School of the Crown Assassins

19

I followed close to Xavier and Damien as we walked through tunnels to the main estate. Or at least as close as I dared. Damien still reeked of sewage.

Numerous noises echoed up and down the hall—scurrying rats and thundering feet overhead—and I jumped at each one. Seeing all the miserable animals fall dead just to let us escape affected me more than I care to admit. And then, when Axe fell into the water, it was like my mind shut down.

And the worst part? Damien and Nydia saw it. I knew for sure that even they acted innocent about the whole ordeal, they knew I was having a panic attack. If you learned anything at all at Evandor, as an assassin you never clam up. No action equals death. I had failed as an assassin and proven myself unworthy as an Alpha. That won't go unnoticed by the others. I trusted Nydia to not care and maybe Damien as well, but if he mentions it with Arielle, I would be placed several steps back. She wouldn't interact with someone not up to her level. And Xavier, I can forget about completely.

I needed to get myself together before I made a mistake I couldn't come back from. Getting scared of water is stupid and wouldn't get me anywhere.

Move on, Indigo.

We kept walking through the tunnels in silence, climbing numerous stairs until Xavier finally stopped in front of a doorknob that looked like it was in the middle of nowhere. I pressed an ear to the wall and heard footsteps moving around in the hallway.

"Axe's distraction isn't working anymore," I told them. "There are people patrolling the hall again."

"How many?" Damien asked.

I listened harder again and tried to count the different footsteps. "Can't tell. Somewhere around ten."

"Ten to three," Damien said. "That's easy."

Damien grabbed the handle and was about to push it open when Xavier said, "I never knew you were that excited to head to your death. Had I known, I would've killed you long ago. I could've lived my life in peace."

Damien turned back to Xavier. "What's wrong now?"

"You can only count the number of guards who are moving," Xavier explained. "A dozen more could be standing very still. And they all know there was a breach in the arena and lower levels."

Damien slowly shook his head as if he just understood Xavier. I looked between the two of them.

"What?"

"They already know that there are people in the tunnels," he whispered. "Numerous could be standing still and aiming their guns right at our entrance, waiting for the moment we walked in."

I could imagine a dozen guards standing facing our position, guns raised, and all completely unmoving, waiting to close in as soon as we step on their petals like a venus flytrap. I shivered. I would hate to get stuck in that trap.

"So we work our way around," I said.

Xavier shook his head, "There are going to be at least a few guards at every passage entrance. And when we get past them we're still going to need to fight our way through these guards plus multiple others in our way."

"Then what do you recommend?" Damien asked.

"Destroy the door."

Damien blinked. "You mean explode it?"

"Would that result in a destroyed door?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."

"The entire tunnel could collapse!" Damien whisper-shouted.

"If you know how to properly detonate a bomb it won't."