-Alexia-
The ceiling cracked with a thunderous groan, shaking the chamber's very core. Shadows spiraled upward, desperately trying to hold the failing wards, but their strength faltered.
Gideon's patience snapped like a brittle thread. "Enough."
He rose from his throne, tracing a furious, complex pattern in the air. Darkness pooled and spiraled into a dense vortex behind him.
"This place is no longer ours," he said, his voice echoing. He looked down at me, his eyes tracking the glow of the suppression cuffs on my wrists. He reached out as if to seize me, but his hand stopped inches away as the air around the cuffs hissed with static.
"The dampeners," he hissed, a sneer curling his lip. "They act as an anchor to this physical plane. If I try to pull her through the Void while her magic is suppressed this way, the friction would tear her soul apart. I will not have my masterpiece destroyed by a crude mechanical lock."
He straightened, his gaze turning toward the sound of the boys breaching the outer doors. "Let them have her for now. They are merely escorting her back to the school—a cage I have already renovated to my liking."
He turned to the Scions. "We leave."
A cold spike shot into my heart.
He was leaving.
He was abandoning the fox.
He was abandoning me -
Because he didn't believe I could escape.
Another powerful impact slammed into the upper wards. The ceiling buckled. Stone dust rained down thicker, coating my hair, burning my eyes.
Gideon's jaw tightened. "Transport. Now."
The Scions stepped toward him, merging their magic into a whirl of shadow and vapor. The air twisted, warping like heat over stone.
And in the space of a heartbeat -
They vanished.
All of them.
Leaving the chamber abruptly, unnervingly empty.
For the first time since being dragged into this fortress, there was silence.
A silence broken only by -
"Alexia."
It wasn't a voice spoken aloud.
It pulsed through the bone - raw, urgent.
Jasper.
The ceiling shuddered again. A Stone slab cracked free, smashing into the ground near me. I stumbled back, shielding my face, heart pounding.
Think. Move. Move.
Gideon believed I couldn't escape.
He underestimated me.
Even without my magic, I still had my mind. My strength. My training. And the most important thing.
My boys were just above me.
I raced toward the fox's cage. My hands closed around it, feeling the frantic warmth of the frightened creature inside.
Gideon had wanted me to watch it die—to learn that mercy was weakness. Saving it was the only answer I would ever give him.
Clutching the cage tightly, I ran for the back of the chamber - the way the guards had brought me in earlier. My legs trembled with exhaustion, but adrenaline pushed me forward. The shadows that once restrained me flickered weakly, destabilized by the Scions' abrupt departure.
When I reached the door, it resisted for a moment -
Then slid open with a hiss as its ward flickered out.
The shock of freedom nearly stole my breath.
A dim, cold corridor stretched ahead, dust drifting from the ceiling with every tremor.
"Alexia!" This time the voice was real - hoarse, frantic, echoing down the hall.
My heart leaped. "Finn?" I gasped, running as fast as I could with the cage in my hands.
"Alexia!" another voice - deeper, router-answered. Asher.
I stumbled through a side passage, turned a sharp corner -
And slammed into a broad, burning chest, strong arms steadied me.
"Alexia," he breathed, voice thick with relief, and tried to hug me, but couldn't due to the cage. Before I could say more, a significant, calm presence stepped forward. Asher reached out and carefully took the cage from my trembling hands, holding it securely but gently.
"Let me carry this," he said quietly, showing relief in his eyes, but still very guarded.
Finn crushed me into his arms in a firm hug and buried his face in my hair. "Gods-Alexia, I thought we lost you for good."
My breath broke. My fingers curled into his shirt, clinging. "Never. You came for me."
"Always," he whispered, voice shaking. "Always.
Before I could speak, another presence barreled into us - sharp, desperate arms wrapping around both of us.
Jasper.
He held my shoulders, scanning me frantically, eyes glowing with eleven speed-magic. "Are you hurt? Is anything broken? Did Gideon-"
"I'm okay," I breathed, though it wasn't entirely true. "My magic…it's suppressed."
"We'll fix it," Finn said fiercely.
A cold rush of air swept past me as Soren appeared next, moving like a shadow torn loose from the wall. His hands hovered near my face before he clenched them into fists.
"Thank you, Gods," he said. "You are never to give yourself up, ever again!"
"While I love the reunion, we need to get out of here," Asher stated, cradling the fox that he got out of the cage. I looked at him, surprised, and he must have seen it. "It's easier to run without the cage, and he is still weak."
I nod. "What's up with the fox?" Finn asks, still holding me tight.
I started to answer, but before I could-
"We need to leave now." Jasper interrupted, voice low but urgent. "Gideon is more than aware that we're the ones who did this. He'll regroup and come back for Alexia. We need to get back to the school, now.".
The group moved quickly, retracing steps through the twisting corridors, the fortress groaning as if mourning the loss of its captive light.
When we finally burst out into the cold night air, the sky was a velvet black canvas dusted with stars.
Zeus, my familiar - a massive German Shepard - was waiting near the edge of the forest, alert and tense. Nearby, Kaia paced, her human form tense with worry. Relief flooded through me.
"Zeus! Kaia!" I called breathlessly.
Zeus barked once, a deep, steady sound, then trotted forward to meet us. Kaia exhaled sharply and pulled me into a tight embrace. She whispered, "Thank you! However, if you ever do that again, I will kick your ass."
My eyes welled up with tears, while I squeezed her tight.
"We have to move," Jasper urged, his eyes sharp as he scanned the tree line.
Asher still held the fox carefully in his arms, eyes alert for any signs of pursuit.
"Gideon will send reinforcements," Soren warned, shadows flickering faintly around him. "We can't linger."
Finn pulled me close, his voice fierce and steady. "We'll keep you safe. We'll keep him away."
I swallowed hard, heart pounding but steady.
"Then let's go," I said, gripping Finn's hand as we prepared to move.
The forest swallowed us, the night alive with silent promise. Hope burned bright - like a small, steady flame daring to grow.
But somewhere deep beneath the quiet stars, shadows stirred.
And Gideon was far from finished.