Live to Venture (#0)

15 | The Obstacles of Adventure

This could've gone better for Novari. For one, she could've gotten strategist out of Bardarian if he hadn't called her bluff. And second, the guard at the far end of the hallway was a major issue. This entire island was going to know what she was up to, and freeing Bardarian and the Avourienne was war.

Novari whirled around to face Bardarian, thinking of a way out of this. "The building is gas-lit. I need to shut it off."

"Turn off the lights?" the black-eyed man asked, glancing over her shoulder. "That's hardly helpful."

Novari found him hardly helpful. "Sirens require water to stimulate their vision. Banished Sirens are virtually blind in the dark. Once I get the lights off, they'll be stumbling around. Only about half of the people in this building will be able to see, and they're not violent."

"How do we make that happen?" Bardarian asked, painfully calm.

Novari took a deep breath to match his eerie control. "The majority of you stay here, working your way down this corridor. You." Novari pointed again at the man with the black eyes. "Your name?" She was tired of pointing.

"Everson. Adrian, if you'd like," the black-eyed man replied, a ghost of a smile on his face.

Novari snapped her fingers, choosing to ignore his arrogance for now. "Everson, you're in charge of this group. You fight your way down this hallway. Two right turns, one left turn. Another two right turns, another two left turns, then hold your ground. Can you do that?"

Everson made a curt nod.

"Repeat it," Novari said. Any capable man should know to repeat an order like that.

"Two right turns, one left, another two right and another two left, then hold."

Novari watched him for a mere moment. His memory was withered and used, but it was also reliant. She could see it in the vicious pits of his eyes.

"I'll meet you while you're holding. The smallest of you—that girl and the boy beside her, the two of you are with me." Novari turned again back to Bardarian. "I need you and..." She paused. "That one."

Bardarian nodded his head to the man behind him. "Britter."

Britter stepped out into her view, a long-haired boy with startling blue eyes. He looked fast and lean—exactly what Novari needed.

"Britter, the small ones and Bardarian are with me. The rest of you stay and follow Everson down the hall. Is everyone clear?"

Bardarian stepped around her. "They're clear."

Novari spun around to follow him. Her group pulled away from Everson's as she caught up to Bardarian. She walked softly, carefully, eyes darting as they rounded the corner, the opposite way Everson's team was going.

"Door on your right," Novari told them, pushing by to open it before they could. She turned around before she twisted the doorknob. She jutted her chin to the girl about her age and the young boy she'd picked out. "I need something to call you two."

The girl's seafoam eyes darted. "Tailsley." She nudged the boy. "This is Visco."

Novari turned back around, opening the door. She held up her hand to the crew behind her. "Wait out here. Give me one minute."

Novari slipped inside. Only Milia was in the room, her spinning at Novari's entrance.

"Novari! Hey!"

Before she could answer, the door burst open behind her. Bardarian and Britter came through, followed by the other two.