Meena had the remaining strands in her hands. “Let’s go!” She stepped back into the getaway tunnel.
Ezra and Sol kept their bodies facing Younn, but they began to back toward Meena.
“Ezra,” Younn sounded shocked. “Why am I not surprised?”
As he was speaking, he held his hands forward, dropping his last word into a high pitched note. “You cannot steal magic from a magic user, you fools!” he yelled into the wind.
He inhaled, his hands spread wide to the hanging beads.
After a few moments of nothing happening, he looked quickly down at his hands, as if expecting them to be not empty. “No!”
He quickly looked back up, panic rising as he realized what was happening. Drawing his hands back toward himself, Younn stood taller.
Meena instantly guessed he was going to draw on his chaos—or someone else’s, since the beads around him were empty.
Clutching the beads, and now wet and cold from the rain and wind, Meena was tempted to slam the door closed and run down the tunnel to safety. The inflowing rain water was now powerful enough to hold the door firmly in place. At the very least, it would be very difficult to open the door against the flow of water.
That was it. She glanced back up. Sol and Ezra were still standing inside the door.
“Now!” Sol yelled.
Clutching the strand of pearls that was already in her hand, Ezra yelled a powerful screech. The wind inside the room had settled since Sol stopped controlling it. But that just made the thunderous storm outside all the louder. Ezra’s high voice carried above the thunder.
Purple ribbons shot from her hands. They wrapped around Younn, immobilizing him. As they continued to stream from Ezra’s hand, the ribbons wove around through the squadron of soldiers, stopping their movement as well.
Younn breathed heavily, though he could not move his limbs.
Though she couldn’t hear it, Meena could see Younn shape his mouth, preparing to sing again.
He could still access his magic.
“Run!” Meena screamed. “Now!”
Sol had already noticed, but instead of running out the door, he leaped toward Younn and, pulling a white ribbon from his pocket, he wrapped it around the councilor’s neck.
A small jewel dangled from it, but because of Sol’s position, the jewel swung over the man’s shoulder.
“Ezra,” Sol called as he tied the ribbon as quickly as he could. “Fill it.”
Ezra shrieked again. Meena heard true pain in her loud voice. She was using her own chaos to fill the gem.
Ezra slumped against the wall, her fingers still held out toward Younn.
Meena rushed back into the room, throwing her free arm around Ezra’s shoulders to support her.
Younn let out a low rumble, and purple power gathered at his fingertips.
The gem on his shoulder flickered briefly, stopping his voice before he’d finished.
But the purple magic had already gathered at his fingertips and he shot it forward, striking out as two bursts of lightning toward Ezra. The purple magic at his fingertips shot through the air, striking out as lightning toward Ezra.
Without the time for thinking, Meena used all her weight to pull Ezra straight forward.
Meena landed with a splash on her back, still clutching the beads in both hands. Water splashed over her face, dripping down her nose and throat. Ezra, already slumped over, landed on top of her as the lightning attack struck the wall where her head had been.
Sol lifted Ezra and half carried, half dragged her to the getaway door.
Meena scrambled after them, pushing off the ground with her hands. Coughing the water out of her lungs, she stopped for a brief moment to slam the door shut behind her with one foot.
