“Isaac’s verbal barbs are how he masks his helplessness,” Kiyoko said. “Engaging him is counterproductive. He won’t assist us until I’ve demonstrated the consequences of refusing, just as I did before.”

I took a step toward her and Darlene.

The gun swung around toward me, and I froze. Kiyoko nodded once, then aimed the barrel back at Darlene.

“Isaac, please,” whispered Babs.

“All right, stop! You win.” I raised my hands and inched closer. To Darlene, I said, “I won’t let her hurt you.”

“I wish it were that easy.” Kiyoko sounded genuinely regretful. “The problem is, you’ve gotten out of similar situations before. It’s given you a sense of invulnerability, an irrational refusal to accept that you might lose. Unfortunately for Ms. Jackson-Palmer, there’s one effective way to shatter that overconfidence.”

She pointed the gun at Darlene’s leg.

Darlene closed her eyes. Potts clenched his teeth.

“No!” Babs stood and reached toward Kiyoko. Electricity surged from one of her rings, only to dissolve when it struck the magic-absorbing field surrounding them.

Kiyoko pulled the trigger. The walls amplified the thunderous crack of the gunshot. Darlene screamed.

Blood darkened Kiyoko’s shirt. She staggered against the wall. The gun slipped from her hand.

“Isaac?” Babs stared at the bullet hole in my vest.

“I’m all right.” I tugged open one of the Velcro pouches on the front of my vest and carefully removed the compact mirror. “The bullet was coming out of my vest, not going in.”

Russell Potts launched himself toward the gun. I started to reach for the magic of Babs’ enchanted rings, but she was quicker. She caught him by the wrist and collar and spun, smacking him face-first into her desk. Power crackled down her arms. Potts doubled over and collapsed to the floor, his body twitching and spasming.

I stripped away the magic binding Kiyoko’s weapon and my mirror. I’d blackened everything but a small circle at the center, roughly the size of the gun barrel. I kept part of my attention on Kiyoko as she slid down the wall. “I opened a portal into the pistol. The bullet went into that portal and came out through this mirror.”

“How?” asked Babs. “Her shield . . .”

“Blocked incoming magic, like your lightning bolt. Gateway doesn’t work like that. It’s not a linear journey. Have you ever read A Wrinkle in Time? It’s like that, just two points bypassing the space in between. The bullet left my mirror and passed through the shield. That would have stripped off any enchantments, but the bullet itself kept going.”

One of the guards pounded the door. They had free run of Kiyoko’s office, thanks to the hole I’d kicked through the outer wall, but I trusted Babs’ security to keep them out of here.

Babs held up the note I’d written. “You’re sure about this?”