Page 84 of Lost in Fire

“It’s too easy,” I warn the others, drawing my secondary weapon. “Fall back now. It’s a—”

“Trap,” a voice finishes from speakers hidden in the walls. “Indeed, it is, Hargen Cole.”

The words barely leave my mouth when panels slide open in the walls and ceiling. Guards emerge from concealed positions, surrounding Iris with weapons trained on her core. She vanishes into shadow, reappearing behind them, but more pour from hidden alcoves. A specialized containment field activates, preventing her from fully dissolving again.

“Five minutes,” Mara’s voice is frantic. “They knew we were coming—they’re tracing our signal!”

Nadia creates a distraction—wolf howls echo through the corridors as her magic amplifies and distorts sound, building to a cacophony that has the guards clutching their ears. She shifts partially, claws extending as she slashes through the nearest attacker’s body armor.

“The feed is compromised,” I shout over the chaos. “Abort all communications!”

Iris uses the confusion to break free, melting back into darkness like water seeping through cracks. She materializes beside Nadia, grabbing her arm. “This way!”

But I move in the opposite direction, toward Vanya’s cell. I can feel her now—a faint pulse of familiar energy despite the dampening fields. Three guards block my path. The first falls to a precision strike to the throat. The second to a borrowed Syndicate weapon. The third manages to trigger a magical barrier before my blade finds his heart.

The corridor ahead clears momentarily. But not for long.

Specialized Syndicate operatives converge from both ends—six of them, wearing the distinctive silver-threaded combat gear of the Magical Containment Division. One raises his hands, and the air between us thickens with visible power—binding sigils appearing in glowing formation.

I break through the first wave of magic, my own abilities flaring against the suppression field. Two operatives down, a third staggering back. But there are too many. The fourth launches a binding chain that wraps around my left arm, searing through fabric to the skin beneath. The fifth creates a gravity well that drives me to one knee.

The sixth—clearly their leader—steps forward, hands moving in complex patterns as she weaves a containment spell I’ve never encountered. The magic hits like a fist, driving the air from my lungs as invisible bands constrict around my chest.

“Fuck!” I choke out as consciousness starts to slip, the binding magic dragging me under. I catch a glimpse of figures converging, before the magic overwhelms me and everything goes dark.

When awareness returns, guards are dragging me through the same corridors I’d tried to infiltrate. My weapons are gone, hands secured behind my back with the same suppression chains they use on their prisoners. The metal burns against my skin, specially crafted to neutralize supernatural abilities.

“I suspected she had accomplices,” a cold voice says. A burly male steps into the light, murky brown eyes gleaming withsatisfaction beneath a high-ranking Syndicate insignia. “How convenient that you delivered yourself to us.”

“Careful,” I manage through the pain. “Last time your people had me, it didn’t end well for them.”

His smile never reaches his eyes. “Circumstances have changed. As you’re about to discover.”

They stop before a reinforced door. Vanya’s cell. The lock disengages with an ominous click, the sound of complex mechanical and magical systems releasing. Guards shove me inside with enough force to make my vision swim, and I stumble, barely keeping my feet as the door slams shut behind me.

She looks up from where she’s chained to the wall, hair falling across her face. The silver chains binding her wrists and ankles pulse with suppression magic. Disbelief and horror war in her ice-blue eyes as she stares at me.

“Hargen?” Her voice is rough, as if she hasn’t used it in days. “What have you done?”

Chapter 28

Vanya

The cell door opens with a grinding screech that makes my bones ache. I expect another interrogation, another session with Vex’s unending questions. Instead, a figure stumbles through the doorway, shoved hard by unseen hands.

My breath stops.

Hargen.

“What have you done?” The words tear from my throat before I can stop them. “You were supposed to be protecting Ember!”

He straightens, taking in the binding chains around my wrists, the bruises Vex’s interrogations have left behind. His jaw tightens with anger at the sight. “She’s safe. The Collective is protecting her.”

“You shouldn’t have come.” My voice cracks despite my best efforts. “You were supposed to stay with her!”

“You’re crazy if you think I’d leave you to die here.” He steps closer, and I can see the exhaustion etched into his face, the desperate edge that matches my own.

Before either of us can say more, the door opens again. Vex steps through, his smile sharp as broken glass.

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