Page 144 of Twist of Fate

Luke risked a look around the edge of the ventilation housing. The receiver’s panels continued tracking Connal and his brothers, adjusting each time one of them moved. Red lights traveled across its surface while the antennae held their new positions.

The same translucent barrier Luke had seen in Hale’s office curved around the buyer, his remaining guards, and the receiver. Every strike from the masked team made it flare, but none broke through.

Connal crouched beside him, sword ready. Pain tightened his face as the sigil continued burning around his wrist. “What do you need?”

Luke studied the receiver, the barrier, and the exposed cables running toward the equipment bank.

“A path to the controls.”

Connal glanced at the fighting between them and the platform. “Is that all?”

“And enough time to remove the core without someone killing me.”

“That may be more difficult.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

Another attack struck the barrier. The buyer staggered, but the translucent wall held.

Luke followed the cables with his gaze until they disappeared beneath the receiver’s raised platform. The core was somewhere inside that protected equipment, and the man who intended to own it had wrapped the entire system in his magic.

Before Luke could take it apart, they had to bring the barrier down.

“I can make a hole.”

Luke turned toward the tiny voice. Avaneel had emerged from Zer’s hair and stood on the edge of the ventilation housing, studying the barrier.

Zer reached for her. “No.”

Avaneel flew above his hand. “You cannot fit through it.”

“That does not mean you should.”

Another strike from the masked warriors hit the barrier. The translucent surface bowed around the receiver before snapping back into place. For an instant, four points of concentrated light appeared where the shield met the platform.

Avaneel pointed. “It is tied down.”

Luke followed her gesture. The buyer’s personal shield had been expanded and anchored around the equipment. “You can break a barrier like that?”

“I can eat one.” Avaneel considered the barrier. “Enough to get inside.”

Zer’s expression hardened. “Absolutely not.”

She landed on his shoulder and touched his cheek with one tiny hand. “I am very small.”

“I am aware.”

“He will not see me.”

“He will if you bite him.”

Avaneel smiled.

Zer closed his eyes briefly. “That was not permission.”

“I do not need permission.”

Luke looked toward the receiver. The masked team’s attacks were already weakening the barrier, but the buyer adjusted after every strike, pouring more magic into the anchors before they could fail. Unless something disrupted him from inside, the fight could continue until everyone on the roof was dead.