"They forgot to use silver bullets," Karl said.
She gasped and ran toward him and--
I flew off my feet. I saw Hope fly, too, and grabbed for her, but missed. I hit the floor, and for a second everything went dark. Something echoed in my ears, like a sound I couldn't quite pick up. Then the shouting started. Lights flickered and came on, and when I looked around, the door was open and the audience was streaming out, tactical team members streaming in, the two groups struggling with each other and shouting.
"W-was that a bomb?" I said as I staggered to my feet. I felt Adam's warm hands on my waist as he helped me steady myself.
"I don't know," he said. "But it was something."
I hurried to Hope. She was still on the ground, clutching her stomach now, her face contorted in pain as she heaved breaths.
Jeremy ran and dropped beside her as Karl hobbled over.
"She's coming," Hope gasped. "The baby's coming."
"What can I get?" I said.
I looked around as I said it, and saw Elena bent over Clay. Leaving Hope, I hurried over to them, Adam right behind me.
"He's just unconscious," Elena said. "But Giles . . . When I came to, he was gone."
"Shit!" I frantically searched the crowd for sign of him.
Then a voice said, "There. He went through there," and I saw a young woman holding her bloodied nose and pointing backstage.
Adam and I took off.
We came out of the back room only to be swept up in a raid. A couple of hundred young supernaturals were trying to get to the compound's exit while our tactical teams tried to round them up. Every one of those kids was convinced that Cabal capture meant death. So they fought back, and we stepped into a maelstrom of spells and shoves and waving guns.
I tried to get through without using my powers, but ended up resorting to knockback spells to clear the way. We'd gone about five feet when a Cabal goon pointed a gun at us.
"Hands against the wall," he barked.
"Savannah Levine. Adam Vasic," I said. "Now move your ass."
"Better yet," Adam yelled over the din. "Did Gilles de Rais come through here?"
"I saw him," another Cabal officer called.
"Where'd he go?"
The guy pointed to a door. I hurried over and pushed it open. The room was empty. There was an upended table in the middle and a rumpled throw rug under it. I
stepped in, fingers raised to zap Giles. Then I heard a now-familiar noise. A steel door closing.
Behind the table, there was a hatch. There was still enough room for me to clamber through it, and as I went I lit a light ball and saw a ladder along the side. I grabbed that and went down. Adam barely made it through behind me.
We scrambled down the ladder to a room at the bottom. A corridor led off to the side.
"Secret escape hatch," I muttered. "Does everyone have them these days?"
"We'll install one at the agency for you."
"Good."
I contacted Lucas and told him where we were. There was no way the Cabal team was getting through that steel hatch door any time soon, though. So he told us to go ahead and give chase to Giles.
FORTY-SEVEN