Chapter 37
OLLIE
The world seemed to pause as the mansion’s protective barrier collapsed once again. My breath hitched as the chunks of glass came down, but they never landed, puffing away into wisps of silvery clouds.
Isaac flew toward the city, carried by weird sunlight figures. Heading north, it looked like.
I have to follow him…
It’d be a tricky task getting through the bodies choking the road.
I scanned my surroundings. The crowds were silent, all eyes on the mansion, a blanket of confusion over everything, the air thick with unease.
Crap. This was the calm before the storm. Dread twisted my belly, fear a series of rippling goosebumps across my skin.
Tony fainted suddenly, his arms in the air. Those around him caught him, carrying him away, vanishing into the crowd.
“Down with House Aurora!” a guy roared, cheers erupting around him.
Here we go…
People moved, surging forward, charging toward the mansion. The witchcops sprang into action, tossing out spells and wrestling people to the ground. A cacophony of chaos and rage, with me caught in the middle of it.
I got shoved, crushed between bodies, angry faces meeting mine.
A guy spat in my face, then went for a punch.
I ducked, coming back at him with an uppercut. He went down, knocking down a woman behind him.
Wiping his spit from my face on my sleeve, I used my Taser spell, bodies tumbling like dominoes.
“You bastards!” a man boomed.
I hit him with Taser, then hit more dickheads, clearing a path for myself, swimming upstream like a determined salmon. But there were too many of them, and those still standing were trampling those I’d knocked down.
What the hell was I going to do?
Jake and Dean pressed against me, shoving toward me by the surging crowd.
“Stay back!” Dean warned them.
A woman went to slap him, and Jake hit her with a Trip spell. She tumbled into another woman, the pair of them headbutting each other.
“This is impossible!” Jake yelled.
The collective alert of impending High Coven intervention sounded from my phone, the noise ear-splitting, like a gong being hit at full force. It called out from every witchcop phone around me.
Jake got his device out first, holding it up for us to see.
A red screen with a clock counting down, ninety seconds until the intervention hit—a mass sleeping spell.
All agents in the area were to stay still and embrace the next stage with the masses, meaning I’d be asleep in just over a minute.
Bollocks to that.
I launched myself forward and cast Hide on myself, barreling through bodies, scrambling up a slope out of the yelling throng.
Jake called after me, but the pounding of my heart drowned him out. I tore across the grassy mounds lining the road, evading the crowds, just about catching Isaac’s descent in the distance—in the north of the city, near the train station.
Pick up the pace!
I reached the edge of a steep slope and went for it, sliding down to the bottom, channeling my inner surfer. Amazingly, I stayed upright, the slope dropping me at the right moment onto the longest curve of Aurora Lane.
Pouring everything into a run, I chewed up the road, aiming for Rainbow Mile. From there, I’d head for the station and find The Sun.
The sleeping spell flew overhead, a big ball of sparkling blue energy heading for the mansion.
I told myself I’d already cleared its impact radius, but I ran harder just in case.
If I conked out, then no one would be out there to help Isaac.
I wouldn’t stand for it.
I’m coming, Isaac.
You’re going to be alright.
A witchcop car sped up the road, suddenly screeching to a stop.
What the hell?
Dirk climbed out, the most hateful sneer painted on his face.
Damn.