9
We sprinted through the maze of stalls within the market, Syndicate footsteps pounding after us, Leon’s voice cutting through the chaos like a blade. My lungs burned, but stopping wasn’t an option.
“Left!” Ren barked, shoving Alex and Jordan ahead of him as a bolt of magic slammed into the wall where my head had been a second earlier. Glass exploded behind us. People screamed. More magic was fired off in our direction.
The whole marketplace erupted in shouts. Shopkeepers dove for cover, enchanted trinkets bursting with stray sparks, and a cloud of volatile spell dust filled the air like shimmering smoke, exploding in bursts of magic.
“Keep moving!” Ren yelled, tossing a wooden crate into the path of our pursuers. It bought us half a second, just long enough for Leon’s voice to boom across the stalls.
“Keep running and you’ll all soon join me among the dead!”
My blood ran cold. He was close.
We pushed deeper into the maze of the market, dodging tables piled high with cursed jewelry, cages filled with hissing sprites, and hanging racks of feathered cloaks. Jordan coughed, Alex stumbled, and I grabbed both of them, forcing our pace faster.
I felt warmth caress my right arm, intricate vines flaring gold on my skin. Then a flare of bright light streaked overhead.
A little fairy wearing a flower petal dress popped into existence like a spark from a struck match, wings buzzing in a frantic blur.
“Lyric?” Relief swelled inside me. “How did you get here?”
“This way!” Lyric zipped around me. “Move, move, move!”
If she was able to slip through the veil, then the others probably weren’t far behind.
We followed the streak of glowing wings as Lyric passed the clutter of stalls and darted down an alley so tight we had to turn sideways to squeeze through.
Shouts echoed behind us. Leon’s snarl rattled through the air.
Lyric shot ahead, disappearing around a corner toward the back of a large stall.
When we turned, the space opened up and the tension in my chest loosened as two familiar faces greeted me.
Stella clenched her fists as rose petals swirled around her.
She came prepared to fight, clad in black leather with her fiery red hair tied back in a ponytail to reveal her slightly pointed ears.
Ivy was beside her, the determination set in her eyes being betrayed by her shaking hands and nervous gaze.
Jacob stood beside her, hands tucked into his jeans as he took in the surrounding scene.
“You!” Stella hurled a storm of bladed petals at Ren.
I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. Stella, having seen Ren glamoured as James Whitfield, went into attack mode.
Ren turned around, a zap of magic forming a dome around him as Stella’s magic bounced right off it.
He dropped his disguise, and for the first time in months, I laid eyes on the true Ren.
He looked rougher than the man I remembered.
His auburn hair had grown longer, falling messily around his face, and exhaustion carved faint shadows beneath his maroon eyes.
Dirt from his travels clung to his clothes, his posture tighter, harder, like the world had been wearing him down one fight at a time.
But none of that mattered. It was the most beautiful sight I had seen since I’d entered this hell.
“Wait, that’s Ren!” Ivy exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement as she stepped toward him. “Are you okay?”
Another protective barrier rippled around us as Ren concealed our presence from our pursuers.
“It won’t last long. We have maybe five minutes.” Ren ignored Ivy, his hands trembling as he struggled to keep up the illusion.
“You guys … actually came!” I leaned against the wooden siding of the stall and let out a ragged breath. I was worried they wouldn’t be able to find a way through.
“Of course we came,” Stella replied with a flat, dismissive huff. “I’m not letting you have all the fun.”
“Find them!” Leon’s voice snarled from somewhere close by. “It’s not like they can just disappear!”
“What is this?” Stella eyed Jordan and Alex with extreme judgment. “You collecting strays now?”
Alex stepped beside me, clutching my shirt. Having just seen what Stella could do, Jordan stayed quiet and kept his distance.
“They’re with me. We’ll catch up later, but right now Leon is after us,” I warned. “Jacob, we need to leave.”
Jacob averted his gaze, sliding his hand through his messy brown hair. “So, uh, about that.” His laugh cracked, brittle and guilty. “We can’t.”
“Why the hell not?” Ren stalked toward him, his voice low and dangerous as fury sharpened every line of his body. “You came here without a plan to get out?”
“The veil,” Jacob explained. “We bribed some people to sneak us in, but it was a one-way ticket. We weren’t expecting things to escalate this quickly and we haven’t found a way to pass through the veil to get out. I also can’t transport this many people at once.”
I dragged my hand down my face, soot streaking my cheeks. “There has to be a way, and if we don’t figure it out soon, the Syndicate will throw us all into prison cells and they’ll make sure next time we won’t be able to escape.”
Stella raised her hand. “I vote we kill them all.”
“No!” I shouted in a low voice. Ren’s barrier might block our visibility, but not the noise we created. “Besides, Leon isn’t calling the shots. It’s some guy named Alistair.”
Stella's posture stiffened. Her eyes widened before she quickly masked the reaction, forcing her expression back into one of mild curiosity. “Well then, we kill that guy instead. He probably deserves it.”
“Should we head back to where we arrived? That stall in the middle of the market?” Ivy suggested, her voice small but urgent as she glanced over her shoulder, the distant shouts of Syndicate guards drawing closer with every heartbeat.
“Maybe there’s some kind of trigger to make an exit appear.
Or maybe we’ll get lucky and catch someone entering so we can leave? ”
Alex clenched my shirt tighter, and it stirred an idea.
“Alex, what we did earlier with that barrier around the auction stage, can we do that again, but around the veil surrounding this whole place instead?”
Alex shrugged. “I … I’m not strong enough for that. The magic no longer trusts me.”
“Trusts you?” Confusion dripped from my voice.
I knelt in front of the teen. “Alex,” I said softly, meeting her blue eyes with everything I had left.
“I don’t pretend to understand your magic.
But even if it doesn’t trust you, I do. If there’s a chance it can help us …
will you try? You don’t have to be strong on your own.
You can lean on me. We’ll do this together. ”
Alex’s breath hitched, her lips parting as if she didn’t know how to hold the emotion rising in her.
“No one’s ever …” She shook her head, swallowing hard. “No one’s ever trusted me before.”
I wanted to reach out and squeeze her hand, but thought better of it.
Even though she clung to me like a safety blanket, she was still skittish when it came to my touch.
“I’m sorry for what you’ve had to endure up until now, but you’re not alone anymore.
From now on, you have me. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure the Syndicate never gets their hands on you ever again.
I won’t force you to do this, and if you don’t want to, we’ll find another way. It’s your choice, Alex.”
Alex let out a shuddering breath, the smallest, hesitant smile forming. Something warm stirred around us, barely there, like her magic was responding to the first spark of someone believing in her.
“Alright,” she murmured, voice steadier. “I’ll try. We need to go back to that entrance. The invisible door there makes the veil weaker and easier to break through.”
“Time’s up.” Ren was visibly shaking now, unable to hold his barrier any longer.
“The second we’re exposed, we head toward the stall.
Theo and Alex, do whatever it is you need to do to get us out of here.
Stella and Jordan, protect them. Ivy and I will hold the others off as long as we can. Everyone follow Lyric. Got it?”
With that, I felt Ren’s staticky magic around us shatter. The moment we left our hiding spot, a guard immediately spotted us.
“Over here! I found them!”
Stella hurled a storm of rose petals, her magic transforming them into razor-sharp blades that cut through the air.
The deadly barrage carved just enough space for us to surge forward, pushing through the panicked crowd.
Ren and Ivy pressed close behind, blasting anyone foolish enough to give chase.
The market twisted around us in a chaotic, claustrophobic maze, but Lyric flitted ahead, shouting directions and keeping us moving.
Finally, we stumbled beside a large stall with a black awning, our lungs burning and hearts pounding, barely ahead of the chaos closing in behind us.
“Alex!” I shouted.
She knew what to do. Although there was nothing to physically touch in front of her, she held out her hands. They trembled as the hum of the veil pulsed stronger, refusing to yield.
“I … I can’t do this, Theo. I’m not strong enough,” she admitted, her voice tight with fear. Tears formed in her eyes.
“I’ve got you.” I held her hands in mine, letting our magic weave together, feeling the barrier shudder under the force of our combined power. Slowly, the invisible wall revealed itself as a misty veil streaked with blue cracks, trembling with every pulse of our energy.
Behind us, the market erupted into chaos.
Stella whipped thorny vines at any guard who tried to push past her.
Ivy and Jacob weren’t much for fighting, so they grabbed whatever objects they could from nearby and started swinging aimlessly at anyone who approached.
Ren moved with brutal precision, slamming a thug into a pile of enchanted pottery before launching a bolt of electricity that made a stack of spellbound cages shatter.