“The fire escape!” Aaron called.
A rusting fire escape clung to a brick wall twenty yards away, the ladder retracted with only a few rungs hanging below the second-floor platform. We sprinted toward it, and Ezra grabbed my waist. As he threw me upward, orange fire burst off Aaron’s sword.
I caught the bottom rung of the ladder and heaved myself up with an extra push from Ezra. Aaron sent an inferno blasting into the haze of my smoke bomb—and a demon charged out of it, skin blackened from the fire. The damage wasn’t slowing it down, nor was the fact that its contractor was out of view.
“Aaron!” Ezra shouted.
The pyromage turned and ran at Ezra, who cupped his hand to form a foothold. He launched Aaron upward, and I scrambled higher on the ladder as Aaron caught it with one hand, his sword in the other. He pulled himself up.
Ezra leaped, grabbing the bottom rung. He started to draw himself up—
The demon grabbed his ankle. It yanked, and Ezra clamped his arms around the ladder rung, holding on for dear life.
Aaron thrust his hand out. The demon’s head burst into flame—but it didn’t release Ezra. It didn’t react at all and kept dragging down on Ezra’s foot. The fire escape creaked, metal groaning.
Laughter rang out. Shadowy shapes appeared in the fog—the rest of the Grand Grimoire team.
With no better idea, I plucked my brass knuckles out of their pouch, shoved them on my hand, and jumped off the ladder, plunging past Aaron and Ezra.
“Ori amplifico!” I screamed as I dropped.
My fist slammed down on the demon’s broad shoulder, the momentum of my fall powering the strike. The amplified force smashed the demon into the ground.
I landed on top of the beast and launched up again so fast my head spun.
“Get her!” someone shouted.
“Tori!” Ezra yelled.
He’d pulled himself up the ladder, and with one elbow hooked over a rung, he leaned down, arm outstretched.
I leaped, reaching for his hand. He caught my wrist, and pain burned through my shoulder as he hauled me off my feet. With impossible strength, he swung me up, and Aaron caught me around the waist, pulling me against the ladder beside him.
A flash of gold light whipped past our heads and hit the wall in a burst of sparkles. The Grand Grimoire champions were attacking us.
We scrambled up the ladder and jumped onto the second-level platform. As another blast of magic ricocheted off the metal railing, Aaron smashed a window with the pommel of his sword. Knocking the glass out, he dove through.
I swung over the sill into a dingy bedroom, and Ezra vaulted inside after me. Together, we charged into an equally derelict living room that reeked of cigarette smoke. No one seemed to be home.
As Aaron unbolted the front door, metal clanged from the direction of the bedroom. The Grand Grimoire mythics were on the fire escape.
Aaron pushed me out of the apartment. We sprinted down the hall and through a metal door into a stairwell. Back down to ground level, along another hall, across an empty foyer, and out the main entrance.
We burst out onto the same street as Robin’s apartment, two buildings down. Lights from the firetrucks flashed, and nearby, two ambulances sat with their back doors open, the paramedics talking to a handful of forlorn-looking evacuees.
I looked around wildly for the best direction to run. With any other guild, I would’ve run into the nearest group of humans, but I didn’t trust the Grand Grimoire to hold back.
The three of us hesitated, unsure what to do.
“Tori!”
Waving frantically, a woman ran toward us from the far side of an ambulance, her face shining with perspiration and pale blond hair tied back in a short, messy ponytail.
“Sabrina?” I shrieked.
She flew into me, crushing my chest with a hug. “I’m so glad I found you! I wasn’t sure where—the fire was the only clear sign—if I’d missed you—”
I pried her off and held her shoulders so I could gawk at her face. “What are you doing here?”
“This way, quickly!” She tugged on my arm to get me moving.
“What—” Aaron began.
“There’s no time!” She hauled me into motion. “Come on!”
Aaron and Ezra ran after us as she led me farther up the street. Skidding to a stop, she plucked a key chain with a single key out of her pocket and held it out.
When I just stared, she shook it urgently. “Take it! Escape!”
“Esc—” Breaking off, I realized we’d stopped beside an old white car with rust around the bottom of the doors. “But—”
She stuffed the key into my hand. “They’re coming. Look!”
I looked over my shoulder. A group of burly men was silhouetted against the flashing lights, clustered in the middle of the street. One of them pointed in our direction, and the whole group broke into a run.
Heading straight for us.
“Get in the car!” Aaron barked, plucking the keys from my hand. He raced around the front bumper and yanked open the driver’s door.
Ezra opened a back door and dove in. “Tori!”
Tears spilled down Sabrina’s cheeks. She pushed me toward Ezra’s open door. “Go, Tori. Please—please be safe!”
The engine rumbled to life. Ezra grabbed my arm, pulling me backward.
“Sabrina,” I babbled frantically, “what about y—”
“I’ll be fine. Go!” Turning, she dashed into a nearby alley.
As she vanished in the darkness, Ezra hauled me into the car. I sprawled across his lap, and with the door still hanging open, Aaron hit the gas. The tires squealed and the car shot forward.
Ezra caught the flapping door and slammed it shut. With my legs across his lap, I pushed myself up, peering out the back window.
The Grand Grimoire team stood in the center of the road, watching us escape. There was no sign of Sabrina.
Chapter Thirteen
I slumped in an uncomfortable swivel chair, staring listlessly as Aaron paced the length of the office, over and over. Ezra stood at the window,
