Levi’s heart pounded in his chest as Zanabar loomed over them. “Okay, what are we going to do?”
Frankie used his free hand to try to send Zanabar flying back with his power, but he was still too weak from his short stint in the alternate plane. The only effect his power had on Zanabar was on the same level as someone giving him a firm push on the shoulder.
“We have to go,” Evelyn murmured from Frankie’s side. Her body still slumped beside him.
“There’s nowhere you can run,” Zanabar said. “You don’t have anyone left to protect you. And now, you’ll finally pay for your betrayal.”
Backed in a corner with nowhere to turn,
I use my power to make you burn.
The spell rolled off of Frankie’s tongue. Within moments, flames shot up from Zanabar’s robes.
The sorcerer turned and swatted at himself to put the magical fire out, which gave the rest of them the opportunity they needed to escape.
They moved as quickly as they could, with Evelyn and Tommy slowing them down considerably. The darkness, however, was on their side and concealed them, which helped since they didn’t have speed.
“Any plan for how to stop him with your powers weakened?” Levi asked after they were a good distance away.
“I have a…contingency plan…in place,” Frankie muttered between ragged breaths. He was growing tired by the urgency and carrying most of Evelyn’s weight.
“Great. What is it?”
“It’s a long shot,” Frankie admitted. “It’ll also mean…that I’m…stuck in 1924.” He didn’t try to hide his heavy breathing anymore.
“Is it something you can do now to get him off of our tails?” Levi asked. “Tommy’s not exactly light and you sound like you’ve run a marathon.”
Frankie tried to reach for his watch, but couldn’t see the time in the darkness. “I have to wait until midnight exactly. Which means I need to get somewhere with better lighting so I can check the time.”
“It’s just about midnight now,” Evelyn muttered.
Both Frankie and Levi looked at her with confusion.
“Watching time pass was one of Tommy’s hobbies,” she explained. “There’s not much to do when you live alone.”
“Remind me to check in more on my employees,” Levi muttered. “How long do you think we have until exactly midnight?”
“I don’t know,” Evelyn said. “It was about twenty minutes past eleven the last time I checked at Tommy’s house. And that was maybe thirty minutes ago, so we have about—”
“Ten minutes to kill,” Frankie finished.
From behind them, Zanabar threw a bolt of lightning that struck the crude dirt road and momentarily blinded the group.
“I don’t think we have ten minutes!” Levi panicked.
“We have to get back to Anna’s,” Frankie said. “She has protection charms on the house. It won’t hold him off completely, but it’s better than nothing and it’ll buy us some time.”
“What about the risk to her baby—your father?” Levi asked.
“It’s a risk we’re going to have to take,” Frankie said. “We have to hurry.”
As Zanabar launched another lightning bolt in their direction, Frankie and Levi did their best to pick up the pace.