I let their voices wash over me, my eyes closed. I was exhausted, but also wired with anxiety. My thoughts spun and spun, and it was so hard to quiet my mind enough to catch a little sleep. The unpleasantly hard floor didn’t help, but there was nowhere remotely comfortable in this barren office to sleep.

“… wasn’t expecting Sabrina to show up.” Aaron’s voice filtered through my jittery drowsiness. “I never suspected she might not be a diviner.”

I cracked my eyes open, frowning. “What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t she be a diviner? She predicted where we’d be with her tarot cards.”

“Have you ever seen a tarot reading include something as specific as a location?” Aaron asked dryly. “Tarot cards are all about your present state, big decisions, directions your life is taking, that sort of thing.”

My frown deepened. “Her readings haven’t been super specific, but everything she’s predicted for my future has come true.”

“Everything?”

“Yeah.”

He rubbed his stubbly jaw. “I’d say that’s further confirmation that something’s fishy, then. Diviners are usually vague about the direction your future is headed because tarot cards aren’t reliable that way.”

Ezra nodded. “I was surprised when she predicted you’d save my life back in November.”

I massaged my temples. “How can you believe in her predictions but not believe she’s a diviner?”

“I never said I didn’t think she could predict the future. Whatever she can do, knowing where to show up to help us is next-level predictive power. I get why she would hide it.”

My gaze flicked up to Ezra. How many other guild members hid their secrets within the ragtag group of misfits known as the Crow and Hammer?

“You know what’d be nice?” I muttered. “A future prediction about us winning the lottery and spending a month in Hawaii.”

“Aaron doesn’t need to win the lottery,” Ezra pointed out.

Aaron leaned his head back against the wall. “If you’re craving a tropical vacation, I can just tell my parents I’m interested in checking out the IEA’s Polynesian branch. They’ll fly us there for as long as we want.”

I was too tired to remember what IEA stood for. Some huge Elementaria guild. “Yeah, just don’t mention that Ezra is a demon mage.”

Aaron grunted.

“What do your parents think of your promotion?” I asked after a moment. “Did you tell them?”

“Nope.” His smile was surprisingly relaxed. “I don’t need to hear what they think. I’m happy about it.”

I grinned, finding happiness in that even with everything else going on.

Now we just needed to fix this whole mess so he could go back to enjoying his promotion instead of fleeing for his life as a wanted rogue.

I climbed off the floor and stretched again, my muscles painfully stiff from a night sitting on the floor. More out of habit than hope, I called Robin’s number—straight to voicemail—then pocketed the phone and picked up my combat belt, which I’d left on the desk. My fingers brushed the empty pouch at the back. Still no Hoshi.

We gathered up our things. I shouldered the precious backpack with the ritual, demon blood, and cult grimoire, and Aaron strapped Sharpie against his back under his jacket. Ezra donned his steel-reinforced gloves, then pulled his leather coat on over them.

This was as ready as we’d get.

My stomach grumbled miserably as we slipped out of the dark office. We’d eaten—sort of. The HVAC company’s staff room had included a vending machine of drinks and snacks. We’d smashed the glass and dined on chips, chocolate bars, and bags of trail mix, washed down with bottles of water. Not exactly nutritious, but better than nothing.

Once we were out of the city, Aaron could access one of his secret bank accounts. With cash in hand, we could buy real food, but that wouldn’t be happening for hours yet.

We approached the back door, and Aaron cracked it open to peer outside. A line of large work vans with company logos on their sides filled the lot, and our old white sedan was tucked between two of them. I wondered where Sabrina had gotten it. As far as I knew, she didn’t own a car.

Dawn was a mere suggestion of light in the eastern sky, and the still air was fresh and crisp. Seeing nothing moving in the lot, Aaron opened the door all the way.

Ezra clamped his hand on Aaron’s shoulder, halting him. The aeromage stood unmoving for a moment, then slammed the door shut.

“There are people out there.”

Chapter Fourteen

My heart skipped a beat. “There are people out there? As in, like, people who work in this area?”

“They’re grouped in an alley.” He turned to Aaron. “How long will it take to get in the car and drive out of the parking lot?”

Aaron considered it. “Too long. I don’t want to be trapped in a vehicle when they attack.”

“They’re probably watching all the exits. We need to make a new one.”

Aaron nodded. “The buildings to the west are a maze. We can run that way and lose them in the alleys.”

In agreement, the two mages marched back down the hall, and I rushed after them. We’d been cornered again. Which guild was preparing to ambush us this time? The same Odin’s Eye mythics? More Grand Grimoire contractors?

The guys chose a west-facing window. Ezra drew himself up, then waved a hand. His blast of wind blew out the glass, and as it smashed on the ground outside, we leaped over the sill.

Distant calls rang out as our feet hit the pavement—and then we were running. Aaron shot ahead, leading us into the nearest alley. This industrial area was full of interconnecting alleys and back roads for accessing all the rear businesses and commercial lots. If we could lose our pursuers anywhere, it was here.

I ran hard, Ezra right behind me. My gasping breaths were too loud for me to hear if anyone was coming up behind us, but I didn’t dare hope we’d left them behind already. Warehouses flashed by on either side. Thirty yards ahead, the alley split in a T-intersection.

As we sprinted toward that first turn, the air grew sickeningly damp—then a wave of water crashed over my ankles, sweeping my feet out from under me.

I slammed down on my ass and skidded on the wet pavement. Defying all laws of fluid dynamics, the water reversed direction and flowed over my legs, encasing them.

With a crackle, the water froze into solid ice.

The guys were down too, but fire blazed off Aaron, melting the ice on his legs, and Ezra wrenched free with his inhuman strength. They leaped up. I didn’t have their extra special abilities, and my legs stayed frozen to the ground. Yanking out my paintball gun, I smashed its metal butt against the ice.

The ground trembled, then shattered into zigzagging fissures. As Aaron and Ezra staggered for balance, the crumbling pavement broke the ice holding me down. I scrambled onto my knees as the earth rocked.

Wind erupted, howling down the alley and blasting into the off-balance mages. Aaron dropped to one knee, but Ezra caught himself and whipped his arm out, his buffeting wind countering the assaulting gale.

Orange light blazed—but not from Aaron. Forty feet away, a man glowed with flames. A pyromage. And arranged around him, illuminated by his fire, were five others.

Universally tall, well-built, fit as professional athletes, and decked out in identical gear. I would’ve laughed at their dorky matching uniforms, except the black garments, each emblazoned with a logo over the heart, didn’t make them look silly. Their unifying attire made them all the more terrifying.

They could only be the Pandora Knights, the city’s most accomplished bounty hunting guild, populated entirely by mages. Highly skilled, notoriously aggressive, powerful mages.

My frightened stare swept across them. Hydromage, kryomage, terramage, aeromage, pyromage.

The unknown mage on the far left pointed a thin-bladed rapier. Electricity crackled down the steel, then leaped toward us. Aaron thrust Sharpie out, catching the bolt. It sizzled over the blade, then leaped down into the pavement, unable to bypass the insulated hilt.

The Pandora Knights team didn’t waste any time on conversation, banter, or threats. Three darted forward and two fell back, one mage in the middle, their movements fluid and practiced. An attack formation.

Aaron held his sword out, placed his hand against the blade, and slid his palm down the steel in a sharp movement.

Fire exploded over the six mages.

The attack would’ve incapacitated any other team, but not this one. Ice burst from the kryomage, water flooded the hydromage, wind swept over the aeromage. The pyromage extended his hands toward the electramage and terramage, extinguishing the flames on them in a heartbeat—while completely ignoring the fire crawling harmlessly over his own limbs.

“Run,” Aaron rasped. “I’ll distract them.”

I shot to my feet, clutching my useless paintball gun. “But—”

“I’ll be right behind you!” He raised his sword, concentration tightening his face. “I need you two out of the way!”

Right. We were flammable. Whirling, I shoved my gun in its holster and grabbed Ezra’s arm.

“Aaron—” he began sharply.

“This one is my fight,” Aaron shot over his shoulder. “You know what yours is, Ezra!”

Confusion sparked amidst my urgency. Ezra hesitated, his face twisting, then pivoted on his heel and sprinted away. I ran beside him, clutching his hand. Firelight flared behind us. A rush of pounding footsteps, a crackle of electricity—then roaring flames exploded outward, filling the alley.

We reached an intersection and I spun around, staring back at the fire. Waiting for Aaron’s silhouette to appear. Waiting for him to dash out of the blaze and run to join us.

Ezra’s hand crushed mine.

The fire was withering—and electricity flashed. The earth quaked, pavement cracking with a sound like a gunshot. Wind whooshed across the alley, bending the flames, revealing the silhouettes within the dying inferno.