“What good will your boundary spells do here?” Frederick said, taking another step forward. His hands neared his pockets, a few handles sticking out. “You’re out of weapons.”
Sofia tutted at him. “You should know better than to trust the rumors, Frederick.” With that, she lifted her hand, and electricity crackled in the center of her palm.
His attention switched to her, and I darted to the left. He reached out with a swipe, but his focus remained front and center on Sofia. I looped around him to rush up to the filing cabinets he’d been rummaging through.
I yanked open the top filing cabinet, the sour stench of the accelerant tingling my nose. Frederick had splattered it over the surfaces of the cabinets, and all it would take was a match to set these ablaze.
“You wouldn’t unleash that in here,” Frederick growled at Sofia.
“Try me,” she challenged.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. The folders were…oh, thank the gods, they were alphabetized. My fingers shook as I flipped through A names then checked the back of the stack, only to E. Godsdamn.
I tugged open the drawer beneath it, this one starting at F. I flipped to the end—K.
A sharp crackling noise lit the air, along with a flash.
“Fuck,” Frederick cursed, mere feet away. Far too close for my liking. My arms trembled, but I didn’t dare look behind me.
I had one task. I was damn well going to complete it.
I bent forward and dragged the bottom drawer open. The L files. My hands shook so badly at this point I could barely filter through. I just grabbed a huge section of the files and yankedthem out. The ones remaining started at M, so I could only hope Liquidium Industries had been filed here.
Before I could rise to my feet, all of a sudden, an arm wrapped around my neck and dragged me upright.
Frederick. He’d closed the space between us.
“Try and aim at me now, Sofia,” he growled, and he jerked me in front of him, the pressure on my windpipe making my breaths shudder. The files dropped out of my hand, and I tried to swallow but couldn’t. Frederick drew a blade from his side, the glint of the metal clear in the short space between us. The stench of him, brine and sweat and burnt…something made me want to gag.
Frederick slid the blade right under my chin, a mere inch above his meaty arm.
I balled my hands into fists. Fuck.
Sofia stood before us, the lightning crackling in her palms. Her brows drew together, and her eyes calculated.
“I’ll slit his throat right now,” Frederick said. “He’s worth nothing.”
Sofia’s expression darkened. “Now that’s where you’re wrong.”
Her words burrowed inside me, trailing deeper, deeper, deeper, until the spark settled on the pile of my self-esteem that had crumbled to nothing over the years. But in this moment, this second, the spark dropped there and ignited the whole damn thing.
I was tired of feeling helpless. Time to fight, damn the consequences.
A glint caught my eye right beside me. Frederick loomed from behind, and his pendant dangled forward.
Cerulean, shifting, and full of magic.
I had one shot.
I reached for it, wrapped my fingers around the pendant, and yanked.
Frederick let out a curse, and the knife jostled against my throat, a light sting blooming as the blade kissed my skin. The chain of the pendant snapped, my fist tight around the stone.
Lightning sparked and sizzled by our feet, and Frederick barked another curse. This time, his grip around me loosened. I raked my nails at the arm holding the knife, then stomped down on his other foot, and he yanked it back, the blade avoiding my skin by a mere inch.
I launched myself toward Sofia. She was the safest place to be.
Sofia all but pushed me behind her as she positioned herself in front of me.
