Victoria got up and approached the door again, banging a few times.
“Shouting is useless. Calling is impossible. The door is on hinges the size of my palm, and there are five of them. The baris an inch thick, and the two of us can’t break it unless we have a bomb?—”
Then she turned back to Deryn, who saw her calculating look.
“I thought about it. Bomb, I mean. I don’t know if I can do it, and I know for certain I wouldn’t be able to control it. We could get really hurt. In fact, if I let loose, I’ll kill us both, and you know it.”
Victoria waved her arms around herself.
“We are getting seriously hurt right now. We are getting slowly killed right now.”
Deryn approached the door, her hands burning up from how cold and tired she was. She touched the metal again, the chill of the steel piercing and unforgiving. As she took a step back, she stumbled, and Victoria caught her, keeping her upright. Her head was swimming.
“Are you all right, baby?”
Deryn nodded. Then shook her head.
“I thought so,” Victoria murmured and then laid her cool hand on Deryn’s forehead. Deryn felt not warmth, not exactly, but a current of energy, comforting, healing in a way she couldn’t explain.
“I don’t have your power, your sister’s strength, your mother’s ability. But I’m here. For anything you want to try.”
Deryn covered her aunt’s fingers with her own.
“Okay, so I don’t know if I have it in me, but I can focus my Fire on the weaker points of the door, see what that might do. Depending on how much I have left, and judging by how tired I am, I can blow this joint to pieces, or I can burn us to a crisp… You need to stand aside?—”
“No.” Victoria’s hand moved to Deryn’s shoulder and stayed there. “I’ll be right here. I can’t give you much, but you will have it all anyway.”
Deryn nodded and touched the door again, closing her eyes. She could see it, her Fire set free, a dragon in flight, unstoppable, deadly, liberating. It would burn through heaven and hell at her command. It could burn through her as well.
She focused?—
A sensation like a splash of water in her face from the other side jolted her. What the…
There was a thump on the door.
Victoria shushed her, though Deryn didn’t know why, since she wasn’t about to start screaming. It was useless anyway. They stood in silence, then the slamming on the door began again. Deryn slapped the metal a few times and a few answering bangs resonated.
“Is this Morse code? I don’t know fucking Morse code…”
Victoria lifted her eyes heavenward.
“Oh Goddess, help me here, what code? Who could be out there that would know the goddamn code? Deryn, I swear…”
“Okay, okay, enough with the insults. A few minutes ago, I was special and unique and?—”
“Still a dumbass. Now, bang again, my fingers are numb.”
Deryn did not roll her eyes, but she was close. She did bang again, as she was told, and then just listened, desperately trying to hear the sounds from the outside. There was nothing. One minute passed, then another. There were some scratches, she thought, maybe at the level of where the bar should be, but she might have hallucinated them. Still, after five more minutes, there was nothing. Occasional bangs, as if to say “I’m here.” But the door remained locked.
Then Deryn felt something. Her fingertips on the door tingled at first, then her Fire was instantly squashed. It was only one second, but Deryn instantly knew.
“It’s Seren! That asshole put my Fire out. Like she did as a kid. Her Water always could do that. Cool me off right away. Not for long, of course?—”
“Listen, this is not a magical dick-measuring contest.”
Deryn gave Victoria a sideways glance. “I assume the next thing you’ll say is that yours is bigger anyway? I really do not want to know any of this, pretty please.”
“Why do you think the wives of every other local man about town ends up in my bed, Deryn?” Victoria smirked.
