Page 205 of Rebellious Royals

But Jack said it again. "Dad!" he cawed before diving straight at the door of the gym. Thankfully, it wasn't the burning part, but the back now had flames reaching for the sky. Wood wascrackling loudly as it caught, and I had a feeling this place wouldn't last long at this rate.

"Rain! Dad!" Jack yelled, darting in to flap at the door, using his feet to scratch at it. "Dad!"

Shit. He didn't mean Dad's place. He meant Bracken was actually in there! But he didn't have classes before lunch. Why was he in there?

"Bracken's inside!" I roared, rushing in to grab the door, trying to make it open.

Nothing happened. The latch didn't click. The handle didn't act like it was locked. It simply did nothing, as if there was no mechanism in it at all.

Magic.

As panic began to take over, I held the handle, hoping my own Wild magic would negate it, but nothing was changing. I rattled. I yanked. I even pounded on the door with my open fist.

"Zez!" I begged. "Are you in there?"

"It's enchanted on the inside!" Bracken yelled, his voice barely audible over the snapping and crackling, never mind my own frantic shrieking.

He also sounded like he wasn't close. Maybe trying to find another exit? I didn't know, so I slammed my shoulder into the door. I just had to get in there somehow. I had to reach the fucking magic so I could break it. I had to figure out something that would get Bracken out!

"Is there another door?" Aspen asked, trying to keep me from throwing myself against it again.

"Back there!" I said, stabbing my entire arm to where it was burning.

"Window?" she tried next.

"Rain!" This time it was Keir's voice.

I looked over to see him and the rest of the court running across the lawn. In the distance, the entire student body wasclustered up by all the exterior doors of the main building, but I was pretty sure they were looking our way - yet none of them were coming. No wait, some were. Two over there. Three on that side.

"Bracken's inside!" I yelled.

"What window will get us in there?" Aspen demanded.

"On the side," I said, remembering the one in his office. "That should be low enough. We can break it."

"Show me," she ordered.

So I grabbed her hand and pulled, racing around the building and the evergreen trees that grew so close to it. Overhead, crows screamed their defiance. Their dark shapes were darting in and out of the smoke coating the sky above us, but there was nothing they could do. Thankfully, the court was angling to follow us.

"There!" I said, pointing at the one window I knew Bracken wouldn't be locked away from.

Aspen slashed her hand at it like she was trying to break out the glass. Even from a few feet away, it somehow worked. I didn't see any color to her magic, but the window shattered. Unfortunately, the metal frame stayed, creating nine little rectangles I wouldn't be able to fit through.

Then Aspen pushed. A wave of ice appeared out of nowhere, slamming into the building, breaking out the window frame and sizzling as it melted in the ever-increasing heat.

"That should cool it a little," Aspen said as she hurried forward.

This time I followed, but I had no intention of stopping. Evidently, neither did she. When we reached the wall, the ice shifted, forming stairs, and the two of us climbed them as fast as we could. She paused at the window, flinching from the heat, then shouldered her way in.

With each step, Aspen cooled the air, but the flames were much too close. Red light twisted everything I knew inside, andthe smoke hit the rest. It was like some bad training film, meant to remind us to crawl out of a burning house. The smoke was so thick, it rolled like water as it rippled across the ceiling, but a bubble had appeared around both of us, vaporizing where it met the temperature in this room.

"I need you to lead," Aspen told me. "I don't know my way around."

"Zez!" I screamed, moving ahead of her. "Bracken, where are you?"

"Rain, stay back!" Bracken yelled.

"We're coming to save you," I called back, aware the flames were actually roaring around me.

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