Her expression darkened. “What do you want?”

I’d hit a nerve. Her patience with me wasn’t going to last much longer. I was getting close to crunch time, when I was going to have to throw the key. But before I did, since I had only one shot, I thought I might as well ask her to be rational.

“I want you to turn this thing off and give our magic back.”

“Fat chance of that.” Our conversation apparently over, she took a step forward. I took my chance, reared back my arm, and prepared to throw the key as hard as I could—but something grabbed my hand.

I looked back. It was the dark-haired girl, and her fist was wrapped around mine.

Frick.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“My room key,” I said, snatching my hand back. “I was going to, you know, throw it at her as a distraction.”

The dark-haired girl growled. Fayden had better instincts.

“Let me see that,” she said, taking another step closer.

“I would really rather not,” I said, peeking over the rail at the pipes below. The drop was a good ten feet. Just far enough that I might make it . . . or I might not. But if I did, I’d have better access to the circle.

What a horrible night to wear a borrowed dress and three-inch heels.

Fayden took another step closer and held out a hand. “I’m going to need you to give me that key right now.”

I wrapped the ribbon around my hand, entwining it in my fingers so I wouldn’t drop it when I fell.

“I don’t think so,” I said. I put a hand on the railing, and I jumped.

19

I’m not going to lie—it hurt. The pipe was made of metal and the top was round, so I hit it on my knees and then rolled halfway off. The pain startled me enough that the key skittered from my fingers.

“Get her,” Fayden yelled from the balcony. Two of her minions made a run for it.

Grimacing, I pulled myself back onto the pipe, then crawled forward to find the key. It had fallen between my pipe and another, and I had to dig my fingers between them to find it. I’d just barely managed to get a finger around the ribbon when a shot of firespell exploded above my head.

“Uncool!” I yelled out. “You shouldn’t use magic against people who don’t have it.” A little more grappling, and I managed to get my pinkie in a loop of ribbon. I pulled up the key and slipped it around my neck again

I glanced back. Two of Fayden’s minions—already on the ground floor—were heading toward me.

The pipe was just wide enough to run along, so I hauled butt across it—a pretty impressive feat in heels. As I ran, I began the chant. “It’s a circle of fear, a circle of control.”

I stopped right in the middle of the pipes, equal distance between the balcony walls and right in the middle of the circle. It was louder down here, the circle whooshing as it spun nearly drowning out Fayden’s yelling.

But not quite.

“She’s chanting a spell!” Fayden yelled out. “Stop her!”

I jumped from one pipe to another, barely avoiding the hands of a minion who reached for me. “You wanna wreak havoc? Then you have to pay the toll.”

“You little brat,” she said. “You have no idea how hard I’ve worked for this.”

And I don’t really care, I silently thought.

Aloud, I kept repeating the incantation. “You take our power. You try to take our souls. But in this case, honey, it’s you who’s gotta go.”

Someone grabbed my ankle, but I kicked myself free. I pulled the key from around my neck and chanted the last bit of the spell.

“We’re breaking your circle, we’re tearing up your goal, and most of all we’re taking back the magic that you stole!”

I lobbed the key—and it landed right in the middle of the spinning wheel. Sparks suddenly flew across the room. I ducked and put my hands over my head as the wheel expanded into a spinning sphere, then exploded in a burst of light and sound and energy that made my hair stand on end. The windows exploded outward, and the pipes creaked and groaned around us as energy shot the length of the pumping station.

After a moment, the room went silent.

I looked up. The wheel of light was gone, leaving a dull blue haze in the room. Neither Fayden nor her minions were anywhere in sight.

Time to make a run for it.

I left the key behind, hopped over the pipe, and hit the ground. I pulled off my shoes and ran toward the stairs, my party heels dangling from my fingers. I took the stairs two at a time, the metal treads biting into my bare feet as I ran. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of the building and away from Fayden. I made it to the balcony, ten feet from the door, when she stood up in front of me.

There was a cut on her cheek from where she’d fallen to the floor. She looked mad, and I could feel her energy swell as she gathered it up for a strike.

It took me a minute to remember that I had magic of my own—or I was supposed to, anyway.

I opened myself up to the power in the room, and there was plenty of it. And for a glorious second, I could feel the firespell gathering in my bones.

But only for a second. The more firespell Fayden tried to make, the less I could gather up. It was like there was only a certain amount of power in the room, and she was pulling it all toward her.

“Oh, this is going to be bad,” I muttered.

“Yes,” she said, an evil grin on her face. “It is. And you deserve it. You ruined what I made. You did this—destroyed something I built. And for what? Because you didn’t believe in me? Because you didn’t agree with me?”