Page 22 of Wilds of Wonder
Driscoll grunted. “Because we’ve almost died approximately five thousand times in the last few months. You kind of get desensitized to it after that.”
He looked at his fingers and yelped.
“What?” My pulse spiked. “What’s wrong?”
“Relax.” Leoni’s face turned red as she pushed and pushed at the window. “He broke a nail.”
Driscoll held up his pointer finger and scowled. “I just got a manicure.”
I elbowed him aside right as the frost around the edges of the pane cracked, and Leoni and I shoved the window open. A shuddering wind blew in, rattling the parchment on the desk. It whipped up and flew around the room in swirls. Maverick stiffened outside the door, the conversation between him and the guards going quiet.
“We have to hurry!” We would not get another chance. I spread out my fingers, ready to use my frost magic to get us down below. A warning bell rang in the distance, and the clearing below emptied as everyone scurried to their classes. “Perfect timing,” I said, looking behind me again.
“Oh no.” Driscoll stepped up. “I’m already cold enough. No way I’m depending on your frosty powers.”
I rolled my eyes as the door handle turned, the panic in me rising to a peak. “Then what’s the alternative?”
He sighed and muttered, “I’m just supposed to be the sidekick, but here I am, once again saving everyone else’s asses.”
“Well, save our asses faster, please!” Leoni crossed her arms.
Maverick stepped in front of the guards, speaking in low, urgent tones, and I wondered what in the bloody frost he was saying.
Driscoll held out his hand, a vine slithering out the window. It looped around a statue that stood on a ledge outside Maverick's office window. The statue held a book in one hand, the other raised into a fist, the vine curling around it and tying into a thick knot.
The door burst open, and the guards shouted from behind us.
“Hope you both have been working on your upper body strength,” Driscoll yelled as he clambered through the window and onto the vine.
“Not really,” I shouted back.
Ice shards flew at us as Leoni and I grasped onto the vine, and suddenly we were swinging through the air. I looked back to see Maverick's face in the window, the guards behind him, all of them so shocked they didn’t move.
Maverick held out his hand, a ball of fire appearing, his gaze trained on me. Of course he’d have to use his magic. He needed this to be convincing so it didn’t look like he had any hand in our escape.
“He’s going to burn our vine!” Driscoll yelled as my stomach heaved, the vine swinging us wildly back and forth.
“Where are we going?” Leoni asked from above, her hands white as she gripped the vine tight. “What is the plan?”
“Do I have to do everything?” Driscoll yelled.
We swung toward the rooftop below Maverick's office. His fireball flew past us, barely missing us.
“Really doesn’t seem like he wants us to escape,” Driscoll shouted.
“We’re going to have to jump.” I unfurled my fist and summoned my magic. Ice crackled into a ramp from the rooftop, unraveling toward the ground. “And your balls are about to get a whole lot colder.”
When the vine hung over the roof, I dropped from it, landing onto the icy ramp I’d created and sliding down. Faces peered from all the windows of the academy, students watching in fascination as professors barked for them to return to their seats. Driscoll screamed as he dropped onto the ramp behind me, and Leoni followed with a thud.
“Spirits below, ice is hard!” Driscoll yelled from behind me. “I think that broke my ass!”
I slid, the ice slick, the cold of it seeping into my skin, which absorbed the chill and gave me renewed energy. I landed with an oomph on the snow-packed ground, Driscoll and Leoni toppling over me. We lay in a heap, all of us breathing heavily when the doors of the academy burst open, the guards and Maverick yelling as they raced toward us.
The guards shot out daggers of ice that flew in our direction.
“I’m really questioning all of my life choices right now,” Driscoll muttered.
We struggled to our feet and ran through the courtyard. I ducked as an ice shard flew over my head, crashing into a tree.
