Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Wilder
The second the door slams down, my spear is in my hand. I whirl to face Oliver. “How do we get it open again?”
My voice is a menacing growl, but I’m not wasting time on threats. He can read the threat, I’m sure. He can’t teleport--unless they’ve lied about that too--so he’s stuck here with us.
“It’s a trap,” he says.
“No shit,” Van says.
I close my eyes and try to teleport into the room beyond, but nothing happens.
“Viggo’s power cloaks the entire castle. No one can teleport in or out,” Oliver says.
I open my eyes and glare at him. “That would’ve been nice to know…before.”
His face falls. “I couldn’t say anything, or they would’ve imprisoned me in the Taka cage too.”
As if he’s heard something behind him, Van suddenly whirls, raising his sword. Another sword clashes into his, and then I see the man who’s swung it.
Big, handsome, with a cruel smirk.
Must be Connor. Thea told us about him. The vain, harmless one.
The two of them parry--I trust Van to fight him off--while I try the same mechanism Thea used to bring the trap door down, hoping that it’s just as easy to open back up. Nothing happens.
I summon all my strength and slam my body into the door. It dents inward, and the sound echoes through the hall. Dust falls from the ceiling.
“Try not to bring the whole goddamn ocean down on top of us,” Van says without looking away from his opponent.
It’s true I can hear the rush of the ocean, nearer now than I could before.
Then I realize it’s because the next room is filling with water. The sound is coming from behind the door.
“Oliver!” Connor shouts, and Oliver takes a step toward him.
“You don’t want to do that,” I warn him, holding out my hand, magic flaring at my fingers, and he stumbles and goes down.
I slam myself into the door again. It finally fractures and water rushes through into the hall. Gritting my teeth, I tear the door off the hinges, then start inside, searching for Izzy and the others through the rising water.
There’s a wild clash of swords as Van and Connor fight and Van disarms Connor. Van manages to kick him, and Connor flies against the wall. From the corner of my eye, I see Van grab Connor’s shoulder, raising the sword to his throat.
“Surrender,” Van tells him. “Izzy makes me play nice.”
A wicked look comes over Connor’s face, and then Van’s expression changes to one of horror. The veins in his face and arms bulge, his mouth opening. He tries to pull away from Connor, but Connor grabs him, forcing Van’s hand to stay on his hand.
Van ages to thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy in a matter of seconds. He falls to his knees.
“They got Reid!” Aiden shouts at me from across the room. Water ripples around my feet.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I shout back.
I turn back for Van but he’s sprawled on the ground. He looks as if he’s aged and died before our very eyes.
And suddenly, the water levels are rising again.
Izzy and Aiden rush toward me. When Izzy sees Van, she tries to rush toward him, but I grab her instead and wrestle her up the stairs.
We've got to get clear of the security magic and teleport.
Or we’re all dead.