This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling Page 0,77

the scanners.

Ellen and I dart forward and grab hold of the unconscious Hunters. The dead weight of my guard is almost impossible to lift. I have to tug his arm over my shoulders and use the strength in my legs to drag him to the door.

“Three,” Ellen says, looking to me.

“Two.”

“One,” we say together, pressing the unconscious men’s thumbs to the panel.

At first, nothing happens. I panic, convinced with each beat of my heart that an alarm is about to sound. But then the system beeps and the door slides open. “Finally,” Ellen whispers, dropping her guard to the floor with little ceremony.

“Drag them inside. We need to bind them.” Archer leads us into the lab, which must double as an armory if the wall of drug-filled darts is any indication. At first, I think Archer wants to give them a binding potion like the one he gave Benton when he was arrested, something that will prevent them from speaking about the Clans. Instead, he pulls lengths of rope from the bag on his back and ties the guards together.

While he works, I take in the room that created so many of my nightmares. It’s all stainless steel and glittering white tile floors. There’s a computer station on one wall and rows and rows of filing cabinets on the other. The center of the room boasts a series of lab tables covered in beakers and vials of liquid.

It’s finally time to destroy the drug.

I can’t do much until you plug me in, Cal reminds us.

Archer hurries over to the computer. He slips in the thumb drive and lets our resident hacker take over. “Ellen, help me with the paper files. Hannah, you know what to do.”

While they work on prying open the filing cabinets and setting the papers inside ablaze, I pull the glass vial from my bag. At the table in the center of the room, I add a drop of the thick, almost gelatinous potion to the largest beaker.

The Elder’s potion vibrates inside the glass, absorbing the thin liquid that has destroyed covens, sent a young Blood Witch to the hospital, and ripped my own magic away. When there’s nothing more to consume, the remaining potion bursts into a tiny flame that leaves behind no trace.

A thrill of something that might be vengeance burns hot in my chest. We’re finally doing something real.

I move as quickly as I can, but my progress is slower than Ellen’s fire. I scan the room, looking for a better way to do this . . . There. I grab the metal trash can and toss vial after vial inside. The glass shatters on impact, the drug pooling at the bottom. When I’ve tossed in every last beaker and tranq dart, I dump the rest of Elder Keating’s potion inside.

It sizzles and shifts through the shattered glass, until finally, it’s gone.

That warm feeling in my chest withers away. My part of this mission is done, but it doesn’t feel like enough. It feels like barely anything at all.

Ellen slams the last of the filing cabinets, ash littering the floor around her. “Are we good?”

I’m almost done, Cal says. I still have to purge the external emails. Another sixty seconds. Two minutes, tops.

“Is that it? Is it over?” I glance around the destroyed room. Ellen is dampening the last of the flames, ash on her cheeks. She slams the final drawer closed, and a strange emptiness yawns open inside my chest. Shouldn’t there be more to it than this? Could it really be as simple as finding a way inside?

“We have a lot more to do before this is over.” Archer touches his comms unit. “Are you good, Cal?”

Almost . . . there. Grab the drive and head out. The hallways are clear.

Ellen crosses the room and wraps me in a tight hug. “I can’t believe we actually did it!”

“We still have to get out,” Archer reminds us, pulling the thumb drive from the computer and pouring a red, squirming potion over the entire system. The metal whines as it collapses in on itself. “Are we still clear, Cal?”

Yes, but you should hurry. The security at Alice’s show is looking restless.

“Understood.” Archer opens the door and steps out. He stops short, grabbing his neck.

When he pulls his hand away, there’s a small dart pinched between his fingers.

20

THE METAL DART DROPS to the floor. A hollow echo rattles around me as the drug-dispensing needle bounces off the tile. Archer sways on his feet, grabbing the