Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,1

dark hand, ready to use his Force power to blow the flames away from us, but I shook my head. He was too spent.

Claude gave a brutal laugh and let the huge ring of fire descend. I felt my hair start to curl from the heat.

“Run!” I screamed at them, before the blaze could surround us.

We all ducked the fire and barreled back down the corridor. I dropped my magical light so that Claude would have a harder time seeing us. But a wall of jagged ice sprang up out of thin air and stretched from floor to ceiling sending us stumbling to a stop.

I forced myself to spin back around, hands up, light dancing in my palms again, ready to fight. I ignored my aching muscles, and pulled harder on my magic, drawing on any reserves I had left. I couldn’t be tired yet. Tired and scared would be a fatal combination.

I glanced at the vault door. We didn’t have time to reopen it and toss wretched Claude inside. The spell writing to unlock it took too long and we’d already closed the door. The vault was locked, secured as though we’d never been here. We’d been two seconds from leaving, from navigating our way out and walking away as if nothing had happened.

But victory was about to be wrenched from my fingers unless I sank to Claude’s treacherous depths.

“Claudia,” I gritted through my teeth, using the nickname I knew he hated. I kept my blue eyes on my stepfather, but opened my free hand behind me and let loose some of my shadow magic, trying to cast a veil of darkness between him and us.

But it was too damn thin.

I kicked myself for keeping the serum on me instead of bringing an extra vial and splitting it so that someone else carried some. Then we would have had a better chance of one of us making it out with the serum intact.

I ground my teeth together, scolding myself for my overconfidence, for my lack of foresight.

I should have realized someone might be onto us.

I took a small step backward as thoughts pummeled the inside of my skull.

How did the dickwad appear out of thin air?

There had to be a second entrance. One I didn’t know about. One Dad hadn’t found. One we could use to escape.

My gaze flickered over Claude’s shoulder and I saw the faint edge of a door.

I turned my head to tell the guys, but that’s when Claude blasted me with ice magic that stung my left eye and burned my cheek.

A screech erupted from me as I raised an arm and tried to shield myself. The fucker had waited until my magic was exhausted and then attacked.

Malcolm, the anarchist I’d recruited for his brilliant mind and tendency to blow things up, immediately threw a ball of flame at Claude’s face—but the asshole blocked it with an ice shield and let out a chuckle that pulsed with arrogance and evil.

“Do you really want to wear yourself out so soon? You have a long fight ahead of you.” My stepfather’s haughty voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

I wanted to hit him, but I needed to hand off the vial first.

My hands reached behind me, searching for one of my crew.

“Or should I fight fire with fire?” Claude shot flame in my direction and I ducked, turning to see Malcolm’s blond hair ripple as the flames died just in front of him; Malcolm let his cold aura steal the flames’ heat. Claude and Malcolm were both Icefires and could control either element, so it was useless for them to keep attacking each other, particularly since Claude had just started to fight and we were so exhausted.

I would have ordered Malcolm to stop, but my need to hand off the serum was more pressing.

My fingers swiped over a hard male chest, and I grabbed onto the fireproof suit covering it. I hunched my posture like I was scared and tried to turn sideways so that Claude wouldn’t see me fumble with the pouch that held the vial.

“Take it!” I muttered.

Though Gray’s hand reached for the vial, he didn’t grab it quickly enough.

Ice shot toward me again. It sliced the side of my neck repeatedly—giving me five striped ice burns that ripped the breath from my body. His magic rapidly shifted and I found my free hand ensnared in a frosty block. I quickly shoved the vial back into my shirt to protect it as I wailed in