The alarms made my head, which was already growing sore from being held in the same position, begin to pulse in pain. I didn’t even bother to pull at my restraints. My body felt weak, though at least I still had my magic coiled up inside me the same as ever. The Machine, at least, was quickly wheeled away, and a wave of relief crested over me through me at its retreat.

  In the frantic commotion someone came up and pulled the restraints off of my forehead and chin, pulling the gag off of my mouth. I let out a huge breath of relief, stretching out and closing my sore jaw. Theo knelt beside me, working on the restraints on one of my arms.

  He seemed to be acting alone in freeing me, the room was quickly emptying of everyone else. I suppose without him I could have been left behind as an afterthought, and felt uncomfortably grateful.

  “Theo, what’s going on?” I asked. I had to nearly shout to be audible over the alarms, and my voice was already hoarse.

  “We’re under attack from Mages!” Theo called back. “Some of the guards will buy us time while the facility evacuates! I need to get you out of here!”

  “From Mages!?” I asked. I could just imagine the Mages in Division uniform coming to rescue us. It would be the most beautiful sight in existence. I had never thought of our uniforms as a wonder to behold before, but-

  “The Cult of Tyrants!” Theo said, and my heart constricted.

  Finally Theo pulled the last restraint from my left arm and I jumped up. Theo grabbed my arm to lead me away at top speed, and I let him for now. I had no idea how to get out of this place, and my Mage collar still held back my teleportation.

  “Are you taking me out?” I asked.

  It was hard to understand Theo with him turned away and the alarms blaring, but I thought he responded affirmatively and said something about a “new base.” I picked up the pace. If they were switching bases, there could be a chance for me to escape. I mostly didn’t even care about getting back to the Mage Division, I just wanted to see sunlight again.

  Theo led me down a maze of hallways. We seemed to be going in a different direction as the scrambling guards and labcoats, which was fine by me. We got a few glances, but, with uniformed Theo leading me by the arm, no one looked twice. The crowds thinned until we were alone in winding hallways.

  Halfway through our run, the alarms cut off abruptly and Theo swore. The silence rang out, almost deafening in my ears. Theo let go of my arm and broke into a run, his loud voice feeling painfully sharp in the silence, yelling for me to follow. I did, but not without protest.

  “If you removed my collar I could teleport us out of here!” I said. It would require ritual casting for the two of us, but I could still teleport both of us to safety, for all that Theo didn’t deserve it. I would do it, just to be even with him for rescuing me. I would. Probably.

  “No time!” Theo called back.

  My gratitude at the rescue was being edged out by anger that burned deeper.

  “There would be more time if I could teleport-” I began, but halted as we skidded to a stop in front of an exit. The facility door, which was as much wall as door, stood solidly. It was closed, I guessed at least a foot thick of reinforced metal. A combination lock stood out at the center of it.

  “Shit!” Theo kicked the door, which made a thick thud.

  “What?” I asked, confused for a moment. There was the exit. “Get us out!”

  “I don’t know the code!” Theo said. “You have to be a member of the Hands for at least five years.”

  “What!? You just let them lock you in here?”

  “I left regularly, I wasn’t a prisoner, I just didn’t know the code!” Theo protested. I glared at him. I had had enough.

  SMACK!

  Theo’s face made a satisfying noise as I slapped him. He stumbled back, looking wide-eyed, and I immediately wanted to smack him again. The look of surprise and hurt bafflement just made me angrier; it felt like sheer disregard for what he’d done to us.

  “You know who was a prisoner!” I snarled. “Me! And now I am going to fucking die here, just like you killed my friends! Just so you can cut pieces out of me and other Mages that you never even met! How can you not understand what you’ve done? How could you have turned into something like this!?”

  Theo opened his mouth to protest and I did slap him again. It felt incredibly satisfying. When I lifted my hand again, though, Theo put his own hand at his belt. There was some kind of weapon held in the leather there and he put up a hand in warning. His face was red, maybe from more than my palm.

  “Okay, maybe I deserved that!” he admitted. “It was… well… horrible, the way you all screamed through the gag. I knew it was wrong. I was just trying to do what’s right-” I raised my hand further in warning and Theo rushed to his next words: “But we have more important things to deal with right now! There should be people here, this door should be open.”

  Unfortunately, he was right. The alarms had cut short, but everyone must have heard them ring. I didn’t know the procedures here, but this closed and unmanned door didn’t seem right.

  “Take off this collar and I’ll break the door down with magic,” I said. “Problem solved. Let’s get out of here.”

  “I don’t have the authority to take off your collar, though,” Theo said. “And we can’t just leave the people here. Something happened to them!”

  “Unless you’re ready to lead me back into the prison cells to free Nalei, I don’t care, and we probably don’t have time to do that!” I said. I sent off a silent promise to her in my mind, that I would come back for her when I could. “So just take off my collar now or I will make you.”

  Theo looked me up and down. I was shorter and not in the best shape after weeks of imprisonment, but my head had been torn open and my whole being felt like a raw nerve of anger. I was still half grateful to my brother for finally saving me, and it was the only thing stopping me from jumping on him and maybe literally biting out his throat with my own teeth. I hadn’t felt this crazed since the initial shock of Adain’s death had worn off. Whatever advantage size and physical conditioning gave Theo, I felt ready to meet it with the pent up rage of prison and pain. I glared at Theo, trying to beam all of my anger through my eyes like that was a spell, and he took a little step back.

  “You won’t put a geas on me?” Theo asked.

  I blinked at him, fury stymied a moment by confusion. “What? Theo, I am a Spacetime Mage, not a Mental Mage. I couldn’t put a geas on you if I wanted, though if you wait longer to free me I might just put you through a wall.”

  “And you won’t just kill me?” Theo asked. A more reasonable question. He cautiously put a hand to his belt. “We already have murderous Mages loose in the facility, how do I know I won’t be adding one?”

  He would, but I didn’t think that should be his greatest priority right now.

  “I am your brother and you have been the one holding me prisoner to torture and murder, not the other way around! You have to let me out of this collar,” I said. Theo flinched at my words, but he didn’t move. This was exasperating. “Theo, I can help!”

  Theo grimaced. His hand was still at his belt, on his stun gun. “No, I can’t-”

  His words were cut short by a howl, a loud echoing noise. Maybe it was the echoes, but it didn’t sound quite right. The sharp noise was unlike any wolf or dog I had ever heard. It made my hair stand on end, and Theo went pale.

  He jumped to open my collar, shoving a key in with shaking hands. “We have to get out of here!”

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  “Oh, now you agree?” I asked, but I wasn’t going to argue.

  My hands were already at my throat, pulling off the collar as soon as the lock clicked open to throw it away. Rubbing at my blessedly free neck, I turned to the door. Kinetic magic was one of the most basic types, something any untrained schmuck could manage along with small lights and fires. I, however, was on another level. I’d trained in Advanced Kinetics, studying physics and practicing the detailed manipulation of energy and matter alongside the mental training and spell practice required of all Mages.

  I pulled up my arms, and with them the familiar magic. With a gesture I began forcing the bolts of the door to open, manipulating magic to supply the force needed at just the right angle. There was another howl behind us, closer this time, along with a strangled shout. But now the bolts of the door were open.

  I shoved both of my arms forward violently.

  My magic slammed the entire door outward and it skidded into nearby trees. We were in another forest, maybe even the same forest I and the others had been kidnapped from. Natural, beautiful afternoon sunlight streamed down on us, and the clear air tugged at my thin prison robe.

  I took my first steps out quickly, but then I slowed down with reverence. The feeling of dirt instead of stone under my bare feet was a blessing. I might have been the old god of the hunt restored to the forest again.

  “We need to go!” Theo shouted, grabbing my arm and pulling me along faster.

  A fast pounding sound from behind us made me turn my head as Theo dragged me forward, fast enough to make me stumble over my feet. Rocks started to sting my skin as I tried to keep up, but I was tempted to keep staring behind us.

  There was a huge wolf-thing running toward us down the hall of the Hands’ facility that we’d just left. Blood spattered its golden fur, which waved in the breeze as it bolted toward us on all fours. It was as fast as a car and much more beautiful in its movement, almost mesmerizing with the harmony of its muscles as they bunched and shifted powerfully.

  I turned back toward Theo. “Is that a werewolf!?”

  The ability to transform themselves and others into monstrous beasts had been a skill of the Mages of the Old Empire, a popular pastime then. It had been perfected through human experimentation on non-magical peasants, not an uncommon practice in the days of the Empire under the power of Mages. There’d even been a bit of a noble bloodsport in turning peasants into monsters and making them fight to the death.

  I had thought that the knowledge of how to do the transformations had died with the old Mage families, but I had no other words to describe what was charging toward us. It was a Mage, as I could sense from even here. I pulled my arm out of my brother’s grasp and Theo stumbled forward only a couple more steps before stopping.

  “We’re not going to outrun that thing,” I said. “We need to fight it or reason with it.”

  “She’s not going to be reasoned with!” Theo said. He was looking up and behind me, at the thing that was chasing us, then back to me. “Look, you can teleport, right? Can you get us out of here?”

  “Unless we have a couple minutes for ritual casting, I can only teleport myself!” I said.

  Theo flinched, then sighed. “Then teleport yourself. I’ve done horrible things, like you’ve said. It’s probably justice at this point.”

  He looked down, with the same expression he’d had as a child whenever he’d done something wrong. My heart twisted with feelings I’d hoped I’d grown past.

  “Damnit, Theo!”

  I spun around and found the werewolf exiting the compound at breakneck speed, lunging at us. A kinetic blast flew from my hands and slammed into the beast, throwing it (her?) backward into the building. I grinned. That felt good.

  My self-sacrifice for Nalei had failed. She was still in that building, still ready to be taken apart. I was raw and empty. My life had been bared before me and it didn’t seem worth much. But maybe I could still do one last thing that meant something.

  “Izak, be careful, she’s-”

  I spun around. “What are you still doing here? RUN, Theo! And remember that it was Mage scum who risked his life to save you, magic included!”

  He just stared at me, slack-jawed for a moment. “But I just almost- how could I-”

  “Just don’t let them kill my friend, okay?” I said. “Use your ties in that fucking organization and help her. Now GO!”

  Theo startled back, staring up at me in an expression of something like awe. Then his mouth formed a determined line and he turned to run away. I felt good, righteous, better than I had since well before my time in the anti-magic prison.

  Then I got slammed to the side with the force of a paw larger than my skull.

  I went tumbling head over heels, thankingfully over soft dirt with relatively gentle vegetation for cushioning. When I looked up, staring and half-stunned, the werewolf had Theo pressed against a tree by his throat, growling.

  She must have just batted me out of the way to get to him. Standing up on her hind legs she came up to nearly eight feet, majestic with blonde fur shining nearly white in the light, except for the spots of thick blood. Her dark brown eyes narrowed and her mouth drew back into a mockery of a smile that bore two inch-long fangs. Every line of her teemed with bloodthirsty hatred ready to be satisfied. She was growling. The growling was actually words, though that took a moment for me to figure out.

  “...kill you!” The beast rumbled, as best I could make out. Theo squeaked, and the huge wolfy face turned up in a facsimile of a human grin. That shocked me out of my stupor.

  I focused in. It took some control to throw the thing off of Theo starting from the claws wrapped around his throat, so she couldn’t get a swipe in while flying backward. My control didn’t fail, though, and the beast flew backward paw-first like some huge puppet. The werewolf turned to me.

  Theo scrambled away behind the tree, but didn’t flee. I glared at him.

  “Theo-” I started, irritated as hell that after everything he would try to ruin my self-sacrifice. Theo interrupted me, though, yelling to the werewolf.

  “Don’t kill him! That’s Maxine, just different now, he’s a transexual!”

  This might be the weirdest time that I had ever heard anyone declare me a transexual. I stared at Theo, honestly too baffled now even to glare.

  When the werewolf turned her eyes on Theo, though, I took action. I teleported between them and threw up my hands to slam the beast backward just as she lunged forward. She didn’t break through my control, though I had to focus hard to press my power against hers.

  This wasn’t simply the strength of a massive beast, this was the force of another Mage’s magic hitting my own. I could feel her manipulating physics just as I was, and I only won out because I had more control and expertise. Her focus area must be in Alteration magic, not Spacetime. I heard Theo running away behind me, finally. The werewolf’s eyes also followed the fleeing boy.

  “NO!” She half-shouted, half-howled. “How dare you!”

  She swiped a paw forward and slammed at me with her own magic, but I was ready. It jarred my teeth, but I stayed on my feet unharmed. She stepped forward and slammed again, a wave of untamed force, but I dispersed the energy.

  Even as I did so, she used the magic as a distraction to bat forward with one of her paws. I countered it magically before she got to my stomach to gut me, but flinched at the power and stumbled. My foot caught on uneven ground and I fell back hard against the forest floor.

  My physical training as a Mage Officer kicked in, and I fell down onto one elbow, keeping one hand raised at the ready for my magic. My stupid white experiment-subject-prisoner robe flopped open awkwardly, but I ignored it. Gathering my magic, I readied myself to react to her next lunge.

  This fight was taking something from her, as well, I could see it in the way she panted with her whole body. I hadn’t used magic in weeks and I was rattled from the Machine, but she must have been using magic all day on these attacks. Maintaining the concentration necessary to safely use yourself as a conduit for magic was physically draining.

  She lunged forward with the force of her magic again. That was the wrong move.

  With a twisting, flinging motion I warped the kinetic force of her lunge rather than stopping it outright, embracing the upwards vector and redirecting the horizontal force upward as well, flinging her up into the air. She sprang up like she had hopped onto the world’s largest spring.

  I smiled to myself. I always appreciated how wild the effects of kinetic magic could look when well-calibrated with knowledge of physics. Even if this Mage could use her Alterationist focus to turn herself into a giant wolf, I still had the knowledge to use kinetics against her.

  She flipped in the air and came flying back down to meet me, claws first. I teleported away, across the clearing. Slamming hard into the dirt, she hit the ground again with enough force to make it vibrate. A cloud of dust and dirt obscured her, and for a moment I hoped she’d taken a real hit from that fall.

  She jumped out completely unhurt, barreling toward me. I pulled up my hands, ready again, but she skidded to a halt with her claws raking the ground.

  “Why?” She growled. “Why help them?”

  It was a good question. I could teleport away right now, and I probably should. I’d been freed, but they’d come back for me. And, anyway, I surely owed a superior officer somewhere my report. I hesitated. The truth was that this fight had my blood singing in my veins with freedom, and sacrificing my life felt like a better purpose than any the Mage Division had given me, but I couldn’t say any of that.

  “That one was my brother!” I said. “I won’t let you get him. He helped me escape from the terrorists holding me prisoner.”

  All of that was technically true and sounded good. I even managed to project my voice and sound heroic as I spoke. It seemed to have an impact, at least.

  The werebeast reeled backward, her eyes moving back and forth between me and the empty space in the woods where Theo had fled. She stared and, to my surprise, began to shift. Her form grew smaller, the hair pulling inward to reveal pale skin lined with a smooth, sharp pattern of tattoos that disappeared under the pelt covering her. Some of the fur had pulled back to turn into a huge gray wolf-skin, wrapped around her like a cloak, similar to the one I had so recently seen in my visions from the Machine.

  The blood on her didn’t shrink, and now splattered all across her face and soaked her hands, though it was evident that it wasn’t hers. Brown eyes shrank down to human size and the face became one I could only just recognize. She cleared her throat, hoarse with the new form.

  “Maxine?” She asked. “Theo said… but I didn’t think it could be possible, you look so…”

  She stared me up and down, and I pulled my measly little lab robe closer around myself, suddenly feeling exposed and self-conscious. As the adrenaline began to pound out of me, new bruises and aches started to make themselves felt. I should teleport away now, but her wide eyed stare kept me rooted to the spot.

  “My name is Izak now,” I said. “Izak Biralei. But yeah, Adaline, I’m your little brother.”