I turned to Siri. "Ready?" I asked, sucking in a breath. For a second, worry flashed across her face, and when she nodded, I said, "Okay, then. Top floor please."
Siri grinned, looking up and down the darkened street. Then, even as I blinked, she began to disintegrate into a whirling tornado of gold dust. As she grew larger, I craned my neck farther until I was staring straight up at her.
A golden dragon on the side of a London street. Not a sight you see every day. Siri lowered her foot and dipped her head, then waited as I scrambled up to her shoulder. She surged up into the sky, keeping a good distance from the building to avoid any winds. At last, we reached the top of the glass Shard where metal and glass met in a curious melding. She settled on a small platform sheltered by three sharp spikes of glass and metal. I shucked out my wings and flew straight off Siri's back, hovering beside her for a moment.
"Ready?" I asked her again, a little worried. When her head bobbed and she blinked great big golden eyes at me, I said, "Good, and as far as Lady Tyra goes, this never happened."
The golden dragon let out a decidedly unladylike snort. "You have a deal," she said as I flew off. With my glamor pulled tightly around me like a thick magical blanket, I glided around the building, wings spread out wide, cutting the air smoothly. I hit a few rocky patches of stubborn gusts on the way down, but nothing I couldn't handle.
I could hear Derek in my ear, counting down the meters and the floors. As soon as he said, "Easy now. You're almost there," I slowed to a hover.
The next thing I knew, Derek was saying, "Thirty-seventh floor. Now move two windows to your right." I followed his instructions and glided right until I was suspended in front of a window to an extremely plush and no doubt extremely expensive hotel room. It was dark inside; the only light entering the room was that from the strip of pale light under the door to the hall. A strip broken by the shadows of the guard's two feet.
I had to squint with my nose to the window to see if anyone was awake.
Suddenly, a gust of wind tried to shove me down one floor, and I had to flap harder to prevent myself from tumbling off into oblivion. I struggled, feeling the strain in my shoulder and back muscles, but at last I was back in front of the window. Lifting the glass cutter, I placed it on the window, fastening the suction cup. When it was tight and immovable, I set the blade on the surface of the glass and began to cut, moving it along the window slowly. The blade sang against the glass, and I was certain at least one of the occupants would hear us.
When I looked up from concentrating on the cutter, I looked straight into the eyes of a very surprised ten-year-old. Nicholas McClellan was standing in front of me, his eyes going from the glass cutter to my face to my wings and back, all as calm as you please. I stared at him, then put a finger to my lips. When he nodded, I pointed to his sleeping mother and sibling, made a shaking motion with my hands, then put my finger to my lips again.
He turned and ran to the bed while I continued cutting. I watched with one eye as he shook his mother and put his finger on his lips, then pointed to the window. Her eyes widened as they followed the same route as her son--glass cutter, face, wings, and back again. She sat stock-still for a moment as the cutter made its way slowly full circle. The movement of the cutter seemed to throw her into motion, and she awakened her other child.
As they stared, I thought about what they would be seeing outside their window. I hovered there, probably looking like an angel straight from heaven. The scared little family wouldn't know what to think.
With one hand, I tried to tell them to put something warm on, making the motions of donning a jacket even while I held the glass cutter in place. Then I returned to the cutter as it competed its circle. I waited while the family rifled inside cupboards and donned jackets. Then I crooked a finger and called them to the window. I was ready.
As the glass made a sharp cracking sound, I yelled into the microphone for Siri. The heavy glass pulled my hands forward and into the room and I let it fall to the carpet, allowing it to slowly pull me with it. Air rushed inside through the small hole so fast the entire room was filled with swirling wind. And the sound of gusting wind was so loud inside my ears, I could barely hear anything.
I stepped inside, steadied myself, and said, "Keep your voices down. Someone is coming for you. When she gets here, get on, don't ask questions, and don't scream. Do not hesitate or we will all get caught." They nodded solemnly and when their eyes widened, I knew they saw Siri at my back.
"Go, go," I urged them, guiding them as they moved to the opening in the window where Siri held one leg against the glass, allowing them to scurry up one by one to her back. I caught Nicholas as he past. "Hey, kid, you're with me. We don't want to overload the transport," I said, winking at him. He grinned, and I was about to exit the window with him when the door was flung open.
The movement of the door pulled more air into the room and it gusted around us so much that the boy almost fell over. I threw my arm tightly around his waist as a frost giant ran into the suite, his eyes burning white fire as he saw the escaping family. I bent to my thigh and grabbed a dagger. Holding it by the blade, I held on to Nicholas and let the dagger fly.
It landed in the Jotunn's shoulder, barely slowing him down. I groaned and said a bad word, then bit my tongue when it sank in that the kid was in earshot. Only, he looked impressed, but I wasn't going to keep up the language. I jumped out the window and hovered as I reached for my second dagger. The frost giant was now within arm's reach. He lifted his own hand, but I didn't see him shoot or throw a weapon. Despite the short distance, I gritted my teeth and threw the dagger straight at him.
It hit him in the eye.
The frost giant shrieked, pulling the dagger out of his head in a sudden reflex action. When he saw he'd taken his eye out with the dagger, he howled in horror. The sound scraped the insides of my eardrums raw.
I didn't wait to see what he'd do next. Just thrust out my wings and turned to glide down to the car, following close on Siri's heels. I landed behind her, running as I touched ground in much the same way as a hang glider would. It had begun to be part of my nature, flying, soaring, landing.
Somehow I could hardly recall life without wings.
I let go of the boy, who stood still, staring at the gigantic golden dragon in front of him. His mother and sister slid off Siri, and the dragon princess wasted no time in transforming.
"Cool." Both Nicholas an his older sister echoed the same sentiment, and I couldn't agree more.
Then I beckoned them. "Come. We need to hurry before they track us to the cars." I glanced back at the building, but there was no sign of movement.
We bundled the family into one of the cars and, jumping into the other with Derek, we headed straight back to HQ. As soon as we entered the front hall, Iain hurried the family to a room upstairs, getting them out of sight as soon as possible. Joshua and Aidan met us in the hall as we watched the old man disappear with his charges.
We'd saved them. I was so relieved I almost felt faint.
"Everything go okay?" Joshua asked, rubbing my shoulder and giving me a sweet smile that said he'd missed me more than he'd missed being the one out on the job.
I smiled back at him but found even that little movement suddenly difficult. I gave the two of them a quick recap and confirmed the rescue had gone without a hitch. But as I was recapping, I felt a twinge in my side. I winced and put my hand to what I thought was just a stitch in my back muscle. But when my fingers came away stained with blood, I sucked in a breath.
"Bryn," Joshua almost yelled as I put my hand at my back again to check the wound.
My head was beginning to spin as he turned me around gently. His searching fingers touched on something that seemed to be embedded deep in my side. Just the mere contact with it made me dizzy. Bile rose in my throat and the room began to tilt. I let out a ragged groan and bent over.
"I'm sorry, babe. But we need to get it out." Joshua spoke softly beside me, his voice filling me with a little strength. Enough to stop me from passing out.
Pain surged through my side as Joshua grabbed onto the object and pulled it slowly out of my side. He sat back on his heels, his palm open to show me the weapon. It was a super-thin knife about as long as my palm, with a two-inch long handle. I stared at the blood-drenched blade, thinking how clever they were to use such weapons. I hadn't even felt it penetrate my skin. Or my armor.
That's when it hit me.
The blade was thin, incredibly sharp, and three-sided, able to efficiently cut into Glasir-enhanced leather and slip through the links in my chainmail.
Loki was certainly getting smarter.
Joshua handed the blade to Aidan, whose face was now white as a sheet. Joshua wrapped an arm around me and guided me to the first stair. He tried to help me upstairs, tried to take some of my weight and help me get up the step, but I suspected I'd lost my glamor. Without it, my wings were visible and solid, giving me a weight that was almost four times my body weight. Glamor was certainly good for some things. But the problem was I now had almost no energy left to draw the powerful magic around me well enough.
And so I slid slowly to the floor as blood seeped from the wound and down my leg, soaking into the leather of my pants.
I saw Edrik lean forward, his face shifting and resettling into his wolf form. He said, "Help me. I will carry most of her weight. You take as much as you can."