Before Coup could respond, Bekn urged, “If you’re not staying, then we need to move.”
Slowly, Kel turned back to her friends and nodded. “Let’s go.”
Kel lingered, letting Coup and Bekn move ahead as they left the hospital. She wiped more blood from her nose.
A moment later, an alarm screamed.
The world flashed red, stealing the shadows they clung to. Kel tried not to wince at the jarring noise as they sprinted toward the diamond hall. Squawks and distant screams smothered her short breath. Kel struggled to keep pace with Coup and Bekn, gritting her teeth through pain and panting directions. The lead in her bones had returned, anchored to something below the ground. Her body begged to lie down against the cool floor.
It was only the thought of Savita—flames shrouding her as she neared death—that kept her moving.
The alarm began battling other echoes: phoenix screeches, shattering glass, stampeding feet—likely Cristo’s guards investigating the noise. Kel’s knees almost buckled with every near-encounter, relieved she didn’t have to attempt to aim the sancter. She tried to focus on that relief—on anything but the brittle fear making her flinch with every new sound.
Where was Cristo? Had Bryna brought enough people to defeat Cristo’s numbers? Was the race already over? Was Savita…?
Kel couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.
Ahead of her, Bekn and Coup skidded to a halt as the door to the diamond hall came into view. Or, at least, where it should have come into view. Kel couldn’t see the white door, or even the walls beside it.
Kel yanked Coup and Bekn around a corner, out of sight.
The sound of freed phoenixes and the compound’s alarm had hidden what lay ahead. Chaos consumed the entire hall. Cristo’s guards tangled with the Fume in a web so intricate that Kel couldn’t tell black uniforms from black leathers. White lightning shot from sancter rifles, ricocheting around the hall and striking people through with electrical burns that made Coup’s CAPR injuries look mild. She didn’t dare fire her own rifle for fear of hitting the wrong person.
“Ashes,” Bekn cursed.
Kel’s brain was whirling in a hundred directions, trying to spark the smallest flint of an idea, when a hand touched her arm.
She spun around and lifted the sancter, expecting to see one of Cristo’s guards. Instead, Dira and Rahn stared at her.
“Put that thing away before I hit you over the head with it,” Dira whispered, the smallest smile on her lips.
Kel lowered the sancter. “Did you have any trouble?”
“There was one guard hiding in the aviary, but we managed to tie him up,” Rahn replied.
Dira glanced around the corner. “How are we meant to get through that?”
There must have been hundreds of people streaming past; Kel couldn’t believe that so many cultists had managed to congregate in Vohre in mere hours, all by Rahn’s command. There was no way to tell which team would have the most people left standing.
The thought made Kel queasy.
She took a deep breath, and turned to Rahn. “Do you think he’s started the race yet?”
“I’m sorry, Kel,” Rahn answered, fidgeting. “I don’t know.”
Kel didn’t have time to stew on the unknown. She peeked below Bekn’s arms. The screams and lightning shots had shifted, ever so slightly, toward the other end of the hall. They still blocked the door—but there was as clear a path as they’d get.
“The fight’s shifted. We can get to Sav,” Kel urged, voice weak as she pointed down the hall. “If she justseesme, she’ll know something’s wrong.”
Coup squeezed Kel’s hand. “You’re not getting yourself killed.”
Dira nodded. “It’s safer if we wait until the fight’s finished.”
Rahn, surprisingly, shook her head. “No—Kel’s right. The Fume might have the numbers, but they’re not trained. Cristo’s guards might still win. If his people are distracted, this might be our only chance to get to Savita before… the race is over.”
Coup’s lips tightened. “And how are we going to open the door? It’s locked—and I can’t imagine one of his guards will let us in.”
Rahn reached into her trouser pocket. She pulled out a small, white card. “We don’t need him. I have a copy of his skeleton key.”
