Marcus was doing his best to disarm as many guards as possible. He held a battle orb in each hand, and ricocheted them through the square like he was juggling, knocking guards out the minute his orb connected with their heads. Rishi clawed at the eyes of guards, and Oberi changed into a unicorn, lowering her horn and shooting off fireballs as quickly as she could cast them. Her Fire smashed into nearby buildings and ignited them, lighting the city on fire in what seemed seconds.
Shifter guards that could transform into creatures like dragons and griffins were ripping the Elves apart. Rage flashed upon Charlie's face. He lifted his hand, and with a wild yell cast a spinning whirlwind at a whole battalion of guards. It lifted them up, tossing them over the length of the city and sending them to ancestors-only knew where. I summoned water from a nearby fountain and splashed it upon the feet of nearby guards, freezing them in place so they couldn't move. The guards wrenched at my ice, but my magic held them.
Then the night illusion over the cave broke, and the false moon went out, leaving the cave completely dark. Elves cried out in terror. The only light in the caves that remained was the fire that had overtaken the buildings. Fear overtook me. With the fires eating up all the oxygen in the cave, we’d soon cease to breathe. But neither could we put them out, because if we did, that would leave us all in total darkness. I lifted a fireball over my head, to light my path as I continued onward.
Charlie was stubborn, continuing to fight even when it was clear that all was lost. He cast Air funnels in any direction that he heard a guard, although I was sorry to say that some of those tunnels ended up hitting Elves instead of enemies. Charlie had no idea where he was casting. He was shooting off spells in every direction. He was so frantic to save Forevermore, he was hurting more Elves than he was helping.
"Charlie!" Cameron screamed. "We have to leave them!”
“We can’t abandon everyone!” Charlie replied. He seemed at the edge of madness, a delirium in his eyes that told me he would die here if it meant preserving the lives of people that he now felt responsible for.
“You are the heir to the throne and the prophesied one!” Cameron cried. “The survival of the Elves depends on you staying alive!”
Cameron didn't wait for Charlie to protest. He grabbed Charlie by the arm and hauled him away, toward the Mirror of Ingress. Since Charlie was blind, he didn’t know where his father was taking him. I felt rage at Cameron for forcing Charlie to follow his orders, but I knew if we stayed here, all of us would be dead.
Institute guards swarmed into the cave, and they were beginning to outnumber the citizens of Forevermore. I wasn’t sure how many people the Warden had hired to come down here, or what he had promised them, but I knew if the Elves had any hope of survival, it wasn't beneath Darke Island.
As we got closer to the Mirror of Ingress, space became nonexistent. Bodies were packed so tightly together that I couldn't move. I felt squished between the frantic Elves who were trying to escape through the portal. Air left my lungs as I was slowly suffocated within the crowd. Kallie, Marcus, and Charlie were already far ahead of me. Somehow, I had gotten left behind.
“Ava!” Charlie screamed, desperately fighting against his father to get to me. He didn't know where I was, but he knew through our bond that I was in deep trouble, and that I wasn’t beside him.
I had so little breath from being crushed within the crowd that I couldn't call out to him. Someone shoved into my back, and I fell over. I screamed aloud as I felt people stepping on me from above, mashing my lungs and delivering bruises to my bones. I was going to be trampled by the panicking crowd.
My eyes rolled in the back of my head, and everything went dark as I passed out.
I was startled awake by the sound of the earth breaking beside me. The ground shook with a powerful quake, and everyone in my immediate proximity fell over. I heard Oberi’s strong whinny as she came rushing to me, and suddenly, Charlie was there. He lifted me up into his arms and cradled me against him, brushing back my hair. “Pidge, are you all right?”
“I’ll make it,” I breathed. It felt like I had bruised lungs. I put a hand to my pained side as I said, “The Mirror, Charlie. We’re nearly there.”
He gasped, and tried to heft me up beside him so I could show him the way. Except there was a problem. I was so beaten, I could barely walk. I still needed time to recover from being trampled, but there was no time. The Mirror was only a few yards away, but it still looked so far.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been unconscious, but it must’ve been a few minutes, at least. By this time, the city had started to empty. I watched as Elves stepped through the portal, disappearing to somewhere else— we hadn’t been told where.
By now the guards were blocking the way, forming a line to prevent any more Elves from getting through the Mirror of Ingress. It appeared most of the citizens had gotten out, but the Elves who hadn’t escaped or been killed were being arrested, put into handcuffs by guards. Noxite didn’t work on Elves, but handcuffs were still handcuffs, and they were strong, fortified with strong metal to hold supernaturals. It terrified me that I didn’t know what the Warden wanted to do with them, or why he wanted to take them prisoner.
Emperor Cassiel and Cameron both waited by the Mirror of Ingress, petrified as they observed the distance from them to Charlie. Cameron cradled his arm, like it was broken. Charlie must’ve hurt his dad to get tome. Kallie and Marcus stood beside them, unsure of what to do or how to break the line of guards blocking our way.
I knew we could make it. We just had to—
“I believe the time for your rebellion has come to an end,” a hated, condescending voice cooed behind me.
Charlie turned us both, and I came face-to-face with the man I despised most in the world— the Warden. He wore no blood or dirt from battle, as if he preferred to let others do his dirty work for him. He wasn’t even wearing defensive armor. He had on a clean suit, his hair combed back as if this was a business meeting and not a raid. His cruel face was cast in firelight as he approached, like some demonic being from hell itself.
I managed to find the strength to stand as I turned toward the Warden, summoning a fireball in one hand and a water ball in the other. “You’ll never take me alive,” I threatened, fully intent to shove both down the Warden’s throat.
“You touch me, this is all over,” the Warden replied coolly. “You are outnumbered, Miss Mitoh. I advise you to put your magic down. If you come quietly, this will go smoothly.”
“Come quietly? I’d rather die,” I growled. The Warden had destroyed Forevermore. I wasn’t getting out of this cave without destroyinghim.
“I don’t think that’s wise,” the Warden said. “I thank the four of you for setting off all the traps and showing me the way to the city. I have failed to find Forevermore for years, but you guided the way. Well done.”
The Warden gave a dark laugh. “You should be a little more careful during your phone conversations, Miss Mitoh,” the Warden said coyly. “You never know who might be listening in, though I never expected you might be achosen one.How gifted you are. You are more special than I ever imagined you to be.”
Marcus was right. Theyhadbeen tapping the phones. The Wardenknewabout my prophecy. Some way or another, he’d found out— probably by eavesdropping on my conversations with my parents— and he’d been watching me. He’d been hoping I’d lead him to Forevermore all along.
I gritted my teeth, and the Warden rambled on. “Did youassumewe didn’t look to see where the noxite cuffs tracked you during your little exploration on the field trip?” the Warden asked. “I knew you and your companions went to the Elven gate in search of Forevermore, and that you’d want to start poking around the island to look for it. After that, it was all too easy to stage the ruse that we needed more volunteers for the noxite mines. I expectedbetterof you, Miss Mitoh. I thought you would foresee the trap I laid, but you wandered right into it.”
My heart dropped at his words. We didn’t escape the Institute. The Warden had merely allowed us to leave long enough for us to lead him straight to Forevermore.
