With clanking steps, two more canine golems stomped out of the thickening smoke.

“Let’s go!” Kai said sharply.

Hoshi swirled around my head, then flew back into the corridor we’d just left. Makiko went first, Kai behind her. The rest of us rushed into the wide hallway, and we sped back to the stairwell.

“Kai,” Aaron called as we streamed down the stairs one by one. “Are there civilians in the building?”

“No,” he answered, half a flight ahead of us. “It’s mostly offices, closed for the night. We evacuated everyone else when the attack began.”

“Our security alerted us before the rogues got far into the building,” Makiko added. “Kai and I came back to look for any of our people who might have been left behind.”

“And we ran into the golems,” he finished. “My magic wasn’t much use, and Makiko’s was only slightly more effective.”

“Well,” I panted, my knees like jelly as I pounded downward, “the golems probably aren’t too quick on the stairs, assuming they can follow us.”

All of us were panting hard by the time we hit the last flight. Makiko jogged down, Kai a step behind her. I was almost keeping up, Aaron and Ezra trailing after me. Zak brought up the rear.

Reaching the landing first, Makiko shoved the door open. It swung wide at the same time a popping, sizzling sound erupted.

Wind gusted from Makiko’s hands as fire blasted through the doorway. Orange flames boiled through the threshold as she held back the inferno, the heat thickening the air in the stairwell. Fire splattered the floor around her like burning oil, clinging to every surface it touched.

The flames began to die—and a steel head burst through the flickering orange.

The canine golem leaped through Makiko’s magic and slammed into her. She flew backward, throwing her arms out to break her fall—but the stairs were too close. I sprang toward her, reaching desperately.

She landed on the steps with the sickening thud of bone against concrete.

“Makiko!” Kai cried hoarsely.

I crouched beside her, swearing under my breath. She wasn’t moving, eyes closed, mouth slack. A trickle of blood ran along the dusty gray step under her head.

Kai crouched on her other side—and Aaron leaped over us. He landed with a thump in front of the golem as it opened its jaws, its front teeth broken like it’d recently lost a fistfight. As fire spouted from its throat, he extended his hand—and the orange flames died to nothing. Dark liquid that smelled vaguely of gasoline splattered all over him, the floor, and my legs, but Aaron had put out the fire.

That didn’t do a thing to stop the golem, though.

Ezra and Zak sprang over us too, yellow magic glowing up the druid’s arm. His wire spell shot out from his hand and tangled around the golem’s legs.

“Get out of the stairwell!” he shouted.

Kai reached for Makiko. Before I could stop him—his arm was burned and bleeding—Ezra was there. He carefully lifted Makiko and sped toward the exit. I followed on Kai’s heels, and we bolted into the open concourse.

Zak jogged after us a moment later, the yellow glow fading from his hand. The golem thundered after him.

Kai swore viciously. “That’s the same one that roasted my arm half an hour ago. I can’t believe it’s still going.”

“It isn’t the same one.” Zak ran to us, outpacing the golem. “They don’t last that long. Let’s get out of here.”

“It has the same broken teeth,” Kai barked angrily. “And we can’t leave that thing to chase us out onto a public street.”

“It isn’t the same golem, not if you fought it thirty minutes ago. Golem magic—”

“Argue later!” I roared as the golem clattered after us at a full charge, burning liquid dripping from its steel jaws like nightmare drool. “It’s coming!”

Teeth bared, Zak slid to a stop and whirled. Black wings lifted off his arms, and Lallakai’s eagle form pulled out of his body. She shot upward with one sweep of her broad wings. Emerald eyes shining like backlit gemstones, she slashed her wings down a second time.

Darkness condensed out of nowhere and formed a tight orb around the golem. Its glowing runes shone dimly through the dense shadows as it continued its charge, unaffected. Zak didn’t move as the golem barreled toward him.

The shadows deepened. The thunder of the golem’s steps slowed. Slowed even more. The light of the runes dimmed.

Like a toy with dying batteries, the golem took a final clattering step, moving no faster than a snail. The final whisper of magic in its runes died, and the shadows lifted. The golem stood still and silent, its animation magic gone. Its toothy muzzle was less than three feet from Zak.

Lallakai drifted downward and sank into the druid’s body once again.

“Shit,” Aaron muttered. “Why didn’t you bring the fae out before now?”

Zak rolled his shoulders. “She needs more room to work with than—”

“This chat can wait until later too,” I growled irritably, knowing any exchange of words between the pyromage and druid was guaranteed to turn into an argument. “Kai, how is Makiko?”

Standing beside Ezra, Kai was holding her arm, his fingers pressed to her wrist. “Her pulse is steady, but she needs a healer as quickly as possible.”

“Sanjana was at the guild when we left,” I said, immediately recalling the hot toddy I’d made her earlier that night. “She’d just settled for a good long session with her textbooks, so she should still be there.”

Kai nodded. “Let’s go.”

He and Ezra headed for the door. I looked between Aaron and Zak, who were—surprise, surprise—glaring at each other, and figured I’d better head off the explosion. Stepping between them, I took their elbows and steered them toward the exit.

Back to the guild, with a rogue druid and Kai’s unconscious fiancée in tow. This would be so much fun.

Chapter Eighteen

Aaron pulled up in front of the Crow and Hammer, parking at the curb instead of using the small rear lot. Squashed between Ezra and Zak in the back seat, I sat with my nose pinched between my finger and thumb.

“You guys stink,” I declared. “Everyone stinks. It reeks of toxic smoke in here. Next time we enter a burning building, we’re bringing a change of clothes.”

“We didn’t know it was burning until we got there,” Ezra pointed out.

Aaron unbuckled his seat belt. “Next time, we’ll just take our clothes off before we go in. I could’ve saved my vest and baldric.”

Hmm. Stripping down for battle? It had my vote. I’d show a little skin to get an even better eyeful.

“Don’t ever engage in combat while in the nude,” Kai murmured from the front seat where he held Makiko. “Better to ruin clothes than ruin body parts.”

Ezra made a thoughtful noise. “Speaking from experience?”

“I wasn’t the naked one.”

I leaned over the center console. “I have so many questions.”

“Maybe later. Would someone open my door?”

Aaron and Ezra hastened out of the vehicle to help him. Zak, on my other side, was a bit slower; having been bowled over at least once by a magical tank on four legs, he was moving stiffly. I scooched out after him as Ezra got Kai’s door, and he and Aaron lifted Makiko’s limp form off his lap. She groaned faintly.

Zak stretched like every muscle hurt, then slid a vial off his belt. He pulled the cork and poured the gray liquid into his mouth.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Healing potion.”

“You couldn’t have given it to Makiko?”

“It reduces inflammation and pain. It doesn’t fix concussions.”

“You don’t have a concussion potion?”

“I could make one, but it needs to simmer for about twelve hours.”

“Never mind.” I pointed at his face. “By the way, you can’t go in the guild like that. We have witches.”

They’d take one look at his freaky fae eyes and figure out all kinds of things about him that we didn’t want anyone to know.

“I’m not going in your guild,” he replied shortly.

“Yes, you are.”

“No, he’s not.” Aaron tipped Makiko into Ezra’s arms and pivoted to face us. “He can crawl back into whatever hole he came from.”

I planted my hands on my hips. “He’s already been seen, and it’s way later now. There’ll hardly be anyone left in the pub. Besides”—I raised my voice, speaking over their protests—“we need to combine our information about Varvara.”

Zak scowled, which I took as agreement. Grumbling under his breath, he half turned away. Shadows swirled over him, then Lallakai’s wings swept off his arms and her dark eagle form pulled out of his body. Her green stare raked me like blades before she faded from sight.

“Perfect.” I rubbed my chilled hands together. “Let’s get out of the cold!”

Ignoring Aaron’s and Zak’s matching scowls, Kai’s eye roll, and Ezra’s silent amusement, I marched to the guild door, threw it open, and breezed inside.

A wave of noise hit me like a slap to the face.

Pulling up short, I blinked. I blinked again. The guild hadn’t emptied while we were gone. It had gotten busier. Thirty-five surprised faces turned my way, the noise level dying down—then those thirty-five pairs of eyes turned to the men coming in behind me.

I whirled around, intending to stop the guys from entering, but it was too late. They had walked in after me, and now we all stood on display for over half the guild—Ezra, smudged with soot and carrying an unconscious woman; Aaron, naked from the waist up with holes burned in his pants; Kai, blood down one side of his face and his arm blackened; and Zak, the bottom of his long coat shredded from golem teeth, still holding the potion vial he’d downed.

The nearest mythics swarmed us. A hundred jumbled questions flew our way, and I didn’t know who was speaking.