Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(66)

“But…” A tear slipped down Penny’s cheek.

“Miss Somerset,” one of the elves said, stepping forward, and Penny harnessed their magic and cut out that blasted fake wind tousling their hair, ripping it from the room and exploding it upward. The elves on the balcony flinched, but they didn’t crouch, squeal, or duck. These were trained forces, and there were definitely too many of them for their small crew to take on. Even if they managed the impossible and defeated this many elves, reinforcements would arrive before they could escape. “Give it up. You must know this is the end.”

“You need to go,” Reagan told Penny urgently. “Get Darius. He’ll figure something out.”

Penny nodded mutely, her heart breaking, sobs threatening to overcome her. Because Reagan was sacrificing herself to save them.

“You are one of my best friends,” Penny told her. “I will return the favor and rescue you.”

Reagan smiled, her velvety brown eyes softening a little. “I knew it.” She stuck her finger in Penny’s face. “I knew you would grow to like me. See? I’m always right.”

“Okay, but”—Penny wiped her face with the back of her hand—“don’t gloat about it or anything.”

“I am going to gloat. I’m going to gloat all day long.”

“Reagan.” Dizzy’s eyes were mournful. He shook his head, also at a loss. Callie didn’t utter a sound. Her face was closed down in a bulldog expression, but her eyes were glassy. Helpless.

Surprisingly, Reagan laughed. “You guys need to lighten up.” She shrugged. “It’s good. I’m going to blow this bitch sky-high. I’m going to be the absolute worst prisoner they’ve ever dealt with in their lives. They will loathe the day they made this decision. In three…”

“This has to be part of the overall journey somehow,” Penny said, partially to herself, clutching Reagan’s arm. It had to be. Her mother wasn’t wrong. Not on big things. And both she and the Red Prophet had told them to come here, and to do it without Darius.

Except what if they’d been wrong? Or what if the crux of the crossroads had been in that throne room and they’d gone down the wrong path?

The elf said something that Penny couldn’t make out in her panic.

“I’ll be with you in one second, fancy dresser,” Reagan said. “I’m just saying goodbye to my friends before you kill them.” She glanced the elf’s way. “You are going to kill them, correct?”

“If they come quietly, we will hang them, as befits enemies of the kingdom.”

“Yeah. That’s a real good reason for them to come quietly, sure. Tell me, are all elves this stupid? Because I haven’t actually met a smart one.” She held up her finger. “Wait, don’t answer. It’ll just annoy me, and I’m busy.”

Penny felt Emery’s hand on her shoulder. “We will stand together at the final battle,” Penny continued, thinking of her mother’s first vision of the three of them, together at the end. She had to believe in it. She had to. “My mom wouldn’t send you to your death. This has to be part of the plan. It has to be.”

“Whatever it is, it will be.” Reagan’s smile was serene, and Penny knew that meant she was about to partake in one of her favorite activities: demolition. “And that’ll happen in two…”

“We’ll be back,” Emery told Reagan, or maybe it was Penny, because she couldn’t bring herself to budge. She didn’t want to leave her friend to this. She didn’t know if she could.

Reagan paused in her counting. “You’re only allowed to say that line if you use an Austrian accent.”

“Get ready to run, Penny Bristol,” Emery said in Penny’s ear. “They won’t kill her. We’ll get out, round up Darius and Cahal, and regroup. We will be back for her. We might be running now, but we will come back. She needs you to stay alive. That’s the only way she gets out of here. You are the yang to her yin. You need to stay alive.”

“I hate to say it, but he’s right,” Callie said, leaning in. “If there was any other way, we’d take it.”

“There’s no time to call a circle right now, or we’d summon a demon to fill Lucifer in on the situation,” Dizzy added, and he’d kind of missed the mark on acceptable solutions. The whole point of coming here was to avoid Lucifer.

“One… Go!” Reagan spun, and then Emery was jostling Penny, yanking at her, running with her, corralling the older dual-mages.

“Use her magic and bust us out of here, Penny,” he yelled as elves swung up swords in a neat sort of unity and prepared for battle.

“What’s up, fuckers!” Reagan shouted, her voice echoing through the room. “Come at me!”

Air punched out in all directions, hitting all the windows at once, knocking the glass out. The elves standing in front were thrown against them. Another blast of air took out the frames. A third blast blew out the walls and the elves with it. The power built, expanding, growing, filling the room with such unspeakable menace that Penny felt her limbs shaking. She’d stopped without realizing it. So had Emery and the older dual-mages.

“Come on!” Emery got them moving again, but bright light made Penny look back, her heart in her throat, tears streaming down her face. Reagan bent at the knees, slapped two hands together, and shot a thick stream of hellfire at the columns above. It sliced through stone like it was water, bodies like they had always been two halves, the walls beyond with just as much power.