“ ’ S okay, Lil,” she said softly. “You’ll learn.”
But not fast enough, I thought.
The ground rumbled again, the flames shaking on their foundations. It was another of Alex’s earthquakes, and that wasn’t all—the wall vibrated, wavered, at three or four other points along the line. They were hammering at it, trying to break through.
And despite my chest being full of fear, there wasn’t so much as a flicker in the lights above us.
Maybe it had been a fluke before, a power surge in the building at the same time I’d been afraid or excited, and not magic after all. Maybe I had been a fluke.
But there was no time to worry about it . . . because the wall began to unravel.
I watched as the strands unbraided, listened as Reapers began to yell around us.
“It’s going,” Jamie warned over the motion and noise.
She was right, but it had help.
The air pressure changed again, the light turning a sickly green.
“Firespell!” I yelled, both Michael and I hunkering down to cover Scout with our bodies, my arms wrapped around her head.
The very walls seemed to contract, then expand with a tremendous force. The shot of firespell Sebastian threw across the room turned Jamie’s fluid fire into a brittle wall that shuddered, then exploded, shards flying out in all directions before crashing to the ground like shattered glass.
When the air was still again, a haze of white smoke filling the room, I glanced over at Jamie.
Her eyes were closed, and there was blood rushing from a gash in her forehead.
“Michael?” I asked, shaking white powder from my hair.
He muttered a curse in Spanish. “I’m okay.” He sat up again, chunks of white . . .stuff . . . falling around his body. “Scout?”
I moved my arms and she lifted her head. “I’m okay, too.”
“I think Jamie’s hurt,” I said.
Michael looked at her, then glanced around. The room was in chaos, Reapers yelling at one another, smoke wafting through the room.
“We’ve got to make a run for it,” he said, “use the chaos to our advantage. It’s our best chance.”
I nodded, then put a hand on Jamie’s shoulder and shook gently. “Hey, are you okay?”
Her eyelids fluttered, then opened. She raised a hand to her face and wiped at the blood streaming from the gash at her temple.
“Here,” I said, pulling off my plaid tie and wrapping it around her head tight enough to put pressure on the wound and keep the blood out of her eyes.
“Can you get up?” I whispered. “We’re going to try to make a run for it.”
She nodded uncertainly, but it was a nod just the same. I helped her to her feet as Michael helped Scout behind me. As stealthily as we could, we began to move through the smoke and back toward the door, picking our way through the remains of the transfigured wall, me trying to hold Jamie upright, Michael all but carrying Scout.
We made progress, the haze aiding our escape, and managed to get halfway closer to the door . . . at least until a voice rang through it.
“Stop.”
We looked over. Alex emerged from a swirl of white, Sebastian beside her.
She stretched out a hand. “You can come willingly, or I can knock you all on your asses.”
Reapers—the ones we hadn’t been introduced to—began closing in from the left and right.
“Michael?” I asked.
“Um,” was all he said, his own gaze shifting from side to side as he tried to figure a way out.
I’m not sure what made me do it, but I chose that moment to glance at Sebastian, who stood just behind Alex, his hooded gaze on me again. And while I looked at him and he looked back at me,
he mouthed something.
Let go.
I frowned, wondering if I’d seen that correctly.
As if in confirmation, he nodded again. “Let go,” he mouthed again. No sound, just the movement of his lips around the words.
I stood quietly for a moment as the Reapers gathered around us. Somehow, I knew he was right.
And although he was supposed to be kicking our collective butt right now, I knew he was trying to help.
I didn’t know why, but I knew it as surely as I knew that I was standing in the midst of people I wanted to protect.
People Icould protect.
I took a chance.
“Get down,” I told Jamie, Michael, and Scout.
“Lily?” Scout asked, confusion in her voice.
“We know what you’ve got in store,” Alex said. “We know what you can dish out, and I think we’ve demonstrated that it ain’t real much, so it’s our turn to teach you all a lesson. To teach you about who matters in this world, and who doesn’t.”
“Trust me, Scout,” I repeated, suddenly as sure about this as I’d ever been about anything else. I was where I should be, doing what I should be doing, and Sebastian had been right.
After a half second of deliberation, Scout nodded to Jamie and Michael. I waited until they’d all crouched down beside me, and then I did as he’d directed.
I stoppedtrying to make magic.
And I let the magic make itself.
I outstretched my arms and trained my gaze on Sebastian, and felt warmth begin to flow through my legs, my torso, my arms.
Firespell.
Not Sebastian’s.
Mine.
My magic to wield, triggered by the shot of firespell I’d received a few days ago, but mine all the same.
I held my arms open wide. He nodded at me, then put a hand on his head and crouched down behind Alex.
I pulled the power, the energy, into my body, the room contracting around us as it filled me. My eyes on Alex, one eyebrow arched, I pushed it back.
“Bet you didn’t know aboutthis ,” I said.
The room turned green, a wash of power vibrating through it with a bass roar, knocking down everyone who wasn’t already crouched behind me.
It took a second to overcome the shock at what I’d done, at what had seemed natural to do. I shivered at the power’s sudden absence, wobbling a little until the pressure in my head equalized again.
The ground rumbled a little, an aftershock; then the room went silent, a spread of unconscious Reapers around us.
Michael stood again and helped Scout and Jamie to their feet. “Well-done, Parker. Now let’s get out of here.”
I offered an arm to Jamie, then glanced back at the dark-haired boy who lay sprawled on the floor a few feet away. “Let’s go,” I agreed, positive that I’d see him again.
