CASSIDY TOUCHED DEV’S BACK TO GET his attention. “I feel something.” They stopped under a blue awning four doors from the Daegon Gray entrance. “Confidence. Boredom. Over there.” She pointed across the street from the main entrance. “More than one.”
“It could be anything.” He scanned the other side of the street—the coffee shop, a lawyer’s office, a marketing firm. The buildings were no more than ten stories high. Nothing moved.
Magnus looked up at the same buildings with similar results. “I got nothing. Heat signatures?”
“Nothing in range. We’ll keep moving. Caz, let me know if anything changes.”
Back flat against the wall, Dev stepped into the clear.
She sensed a flash of anticipation a split second before Dev slammed into the wall and grabbed his left shoulder. The shock knocked him to his knees. Before he could scramble back under cover, two more hits plowed into his chest. Magnus jumped out, grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back.
Dev winced. “Did you see anything?”
“You’ve been shot.” Cassidy stared at the flattened bullets embedded in Dev’s armor.
“Flash from the roof across from Daegon Gray,” Magnus replied and risked another peek from under the awning.
“You’ve been shot.” Cassidy reached out to the lumps of metal.
Dev flicked the bullets off his vest. They had torn through the leather and exposed the thin layer of Quinsteele underneath.
“Caz, I’m okay.”
Ensuring that the bullet didn’t go through, she tapped the metal through the tear. No blood. No hole. The armor itself was unblemished and Dev showed no sign of pain.
Or fear or concern or anything other than curiosity. I’d be freaking out if I got shot and he’s so…so matter of fact. What if the bullet had been higher? What if it hit him in the head? The unbidden thoughts raced through her head. What if I lost him?
Focus. He’s fine. No blood, no foul, like Dad used to say. But her heart wouldn’t give it up. Its pounding beat tried to convey a message that Cassidy wasn’t sure she was ready to hear.
Magnus picked up one of the crushed bullets.
“One hundred sixty-eight grain hollow point. These guys are pros.”
“Suggestions?” Dev asked and crouched.
“Make a run for it. I’ll shield.”
“Are you crazy?” Fear blossomed in her belly and spread to her limbs, turning them to lime Jello. “We’ll never make it.”
“Sure we will.” Magnus reassured her. “No problem.”
Dev nodded like they did this sort of thing every day. If Magnus had stood up and announced he liked pizza, Dev would have nodded the exact same way…for freaking pizza.
“Let me get ready.” Magnus kicked off his boots and mumbled, “I don’t know why I wear these darn things anyway.” Barefoot, he closed his eyes. “Maybe I will try flip-flops.”
Cassidy watched his body change, sensed his joy when he pulled his element. It came on quickly this time, skin going from tan to white to fissured gray in seconds. When he opened his eyes, they too were the same granite of his body.
Emboldened by their closer relationship, Cassidy rapped on his granite arm. Solid. Now she understood why his armor and clothes hung so baggy. In stone form, he was bigger and needed the room to grow.
Now that’s cool.
“If both of you stay against the wall, I can shield you.” Magnus’s speech came out in a dry rasp, the grinding of stone on stone. “Whatever you do, don’t stop. Walk at my pace.” Magnus eyed them each in turn. “Dev, when we get there, get us in as fast as you can.”
Magnus arranged them against the wall—Cassidy first, then Dev, with Magnus on the outside.
“Now we have a Dev sandwich.” Cassidy covered her fear with a lame attempt at humor, but it seemed to work.
I hope Dev doesn’t notice my trembling.
Magnus responded with a heartfelt, “Bleh. No thank you.”
Dev just grunted.
“Let’s go.”
Magnus set a steady pace, taking one large step for every two of Dev and Cassidy’s. His stone body completely engulfed theirs and kept them safe, but Cassidy felt the vibration as he took hit after hit. Stone chips flipped against the wall ahead or landed on the ground. One slipped past Dev and grazed her ear.
She sensed Magnus’s pain. He may be made of solid granite, but the bullets hurt as they gouged out pieces of his broad back.
Hang in there, big guy. Just a few more feet.
“Stop here.” Dev switched positions with Cassidy outside the first Daegon Gray window. “The doors are probably wired so we’ll go in here.” He drew Cinder and placed the tip of the diamond blade against the hurricane-proof glass.
Cassidy felt his body tense, his shoulders and arms bunch as he jabbed a hole through the shatter-proof glass. Twisting the blade, he enlarged it until it was the size of a quarter, and slipped in his finger.
Magnus grunted as the devastation rained down, the level of his pain grew with the pile of stone chips on the pavement.
Satisfaction flowed into Cassidy as Dev called his inner fire. His finger ignited, melting the film coating on the glass in a high-energy flash of green and blue. He reversed Cinder and shattered the window with a single blow.
“Let’s go.” Dev charged into the Daegon Gray lobby, knife ready, hungry for a fight. When none presented itself, he rushed over to the main desk. “Alarm,” he responded to her questioning glance.
Breathing heavy, Magnus stumbled in and, out of sight of the opposing roof, collapsed to all fours. Cassidy rushed to check his back. Deep pits and craters, like the surface of the moon, marred his smooth surface.
“Oh, Magnus.” Cassidy didn’t know how to help the stone giant. “What can I do?”
“I’ll be fine once I merge with the earth again. Just give me a moment.”
Dev ripped the alarm’s control panel out of the wall and smashed it against the marble tile. “I don’t know if that will do the trick, but I feel better.”
“I’m happy for you,” Magnus panted.
Dev eyed the door and windows as he came back and knelt next to Magnus.
“You going to make it?”
Magnus bobbed his head and Dev took up position by the hall that led to the stairway and elevators, taking the compact scrying mirror out of his pocket.
“We ready to bring in the boss?”
Magnus shook his head. “Let me get over this first.”
The Earth Knight’s pain assaulted Cassidy’s heightened senses. While she didn’t feel his physical distress, she understood how much it hurt him. How can he stand it?
While she watched, his body transitioned from granite to flesh, revealing the severity of the damage to his back. She could see how much the change hurt. He gasped, his body shook, and his fingers curled into the marble tile.
Cassidy assessed his injuries. The Quinsteele links had been shattered and in places ground into deep wounds. The leather underneath was shredded. Not even Dev’s amazing armor could withstand a steady assault of that magnitude. Ragged flaps of skin peeled back on torn muscle and in some places bare bone. Blood slicked his back, ran down his arms and legs and spread out in a crimson blanket around his hands and knees.
“Maybe granite…wasn’t the best…choice.” Magnus hissed through clenched teeth.
“Shhh.” Cassidy placed her hand on his trembling arm and sent cool thoughts of health and wellbeing.
The deep crease in his brow lessened and he breathed a little easier.
“Let me see if I can find some bandages.” She cursed herself for not bringing any medical supplies. What did she think, that they were going to waltz in, kill Gray and walk out all suave and cool?
Rookie.
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” Magnus reassured her. “The granite usually works, but that was too much.” He tapped on the tiles below his hands. “Marble? No, too soft.” He closed his eyes. “Hmm…iron it is.”
Relief and a strong sense of wellbeing flowed from the injured Knight as his body changed again. The garish wounds closed. The skin on his back bubbled and flowed like water, rippling across the surface and smoothing the once ravaged flesh until not a mark remained.
Amazing. She couldn’t help herself and touched the remade flesh. Perfect.
“Pretty neat, huh?” Magnus’s strength returned. The transformation wiped away all signs of his agony along with his injuries. Continuing the change, his body hardened beneath her fingertips. His overall coloring darkened to a silvery-gray.
“Is the show over?” Dev asked from the low lit entrance to the hallway. “We’ve got work to do.”
“Don’t mind him.” The iron giant pronounced each word slowly; his voice deep and hollow as though coming from the bottom of a well. “He’s just jealous.” He rose ponderously to his feet.
Magnus may have been joking, but his comment struck a nerve. Dev was jealous. Cassidy felt his emotion spike, raw and fast, then bury itself quickly under concern and taut aggression.
“I’m ready. Call the man.”
Dev opened the mirror, aimed it at the elevator, and tapped the glass.
The air shimmered as the gateway took shape across the elevator’s threshold. The gold glowing edges expanded quickly until it filled the dimensions of the doorframe. Cassidy glimpsed Cyndralla’s tired face before Stillman stepped through and the gateway disappeared.
The Precept looked…different. Black tactical shirt tucked into black tactical pants stuffed into shiny new combat boots. If not for the saber at his hip and the crossed bandoliers of multi-colored vials filled with powders and liquids, he could have stepped off the cover of SWAT Quarterly.
The Precept took in his surroundings with quick efficiency. “Status.”
“Snipers on the roof across the street,” Dev reported. “No other encounters as of yet.”
Stillman eyed the Knight of Earth, pulled a small, glittering object from one of a hundred small pouches lining his uniform, and placed it in the big man’s hand. “Try this.”
“A diamond?” Magnus frowned. “I don’t do gems. You can see all my,” he circled his hands in front of his stomach, “You know, innards and stuff.”
“Go opaque. And trust me. You’ll move faster and still be nigh invulnerable.”
Magnus rolled his eyes, but began the transformation despite his modesty concern. Stillman gave a sharp nod of approval and turned to Dev. “Plan?”
“Upward and onward. Sir, what of Cyndralla and the counter magic for the orbs?”
The Precept’s face fell and he sighed. “She is close. I thought we had it before you called, but it failed the final test. Let us hope she can find the right formula in time.”
“This feels weird.” His transformation complete, Magnus lifted first one arm then the other. Tiny facets covered every inch of his glass-like body and his internal core remained clouded. “Too light.” His voice sounded higher, ranging closer to contralto than his normal he-man bass.
“Let’s go pretty boy.” Dev teased.
“Hey handsome,” Cassidy chimed in, “Remember, diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”
Magnus blew out a deep breath. “I’ll never live this down.”
Belatedly, Dev remembered Stillman’s presence. “Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to—”
“Nonsense, Knight of Flame. This is your op. I’m here to lend a hand. It has been too long since I sallied forth.”
‘Sallied?’ You can dress them up…
The stainless steel elevator doors reflected the dim, after-hours lighting. On their left, the building’s register, crammed tight with neat little rows of names and suite numbers, filled the wall.
“Are we taking the elevator?” Cassidy asked, finger poised over the arrow.
“No,” Magnus barked and lunged for her hand. His fear filled the hallway. “I mean, that wouldn’t be a good idea. Gray probably has them rigged.”
“Yeah. We don’t want to risk getting trapped. We’ll take the stairs.” Dev stalked to the other end of the hallway.
“Won’t the stairs be guarded?” Cassidy asked.
“Most definitely,” Dev said. “But we’ll be in control, not at the mercy of electronics or some shadow bitch at the top of the shaft with a big pair of hedge clippers.”
“And not stuck in a tiny metal room,” Magnus mumbled to himself, but Cassidy overheard.
Dev led them around the corner to the door leading to the stairs. “Reverse order. Magnus, you first in case they open fire.”
“I’m on it.” The Earth Knight moved to the front.
“Cassidy next, then Stillman. I’ve got the rear.” Dev looked at Cassidy. “Caz, do you feel anything?”
Cassidy opened herself up to the sensations around her. Beyond Dev, Magnus, and Stillman, higher in the building, she discovered a viscous soup of twisted emotions. Fear. Hate. Anger. Anticipation.
“I sense a lot of people up there.”
“Gray?” Dev asked.
“I think so, but not close.”
“Right. Up we go.” Magnus grabbed the knob and glanced over his shoulder for a final check.
Cassidy swallowed the fear that would have buckled her knees before today and took her place behind the broad diamond back of Magnus, heartbeat hammering in her chest.
What the hell am I doing here? Panic leaked between her lips in a low, unconscious moan.
“Do you hear that?” Dev asked.
She clamped her lips shut and stifled the noise. Not to be denied, her panic found another avenue of escape as tears formed and began to fall.
“It’s gone. Weird.”
“Yeah. Haha. Weird.” Cassidy wiped the tears away and took a deep breath.
Magnus shrugged and rolled his shoulders a few times. “Do you feel that?”
“What?” Dev asked.
“I feel…nervous.” Magnus patted his belly. “I’ve got butterflies.”
Dev raised one eyebrow and deadpanned, “Butterflies.”
“Yeah. I haven’t felt like this since, well, I can’t remember when.” Magnus squinted, mouth crooked into a scowl. “I don’t like it.”
“Now that you mention it,” Dev cocked his head to one side, “I feel it too. Kind of anxious, jumpy.” He held out his trembling hand. “What the hell is this?”
“Maybe we should rethink this. Come back at another time.” Stillman rubbed the back of his neck and eyed the door to the stairs.
Oh no. This can’t be happening.
“It came on all of a sudden.” Magnus rubbed his eye with a finger. It came away wet and he held it out for Dev to see. “Look, I’m leaking.”
“Put that thing away.” Dev slapped Magnus’s hand away.
I’m affecting them. Cassidy’s breath came in short, quick gasps and her pulse jumped through the roof. She knew if she kept this up, she’d pass out. Already her vision changed, the edges of her sight closing in.
Dev grabbed his chest, his breathing labored. Magnus’s color yellowed and he grabbed his stomach as if to ward off a bout of nausea.
Get a grip, Sinclair. Take a deep breath. This is just like competition. Breathe. Release. Breathe. Release.
Cassidy’s panic receded. The pre-competition routine took the edge off. Her tears stopped and sanity returned.
Stay calm.
She could see the others regaining their composure. Dev shook his head to clear the alien sensations. Magnus rubbed his eyes, mining for more tears, but his fingers came up dry. Stillman shot Cassidy a thoughtful look.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Magnus said, “But let’s never talk about this again. Ever.”
“Amen to that, brother,” Dev said.
Cassidy gave a thumbs-up, not ready to trust her voice. She’d almost killed the entire mission. This emotional control thing was going to be harder than she thought. For now, she’d do her best Tinker Bell impression and think happy thoughts.
“When you’re ready.” Dev nodded toward the door. “Stick close to the wall.”
Magnus opened the door and glided in slow, head twisted at an angle to peer up the chimney between the switchback flights of wide steps. Broad landings broke the steep climb midway between floors. The lights continued for three floors. Beyond that, darkness reigned.