Then—the worst thing possible happens. The lift doorsdingas they slide open.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Someone is coming.
And here I am, stuck on this side of a security door.
13
Gwendolynne
The footsteps are approaching. I claw at the door, jiggle the door handle, try theresigniospell again and again. But nothing works.
My heart beats, thunderous, deafening in my ears.Please, God, I think.Help me.Fear is making me desperate—I haven’t prayed since I was six years old.
Then, a voice, my salvation, flickers into in my head. Just in time, I stop myself from crying out. I’m not alone.
You do realize that you cannot open a reinforced door with theresigniospell, don’t you?It’s Percy’s voice.
“I—you…I canhearyou?” I had no idea we could communicate over such a distance.
I can almost picture the irritated thump of his tail.Of course you can.
“But why haven’t we…” I splutter. “Why did you not say…”
There was never a need before, Hairless One. But you called for me, did you not?
I shake my head, my eyes scrunched shut. “No, I’m pretty sure I called for—oh fuck it. Never mind.” I don’t have time to contemplate Percy’s inflated sense of ego. “I really need your help. I’m in danger. I need to open this door.”
You’ll need an explosion, Percy says.Or a massive power surge that will short-circuit the door’s integrated magic system. Not normal levels of magic, mind you. More like the ones that have been occurring recently.
My thoughts have become ragged, hysterical. Luckily, then, there’s so much excess magic swirling around in the world. “Can you do it from where you are? Tap into the surging magic and channel it into me?”
A pause.I can channel the magic through you, yes, even at a distance. But the sheer amount will be painful. And I must warn you, Hairless One: After that, you will be on your own. Once you are inside that room, the security door will break any connection we have.
I’m kind of shocked he’s agreeing to this. Regardless, I straighten my shoulders and draw myself to my full height, trying not to notice the slow shuffling of footsteps approaching ever closer. I don’t much like pain, but I really have no choice. Harrisford and I need to figure out what’s causing these surges—not just so I can pass exams, come first, and save my family’s restaurant, butalsoso we can stop people, and animals, from getting hurt.
“Do it,” I say, steeling my resolve. “Push the magic through to me.”
Percy falls quiet, but I sense the strain of his concentration over our telepathic bond. It quivers, trembling with the influx of energy, straining beneath the surging current he’s sending through the ether.
At first it’s warm, pleasantly so, but pretty soon it becomes uncomfortably hot. Needles of pain stab through my body, my staticky hair stands on end, and I shake with the effort of containing the sudden burst of magic.
“Are you. Almost. There?” I grit out, clenching my teeth against the pain. Is this going to kill me? I haven’t acclimatized like Percy has. I’m not used to magiphilia. I mean, most of the time I’m struggling to make use of toolittlemagic, not too much.
But at this stage, there’s little else I can do. I’m here, I’m stuck,and I have to see it to the end. The fate of the magical world rests upon my shoulders, and if I fail…
I shove my fist into my mouth to curb my scream.
Finally, Percy speaks again in my mind.You’re ready, he shouts, inasmuch as a cat can shout, and I hold up my palms to the security door.
The magic explodes from me, blanching my entire vision in stark white light, and I place my hand on the door. The shock is like a stampede; it’s like being struck by lightning. My entire body goes rigid and my back is thrown into an excruciating arch as the current tears its way through me. Magic runs from my hands into the metal door. I’m fused to the steel, in agony and searingly hot. With a grunt, I manage to tear myself from the contact, and I’m thrown onto the floor. The door makes some sounds—several clicks, followed by a deep, metallic scraping—then swings wide open on its hinges.
I slump there, almost weeping, almost unable to move. Percy…He came through. I wasn’t sure that he would help me, but when it came down to the literal wire…he did.
The footsteps are growing closer and I don’t want to get caught. I don’t want to be imprisoned; I don’t want to be killed. So, ignoring the pain that knifes its way through my body with every movement I make, I commando-crawl, inch by excruciating inch, until I’m finally through the door.
The cleaner’s mop comes into focus, and I know now who followed me up here. It’s the woman I saw downstairs, now washing the top-story floors.
With the toe of my high-heeled shoe, I manage to wedge the door shut behind me…just as she rounds the corner.
