at his fingertips, and a shield formed in front of us, just for a moment. It crackled into existence, and then it was gone.
But the arrows bounced harmlessly off of us.
Silas had lost the thread of his magic just for a moment, though, and he began again. The magicians were all focused on him, and Rafe and Jensen moved swiftly to fight them, trying to hold them back from Silas.
I melted back into the shadows of the garden, hiding behind a statue—man, the Greyworld loved their statues—and forming my own pocket of shimmering magic. It didn’t need to be big.
But whether or not my friends and I made it through that door, the shield would.
No one noticed the glow of my smaller magic. The Establishment was so distracted by Silas Zip and all his flash.
I murmured the words to open a pocket-sized rip between worlds, imagining the academy, and slipped the shield through. Then I closed it, and the glow between my hands faded. There was nothing but the sound of the fight in the distance, the clash of swords against sword and the sizzle of magic in the air.
Our mission was complete. Now we just had to get out of here alive.
I emerged from behind the shadows to find Rafe and Jensen engaged in a fierce fight with the Establishment magicians. I brought my sword up and dove into the fray, blocking a magician who had been about to blast Rafe. The three of us fought with blasts of magic and with our swords. We were outnumbered, but that never stopped us.
“I’ve got your friends,” Warren Campbell shouted.
Two men dragged Isabelle, bound and gagged, her eyes wide over the fabric binding her mouth, into view.
Silas looked back over his shoulder as Warren said, “Don’t make me hurt her, Silas. You did all this for her.”
Silas formed the last of the door and turned. The frame burned bright and golden against the night, although it hadn’t yet shaped into a doorway. He glanced at me, and there was a whole plan in that look.
He wanted me to turn his frame into a door and go through. To leave him behind to deal with this on his own. All I had to do was murmur a word and go through.
But what happened to Silas Zip as he fought for his friends’ lives, desperately outnumbered?
Then he glanced at Rafe. “Well?”
Rafe seemed to understand too.
This was the choice we’d faced before, in the Fae world; we’d had the choice to abandon Tyson’s spring court and complete our mission. We’d disobeyed Rafe’s orders.
Rafe glanced at me, reading my face quickly as I begged him to help, then looking at Jensen. I’d thought he didn’t care what we wanted. I was surprised he took even a few seconds to gauge what we thought we should do.
Rafe glanced at Silas last.
“First we save your family,” he said, “then we save mine.”
The four of us moved to fight the Establishment. Behind us, the shimmering magic of the door fizzled, then burn out.
I fought with my magic shielding me as I made my way to Isabelle’s side. The guard who gripped her arm threw out his hand, sending magic flying my way. I met his magic with my own, and as our streams of magic pushed against each other, they threw off white-hot sparks.
I dropped my shield just long enough to step inside his grip and elbow him in the face. The guard stumbled back, gripping his face.
Magic was great, but elbows always get results.
I cut Isabelle’s bonds on her hands; we needed her to join the fight.
She ripped the gag over her mouth away and shouted, “You’ve got to get away from me! It’s a trap!”
She dove for the gap in the wall.
But a blast of magic washed over us all. For a second, my ears rang and the world turned sideways. I saw Silas stop and lurch toward me, magic sputtering at his fingertips as he tried to form a door.
Then he fell, and I realized I was already on the ground myself.
The world went dark.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Penn
* * *
My rifle slammed into my shoulder with recoil as I picked off another target. The wolf I’d just shot stayed on its feet though, continuing to careen through our lines. It disappeared behind a barricade and I swung away, searching for another target.
Things were growing desperate. All around me, our side was falling prey to the wolves and witches who rampaged. Until we could shift too, even firearms