Chapter 27 #2
Tyson moved immediately. Asterius shifted to cover him, driving back the masked warrior who tried to follow.
Luke reached the cabinet first and tore open the door. A length of heavy hose hung coiled inside, the nozzle secured beside a metal wheel. He pulled the hose free and dragged it toward the receiver.
Connal appeared beside him, blood running from a fresh cut near his temple. His gaze dropped to the hose. “A water demon?”
Despite everything, Luke laughed. “Close enough. Help me hold it.”
Connal caught the hose behind the nozzle and braced his weight against it.
“Ready,” Tyson called.
“Do it.”
Tyson turned the valve.
The hose convulsed in their hands. Water struck the roof before Luke wrestled the nozzle upward and aimed at the buyer.
The stream hit his shield with enough force to drive him backward.
Magic flashed across the curved surface, white light spreading from the point of impact as he fought to hold his ground.
Luke swung the nozzle toward the exposed receiver. Water slammed into the equipment. Sparks erupted from the open housing. The receiver’s hum climbed into a piercing whine as water flooded the controls and poured across the platform. Red lights flashed wildly, losing their rhythm.
The buyer shouted and threw both hands toward the equipment. Magic stretched from his shield and wrapped around the receiver, trying to force the water away.
That was the mistake Luke needed him to make.
“Keep it on him,” Luke told Connal.
He released the hose and ran for the platform.
The buyer saw him coming, but he could not attack without withdrawing the magic protecting the receiver. Connal drove the stream against his shield again, forcing him farther from the open housing.
Luke climbed onto the platform and reached inside.
The metal braces around the core had begun to heat. He caught the first release and pulled it back. The second refused to move.
A masked warrior reached the platform behind him.
Keir intercepted the man before he could strike, driving him away from Luke and into the path of one of the buyer’s guards.
Luke gripped the second release with both hands.
Pain tore through his injured fingers, but Luke didn’t stop.
He forced the brace to open, seized the core, and pulled.
It resisted for one breath, then tore free of the housing in a shower of sparks.
The receiver’s whine rose beyond hearing, leaving a painful pressure inside Luke’s skull.
“Connal!”
Connal dropped the hose and turned.
Luke threw the core onto the wet rooftop between them.
Connal understood.
He raised his sword and brought it down with all his strength.
The core shattered. Light exploded across the roof.
Energy raced through the water surrounding the platform and followed the buyer’s magic back toward its source.
His own power recoiled through the connection.
His shield flared brilliant white, then collapsed.
The backlash struck him in the chest and lifted him from his feet.
He hit the rooftop several yards away and lay still.
Behind Luke, the receiver gave one final mechanical shudder before every red light went dark.
Around the platform, two of the buyer’s guards lay unmoving. The third stared at the body sprawled across the roof, then abandoned the fight and ran for the stairwell.
Asterius started after the fleeing man but stopped when the masked leader spoke.
“Tracking threat neutralized. Begin extraction.”
There was no triumph in his voice. No anger over the warriors he had lost. The tracking threat was gone. That was all that mattered. The leader touched the stone at his throat. Green-black power surged through it and the arch responded. The darkness inside the gate opened.
Wind tore toward it, dragging water and loose debris across the roof. The masked warriors moved at once. Two retreated through the gate while the others formed a defensive line in front of the opening.
“They’re getting away,” Luke yelled.
“Not yet.” Connal retrieved his sword and charged.
Keir and Asterius moved with him. Zer tucked Avaneel safely into his hair before joining his brothers.
The masked warriors turned and struck together. Dark magic ripped across the rooftop, forcing the brothers apart and buying the leader enough time to reach the gate. He backed toward it without lowering his weapon, taking in Connal, Luke, and the destroyed receiver.
He had seen them. Whoever waited beyond the gate would know exactly who had interfered.
The leader stepped backward into the darkness and vanished. His remaining warriors followed. One reached the gate with blood running down his side. Another covered him until the injured warrior crossed, then turned to withdraw.
Keir caught him before he reached the arch. The masked warrior hit the roof and rolled beyond the reach of Keir’s blade.
For an instant, he lay still.
Then his jaw moved.
“No!” Luke shouted.
The man collapsed into ash before Keir could reach him.
The gate began folding in on itself.
Connal grabbed his wrist with a strangled sound. Light blazed beneath his sigil, bright enough to shine through his sleeve. Keir, Asterius, and Zer reacted at the same moment, each mark answering the violent pull of the Queen-linked magic.
The object mounted at the base of the arch tore free.
The gate collapsed with a sound like stone splitting beneath immense pressure. Green-black light contracted into a single point and disappeared, leaving only the broken anchor lying on the wet roof.
The glow beneath Connal’s sleeve vanished.
Luke reached him first. “What happened?”
Connal pulled the fabric away from his wrist. The sigil remained, but the light inside it was gone. He pressed his fingers against the mark.
His expression changed. “I feel nothing.”
Asterius, Keir, and Zer checked their own wrists.
“Nothing,” Keir confirmed.
The marks remained, but whatever connection had awakened them was gone. Luke looked toward the broken object at the base of the collapsed gate. Green-black light still pulsed inside it, faint but steady.
“We’re taking that with us.”
Connal nodded. Keir used the edge of his blade to lift the fragment without touching it and wrapped it in a piece of heavy fabric torn from the ruined equipment.
Tyson checked his human device. “The evacuation held. The remaining employees are outside and someone named Patrick has taken the lead with the human authorities.”
Luke’s shoulders eased. Patrick was alive. The people who had worked in the building were alive. The receiver was dead, along with every record Hale had stored below.
More sirens rose from the streets surrounding the building.
“We need to leave,” Luke said.
Connal opened a portal and they all crossed through. They emerged in the Unseelie armory, carrying blood, ash, and enough rooftop water to spread across the stone floor beneath their boots.
Gomez was waiting, and he had some sort of glowing flowers woven into his hair. Several pixies hovered around him, all of them talking at once until Gomez saw Luke. He crossed the room at a run and wrapped both arms around him.
Pain shot through Luke’s ribs. “Ow.”
Gomez released him immediately, then caught his face between both hands. “You’re alive.”
“That was the plan.”
“It was a terrible plan.”
“Still worked.”
Gomez stared at him for another second before pulling him into a gentler embrace. His breath shook against Luke’s shoulder. Luke closed his eyes and held on.
Behind them, Avaneel emerged from Zer’s hair. Ash streaked her face and wings.
“She brought down the buyer’s shield,” Luke said, turning Gomez’s attention to the tiny pixie.
Gomez lifted his head. “She did what?”
“I ate a hole in the bad magic,” Avaneel explained.
Gomez turned toward the other pixies. “Did everyone hear that? Avaneel ate through a magical shield and saved all their giant warrior asses.”
The armory erupted in excited voices.
Asterius placed one hand over his chest. “I believe some credit belongs to those of us who provided the distraction.”
Gomez looked at him. “Did you eat a magical shield?”
“No.”
“Then this moment isn’t about you.”
Avaneel beamed as the other pixies surrounded her. Zer stood close enough to intervene if their excitement became too much, but some of the tension left his face as he watched Gomez make a fuss over her.
Gomez returned his attention to Luke. “You need a healer.”
“I need to sit down.”
“You can do both.” Gomez slid one careful arm around Luke.
Connal moved to Luke’s other side, his hand settling carefully against Luke’s back, and together they started toward the healers.
Luke let them carry some of his weight.