“We don’t have long,” I said. “Let’s get moving.”
I could feel the heat of the fire in the walls, and I didn’t think we had more than a few minutes before this section of the Institute would be completely engulfed in flames. I approached the door and reached for the handle, but it didn’t budge.
Marcus pushed me aside and started banging on the door with his fists. “Let me in!Let me in, you motherfucking asshole rotten piece of shit limp dick cock of a man!”
“Out of the way,” I said. I slammed my shoulder against the door, trying to ram it open. Rishi yowled loudly, as if he too was cursing out the Warden.
Magic swelled, and I was blasted backward. I landed against the opposite wall, gasping for breath that had been knocked out of me.
“Charlie!” Ava cried.
“I’m all right,” I gasped as I got to my feet. “The wards are still active.”
“Marcus should be able to break it—” Kallie started, but Marcus didn’t seem to hear her.
He was already approaching the door again, muttering lowly to himself. “Ha! The Warden put up a cute little ward. He thinks that will stop us? So funny, so funny.”
Marcus gave a snicker that caused my skin to crawl. My Elven magic sensed power surge through the hallway, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. It grew bigger and bigger, tingling all up and down my body until—
Crack!
A massive sound like shattering glass echoed through the hall, and the magic dissipated all at once.
I didn’t know what Marcus had done, but I’d never witnessed anything like it. Every time he’d broken a ward before, he had to transform the spell into something new, because energy couldn’t be created or destroyed. But we were demigods, and wecouldcreate something out of nothing— which meant we could destroy it, too, and Marcus was definitely at the height of his abilities right now.
Even if he’d had to go completely psychotic to access them.
“I broke his ward, like snapping twigs,” Marcus said gleefully. “Maybe I’ll break his neck, next.”
“Marcus, calm down,” Kallie demanded. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Marcus laughed maniacally. Kallie must’ve been shaking him, because his laughter sounded garbled as his head swung back and forth.
“Marcus, cut it out!” Kallie ordered. When he didn’t stop, the crisp sound of a bitch slap filled the hall.
Marcus went dead silent for a moment, but his laughter returned a moment later, like he hadn’t felt a thing.
“Whew!” he cried. “Do that again!”
“Leave him alone,” I said. “We’ll get him help when we get out of here.”
Marcus was fucking insane right now, but he was functioning, and it actually seemed to be working in our favor. We didn’t have time to bring him back to Earth at the moment.
We wound up the tall tower that led to the Warden’s office. I levitated Ava up the stairs with my Air magic, and Oberi shifted into a husky so he could fit through the narrow stairwell. Kallie jumped back as she approached the door, nearly knocking into me. “It’s iron. I can’t get through.”
I lifted my hands. My Earth magic twisted around the iron and crushed it at a simple thought. I tossed it aside with my Air magic like it was nothing more than a crumpled piece of paper. It skidded across the room, the scraping sound echoing around us.
Well, that’s one way to do it, Oberi said.
“Let’s hurry up,” Ava insisted. “The fire’s almost here.”
“The door won’t hurt you, my pretty, yes,” Marcus cooed as we walked through. I figured he was stroking Kallie’s hair.
“Oh my gods,” Kallie grumbled.
We hurried inside, and Ava instructed me to place her in a chair… but not justanychair. The big, imposing one that sat behind the Warden’s mahogany desk.
“Let’s see what the Warden’s been hiding,” Ava snarled, and she began ripping open desk drawers, rifling through the contents.
