I covered my eyes and threw the cylinder. Even behind my arm, the resulting explosion was painfully bright, leaving a corona of pulsing violet around my vision. I sprinted out of the converted training area, leaping over training equipment and catching a glimpse of myself in the wall mirror, looking mussed and harried.

My side stung. Blood darkened my shirt, the self-inflicted wound bleeding far more heavily than expected.

The lobby was abandoned, pulsing red cast by the eerie rotating emergency lights. A few people called out to me as I ran. Foster was in plain sight, waiting by the elevator, Cook over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. The elevator doors opened. “He’s right behind me—”

White-hot pain radiated through me, as a bolt pierced my back. I staggered and nearly fell, clinging clumsily to the concierge counter for support. I’d been careful to ensure the bolts didn’t strike anywhere vital—the application of was the only reason Azure was able to circumvent the summon rules and hit me at all—but it still hurt like hell.

Foster dumped Cook into the open elevator and drew his service weapon. The muzzle flashed three times as he fired, Azure darted to the side kicking off a wall and sliding along the tile ground, firing another bolt that struck me in the shoulder.

I swapped into The pain shrunk to an incessant buzz that put my teeth on edge, but it was far more manageable now.

“Come on—” Foster yelled, his shout capitalized by another shot from the 1911. I staggered towards him.

flared. I reacted too late. Six thin, surgical looking knives, barely larger than needles, struck my chest in a semicircle. They didn’t pierce deeply—barely more than a half inch, but I felt a strange buzzing that seemed to radiate between them. A familiar figure, short, in black and red armor stepped out from the shadows beside the elevator, his face covered by a chrome-mask.

The same person from the cathedral.

The person who was probably Ellison, unless my guess was wrong.

Chrome-mask charged at me, crimson energy charged in his palm.

An image flared of the dead User at the cathedral, with the gaping hole in his chest surrounded by six shallow knife wounds.

Understanding dawned. If he hit me with that, I was done.

Even as my body screamed, I let guide me, caught Chrome-mask’s arm and stepped in, using his momentum to throw him over the concierge desk. His back struck the counter, and he toppled over, the maneuver buying me precious seconds.

A bolt struck me in the gut. The pain overwhelmed me, and I fell to my knees.

Foster fired twice more, once at Azure, once at Chrome-mask, who ducked back down behind the desk. He pulled the trigger again and the gun jammed. “God damn it.” He gave up on clearing the jam and pulled a black-metal kukri out of Cook’s inventory.

But he was too late. Azure stood over me, casually loading a bolt and pressing the crossbow to my head. “Last chance Matt. I know either you or Kinsley have the legendary core. Tell me where it is, and I’ll end her quickly.”

I leaned forward and spat. The wad of saliva dripped down Azure’s thigh, and he stared at it in distaste. “Fuck. You.”

“Have it your way.” Azure’s finger tightened on the trigger.

I closed my eyes. There was an audible twang as the crossbow went off, the arrow ricocheting harmlessly off the marble.

Talia tore the crossbow from Azure’s grasp. Sae ran alongside her, her chitin feet clicking against the hard surface. She leapt over me and slammed her fist into chrome-mask’s helmet, knocking him back against the desk. He pulled two bludgeons from his back and lashed out at Sae, the weapons glowing with red energy.

Out of nowhere, several civilians armed with baseball bats charged from their hiding places and attacked Myrddin.

Sae grabbed me roughly under the arms and hauled me towards the elevator. “How is it,” she grunted in my ear, “I always end up dragging you around?”

“Sae?” I asked, surprise in my voice.

“Who the fuck is that?” Foster shouted.

“Don’t shoot! She’s a friend,” I called back.

Sae pulled me into the elevator with Foster covering us, while Chrome-mask struggled against Talia and Azure incapacitated one of the civilians with a mana garrote. I had to hand it to the civilians. Despite an absence of abilities and a lack of User status, they were giving Azure hell.

Talia slipped in at the last moment before the doors slid shut, and the elevator began to rise.

“I thought you were dead.”

“Almost was. Would have been, if that bastard had his way.” Sae grunted, leaning against the elevator wall and catching her breath.

“Myrddin?” I pulled the six small knives from my chest, wincing as they came free.

“Yeah. He set us up, Matt.” Sae seethed. She wasn’t a natural actor, but what she lacked in nuance she made up for in intensity. “Been hunting him ever since I got out of the trial. Wasn’t sure I could take him, so I’ve just been following him around. Followed him here and figured he was coming after you, and I couldn’t wait anymore.”

I grunted in pain as Foster removed the two arrows from my shoulder and back. He looked preoccupied, but I could tell he was listening. “Asshole spun some serious bullshit, said you guys were ambushed when you came out of the trial. That some randoms killed Jinny, took Nick, and that you… retreated into the trial before it collapsed.”

“Oh, that all happened.” Sae scowled. “But Myrddin was with them. Tried to hand us off like a horse trade.”

“If you were in the trial before it collapsed, that where you got the dog? And the… uh—”

“Hideous makeover? Yep. System loves twisting the knife.”

“Not to interrupt this reunion, but…” Foster looked between us. “Anyone know who that second User was? Myrddin ever mention a partner?”

We both shook our heads. Sae redid her ponytail and gave me a meaningful look. “First I’ve seen of him, but I’ve been keeping my distance. Matt?”

“He was always tight-lipped. Far as I knew, he was always flying solo.”

There was a groan as Cook sat up. An angry red-line from the garrote ran the span of his neck. His eyes focused, and he looked between all of us, then finally to Foster. “What the fuck happened? Whose mutt is that?”

The hair on Talia’s neck stood up. Foster spoke before I could. “Myrddin got the drop on you. I was contemplating leaving your ass, but Matt created a diversion for me to pull you out. Then it all went to shit.” I kept my silence as Foster caught him up to speed, playing my injuries up more than I would have otherwise. Cook kept looking at me suspiciously, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

Once Foster finished, Cook breathed out. “I’ll be damned. Miles got it wrong. Or right, depending on how you want to look at it.” He glanced at Sae. “Thanks for the assist, bug girl.”

Sae bristled. “Who the fuck are these people, Matt?”

Before I could respond, the elevator doors opened. Waller and Hawkins were standing side by side prepared to fire, Waller with a glowing orange spell locked and loaded, Hawkins with a sighted Glock.

“Foster?” Waller asked, his tone laden with stress.

“They’re not a threat.”

Waller let the spell go, staring at me as Sae looped my arm around her shoulder and walked out. “We need to get him help.”

Foster nodded grimly. “Gut shot won’t kill him quickly, but the longer it goes untreated, the bigger the problem becomes.”

Waller stalked towards Foster and took him aside. “It was Myrddin. You’re completely positive?”

“Myrddin and one more.” Foster confirmed. “Ranged-melee hybrid. Where’s Miles?”

“Securing our exit.” Hawkins said. She looked at me warily, but some of the sympathy she’d shown during the inquisition had reappeared.

In truth, I was barely paying attention to the proceedings. My mind was on Ellison. How had he known when to act? Kinsley and I had been exceedingly careful ever since the Taskforce had formed. Our planning session had taken place entirely within her domain, which was airtight. No one could enter or leave unless she allowed it. Either we had a mole or…

“But you don’t think it’s weird? That the crying got worse the week before the meteor?”

If Ellison knew in advance about the dome, it was possible that wasn’t the extent of his knowledge. If his class gave him some sort of future-sight, it was a reasonable assumption that it reached farther than a week ahead. That would go a long way to explaining why he hadn’t bothered to help fortify our region. If he already knew it would be fortified. It also explained why he’d distanced himself, just before I got the ability to spy on anyone I touched. There was a chance he knew everything.

So, why was he trying to kill me?

“The special class disappeared.” Azure’s panicked voice blazed through my mind.

“Where are you?”

“On my way up the fire escape. He was right behind me, then he just disappeared. Are you sure you don’t want me to stop?”

I grit my teeth, trying to make a decision. “Keep going.”

“Wait. I see him. He scaled the wall and just carved through one of the windows of the penthouse floor—”

Azure’s warning came just in time.

I slipped from beneath Sae’s arm, just before one of the vacant penthouse doors exploded in a mess of wooden shrapnel.