Page 160 of Serpent and Shadow

A few others appeared to be heading due north, either aiming for the Faerie Bridge and the entrance by the river, which was located not far from Devil’s Fall, or heading for The Eyrie, maybe in the hope of grabbing a set of wings.

I watched them all go, thinking, fingering the talisman in my pocket.

“We should go out that way,” I said.

“No.” Valor shook his head, lengthening his strides as he created a path through the crowd. He held out his arms and squared his shoulders to shield me, and I fell in behind him, using his bulk to avoid running into the panicking mages and witches.

We were the only ones moving east, instead of north.

“We need to get you out of here,” Valor continued shortly, speaking under his breath. “Our best bet is still our original destination. We can make it.”

I knew what he meant, and why he didn’t want to say it out loud while we were surrounded by panicking Magicals. Forsooth had a mirror in his tower. Valor obviously intended for all of us to go there, as we’d originally planned, and to mirror out of there.

Did we even know if that mirror was functional, though?

Blackstone said he and Forsooth hadn’t been able to use it to get back from London, just a few days ago, not without a specific journey scheduled. Was that only true of Magicals trying to get into Malcroix Bones, or was it true of mirroring in either direction?

If requests went through any governmental body, Dark Cathedral wouldn’t approve any mirror uses from here, certainly not now. Did those requests need to go through someone in the London government, though? Or was that something that got approved here, inside Malcroix itself? Whatever the answer to those questions, it struck me as risky as hell.

“It’ll be fine,” Valor said, as if picking up on my doubts.

I fingered the talisman again.

I wondered if I could make it to Valarian, or if that would be suicide. Could I even help my friends at this point? Surely they had to know what was going on by now. They could likely see more from the Valarian windows than I could at the back of Malcroix Mansion. They would’ve seen all the people fleeing the main building by now, and probably whatever was going on at the southern entrance.

“Halt!” A voice shouted.

Valor turned his head, following the sound.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I looked over my shoulder, too.

A row of black-uniformed mages and witches stood there, their hands sparking and glowing with magic as they held contained spells, ready to use.

One of them met my gaze directly, and she smiled.

Fuck.

Sirena.

“Run!” Valor bellowed.

He began crashing through the crowd, shoving younger witches and mages out of the way. I followed as fast as I could, and heard a hiss as a flaming ball of magic looped around and through the crowd, heating my face as I only just jerked out of the way.

I threw up a shield, then my hand was back on the talisman.

“Evanescere,” I whispered. I gripped the talisman tightly.

My arm and body disappeared around me.

I heard Quicksilver react first.

“Fuck!” He let out a few more curses in another language. “She’s gone!”

I changed directions at once, letting myself be pulled along with the crowd towards the nearest door to the northern fields behind the school. I still got a few strange looks as I let myself be carried along, when students and one of the kitchen staff ran into me and couldn’t figure out what they’d bumped.

Still, the disruption was minimal with me moving the same direction as everyone else. Quicksilver and probably Valor would definitely have noticed if I’d tried to continue moving against the crowd.

I only had five minutes before the talisman’s charm would wear off, and I’d be visible again.