“Do you have a plan for getting out of this building?”

I shot him an irritated look. “Bet our plan is better than yours was when you got your dumb ass tagged by a guild.”

“You don’t have a plan, do you?”

I jammed another ill-fitting key in his cuffs.

“Getting in is always easier than getting out,” Kai said, rolling his shoulders. The electrical sockets near him sparked ominously. “We’re making a run for it. Fast and hard, straight for the exit.”

Zak’s cold green eyes slashed to the mage. “Do you really think that will be enough?”

Kai stepped back into the hallway and tossed the keys into the holding cells. The rogues shouted in surprise and delight, scuffing on the floor for the keys.

“A little chaos can go a long way.” Rejoining us, he pulled throwing stars from his pocket, holding them between his fingers so that his fists bristled with short, sharp blades. “Get those cuffs off him.”

“I’m working on it.” I slid a third key into his cuffs as a metal clang echoed from the hall—the rogues opening the holding cell. “We—”

The door to the stairwell flew open.

A group of agents burst in, all urgency and tension, but whatever they were all worked up about, the sight of two masked intruders and an inmate standing where the guards should’ve been didn’t match. Their expressions went blank with disbelief, and for a single heartbeat, no one moved.

Kai flung a fistful of bladed stars into the group. Cries of pain rang out—then lightning burst from Kai’s outstretched hand. Three agents collapsed in convulsions.

I released the key ring and yanked out my paintball gun. My first shot hit a guy in the chest, splattering yellow potion everywhere. As he fell, the woman behind him dove through the open door and into the stairwell. I fired two more shots, emptying my clip. The last one just missed her as she shot up the stairs.

An agent in her forties cast her arms out. A gust of wind straight out of a tornado struck me and Kai. We flew backward and slammed into the wall. The air punched out of my lungs and I barely hung on to my gun as I slid down to the floor.

A shrieking alarm erupted from a small speaker beside the fried security camera. The aeromage and another agent, the last two standing, ducked into the stairwell—hiding on either side of the doorway, meaning we’d have to walk between them to get out. Waiting for the elevator wasn’t an option, and I hadn’t seen any other exits.

Kai slapped his hand against an electrical outlet and white light blazed up his arm. The lights flickered wildly. I popped the magazine out of my gun, stuffed it in my pocket, and fumbled for a new one. A cautious rogue stuck his head through the thick security door to check what was happening.

Crouched behind the desk between the two unconscious desk agents, Zak twisted the key in his remaining handcuff, the first already hanging open. The bulky cuffs dropped off him. He tossed the keys aside and slowly curled his fingers into fists, an almost exhilarated expression passing over his face.

Footsteps thudded down the stairs, loud enough that the alarm couldn’t hide their approach. A stream of agents filled the landing as they lined up around the door, preparing to charge us.

We were so screwed.

Kai pulled his hand off the socket and clenched his fist, vibrating with the amount of electricity he’d absorbed. With the ski mask covering his face, I couldn’t guess his expression, but if it was anything like mine, then “stark terror” would be pretty accurate.

Zak turned his left arm over, baring his druid tattoos to the ceiling. He ran two fingers from his wrist up to the chartreuse rune emblazoned in the topmost circle. As the alarm blared, his lips moved with words I couldn’t hear.

The rune lit with a faint glow. It rippled, then turned to liquid light that dribbled off his arm in radiant droplets. They splashed onto the floor and sank into the solid concrete.

Breathing fast, I jammed the new magazine in my paintball gun and prepared to attempt the impossible. On the plus side, the MPD agents would probably try to capture us rather than kill us. Maybe.

The ground quivered under my feet.

I looked down in alarm. Another quiver. A shivering rumble.

A crack appeared in the floor. Another zigzagging line split the concrete, jolting the desk. A shudder traveled through the ground and into my legs, vibrating my teeth—then the earth heaved. The floor shattered, bits of concrete shooting into the air.

Dark, twisting vines thrust out of the ground, lengthening by the second. The desk flipped as a vine thicker than my arm uncurled beneath it. The computer monitors smashed on the floor, and the desk splintered into pieces, crushed between engorged plants.

I shrieked as the floor fissured between my feet. A vine a foot in diameter unfurled, shoving me into the wall as it stretched upward.

Zak vaulted over the remains of the desk and charged for the stairwell.

I tore free from the vine as it thickened, the flexible stem bulging with quarter-sized bumps. Inch-long thorns with glistening black tips sprouted from the nubs.

Kai grabbed my hand and sprinted after Zak. Darting around a vine, the druid rammed his shoulder into a panicking agent. The man crashed into a thorny plant and loosed a scream I could hear over the blaring alarm, shattering concrete, and groaning earth.

Zak shot past the remaining agents, who were too busy fleeing or helping their comrades to stop him. Ever-thickening vines pushed upward, climbing the stairs or ripping straight through them. I chased the druid up the steps, stumbling and clutching the railing as the whole building rocked.

The stairs split open, a vine thrusting through them. I sprang over the widening gap with a desperate cry. I stumbled on the landing and Kai caught my elbow, steadying me. We raced for the main level.

Zak was already through the door, but I doubted he’d face any resistance. The precinct was in chaos—alarms blaring and people screaming. The cubicles were collapsing, the floor was quaking, and chasms were erupting everywhere. As I burst out of the stairwell, a five-foot section of the floor caved in and a swarm of vines spewed out like writhing tentacles.

I sprinted after Zak as he flew past the booking desk, the glass wall behind it in pieces. He shoved through the first door, and I caught up as he slammed through the second and out into the parking lot. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the right, Kai behind us. We sprinted alongside the building toward the street.

Glass shattered overhead. Shards rained down, disintegrating into sparkling dust on impact. Above us, vines surged out of the second-floor windows, seeking sunlight. A hunk of dislodged concrete slammed down on a parked car, caving the roof in.

We bolted across the street and into the mouth of the alley where Kai and I had waited for an unlucky agent to ambush at the burger joint. The restaurant staff was standing on the street corner, gaping upward.

Just before the alley could cut off our view, I stopped and turned, pulling off my ski mask.

The ground groaned and trembled as the precinct shook under the onslaught. Agents were fleeing out the doors in droves, and a handful of unagenty rogues dashed across the parking lot for safety. Debris pummeled the street as the walls split and the ceiling ripped open.

As we watched, the writhing plants slowed, then stiffened. The quaking violence quieted, broken only by bits of falling debris and shifting rubble. A twisted sculpture of dark green vines and black thorns rose from the precinct’s roof like a hideous crown.

Reaching out blindly, I closed one hand around Kai’s wrist and the other around the druid’s.

“Zak,” I whispered hoarsely, “what did you do?”

He tilted his other hand up, glancing at the empty circle on his forearm. “The fae who gave me that magic wasn’t very specific about its effects.”

Kai swore quietly. “How will MagiPol explain this to the public? Conspiracy theorists will go nuts.”

Disbelieving humans crept closer, their phones out and video recording. Sirens wailed in the distance.

“Holy shit,” I whimpered.

Zak tugged his wrist from my hand. “Do you have a vehicle?”

“This way.” Tugging his mask off, Kai turned his back on the disquieting sight. “We should hurry.”

He broke into a jog and I hastened after him, Zak trailing behind me. My head was spinning, and as the adrenaline faded, cold dread grew in its place. Were the people in there okay? Had the agents survived the unleashing of the vines and the collapse of the ceiling?

“Zak,” I muttered over my shoulder, “don’t you think that was overkill?”

“I told you I didn’t know the spell was that destructive.”

“Then you shouldn’t have used it.” I glanced back at him, furious and scared and relieved all at once. “Maybe I should start calling you pea-brain instead of dickhead. How could you—”

I ran into Kai’s back.

Bouncing off with a gasp, I flailed for balance. Zak caught me by the waist and heaved me upright. Winded, I opened my mouth to berate Kai for stopping so suddenly.

We’d reached the far end of the alley. Our borrowed car waited on the adjoining street for our triumphant getaway, but it wouldn’t be going anywhere—not with two big black SUVs parked inches from its front and back bumpers, trapping it in place.

Four Asian men, dressed in identical black suits with reflective sunglasses, stood on the sidewalk in front of the SUVs. The one beside the nearer vehicle opened the back door and held it wide in invitation, accompanying the motion with a polite bow.

Kai, standing rigidly, didn’t seem to breathe. I looked from him to the waiting men to Zak, whose eyes had gone flat and scary again.

The man at the SUV door held his bow, waiting. No one moved. The tension was so thick I could taste it.

The second stranger bowed as well. “Yamada-dono, onegaishimasu.”

I got two things out of that: the name Yamada and that the language was Japanese. Icy alarm splintered through my veins.

At the man’s words, Kai’s rigidity broke. His shoulders slumped, the fight going out of him, his air of defeat palpable.

No. No, Kai didn’t give up. He never gave up.