Caspian’s injury was healing quite fast, allowing him to keep up with the rest of us almost effortlessly. I could still see the occasional frown crossing his face whenever he increased his running speed, but I was thankful to have one less thing to worry about, given what lay ahead.

We kept running through the tunnel, the sound of daemons’ rapiers and pit wolves’ growls sending shivers down my spine. They’d just broken through the bottom door. The entire passageway lit up yellow, inundated by the wails and squeals of fiends burning. Both Caia and Blaze had unleashed hell on our enemies.

Bodies tumbled to the ground, while the smell of burning flesh followed us.

The blazes they released were enough to give us a good advantage, though I doubted it would last long. Knowing the daemons and the access they had to swamp witch magic, it was only a matter of time before they produced something to withstand our dragon attacks, which was why it was imperative to get Lumi out as soon as possible.

One of the pit wolves dodged the flames and jumped over the collapsed daemons, making its way toward us at a scary speed. Caia’s fireball missed it by inches. Blaze pulled her out of the creature’s way, leaving Pheng-Pheng and me to deal with it. More daemons were coming in from behind, with more collared pit wolves.

I tried to knock the beast’s collar off with my sword, but there wasn’t enough room to evade its snapping jaws. I had no other choice but to push out a strong barrier. Pheng-Pheng immediately stung the creature with her tail, and we left it behind. It fell flat on its face, almost instantly paralyzed. I couldn’t risk getting Caspian hurt, or worse. I’d already noticed the pattern of pit wolves trying to go for their weaker opponents first when they caught the scent of blood, and I certainly couldn’t let them work their way to the top, where the delegation prisoners were.

“I feel terrible for doing that,” I muttered, then resumed running, with Pheng-Pheng right behind me.

Caia and Blaze covered our backs with another round of deadly fire, filling the tunnel behind us with bright orange flames. I squirmed at the sound of daemons screaming. It wasn’t necessarily that I felt sorry for them but writhing in agony as fire ate away at one’s flesh was not something I wished upon anyone, even as I watched it happen behind me. It was just awful.

“We have no choice,” Caspian said, running ahead of me. “It’s too narrow down here.”

“How long till we reach the library?” Pheng-Pheng asked, her gaze darting between the front and the back. “I’m running low on venom.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I replied with a smirk. “You’re just as deadly with swords, plus…” I added, pointing a thumb over my shoulder at Blaze and Caia. “Plenty of firepower over here. We’re good.”

“I’m more concerned with what happens once we reach the library,” Pheng-Pheng said.

“They can’t breach the cloaking spell,” I reminded her, even more amused by the glimmer that the realization brought to her eyes.

“They’ll be stuck in the tunnel!” She gasped, then chuckled with devilish satisfaction.

Caspian and I couldn’t help but laugh as we moved forward, picking up speed. I heard a grunt behind us, a sound that never brought anything good with it, not when it came from Blaze. A quick glance over my shoulder made me stop and draw one of my swords, nodding to Caia to get behind me.

Another pit wolf had made it through the flames and had nipped at Blaze’s ankle, bringing him down with a loud thump. “No, you don’t,” I hissed, then pushed out another barrier just before the beast could sink its enormous fangs into Blaze’s ribcage.

Caia gasped behind me, just as the pit wolf rolled backward into the tunnel. I sent out another barrier, this time with an extra kick, as I figured the beast would be helpful in keeping the other daemons back through the laws of physics.

The tunnel was now at a forty-five-degree angle. A third barrier would send the creature down at significant speed. Caia slipped next to Blaze and helped him up. His ankle was bleeding, and he was going to need some vampire or Mara blood, but there wasn’t enough time—not while we were still in the tunnel.

The pit wolf scrambled to get back up and come after me, snarling and snapping its humongous jaws at me, but it didn’t get a chance. I released a third barrier with a growl of my own, feeling my temperature rise from the sheer mental effort. That beast was huge, and it required tremendous effort to knock it back down.

Fortunately, my third barrier worked. It smacked the pit wolf over the head, sending it down into an increasingly fast tumble. The daemons still pouring into the tunnel stilled, their red eyes wide and their mouths gaping, as the saw the creature rolling toward them—a large mass of heavy bones and rock-hard muscles hurling right at them like a bowling ball.

I chuckled as I watched them frantically trying to duck or dodge the pit wolf, but, in the absence of space, there wasn’t much that they could do. The beast rammed into them, crushing them into the ground and against the tight walls. I could almost hear their bones breaking.

“I really should start keeping score,” I giggled, then ran after the rest of my team.

I noticed the delegation prisoners coming to a halt at the top, facing two familiar figures. Hansa yelped. I ran faster, briefly using my True Sight to get a better look. My heart skipped a beat, and a grin cut across my face.

“You sly little thing!” I quipped, thrilled to see Fiona by the open library door, accompanied by Zane. “You did it!”

“I totally did,” she laughed, then nodded to someone out of sight to come into the tunnel. Just then, as I watched Velnias’s head pop in, I experienced the kind of hope I hadn’t thought I’d feel until we got Lumi out of Azure Heights. “And look who’s back in action!” Fiona added, stating the wonderful obvious.

“Come on, go in!” Hansa said to the delegation prisoners. Fiona cut her palm with a small knife and gently smudged each of the new team members with her blood, so they could easily pass through the cloaking spell.

They vanished into the library, followed by Hansa, Jax, Caia, Blaze, and Caspian. Pheng-Pheng and I were last, right after Fiona and Zane.

Only then did I notice all the wiring. I’d been so busy running and fighting off daemons and pit wolves that I hadn’t even seen the dozens of added fuse wires stretching all the way back down, halfway through the tunnel. Dollops of shimmering explosive paste were mounted on the ceiling and walls along each fuse wire, at even distances of ten to fifteen feet.

“Holy hell, it’s about to get epic,” I breathed, then passed through the cloaking spell wall.

I had known about the explosives and all, as it had been a part of the plan from the very beginning. What I hadn’t known was the level of skill and dedication it had taken both Laughlan and Vesta to put it all together, as well as to mount it inside the tunnel. And I was willing to bet that Laughlan had also added some of his Druid mojo to the explosive mixture, too, for good measure.

We were now in stage three of our plan: disabling the tunnel. Stage four was the one I was most worried about, as I hoped the pacifists were going to get as many of the prisoners out of the way once we set it in motion.

In the meantime, however, I was mentally and emotionally ready to let stage three unfold.

Almost there.