All House Medeis wizards were cradling either blue fire or blue lightning in their hands—April included. Their use of magic made their wizard tattoos visible on their cheeks.
Juggernaut held purple fire—his tattoo was also on display—while Binx and Brody were holding their magic canceling cuffs out and ready.
Medium-Sized Robert gave us a thumbs up, nearly knocking Clarence over while Tetiana held a dagger ready to throw.
“Good luck,” Orrin called after us as he settled into place next to Grove.
Grove scowled at him as he yanked a few questionably colored potions from his satchel. “Hey, I’m the team’s support.Iget to call out encouragement—don’t try to edge in on my role!” Turning to us, he shouted, “Run ‘em over, Team Blood!”
House Tellier didn’t stir, even as Considine and I walked across the creaking porch.
Considine tried the front door, but it was locked. “Of course, it couldn’t be easy,” he sighed.
“The House Tellier wizards are sloppy, but they aren’t stupid,” I said.
“That, I believe, is a matter of opinion.” Considine studied the front door. “I apologize, House,” he said, his tone genuine. “But we’ll have to kick the door in.”
“We’ll try to limit the damage, though,” I rushed to add. “We’re just here for the oracle—we don’t want to hurt your wizards.”
The House didn’t respond—at least not in a way we could understand.
We exchanged subtle nods, and Considine moved into position in front of the door.
I backed up a few steps to give myself a running start and held my daggers ready.
Considine kicked out, driving the heel of his foot into a spot on the door that was close to the doorknob. The door was solid, so it creaked ominously and jostled on its hinges, and parts of the frame splintered, but it held.
I held my breath, but the House didn’t retaliate.
Considine wound up for a second kick. This time the door frame broke, and the door swung open.
I slid into the house, ducking under Considine’s outstretched leg.
The door opened into a narrow hallway, but more importantly it was cluttered with two male wizards, whose puzzled looks turned into expressions of shock and then terror as I slid toward them.
They were wearing slippers and didn’t even reach for magic, so I rotated my daggers and stabbed them each in the foot.
They shouted and shifted all their weight, nearly colliding as they hopped in pain.
I pushed out of the crouch I was in and slammed the wizards’ heads together with a painful crack. They fell with groans of pain.
Two foes down, I scanned the area—marking out possible exits and entrances.
The hallway’s white shiplap walls had only one decoration—a massive orange and yellow flag that had the House Tellier crest emblazoned on it. But all the white was further broken up by a staircase leading upstairs that stretched over a wood door, while the other side of the hallway was marked by two pocket doors.
The hallway ended at the kitchen—I could see a fridge and oven through the open walkway.
Presumably there was another way into the kitchen, because Gideon—the House Heir—was parked in a comfortable armchair that blocked it off.
He gaped at us in shock as Considine crossed the House’s threshold.
When I stepped over his moaning comrades, heading toward him, he finally rocketed into motion, struggling to get out of his chair and shout. “Help! We’ve been breached!”
He’s genuinely surprised. Gideon is posted here, but they must not have anyone watching outside, or they would have noticed our approach.
“Oh, this is going to be entertaining,” Considine purred. “Can I play with this one?”
Gideon’s face turned red and his wizard tattoo appeared as he started forming a fireball. “Get back!” he shouted. “House—what are you doing? Attack them!”
