She drops it and it clangs to the ground.

“The fire arrows…”

Is this… could this be…?

DONE flashes on a glass screen and a start button pulses. I bite my lip and, despite my better judgment, tap the start button. Orange light shoots like rays from the computer and a hologram of the Chancellor’s face appears.

I gasp as Bri rushes over.

“You call this your best work?” Angry lines pucker around his scowled lips. “Phiz and his team can do better work than this. If you want what’s been promised, you need to deliver. If Phiz gets back to me before I hear from you, Roz, the job is his. Lucky for you, he’s been hard to reach.” He huffs, leaning back in his chair. “The girl’s evaded all our traps and her cuffs are still latched on tight. Those cuffs can’t be removed forcibly. Trust me; I’ve tried.”

I shut my eyes, trying to remember that exactly happening, but there’s nothing there.

“We’ve got to get her to use that magic, so we can absorb it.”

I knew I was right about that.

“Make me something that’ll do the trick, dammit.” He slaps his desk, then rubs his chin, a faraway look in his eyes. “I have one other iron in the fire that I don’t think has gone detected, in case you all prove to be imbeciles. But I expect a better answer from you by morning! Get me a way to sift the magic from those cuffs or, so help me, I’ll wipe this whole island and start fresh. Did it once, I’ll do it again.”

The video cuts out.

“Wipe the island? The hell does that mean?” Julius asks, startling us both. “Sorry, I was birdcalling and y’all ain’t hear me, so I came up in here. It was a rat though. False alarm.”

“This is a Loyalist lab, which means their headquarters isn’t far,” Bri says. “You can stumble down the wrong corridor and find who knows what.” Grag’s warning bristles.

“And it sounds like the Chancellor expects someone will get that message and soon. We need to get out of here.”

Bri shoves a few more plants into her bag, and we rush out the hole we came through.

“What did he mean, ‘Wipe the island’?” Julius asks as he shoves himself through. “He said he’s done it before?”

He reaches for me and pulls me through. The tunnel air is musty and humid compared to the chilly lab space. “The Chancellor takes an elixir to keep his cells performing youthfully. He’s over a hundred, but his fitness levels are like a twenty-year-old’s,” Bri says. “All the Patrol on the island take the same elixir, though they do die at a relatively early age, so I imagine the potency isn’t the same.” She taps her lip.