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“I’m trying,” I said through gritted teeth.
And then my hand passed through the mirror.
It was like walking on an ice-covered lake and then suddenly being underwater. I was cold all over, when the heat of the room had recently been wrapped around me like an invisible sweater.
The wall spread apart, forming a black hole in the fabric of space. I squeezed Santiago’s hand harder, maybe too hard, but he held tight, and I pulled from his magic. When I glanced back to make sure I wasn’t hurting him, the runes along both sides of his head glowed the same bright blue as my arm, and he was grimacing but holding it together.
“Just one more second.”
I pushed, finding nothing solid to resist me, but the extra surge of power opened the hole wide enough for half the wall to disappear.
On the floor, in a space no bigger than a refrigerator box, two girls were huddled together, shaking.
“Please,” one whispered.
Wilder, ignoring any possible risk—or maybe because he trusted me not to let anything bad happen to him—ducked into the small space and offered his hand to the smaller girl, the blonde I’d seen in the photos over Heidi’s bed. She stared at him for a second, hesitating, then lunged at him, hugging her arms tightly around his neck and holding on to him for dear life.
She had such a ferocious grip on him that when he stepped away from the hole, she was fully wrapped around his body, and he had to keep an arm around her so she wouldn’t slip.
The other girl, a taller redhead, blinked out at us but seemed frozen in place.
“Laura?” I met her timid gaze and tried to appear as nonthreatening as possible, a difficult thing to achieve when you’ve opened up a magical space between dimensions and your arm is glowing. “Laura, you’re free.”
“No.” She shook her head and pushed herself back into the corner. “That thing…that thing will come back.”
“You’re safe.” This was a lie, but hopefully a kind one. If we hurried this up, we might still get the girls to safety before Gamigan showed its ugly face again. “Trust me.”
I couldn’t offer her a hand without risking a breach in the opening. As it was I didn’t know how much longer I could hold it. I opened my mouth and tasted blood in the back of my throat.
“Laura, please.” My voice was raspy, and each word hurt, like the syllables had teeth and were trying to chew their way out of me.
Heidi, still holding tight to Wilder, looked at her friend. Tears were streaming down the blonde girl’s face. “We’re out.” Her voice was little more than a whisper, and I had to wonder how long and how hard she’d been screaming to be heard.
Heidi’s words were the secret touch for Laura. The taller girl hesitated, then crawled towards us, stumbling out across the fireplace and immediately wrapping her arms around Heidi and Wilder.
“Oh God. Oh…oh my God, I thought we were going to die in there.” Both girls were sobbing now, hugging each other and Wilder by extension.
The moment I knew they were both free I dropped my hand, and the hole in the wall sealed itself with a sucking thwip sound.
As I watched the girls cry and hug, a smile spread across my face.
Then the room spun, and the last thing I remembered before going down was Santiago’s expression as he caught me.
He looked so pretty when he was scared.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I woke up on the damp, cold grass to someone slapping my face.
“Fuck off,” I slurred, shoving the hand away.
“Well, it’s nice to see your personality remains unchanged after the blackout. At least I know the spell didn’t scramble your brains.” Wilder came into focus as I blinked away the fuzzy dregs of unconsciousness.
Overhead, the stars shone faintly against a purple-black sky, and I wondered how long I’d been out.
He placed a hand under my shoulders and eased me into a sitting position so I could see we were in front of the Delta Phi house—the lights all still ablaze but otherwise empty—and Santiago was standing near Laura and Heidi. He didn’t seem particularly interested in comforting them, but he stayed close enough for them to remain protected.
The last thing I wanted was for something to happen to them now that we’d gotten them out.
