Ira nodded, speaking frantically. “He’s there. Everyone is there. The possessors—they found a way to make it work. Weston—it was a trap. It was all part of the kalmach’s plan. We have to go. They’ll need our help.”
“We can’t cross the property line.” Storm focused on his breaths, keeping them even and deep, to combat the panic that threatened to swallow him whole. Nathan was there, being ambushed with the guild. Storm had tohelp him.
“That won’t be a problem. They’ve disabled the wards. The demons—there are so many…” Ira shook his head, as though to focus. “We have to help. There are bad people in the guild, yes, but just as many who aregood. Nathan, Isaac, Judah, Daniel, thechildren.”
Alex turned a wide-eyed gaze toward Talon, his arms full of sheathed swords. “Talon,” he entreated.
Talon nodded, cupping the side of Alex’s neck with one hand. “Yes, we’ll help, little bird.” He lifted one of the swords from Alex’s arms, looking dubious. “I’ve never been on this end of one of these before.”
Storm took one of the swords and met Alex’s eyes. “Let’s go. I don’t know the way, so I’ll follow behind you and Talon.”
The rest of them grabbed swords—even Shadrach. And then they were all rushing out to the parking lot and piling into the cars. To Storm’s surprise, Ira clambered into the truck with him, and Wolf followed on his heels. Malachi and Luke took the backseat, and Shadrach climbed into the Viper with Talon and Alex.
“Why are you all in my truck?” Storm asked as he put it in drive and squealed tires pulling out after Talon’s sleek black sports car.
“Because there’s no point in taking all of our cars,” Malachi said.
“And you’ll drive like a maniac to get us there as fast as possible,” Wolf said.
“But not so crazy that you’d risk wrecking,” Ira added.
“All right, all right,” he groused, pulling out onto the highway. The engine roared under his foot. No matter how fast he tried to be, he couldn’t get there soon enough. He just hoped Nathan would be okay until he made it.
The ride was tense and quiet. Storm had to consciously relax his hands so he didn’t bend the steering wheel. The sun was hanging low on the horizon, molten colors streaking across the sky, when Ira sucked down a sharp breath and pointed.
“Up ahead there. You see that?”
A plume of dark gray rose into the air above the trees.
Luke leaned forward. “That’s smoke.”
“That’s the guild.” Ira’s voice was strangled, and Wolf laid a hand on his knee.
“You stay here,” Wolf told him. “You’re not a fighter.”
“No, screw that! I’m coming. I have to help. I can at least help Principal Barker get the kids to safety.”
Wolf blew out a hard breath. “Ira…”
“I’m not staying in the car,” he said harshly.
Wolf opened his mouth to speak, but the cheerful jingle of a ringtone interrupted him. With a growl, he dug his phone from his pocket and put it on speaker.
“What’s up?”
“How do you guys want to do this?” It was Talon. “Alex says we’re getting close.”
Storm looked at Ira. “You saw it. What are we running into? How do we approach?”
“Um.” Ira smoothed the loose strands of hair behind his ears, his brown face paler than normal. “The gate’s open. We can just drive right in. We—We should go to the admin building. It’s the main building at the front of the compound. It’s where most of the demons descended when they broke the wall.”
“Howdid they break the wall?” Luke asked. “How the hell did this happen?”
“They had explosives,” Ira said hollowly. “Breaking the wall broke the wards.”
“Shit,” Alex murmured through the speaker.
“How likely are we to be killed on sight for showing up here?” Shadrach drawled.
