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seconds. He wasn't giving me much in the way of endorphins, certainly not enough to combat<br />
that increasingly horrible pain. I whimpered, probably making myself more convincing.<br />
"I can't believe it," muttered one of the guards. "He's actually doing it." Beyond them, I thought<br />
I heard the sound of Mia crying.<br />
The cuffs' burning increased. I'd never felt anything so painful in my life, and I'd been through a<br />
lot. Passing out was rapidly becoming a very real possibility.<br />
"Hey," the guard suddenly said. "What's that smell?"<br />
That smell was melting plastic. Or maybe my melting flesh. Honestly, it didn't matter because<br />
the next time I moved my wrists, they broke through the gooey, scalding cuffs.<br />
I had ten seconds of surprise, and I used them. I leapt out of my chair, pushing Christian<br />
backward in the process. He'd had a guard on either side of him, and one still held the pliers. In<br />
a single motion, I grabbed the pliers from the guy and plunged them into his cheek. He gave<br />
some kind of gurgled scream, but I didn't wait to see what happened. My window of surprise<br />
was closing, and I couldn't waste time. As soon as I let go of the pliers, I punched the second<br />
guy. My kicks were stronger than my punches as a general rule, but I still hit him hard enough<br />
to startle him and make him stagger.<br />
By then, the guards' leader was in action. As I'd feared, he still had a gun, and he went for it.<br />
"Don't move!" he yelled, aiming at me.<br />
I froze. The guard I'd punched came forward and grabbed my arm. Nearby, the guy I'd stabbed<br />
was moaning on the floor. Still training the gun on me, the leader started to say something and<br />
then yelped in alarm. The gun glowed faintly orange and fell from his hands. Where he'd held<br />
it, the skin burned red and angry. Christian had heated the metal, I realized. Yeah. We definitely<br />
should have been using this magic thing from the start. If we got out of this, I was going to take<br />
up Tasha's cause. The Moroi anti-magic custom was so instilled in our brains that we hadn't<br />
even thought to try this sooner. It was stupid.<br />
I turned on the guy holding me. I don't think he expected a girl my size to put up so much of a<br />
fight, plus he was still kind of stunned over what had happened to the other guy and the gun. I<br />
managed enough room to get in a kick to his stomach, a kick that would have earned me an A
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