I grabbed the white tiger’s hand, holding on tight, as we watched Mr. Cooper jump down into the room.
He landed with ease. Then he was climbing through the statue-still golems to the basement entrance. He shoved golems aside and tossed a few away when he found the door amongst the mess of evil creatures.
Mr. Cooper disappeared down the stairs.
I cleared my throat. “That was very brave.”
No one spoke, all eyes on that door. Waiting.
“Are we too far away for trains to pick us up?”
Finn muttered, “He cut the lines to our trains. And our bracelets.”
I blinked. “I thought you couldn’t hack them?”
“He figured out a way.”
“Fuck,” I muttered.
Now I knew why they were so intent on another exit strategy. It wasn’t ‘another’ one. It was theonlyone.
Mr. Cooper reappeared in the doorway. “Get down here now.”
Finn grabbed me in his arms and didn’t hesitate. He jumped through the window with me held protectively in his arms.
Then we hit the ground.
Crack.
“Shit!” I screamed, holding my left leg up. “It’s broken. It’s broken. It’s broken.”
“Give it a second.”
My eyes popped wide, and I squealed with my mouth shut. Bones were shifting back into place all on their own, knitting and forming where they had broken. I shook my head like a maniac to keep from fainting.
Then… the pain just ended.
I blinked.
“Good now?” Finn asked. “We need to move.”
“I’m good.” I wiped the sweat off my brow and started climbing on top of the golems plastered side-to-side and back-to-back with one another. “I need to learn how to land without breaking things. That was not a pleasant feeling I would like to reencounter.”
Finn grunted beside me, climbing along with me. “Shifters are made differently. Humans will break more easily.”
“That’s not very kind of the magic,” I mumbled. “Let’s have all of one sex have sweet cake and leave only the crumbs for the other sex.”
He choked on a laugh. “I never said it was fair. It’s just how it is.”
Another one of his friends jumped down when we had given them enough room to do so carefully. Climbing over golems wasn’t as easy as it looked from the roof.
But then, Mr. Mason passed me by.
“Oh…” I was just slow.
Finn was holding himself back to stay with me.
He snorted. “Do you want to climb on my back?”
