“I’m on the sixth floor.”

“I know.”

Ding. Four.

“That’s seven floors down. They’ll catch me.”

“You’ve got a head start, the building is empty, don’t panic.”

Ding. Three.

“A head start? Against Merlins? Are you kidding me?” They could be scaling the walls, tearing away the bars on my room’s windows.

Tacitus could be on the lobby floor, waiting for me just like he said. Or outside the building, ready to hunt me down and take me apart to get to my power.

Another ding, and the elevator starts to slow. One more floor, then it’s the lobby. “They called the elevator!”

“Shit. Time to adapt.”

“What?”

Ding. Two. “Lie flat on the floor!”

I drop.

“There’s an emergency overspeed governor that will—”

BOOM!

An explosion overhead, the elevator shakes, something heavy snaps—

The elevator drops into a free fall.

My body lifts a sliver off the ground, inertia holding me in its grasp—then gravity takes over.

I scream. A deep, ear-splitting whine from somewhere screams with me. The floor jerks. Decelerates. Another jerk. Stillness.

“Okay, get outta there.”

I jump to my feet, mashing the DOOR OPEN button as I gulp oxygen into my lungs. The doors edge open about the width of my fist.

“Not opening all the way!”

“Pull. The safety will engage.”

I work my right fingers into the wedge and swing to one side of the elevator, bracing my wrist with my left, and pull. The doors move another inch, then release on the track, opening enough that I can slip my body through and into the brightly lit garage.

“I’m out!”

“Run straight to the far corner; there’s a door.”

I sprint among cars as fast as I can. “The Mageguard—”

“Distracted. Use the keycard again.”

I pull the card as I run, swiping as soon as I come to a stop, glancing over my shoulder. The door buzzes, then unclicks, cracks a few inches. A damp, earthy smell hits my nose, then the scents of dust and metal. I glimpse a dark hallway. When I get the door fully open, one light buzzes to life overhead.

“Okay, this is the hard part.”

“Arguable!” I pant. I can only see about six feet ahead of me.

“Focus. These are service tunnels. You’re gonna have to sprint through it, Bree. All the way to the end, but the lights are motion activated, so they won’t come on all at once. Keep running.”

I hesitate. Beyond the halo of light on the concrete floor, the tunnel extends into black nothingness. An abyss that I’m supposed to run through.

“They’re coming around the building. They don’t know which basement level you’re on, but they’ll find out quick. They’ll have the ward back up in ninety seconds. You’ve got to get on the other side of it before they do, or you’ll be trapped. Run!”