted, tie my wrists again. Quickly. Wait. ” She turned and slid her hand up under her skirt to the side of her corset opposite where the knife had been hidden and quickly slid out the slender but deadly stake that was hidden in the same way the stiletto had been.
Slipping it into one of the small loops at the back of her gown (ones Verbena had insisted upon adding for just such an emergency), she allowed Sebastian to bind her wrists loosely enough that it would be no problem for her to slip free. Then, awkwardly, she did the same to him.
Max arranged himself on the floor where he’d been before, and Victoria slumped against the wall near his feet. Then she stomped her foot on the last of the burning satin flower.
Only the faintest smell of smoke hung in the air now, and the room became silent.
The back of her neck was colder, and her heart thumped faster as she felt the undead coming closer.
“Max? Do you have the knife?”
“Yes. And a stake hidden in my boot. Don’t attack until we’re out of the room. ”
“Seb—”