BooksBarbecue
Back Seven Devils
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1.
  4. 2.
  5. 3.
  6. 4.
  7. 5.
  8. 6.
  9. 7.
  10. 8.
  11. 9.
  12. 10.
  13. 11.
  14. 12.
  15. 13.
  16. 14.
  17. 15.
  18. 16.
  19. 17.
  20. 18.
  21. 19.
  22. 20.
  23. 21.
  24. 22.
  25. 23.
  26. 24.
  27. 25.
  28. 26.
  29. 27.
  30. 28.
  31. 29.
  32. 30.
  33. 31.
  34. 32.
  35. 33.
  36. 34.
  37. 35.
  38. 36.
  39. 37.
  40. 38.
  41. 39.
  42. 40.
  43. 41.
  44. 42.
  45. 43.
  46. 44.
  47. 45.
  48. 46.
  49. 47.
  50. 48.
  51. 49.
  52. 50.
  53. 51.
  54. 52.
  55. 53.
  56. 54.
  57. 55.
  58. 56.
  59. 57.
  60. EPILOGUE
  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. ABOUT THE AUTHORS

While half of Ariadne yearned for the safety of their own ship, the guilt was a pang. She hadn’t found her weapon. She couldn’t fail. Not tonight. “Just give me a second. Please.”

Rhea shut her eyes. “Hurry.” Her voice was a desperate plea.

Hurry, hurry, hurry. One last command.

Ariadne keyed it in; her fingers felt so slow, so clumsy. Her eyes scanned the code, praying to all the gods of death and war and the others she wished were real: goddesses of hope, light and love.

Yes! Tracking coordinates. Where did they point to? Where—

Silence seemed to echo through the ship.

<Hello, daughter,> the Oracle said. <One has been looking for you.> One’s face, sharp and so real, appeared before them. Ariadne stumbled back in shock; the Oracle had never shown a face on the screens. Not ever.

And like One’s voice, the Oracle’s face was identical to Ariadne’s own.

The lights within the ship extinguished, leaving them in the gloom.

51.

CLO

Present day

Clo and Kyla made their way to the exterior of the grand ballroom. They used the crush of a queuing crowd to dart into an empty hallway when guards weren’t looking.

Clo turned on the pendant Ariadne had designed, a device that sent out a pulse as they moved through the building to create a digital map. It wasn’t to scale, but Ariadne had given it to Clo just in case the Evoli hid something in the blueprints. Clo would know where the cameras and sentries were, and all sorts of secrets hidden behind the walls.

“This little baby is lovely,” Clo murmured. “I don’t think I’m giving this back to Ari.”

Kyla rolled her eyes. “Thieving again, wee slumrat?”

“Only in my spare time, Commander.”

With the pendant’s help, they found an empty room. Kyla planted one of Ariadne’s scramblers on the wall panel, which would keep the footage of the abandoned hallway on a loop. Ariadne could have been beyond filthy rich if she’d decided to go into the black market instead of the resistance.

Quickly, Clo took out the bits of her toolkit that Rhea had cleverly sewn into her shirt. Clo and Kyla peeled off their finery to reveal dark jumpsuits. The clothes folded down to small cubes they attached to their belt.

Everything in the palace was made by the Evoli, who had different design aesthetics from the Tholosians. There were no ornate carvings to provide discreet handholds—the Evoli preferred their walls smooth and opalescent, as if they’d been built with finely crushed pearls. Beautiful, yes, but that complicated Clo’s plan. On the ceiling were the thin slats of a vent, but Clo couldn’t see a way to access it or how to pry it off the wall so they could get inside and burrow into the belly of the building.