Just as quickly, though, she hurled herself inside and pulled open a second door hidden just out of view.
Oh. She glanced back over her shoulder, a hint of something almost smug in her eyes, and gestured for him to follow.
The voices behind them rose to new heights. “Hey—Ian! Shit. Rudy, get over here, Ian’s-”
Daniel lunged forward, dragging James and Leon into the grime-stained bathroom. James didn’t clean, it seemed, and neither did any of his roommates.
It was all just a whisper, a fragment of a thought in the back of his mind to be stuffed away behind all the more pressing matters—like the people currently chasing after them with guns. Almost tripping over the bathmat, Daniel plunged onward, pulling his friends along with him.
The growing darkness pressed in around him. What few lights had been turned on in the rest of the house were gone. He could still make out the furniture around them, a dresser tucked in alongside a bed. And then-
Sunlight. He winced, throwing up a hand to shield his eyes. Not much of it—it was too early still for there to be much light—but even the grey haze of morning was like a flashlight-blast to his face.
Olivia stood before a half-open doorway, her face ashen. The master bedroom had an exit of its own, out into a tiny alcove that’d been half-heartedly gardened off the side of the patio.
Right then, it could have been bare, unkempt dirt for all Daniel cared. It was a way out. Sure, there might be enemies out there—but there were for sure enemies in here.
His lungs burning with every labored breath, he lurched for the door.
Olivia hung back as the three of them passed. “Come on,” she said. “Hurry up.”
Daniel saw Leon shoot her an irritated look. “If- If you’re going to complain, help.”
“There’s no room,” Olivia said, as though that explained everything. Leon opened his mouth, then shut it again.
Daniel’s gaze already drifted outward, searching the horizon line. The yells from inside the house were rising louder and louder, coming alive. Olivia threw the door shut, dragging a lawn chair over to jam against it, and cast a terse look his way. She knew, then. It would help, but it wouldn’t be enough.
He could see it, though. The path they’d taken to get here—and his car, sitting at the corner a block down the road.
Close enough. They’d make it.
“There it is,” he said, forcing himself to a jog. “Right at the end. Faster.”
“I got it,” Olivia mumbled. She kept up, somehow, even if her face was starting to go red with exertion.
James was doing his best to stumble along with them, but Daniel wasn’t about to let go of him. “Hang in here,” he gasped, his eyes glued to the car.
“Uh,” Olivia said.
Daniel shook his head furiously. “No. No uhs, Olivia.”
“Uh, but-”
“That’s them!” he heard someone bellow from farther back. “Cyril!”
“Owl,” Olivia said.
“Shut up.”
“Owl, we need to hurry.”
As though they weren’t already hurrying. Daniel bit back a snarl, dragging James down the road.
The air was starting to crackle, tingling with an energy he couldn’t place. Olivia’s steps quickened, until she pulled out in front of them. She glanced back, though, wide-eyed. “Owl, just-”
“Olivia, don’t you fucking-”
“Run,” she gasped. “Right now.”
Shit. He couldn’t argue with the fear in her voice, any more than he could the odd sensation running across his skin. Like static electricity, but...wrong. Too widespread. Too strong.
Well aware that he was probably wasting time, he glanced back.
A group of figures was chasing after them—one towards the back, he recognized as the gunman from inside. Blood coated his face, but that only seemed to amplify the furious scowl he wore. Someone else jogged along at his side, a pair of dark eyes peering out from under a mop of unruly hair.
Two ran out front, though. Carrying pistols. Daniel took another step, almost tripping over his own feet. “Olivia!” one of them called. “Damn it, Olivia, would you just-”
“Run!” was all she cried, grabbing hold of Leon’s other hand and pulling. The look Leon shot her would have stripped paint from the walls.
Daniel picked up the pace, though, grabbing hold of James’ waist and all but lifting him from the ground. Because he’d seen it too—the man standing all the way in the back of the group, one hand upraised. Unlike the others, he wasn’t moving at all—but the clothing around him whipped in the throes of a wind that didn’t exist.
A mage. Hell, they might all be mages. But whatever he was doing, it promised trouble.
Daniel ran. His shoulders ached. His legs ached. Every breath he took burned in his chest. Olivia didn’t say anything else, and Leon didn’t argue.
Step after shuddering step, they raced down the street as the air thickened around them. Lightning crackled across his skin, and he saw James’ scraggly hair start to stand on end.
He could hear it, then—the energy, coalescing higher and higher, until-
For a moment, his vision went white. Thunder struck across the neighborhood, with an odd undercurrent that carried on long after it should have. The air hummed with the force of it. With a final crackle, the tingling across his skin vanished.
Daniel stumbled, then, smothering a cry. He pressed a hand to his face, wiping at his eyes.
“Shit,” he heard Leon mutter, echoed by a groan from James.
“Would you- We need to hurry,” Olivia said.
“I get it,” Daniel moaned, cracking an eye open. He took another step forward, but couldn’t keep himself from glancing back.
What he saw...didn’t make sense. It wasn’t real. There was no way that a wall of light itself could be springing from the ground behind him, slicing a piece out of the neighborhood as forbidden. Part of him longed to reach out and brush his fingers against it, but the ominous humming warned him otherwise.
“They missed,” Olivia panted. Beyond the exhaustion, though, the pride in her voice was unmistakable. The
