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Kaden!He was close. He wasn’t supposed to be this close. Oh no.No, no, no!

“This is your last chance,” the soldier said. He raised his gun level with my head, and I could feel Kaden’s presence getting even closer. He was going to rush in and get shot in the process.

I felt the familiar rush of power boiling to the surface and spewing out from me, then circling in a rapid wind so strong it threw the soldiers away from me. Shots went off, and all I could think of was Kaden as I spun, searching for him. The force around me grew even stronger until the guards were pushed away from me along the ground by the surging power.

Debris was flying around, and it wasn’t just from me anymore. Kaden was running out, meeting me halfway. We ran toward the tree line, where the snipers wouldn’t be able to pick me off. Dice, Cookie, and Connor gave us fire cover as we ran.

“You looked kickass out there,” Cookie said as we met up with them.

“Yeah, except he’s refusing to come out, even with me as bait.”

Kaden was busy staring at my arm.

I looked down, realizing I was bleeding. “It’s just a scratch. I didn’t realize I’d taken a hit.”

Cookie reached into one of our bags, pulled out some gauze, and tied it to my arm.“All good,” she said.

Kaden nodded. “Plan B.”

“We’ll be ready,” said Cookie, Luisca beside her. I could see the rest of our people heading through three doors behind us, with Hank, Frank, and Tank directing them in.

Kaden looked at me. “You ready?”

I nodded.

We started briskly running around to the other side of the mountain.

The castle was impenetrable except for one area of weakness that wasn’t truly a weakness: the lower-level pool. Turned out it was filled from the ocean. The only thing protecting it was a ward that shouldn’t keep Kaden or me out.Shouldn’t. That didn’t mean Herrick hadn’t realized the weak point and reinforced it.

We reached the edge of the tree cover and then waited.

“You ready?” Kaden asked.

“Yes.”

“Any second,” he said.

It was two of the longest minutes of my life waiting for the blasts to go off. It was our people trying to blow through the front door, and some of the larger windows, as if that were their true intention. The door and windows could withstand anything less than a nuclear blast, but it would give us a diversion to get into the water.

We ran for the sea and then dove in. It was painfully cold, but I’d expected that. I pushed past the pain, moving deeper, grateful for the ice lake. I grabbed on to Kaden’s back, letting him guide us down deeper.

I thought my lungs were going to burst when our heads broke the surface into an air pocket in an underground cavern.

I sucked in oxygen, grabbing an outcropping of stone.“How much farther is it?”

“The next leg is shorter.”

I could still hear the blasting, even from here. That distraction would only last so long. It would occur to someone that it might be exactly what it was.

I took a bunch of breaths as fast as I could, trying to oversaturate myself with oxygen.

Kaden did the same.

I nodded, and he went under. I joined him, grabbing on to his back again. When we broke the surface this time, we were in the basement pool.

The room was empty as we climbed out, but the sounds of people running and screaming carried below.

I grabbed the wrapped bag, pulled out the mostly dry cloak, one similar to what Herrick’s people wore, and donned it, not wanting to be noticed until it was the time of my choosing.