The Pyramid Chronicles: Fortuna Guard (#2)

Chapter Twenty: Breakout

The cell block door opened with a loud clang. Eric jumped to his feet and rushed to the bars, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was coming. Distant voices reached his ears, but it was impossible to tell what they were saying.

A few moments later, footsteps raced toward the cell.

Adam slid to a stop in front of the cell and grabbed the bars. "Come on, we have to get out of here!"

"Adam?" Eric exclaimed. The others climbed to their feet behind him. "What's going on? How did you get out of the lab?"

"Willow broke in and helped me," Adam replied.

"Willow's here?"

"Yeah. Well, she was. She ran off." Adam shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Someone else is attacking the facility too, apparently. I don't know how long it will take SCI to deal with them, but now's our chance to escape."

"How are we supposed to get out?" Veronica asked as she approached the bars on Eric's left.

Sam followed. "Maybe I can do something," he suggested.

"Your powers aren't meant for bending metal." Veronica gave him a skeptical glance. "I'm sure you could throw the bars around if they weren't attached to the wall, but—"

"Yeah, it'd be a lot easier for a ferrokinetic, but I don't see why I shouldn't be able to move them!" Sam grabbed one of the bars. "I might not be strong enough to bend them, but I did lift a chopper—"

Summer jumped in. "Maybe if Adam and Eric worked together, they could melt the bars."

"That would take a lot of heat..." Veronica started.

Eric glanced back at where Raveena was leaning against the wall, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She yawned.

"The fire thing sounds like it's worth a shot," Eric said, his attention shifting back to the others. He slid his hands into his pockets, and his right hand brushed against the vial of pyreox. "Oh, someone else should probably hold onto this. Last thing we need is an explosion." He gingerly pulled it out, trying not to imagine his hand suddenly catching fire.

Summer's face lit up. "Wait, maybe that's exactly what we need."

"Oh no," Veronica muttered.

"We need to get the bars out fast," Summer said. "I don't see the problem."

"The problem is we're in a confined space!"

After a moment's hesitation, Sam spoke. "Maybe I can...redirect the explosion. With my powers."

Veronica turned her wide eyes on him. "What?"

"Listen, when we were at Delta Labs and the building collapsed, I wasn't pushing each piece of debris away from us," Sam said. "It was more like—I created a telekinetic shield that pushed everything away. I could do the same thing here."

Summer turned to Veronica. "I'm not going to lie," she said. "This is a dangerous idea. But there's no other way out, and we can't stay here."

Veronica stared at her for a long moment. She nodded. "Right. No other way out." She took a deep breath. "Fine. Let's do it."

"And if we get hurt, Raveena can heal us, right?" Summer glanced at Raveena.

"Uh, sure." Raveena didn't sound confident. "Of course."

"It won't come to that," Eric said. He met Sam's eyes. Sam gave a small nod. If he believed he could do this, Eric would believe him.

Eric uncapped the bottle of pyreox and tapped it against his fingers. A clear liquid tinged with orange slid out. He dabbed a small amount onto the three center bars.