“Sure. The gate guards won’t stop me. And if there’s a big enough uproar, I can claim I’m getting weapons from my car and that Eddie’s helping me.” Seeing our surprised looks, she rolled her eyes. “Come on. You don’t think everyone here has weapons stashed in their car?”

The question then came down to whether I could pull off Alicia’s spell. I’d committed the spell to memory after reading about it, but magic was a lot more than just memorization. Summoning supernatural creatures wasn’t an easy task, especially with no physical spell components to aid me. I spoke the words, concentrating on the power within me, and felt the magic flare up in response. The spell I’d read about had an element of control to it—a way for the caster to direct the fotianas to do the caster’s bidding. I’d planned on having the fotianas do some steady loops of the compound, enough to be distracting and steer everyone’s attention from the masters’ meeting room but not degenerate into complete chaos.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out as I’d planned.

It took a lot more strength and energy than I’d expected to cast the spell, and although I pulled it off—barely—I couldn’t actually maintain control. A swarm of fotianas materialized in front of me, hovering there for a moment before suddenly scattering off and flying around the compound at insane speeds and in wildly different directions. We stared after them, gaping.

“Were they that fast at the robot museum?” asked Eddie, eyes wide.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I may not have cast it perfectly. I also didn’t mean to summon quite so many.”

If we’d wanted chaos, though, we got it. The fotianas instantly attracted attention, spinning and twirling around the compound, leaving trails of light behind. And, just like at the museum, the fotianas stung those they came into contact with. Screams and shouts rose up almost immediately, and with them, a cry I hadn’t expected.

“Armageddon! Armageddon is upon us! Warriors, take up arms!”

Sabrina gasped, and I turned to her in surprise. “They mean that figuratively, right?” I asked.

She shook her head frantically. “Are you kidding? These people? It’s what they’ve been preparing for. I didn’t think they’d take this as a sign, though!”

“Look!” Eddie pointed toward a group of Warriors hurrying in our direction. Panic surged into me. How had they linked the fotianas to us?

“The storage shed,” explained Sabrina, steering us away from it. “That’s what they’re going for. They do Armageddon drills to get ready for this, and the weapons they use are in here.”