"Squire Swift requesting back up!"
There was no reply over the Division’s frequency, besides an unhappy twitter as the dimensional rip squeezed her Division badge's communication enchantment. Sparrow slammed the badge against the wall in frustration and then yelled into it more loudly.
"Squire Swift requesting backup, post haste! I’ve got a hostile, and I need support!”
This time, the twitter sounded a little more like voices, but she couldn't hear it over the bang from the front door. Beside her, Sophia pressed closer. "I'm scared, Sparrow," she whispered.
"I know, I know," she murmured, pushing the tokagi hatchling back more firmly towards the closet. Her sister caught Sparrow's eye and gave her a toothy grimace. Sparrow smiled at Yuxee's attempt to keep a brave face and touched her scaled shoulder reassuringly. Then Sparrow left the nursery, shutting the door behind her and hefting her hammer as she tiptoed down the stairs.
Electricity was crackling along the frame of the front door, Cormy’s wards spitting fitfully as foreign magic seeped into them and rendered them useless one by one. For a moment, there was only silence. Sparrow counted sixteen heavy beats of her heart.
"By Jarilon’s thunder...Cormy, where are you..."
Then there was a second bang, and Sparrow held up her arm to shield her face as the fiery remnants of the door shot past, peppering her skin with embers.