to hers. “We got this, Sabby,” she told him in soft, urgent tones. “We’ve survived worse. Far worse.
We can do this.”
He closed his eyes, still breathing deeply, and nodded.
She let him go and hugged me before grabbing the back of my neck as well. “Do not pull any punches, okay? Give them the worst kind of hell. Hold nothing back.”
It was my turn to nod and breathe, feeling the conviction behind her words and her quiet strength burrowing into my body. It almost felt magical in some way, but then she was pulling away and heading through the door, throwing her head back to drink her vial as she did it.
Austin squeezed me into a tight hug a moment later, plastering my body to his. “Above all else, Jacinta Ironheart, you get out of this safely, do you hear me? If we have no hope, you get out.”
Yeah, right. Sure.
“Okay,” I said, because that was what he needed to hear.
His kiss was bruising, and then he was following Nessa out the door.
“Jessie, I’m scared,” Sebastian admitted.
“That’s because you haven’t had any coffee yet. Let’s hope Mr. Tom meets us with some, okay?” I smiled at him.
“He won’t. He’s mad at you for essentially ignoring him this whole time and allowing Austin to keep him from staying here.”
“Mad or not, he won’t stop forcing food on me. It’ll be fine.”
Wings sounded outside, and I pulled Sebastian out with me. The connections were frying my insides now, everyone out of bed, everyone active. I wrestled them together, joining everyone through me. They’d all be able to feel the company as a whole. A unit. Even if they were separated from the pack and isolated, alone, they’d have the comfort of their crew.
Nathanial landed, waiting for me, and a gargoyle called Trace touched down beside him—
Sebastian’s ride for the moment. I closed the door behind us and half pushed Sebastian toward them.
As we got closer, I shifted and rose into the sky, the others with me.
The next peal of magic I sent out said, I’m coming.
Sebastian had thought they’d come at dawn. He’d been spot-on, or as good as—the coming sun would start filling the sky soon.
Nathanial swooped in behind me and grabbed my waist before gaining altitude. In a moment, I saw why.
A pale light ran in a huge circle all around the town, glowing even in the water of the river.
They’d already begun their efforts to make the large dome. We’d hoped we’d removed enough of their hidden anchors to avoid this, but the mages had been sneaking in for months.
This wasn’t like Sebastian had described it, though. There was more to it, the glowing lines on the ground like stored energy they were now harvesting. They’d embellished the spell to make erecting the dome easier and faster, and were already way ahead of us.
It would’ve been a lot more gratifying if my swear had been coherent.
Nathanial dove, heading for the meetup location. My heart hammered now. I needed to land and shift. Needed to talk to Sebastian. I didn’t know by how much this would change things, but I knew it would.
“Jessie.” Sebastian stalked up to me as soon as I’d shifted. His determined, steadfast expression was illuminated by the glow from Kingsley’s streetlights. That was Sebastian, always at his best in a bad situation.
“How bad?” I asked, a little out of breath from flying and shifting so fast back to back.
His look said it all. “We need to take out their mages before they erect that spell.”
“How long do we have?”
“Depends on their power level and ability to work together. The color tells us what we’re dealing with—”
Another thrum of wings, lower this time. The enemy had been sighted.
Sebastian started talking faster. “Yellow means it’s fragile—”
“It’s still at blue, though.”
He jerked his head from side to side, his frustration evident.
“The blue is stored magic in the ground. It’s like they created temporary ley lines, an incredible feat. It’ll fuel them. No, I’m talking about the actual spell. The sheen of the actual dome. So yellow is at its most fragile. Orange is stronger, red is almost there, and blood red… Blood red means we’re trapped inside. They can fire at will or toss in Molotov cocktails or drop bombs on the town—
whatever. Breaking it at that point would be impossible. Not even Tristan would be able to get through. Do you understand me?”
“Yes. Blood red, we all die.”