In spite of the situation, she smiled. “He’s so bitter, he’s not working with us now. But forget him. One of the spells I found, it uses my magic missile spell… in a different way. It fills something with magic, instead of shooting it.”

“I get it!” Fort said, a bit too loudly. She shushed him, and he leaned back in. “So you’re going to feed whatever’s in the wall so much magic it can’t handle it all!”

“That’s what I’m going to try,” she said. “Unfortunately, last time I did this, I exploded the whole lab.” She took in another deep breath. “If Jia hadn’t been nearby, Dr. Opps and I wouldn’t be around anymore.”

Fort shook his head. “Then we come up with another way. I have a little tiny hammer that might break the rock, and—”

This made Rachel snort and begin to laugh. “Okay, thank you for that,” she said. “But seriously, you know how Cyrus… he said one of us would be lost?” She winced. “I think this is what I’m here to do.”

“What?!” Fort said. “No way. We’ll think of something else. I can’t let you—”

“I just wanted to tell you that I know why you did all of this,” she said, ignoring him. “And while you’re completely wrong and made terrible choices, I forgive you. Because I get it. If it’d been my mom or dad… well. I’d be right here too.”

“You’re not doing this!” Fort said, and grabbed for her arm to pull her away from the wall, but she just raised a hand and a gust of wind knocked him off his feet, sending him careening across the cavern floor. “No!” he shouted as he hit a pile of gold and came to a stop.

“Everyone stay back!” Rachel shouted, and turned back to the wall, her hands glowing much brighter now. “Jia, be ready!”

The red glow began flowing into the wall, only to disappear as fast as it arrived. Rachel groaned in pain, and the flow intensified, becoming too bright to look at.

“Rachel, stop this!” Fort shouted, pushing to his feet, but Gabriel grabbed him before he could go to her.

“She’s going to be okay!” Gabriel told him. “Just let her do it.”

“You don’t know that!” Fort shouted, trying to get free, but Gabriel just tightened his hold.

“I do know that,” his roommate said quietly. “I told you, I have a plan, and Cyrus confirmed it. She’s not going to be hurt!”

Rachel started to scream, and her whole body glowed with the same red light of Destruction magic. But now the light was slowly filling the wall as well, which bulged and pulsated grotesquely, like it might explode at any minute.