There came a shrill birdcall from somewhere above us. Except it didn’t sound like any bird I’d ever heard.
I didn’t need Lucas’s power to know something was wrong.
“Nix, get inside,” I said.
“What? Why?”
“Just do it.”
Nix leapt up and hurried toward the door. But a figure dropped down from the shadows and landed in front of her. Tall, broad-shouldered, bulky—a man, masked and cloaked.
“No!” Nix yelped and backed away.
Ice-cold fear lanced through me.
I’d left my dagger in my room. I was unarmed. The guards were downstairs, but by the time they heard anything, it would be too late.
Someone had come for me.
The man looked at us for one heartbeat, then in one move, he grabbed Nix by the wrist and threw her over his shoulder.
“Nix!” I yelled.
“Let me go!” she screamed, pounding her fists on the man’s back and kicking her legs, but it had no effect. The bear of a man barely flinched. From within his cloak, he produced a silver gun.
He raised the weapon and aimed, though not at me. He pointed toward the garden below us and fired. A long cable shot out of the barrel, whipping into the night. He secured the gun to the floor with a solid clang, bolting it to the tower, and then he jumped.
Nix’s scream fell away when she plummeted with him into the dark.
It all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to move.
I watched as the assassin zipped down the line on a metal hook with Nix thrashing and kicking against him all the way, fighting with everything she had.
Before I could go after her, two more cloaked figures leapt down from above, blocking me. Their cloth masks hid the bottom halves of their faces, and their eyes were trained on me.
This was it. This was their plan. They wanted me alone before they attacked.
But they didn’t move in. They simply stood, blocking the exit, waiting.
Nix’s screams still carried all the way up here.
I called to my power, my blood pressure rising. I was going to fight.
I held out my hand to the assassins, commanding the elements to bend to my will. I wanted to turn their swords at their sides to liquid or melt their shoes to glue, but nothing happened. Nothing. It was like I didn’t have any magic at all. I stared at my hand, stunned. My power failed me.
I’d have to do this the human way.
I grabbed a beanbag chair next to me and tossed it at one of the men. He caught it, but it hit him squarely in the chest, and he grunted. I rushed to the other, who was caught off guard. My fist connected with his nose, and he howled in pain.
It gave me enough time to grab the telescope off its tripod and use it like a bar, holding tight to both ends. Without thinking, I jumped after Nix. The wind whipped around me, and my stomach leapt into my throat, but I held on with everything I had as I plummeted down.
Nix and her kidnapper had already landed safely on the ground, but he was not alone. A handful of other cloaked figures emerged from the shadows, flanking him, and they took off into the garden. The whole time Nix was screaming, “Put me down now!”
I nearly tripped when I got to solid ground, but I kept running after them. Nix’s screams were the only thing I could follow. The two men I’d fought on the tower landed close behind me, the zip of their hooks turning into solid footfalls as they got closer.
“Nix!” I cried. I’d lost sight of her, but I could still hear her. There was still time.
I sprinted through the garden. Where were the guards? We needed help. I tried to summon my power again, throwing my entire focus into anything that could slow the kidnappers down. I meant to turn the grass into wet cement, into mud, into tar, but nothing happened. I was left gasping, and my chest burned from exertion. I dropped my focus, and my head swam. I felt like I was going to faint. But I fought against it.
