“Don’t you think they have wards against compulsion?” I asked.
“I’m a demigod,” Danny said. “Their wards aren’t going to contain my abilities.”
“Marcus is a demigod, too, and he couldn’t break the wards into the vault,” I pointed out.
“I don’t need to break any wards,” Danny stated. “I just need to get in without setting off any alarms.”
“The wards prevent Kallie from portaling closer than three blocks, or it’ll alert security,” I added.
“Because she’s working against the bank,” Danny said. “I’d be working my magic onindividuals, so it’s not going to set anything off.”
“I think Danny’s right,” Ava said. “His magic is different from what we used before. I think we could slip under the radar.”
I was skeptical of Danny’s plan, but it was clear we needed him. We didn’t have compulsion the first time around, but it was insane of us to have access to it and not use it. I didn’t have to be his friend, but I could sure as hell use him to my advantage.
“You follow orders this time,” I warned. “I don’t care if you’re a demigod— Iwillkill you. I won’t stand to have you compromise our mission.”
“Fuck, man, okay,” Danny said, and Iswearhe had to be rolling his eyes. “You’re the boss. God.”
I hardly believed him.
“All right. Danny’s the youngest, and since he’s nineteen, then I’m taking us back eighteen years,” Kallie said. “We’ll all be kids, and we’ll be within our own timeline. We’ll be able to interact with our surroundings this time, but no one will recognize us. Don’t touch anything or talk to anyone unlessabsolutelynecessary.”
We must’ve gone over the new plan a dozen times before we tried it. We weren’t screwing anything up. When Danny startedto complain he was getting bored and we just needed to do it already, Kallie created another portal, and the five of us stepped through.
Chatter filled the air, and the vehicles in the distance sounded more modern than the ones I’d heard in the 1920s.
Like when I’d time traveled at the Institute, I had a strange sense ofdéjà vuas we started through the streets toward the bank. Oberi stayed close to my side, and I pushed Ava’s chair across the sidewalk.
We reached the bank, and I paid close attention to my surroundings as we entered.
“The wanted posters are gone,” Ava remarked. “That’s a good sign.”
Nobody said much else as we marched straight past the teller windows and into the hall toward the vault, as if we belonged there. Nobody stopped us or questioned us, until we turned a corner.
“Excuse moi,” a female voice said. She said something in French, then switched over to English. “You cannot be back here. I will need to see some form of ID— ah!”
She gave a gasp, then her tone turned soft. “Right this way.”
“What did you do?” I hissed at Danny.
“I only pricked her with a needle I keep on my person,” Danny said. He sounded really chill about it, too. “I only need a drop of blood to work my compulsion magic. It’s not going to hurt her. She’ll just be confused when she comes out of it later.”
I heard footsteps coming our way, and I leaned over to Danny to whisper, “We need two employees to get into the vault.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it. You can unclench your mangina.”
A man let out a sharp hiss, and I heard something drip onto the floor— probably blood. A second later, he was following beside us. The two employees stopped at the vault, and Danny compelled them to run their scans and enter the code.
The vault opened, and Danny took a casual step back. “So simple. You should’ve brought me along the first time.”
Fucking hell. I couldn’t believe it actually worked. There were no alarms, no sirens— no one shouting at us through a megaphone.
“The box is here!” Kallie cried. She rushed over to the pedestal.
Oberi stepped into the vault beside me and sniffed the air.Something is wrong.
I stilled. I felt it, too. “Hold on,” I told Kallie before she could open the box. “The magic is off.”
