Lockjaw reacted first.
It swung its massive body around to shield Crystal, then sprang toward Maximus at the cell door, trying to shove the dangerous rebel back inside with its head. But before it could reach Maximus, the hippopotamus-sized dog abruptly sat down and braced itself with its front paws to stop. Crystal did not understand what had happened. Flames ignited out of thin air and danced in her palm before turning into a spinning pillar of fire that shot toward Maximus—her talent for Mind Reading was mediocre, but she was exceptionally skilled at manipulating the elements. For a moment, she was distracted. Maximus looked thin and filthy now, and the handsome prince with such a sense of humor seemed to have spent most of his best years wasting away in this brick-and-stone prison.
She regretted it the instant she acted. Fire was too dangerous. If possible, she would rather have used air to push the rebel back into his cell. But the flames did not strike Maximus. He simply stood there, smiling at Crystal, and the fire passed straight through him, scattering to illuminate the dark cell before smashing an iron plate carved with anti-Psionic Runes.
By the scattered firelight, Crystal saw more bodies in guard uniforms inside the cell.
The guards' corpses had been dismembered, their organs removed and arranged into some particular pattern across the cell. That single glimpse made Crystal's eyes sting and tears stream down her face. She hurriedly shut her eyes and tried to calm her chaotic thoughts. Yet when she looked away, the fleeting memory of the horrific scene in the cell kept fading from her mind, though she seemed utterly unaware of it.
Among the living present, only Maximus was capable of doing this.
Violently expanding air burst from her skin, forcefully