I caught hold as well and urged him up. It wasn’t the most difficult fence to climb—it wasn’t electrified or barbed—and having it for support negated some of Adrian’s disorientation. Nonetheless, it was still slow going as we made it toward the top. This spell lasted a little longer than the blindness one, but I was painfully aware that as soon as Adrian was free from it, the Warriors would be too.

Against all odds, we made it to the top of the fence. Getting over to the other side was much more difficult, and I had to do a fair amount of acrobatics to help Adrian make the transition while keeping myself steady. Finally, I wrangled him into the correct position to climb down.

“Good,” I said. “Now just reverse what you did before, one hand down in front of the—”

Something slipped, either his hand or foot, and Adrian plummeted to the ground. It wasn’t that long of a drop, and his height helped a little—not that he was in any shape to actually use his legs and land on his feet. I winced.

“Or you can just take the short way down,” I said.

I quickly scaled down after him and helped him stand. Aside from the spell’s debilitation, he didn’t seem to have suffered any damage. Slipping an arm around him and letting him lean his weight on me, I attempted to run toward the road he’d mentioned, which was now slightly visible. “Running” was difficult, however. It was hard work keeping Adrian up and I kept stumbling. Still, we made our way slowly from the compound, which was about as much as we could hope for. Adrian’s state made him clumsy and heavy, and his height was a real inconvenience.

Then, without warning, the spell wore off, and Adrian instantly recovered. His legs strengthened and his unwieldy gait straightened out. Suddenly, it was as though he were carrying me, and we practically tripped over each other trying to adjust.

“You okay?” I asked, letting go.

“I am now. What the hell was that?”

“It’s not important. What is important is that those guys have recovered too. Maybe I knocked them down hard enough to slow them down.” That seemed kind of unlikely. “But run anyway.”

We ran, and even if he undoubtedly had the respiratory system of a chain smoker, his long legs made up for it. He could easily outdistance me but slowed so that we stayed together. Whenever he started to get ahead, he’d grab my hand again. Shouts sounded behind us, and I turned off the flashlight to make us harder to spot.

“There,” said Adrian. “See the cars?”

Slowly, out of the darkness, two SUVs materialized, along with a much more conspicuous yellow Mustang.

“Very covert,” I muttered.

“Most of the guardians have gotten away,” said Adrian. “But not everyone.”

Before I could respond, someone grabbed me from behind. In a maneuver that would have made Wolfe proud, I managed the backward kick that he’d tried so hard to teach us. It caught my attacker by surprise, and he released me, only for his companion to shove me to the ground.