“The gate,” I breathed, cold clenching my gut. I couldn’t see the energies of the portal, but I could imagine what they looked like. Under normal circumstances the gate could have held steady until a summoner closed it down properly, but when Roman threw Tracy into it, the whole structure had unbalanced. Like an uneven load of laundry in a washing machine. “How bad is it?” I asked. “Won’t it just collapse in on itself?”
Zack shook his head, face stricken as he turned back to me. “No. I mean, yes, but the backlash of the power.…” He swallowed visibly. “Kara, it could wipe out everything in a mile radius.”
My mouth went dry. There was a school only a couple of blocks away. Subdivisions, businesses. “A summoner needs to shut it down,” I said, barely hearing myself over the pounding of my heart. “How long do we have?”
“Only a few minutes,” he replied, voice cracking.
I nodded. Not enough time to get Tessa here.
“Wait,” Ryan demanded. “Zack, how can you be sure? Kara, I know what you’re thinking. If you take the cuff off, you’ll be summoned! Have you forgotten that someone in the demon realm is still after you?”
“I haven’t forgotten. But would