Chapter 7
"They're coming out of the basement!" Theseus yelled as he blasted two more of Grindelwald's followers. One snuck up behind him and he had to dive for cover.
"Newt! Where are you?" Tina shouted as she ran in the door.
The place should have been empty, and certainly looked run-down enough. The source gave them bad information, telling them it had been abandoned by Grindelwald's fanatics over a month before. While Grindelwald had left it behind, the place was far from empty. If they'd know, an entire team of Aurors would have raided it, not just Theseus, Tina, Newt and Richard.
Theseus and Tina moved into a back-to-back formation. They saw the wand blasts from Richard blazing through the front window.
"Damn it! Where is he? He's only supposed to go on reconnaissance missions, never confrontation." Tina kicked out, catching one of the fanatics speeding toward her in the face. He fell backwards into another one.
Theseus used his wand to pull down the ratty curtains on top of another charger. "I think he headed upstairs before we got attacked. I'll cover you if you think you can get up there."
"I'll make it. Ready? Go!" Tina pushed off him and bolted for the stairs.
A screaming woman ran around the corner, grabbing Tina's hair and smashing her in the face. Pain lashed across her nose, bringing tears to her eyes. She wondered briefly if that bitch broke her nose. Then, as fast as she'd come at her, the woman crumpled to the floor, a wand blast in the middle of her back.
"Go!" Theseus screamed at her.
Tina bounded up two stairs at a time. She hit one of the followers at the top, his body crashing hard down the stairs. "Newt!"
A muffled voice calling her name sounded down the hall.
Tina crossed into the decrepit master bedroom. One fanatic lay sprawled on the floor, a Swooping Evil on top of him. The butterfly-like creature's tongue snaked into the man's ear, and Tina averted her eyes knowing it was feeding inside his head.
A woman floating near the ceiling laughed as if the entire situation was hilarious. Tina stared at her, frowning. Then a vivid blue Billywig buzzed by her head, explaining everything.
A wand blast drew her attention to the far side of the room. Newt, silhouetted by the large picture window, had a shield up. He struggled as another follower blasted at him continuously, trying to wear down his defenses. He glanced at her, his eyes widening, then poured more effort into his shield.
The follower tensed his jaw, shouting spells that crashed into the shield, driving Newt backwards. Even as Tina discharged a bolt of lightning into the man's back, he released a blinding ray of red.
It shattered Newt's shield, hitting him square in the chest and propelling him through the window behind him.
Tina screamed. She desperately tried to get to him in time, her hand out to grab his coat. But she just couldn't move fast enough, missing him by a few inches.
The impact of his head hitting the glass most likely knocked him out as he made no attempt to stop his fall.
Skidding to a halt on her knees at the broken window, her fingers bitten by the shards of glass on the floor, Tina beheld the horrific scene below her. She cried involuntarily, wiping tears mixed with the blood from her injured nose.
Newt lay on his back on the hard ground. Black, smoking skin covered his chest, his shirt and coat melted. His arm rested at an unnatural angle. Tina couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.
Theseus skidded to a stop at the prone body of his brother. His hand flew to his neck, looking for a pulse.
"Theseus?" Tina's voice cracked.
"We've got to get him to St. Mungo's Hospital."