“Run!” he shouted and crushed the return portal token.
A sizzling crack announced our escape route’s arrival. Abi grabbed me by the back of my robes and flung me toward the glowing gate. I tumbled like a rag doll, helpless and tortured by the emotions that ancient skeleton had rammed down my throat. The sudden urge to pull the orb out of my robes and throw it back into the tomb gripped me. An instant later, I crashed down on the floor of the School of Swords and Serpents and skidded across the smooth tile to a stop against the portal terminal.
The implanted aspects instantly vanished from my aura. I sprang to my feet and cycled a deep breath to gather more jinsei. Abi had already followed me through the gate, and Eric was close behind him. Clem darted and dodged around another attack, then landed nimbly on the metal floor and sprinted for her escape.
Heretics poured into the tomb, ignoring the giants who stormed in behind them. Our enemies raced toward the portal, Clem only steps ahead of them, and her eyes were wide with fear. She burned jinsei like rocket fuel, filling her legs’ channels and propelling herself forward with another whirlwind. But as fast as Clem was, she could not outrun the unexpected attack from the second giant.
The massive creature dropped its aim and half-crouched in midstride. It swung its arm forward and released the hilt of its enormous sword. The thrown missile spun like a helicopter’s blade and sliced through the air with a warbling whine. It chopped down two heretics who’d gotten ahead of the giants and painted the floor red with their blood.
Abi plunged back through the portal before Eric or I could react. He charged toward Clem, who dropped to her knees and slid forward as Abi’s Shield technique sprang to life. My friend braced himself, his hands raised in a last-ditch defense against the giant’s whirling sword. Clem slid past him, and Abi cried out in pain. The blade had slammed into his shield and shattered the technique. Feedback from the impact ripped through the channels of Abi’s arms like wildfire. His core pulsed with red light, and he staggered back and landed hard on his knees. His head sagged and his eyes closed.
“Cover me!” I shouted to Eric and jumped over Clem as she slid through the portal.
My serpents slammed into the tomb’s metal floor and flung me toward Abi. I somersaulted through the air, grabbed my friend by the shoulders, and willed my serpents to push me back the way I’d come. My wild leap carried us above flailing heretic fusion blades, and we landed hard off to the side of the portal.
A heretic raced toward us with his weapon raised for an overhead strike. The weapon crackled with sacred energy. After my acrobatic rescue of Abi, I was off balance and out of position to defend myself. Easy meat.
“Down!” Eric shouted.
Flashes of burning air ripped over my head as I threw myself and Abi to the ground. One of the sizzling bolts tore through the heretic, who fell to the ground with a hole burned straight through his body. Our escape was clear.
“Close the gate!” Abi roared at the attendant as my serpents hurled us through the portal. My legs buckled under the strain of supporting Abi and me, spilling the pair of us onto the floor in an ungainly heap.
“Is everybody okay?” I said, my voice shaking. That had been far too close for comfort.
The portal attendant gulped. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. I guessed I wasn’t the only one who’d seen my life flash past my eyes.
Clem patted herself down, then nodded to me. Eric helped Abi and me to our feet. The three of us gave each other a once-over. Other than my badly bruised shoulder and battered ribs, it looked like we’d gotten out of there without injury.
“That was too close,” Clem said. “Your mom’s playmates found us awfully fast that time.”
“Not here,” I said to Clem, then flicked my eyes toward the attendant. “Let’s head to my room.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the guy, specifically. I didn’t trust anyone except for my friends who’d stuck with me this far. My family and clan had agendas of their own and wouldn’t hesitate to use anyone to get information about what I was planning. The less the intern knew, the safer he was. I dug a fistful of oboli out of the pouch inside my coat and dumped them into the attendant’s hands. “You never saw us, right?”
The intern nodded vigorously. He tucked the coins into his pocket and gave us a sloppy salute as we left the terminal.
“Almost there, huh?” Eric asked after we’d entered the safety and isolation of my room. “I can’t believe how far we’ve come, and how close we are to the end.”
“Do not tempt fate,” Hahen said as he appeared through the wall. His knuckles rapped on the wooden desktop. “You four look like you’ve been through the wringer.”
I gave Hahen the lowdown on our expedition as we stripped out of our cold-weather gear. The rat spirit’s eyes grew wider as we described our adventure through the tomb and the giants who’d attacked us.
“Titans,” Hahen said with an awed sigh. “I never believed they were real. You’re sure they were skeletons, not just constructs?”
Hahen’s question struck me as hilarious. I wasn’t sure of anything I’d seen in that place. After the titans showed
