Bright Blaze of Magic
Page 46

Given all the guards, going in through the ground floor was out, as it so often was, so I studied the upper level of the two-story warehouse. Windows lined that floor as well, but I didn’t see any guards patrolling up there, so I moved on up to the roof. No guards up there either. The roof it was then. Now, how to actually get up there?
A rickety fire escape was attached to the side of the warehouse, but we couldn’t get to it, much less actually climb up it, without being spotted by the guards. So I looked at the building next door, which seemed to be deserted, judging from the lack of lights and the busted out windows. A narrow alley ran between it and the Draconi warehouse, creating a five-foot gap between the two buildings.
Five feet. I could make that jump and so could Felix, who was coming with me while Oscar stayed behind to watch Devon’s back. Once Felix and I were on the warehouse roof, we could find an access door and stairs leading down into the building itself. After we were inside, well, I didn’t know what we would find, but Mo, Claudia, and the others were there and we were going to save them.
We were going to save them.
Devon and I eased back around the corner and moved deeper into the alley to where Felix was waiting, pacing back and forth, while Oscar hovered in midair beside him. Devon and Felix both wore black cloaks to help them blend into the shadows as much as possible, while a small one fluttered around Oscar’s shoulders as well. I sported my mom’s sapphire-blue trench coat like usual. We all had swords belted to our waists, and a black duffel bag was leaning up against the alley wall.
“Anything?” Felix asked. “Any sign of Deah and my dad?”
Devon shook his head. “No, just a lot of guards, but Victor has every single light in that place on. It has to be where he’s keeping everyone, just like Blake said.”
Oscar twitched his wings. “Now what?”
I drew in a breath. “Now, Felix and I get into position and see if we can sneak into the warehouse while Devon waits to meet Victor.”
We all looked at each other, our faces serious, our bodies tense, our hands curled around the hilts of our swords, including Oscar with his needle-size pixie sword. The real danger was about to begin.
“All right then,” Devon said. “Let’s do it.”
Devon and Oscar stayed behind in the alley to keep a watch on the guards and text Felix and me if anything changed. I led Felix out of the far side of the alley, around the block, across the street, and to the far side of the warehouse that was next door to the Draconis’ building. I started to reach for the chopstick lock picks in my hair, but a breeze gusted down the street, and the door in front of us cracked open a couple of inches.
“That’s weird,” Felix muttered. “Why would it be open already?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered back. “But this is the only way we can get up to the roof, so let’s go.”
I drew my sword, opened the door, and stepped inside, with Felix behind me. There were no windows on this side of the warehouse, so he held his phone out, using it as a flashlight, but my sight magic let me see everything clearly.
Including the metal hooks hanging down from the ceiling.
They were spaced equidistant apart, and each one of them was located above a drain in the concrete floor. An eerie sense of déjà vu swept over me, one that only increased when the light from Felix’s phone fell across a chair with thick, heavy ropes dangling off it.
“What happened in here?” he whispered. “Do you think the Draconis are using this warehouse too?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
I looked up at the hooks dangling down from the ceiling. Several weeks ago, I had been tied to one of those hooks, strung up like a slab of meat about to be butchered. And I almost had been. I shivered, suddenly cold, despite the hot, humid air.
“Lila?” Felix asked again. “Why not?”
“Because this is the warehouse where Grant brought me and Devon the night he kidnapped us and tried to take our magic.”
He winced. “This has to be a bad sign, right?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know what to make of the creepy coincidence any more than he did.
We moved on and eventually found a set of stairs that led up to the roof. The door at the top was locked and I had to pick it open, but that was easy enough. A minute later, we were out on the roof, keeping low and racing over to an old air-conditioning unit that was near the edge. Felix and I both crouched down and looked around the metal box, staring at the Draconi warehouse on the other side of the alley.
The roof was empty. No guards had been posted up here, which was both good and bad. Good because we could get onto the Draconi warehouse roof unseen, but bad because that meant all of the guards were most likely downstairs, guarding the prisoners.
I stood up and sheathed my sword, judging the distance from this roof over to the next one. About five feet, just as I’d thought from down on the ground. Felix peered over the edge of the roof at the thirty-foot drop below, his face pinched tight, his bronze skin suddenly pale.
“Um, Lila, are you sure this is such a good idea?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, backing up several feet. “All you have to do is take a good running start, get over to the edge, and then jump as hard as you can. Your momentum will do the rest. Easy peasy.”
“Easy. Right,” Felix said in a faint voice.
His face took on a greenish tinge, but he sheathed his sword and backed up so that he was standing right beside me.
I looked at him. “On three. One . . . two . . . three!”
We both started running toward the edge of the roof. I reached it a second before Felix did and I dug my sneakers into the ground, pushing off as hard as I could. For a moment, it felt as though I were flying, my legs churning through the air as though I could propel myself even farther and faster with them. A soft, happy laugh bubbled up in my throat, but I swallowed it down.
Three seconds later, my sneakers hit the roof of the Draconi warehouse. A second later, Felix landed beside me, his feet barely on the edge of the roof, windmilling his arms for balance and trying not to fall backward. I reached out, snatched his black cloak, and pulled him toward me. He stumbled forward several steps before finally managing to right himself.
Felix doubled over, his hands on his knees, his face even greener than before, his breath coming in harsh, panicked rasps. “I never . . . want to . . . do that . . . again!”