Vescovi let out a scream of incoherent rage. Scrambling to his feet, he avoided a blow from Ursino’s massive paw and grabbed the firebomb off the table. Heaving with both hands, he hurled it in the direction of the vestibule. As it arced over Alistair and Philip’s heads, he shouted the activation phrase, and it burst into flame.
Seconds later it hit the floor and bounced, rolling a few feet before the fuel inside finally exploded. The building shook, and smoke and flames instantly filled the vestibule. Though the casino probably had anti-fire hexes on it, they were meant to control ordinary fires, not bombs, and any magic was overcome by the heat and fury of the flames.
Ursino roared, bashing aside tables to reach his former witch. Vescovi tried to run, but Ursino was too fast. He slashed claws across Vescovi’s face, knocking him down. An instant later, he went in for the kill.
The white tiger yowled in pain as the bond with his witch shattered. As he stumbled, both Doris and Wanda broke off and raced to join Philip. Alistair ran to Sam, helping him out from under the table.
“I know you wanted me gone,” Sam said. “But—”
Alistair cut him off with a kiss. “I didn’t, I swear. Just—come on, we have to get out of here.”
The smoke thickened rapidly as they ran from the room. Sam glanced over his shoulder to see Ursino and the tiger now locked in battle.
The others had gathered at the hidden door. Doris had taken on human form and was pulling fruitlessly at the handle. “Damn it! Vescovi sealed it with a hex!”
She rammed it with her shoulder. Alistair joined her, and they both hit it, over and over again. It didn’t budge.
Smoke stung Sam’s eyes and throat, and he had to swallow back panic. They needed to get through the door, but it was held in place by magic. Maybe if they had some tools to pry it apart, but there was nothing in his hexwork kit that could help with that.
Or maybe there was.
He recoiled from the thought. He couldn’t do this. He’d just mess up the way he always did, only this time it would get Alistair and everyone else killed.
But they were running out of options. He pulled out the kit. “I-I think I know a hex that can help.”
Alistair and Doris fell back immediately. Trusting him. “Hurry, Sam,” Wanda said.
“I will.” Painfully aware of their expectant eyes on him, he spread out his tools and rapidly chose a few different inks, before starting to draw on the door.
A voice that sounded a lot like Mom shouted in his mind, telling him he couldn’t do this, that he never did anything right. He was too clumsy, too pathetic, too useless, and that by trying he was dooming them all.
No. He shoved the voice away and concentrated only on the work in front of him. The crackle of the flames drew closer, and it was hard to see through watering eyes, but he refused to rush. They would only have one chance to escape, and he would not get this wrong.
A line, a swirl, a final flourish…and the hex was done. “There,” he said.
Reinhold stepped past him and pressed his hand against the hex. “Teresa and I aren’t the strongest…”
“It won’t matter,” Sam said, trying not to cough. “It’s going to work.”
Reinhold nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he stepped back. “It’s charged.”
Voice hoarse from the smoke, Sam spoke the activation phrase: “Fall apart.”
The hinges and lock immediately burst into their component parts in a shower of metal, and the unsupported door toppled into the shaft, careening off the walls as it plummeted.
The hex worked. He’d done it.
“Go!” Wanda shouted.
Sam climbed down the ladder as fast as he could, the Gattis and Reinhold right behind him. Within moments, they were stumbling into the cool, clear air of the tunnel.
“Is everyone all right?” Wanda asked, once they were a few turns of the tunnel over. Blood spattered her suit, and she had a nasty gash on her head. Doris was in similar shape, one arm sluggishly bleeding from the claws of the white tiger. “Reinhold, did they hurt you?”
He shook his head. “No. I was always meant to be bait, I think.”
“I’m fine,” Philip said. “Sam?”
“Yeah. I’m good.” He looked away from them all. “I know you didn’t want me here, but—”
Reinhold pulled him into a hug, followed by Philip. “You saved our tails,” Philip exclaimed. “If you hadn’t shown up when you did, some of us wouldn’t have made it out. And none of us would have, if you hadn’t been around to draw the hex on the door.”
They both kissed him—Philip on the cheek and Reinhold on the hair—before letting go. “Teresa?” Reinhold asked, turning to Wanda.
“In the hospital, but expected to be out by tomorrow,” Wanda reassured him. “Come on. We’ll take you to her.”
Sam glanced uncertainly at Alistair, who hadn’t yet spoken. Alistair crossed the space between them, gazed into Sam’s eyes, and said, “I’m sorry. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, I know that. I should never have sent you away. I was trying to protect you, but mostly I was trying to protect myself. As though breaking my own heart was somehow better than having you do it.” He closed his eyes, then opened them. “Just…give me another chance. Please. I…I love you.”
Sam had never expected to hear those words, even before Alistair tried to push him away. But before he could even begin to formulate a response, Doris said, “About time you admitted it.”
Alistair shot her a glare. “Come on,” Wanda said, “I need a drink and some bandages, and Reinhold needs to see Teresa.”
Doris smirked at Alistair and fell in as Philip, Wanda, and Reinhold started away. Sam came up beside Alistair and held out his hand.
Because he found he believed Alistair when he said he loved him, and the thought filled his whole body with sunshine.
“A second chance,” he said, a grin stretching his mouth so wide it ached.
Relief showed in Alistair’s eyes as he took Sam’s hand. “Thank you. And thanks for coming back for me, despite everything.”
“I told you I wasn’t going to leave,” Sam said, and together they followed the others back to the manhole and the world above.
26
Once at The Pride, they took turns washing off the soot and smoke, before shifting into cat shape and falling asleep in a pile with Sam in the middle. Alistair’s dreams mingled the events of the night with memories from the war, and he woke with a start several times. After, he laid in the dark, trying not to think, just feeling the warmth of his family around him.
Wanda got up first and went to the kitchen to start the coffee. Alistair joined her and accepted a cup gratefully. “Are you going to the hospital to visit Teresa?”
“Yes. Joel said he’d drive me, before he left last night.”
They’d found Joel pacing nervously back and forth by Wanda’s car when they emerged from the freight tunnels. Most of them piled in the truck, while he borrowed her car to take Reinhold to the hospital to see Teresa, then go home himself.
“So,” Wanda said, “you finally figured out you’re in love with Sam.”