“There’s an animation array somewhere inside it.” A yellow wire—the same spell Zak had used to dangle a rogue off a building—spiraled out of his hand and wrapped around his golem’s legs, halting its charge. It strained against the binding. “You have to destroy it!”

“I’m a mage,” Aaron snarled, evading another charge. “Why the hell would I know what an animation array looks like?”

“Or you can just wait. The magic only lasts ten or twelve minutes in combat.”

“Not helpful!”

Alone at the edge of the fight, I slammed my paintball gun into its holster. Useless. What else did I have? I shuffled through my pouches as Ezra ducked away, weaponless, and Aaron held Sharpie defensively, its blade useless against the steel-bodied golem. Zak was doing only slightly better, his golem immobilized as he sank his saber into a geared joint, disabling its foreleg.

Aaron’s golem swung its huge head, Ezra’s pole-arm stuck in its mouth, and rammed the pyromage off his feet. As it jumped on him, Ezra drove his steel-reinforced fist into the heavy brute, adding a blast of wind to knock it off its feet.

It slid half a foot with scarcely a wobble. Even Ezra’s demonic strength wasn’t enough, and he didn’t have a proper weapon—

But I did. I had the perfect weapon for him.

I whipped my brass knuckles out of their pouch, drew my arm back, and shouted, “Ezra!”

He looked toward me, and I flung the brass knuckles. All my practice tossing potion balls finally paid off—the artifact flew in a beautiful arc and he caught it out of the air.

“Punch the golem again!” I yelled. “The incantation is ori amplifico!”

He shoved the brass knuckles on his hand as Aaron twisted, a clawed steel foot almost landing on him. The golem’s paw hit the floor, cracking the concrete under the rug. Aaron was trapped, about to be crushed.

Air whooshed down the corridor.

“Ori amplifico!” Ezra shouted, wind forming around his hand, muscles bulging in his arm. His fist slammed into the golem’s shoulder. The air boomed in a bone-breaking concussion. Steel split wide open under the impact and the golem crashed down on its side, almost crushing Aaron’s ankle.

Its legs screeched against the floor, but its metal joints were too inflexible. It couldn’t get up.

“Ezra, Zak, over here!” I rushed forward, pulling out my Queen of Spades. “Aaron, time to make it hot!”

“I can’t melt them, Tori!” he shouted in exasperation, scrambling to his feet.

“You can make it hot enough to mess up the spell arrays, though!” I grabbed Zak’s sleeve and dragged him away from his mechanical opponent. He snapped his golden spell away, and the golem staggered awkwardly on three working legs. The other golem was still waving its feet like a mindless robot. One foot caught on the floor and its body rocked.

Aaron raised his switch, pointing the blade at the ceiling. “Ready?”

I thrust the Queen of Spades out, Zak and Ezra safely behind me. “Ready!”

The metallic scent of ozone stung my nose. Shimmers of superheated air rippled over Aaron’s sword, faint blue flames licking up the steel as it glowed.

He swung his sword down. A wall of blue and white fire exploded across the golems—and straight toward us.

“Ori repercutio!” I cried.

The air rippled and the fire rebounded into the golems. The inferno collided with itself, white sparks flying, the walls scorching black, the carpet igniting. The flames swirled wildly, heat blasting me, then shrank.

The golems reappeared. The one Ezra had knocked over, its split side glowing red from heat, no longer moved. The radiant markings over its body had disappeared. But the other, its extremities steaming with heat, creaked in an awkward half circle, its gaping neck hole pointed at Aaron.

A loud pop echoed from inside its body. I heard the splash of liquid, then sizzling. Steam poured out of the golem’s joints, and a horrible burnt stench assaulted my nose.

The golem’s glowing runes faded to darkness, and it went still.

Aaron lowered his sword. His half-melted vest barely clung to him, and his shirt was no more than a few blackened shreds.

“I hate golems,” Zak muttered.

“Me too,” I volunteered.

“Same here,” Ezra agreed. “Aaron, did my pole-arm survive?”

Aaron tilted his head, then kicked at the golem’s jaw. “Nope. Fused to its teeth.” He peeled off the remains of his vest one-handed, then lifted his leather baldric off. It was blackened and the top had burned away. “Damn.”

Ezra tossed me the brass knuckles. “Thanks, Tori.”

“No problem.”

Zak leaned over the unmoving golem, sniffing at the lingering odor. “What is that? Another potion?”

“It’s blood.”

Zak glanced questioningly at Aaron.

The pyromage shrugged. “Burning shit is my area of expertise. That smells like burnt blood. Mostly.”

“Blood as part of a golem array?” Zak muttered. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Can we worry about it later?” I tucked the Queen of Spades and the brass knuckles back into their pouches. “I’d like to get the hell away from here in case more golems show up to—”

With a pale flash, Hoshi swept right through the nearest wall. As she whirled around me, an image filled my head: Kai, blood running down his face, skin smudged with soot, the flickering light of flames washing over him.

“Holy crap!” I yelped. “Lead the way, Hoshi!”

She zoomed ahead of me and I charged after her, leaving the guys in the dust.

“Tori!” Aaron sprinted after me. “Did Hoshi find Kai?”

“Yeah, and we need to hurry!”

I was so focused on running, so frantic to get to Kai, that I didn’t immediately notice the building heat. When Hoshi stopped in front of a door with a push bar, I kept running—my brain too slow to realize Aaron was shouting at me to stop.

I rammed the door open—and fire exploded all around me.

Aaron tackled me to the floor, arms banded over me, body and magic shielding me from the heat. The wave of flames burst through the doorway in a roaring maelstrom before subsiding.

He pushed onto his hands and knees above me, and I raised my head.

Beyond the door was a huge, smoke-hazed room that occupied the curved end of the U-shaped floor. Windows filled the double-height walls, and probably offered a spectacular view of the harbor when the room wasn’t filled with smoke. Fires burned across the remains of the furniture.

A silhouette appeared in the smoke, moving closer. A handkerchief was tied over his nose and mouth to filter the smoke.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded in a deep voice.

Aaron shoved upward, unarmed—he must’ve dropped his sword so he wouldn’t impale me. Fire rippled up his arms, and the other mythic lifted his hands in response, flames leaping from the floor to his palms.

Still sprawled on my stomach, I yanked out my paintball gun and pulled the trigger.

Yellow potion splattered across the mage’s upper chest and neck. Shock widened his eyes, and he toppled backward, hitting the floor with a thud.

From the smoke behind him, three more silhouettes appeared—three strangers. Three enemies. I scrambled up, Aaron in front of me, Hoshi hovering above my head, Zak and Ezra crowding in the doorway behind me.

The air crackled.

Throwing stars flew out of the haze, firelight flickering over their shining edges. They struck the three rogues, and sizzling white power leaped out of the smoke, a branch of electricity slamming into each man. They convulsed from the shock and dropped to their knees with cries of pain.

The smoke swirled. Wind whipped through the room, bending the flames sideways and lifting the choking haze.

Makiko strode across the burning carpet, the fires in her path snuffing out before she reached them. She held a shiny metal fan in each hand, angled elegantly. Kai followed a step behind her, his face exactly as Hoshi had shown me, his clothes torn and splattered with blood, one sleeve charred off his arm.

Makiko’s glare locked on the three rogues, on their knees from Kai’s electric shock—but not for long. They were already recovering, fury and pain twisting their faces.

She stretched her arms out, then slashed with her fans. A rippling hiss of air.

The three rogues jerked, their heads snapping backward, then they pitched over, blood gushing from their sliced necks. They writhed helplessly, their blood sizzling on the carpet.

I stared, my lungs locked. She had … she had slit their throats with air? I hereby retracted all thoughts I’d ever had of fighting the petite aeromage.

“There you are, Kai,” Aaron announced, his voice carrying over the crackling flames. “We were looking for you.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you here?”

“Saving your ass.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“We do not require help,” Makiko snapped. “We—”

Kai strode past her to Aaron. They clasped arms, then Kai and Ezra did the same. Lastly, the electramage caught me around the waist with his uninjured arm and pulled me against his side.

“Not what I meant when I said keep them under control, Tori,” he muttered in my ear.

“Who’s leading the attack?” Zak demanded impatiently. “Is Varvara here?”

Kai pulled away from me. “Varvara? The sorceress?”

“Who’s leading the attack?” Zak asked again.

“No idea, but there aren’t many mythic intruders left. Those things, on the other hand—”

The floor vibrated with heavy steps. A clanging racket grew louder—metal footsteps drawing closer.

“—are impossible to stop.”

“Watch it!” Zak yelled.

Too late—a jet of green liquid shot out of the smoke, straight for us.

Makiko flicked her fan at the same time Ezra thrust out his hand. The double gust of wind blew the potion back at its source. It splashed across a new golem, drenching its head and back. The liquid bubbled, toxic steam pouring off it as it dissolved the golem’s steel body.