Rishi darted through the middle of the spotlight and in the other direction. The guards shouted as they saw movement, and the spotlight followed Rishi as he sprinted across the prison yard.
I heard the cocking of a rifle, and shots were fired. My eyes watched Rishi as he zig-zagged across the prison grounds, the spotlight trailing his every move.
There was another round of shots, and the spotlight halted in place. A chill swept through Oberi and across our bond, into me. Marcus gave a choked gasp as shots from the rifle echoed through the prison yard. From this point, we were too far away to see Rishi. We held our breath as the distant voices of the guards in the tower above us spoke.
“Did you shoot it?” a guard asked as he leaned over the tower’s edge.
“I think so,” the other guard said slowly. “Whatever it was, it stopped moving. It’s just an animal.”
“A shifter?”
“Nah, it was small. Probably a fox or something,”
“Is it a rabbit? No use wasting good meat. I’d love some stew.”
“The Warden said no one leaves their post. Just keep an eye out.”
“I don’t see why,” the guard complained. “None of these kids are stupid enough to be out here.”
Marcus shook below me. “Rishi.”
“They didn’t get him,” I promised, praying to the ancestors I wasn’t lying. Marcus gave a soft whimper.
Once the spotlights had swept in another direction, we moved toward the sanctuary of the woods that surrounded the lake. I didn’t dare to take another breath until we were in the trees within the prison grounds and out of the reach of the spotlights. Charlie bent over his knees, looking like he was going to throw up, while Kallie took a few ragged pants.
Marcus stood at the edge of the tree line, almost at a point where it was risky. His head looked from this way to that, waiting for Rishi to appear.
My heart dropped. “Marcus…”
“Where is he?” Marcus demanded, and he dared to poke out of the foliage. “He has to be here!”
An icy coldness climbed along my insides. We couldn’t wait for Rishi. If the guard’s aim had been true, he was already gone. We needed to keep moving.
I opened my mouth, trying to find the words. But the fear squeezing my lungs immediately ceased when I heard a softmewbelow me.
“Aw, nice kitty,” Kallie said as Rishi wound himself around her legs. Marcus scrambled to pick him up.
“Rishi, you good boy!” Marcus said as he squeezed Rishi tight, and the cat’s eyes bugged out as everyone gathered around them. Marcus kissed his head and added, “I thought you were a goner!”
“You’re such a smart demigod cat,” I praised, and he purred as I reached down from Oberi to stroke Rishi’s ears.
“We wouldn’t have made it out without him, that’s for sure,” Charlie said as he scratched Rishi’s chin.
“You can have all the catnip you want once we get out of here,” Marcus promised.
“Let’s get moving,” Charlie said. “So we can grab that key and leave.”
The lake’s shore was dark when we reached it, but even so, I feared that guards could be lurking anywhere around its edge.
We heard movement in the trees beside us, and we summoned magic immediately to take down whoever it was. The fireball in my hand burned bright, threatening to eliminate whatever walked through those trees.
“It’s us!” I heard Opal call, and I gave a sigh of relief. We allowed our magic to ebb away as she, my brother, and Alistair stumbled out of the trees. The three of them were covered in cuts and bruises, and were bleeding from several places, but nobody appeared seriously hurt. Tahoma had blood dripping from his antlers, like he’d torn apart someone who’d tried to hurt Ez, but otherwise, I didn’t see a scratch on the elk. Pig’s fur was ruffled, and she was bleeding from a few spots on her pelt.
“You guys all right?” Kallie asked.
“A little banged up, but we managed,” Alistair replied.
“How’d you escape?” Charlie asked.
