Valeria Nocturne's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

By dawn, Valeria and Xander had a map. They spread it on a table in his study and marked every spot where a victim was last seen. The cafe. The park bench. The alley behind the courthouse. The lane beside her family's archives. Xander drew lines between the points. Valeria watched the lines bend until they all pointed at one building near the river. A tavern with a black facade and dark magenta windows. Crows lived on its roof. They went on foot. The tavern's door was locked at this hour, but Xander led her around to the side yard. A drain ran under the wall. Beside it sat an iron manhole cover, round and heavy, carved with curling vines and a star at the center. Valeria knelt. The pattern was clean of rust. Someone used this often. On the stone beside the cover lay a glove. Black lace stitched with pale pink thread, the fingers long and slim. Valeria lifted it. The cloth was dry, but the air around it felt cold. A girl's voice spoke at her shoulder, soft and clear. "He brings them through here. All of them." Valeria turned. Zalora stood in a ruffled pink gown, her eyes lit red. Xander's hand went still on the iron ring. "Sister," he said. "Lift it," Zalora said. "I cannot go down. I have tried." Xander pulled. The cover scraped free. Stone steps dropped into the dark. Valeria struck a match and lit the lantern she had carried from the cottage. The flame showed a narrow tunnel braced with old timber. Boot prints marked the dust. Small prints. A child's shoe. A woman's heel. A man's wide tread crossing them all. They followed the tunnel for what Valeria guessed was half a mile. Side passages branched off. Xander counted four. Each branch ended at another iron ladder. He climbed one and pressed his ear to the cover above. "The cafe," he whispered down. He climbed another. "Your archives." Valeria's stomach turned. The killer had walked beneath her family's feet for months. At the end of the main passage, they found a low chamber. Chains hung from the wall. A long-beaked mask lay on a crate, its blue glass eyes dull in the lamplight. The killer was not here. He had been, and recently. Valeria pocketed the glove. She climbed back to the street with Xander behind her. Zalora was gone. Above ground, the crows were screaming. Valeria looked at Xander. "He knows we found it," she said. "He will move tonight." Xander nodded once. "Then we set the trap before he runs." Valeria gripped the locket at her throat. Vexxir was still in the healer's cottage. The tunnel ran under that street too.