Page 33 of Ignited Spirits
Once everyone is through the rift, Levi lets it close silently.
I’m surprised when Cerberus appears next to us, looking a little worn out.
You okay?I ask in my mind to avoid drawing any attention.
“Yeah! We just led Lua around a bunch of different realms. She was too slow to catch us, so we had a lot of fun!”
Cer sighs heavily in my mind.“It was not fun, but we did successfully lead her away from you and your mates. Lua is distracted in one of the less friendly realms currently.”
My curiosity is piqued at the mention of more realms and what a “less friendly” world looks like, but that’ll have to wait for later. I’m just relieved that Lua’s occupied, at least for now, and myfamiliarisis safe.
Thanks, guys. We’ve gotta break my dad out of prison. You’re free to come with us, but I understand if you need to rest after leading Lua on a wild-goose chase.
“We will come with you,sagana. As yourfamiliaris, we’ll always be by your side when it’s dangerous,”Bear tells me.
My lips tip up at them always having my back. Not wanting to waste any more time, I start walking toward the imposing steel door at the other end of the corridor. My mates and brothers are silent as they follow us. Our shoes softly clicking against the gaudy marble is the only sound our grim procession makes.
When we reach the door, I hold in my groan when I see how high-tech the lock is, with a biometric scanner, key card reader, and pin pad.
Really? Is all of that necessary?
Apparently the council thinks so.
“Any chance you can break into that?” I ask Aiden.
He shakes his head. “My computer’s at Elemental. I can’t really do much without any tech. Sorry.”
“You’re good. Guess we’ll have to see if my magic works against it.” I don’t know how spirit magic will be useful to get through a door, but I’ll try.
Before I can direct my magic, Levi says, “I think Cain’s magic would work better. If he can conjure his hellfire, he can melt through the metal door, which might raise fewer alarms than tampering with the lock.”
I turn to look at Cain. “How’s dealing with your hellhound powers going?”
Chuckling softly, he shrugs. “Haven’t had time to explore them. There’s a first time for everything, so I’m happy to try.”
“Okay. No pressure, though. We have a ton of other magic we can use if it doesn’t work.” I don’t have many other ideas of what to do, but I’m not going to tell him that. He doesn’t need the pressure.
Cain flashes me a small smile. “Thank you, angel.”
As he faces the door, Cain’s eyes glow the same bright red as they did when Hades provoked him. He seems to grow taller and wider as black wispy flames swirl around him. Some of those flames reach out and touch the door, but nothing happens.
I deflate. Cain must not have enough of a handle on his magic to burn through the metal yet.
I open my mouth to tell him that we’ll figure out another way when black and indigo solid flames spread down Cain’s arms to his legs and start creeping across the floor. The white marble instantly melts when the flames touch it.
I gasp as I watch his flames crawl up the metal slowly, completely melting through the foot-thick door in each spot before moving upward. Once they reach high enough for all of us to fit under, the flames move glacially sideways and then down before burning a trail back to Cain.
The thick metal door falls to the floor. Only Levi’s quick thinking to cushion it with magic keeps it from clattering when it falls and drawing the kind of attention we don’t want.
The flames slither over Cain’s clothes and skin, leaving absolutely no damage behind. Once his flames are back aroundhis arms, Cain’s eyes fade to their normal green, and he shrinks to his—still massive—normal size. His mouth parts in surprise when he surveys the carnage left behind by his flames.
“It worked.” Cain sounds a little shell-shocked, and I have to fight the urge to giggle. He’s incredibly adorable for the trained killer Archer insists he is.
“Yep. Fantastic work, quiet boy.” I grin at him, and he returns it with a small one of his own.
Already anticipating the argument over me going first, I wait until Levi carefully picks his way through the still-molten metal where the center of the door used to be. Then I follow him, letting mycuramagic pool in my hands so I’m ready for whatever we find.
Surprisingly, the hallway isn’t crawling with guards. Although, as soon as I step through and look up, a council goon rounds the corner. He doesn’t immediately notice Levi or me, giving me time to sling my magic at him.
