“She’s not strong enough for that right now.” Stellan seethed.
“She can handle it,” Cade argued over the deafening growl of one of the creatures. “Right now, we’ve got bigger issues. Getting the spell reactivated won’t do us any good if these creatures are inside when it happens. Castor is helping her. Between the two of them, it will get done.”
A blast of magic erupted from the Wraith’s fingertips, slamming into them like a shockwave. The force hurled all four of them backward into Archer and Alexia. Bridget hit the ground hard. The breath knocked from her lungs. Instinctively, she curled her body around Nylah, gripping the girl’s wrist and pulling her tight against her chest.
Stellan and Cade were already on their feet by the time she’d managed to sit up.
“Watch it,” Alexia grumbled.
“Like I chose to fall on top of you,” Bridget snapped, taking Cade’s outstretched hand. In a flash, he pulled her and Nylah up.
“What exactly are these creatures?” he asked Stellan. “Nothing seems to be able to get them to back down.”
“I’m not sure about the beasts, but the one controlling them is a Wraith.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Archer muttered.
Bridget couldn’t help but agree with him.
With a flick of his wrist, Stellan summoned a dying ember from a smoldering patch of grass. It hovered, trembling in the air above his open palm. With a precise motion, he pinched it between two fingers and drew it upward. The spark stretched and bloomed. In a heartbeat, it exploded into a blazing fireball, casting sharp orange light across his face. The air crackled. Heat shimmered across Bridget’s skin as he launched the fireball straight at the nearest beast.
“Fire will destroy the beasts,” Stellan said, creating another ember. “But it’s going to take more than that to hold off the Wraith. Let’s hope that spell is reactivated sooner rather than later.”
Another blast of magic slammed out of the Wraith. This time, Cade threw out his arm, magic pulsing from his core, before it reached them. Bridget and Nylah were lifted off their feet, weightless for half a second, before they landed safely behind him, cushioned by a burst of Cade’s power. Alexia and Archer crashed to the ground again.
A sharp zing pierced Bridget’s temple. She recognized Cade’s presence immediately.
Get her away.
With another pinch, he was gone. In her peripheral vision, she spotted him yelling another warning at Finn as one of the creatures tried to jumpthrough the hole in the wall again. Pulling Nylah toward the train, Bridget dug her hand into her sister’s pocket.
“Hey!” Nylah protested, trying to wiggle out of her grip. “For someone who likes to pickpocket, I would think you would be a little less rough.”
“Where’s the stone? Those things might want it.”
Which meant it absolutely could not be in her sister’s possession when that happened. Bridget tried again. This time, the stone burned her skin. Muttering a curse, Bridget snatched her hand back.
“I swear I didn’t do that,” Nylah said, wide-eyed.
“I know you didn’t,” Bridget said. Magic had a mind of its own. The ancient rune clearly wanted to stay with Nylah. “Do not let anyone know you have this.”
Still looking stunned, her sister nodded.
“Over here!”
Delphine careened out of the wreckage of a twisted metal tube, stumbling over debris as she sprinted toward them. Blood streaked from a gash along her temple, and black soot clung to the entire left side of her body. She’d been near the blast, close enough to burn. But she was alive. And the sight of her lit something in Bridget’s chest.
Relief broke free in a sob as Bridget launched herself forward. “I can’t believe it’s really you.”
Delphine caught her mid-lunge, arms wrapping around her in a crushing hug. “You have no idea how good it is to see you,” she whispered back, voice thick with emotion.
Her glassy gaze shifted to the girl behind her. “And I know exactly who you are.”
Nylah grinned. “It’s good to know I have a reputation.”
A thunderous crack split the air behind them. Bridget turned instinctively, just in time to glimpse Cade, Stellan, and Finn locked in battle through a thick curtain of smoke. Archer and Alexia lingered at her back, both tense and eyes darting.
“Please take her,” Bridget said, pushing her sister forward. “She needs to get away from this.”
