“The Magician?” Baz asks.
“No sign of him so far,” Broome says.
“We can’t hold this up forever,” I say, my limbs burning with the effort of channeling so much magick.
The professor nods, then glances back at the students still huddled in the alcove. “I’ll get them to safety. You two need to—”
“Guys!” Stevie’s voice rings out across the quad. She’s with Cass, a dozen mages on their tails. I have no idea if they’re real or projections, but we can’t take the risk.
“Go!” Broome says.
At once we drop the shield, Broome heading for the students, Baz and I beelining for Stevie and Cass. In a clash of magick and daggers, we slam into the mages, taking down the three real ones at the front of the line. Stevie and Cass spin around to take down two more. Just before another goes down, he shoots out a bolt of magick, sizzling across my shoulder.
Cass takes down the remaining live ones, and the others vanish—more projections.
“You good?” Baz asks me.
“Just a flesh wound. Let’s move.” I grab Stevie’s hand and make for the admin building, hoping we can find Casey and the others. But once again, we’re trapped by the mutant army.
Every time we take them down, they rise again—an unstoppable, undead wave of destruction bent on one thing.
Our complete annihilation.
With another burst of energy, we fight our way through the fray, finally taking shelter between two small office buildings. It’s a brief respite from the screams of agony and battle cries. Even tucked away in here, the smell of blood and charred flesh is overwhelming.
From this vantage point, we’ve got a semi-clear view of the fountain. Of Ani.
“Status?” Cass asks. “Is anyone seriously injured? Kirin?”
I rotate my shoulder, relieved that it still works. The skin burns with pain, but the wound doesn’t seem to go very deep. “Nothing a stiff drink won’t fix later. You?”
“Still breathing,” Cass says, and Baz nods as well.
All four of us are covered with scrapes and gashes and burns, but so far it seems we’ve managed to avoid the life-threatening injuries.
“What’s next?” I ask. “This situation is—”
“Fucked, screwed, jacked, and fucked again,” Baz says.
“I was going forcomplicated,” I say, “but I think you covered it.”
“The good news is the rift has closed,” Cass says. “That seems to have stabilized the realms for now. Bad news is… it doesn’t really matter. Whether we’re dealing with a thousand or ten thousand, that army are basically immortal.”
“There has to be a spell,” I say.
“What about the Princesses?” I ask.
“They’re with me, but not in a physical way. It’s more like… they lend me their gifts. So if there was a spell, they would probably be able to amplify it.”
“I’m not sure what magick could take them down,” Cass says. “Nothing we’ve tried so far has worked. And physical attacks are pointless.”
Baz cracks his knuckles. “What about a brute force attack? Or beheading them? Would that work?”
We all fall silent for a few moments, trying not to flinch with every explosion and scream outside our temporary shelter.
It’s hard not to feel the hopelessness creeping in. The dread.
“I’m afraid there’s only one way out of this.” Stevie leans back against the wall and closes her eyes, still panting for air. After gulping down a few more deep breaths, she looks at us again and says, “Ani.”
