Isabelle stood near Micah’s side and pulled a lot of magick fast and hard. Water coursed from the pipes, down the hallway, everywhere and anywhere she could call it from.

The other water witches in the foyer caught on fast and called water, too. Soon Sarafina lay in an inch of it, then another inch. Rising fast, the water all made for Stefan, forming a conical wave around him and his Atrika bodyguards, who had difficulty staving it off.

Even better, the contingent of daaeman guards were now distracted and busy.

Seeing an opening, Claire, Mira, Thomas, and Sarafina all mounted an attack. They tossed all they could at the now struggling and preoccupied Atrika. Sarafina caught one in the side of the head with a burst of fire that sent him reeling back, howling.

The water coursed in, soaking Stefan’s shoes, and began to rise fast. It was already up to Sarafina’s calves. Most likely the water witches had tapped the water pipes, the streams in the Conservatory, and the Coven’s pool. She could smell a note of chlorine underneath the heavy scent of elemental and daaeman magick.

Thomas lobbed an earth charm at Stefan, which made Sarafina’s ears ring from the power. The charm made it past the Atrika and hit Stefan full in the chest, sending the warlock careening backward to slide on his back in the water.

Now out of Stefan’s control, the ball floated up into the center of the foyer, near the chandelier. It continued to emit daaeman magick, but judging from the swear words coming from Stefan’s mouth the warlock had lost complete power over it. Now it hung like a deadly daaeman disco ball near the ceiling. It was sure making the witches dance all right.

Something growled to the left of her and Sarafina turned her head to see Bai pushing witches out of his way to get to her.

Okay, time to go.

She pushed into the throng and tried her best to disappear. The last thing she needed was for Bai to jump right next to her in the crowd and take her away. He could do it so easily. Her only chance was to stay as far from him as she could and not allow him to touch her.

Weaving in and out and back and forth, all the while dodging blue bolts, she forced her way to the back of the crowd, where more Atrika and warlocks stood trying to guard the exits and keep all the witches in the vicinity of the daaeman magick. Water sloshed around her calves here, too. She could feel a current and she was working against it. The water witches were still calling it toward Stefan.

Sarafina ducked into a room off the corridor. Water streamed in after her and it was a struggle to get the door closed again. She found herself in a storage room filled with cleaning supplies.