The Elixir

~Gala

"What happened to your date?"

The boy frowns slightly, checking the room.

"She's... somewhere here."

Vieva rolls her eyes.

Derald clears his throat. "Excuse me, who are you again?"

Vieva elbows him fondly. "This is-"

"Her devastatingly handsome cousin." The boy's eyes sparkle with mirth. "Caedric. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Derald shakes his hand, and Caedric returns his attention to his cousin. "What about that dance?"

Vieva's hand flutters to the hollow of her pale throat. She widens her eyes, effortlessly shifting into the part of needy maiden. "I'm feeling quite parched. Derald, would you?"

"Of course," he says graciously, accepting her hand. Vieva smiles coyly at Caedric.

"You'll have to find me later, cousin."

Caedric grins.

Derald breathes a sigh of relief. "We made it."

"Not yet." Her jaw tightens and as inconspiculously as she can, she takes a quick scan of the windows. Everyone here is relaxed, so her actively looking for windows where Lysabel may be waiting is suspicious. And the last thing they need is another roadblock.

A waiter prances by, holding a ornate silver platter with little squiggly foods on crackers. Vieva sniffs them with distaste.

"I'm so over this gala," he whispers to her.

Vieva hastens their pace.

"Me too."

✡✡✡

"Psst! Over here!" a frantic, angry voice whips at them the minute Vieva and Derald take a step outside.

Crouched in the shadows sits Lysabel, jade eyes glimmering with irritation.

"I don't recall the two of you taking your sweet time being part of the plan," she hisses, coming to her feet.

Vieva narrows her eyes, clearly rubbed the wrong way by Lysabel's words.

"We got out of there as quick as we could."

"It's just a bunch of old rich geezers in suits talking! How is that hard to escape?"

"Girls, we probably should get going." Derald whispers, in a loud-ish voice.

Lysabel glares at him. "I was about to say that." Then she stomps past him.

Derald exhales forcefully. Vieva nods at him angrily.

"You said it."

"Let's just get this over with," he says, fighting a wave of exhaustion. It's as if time slowed the minute they stepped into the Inventory.

The three of them dart across from the Inventory to the storage warehouse behind. The warehouse is semi-shrouded in darkness from the night, and Derald can just barely make out the outlines of the guardsmen. They are heavily armed, and never stop moving.

"I'll handle the guards," Lysabel says in a low voice. "The two of you need to get inside and start searching." She holds up three fingers. "There are three places it could be." She ticks off each finger as she speaks. "We need to search under W, for Warlord, R, for Runemore, and F, for Founders."

"We'll get a head start." Vieva nods her affirmation. "How will you take all those guards down?"

Lysabel's eyes glint with an unfamiliar excitement. Her lips curl up into an almost cold smile. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about that, Bestel. Just make sure you get inside."