Frost Prisms (The Broken Prism Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

all I can do to knock one out before the next arrives.”
    Aghast, Tess blurted out, “Those mages were sent by the Council to kidnap Hayden?”
    Asher shut and sealed the door to the infirmary with them inside, adding a few more protective spells of some sort to the door for good measure. In his stunned state, the only one Hayden recognized on sight was a Ward of Warning, to let them know if magic was being used on the other side of the door.
    “I’m not sure whether it was a Council decision, or if Calahan—or one of the other half-cracked members with a grudge against you—made that call on their own.” He frowned at them all. “All I know is that when strangers sneak into the school and start looking for you, it’s my job to make sure they don’t reach you.”
    “Why is Calahan—or whoever—trying to abduct me?” Hayden asked as calmly as possible, sitting on the edge of his bed.
    “I expect they’re trying to take advantage of the chaos to get control of you quickly. If they have you in their custody, they control what happens from then on. Once they get you into the Crystal Tower it will be nearly impossible to get you back out again,” Asher answered grimly. “As long as we can keep you here, we have some leverage against them.”
    “You make it sound like a war,” Tess offered quietly. “Like Mizzenwald is going to be against the Council of Mages soon, fighting for control of Hayden.”
    “That’s more or less where this thing is headed,” Asher confirmed heavily. “On the bright side, they won’t try to blow up the school with him still inside of it—not unless they go completely insane, and not even Calahan is that nuts yet. And this place is designed to be a fortress, so short of blowing the place up, it will be nearly impossible to penetrate Mizzenwald’s defenses.”
    Hayden frowned at this unexpected turn.
    “What happens if they get their hands on me?”
    “Nothing good for you, that’s for sure.” He began ticking options off of his fingers. “They’ll either put you on trial or they won’t. If they do, they can convict you of willfully bringing Aleric back—which comes with a death sentence, or unintentionally bringing him back—which comes with its own realm of unpleasant options: a simple prison sentence, having your Foci destroyed, lead Binders, being sent to fight him to the death before you’re remotely prepared to take him on…just to name a few. If they don’t even bother trying you then they can simply vanish you from the face of the earth and register you as missing.”
    Hayden and Zane both grimaced in unison.
    “I can’t stay here forever though,” the former said slowly. “The school year is almost over and we’ve got the Dark Prism on the loose thanks to me, whether I intended it or not. I can’t just spend the rest of my life hiding out, taking classes while other people fight battles over me, and my father runs around killing people on a whim and experimenting with dark magic.”
    “I know that, and we’ll think of something,” Asher assured him. “But we need a little time to get our thoughts together and work out a plan with the others. We can’t do that if the Council snatches you away from us and locks you in a cell right at the outset.”
    Hayden tilted his head to concede the point, little though he liked it.
    “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go stand guard some more.” Asher stopped his pacing of the room and went back to the door. “Stay in here until one of us Masters come to get you. If someone you don’t recognize manages to get past me and the protections on this room, fight like your life depends on it—because it probably does.”
    On that extremely ominous note, he left the three of them alone once more, locking the door of the infirmary behind him when he left.
    “Well, this is a disaster,” Hayden stated simply.
    “Tell me about it,” Zane grimaced. “The Dark Prism is on the loose and the Council of Mages is