“Two.”
“How did she improve so fast?” Liam lamented. “I can’t even make a dent now. She adapts so quickly!”
“Three.”
Cole didn’t know what to do. If he attacked the semblance of Mira’s father, the fake king might slash Jace’s throat immediately. Who knew how else Carnag might attack? After all, they were inside of it.
“Four.”
“You want to hurt my friends?” Mira asked. “You want to cross that line? You asked for it.”
She pointed at the tendril tethering her fake father to the wall. Part of the tendril disappeared, and her fake father immediately dissolved, sword and all.
Mira extended her palm and a tunnel opened straight to the outside. “Jump!” Mira yelled.
Cole didn’t have to be told twice. He raced into the tunnel and held out his sword. Once he could see the ground, he pointed at it, shouted the command word, and sprang.
Looking back as he fell, Cole saw Twitch leap into the air as well. Next came Jace, one arm around Mira, the golden rope now holding Quima. All three flew out of Carnag together.
As Cole plummeted, he watched Liam swoop down to help. In midair, Jace let Liam take Mira. She made his disk wobbly, and he curved away in a rapid descent. Carnag reached out a hand and caught Quima.
Sensing the ground approaching, Cole turned to watch his landing. After rolling to a stop, he saw Jace cushion his landing by coiling the rope beneath him like a spring. The rope was no longer connected to Quima, leaving her to Carnag.
Liam and Mira landed roughly, the disk rolling away from their point of impact after the wipeout. Dust plumed into the air.
“Are you all right?” Cole asked.
“Alive,” Liam said. “My disk really wasn’t made for two people.” He was already running to retrieve it.
“How dare you?” Carnag bellowed. A huge hand reached for Mira. As it got close, Mira waved her arm and the hand vanished. Released from Carnag’s grasp, the Shaper’s Flail fell to the ground.
“Back off!” Mira yelled.
“She’s taking your energy!” Quima shrieked. “She’s using your own power against you!”
“My power!” Mira corrected.
The hand holding Quima disappeared, and the woman plunged downward, skirt flapping. A new hand formed just in time to catch her. Instead of lifting her up again, Carnag set her down.
“Contain Mira!” Quima screamed. “They want to destroy us! Stop them all!”
A cage appeared around Cole, the bars sprouting up out of the ground and connecting overhead. Through the thick bars, Cole saw Mira and Jace trapped inside similar cages not far away. Mira was chained and gagged. Twitch and Liam remained free, both of them airborne.
“Can you shape away the bars?” Liam asked.
Mira shook her head and gave a muffled, “No.”
“Carnag herself must be more vulnerable to you,” Liam realized. “The separate objects that she shapes are more removed from your influence.”
Carnag stomped over to stand before Mira. A tendril slithered forward from one foot, and the fake Mira blossomed up from the ground at the end of the tether. She stormed forward angrily, stopping just outside Mira’s cage.
“Now you’ve done it,” fake Mira said. “Now I’m furious. You’re going to free me from you, or I’m pounding all of you flat. Your friends first, Mira, then you, no matter what it does to me.”
Mira gave an unintelligible response.
Fake Mira waved a hand, and the gag disappeared.
“Flail, attack Quima!” Mira shouted.
The flail zipped toward where the dark-haired woman stood, still looking flustered from her near-fatal fall. When Carnag lunged to defend Quima from the flail, Mira yelled a different command.
“Flail, attack me!”
The flail boomeranged around toward Mira’s cage.
Barely recovering from the lunge, Carnag dove, grabbing the flail just before it collided with the thick bars.
Fake Mira waved a hand, and Mira was gagged again.
Carnag slowly stood up.
Cole craned his neck back to gaze up at the giant. She was so big! It was weird to think that something so enormous could come from Mira. According to Liam, the part that truly came from her wanted to return. Carnag was colossal and terrifying, but in the end, according to Mira, she was just a semblance.
Cole fingered his shawl. Would it have a chance of influencing something so powerful? Could he put it on something so huge?
“You’re willing to die,” fake Mira said. “And you’re willing to get your friends killed. So let’s demonstrate the result of your choices.” She pointed at Jace. “Father tried to deal with that one. How about him first?”
“Get me out,” Cole whispered. “Open my cage.”
“I’m not sure I can,” Liam said. “Even with Carnag’s attention elsewhere, it’d stretch me to my limits.”
“You have to,” Cole said. “I have an idea.”
“That’s more than I’ve got,” Liam admitted.
Two bars on Cole’s cage disappeared. Liam lurched in the sky, almost falling from his disk, but he managed to right himself.
Racing from his cage, Cole dashed toward fake Mira. She was facing away from him, her attention on Jace. Carnag tromped over to that cage and raised a foot above it.
“Last chance,” fake Mira warned.
“Don’t give in,” Jace demanded bravely.
Running hard, Cole unclasped the shawl. Quima watched Jace’s cage. So did Mira. So did fake Mira.
“Mmmmphf,” Mira said, pointing at her gag.
“Fine,” fake Mira said. “Last chance. But if I don’t like what you have to say . . .”
She waved a hand and the gag vanished again.
Cole reached fake Mira and wrapped the shawl around her shoulders from behind hurriedly, clasping it with nervous fingers. Fake Mira looked over her shoulder at him, her expression perplexed.
“Okay, Miracle,” Cole said. “I need you to lie down.”
Miracle immediately squatted and stretched out on the ground.
Heart hammering from his sprint and his desperation, Cole stared in stunned relief. He could hardly believe it was working! Not wanting to lose momentum, and trying to sound casual, he continued, “Carnag needs to carefully step back.”
Carnag took a step away from Jace’s cage.
Quima rushed at Cole, her eyes brimming with rage. Twitch slammed into her from behind, both of them tumbling to the ground. Liam landed nearby, waved a hand, and ropes bound Quima. A gag covered her mouth. Eyes bulging, Quima jackknifed frantically.