I knew exactly what the spell did—it was the one that would hold me immobile so he could do unthinkable things to me. Myshield would protect me, but there was a good chance the spell would bounce off my shield and hit someone else.
I couldn’t let that happen.
All of that went through my brain in a flash, and I dropped my shield, making Roman yell out, and I stepped forward, thrusting my dragonscale shield out toward the spell, ready to block it if I missed.
With my free hand, I snapped another spelled twig, and just as the spell hit my shield, I swiped the broken twig through the red mist.
The twig sucked the spell up like it was a vacuum, and I sighed in relief, happy it’d worked.
The relief only lasted half a second, because Brinik yelled out in frustration and threw spell after spell after spell at my entire team.
Drawing my dragonscale sword, I knocked a few out of the air, aiming for the ground at my feet so no one else got caught, and I saw Roman and Dad doing the same. Tan, Basil, and Hiro had somehow made their shields absorb the spells, rendering them useless—very cool and useful.
Brinik’s magic swirled around him in a thick haze of red, like a small red tornado, causing things to go flying away from him. The haze grew so thick I couldn’t even see the man, and the wind forced me to block my eyes, holding my shield above my head as I squinted, bracing myself for impact.
As quickly as the tornado grew, it died, the hazy magic dropping to the floor and dissipating in the blink of an eye.
My eyes widened as I took everything in.
The body Brinik had been using for power lay on the ground, nothing but sunken, dried skin and bones covered in clothing—he’d drained so much life force from them, he’d literally sucked them dry. Bile rose in my throat, but I pushed it down as I searched for the vile grand master.
Brinik was… not there.
I scanned the entire area, confused and horrified that the man had disappeared before our very eyes, but I didn’t see him anywhere.
“What the fuck?” Basil murmured, turning in a circle, searching.
My dad suddenly grunted and pointed at the door Brinik had been going for earlier. “Through there.”
The door was slowly shutting, so clearly someone had gone through it.
That sneaky asshole used his tornado as a distraction so he could get away.
Not on my watch.
Roman said, “Fuck, he must have an escape route that way.”
Shit. Shit. Dammit. Fuck.
My team took off at a jog, dodging the other fights happening around us, and I had to pull a personal shield back over myself—Tan had stocked me with about a billion of them before we left—to even make it through the space because there was still a ton of magic and bullets flying everywhere.
Roman took point, which I wasn’t happy about. Not that I wanted any of my family or friends going through there first, but… ugh.
After opening the door and checking, he said, “Clear,” and entered the room.
The closet was definitely a storage space, but one of the shelving units had been pushed aside, revealing an underground tunnel. The walls were just packed dirt, but since Brinik had clearly gone this way, I assumed it was reinforced with magic, which would make it safe enough, I supposed.
The thought of a tunnel made from blood magic made me wrinkle my nose in disgust and horror, and I honestly didn’twant to go in there. I definitely didn’t want to touch the walls. They were probably covered in blood.
How much blood had it taken to build this tunnel? Had they killed people for it?
Probably.
They clearly had no trouble harming and murdering anyone to get what they wanted.
Rome said, “Keep your shields up, everyone. We have no idea how many people went through here, how long it is, where it leads, or if Brinik left us any nasty surprises along the way. Shields up, eyes peeled, be careful.”
And with that, he walked inside.
