“Weird.” Carrow shrugged. “Shall we try it?”
I looked at the wall, then at Cordelia. “Could you tell how thick it is?”
No. But thick, I think.
I frowned, thinking. “If the bombs are too strong, the explosion will fill this room and kill us. But if they aren’t strong enough to destroy the barrier from the inside, we’ll have used them up pointlessly.”
“What do you suggest?”
I looked at Cordelia. “How far can you throw a ball?”
Cordelia scoffed. Really far.
“Is the hallway long enough that you can stand far away from the door?”
Much longer than this room.
“Okay, good,” I said. “Can you return to the hallway and throw this bomb at the door from the outside?”
Cordelia looked between Carrow and me, her gaze on the two bombs we held. If one is good, two is better.
“Like kebabs?” Carrow asked.
Just like kebabs.
“Okay, then,” I said. “Take both. But stay far enough away to avoid the blast. And if they don’t fully destroy the door, hopefully it will encourage the guards to check on us.”
I can do that. Cordelia held out her little paws for the bombs, and Carrow handed them to her.
She crouched down and met the racoon’s eyes. “Be careful, all right?”
Cordelia nodded. Sure thing.
A moment later, Cordelia disappeared.
“Come on.” I gripped Carrow’s hand and pulled her toward the far wall, away from the door. I moved to shield her, and she shoved at me.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said.
I looked down at her and just frowned. That hardly deserved a response.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want to protect you.”
She scowled up at me. “Well, I want to protect you, too.”
The corner of my mouth tugged up in a smile. “Too bad. I’m bigger.”
I stood between her and the door. She tried to move aside, but a deafening explosion rocked the room.
My head rang as I glanced toward the wall where the door was meant to be. It looked normal, the stone totally undamaged.
“Damn it.” My voice sounded odd inside my head.
Carrow pulled me back against the wall just as the second explosion hit. It came more loudly than the first, or so I thought. My ears were still ringing, but the blast had made my ribs vibrate.
Dust billowed toward us, and I blinked, squinting. It faded to reveal a hole in the wall right where a door might be, roughly a few meters square.