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Chapter 22

We rejoined Owen in the hallway While we’d been rescuing Callie, he’d grabbed the guard’s cell phone and was listening to the crackles of conversation on the other end

"Any sign of ?"

Owen shook his head "Nothing much I heard some footsteps and some shouts, but none of them seem to be headed in this direction Frouards are on the other side of the house, trying to figure out what’s going on, who’s in the mansion, and how they can stop theh I can’t be sure They haven’t said anything about Vanessa or Victoria"

"That’s because the tomen are probably somewhere secure already I bet that Dekes keeps them under lock and key the whole time, except for when he needs Vanessa to make an appearance for his friends After all, it just wouldn’t do for Dekes to lose his elemental meal tickets," I said

I pulled my own cell phone out of my vest "Callie’s secure," I said "Repeat, Callie is secure"

"Roger that," Finn responded a second later "Still searching the first floor No sign of the other to We’ll do the same up here"

I put the phone back in its slot on iant We eased through the halls, looking and listening, but we didn’t encounter any uards Finn and the others had killed four already, and I’d put another one down That made five I didn’t kno ht actually be in theto bet that we’d put a good dent in their numbers

We made it back to the crossway and started down the only other hall I hadn’t explored yet I led the way, followed by Donovan, then Callie, with Owen serving as the rear guard We didn’t pass any more of Dekes’s men, but we started to hear faint shouts, screarew louder the farther alked down the hall, peppered here and there with the sharp sting of gunfire

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Looked like Finn, Bria, and Sophia had run into soh, because they toldI would have been more worried if I hadn’t heard any noise at all Besides, every once in a while, Finn’s triumphant shouts drifted out of the cell phone in the pocket ofme that they were okay

Eventually we reached another hallway that led to a dead end I peered around the corner again, and just like before, I spotted a giant standing guard outside a door Only this time he had two buddies with him Jackpot

I drew back before they saw me and looked at Owen "Three of therinned and twirled his staff in his hands "With you? Always"

I looked over at Donovan "You stay here with Callie and watch our backs We shouldn’t be long"

The detective nodded and ainst the wall beside him

I palmed a second knife and turned my attention back to Owen "Saunfire On three Onetwothree!"

We both sprinted out froiants They were taken off guard just like their buddy had been before, but they recovered un out from under his suit jacket, raise it, and fire I was in front of Owen, et instead of him, just like I’d planned

Crack! Crack!

Two bullets thunked intoht the bullets The giant pulled the trigger again, but his buddy was also reaching for his gun at the same time and spoiled his aim The third bullet plowed harmlessly into one of the walls

Then Owen and I were on theuy on the far right, bringing his staff down in a vicious arc on top of the giant’s head It wasn’t enough to crack open his skull outright, but the snap of the iant’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head Owen brought the staff up, then swung it around, this tiuy’s teered back into the wall Owen brought the staff around a third tiiant i at his crushed windpipe Oung the staff a final tiiant didn’t iant in theat his hand with my knife The blade sliced into his wrist, and he hoith pain The gun clattered to the floor, and I used uy on the far left reached fortheainst the opposite wall After that, it was just a ether while I went to ith my knives

Slice-slice-slice-slice

The blood spattered onto the wall, and they soon joined their dead friend on the floor Once again, I leaned over and cut all their throats, just to be sure

Never leave any ene the words in my ear, and I was deterht, when so many other lives besides mine depended on it

Owen tried the door, but of course it was locked I slid one of iants’ pockets with my free hand, but none of the If I were Dekes and Vanessa was locked inside this rooiants the key either Because if they had a key, for whatever reason, sooner or later, one of the moment, and that’s when Vanessa would strike A couple of blasts of her Fire iant, and I was betting that the elemental had tried more than once to escape

The door was made out of sturdy wood too heavy and solid to cut h with one of my knives, and it was reinforced with silverstone bars Since the giants didn’t have the key, that left only one way to open the door and see aiting on the other side

So I tucked ic - and was surprised once again at just how little there was of it Once more, only a few silvery sparks flickered in the palm ofDekes"

I’d hoped ht have replenished itself a bit while we’d been planning the attack on the mansion, but it didn’t seem there was any more in my body than when I’d reached for it at the beach house thisI’d wanted at least a bitto happen Since there was nothing I could do about it, I reached for the scraps of Ice ic I had left

This wasn’t the first time that my power had been crippled For years, I’d had probleic because of the silverstone that had been ryh my hands the way other Ice elementals did theirs I’d finally overcoic past the silverstone, and I’d been able to use it however I wanted to ever since But thanks to Dekes sucking down ht nohichit as hard as it had ever been -so er