Aaron pushed me out of the apartment. We sprinted down the hall and through a metal door into a stairwell. Back down to ground level, along another hall, across an empty foyer, and out the main entrance.

We burst out onto the same street as Robin’s apartment, two buildings down. Lights from the firetrucks flashed, and nearby, two ambulances sat with their back doors open, the paramedics talking to a handful of forlorn-looking evacuees.

I looked around wildly for the best direction to run. With any other guild, I would’ve run into the nearest group of humans, but I didn’t trust the Grand Grimoire to hold back.

The three of us hesitated, unsure what to do.

“Tori!”

Waving frantically, a woman ran toward us from the far side of an ambulance, her face shining with perspiration and pale blond hair tied back in a short, messy ponytail.

“Sabrina?” I shrieked.

She flew into me, crushing my chest with a hug. “I’m so glad I found you! I wasn’t sure where—the fire was the only clear sign—if I’d missed you—”

I pried her off and held her shoulders so I could gawk at her face. “What are you doing here?”

“This way, quickly!” She tugged on my arm to get me moving.

“What—” Aaron began.

“There’s no time!” She hauled me into motion. “Come on!”

Aaron and Ezra ran after us as she led me farther up the street. Skidding to a stop, she plucked a key chain with a single key out of her pocket and held it out.

When I just stared, she shook it urgently. “Take it! Escape!”

“Esc—” Breaking off, I realized we’d stopped beside an old white car with rust around the bottom of the doors. “But—”

She stuffed the key into my hand. “They’re coming. Look!”

I looked over my shoulder. A group of burly men was silhouetted against the flashing lights, clustered in the middle of the street. One of them pointed in our direction, and the whole group broke into a run.

Heading straight for us.

“Get in the car!” Aaron barked, plucking the keys from my hand. He raced around the front bumper and yanked open the driver’s door.

Ezra opened a back door and dove in. “Tori!”

Tears spilled down Sabrina’s cheeks. She pushed me toward Ezra’s open door. “Go, Tori. Please—please be safe!”

The engine rumbled to life. Ezra grabbed my arm, pulling me backward.

“Sabrina,” I babbled frantically, “what about y—”

“I’ll be fine. Go!” Turning, she dashed into a nearby alley.

As she vanished in the darkness, Ezra hauled me into the car. I sprawled across his lap, and with the door still hanging open, Aaron hit the gas. The tires squealed and the car shot forward.

Ezra caught the flapping door and slammed it shut. With my legs across his lap, I pushed myself up, peering out the back window.

The Grand Grimoire team stood in the center of the road, watching us escape. There was no sign of Sabrina.

Chapter Thirteen

I slumped in an uncomfortable swivel chair, staring listlessly as Aaron paced the length of the office, over and over. Ezra stood at the window, peering through a gap in the cheap plastic blinds.

We’d gone to ground in a rundown industrial neighborhood in the Eastside. Our car was parked in a back lot, and we’d broken into a small, shabby office building belonging to an HVAC company—a struggling one, by the look of things.

“Did Robin and Amalia go home after the Odin’s Eye ambush last night?” Aaron muttered as he swept past. “I know their address isn’t registered, but still not smart.”

“Robin isn’t a combat mythic.” Ezra tugged on the blinds, closing the gap he’d been looking through. “But Zylas is a hunter. He knows the danger. If they went back, it’s because they had to.”

“Who attacked their apartment? Was it that Grand Grimoire team?” I thought of how swiftly Zylas had plowed through combat mythics in the museum basement. Would those Grand Grimoire mythics have even slowed him down? “Was Zylas the one who blew out the wall?”

“He’d only use magic as a last resort.” Ezra folded his arms. “Same reason I can’t use Eterran’s magic to defend us.”

Claiming the charges against Ezra were bogus would be difficult to pull off already; if anyone saw him using demon magic, we’d have no chance of convincing MagiPol not to execute him. And Robin had the same problem. She couldn’t afford any witnesses blabbing about her illegal contract with Zylas.

“Does it matter who attacked them?” Aaron growled, pacing back across the room. “We can’t contact her and we can’t search for her—not while every guild in the city is hunting us.”

My hands clenched. “We have to search for them. Without them, we can’t do the ritual.”

Aaron came to a halt and pressed both hands to his face. He pushed his fingers up into his hair, and when he finally turned to me, his expression was as bleak as I’d ever seen it.

“We’ll be caught before we have any chance of finding her … and we don’t even know if she’s alive.”

Silence fell as we let that terrifying possibility sink in.

“Can we hire an Arcana mythic to set up the ritual for us instead?” Ezra asked.

“If Kai were with us, maybe.” Aaron paced another circle. “We could look for a rogue Arcaner, but—shit, guys. I’ve never hired a rogue before. We’re just as likely to walk into a sting as find a rogue guild.”

I pressed my hands tightly together. I could think of one mythic who knew his way around the rogue underground, but I had no way to contact him—and no desire to put Ezra’s life in his hands a second time.

“All mythic attention in the city is on us,” Aaron continued, “and even rogues will have heard about a demon mage bounty. Approaching anyone would be a huge risk.”

“Then what?” I asked. “How do we set up the ritual?”

“I think …” He blew out a breath. “I think we need to get out of the city.”

I was shaking my head before he even finished. “We can’t do that.”

“We run for it,” he repeated. “We fall back on the plan we made with Darius six years ago in case Ezra was ever discovered. Everything’s already arranged. We flee north to Alaska, and once we’re far enough away, we can find a mythic who’ll do the ritual.”

I stood up, shoving the office chair. It rolled into the wall with a thump. “But what about Kai? He’s in MPD custody right now! Are we just going to abandon him? What about the Crow and Hammer? The guild could be disbanded. One week to prepare the ritual is already pushing it. If we disappear for two or three weeks, we’ll never be able to convince the MPD that Ezra is innocent!”

“I know, Tori.” Aaron’s gaze was quietly distressed. “I just don’t see any other option.”

Turning away from him, I shoved the chair into the wall again. Despair warred with a dozen other emotions—frantic fear, seething fury, suffocating guilt. Everything hinged on the ritual, and without Robin or Amalia, we were screwed. Why had they disappeared? Why weren’t they helping us? We’d made a deal! I’d given them the damn amulet!

I shoved the chair a third time. The impact jarring up my arms didn’t distract me from the churning fear and anger. The bang of it hitting the wall didn’t drown out the voice in my head telling me we were doomed.

It wasn’t fair! We’d been so close! We’d been minutes away from separating Ezra and Eterran. Now every possible worst-case scenario was playing out before our eyes and there was nothing I could do to fix it. Nothing!

As a shout of despairing fury wrenched from my throat, I grabbed the chair and swung it into a filing cabinet with all my strength. It struck with a ringing clang, but it didn’t help, and I reached for the chair again.

Ezra stepped in front of me, blocking my reach, and wrapped me in his arms.

For a second, I considered shoving him away. I didn’t want comfort. I wanted to rage and scream and curse at the whole damn world.

His arms tightened, sturdy and unyielding. “Breathe, Tori.”

I realized my chest was heaving with fast, furious inhalations. Jaw tight, I buried my face in his shoulder and focused on slowing my lungs. Gradually, the agonizing tension in my muscles released and the raging storm of emotions quieted.

Ezra rested his cheek on my head. “Kai is in MPD lockup, not a dungeon. He may not be comfortable, but he’s safe. And Darius knows how to handle the MPD. He’ll protect the Crow and Hammer.”

Eyes squeezed shut, I didn’t answer. Kai wasn’t being tortured, but I had no reason to trust the MPD. And neither did Darius, who could only play loophole chess with them for so long before he ran out of moves.

Nothing was guaranteed. No one was safe.

Including us.

I gripped fistfuls of Ezra’s shirt. The worst thing for Kai, for Darius, for the Crow and Hammer, and for us would be getting caught. Ezra would be killed. Kai, Aaron, and I would be convicted of capital crimes for protecting him. The Crow and Hammer would be disbanded.

The best way to help everyone was to get out of the city before we lost our chance.

“All right,” I whispered. “When do we leave?”

“We’ll wait for morning,” Aaron answered, and I started, surprised to find him leaning against the desk right behind me. “The Grand Grimoire guys saw our car. All the bounty hunters will be watching for a white sedan, so we’ll try to blend in with the morning commuters.”

I nodded, my cheek pressed to Ezra’s chest. Untangling my fist from his shirt, I grasped Aaron’s warm hand and entwined our fingers, connecting the three of us together.

As long as we were together, I could hold back the dark despair.

Curled against Ezra’s side, the floor cold and hard under my butt, I wearily listened to the low rumble of his voice as he and Aaron debated the best route out of the city. The three of us were tucked in a corner of the office, leaning against the wall and waiting for the first tinge of dawn to touch the horizon.