Page 145 of How to Flirt with a Witch

But as we join them, it’s clear the Madsens are a terrifying force. Oaklyn is ruthless with her dagger, and witches yell in pain as roots slash hard enough to draw blood and knock them off their feet. Sophia blocks every brick and hunk of metal thrown her way. She fights like she’s spent her whole life planning and visualizing each attack, preparing for the moment she could do magic. She shows no hesitation as she aims to kill.

Freddie, meanwhile, hangs back, scanning the blocked corridors with a calculating look. He’s searching for something—and I know exactly what. The barrier to the Alchemy wing is weak, gaps visible in the pile of rubble and furniture.

“Reinforce the Alchemy wing!” I yell, pointing to it.

Millie is closest, and she’s the only one to spin around. She follows my gaze. “On it!”

Wow, someone listened.

I sprint toward it, and she and Sebastian peel away to help.

Freddie breaks into a run too, his roar cutting through the din. “Get ’em!”

Ice shoots through my veins as Wyatt charges, a flash of fur and fangs. In two swift strides, he latches onto Sebastian’s arm, shaking it like a rag doll. Sebastian’s agonized scream pierces the air as he falls to his knees, a spray of blood hitting the floor.

“No!” Millie raises a hand to retaliate, but Freddie is on her in an instant, wrapping an arm around her neck in a chokehold. Millie claws at him, her face turning red as she struggles to breathe.

Without pausing to think, I grab a toppled chair and raise it over my head. “Let go of her!”

I slam it into the back of Freddie’s legs with all my strength. He shrieks and crumples to the ground, his grip on Millie loosening.

Millie rolls away, gasping, and swipes a hand to send a fragment of stone toward her attacker’s head. But Wyatt is there, leaping into the air to bat the stone away before it can strike his handler.

Sebastian roars in pain where the dog left him, cradling his bloody arm.

Freddie staggers to his feet, his face twisted in fury. He lunges at me, but I’m ready. I wind back and punch him in the stomach with every ounce of strength I have, the gauntlet glinting in the dim light.

He—goes—flying.

He soars the length of a car and slams into the wall beside the Alchemy wing with a sickening crunch. As he hits the ground, he sucks in a rattling breath, his body wracked with coughs.

Sebastian and Millie stare at me, frozen, their eyes wide with shock.

I look down at the gauntlet—the innocent-looking fig leaf wrapped around the back of my hand. “Holy shit!” A wild, giddy sensation overcomes me, and I point to Freddie. “You’ve just been served the Katie Alexander special, fucker! One knuckle sandwich with a side of—”

Something dark whips past us, and a tangle of roots bursts through the Alchemy barricade like a cannon, opening a hole big enough for a person to slip through.

“Thanks, sis,” Freddie croaks, stumbling to his feet and darting through the opening. He’s unsteady, his breath coming in ragged gasps, but he manages to find his balance and escape.

Wyatt barrels after him, leaping through the hole in the barricade and charging out of sight.

I growl in frustration, knowing where that asshole is headed. Do I go after him?

Over my shoulder, Natalie is absorbed in the fight. She reaches back for her quiver and fires a copper bullet at Sophia so fast I can’t even see it.

Sophia shrieks as it catches her upper arm, a crimson stain blossoming where it hit.

I turn back to Sebastian and Millie, breathing hard. “Freddie is heading to Alchemy 13.”

Millie, bent over her husband and cradling his mangled arm, nods. “Go. I’ll send someone after you.”

“Give him—a kick in the nuts for me,” Sebastian grunts.

I charge after Freddie, my steps uneven as my ankle sears mercilessly.

I sprint down the corridor and around the corner toward Alchemy 13—but before I can get there, Wyatt’s tail disappears through the opendoor of Alchemy 8. It’s the room that held my failed test when I first came to CSAMM.

Checking my speed, I take careful, quiet steps.