Rosaanne and Aldris were darting in and out of the cages with wrath while Mirin confronted a guard that had just turned the corner. Mirin sent a bolt of blue electricity through the man’s chest, big enough to send him twitching on the ground. He released one more and watched briefly at the Cidris’s limbs rested motionless.
Forty men.
Forty-five.
Fifty.
Cleared.
“I’ll take you all to the nursery.” Fletcher reached out his hand for everyone to take, but loud sirens exploded through the corridors. “Shit,” he grumbled. His eyes dashed to mine, and I knew exactly what was roiling in his mind.
Without a second to react, Fletcher’s hand came down on mine and teleported me out of the facility in front its gaping, dark entrance concealed by a thick blanket of textured roots. Fresh air swathed my lungs and panic rode up my chest.
“No! Take me back!” I shoved my hands against his chest as my menacing split magic clicked open inside me. “Iwant to be the one to set it on fire! You owe me that much, Fletcher!”
His face hardened as he ordered, “Stay put!”
“Not a chance!”
“I’ll come back to get you when I know it’s safe.” In a split second, he vanished.
I growled before I raced toward the entrance, magic swirling in my hands.
I can’t focus if you’re in here. Please. Stay put!
Indecision suddenly halted me. To have Fletcher in there and unable to concentrate could be detrimental. Could I sacrifice my undying need to burn this place to ash for him? Prickles of my lungs sent nausea into my stomach.
With clenched fists, I paced back and forth, deciding what to do. Muffled sounds of the sirens sang in my blood like it was calling me to return. But, I knew Fletcher well enough to know that hewouldbe safer knowing I was safe. So, I continued to pace, eyes darting from one star in the night sky to the next as I made my final decision. Ineededto be the one to do this.
Just as I threw my hands up and marched back toward the facility, Graff appeared in front of me with a frazzled look on his face. His eyes were deeply sunken and sweat clumped the bangs of his bronze hair. His chest was heaving with pants likehehad just won the war against the Cidris. “Come on. I’m taking you home. Fletcher and I don’t trust you to let us handle things.”
If Fletcher wanted me home, he would have just taken me home. Right? He promised he’d be back for me. I trusted that. My stomach turned, looking at Graff’s hand and stood my ground, backing up to be out of Graff’s reach. “I am not leaving until I get tofinishthem.”
I took another step back when he stepped forward. “We don’t have time for your stupid need for revenge. We are capable of doing this without you.” He lengthened his torso, stretching his hand closer to me. One tiny touch was all he needed to teleport me far away from Fletcher, from Mirin, Aldris, and Rosaanne. All my Elizians. My friends. My family. Away from me getting to be the one to kill every last Cidris who have hurt me and my people.
Just before he made contact, I growled and let my magic race down my arms with a grunt. Where thetrails of aqua illuminated my arms, it seared with pain. Like my magic, Fletcher’s, and my split all wanted out to play at the same time. A muted dark magenta ignited, reflecting off Graff’s fair skin.
A transparent, convex force field in the shape of an eyeglass coagulated in front of me, pushing Graff away with an electric zap. “Get back in there and help them!”
He dropped his hand. “They don’t need protecting. You do!”
The force field charged. Gathering fuchsia electricity in its center, collapsing in on itself as it gathered into a lethal sphere that I was aiming straight at his chest. “Go before I set you on fire.”
“Ripley—” he shouted.
“Last fucking warning, Graff!”
He clenched his fists, eyes scanning the orb of electricity, grunted in frustration, and disappeared.
Within minutes of him gone, the smell of smoke filled my nostrils before I saw the black plume from fire rise into the sky.
Fletcher’s magic became frantic within my body, snapping away the shield protecting us. It slammed against my ribcage, zipped up my neck and down tomy toes, trying to find a way out of me. Trying to find its way to Fletcher.
Something was wrong. I hadn’t heard the all call he had talked about. Then, something more pressing suddenly frayed my nerves, pushing away the betrayal that I hadn’t been the one to set the facility on fire. The place was in flames and they were still in there! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.Fletcher? Fletcher! Answer me!
His lilac magic was unrelenting, making my stomach churn until nausea surfaced.
I kept my eyes locked on the entrance and raced forward a few steps before coming to a halt. A tall figure was emerging from the black smoke that suddenly billowed out of the entrance.
