I groan and bury my face in my hands. “Heli…” Will she see the way my face has flushed red? Will she figure out I already did?
“Don’t ‘Heli’ me, Gwen. You just need to do it already. I mean, I’ve seen you. You’ve been making sex eyes at him forweeks.”
I open my mouth to explain, but she holds up one finger to stop me. “Yes, you have. Don’t deny it. Now, I don’t care whether you two fall in love and get married and have perfect biracial babies, or whether you fuck like rabbits exactly once to get it all out of your systems, but, girl—if you don’t promise to do at leastoneof thosethings, then I amnotgoing to help you get him. Do you know how much of a cranky-arse bitch you’ve been since that man started chasing you?”
I know what she’s doing. She’s trying to lighten the mood by distracting me. Still, I rise to the bait, scowling at her. It must be so obvious by now that I’m blushing. “Hehas notbeen chasing me—”
“Oh yes he has.” She gives me a gentle smack on the side of my head. “What planet have you been living on? Because whatever sex eyes you’ve been making”—her lips curl into a wicked smile—“he’s been making themtentimes worse. Atyou.”
She gives me the smuggest, most satisfied smile, and I’m so annoyed that I feel the need to finally confess…everything.
I fold my arms and raise both eyebrows. Irritation has chased away my despondency, at least. “Well, you’ve got it all wrong. I’ll have you know, we kind of…already did…” I taper off in embarrassment.
Her mouth falls open, and she gives a shocked sort of laugh. “Youdidn’t.”
“We did.” It’s my turn to look a little smug now. “Where do you think I was, the night of the end-of-exams party?”
She tips her head to one side, scrutinizing me through narrowed eyes. “Being grumpy and antisocial in your room? Like usual?”
I bristle, about to retort, but I’m interrupted by Percy, who lets out a sharp, high-pitched meow. He’s found something. It’s next to the desk I’d marveled over the first time I’d been in here. Climbing to my feet, I slowly creep over to the empty space that Percy is scratching at.
He continues to cry, sounding strangely catlike, and scrabbles at a specific point in midair.
Almost like it’s a door.
“It’s here, is it?” I say.
He meows again, and then in my head, says,Indeed it is, Hairless One.
Sitting back on his haunches, he keeps pawing at the air with his front foot. He seemsdesperateto get through. I remember the strange luring sensation I’d felt when faced with the Source back at Magecorp HQ. Do familiars feel the same pull? Does the Void magic call to them, even harder and stronger than it does to us humans?
“How are you doing, Conall?” I ask, my insides seizing up with ice. Conall presses a couple of buttons, and then finally the box whirs to life.
“Good,” he says, triumphant. “I think I’ve got it.” Now that we have the right conditions, a designated weak point, and tethers both inside and outside the Void, he’s finally been able to figure out how it works.
“You’re amazing,” I say genuinely, and he blushes a dark shade of pink.
Pen lurks by the entrance, peering through a crack in the door. They’re too nervous to enter the Void itself but have volunteered to keep watch. This leaves Heloise, Conall, Percy, and me to go in and rescue Harrisford.
This is it.
“Are we all ready?” I say, and everyone gives me brisk nods. Conall and Heloise clasp hands, and Pen tenses by the door.
Sinking onto one knee, I crouch down to address Percy. “It’s time. You take the Source and stand in position, and Conall will open the portal.” We only have a tiny scrap of Source, and Conall has hypothesized that at such short notice, only Percy, with his ability to channel and amplify magic, will generate enough energy to hold open the Void. I present the small glowing Source fragment sitting on my flattened palm to him, and Percy tilts his head so he can reach it. His rough little tongue tickles as he licks up the Source and swallows it.
“Thanks, Percy,” I say.
Percy’s eye slits to half-mast. He gives me a low, throaty purr and, like the first time we’d met, tilts his head and bumps it against my hand. I let out a sob, choked with tears…This cat, who I’ve known for just a shade over three weeks, is risking his life to help me rescue a man he knows only as the Bum Scratcher.
I scratch him on the head and chin while his purr rises in volume, until it sounds like the engine of Harrisford’s mage-powered bike. Then I give him a final stroke—from the top of his head to his tail. He arches up into my touch, then turns and slinks toward the unopened portal to take up his position.
Conall presses another button. A whirring sound fills the room, and the air begins to ripple and shimmer. A deep feeling of dread—and euphoria—grips me, which I attribute to the effect of the Void. Percy stands waiting, his crooked tail sticking straight up, the very tip of it flicking back and forth.
“We stick together,” I tell everyone, including Percy. I grasp the scalpel I brought along for self-defense so hard that my knuckles hurt. “None of us leaves without the others, understood?”
Everyone steels themself as the universe splits wide open. We adjust our footing, bracing ourselves as violent pulses of magic stream out from the tear. It explodes out: raw, untamed power, making our hair stand on end.
A stream of light spikes out from the rupture in reality. Sparks fly, splattering Harrisford’s wallpaper with tiny scorch marks. Conall and I shoot a glance at one another. Is it supposed to look like this?
