As far as I—
“Everyone up,” Archer says, not waiting for him to finish. Another round of darts flies past as we slip through the door. The Hunters are almost on us.
We’re at least three stories beneath the lobby, and my legs are screaming after the first staircase. Below, the door slams against the wall, and heavy footsteps follow.
Cal shouts something unintelligible, and the van door slams shut.
Calm down, hacker bro. It’s me.Alice’s voice sounds far away, but it’s unmistakably her. She must have taken the don’t-wait-for-us rule seriously.Please tell me this is a fire alarm.
“Unfortunately not.” Archer surges past me as the second subfloor door swings open. He smashes his elbow into the side of the Hunter’s head, and the man collapses to the ground. “Deep breaths, Hannah. Keep going.”
I nod, but my thighs are screaming. Why does there always have to be so muchrunningwith these Hunters?
The air fills with the softpopof the Hunters’ tranq guns as they gain on us. Drug-filled darts bounce off handrails and the backs of our spelled jackets, and I’m so grateful Cal is the one who made that particular potion. But there has to be more I can do. I can’t let them drug Ellen, too. I can’t let anyone else I love lose their magic. Not when we already destroyed their main supply.
I reach for the thrum of magic in my chest, crossing my fingers that it’ll heed my call. Pain ripples up my back, and I trip on the edge of the stair, smashing my shin. I turn until I’m facing the Hunters racing up behind us. I raise my hands, searching for the thread of air in their lungs or the water in their blood.
Nothing.
“Alice!” I shout. “Alice, can you hear me?”
I’m here. What do you need?Her voice is closer now. She must have turned on her own comms device.
Doubt stalls my tongue, but the Hunters are still coming. Above me, Ellen sends another rush of air to slow them. I grip the handrail to keep from falling. “Can you control my blood from that far away?”
I don’t know.
“Try. Please.” I push deeper, searching for the well of power inside my chest. “Hurry!”
A moment later, Alice’s magic tingles up my spine. It’s sharper than Morgan’s, elbowing its way through my body, foreign and grating. But in the next moment, my own power explodes inside me, a vast pool that’s all mine for the taking. I grabhold of the first element I can reach. Water.Blood. I infuse the water with my will and let it crackle with cold.
The closest Hunter drops first, screaming as his blood starts to freeze. His comrades leap over him, and I push harder, grabbing their breaths with one hand and their blood with the other.
They drop. Screaming. Blood drips from their eyes.
“Hannah, come on.” Ellen grips my arms and hauls me upright. “We have to go.”
I follow, but I don’t let go of my grip on their air. I hold tight, denying them their next breath. Keeping them down. With Alice’s power flowing through me, the exhaustion in my limbs falls away, and I race up to the main floor.
We spill out onto the ground level. People are heading lazily for the exit, more irritated than worried by the disruption of the alarm. Archer tries to blend us into the flow of traffic, but I pull away when I seehim.
Benton stands in the hallway. I blink hard—once, twice—trying to make him disappear. I’ve seen him everywhere for weeks. I can’t afford to get distracted by lookalikes or ghosts of memory that don’t want to die. We have to go. We have to—
“Hannah?”
His voice knocks the wind from my lungs. It knocks the elements out of my control. “Benton.” I look closer. He’s thinner than I remember. Paler. He’s dressed in dark-wash jeans and the same black jacket as the Hunters chasing us up the stairs. This isn’t a memory. He’s here. He’salive.
For now.
I’m running before I realize I’ve made the decision to move. There’s only enough time for Benton to register surprise before I’m on him, lunging, catching him around the chest. We go downhard, but I’m scrambling the second we hit the floor. My nails dig into his flesh. I pull myself up until I’ve got him pinned beneath me, knees pressed into his chest.
The first punch catches him on the side of the face. Pain blooms across my knuckles, but I don’t care. I swing again, but he’s still stronger than me, better trained. He catches my fist and throws me off. My elbow slams into the floor, pain radiating up my arm, but I won’t let him get away. I can’t.
Alice’s magic is still mixed with mine, and it takes next to nothing to reach for the thread of air flowing into his lungs. I squeeze tight, holding the air hostage. He falls back, clutching at his neck, nails scraping against skin until they draw blood. His panic only makes me hold tighter. I dig my knees into his chest and wrap my hands around his throat, reaching for the water in his body, just like I did with the Hunters on the stairs. I plummet the temperature until everything is freezing. The tiniest blood vessels burst first, spiderwebbing around his eyes.
He tries to scream, and I drink in the choked sound.
Everything that’s wrong and broken inside me is his fault. He did this to me. He tore apart my magic, made me rely on Blood Witches to access my powers. And with Alice’s magic flowing through my veins, I’m stronger than I was before he drugged me. Before he and his parents ruined my life. Before they destroyedeverything.
