Not your Mundane

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter 21

Adele's POV

A/N: TW- Fighting, Injuries

We spent the entire day in that library.

Antony sat on the couch, pouring over history books. Raleigh had her head in his lap, reading as well.

They are definitely something.
But I know now that my feelings for Antony were just a stupid crush.
My eyes are set on Ashton for now.

Rosalie has been messing with the compass, her blue and blonde hair in braids. 
Ashton is reading a book on pyxises and puzzle boxes when an idea pops into her head. 

"That's it!" She screams, hopping up.
Raleigh sits up too fast, bopping Antony in the face.

"Ow!" He says, clutching his forehead.
"Sorry," She replies, rubbing her hair.
"'S not a problem."

"What is it, Ash?" I ask.
"We need a code," She says. "Something easy to remember, but numerical. The person who sent us here types a code into the device, and it will start up and take us home!"

All of us clap, putting the books away.

"Who knows the most about codes?" Rose asks.

"Henry," Raleigh says. "He probably knows something about them." 
Everyone nods.

The five of us quickly pack up and rush downstairs to the basement.
Henry is busy at work.

"Henry?" Antony asks, tapping his shoulder.
Henry jumps in response.
"I am terribly sorry, young Kingson. How may I be of service?"

His mop of ginger hair flops into his eyes.

"We were wondering if you could help us crack this code," Raleigh asks, intervening. 
She holds up the compass.
"That's amazing, where did you get this?" Henry asks, taking the device with extreme caution.

"Benedicts," Raleigh replies blatantly.
Henry nods.
"A code, you say? I can crack this in a day or two. But right now I must go call a carriage for the boys and Charlotte."

"What's going on?" Rosalie asks as Henry hands the compass back to Raleigh, who puts it in her coat pocket.

Ashton snaps at Raleigh and locks her eyes with hers, knowing exactly what's going to happen soon.

"Tessa is greeting her older brother again, and there ought to be a fight. Are you all coming?"
"Yes," I reply. "Just allow us five minutes to grab our weapons and we'll meet you guys in the carriage."

Henry nods and the five of us follow him out.
We reach the weapons room, and the biological females kick Antony out of the main room, so we can change into our gear. 

"Are you nervous?" I ask Ashton.
"A little bit," She replies. 
I hand her non-runed weapons, and she quickly fills up her belt.

Everyone gets dressed, and the four of us wait in the hallway while Antony gets ready.
Rosalie has a balisong in her hand, while Raleigh has a short-sword, and Ashton has throwing knives.
Antony greets us, and we all run out and climb into the carriage.

***

The nine of us reached the warehouse, and as soon as we got in, it was pure chaos.

I followed Rosalie and Ashton around the side of the entrance.
Charlotte was quickly injured by an automaton, and Henry was beside her. 

Antony led Raleigh, Will and Jem with him, the opposite way we came in.
Nate's voice sounded nasal as Tessa fought him.

A clockwork demon came up behind Ashton, grabbing her by the neck.
She screamed, wrestling against it, and soon the three of us had ourselves some challenges. 

Ashton stabs the automaton, throwing it into the ground, while Rosalie demolished it with a runed blade.
On the other side of the warehouse, Will saw Tessa, and he motioned for Jem to follow him.

Raleigh kicks and stabs an automaton before it can attack Antony.
"Thanks," He says.

A scream goes across the room.
Antony and I turn to see a machine attacking an injured Jem.
Raleigh gives a nod, and dashes to help Will while Antony goes to protect him.

I see the four of them congregated on a level above us as we clear away the automatons below. 
Ashton is a pretty good fighter.

I watch Tessa transform into Nate, and I motion for the three of us to find Charlotte and Henry.

"Seize this imposter!" Tessa orders, her voice booming. "For the name and glory of the Magister."
The automaton nods, picking up Nate.
It clicked and made a bunch of robot combusting noises.

Raleigh's eyes widened.
I met her gaze. She knew what was going to happen. 

She pushes Will aside, and crashes herself into Tessa, knocking her over as the automaton exploded, bits and pieces of it going everywhere.
As Tessa rose, she paled at Raleigh.

Everyone rushed over, excluding Charlotte and Henry, creating a circle around her.
Raleigh was laying on her side, barely conscious.

"Why'd you do that?" Will whispers, clearly in shock.

"O-our p-pro-omis-e," Raleigh replied, before passing out. 

Her blood is pooled all over the floor.
There are automaton shards piercing through her back, the gear shredded away.

"That was supposed to be Will," Ashton whispers.
"What!" Will says, his blue eyes widening.
Ashton nods.
"She saved you because you would've done this to save Tessa."

Will pales.

Tessa faints from exhaustion and the death of her brother into Jem's arms, and we all know that it's time to get everyone home.