Claude nodded and grabbed a battered leather case from beside the bathtub. "My grandmother's trumpet. It's been in the family since before the binding. I can't leave it behind."
"Wouldn't dream of asking you to," Dani assured him as we helped him navigate the destroyed apartment while Dre and Lia continued fighting the last few creatures.
We'd barely reached the stairwell when my inner alarms went haywire again. "More incoming," I warned. "And these feel stronger."
The telltale clicking and clacking echoed up from the floors below a split second before three leaped onto the landing and attacked Kaveh and Kaitlyn, who were waiting a few feet away. Lia and Dre were still in the apartment finishing off the last creature in there. Kota went to help our ride home while Dani and I remained with Claude. We couldn’t leave him vulnerable.
Claude immediately raised his trumpet and began playing a melody that made the air shimmer with protective energy. "Keep playing," I shouted over the rising sound. "We need to get to the other end of the hall where Kaveh can teleport us out."
We made it halfway down the hallway before a new surge tried to stop us. Claude was getting weaker with every passing second. More of the skeletal horrors had cornered Kaveh and Kaitlyn at the far end of the corridor, forcing them back against the wall. Their needle teeth clicked a dinner bell symphony that nearly overpowered Claude’s music.
"Well, this is just fantastic," Kota snarled as she threw a spell that blew one over the edge of the stairs. "I was wondering when we'd get to the 'fight our way to the escape route' part of the evening."
The creatures had formed a wall of clicking, clacking bone between us and our ticket out of this nightmare. Kaveh was throwing djinn fire like a man possessed, but even his considerable magical firepower couldn't thin the horde fast enough. Kaitlyn was weaving protection spells around them both. Unfortunately, I could see the strain etched on her face.
"Time for some aggressive problem-solving," Lia announced as she joined us and launched herself forward. She used the kind of reckless confidence that had gotten us out of more scrapes than I could count.
Lia, Kota, and Dre carved through the first wave like magical weed whackers. Lia’s energy bolts turned skeletal creatures into chalk dust with satisfying pops. Dre followed right behind her, casting protection spells faster than a speeding bullet. In doing so, she created a shimmering corridor of safety through the chaos.
"Keep that music going, Claude!" Dani shouted as she joined the fray, her magic crackling around her hands like angry lightning. "We need that barrier holding!"
Phi stuck closer to Claude and me. I joined my power with hers to create razor-thin barriers that sliced through elongated limbs with surgical precision. Every time one of those multi-armed nightmares reached for us, a blade of pure energy turned bone to powder.
"Come on, you overgrown praying mantises!" Kota hollered. She connected with a haymaker that took off two of the creature's four arms. "Is that all you got?"
Meanwhile, Claude continued to play. The old man was a trooper. Even with his lips practically bleeding, he kept that trumpet singing barriers of golden light.
"Kaveh!" I called out as we fought our way through the clicking, clacking horde. "Get that teleportation spell ready. We're coming in hot!"
"About bloody time," he called back. "I was starting to think you'd decided to stay and continue redecorating the hallway with creature parts!"
Lia and Kota cast a spell that hit the last few creatures between us and our escape. They crumbled under their combined assault like ancient bones left too long in the sun. As soon as we reached Kaveh, he shouted, "Everyone together. This is going to be unpleasant!"
‘Unpleasant’ didn't begin to cover it. Instead of the usual controlled lightning embrace of djinn fire, this teleportationfelt like being fed through a magical meat grinder. Kaveh's exhaustion made the journey jagged and violent. Colors didn't swirl so much as assault us. The sensation was less like flying and more like being turned inside out while riding a tornado made of broken glass.
When we finally materialized, it was with all the grace of a sack of potatoes being dumped from a great height. We tumbled into Willowberry's grand entryway in a heap of groaning bodies and bruised dignity. Claude hit the ground and immediately started retching. His trumpet clattered away from his shaking hands. The brass instrument clanged against the floor like a discordant bell. Kaveh collapsed against one of the antique mahogany columns. Djinn fire flickered weakly around his fingers as he struggled to catch his breath.
"Well," Dani groaned from where she'd landed in an undignified sprawl near the grand staircase, "that was about as smooth as sandpaper on sunburn."
Margaret appeared in the doorway leading to the ladies’ parlor. Her eyes were wide as she took in the sight of seven people who looked like they'd been through a blender. "Sweet Jesus," she breathed, rushing forward with Sarah close behind. "What happened to y'all?"
Thomas emerged from the library with cemetery records still clutched in his hands. His expression shifted from relief to concern as he saw Claude's condition. "Teleportation complications," I managed, helping Claude to his feet while trying not to let my own legs give out. The old musician swayed dangerously. His silver hair was disheveled, and his face was pale as parchment.
Sarah hurried forward with a glass of sweet tea that materialized from somewhere in the plantation's endless supply of Southern hospitality. "Drink this. Mama says sugar helps with shock."
All three Guardian families were now gathered safely in Willowberry's grand entryway, and the confusion was thick enough to cut with a knife. Claude accepted the sweet tea with hands that still trembled, looking bewildered as he glanced around. "We should take a seat," I said as I gestured to the ladies’ parlor. I settled into one of the antique chairs with a sigh.
"I know this is overwhelming, but you all need to understand what's happening and why you're here," Dre began as everyone found seats.
"Maybe you could start from the beginning,” Margaret interjected. “Because yesterday I was worried about aphids in my rose garden, and now I'm apparently part of some... magical conspiracy?"
“It’s not a conspiracy exactly,” Lia replied. “Your family was part of keeping an evil entity locked away.”
Claude set down his sweet tea with a clink that echoed in the room. "I've been playing music my whole life because my grandmother told me it was important for keeping the peace. I thought she meant community harmony, not..." He gestured wildly around himself.
“It’s a lot to take in,” I acknowledged.
"I’m not as surprised by what’s happening. It explains why the spirits in my cemetery have been restless for months," Thomas added. “I’m just not sure what we can do to help.”
