Page 75 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
Zavier gave me a wolf-whistle. “You are so hot right now, I can’t even.”
But Malcolm brought us all back to reality. “You say this like you think this will be easy.”
I looked back at him, his hair flip crisp and perfect, and just as stiff as his posture. Dammit. I’d lost Malcolm. He was gonna say no.Shit. Fucking shit.I wanted to stomp my foot. I felt like screaming. Instead, all I could do was grit out, “I don’t think it’ll be easy. But with you all, it’ll be doable. I’ve been planning this job for two and a half years.”
Malcolm returned to his seat and linked his fingers. “Well then, show us.”
I walked over to the computer and flicked my hand up at the projector on the ceiling. My light power activated the electrons swirling through the electronics. The projector turned on, displaying the Pinnacle’s layout on the library wall. I pointed my other hand toward the study room window and tossed a shadow over it, so that no one else could see in. “Grayson, can you lock that door, please?”
Once the door was locked, I flicked on the 3-D tour of the Pinnacle I’d created. I spoke as the image roamed over the outside rotunda, complete with its golden friezes. “So, bad news first. The Pinnacle is the most magically locked down building on the planet, more secure than any of the presidential bunkers … Outside, there’s unique and effective ground security. A group of prairie dog shifters roam the grounds. They bark out alerts during off hours.”
Zavier chuckled. “Prairie dogs? Really?”
“They’re really good watch animals,” Evan stated. “I’ve been looking them up. They have specialized calls for different predators, including humans. The Pinnacle always has a guard on watch who’s a prairie dog shifter so that someone can interpret the calls. Asking around in the shifter community, they’ve stopped eighteen break ins in the past year.”
Zavier gulped. “Eighteen? That’s all?” He sunk a little into his chair and put his head on his hand. “Eighteen. Shit.” He looked a little pale, and tried to laugh that off with a chuckle.
I continued, “The first three floors of the building have lasers, pressure sensitive floors, an extensive pat down and security process, wolf and fox shifters to sniff out amulets …”
“So, easy stuff then?” Zavier scoffed.
I grinned at Zavier, who looked like he might be about to hyperventilate. “No, not easy stuff. The first three floors are a no-go. We’ll be flying in,” I nodded toward Greyson, who just grinned back at me.
“Once we do get inside, we’re going to need to go down to the vault, a hundred and fifty feet below ground. There’s only one entrance.”
I waited for a second, so that my visual aid could catch up with me. When it displayed a little kitchenette fashioned like an employee breakroom, I continued, “The entrance to the vault is in the fridge. It’s on the northeast wall and it’s spelled to look normal, but there are no actual shelves inside, per my contact. It’s an illusion. You have to have a Good Intentions Amulet on you to get the fridge to open, then we’ll have to climb into it and descend a ladder down a tube that looks a lot like a large sewer pipe.”
Zavier rubbed his chin as he studied the picture. “That’s a long tube. And that’s it? Climb down?”
I shook my head. “The tube is lined periodically with fire spells. We’ll need an Icefire to cool them down.” I looked toward Malcolm.
Malcolm tilted his head and asked, “Why me and not the bear shifter?” He gestured toward Evan, not aggressively, but curious.
“We need a subtle touch. We need the flames to decrease but not die completely so the sensors don’t activate. And Evan’s got a different job. He’s going to be our Unraveler.” I sped up the video to get through the tube and display the vast underground bunker with its many doors. It looked like something right out of a horror movie. Maybe I shouldn’t have colored the video that way, but it was better to imagine it awful now and be relieved later, than for the opposite to happen.
My breath quickened as I imagined us getting closer to our goal. “When we get underground, the entire floor is dark. There’s only one Darklight on staff at the Pinnacle right now, and she absolutely has to be with whomever goes in, because any other ounce of light—anything that’s not magical, will trigger an alarm and cause the entire floor to be deprived of oxygen.”
“Well, that all sounds completely doable—” Zavier grinned. “I mean, piece of cake, why hasn’t anyone done this before?”
“Not quite finished,” I wink at him and pull up the vault door. “This is the vault. Our serum is inside. In order to open the vault, we’ll have to have an Honesty Amulet on us and use a Pinnacle-authorized wand to unravel the ever-changing vault door spell … in under three minutes.”
Zavier started to laugh. Then he smacked the table with a laugh. He laughed until he made himself cough. All eyes turned to him as he pounded on his chest. When he finally regained control of himself, he said, “You do know that the longest any Tock has ever—in recorded history—been able to slow time, is two minutes, right?”
I grinned at Zavier. “That’s because they haven’t been dirty friends with me.”
Watching his jaw drop and his eyes grow hooded was one of the highlights of my life.
Evan added, “Hayley’s power level rating is a hundred. Only five other magicals have ever been rated that high.” He was grudging when he added, “That kind of power up …”
“So, you in?” I asked.
“In you,” Zavier grinned. “Fuck yeah. Been waiting for this for months.”
I rolled my eyes. “You better be sure. We’re talking about permanently risking your dick. Besides the teenage horn dog, anyone else?”
Malcolm looked at me. “You’re telling the truth. But I need to see for myself. How’d you get all this intel? Maps? Inside info?”
I turned to look at Grayson who just gestured at Malcolm. “What he said.”
