I thrust my pummel into another soldier, shot an Ether blast into his face, before spinning and slashing at another incoming brigadier. He blocked with rings and spun, releasing supernovas targeted at me.

  Whirl Devil lit up and drew the supernovas to it. I began a whirlwind, and it released the supernovas, causing the whirlwind to catch fire. I shot it back at the brigadier, who dodged, but it gave me enough time to counter his swing and stab him in the back.

  The ground rumbled, and a huge mushroom cloud covered the sky, as a big explosion shook Sapherine’s soil. I glanced over to where it came from, and my eyes widened. Myra was in that room! I shoved two fighting rebels aside and rushed towards the explosion.

  “Jonah! Where are you going? The fight is that way,” pointed Datha as she knifed a brigadier in the back.

  “I’ve got to get to that explosion,” I said as I struggled past the heavy fighting, shoving people out of my way.

  “It was probably one of the guns exploding. One of the slaves recharged it wrong or something,” she said, shrugging.

  I glared. “Aren’t you even worried about your base?”

  “We have others. As long as the brigaders don’t get our technology, we’re safe,” she said, and I stilled.

  “You mean you rigged the devices?” I asked, afraid of her grin.

  “They’ve always been rigged in case of the council managing to steal the info,” she said.

  I gripped her. “You sent Myra into a rigged room!”

  “She wanted to stay. It was her fault. Now Sapherine won’t have a savior,” she said, grinning, and I shoved her back.

  “The crazy one here is you!” I yelled and hurried on my way to the base. A large hole was in the middle, and a cave-in had happened to plug that hole. Large rocks the size of my body plugged the hole. I summoned Ether to my hands and blasted a small humanoid-shaped hole on its side, causing debris to fly every which way.

  The ground shook as explosions and gunfire rocked the place. Even from here, the sounds of battle echoed, and I prayed for Myra’s safety. I swept inside and found it swarming with brigaders, although most had been knocked by the blast or were squished by the gigantic cave-in.

  I set for the farthest room on the right and inspected the halls. Most brigadiers were too busy fighting slaves from different rooms to pay much attention to me. One slave cocked a brigadier over the head with a piece of metal pipe. The sound of an egg cracking made me wince.

  Others were shooting the brigaders left standing. I tugged one to the side and warned him about the guns. He nodded and stopped a slave as his gun sputtered. Good. We would have been blown sky-high if he had turned the switch on! These slaves were cannon fodder.

  The alliance might not be any better than the council if it were blowing its citizens up with rigged weapons. I stopped another slave from turning on a rigged gun, but couldn’t stop the last.

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  I ducked as a small explosion took place and shook the already crumbling cave. It was nowhere near as big as the one I saw in that room, though. I hurried on.

  Another turn and I was at the hole in the cave system. It yawned open like a flower and had once been a room. The reason I had taken the long way was in case Myra wasn’t in this room. I had hoped, but I knew she would have stayed to help the others.

  I entered what was left of the room and noticed the slaves were behind a strong protective barrier. The brigadiers were dead around us, but where was Myra?

  I stepped into a small pool of blood and looked down. She was pale and was bleeding again. I bent down and looked for any major fractures. None that I could spot. I did notice a deep cut on her forehead from falling debris. It was still bleeding.

  “She protected us,” said a woman. She had a wide blue shirt tucked into black cloth pants and tied with a rope bow.

  “She hit her head pretty hard,” said another wearing a brown tunic and green leggings. Beside her was a huge black bag.

  “I can heal her if you would let me free of this barrier,” bargained a slave, and I stood and walked over to where the barrier was anchored. Myra had made runes that could anchor a spell without you having to write it out entirely on a surface, just on stickers. She was that brilliant at runes. I read the spell and smiled. She had used her hybrid rune array for this. All I had to do was chant the opposing verse, which was simply, “The danger’s past.”

  The barrier brightened before dimming and disappearing completely, setting the slaves free. Some rushed out of the room, including the man who said he could help.

  What a liar!

  The women helped me move Myra and bandage her head, which had a melon-sized bump on it. I knew that a concussion was possible, maybe even probable, but how could I wake her up?

  “My son once had a concussion, and the best thing for that was a potion,” said the blue-garbed woman.

  “Potion? I have a few,” said the tunic-wearing woman as she rummaged in her large bag and pulled out a green potion. She handed it to me, and I uncorked the bottle. I wasn’t sweet and tender. I pried My’s mouth open and thrust the potion down her throat. She sputtered and choked but swallowed the potion and woke, glaring at me.

  “There’s the Myra I know,” I muttered, smirking.

  “Are you trying to choke me?” she asked, coughing.

  “Nope. I’m trying to save you. I guess the potion worked,” I said as I checked her forehead for the nasty cut. That was also gone. All that remained was the blood that caked her forehead.

  I sighed and grabbed her arms. “What happened?”

  “The guns are rigged to blow if they are forced,” she said as she was handed a water bottle by the blue-garbed woman. She started chugging water. That potion must have been foul-tasting. Bengala met my eyes and nodded precipitously. Yeah, I didn’t want any in my future.

  “I know that, but the explosion isn’t a big thing. I saw one explode. It singed the user and caused a small explosion, but not at the level of this one. It took the base!” I said, pointing to the big hole in the room.

  “It must have had an adverse effect with my barrier. You know it carries the ultimate power rune and the eight-pointed star,” she said, and I nodded. The explosion could have been triggered by that,t but I was pretty sure that wasn’t why.

  “Where can I get a gun that was used in this room?” I asked the blue-garbed female.

  “Roberto should have one. He’s a skinny blond boy of your height with green eyes,” she said, shrugging.

  “He was last seen fighting a brigadier in the hall and was probably caught in the blast,” said the woman who I had forgotten was beside me.

  “Thanks…,”

  “Bengala,” she said, smiling. “I’m one of the local healers around,” she motioned to her large bag. “I carry potions for about anything medicinal.”

  “You were lucky,” said the other woman, who didn’t reveal her name but seemed amicable enough to help Myra to her feet and wash the blood away with her water bottle. She took off the top and filled it with water again.

  She was a hybrid in hiding. Now I understand the secrecy of her name. All hybrids were made to fight outside with the other fighters. Never mind if they had ever fought before.

  Myra smiled. “I won’t tell,” she said. The woman nodded, reining in her element and closing the water bottle.

  “I know you won’t,” she said, smiling shyly.

  Myra turned to me with a hard glint in her eyes. “Jonah, I want to get my powers back.”

  “I thought you were against it,” I said, wondering about her change, although with my sister refusing to help, I knew sooner or later she would have to get her powers back.

  “I was helpless to stop and help when I knew I should have been able to. I want them back, and if insanity is the payment for them, then I’ll gladly pay it,” she muttered, gazing at a hybrid woman curled near the back of the room, bawling and holding her face. Bengala had wrapped it in medicinal cloth drenched in some of the ointment that lay open beside her.

  I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Hold up! You can’t fight the council insane and you can’t free others insane either. There has to be a balance,” I said, gazing into her eyes. They shone with frustrated tears. Obviously, something bad must have happened for her to change her mind about the temples and powers. Her eyes wandered back to that woman who was now lying back by Bengala’s orders.

  She turned her eyes to focus on me. “We’ll figure it out along the way.” We headed out of the room and towards the outside, where the battle still reigned.