Page 11 of Coerced

“We can’t wait, Ms. Chapman.” I met her eyes and jerked my head toward the far end of the hall. “Whatever it is, it’s coming. Fast.”

She gave me a quick nod and moved to the center of the hallway, and I frowned. She was a naturalist. There were no plants or water or earth to call on down here. What did she think she could do to defend us?

“Class, you will vacate the Repository immediately.” She shook out her wrists and hands. “Proceed down this hall and make a left at the first intersection. Pass four halls until you reach the rotunda. Open the door marked emergency exit and go through it. Then contact your wardens.”

Most of the other kids ran, but I couldn’t leave her here alone. I swung around and met Gemma’s eyes.

“You three go with the others.”

“No.” Gemma shook her head. “I’ll stay with you.”

I could hear claws scrabbling in the distance and knew we were almost out of time.

“You can’t help her, angel, and I can. Go!”

I’m built to fight. Ineedto fight. And I can’t do that so well if I’m distracted because I’m worrying about your safety.

I tried to tell her all that with my eyes, and she must have understood. She joined hands with Gigi and Chessie and they took off in one direction right as thunderous footfalls pounded toward us from the other. It sounded like the enemy was big or heavy or both.

Good!

Adrenaline surged through me. This would be a sweet fight, and that was the only thing I missed about my old life.

“You go, too, Harker,” Ms. Chapman ordered.

“You leaving?”

“Of course not.” She stood straighter. “I will stay until a curator arrives.”

“Then I think I better stay, too.”

“Harker—”

“I ain’t a kid, Ms. Chapman, and I ain’t gonna let it hurt you.”

Then it was too late to argue. A gargoyle skidded around the corner, its claws sliding on the tile and a long black tongue rolling out of its grinning mouth. I’d seen a couple live ones before, but only little bitty ones, most with wings. This monster was kinda shaped like a bulldog right down to its stub of a tail, but stood at least three feet tall on its four legs and musta weighed hundreds of pounds, maybe even a thousand.

As it ran straight at us, Ms. Chapman shot a lightning bolt that broke a chip off of its shoulder. She tried a fire rocket next, but the gargoyle didn’t so much as flinch when it hit. She had time for one more shot - another lightning bolt that knocked the tip off one of its ears - before it sprang at her.

My turn!

Burning blue as I launched forward, I tackled it mid-air and managed to carry it across the hall. The wall shuddered when we plowed through it and plaster fell all around us. I manifested a pickaxe with a diamond-tipped head and hammered away. I probably got in a good dozen or so hits before the gargoyle crawled out of the hole we’d made in the wall.

Let’s see how indestructible you are.

I fell into a smooth rhythm of strike-and-dodge and targeted the back of its neck and the base of its throat, figuring I could hack my way through and eventually behead the thing.

“Ms. Chapman, can you freeze it?” I called over my shoulder. “I could do damage faster if you held it still.”

“No, don’t damage it anymore!” shouted a man’s voice I didn’t recognize. “It’s thousands of years old!”

“Then what do youwantme to do with it?”

“I’m working on it! Keep it busy for a few more seconds.”

I glanced over to see who thought they could order me around in a fight, and it cost me. Rearing onto its back legs, the gargoyle feinted with one paw, lashed out with the other, and sudden fire tore along my chest and ribcage.

Spiking up, I tossed the pickaxe, dove onto the gargoyle’s back like a rodeo rider, and rammed a fist into the crater I’d made at the base of its skull.

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