Chapter 186

Hannah

“If we are going to walk through the palace, should we hide our scents?” Caroline asked, looking at us worriedly.

I shook my head.

“There’s no use in doing that. We are being looked for as we speak. As soon as we are spotted, we will be exposed.”

“She’s right,” Sebastian agreed. “We might as well go all in.”

“What about Wrenley?” Caroline asked.

I looked down at Wren who looked nervous; she had her fists clenched to her sides and her body trembled slightly. But one look at her eyes and I saw the determination all over her face. She might have been nervous, but she was ready for a fight. She was strong even though she didn’t have a lot of practice using her magic. She was the chosen daughter of the moon goddess; this is what she was created to do. The moon goddess was on our side.

I looked back at Caroline.

“She’s ready,” I said with a confident smile.

“Okay then,” Caroline said nervously as she turned to the library’s main entrance. “As soon as we leave here, we need to be ready to fight.”

Sebastian held onto my hand and then held onto Wrenley’s hand with his other hand. He didn’t have to say anything. We all began walking toward the entrance of the library. My heart was beating so rapidly that I thought it was going to explode. As soon as he gave me the scepter, it went straight into my back pocket. I just hoped it was hidden enough at first glance.

As soon as I left the library, I could hear a frenzy of guards on the floor below us. I knew that they were searching for us, and Gabe was probably among them. I wondered if this was going to delay the ceremony or if Xander was just letting his men do all the dirty work.

Caroline taught us a great deal about being stealthy. I had to admit that I was impressed with her moves. She became one with the shadows and moved through each section elegantly. Scott was pretty good at mimicking her moves, but the rest of us weren’t as graceful.

We all pressed ourselves against the darkest corner when we heard muffled voices approaching from a distance. Caroline pressed her finger to her lips, indicating for us to be quiet. None of us dared to speak a word; I wondered what she was planning. Before I knew what was happening, I watched her climb the wall like some kind of spider monkey. My eyes widened as I saw her attaching herself to a light pull that hung off the wall.

The guards approached and I knew it was only a matter of time before they saw us. I sucked in a sharp breath, not daring to cause any kind of sound.

Just as they rounded the corner, Caroline kicked the heel of her boot out and knocked one of the guards to the ground. The other one went to reach for a weapon, but Caroline kicked it out of his hand, causing the weapon to scatter across the ground and toward us. Just as he was about to grab the weapon, Scott got to it first. This whole thing felt very planned on their part and I was impressed with their level of unspoken communication.

Caroline grabbed a hold of the guard’s hair and smashed his head to the ground, knocking him out. The other guard went to grab Caroline, but she kicked her heel in his face, not only breaking his nose but also knocking him out as well.

I emerged from the darkness and stared at them both in shock. They high fived and chuckled. Scott put the weapon into his back pocket.

“Don’t worry. They are still alive,” Caroline said with a laugh as she read my face. “They’ll just wake up with headaches…” she glanced at the one with the shattered nose. “And a nose ache.” She grimaced at the image of the guard before turning away from him.

“We should go,” Scott said, motioning for us to follow him.

As we continued walking down the narrow halls, in search of the grand stairs, we heard more talking approaching. More guards were coming in our direction. Pretty soon, they were going to see the damage we’d done to the previous guards.

“Shit,” Caroline muttered.

She cracked her knuckles like she was preparing for another fight.

“Hey!” The guards growled as soon as they spotted us. “You’re the ones we’ve been looking for! Thought you could hide from us!?”

They started charging toward us. This time I took charge and ran in their direction as well. Sebastian was quick to be beside me. I jumped out of the guard’s way, causing him to miss me by a hair as he swung at me. As I jumped, I shifted into my wolf form and grazed the back of his arm with my canines. He turned around quickly, and I could see the fear in his eyes.

Sebastian had also shifted and was on top of the other guard, about to tear him apart. He snapped his teeth at his face, growling loudly and fiercely.

“Stop!” Caroline said, running toward us.

She swung her foot to hit both guards in the head, causing them to be passed out completely. ‘

“We aren’t killing anybody. I would rather not have a trail of bodies,” she exclaimed.

She was right; it would be much easier to not have that trail of bodies behind us. I felt my body calming down as I shifted back into my human form.

We continued on our way until we found the grand stairs. I could hear a bunch of people in the foyer, I just hoped that not all of them were looking for us.

“Wait, the time stone!” Caroline reminded us.

Oh. Right.

We went in the direction of Xander’s office. Nora couldn’t sense him nearby, so he must have been in the ballroom. This meant we didn’t have much time before he started the ritual. Of course, his office door was locked. But thankfully, Caroline was also a master locksmith apparently because she was already getting started on picking the lock with some hair pins, she kept in her hair.

She got the door open quickly and we piled into his office. The vault was kept in the back of his study, and it was huge. It was definitely a good place to hide important things if I was a vampire king. Caroline knew the code from the vault from the many years of working under Xander’s nose. She got it open in record timing and pulled the door open.

“What does the time stone look like?” I asked as we entered the vault.

“I think we’ll know when we see it,” Sebastian said.

This vault contained so much magic that it was overwhelming. There were all different types of stones and weapons, all with magic attached to it. I wondered what Xander was using all of this stuff for and if it was all being powered by the same heart. I thought I would know what the time stone would look like upon seeing it, but any of these could have been it. Nothing was labeled.

I frowned and peered around the vault, questionably.

Wren was also looking around the vault curiously until her eyes landed on a light blue stone. It didn’t look like anything special and there was no labeling or markings on it. it just looked like a plain stone with a little shimmer to it. But for some reason, she seemed drawn to it.

“Wren?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

Everyone paused their search to look at Wren who was now inches from the stone. She looked in awe as she reached her hand out to touch it. As her fingers grazed the exterior of the stone, she breathed out with a faint smile on her lips.

“This is it,” she whispered, barely audible. “This is the time stone.”