Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
“What are you?” the guy asked with wide eyes.
“A goddess,” she said with a grin.
Then she stepped into the man’s guard and brought the gun down against his temple. He collapsed next to his colleague.
“We’re good, Lyra.”
The girl dashed out, and together they hauled the unconscious men into the bathroom. Kierse quickly frisked them, using their own handcuffs to tie them to the grab bar affixed to the wall in the accessible stall and removing their communication devices and weapons.
“Excellent work,” Lyra said with appreciation.
Kierse curtsied.
“Get moving. You have two-and-a-half minutes,” Walter said.
Kierse and Lyra hurried out of the bathroom. Nearby was a loading entrance into the kitchen’s walk-in cold storage. Laz had placed wards on those locks as well so only the team could go in and out of them. Lyra disappeared inside and came back with the second cake box, Cake & Cake in a pretty blue font on the lid.
“Shall we deliver our cake?” Lyra asked.
“We shall.”
Lyra opened it to reveal the cauldron decoy box. Kierse felt the gentle hum of magic as she took it out of the cake box. It had been her idea to load an amulet with an absurd amount of magic and insert it into the center. Since she’d known immediately that it wasn’t the real cauldron just by touching it, their decoy would be much more deceptive if it gave off at least somewhat of a magical aura, instead of being completely empty.
Lyra took the empty cake box and hustled back to the bathroom where she’d also change back into her ballgown and be lookout, or a diversion if necessary.
Kierse could see the Curator’s magic all over the door—the wards with the crossed blades at the center and a strong scent of pine and lemon. He really didn’t want anyone in this room. It must be draining to hold up wards like this. Kierse reached out and put her hand on it. Her absorption moved through it with ease, just like normal. Good.
She twisted the handle and found it locked. Well, at least that was predictable. She picked the cheap, hotel-grade lock with ease. She glanced back once before pushing the door open and stepping inside, tensing for an alarm. They’d tripped an alarm last heist, and Kierse had been certain to check the plans this time. But nothing went off. The only indication something was wrong were the red emergency lights illuminating the small space.
At the center of the otherwise empty room sat a box the exact size and shape as the one she was holding. And inside was the cauldron.
Kierse could sense the magic within before she even put her hand on the box. She mirrored the energy between the two boxes and decided it was close enough. There was no way for her to reopen it to feed it more magic, anyway.
She set the decoy on the floor and reverently reached out for the real thing. She breathed a sigh of relief when the magic didn’t change when she touched it. Considering what the sword and spear did upon contact, she wasn’t certain that it wouldn’t try to talk to her through the metal. The spear didn’t, but she didn’t know if “didn’t” and “couldn’t” were the same thing.
With the real cauldron in her possession, she put her decoy back on the pedestal. A light flickered to life.
“There’s a light. I think it’s a weight sensor. Walter?”
He was silent at the word. “I don’t have an alarm on my end.”
Which was good. That meant that the Curator couldn’t see it on his end, either. She hoped.
“How much time do we have?” she asked, staying calm in the face of this new problem. If someone walked in here and saw the light, they’d know. Or as soon as the manual system rebooted, it would let them know. She had to fix it now.
“Down to a minute,” Walter added.
If the decoy didn’t work, they might get caught walking out of the hotel. The whole place could go on lockdown. Everyone would be compromised. How quickly could the rest get out of here before that happened?
No one spoke. Protocol dictated what to do in case anything went wrong. Remove earpieces. Destroy them, discard them, get out. All she had to do was make the call.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Kierse tested the two boxes in her hand. They were identical in every way, except the cauldron was in one. She didn’t think it was even a noticeable difference in weight. She dropped the decoy box back on the pedestal and ripped a pin out of her hair. She set it on the sensor and held her breath.
The light flicked off.
She breathed out. “Fucking hell.”
The last thing she wanted was to leave her hairpin behind. But it was that or immediately be discovered when the system came back online. Leave one clue, or lose everything.