Page 53 of The Chosen Fae

Then Rune found a pair of metal cutters. Stone tried it on the manacles, but he couldn't cut through the iron.

Then he tried the cutters on the chain. Rune helped him apply pressure on the long handles, and they finally managed to cut through the chain. Stone was sweating like crazy, worried they would get caught and not get Fang out of there fast enough.

Rune was struggling with him, her heart pounding too, but she wasn't sweating at all.

Then they grabbed Fang’s manacled hands and took him to the window. Climbing out would be harder than dropping down into the basement. Stone and Rune moved a heavy table under the window, and then they helped Fang climb onto it. He scrambled through the window while Rune and Stone made their way up onto the table.

Stone let Rune go first, and then once she was out through the window, he made his way out.

Once they were outside, he closed the window. Though Fang was gone and the table was under the window, the fae seers would know they had escaped that way. They headed out and then saw Tasha's car parked curbside a block away. They raced to her car and got inside, just before a police car passed. They were invisible to him unless the officer could see the fae.

Lolita and Fang had gotten into the back seat, and Stone joined them and shut the back door. Rune climbed into the passenger seat in front and closed the door.

Tasha drove off. "What do we do now?"

"We need to get the manacles off Fang," Stone said.

"Okay, we'll go home to my place, and we can look for something to remove them."

"Thanks so much for helping with all of this," Rune said.

“What are friends for?” Tasha asked.

Rune smiled.

Stone realized Fang hadn't thanked anyone yet, and probably had no intention of doing so.

Once they got out of Tasha's car, a limousine pulled up, and the driver got out. He was one of the fae.

"Your ride. The game has been completed," the driver said.

Stone figured one of the fae had quickly accomplished the mission and had won.

"Hell," Fang said.

The driver smiled at Fang as he climbed into the limo, as if amused that he had gotten himself into this bind, even though it could have been deadly.

Rune gave Tasha a hug. "Hey, it was nice meeting you, and if I ever have a chance to return, I'll drop by and say hi."

Lolita did the same.

Tasha smiled at them. "I would love that. Stay safe."

Stone gave her a thumbs up. He wasn't going to hug the human. Tasha smiled at him and gave him a hug anyway.

Fang was already in the car, and Stone waited for Lolita and Rune to enter it before following them. The driver shut the door, got into the limo, and drove off.

"I wonder who won," Rune said.

"I can't believe you made friends with a fae seer," Fang said to Rune, sounding irritated.

"You know, you could be grateful we saved your butt," Rune said. "We had the choice to risk our own lives to do it or leave you to your fate."

"Yeah, I agreed to help you, but you would have been out of the competition if we had left you. But worse, they could have killed you," Stone said.

Lolita didn't say anything, probably unwilling to admit she would have left him.

When they arrived at the facility, two men took Fang away to remove the manacles. Rune, Lolita, and Stone were called into the Game Master's office.