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When we get outside, I’m still clinging to Romulus’s neck like a monkey. Oh god, what if we’re all about to die? Yes, these guys might be like, ancient gods or whatever, but missiles are missiles!
I asked for adventure, but I don’t think I meant the scary parts!!
I squeeze my eyes shut, only opening them again when the wind whipping my hair around me stops and I look around, realizing that Romulus is depositing and strapping me into one of the bench seats at the back of the huge military-size helicopter.
I blink, stunned, as I watch Kharon do the same with Ksenia. Her face is knotted in pain as she holds onto her belly. “Just give me a gun, and I’ll shoot the fuckers,” she yells after breathing through a contraction.
Holy crap, who is this woman?
Hannah’s in the seat beside her, one arm clutching her daughter and the other reaching out to grasp Ksenia’s hand. “How about we focus on keeping this baby inside you ’til we get to safety?”
Ksenia looks up, shooting daggers at Hannah. “But I have to kill anyone who threatens my baby.”
Hannah just nods like this is a completely reasonable argument. “What if the contractions disrupt your aim? We can’t afford friendly fire right now.”
Ksenia frowns as if she’s reluctantly forced to acknowledge this logic, only moments before her face is screwed up again in pain from the next contraction hitting.
Kharon stays standing, hovering near Ksenia while also looking out the windows at the top of the helicopter as the back ramp closes up behind us. I look toward the front, where Layden is at the controls, quickly flipping buttons and, moments later, lifting us off the ground.
“I still don’t understand what changed,” Kharon says, eyes flipping back and forth all around, on guard for incoming threats. “Hundreds and hundreds of years, those runes held.”
“Come on, connect the dots,” Romulus spits from where he’s crouched beside Kharon, similarly on guard and looking out all the windows. “Days after Remus pulls his public stunt, they find us? He exposed us, and they were obviously able to trace him back to our location somehow.”
Kharon growls, glancing toward the back of Romulus’s head.
My stomach flips with guilt, wondering if Romulus is right. Is this really all because Remus came for me? If that’s true. . . My eyes land on Ksenia’s pained face as she clutches her stomach through another contraction. Then, dear god, this is all my fault.
“Where are you taking us?” Abaddon demands as we lift further into the air.
“I know somewhere we can go.”
“Is it safe for us?” Abaddon asks.
“Safer than here,” Layden mutters. Then, “Shit. They’re here. On our six. Incoming. Eight fighter jets, and they’re firing missiles. Abaddon, Romulus, get the fuck out there and deal with it, or this ’copter and anyone not immortal will be wiped out in about fifteen seconds.”
The back ramp of the helicopter lowers again, and before it’s even halfway down, Abaddon and Romulus run, wings flared, and dive out.
I scream, then cover my mouth with my hand. Screw it, we’re mostly stable. I unbuckle because I have to see what’s happening with Romulus. He just flung himself out of a helicopter!
The ramp is now fully open, and my hair whips around my head as I hang on to grips along the roof. I gasp at Romulus and Abaddon, flying with their black wings outspread straight toward the missiles. The twin speeding projectiles are moving so fast I can barely see them, only knowing where they are because of the white trails they leave in the sky. But each brother dives in front of them, causing mid-air explosions.
I scream.
But when the smoke clears, the brothers remain, apparently undamaged. They streak toward two other missiles that have gotten even closer to us.
They reach them, and these explosions are even louder, creating turbulence that has me unsteady on my feet. The guys are close enough that I can hear Abaddon’s roar as he shoots back toward the jet fighters who launched the missiles, white runes pouring from his hands toward the approaching planes. Almost immediately, they duck off course, one beginning to spiral.
“Unmanned drones coming at our three o’clock!” Layden yells. I’m not sure if Abaddon and Romulus have super-hearing and can hear Layden’s call or if they also catch sight of the incoming drone-piloted planes. And it’s not just from the right. They’re also coming in from the opposite direction.
Abaddon starts tearing into the planes coming from the west, and, midair, I see Romulus’s head spin so that Remus’s grinning face greets the drone planes from the east. He tears them from the air with such joy and abandon, sling-shotting one into another so that the metal shears another apart.
More and more planes come, but Remus and Abaddon destroy them before they can come near or get a shot off. Kharon, too, watches the skies.
I only happened to look down because Layden swung us south to make our escape, and I have to grab for the wall. Through the window, I see tanks lined up on the ground. Tanks with their long firing tubes pointed straight at the air we’re about to fly toward.
“Guys? Guys! There’re tanks!” I scream at the same time that Ksenia screams really, really loud.
Layden swings his head back to look at us. “What?” he yells.
