Page 125 of Burdened Bonds

“Your family really is fucked up,” Rhi hisses by my ear and I pick up my pace, dragging her down the staircase as I hear my father start to issue orders.

“Check the girl’s room. Check Tristan’s too,” he says.

“You don’t think they’ve escaped,” Summer says, reaching out to cling to his arm like she’s some helplessmaiden. My father shakes her off in irritation and strolls to the top of the staircase just as we reach the bottom.

“Come on,” I hiss at Rhi, pulling her across the grand entrance towards the doorway that leads down to the cellar where I’m sure the others are being kept. We’re halfway across when the giant chandelier above our heads, all lit up and made from glittering crystal, snaps from the ceiling and crashes towards the floor.

My grip slips from Rhi’s as we dive in opposite directions, glass splintering all around us.

“I know you’re there,” my father thunders from above and I jump to my feet, pulling Rhi to hers, blood on her skin, as my father sends a rain of fire down upon us.

“The door,” I cry in her ear and we sprint in that direction, no longer caring if we can be heard or not.

The guard at the door spins his gaze around desperately as my father yells at him to stop us. But I knock him out and we’re through the door and racing down the steps.

Somewhere behind us, my father roars with anger. It’s only a matter of time until he catches up with us, and too late I realize, as the two of us take out the guards rushing up the steps to meet us, that I’m going to fail to rescue my friend all over again. I’m going to fail to rescue Rhi too. Because even if we reach Spencer, we’re going to be trapped down here like rats in a drainpipe with nowhere to go. No escape. Just like the prison.

“Rhi,” I say. We need to stop. We need to rethink this. But she’s racing down the steps in front of me and I have no choice but to follow her.

At the bottom, she lets out a howl of pain, swaying on her feet. Professor Stone and the assassin, Renzo Barone are both chained to the wall.

And so is Spencer. Looking just as beat up, just as hurt as before.

“Spencer!” she gasps.

He looks unconscious, his body hanging limply from the chains. At the sound of her voice, though, he raises his head, his face a mess of dried blood, his nose smashed in.

“Oh my–” Rhi cries.

“Sweetheart,” Stone says. The professor looks surprisingly well. The assassin on the other hand sports a black eye, a cut lip and he’s missing a front tooth. “We’ve no time for reunions. You need to get us the fuck out of here.”

“There is no way out,” I tell them all flatly.

We’re doomed, all of us. I can hear my father’s footfall across the hallway. He’ll be here any minute with his infinite number of guards, and there’ll be nothing we can do. Sure, we can fight, and fuck I will fight. I’ll fight with everything I have. But it will be no use. We’re going to lose.

“Of course, there’s a way out,” Piglet snaps in irritation, racing towards the assassin. “Just hold them off, okay?”

I consider explaining to her that she’s wrong. I know this house. I know every hiding place. Every escape route. The only way out of this cellar is back up that staircase. And at the top of the staircase, blocking our exit, waiting for us, will be my father.

“One thing you’re going to need to learn quickly, Kennedy,” Stone says, “is not to argue with the woman.” The assassin snorts, rubbing his newly freed wrists and Rhi turns her attention to the professor next. “Not if you want an easy life.”

“And what the hell is that meant to mean?” Rhi asks.

“That you’re always right, sweetheart.”

She throws him a dirty look but then our attention is diverted to magic crashing down the staircase.

“Shit,” Stone mutters as the assassin joins me and together we hurtle our own magic back up towards my father.

Behind me, I hear more snapping of chains and cuffs and then Spencer moaning in agony.

“Okay,” Rhi says, “we’re ready.”

“Ready?” I say. “Ready for what? What the hell is the plan now?”

“Time to go,” Barone says.

“I’m telling you, there’s no way out. We’re trapped.”