My heart twisted and a scream rose in my throat. Claudia couldn’t be dead. She just couldn’t be. Not like this. Not like my mom. Not at Victor’s hand.

“Mom!” Devon screamed, his voice rising above the crashes, clangs, and bangs of the fight. “Mom!”

He started shoving people aside, more desperate to get to Claudia than ever before, but it was no use.

Victor snapped his fingers at the guards that were flanking him. “Bring her and all the other Sinclair leaders!” he called out in a loud voice.

Two of the guards hustled forward, grabbed Claudia, picked her up, and carried her out of the restaurant. Meanwhile, more guards split off from the people they’d been attacking and quickly cornered Mo, Angelo, and Reginald up against one of the walls.

This time, I was the one who screamed and started shoving people out of my way. “Mo!” I yelled. “Mo!”

Even with the extra strength still flowing through my body, I wasn’t any more successful than Devon had been, and it only took the guards a few seconds to surround Mo, along with Angelo and Reginald. The Draconis put their swords up against my friends’ throats and forced them to the front of the restaurant.

“Lila!” Mo yelled back at me, struggling against the guards as they strong-armed him outside. “Get out of here, kid! Run! Now!”

His black eyes locked with mine and his white-hot rage erupted in my chest, even as his worry and fear for me squeezed my heart tight.

I started forward again, but a guard stepped up and brandished his sword, blocking my path and making me pull up short.

“Mo!” I screamed again. “Mo!”

But he was already gone, and so were Angelo and Reginald.

I was dimly aware of Felix screaming for his dad just like Devon and I were still yelling for Claudia and Mo. I looked past the guard in front of me at Victor, who turned and glanced over at Blake and Deah. They’d stopped fighting each other during Victor’s lightning blast, and the shock on both of their faces told me that neither one had realized what their father could really do with his magic.

Don’t be afraid of the lightning. Seleste’s voice whispered in my mind. But how could I not be? Especially since Blake and Deah had been just as surprised by it as I had?

Victor looked at Deah, his golden eyes cold and hard in his handsome face. “I always knew you were a traitor, just like your worthless mother.”

Tears shimmered in Deah’s eyes, but she blinked them back and stepped in front of Felix, ready to protect him in case her own father blasted her with his lightning.

Victor scoffed, then waved his hand at Blake. “Take your sister alive, but kill the rest of the Sinclairs.”

His order delivered, Victor turned and strode out of the restaurant, leaving Blake and the rest of his guards to finish the bloody battle he’d started.

CHAPTER NINE

Blake looked at the Draconi guards. “You heard him!” he yelled. “Kill them all!”

With a collective roar, the guards charged forward again, swinging their swords even more viciously than before, determined to follow Victor’s command to cut down every single person still inside the restaurant.

Blake turned back to Deah, ready to finish the fight he’d started, but I shoved past the guard in front of me, dodged a couple more, and sprinted across the restaurant to them. Blake saw me coming out of the corner of his eye, but I was faster, and I raised my sword and slammed the hilt against the side of his head before he could attack me. He dropped to the floor.

“Let’s go!” I yelled at Deah and Felix. “Now! Follow me!”

Felix stepped up, but Deah hesitated, looking down at Blake, who was already groaning and getting back up onto his hands and knees.

“There’s nothing left for you here!” I yelled at her. “He’ll kill you if you stay! Now come on!”

Felix grabbed Deah’s hand and she finally let him drag her away from Blake, who was reaching out for the edge of the closest booth to pull himself back up onto his feet.

I whirled around, searching for Devon. He was pinned up against a wall, facing down four guards at once. Devon parried two of the guards’ swords, then whipped around to the other two. The four men looked at each other, getting ready to attack all at once, knowing that he couldn’t defend against all of them at the same time.

But Devon realized what they were up to, and he stared at the two guards closest to him. “Stop!” he yelled, a cold crack of magic in his voice.

Those two guards immediately froze, their weapons held high overhead at awkward angles as though they were statues. The guards grunted and snarled, their muscles bulging as they tried to finish their strikes and bring their swords down, but they couldn’t move an inch thanks to Devon’s compulsion magic, the powerful, secret Talent that let him control other people.

While those two guards were frozen in place, Devon stepped up and punched them both in the face, knocking them to the ground. He started to reach for one of their swords, so that he would have two weapons, but the other two guards who weren’t being compelled surged forward and pinned him against the wall again. One of the men snapped up his sword, preparing to drive it through Devon’s chest.

“Devon!” I screamed, racing in that direction. “Devon!”

The two guards whipped around at my screams, and I barreled into both of them, knocking all three of us down to the floor. The guards cursed, but I lashed out with my sword, cutting into their arms and legs, until they screamed with pain and rolled away from me. I scrambled up to find Devon heading for the front of the restaurant, where Blake had gotten back up onto his own feet.

I reached out and latched on to Devon’s arm. The stolen magic still running through my veins made me strong enough to pull him back.

“It’s too late!” I yelled. “Your mom is gone. So are Mo and the others. We have to get out of here. We can’t save them if we’re dead!”

Blake focused on Devon and me, and Felix and Deah standing behind us. He grinned, his eyes just as cold as Victor’s had been, and stabbed his sword at us.

“Kill them!’ he yelled. “Now!”

The guards surged forward again. Devon raised his sword, ready to fight them, but I grabbed his arm and yanked him back, putting myself between him and the Draconis, just the way a good bodyguard would. This was what Claudia had hired me to do, and I would protect Devon until my dying breath.