Cyril reeled, his face contorted. Daniel didn’t know where James had hit him—but clearly, he was all-too-suddenly distracted.
Those hopes were confirmed when the golden barrier over their heads flickered once. Twice. And then it faded to nothing, dropping to the dusty ground in sparkles of light.
“Now!” Daniel cried, unable to contain himself. Leon was right there beside him. Olivia and James stiffened, coming alive.
As one, they turned and ran.
Daniel’s mind raced, slowing time to a crawl even as his feet flew faster and faster. What next? The way out was finally clear—but how would they manage to get there? His eyes flicked out to the expanse of concrete sidewalk and dead grass ahead, picking out the fastest route. With James slowing them down, it’d be tricky, but they’d make it.
And he could still make out Cyril, pale-faced but trying to recover. His arm was up, his hand shaking in midair. They wouldn’t have long before that barrier came back down.
No one needed the reminder. Olivia bolted for the edge of the park like a bat out of hell, her brown hair streaming out behind her. James hobbled after her as best he could.
Together, Leon and Daniel ran. Past the half-wall, past the pine trees, straight toward-
Again, that sixth sense of his screamed. Daniel skidded to a stop, grabbing hold of Leon’s shirt.
The wooden fence along the sidewalk ahead let out a puff of smoke. And then it quivered, exploding into flames. Bits of wood flew as some of the boards burst apart entirely.
Too late, Daniel realized they’d been played—and his stopping was exactly what they wanted.
The red-stained fire mage lunged around the edge of the pine trees, running hard. His eyes were glued to Daniel, filled with single-minded intensity. Daniel lurched back, his arms coming up, but there was no time. No room. He could fight—but a knife gleamed in the man’s hand, small and sharp and-
His vision blurred.
Leon shot in from the edge of his vision, his teeth gritted and his eyes wide. He hit the fire mage shoulder-first, impacting with a wordless grunt. His fist came up.
The sound of knuckles slamming into flesh had never been so sweet. Neither had the crunch of cartilage and bone snapping. The mage fell away, his nose crooked and bleeding.
“Move!” a hoarse voice rasped from ahead.
Before Daniel could look up, a gunshot cracked out again. Another. He stumbled back instinctively, flinching.
But it was the mage who staggered to a stop. The red stain across his shirt wasn’t contained, anymore. His chest was a mess, all blood and...and-
Daniel’s stomach roiled. Acid burned at the back of his throat. But the mage fell, hitting the ground hard. Something clattered free from his belt, rolling across the sidewalk alongside him.
It was just another detail, lost in the rush. Daniel didn’t see it, just like he couldn’t hear Olivia bellowing at them, or the mage’s companions roaring as they supported the also-wounded Cyril, hopelessly far away.
All he could see was the body of the mage, lying on the ground, as it started to glow ominously.
He watched, pinned in horrified fascination, as magenta light spread along the man’s skin, shining from within as though cracks had appeared. As though his entire body had started to fracture, exposing the magic lurking inside him.
He couldn’t keep himself from yelping as the light flared, burning with fearsome intensity—and with a final rush and the terrible sound of something shattering, the mage’s body fell in on itself, crumbling away to dust.
“Shit,” he gasped. The word didn’t do nearly enough to convey his shock, but it was all he had.
“Hurry!” Olivia screamed from ahead. “Damn it, would you-”
“Come on,” Leon gasped. The man sounded as stunned as Daniel felt. “We’ve got to go. Now!”
Daniel let Leon tug him a step away, but the sight of something half-covered by the dust brought him up short. Something long and thin, and...hollow. A tube- a pipe?
Memories flashed back into the forefront of his mind. A room, deep under the surface of the Library, filled with forbidden books. And on each of their spines-
Objects. Just like that pipe. “G-Grab it!” he cried, stumbling forward. His hand thrust forward, toward the half-hidden object. He wasn’t quite sure why he was so set on it—only, if these objects were precious to mages, he damn well wasn’t going to let them reclaim it. “I need to-”
Leon darted forward, scooping up the pipe in a single, smooth motion. He flashed a look Daniel’s way, filled with terror and tolerance in equal parts. Can we go, now? Daniel could almost hear him say.
Yes. Yes, they could. They bolted from the park, accelerating after Olivia and the slower, lumbering form of James.
Their enemies were behind, and ahead...Daniel’s heart leapt. He could see it, now. A car, parked at the cross streets with its lights off—and a familiar face behind the wheel. Their getaway driver was here. All they had to do was make it.
Behind them, though, the mess of voices rose louder. And...his blood chilled. It was faint, so slight he wasn’t sure he wasn’t just imagining it, but the ground beneath his feet was starting to quiver.
Time to go. He ran, trying to ignore the bellows from behind and the new figures circling around from the side. The rumbling in the ground rose ominously, and he ignored that too, his eyes glued to the car ahead.
They’d make it. With every step they put between them and the decrepit park, the confidence in his chest grew just a little more. The last of the pine trees fell away as they bolted. All that lay between them and the car was a smooth, open field, and then-
A warning flashed through his mind, a half-remembered note. They...hadn’t taken out all their opponents.
And being out in the open wasn’t such a good thing.
His eyes snapped back, darting
