A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(102)

Tommy removed his buzzing phone from his pocket. “Not a good time, Harry.”

Harry said something that stopped Tommy from ending the call, instead putting him on speaker, before turning the volume down as low as possible to still be able to hear what Harry had to say.

“Right, I’ve just spoken to Grayson about the ogre,” Harry said. “Brako wasn’t the ogre who destroyed the Dorset LOA office. He wasn’t old enough. He’s an adolescent.”

The group shared an expression of horror. “You mean there’s another one around here?”

“They live for a few hundred years, so yes. And it’ll be old. And really big.”

“Thanks for the info,” Tommy said and hung up. “Right, change of plan.”

“I’m going to get rid of the mines,” Layla said. “I can do it from a distance.”

Tommy nodded, although he did so reluctantly. “Kase, can you get the front squad to pull back to here? Remy, I need you to get everyone in the rear squad prepared for a really big—”

Tommy never finished his sentence, as the ground shook, and for a moment Layla thought that it was another mine, but this time it was accompanied by an almighty roar as part of a rock formation exploded, followed quickly by a second, showering the squad behind the manor with rock and dirt, leaving only huge holes in the ground.

“It’s a cave system,” Layla whispered.

An ogre pulled itself out of the first hole and batted away the closest agent, who flew a few dozen feet toward a second ogre, which was emerging from where the next explosion had occurred. That one was smaller than the first, about the same size as Brako, but it still took hold of the dazed agent and tore him in half, tossing each part aside as if they were waste paper.

“We’ve got a female adult and a made adolescent ogre to deal with,” Tommy shouted. He roared and changed into his werewolf beast form mid-stride, before sprinting over to help the remaining members of the team. Kase did the same and ran to help those behind the minefield, waving them over to the trees. They would need everyone they could find to destroy the two ogres.

“Go, Remy, we’ll be fine,” Chloe told him, and he was off toward the ogres like a shot, dodging the pieces of rock that the smaller of the two threw at him.

“Can they beat them?” Layla asked.

The first and biggest ogre wore some sort of metal armor that covered a large part of her arms and torso. She was easily twenty feet high; her companion was maybe half that. Her skin was black and red, as if a burn had been allowed to fester.

“We need to go,” Chloe snapped. “They’ll be fine, but we won’t be if we stay here.”

Layla nodded and they ran together toward the mines, keeping just inside the trees in case someone took a shot from the house. When they were close enough, Layla concentrated and reached out with her power to sense the mines.

“There are six,” she said, scanning the entire front of the house. “I can feel them in the ground.”

“Can you disarm them?” Chloe asked.

Layla used her power to take hold of the mines, but she had no idea whether or not doing anything to them would cause them to explode. “I can pinpoint where the mines are while people run over, but doing more than that without knowledge of mines is going to cause a mess. I’ve got hold of each of them though, just in case any detonate, but if you want your people here, you’d best hurry.”

“You ready?” Chloe asked.

Layla made sure she had hold of the mines and nodded. She told Chloe the exact locations of the mines. Having to concentrate on six different parts of the front of the house at once was hard work, but she gritted her teeth and focused until all of Tommy’s people were beside them.

“What do we do with the mines?” Chloe asked after telling all but two of the agents to go help Tommy and the rest of the group. “That side door to the house is barred. Any chance you could do something about that?”

Layla pulled at the mines, taking them out of the ground, but keeping the triggers firmly in place. She moved them slowly toward the barred door, making sure the top of each mine faced the door. “Everyone should take a step back.”

She waited for everyone to move, before doing the same and releasing the triggers. The mines tore through the wood and most of the wall surrounding the door in an instant, making enough noise to shake the ground.

“They know where we’re coming in,” Tim, one of the two agents, said. He was just over six feet tall and had the large build of a boxer.

The second agent was a woman by the name of Jane, who was shorter than Layla, but had eyes that darted around constantly, as if she was always expecting something to jump out. Layla hadn’t spent much time with either of them, but she knew them well enough to say hi.

Jane sniffed the air. “I can’t smell anything inside. Too much smoke.”

The four of them made their way toward the hole in the side of the house, and once the agents were certain the room beyond was clear, they went in, with Chloe and Layla following behind.

The house itself was barren, with no pictures or furniture anywhere to be seen. The pair moved through the room and out of the open door into a second, larger room that mimicked the first in terms of its appearance.

As they left the second room and entered a hallway, the sounds of battle outside became louder. Roars of murderous intent were punctuated by cries and shouts from those fighting back.