Page 51 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

He was right. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I lost it now.

Beyond this classroom that acted as the command center, the music wing had a long hallway that zigzagged back and forth like one of those brownie pans that was all edges. There were dozens of tiny rooms, heavily soundproofed so the sounds of kids practicing all at once wouldn’t be overwhelming. The lights were turned on in all of them, too, and as we reached the first one, I saw a slumped figure through the small, thick window set into the door at face height.

The grief had taken a back seat, and the anger was in charge now. I threw out blasts of magic, tearing the wards on the doors down like they were wet tissue paper. I used enough force that some of the doors buckled in on themselves, and a few frail people cautiously stuck their heads out of their confinement. Gabriel made quick work of the doors I hadn’t broken, tearing them off their hinges and helping the people inside to their feet.

Some of the prisoners were too weak to stand. They were pretty much silent, staring at us with wide, fearful eyes. Did they think this was some sort of trick? That we were trying to break their spirits even more?

“We’re here to help,” Gabriel said, repeating it every time he opened a new door. “We’re going to get you out of this place.”

Some of the people in the cells didn’t move. Judging from the smells, some probably hadn’t moved in a long time. I worked my way down the zigzag of the corridor, throwing doors open. The prisoners were all shapes and sizes, all different magical species. I thought I might’ve recognized a few faces, but I if I stopped to focus, the grief would find its way back in.

I threw another door open, and the prisoner inside charged out, a little unsteady but clearly ready for a fight. He turned to me, eyes wild, and then dropped his hands from their defensive position.

“Evie?” Damien blurted out. He was a mess, bruised and battered beyond the capabilities of vampire healing. He was in tattered, ill-fitting uniform scrubs, the same as the other prisoners, and I realized it was the first time I’d seen him without a suit. He looked bigger out of one.

“Evangeline,” I corrected him automatically. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Cover got blown,” he said. “I’ll tell you the rest when we’re safe. What’s the plan? What can I do?”

“Help organize the prisoners,” I said quickly. “Make sure the stronger ones help those who can’t stand on their own. I can teleport them out, but I can’t take them all at once, and it’s gonna take me a couple minutes to get back down here. Get them as close to the front drive as you can. It’s where I’ll be landing when I come back.”

He nodded firmly and started opening doors. Even though he looked like shit, he could carry a person on each shoulder without much effort. He went toward the front of the wing, passing Gabriel on his way. Gabriel shot me a questioning look, but I waved it off.

“No time,” I told him.

“Fair enough. Once the wards are all down, can you start getting people out? I’ll stay here and open up the rest of the doors.” It was odd seeing Gabriel so grimly efficient. I’d gotten used to him being earnest and romantic in a sort of clumsy way. This was a side of Gabriel that reminded me of his mother: precise, focused, determined.

“I can start soon. There are still a couple doors left,” I said. “I told Damien to get them as close to the ley line crossing as he could.”

I opened another set of wards, and Gabriel froze for a moment, then ran through one of the doors. He came out half-carrying a kid. No, not a kid. The man was barely younger than me, just on the short side, and so emaciated, he looked even smaller. He had matted curly hair and an unfocused look in his eyes. The sort of look that told me he was very lucky we’d gotten there when we did.

“It’s all right, Nathan,” Gabriel said. “It’s all right. I found you. We’re going to get you out of here. Just hold on a little while longer. Can you do that for me?”

The man—Nathan—let out a hoarse gurgling sound of agreement.

“Jus’ like that time at the siren bar,” he rasped, his voice slurred and distant. “When you ‘n’ Theo got… got me home safe…”

“Yes,” Gabriel said with a sort of desperate attempt at reassurance. “Just like that, Nathan. This is Evangeline. She’s going to help me get you somewhere safe right away.” He looked at me with pleading eyes, and it was such a stark contrast from how businesslike he’d been a moment earlier that it hit me like a physical blow.

I tore through the last of the wards in one ferocious burst and reached for Nathan, taking the rest of his weight. “Get the others upstairs,” I told Gabriel. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I got Nathan to hobble alongside me fast enough to dip us down into the ley lines and pulled back up outside of Marcus’s safe house. I didn’t think Nathan had the time to waste on walking, so I threw out a wild blast of magic, enough to propel us forward, and another little blast to keep us from crashing into the building. The windows rattled, and Marcus threw the door open before I could knock. He swept a look over the two of us, quick and appraising.

“Help him,” I said shortly. “I’ll be back with more. I don’t know how many.” Marcus was already moving, taking the barely conscious vampire from me and waving over a sofa that turned into a makeshift cot as it came closer. I ran back into the flow of the ley lines, counting the blips of crossroads until I was back outside the school. The front doors had been thrown open, and a few of the former prisoners were in the front hall. I grabbed as many as I thought I could take in one go and set off again.

I lost count of how many trips I made. Enough that my sense of where I ended and the magic started got fuzzy. The process was getting more fluid, less like jumping into the ley lines and more like slipping in and out slowly, luxuriating in it. It didn’t seem important. The magic was so beautiful and free, and there was just so much of it. It was a pleasure just to let it carry me, to feel?—

Hands grabbed me by the arms and shook me roughly, and I funneled back down into my body. I blinked and looked up into Damien’s pale, worried face. I was back in the front hall, my chest aching.

“Keep it together,” Damien snapped. “There are only two more left to evacuate, not counting me. You can do this. You can do this, right?” He didn’t sound certain.

“I can,” I managed, voice a little slurred. “Where’s Gabriel?”

“He’s grabbing the records,” he said. “He said it was important. Wanted you to get the last ones out, and said he’d meet you up here.”

I nodded, which made the lights leave faint trails in my vision. “Got it.” I took one of the prisoners by the hand, and Damien picked up the other and grabbed onto me. We walked, and I slipped us down into the ley lines. It must have been instantaneous for them, but for me it was gentle and sweet. Time seemed to slow down in the school in the split second before we were gone.

That was why I was still aware when Merri burst into the main hall and bellowed, “The other guy is here, and he found your boyfriend!”

---