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And in an even bigger twist, Kristiana’s being held in the next room over. Her guards aren’t as easy to dispatch, though. The two men waiting with her come after Mirdza and me, and they’re armed. They each pull out a gun, and they aim them at our heads. “We’re not to harm the target,” the bigger man says in Russian. “But no one said we can’t shoot anyone else.”

“How nice to know you can’t harm me.” Kristiana’s hands are bound, but she picks up a large vase and she clocks the closest man on the side of the head with it. It doesn’t knock him out, but it does make him royally angry.

They both turn toward her, and she smiles. “Sorry about that, but you can’t harm me. Remember?” She waves.

I slash the one closest to me across the back of his legs as hard as I can. Mirdza, in the most shocking move of all, snatches the gun out of the hands of the man Kris bashed.

And then she shoots him.

31

Since we were kids, Mirdza has hated violence. She hates all conflict, really, but maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. She did stand up for Mom that night, even if she took a beating for it. Tonight, she knows the stakes. Also, those men had guns trained on us first. Maybe that’s it. But then she turns and shoots the second man, before he can do a thing about it. With both guards on the floor, taken down by Mirdza, Kris holds out her hands.

I cut them loose.

Both of us look at Mirdza.

“What?” She shrugs. “Grigory and I have been talking about this a lot. Violence is usually wrong, but sometimes, the only solution to violence is violence.” She sounds confident, but I can see her hands shaking, and she swallows twice. And then a third time. She’ll be shaken up later, but thanks to her, we may all have a later.

Nothing about today has gone according to plan, but the guys need to know that none of us are in danger. I pull out my phone and text all three of them. Hopefully one of them sees their smart watch.

WE HAVE KRIS. WE’RE LEAVING.

Now one of them needs to see that and signal the others. Then they can break away, and we’ll be fine. We can head back to Latvia with the knowledge that Leonid can’t possibly get worse or become any stronger without the three of them allowing it. I mean, he’s the Czar of Russia now, but at least he can’t gain more magic.

They’ll have to come up with another plan to fight back on another day.

We’re in the entry hall on the way out when a dozen or more men show up, all of them holding guns. “We may not be able to shoot her.” The man near the front gestures at Kristiana. “But I’m guessing you’d rather we not shoot the two of you.”

Well, that sucks.

We were about to win the night for the guys, but instead, we’re ushered back toward the dining room, all of us with our hands tied, and all of us gagged, like mobile lambs headed for the slaughter. So much for impressing the men.

When we reach the dining room, it’s gone. There aren’t holes in the walls—it’s more like, there are only a few chunks left of what used to be the walls. The table has burned to the ground. The paintings are gone. The chandelier’s in pieces on the floor.

It looks like a war zone—literally.

But when they see us, all six of them freeze.

Leonid points, and the men shoving us along all press guns to our temples. “I know they have charms to keep them safe from the three of us,” he says. “But I’m guessing those charms don’t protect them from a bullet through the skull.” He smiles. “I love modern-day guns. No gunpowder bags to deal with. No messiness at all, really. They’re so easy to acquire and even easier to use. They barely even kick.”

“What do you want?” Alexei asks.

“You know what I want,” Leonid says. “Simply speak the words. Offer me your powers.”

“No,” I mumble. “Don’t do it.”

Our gags disappear, thanks to Grigoriy’s wind power. And then, faster than I have time to think about it, the men pressed against us are whipped away as well. Their guns shift and spin, the bullets dropping out.

“Nice trick,” Leonid says. “But you’ll notice before you dispatched my men, they eliminated their charms.”

I drop my head, shocked to see that my necklace is gone. I can’t help swearing. Leonid really is the worst.

He’s also been circling the room and now he’s closer to us than anyone else. “You see, those necklaces, they almost hummed to anyone trained to listen. And while I don’t yet have access to earth and water powers, I can sense them. You could say that I yearn for them.”

“Just as you whisked the men away, just as you disarmed them, I’m now going to burn them alive, and you won’t be able to stop me.” Leonid reaches out his arm, and the floor around us heats.

Alexei raises his arm to block him with water, but they’re both channeling their energy, both of them holding their hands extended.