Alejandra had to wonder if she seriously needed help. Professional help. Judging by the happy smiling faces, people rarely let mistakes crush them as badly as she was letting this mistake crush her. Derek certainly took mistakes he had made in strides. Now he and Annie were creating a circle of spectators as they salsa danced, acting like he hadn’t been kidnapped weeks ago. At ease with himself. Having fun, despite the occasional glance in Rafael’s direction to make sure they stayed close to each other.

  She was still shaking about her mistake. Still unable to look Nick in the eye for long. It was a miracle she could remain by his side, and part of her knew she was only doing this because she did not want to be on her own right now.

  The thing she was dreading the most finally happened. The group was staying together, but apart, and Alejandra remained by Nick in complete silence. Loud, awkward, soul crushing silence. Her hands were behind her back, and she tried to think of something to say, but mostly she tried not to think about how many times she failed in her life.

  The song ended, and Nick glanced over at her. “I… don’t know how to salsa, so this is a slow enough dance. Do you want to join me?”

  Alejandra’s voice didn’t work. Instead she nodded. She needed to dance with Nick at least once. To tell herself she could do this.

  They walked onto the dance floor, and Nick checked to see Jeff and Evelyn not that far. He almost touched her when his gaze then shot toward something right past her shoulder. Alarmed, Alejandra glanced over her shoulder to see Rafael and Hazel walking toward them. More like Rafael holding Hazel up.

  “Something’s up,” Rafael said, his voice urgent. “Hazel’s drugged. Somehow. We haven’t touched the refreshment table.”

  Alejandra’s heart dropped, seeing Hazel struggling to keep her eyes open.

  “Shit,” Nick muttered.

  Evelyn was by their side so fast, Alejandra had to wonder if she had some sort of teleportation herself.

  “Hazel?” Evelyn asked, going on the other side.

  “Let’s get her on the bleachers.”

  “What do you need us to do?” Nick asked.

  Rafael jerked his thumb over his shoulders. “Go find Derek. Both of you. Get him to dance closer to here. We’ll stay by Hazel.”

  Nick nodded, and took Alejandra’s arm, moving deeper into the dance floor. Alejandra was grateful for the distraction, because it meant that her heart was split between what was happening, and the jolt she felt as Nick placed his hand in hers.

  “Come on, I see Derek. Let’s tell him what happened,” Nick said, leading her toward the middle of the dance floor.

  ***

  Rafael was sweating, and it wasn’t just because this was a hot dance floor. Hazel was mumbling something under her breath as Rafael and Evelyn led her toward the bleachers. He didn’t dare leave the dance floor. Hazel wasn’t looking good, and in any other circumstance, he would have suggested she go outside for fresh air.

  How did she get drugged? They hadn’t been near the refreshment table. They were dealing with magical people, though. But Hazel shouldn’t be affected by spells and magic. Sure, the deadline got shorter, but not that short. People of earth shouldn’t get touched by magic to the full extent yet.

  “She’s going to vomit,” Evelyn whispered.

  Rafael held in a groan. There were bathrooms in the other corner of the gym. They wouldn’t make it in time.

  Se?ora Florez showed up, her eyes darting over the situation. “Come on. Bathrooms are over here,” she said.

  Se?ora Florez and Evelyn helped Hazel to her feet as they walked outside the gym. Something inside Rafael was screaming. They shouldn’t leave. Not the dance floor. They shouldn’t split the party. But Hazel was going to throw up, and Evelyn was already gone. Rafael needed to stay by them.

  He glanced around to see Nick, Derek, and Alejandra much closer to the door. Nick had his head craned, watching Evelyn disappear out the door, and gestured for Rafael to do the same.

  Right. Evelyn wasn’t supposed to be alone. Rafael refused to think. He walked out the door, jogging to catch up. The three women slipped into the girl’s bathroom, and Rafael started pacing. He was going through everything that could go wrong, some sort of spell that made him think that they were here, but they were really all being kidnapped. His heart was pounding in his chest.

  “Rafael,” Evelyn whispered.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  He realized he could see her. She was against the wall leading into the bathroom, and he could tell she was staring right at them. It was a way to give him updates without him being there. He was seriously considering walking into the girl’s bathroom, anyway. This was a matter of life or death. He needed to make sure Hazel was okay. If anything happened to her, he would-

  A hand grabbed his mouth, keeping him from screaming. He was jerked away, and he instinctively grabbed the hand, trying to break the grip.

  “Rafael!” Evelyn shouted.

  He struggled in the grip as he was dragged backwards. He tried to elbow his assailant, but it wasn’t working. Evelyn ran out of the bathroom, only for a hooded figure to jump over to Evelyn and grab her, too.

  Rafael tried to break free, but he was shoved into the janitor’s closet. He sprinted for the door when Evelyn was thrown into him. His hands instinctively caught her waist as they both collapsed. He hit his head on the shelving, but pushed past the injuries and scrambled to his feet again, sprinting toward the door.

  Akshi stood at the doorway, a smirk on his face before he moved his wrist and the door slammed shut on its own.

  “NO!” Rafael shouted, slamming his shoulder against the door. It didn’t budge. He grabbed the knob, but it was locked. Rafael backed away again to give him space before sprinting to the door, putting all the speed and power he could, pretending he was tackling an opponent. The door rocked but remained firm.

  “Hazel!” Rafael shouted, trying it again. “Hazel!”

  The door wouldn’t budge.

  “Rafael!” Evelyn shouted.

  He couldn’t look at her. He just backed away and rammed into the door again. His shoulder was smarting.

  “Rafael! Can you teleport Ezekiel?” Evelyn shouted.

  Rafael leaned against the door, trying to keep a level head. Evelyn was right. They had a plan for this. He closed his eyes, trying to feel the connection he had with his cleric. When it didn’t come, he panicked, before trying to ease the panic. He could do this. He could bring Ezekiel.

  When the feeling was gone, he opened his eyes and looked at Evelyn. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. “Can you…” Rafael started to say. “Princess Clarissa. Can you feel…”

  Evelyn shook her head, the tears streaming. “Anti-magic,” Evelyn whispered. “He must have set up an anti-magic field in here. And… it must be what’s stopping us from teleporting them in.”

  Rafael gave it barely a second’s thought before he checked his pockets. His phone, his keys, everything was gone. Akshi must have pickpocketed him somehow. No doubt Evelyn was discovering the same thing. They had no way to communicate with anyone. They were stuck.

  Rafael shrugged off his jacket and backed away again.

  “Rafael,” Evelyn said.

  He said nothing. He just shouted as he rammed himself into the door again.

  “Stop! You’ll hurt yourself!” Evelyn said.

  He ignored her as he backed up again. He didn’t care if there was an anti-magic field around them. He refused to believe they were stuck. He threw himself against the door again and again. Hazel was out there. Se?ora Florez was out there. No one was checking on him. Perhaps they were already stolen.

  Rafael threw himself at the door before Evelyn shouted at him to stop. He could feel the blood trickling from the scrape from the shelving. He kicked the door, shouting in frustration before he beat his palms against it.

  “Someone! Anyone!” Rafael shouted.

  “Hello!” Evelyn shouted with him. “Please! Somebody help!”

  No one came.

  “They must know the silence ritual,” Evelyn said.

  “No,” Rafael said, refusing to feel defeated even as his shoulder’s sagged. “No!”

  He couldn’t let Akshi steal Hazel. He couldn’t. They never should have split the party. He knew something bad would happen. This was all his fault.

  He backed away again, and Evelyn watched with tear-stained cheeks as he threw himself against the door again and again.

  ***

  “Do you think they’ll be okay?”

  It was the first words Alejandra spoke to Nick since they got to the dance floor. It was the first real sentence she’d spoken all night. Alejandra was staring at the door Rafael left a minute before. Alejandra hadn’t taken her eyes off the door since, and Nick obliged by making sure they just shuffled instead of turning in a circle as they shuffled. Nick had his back to the door, but he figured he could tell what happened by reading Alejandra’s face. She was surprisingly easy to read. The furrow of the brow, the worry. Something happened, and Nick didn’t like any of it.

  Nick glanced over at Derek, who was doing some sort of fancy dance move with Annie. “Once this song’s done, I’ll convince Derek and Annie to take a break and we’ll go check on them.”

  Alejandra nodded, her eyes still on the door, and his eyes still on her face. She glanced at him, and they made eye contact. He picked up on the shame immediately as she looked away.

  “Alejandra,” Nick started to say.

  She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

  “What is it?” he asked.

  She shook her head again. “Please.”

  “I want to help.”

  She kept shaking her head, so he let go of her waist to hold her chin, stopping her from shaking her head. “I ended up asking Evelyn. Apparently what Chaos had you hear was that… that I told you that you wouldn’t understand because your father gave you brain damage for beating you all throughout your childhood.” Alejandra winced, but Nick kept a hold of her head. “I’m sorry. That must have caused you a lot of pain to hear that.”

  “It wasn’t you that said it,” Alejandra whispered.

  “You still heard it. And I was in a way directly responsible for it. So, I am sorry.”

  Alejandra kept looking at him. It was the longest she had kept his gaze, and Nick wasn’t complaining. She always had the prettiest eyes. He already had his hands on her jawline. He lifted a hand to brush some strands of hair from her face.

  “I’m… sorry. For slapping you,” Alejandra whispered.

  “It wasn’t that hard, actually,” Nick said, taking a step closer to her. “I was honestly surprised you didn’t punch me in the face.”

  A smile flickered on her face, and Nick celebrated it as the victory it was.

  “You didn’t deserve it,” Alejandra said, the smile disappearing.

  “You apologized. I forgive you.” He could not stop stroking her cheek with his thumb, despite no tears on her cheeks. “And best of all, we’ll never have to deal with Chaos again.”

  Alejandra kept her gaze on him. “That’d be nice.”

  He didn’t realize how close he was to her. All he needed to do was lean down and he could kiss her. Alejandra must have thought the same thing, because the smile disappeared. She wanted to. He could read that enough on her face. But the shame was still there. She told him that he deserved someone better, and the only one who believed it was her.

  “Alejandra-” he started to say.

  A scaly arm wrapped around Alejandra’s waist and yanked her out of Nick’s arms.