Tempt the Stars

almost the same moment he moved. But it took out the transom and most of the front door with it, showering us with glass.
    And finally sent wards screaming through the house.
    “Well, the kids are up,” Beatrice said as Evelyn turned on me.
    “Damn it, are you deaf?” she demanded.
    “If I leave, and the adepts show up, you die,” I said, fumbling with the dead war mage’s coat. And trying not to breathe because it was covered in flaky white dust that flew up everywhere as I pushed and pulled and broke him to pieces trying to get it off. But I had to have it. The coats were spelled to resist assaults, and I was about to get assaulted unless I was way luckier than usual.
    “You heard Zara,” Evelyn said. “They’re probably already gone!”
    It took me a second to realize she meant the witch I’d been calling Jasmine. “And if they’re not? You may be good—”
    “We’re better than good.”
    “But you can’t fight someone who can manipulate time!”
    She started to answer, but the shield shattered as a dozen spells hit it all at once. And then Beatrice brought up her staff again. A different hollow glowed this time, a dark, bloody red. And all the lights around the room suddenly shattered, showering the floor with sparks and sending flames running up the walls.
    “Nice parlor trick, old woman,” a mage said, grabbing her.
    The staff came down again.
    And lines of flame tore out of every light, carving a pentagram of fire in the air and spearing half a dozen mages through with flame.
    “Glad you liked it,” she told him as the man collapsed at her feet.
    But while it cleared our general area, it didn’t do much else. Because mages were running at us from all sides now, rushing into the room from where I guess they’d been hiding, not knowing where we’d come in. But they knew it now, and we had to—
    Hit the floor again.
    Zara muttered something low and vicious, and the witches jerked me down beside them just as the windows all blew out. The curtains billowed inward and then broke off to fly across the room, and what felt and sounded a lot like a hurricane roared through the house. Mirrors shattered, the chandelier whipped about like a crazed thing, statues toppled over. And half a dozen mages who hadn’t gotten shields up in time went flying. But others just hunkered down, shield bubbles dotting the room, waiting it out.
    Because yeah.
    I didn’t think she was going to be able to keep that up for long, either.
    “If they planted the bombs, they’re not here,” Evelyn yelled, to be heard over the roar of the storm. “This was likely a trap. The old man was right—they’re after you!”
    “You were right, too,” I panted, still struggling to free the coat. “They’re willing to kill a few dozen children to get to me.”
    Evelyn swore. “I can’t protect you and help the girls, and they can’t take this many on their own!”
    “Then don’t protect me,” I said as the wind died and the coat came free with a sickening crunch, both at the same moment.
    Shields popped everywhere as mages surged back to their feet. We were about to get overrun, and the witches couldn’t cast and shield at the same time, and letting a bunch of mages get to point-blank range wasn’t smart. Of course, neither was this, I thought, grabbing them and shifting all four of us to where Rhea was flattened against the stairs, halfway up, the thin bubble of her shield rippling in the still-strong winds.
    And then collapsing entirely as a bolt of purple flame hit it.
    I threw myself on top of her, the coat covering both of us, but it wasn’t enough. Another curse hit, and spelled or no, the coat had aged along with its occupant. I felt something lash my back, a thin line of fire along the weakened back seam, and screamed even as I shifted.
    And landed in the middle of a bunch of mages at the top of the stairs, who were heading down now that the hurricane had tapered off to a tropical storm.
    And then tripping and falling as we shifted into the middle of them.
    Literally, in Rhea’s case. She’d ended up welded to a mage through the skirt of her dress, which was now bisected by a heavy leather coat—and the leg behind it. She jerked away, and he screamed, which only made her jerk harder. And then she was grabbed by another mage and slung to the side—
    And the man’s leg came off at the thigh.
    Because flesh and bone don’t react well to being split by a swath of embroidered linen.
    Blood spewed