Violet Eden Chapters 04 - Endless

time to lie.
    Lincoln’s reply was instant.
    NO! 2 dangerous! Wait for me and Griff.
    DON’T follow on foot!
    I showed the messageto Spence without saying anything. This was his choice too.
    ‘If we wait, we’ll lose him.’ He kept his eyes on our target. ‘Eden, you need to decide. Are you going to be the Grigori everyone else tells you to be or the Grigori you know you are? He’s going to City Hall!’ He yelled the last part to the driver. ‘Look, I get my partner in a couple of months. I’m going to have to bring her into this messed-up world and hope she can survive. I’m scared shitless that I might let her down, or that she might get hurt, but this is what we do.’
    Spence never talked about his partner-to-be. He wouldn’t even tell anyone her name. In case she decided not to embrace, he wanted to leave her with anonymity. He was good people.
    My phone buzzed.
    Violet?
    It really was that simple to Spence. He was part of the Academy but he would not be defined by it. He had one objective and that was to be in the fight – to be Grigori.
    I texted Lincoln.
    He has a kid. Gotta go.
    I shoved my phone back in my pocket. I felt it buzz again but ignored it.
    ‘Here, stop here!’ Spence instructed the driver. He pointed to Olivier who was now on foot and walking into a park. ‘City Hall Park. Are we following or not?’
    I opened the door.‘What do you think?’
    He gave me a megawatt smile. ‘Never doubted you, Eden.’

    ‘Keep your guard up or he’ll sense us,’ I reminded Spence. He nodded and we let ourselves fall back as far as we could, just to be sure.
    As Olivier walked through the park, past a water fountain, we hid in the bushes and I let my power flow from me to reveal what he was showing the rest of the world. He was hidden in a glamour. No normal humans could see the kid – not that there were many people around at this time.
    ‘He’s dressed himself in some kind of uniform.’
    Spence nodded. ‘As one of the City Hall guards. He can go wherever he wants. Look, he’s heading down those stairs.’
    ‘Where do they go?’ I asked.
    ‘Not sure. There’s supposed to be some old subway station round here. It got shut down a while back – security risk or something.’
    I could see why. Wherever Olivier was headed, it was right beneath City Hall.
    Spence started looking around our immediate surroundings.
    ‘There,’ he said, pointing to a square metal manhole about fifteen metres away. ‘That would get us down in the area. Better than trying to follow him past the guards and into the unknown.’
    ‘Agreed.’
    We moved out into the open, Spence putting a hand on my shoulder so he could glamour us both and keep us hidden. The large metal cover was locked in place with two padlocks.
    I slipped my fingersbeneath the edge of the cover until I had a good grip and glanced at Spence, making sure he was ready. We would have to move quickly.
    He nodded, taking hold of the other side.
    We yanked.
    The padlocks snapped apart with our supernatural strength and the metal cover flew open. We slid down into the hole quickly, making as little noise as possible, easing the cover back into place above us.
    Thankfully there was a ladder, but unfortunately there was no light, so we had to fumble our way blind until we hit a dimly lit junction. I pushed out my senses, looking for Olivier, and found myself pointing towards a brick wall.
    ‘I don’t know how we get there – but it’s like he’s inside the wall,’ I said, increasingly confused.
    ‘Power?’ Spence suggested.
    I walked up to the wall and put my hand on it. It felt real and solid. I moved back a couple of steps. ‘Only one way to find out.’
    Pushing out the power within me, my amethyst mist spread out, eagerly finding its way to the wall. The mist represented my will – an extension of my angelic side that I was still learning to master. Before our eyes, the wall dissolved, revealing a new passageway.
    The power that had created this hidden tunnel was the work of exiles. And they’d been down here for a long time.
    ‘Son of a bitch,’ Spence whispered, obviously sensing the same thing. ‘They’ve got the run of the whole city down here.’
    We walked through the passage, checking behind a number of doorways that led to more tunnels. ‘Oh man, right under the Academy’s nose.’
    ‘They don’t know about these?’
    Spence shookhis head in awe.
    ‘Maybe this isn’t something we should be the ones to tell them