“Move again and I will slit her fucking throat.”
The blade presses deeper, and I watch in horror as a thin line of crimson blooms across Aurora’s pale skin, mixing with the black fluid. The sight nearly drops me to my knees.
I have to do something. But what? What can I possibly do?
Then it hits me. Rupert can’t see my face from where I’m positioned behind Cade. I use that advantage and close my eyes, reaching deep into the place where my power lives, that cold cavern in my chest where the spirits dwell.
The only spirit I can communicate with without sound is the easiest to summon, the one who’s never failed me.
I focus everything I have on that connection and open my eyes to find Mish standing at my feet, her ghostly form shimmering as she looks up at me with those knowing eyes. I’m so relieved I nearly sob. She’s always been able to understand me in ways that defy explanation, some invisible thread binding us together across life and death.
I blink slowly at her, a silent thank you, then deliberately shift my gaze to Rupert and Aurora. Mish follows my line of sight, her ethereal head turning to assess the threat.
Yes, you know what to do, girl.I throw every ounce of power I have behind the silent plea.You’re the only one who can help us now.
Mish takes off, gliding across the spacebetween us and our enemy. She reaches Rupert’s feet and stops, looking back at me expectantly.
I find my power, and the transformation happens in a heartbeat—her translucent body solidifying into brown and white fur, compact muscle, and razor-sharp teeth.
Still invisible to everyone but me. Still our secret weapon.
She may be small, but her mouth is wide and her jaw is steel. She lunges forward and sinks her teeth deep into Rupert’s calf, her ghostly growl vibrating through dimensions only I can hear.
The blade slips from Rupert’s hand, and Aurora collapses forward into Alex’s waiting arms. Mischka vanishes as quickly as she appeared, and Cade and Malachi descend on Rupert. Bodies blur in violent motion, and I see Cade stab his dagger into Rupert’s side, then his chest repeatedly until Rupert lies motionless on the white tiles, now stained with blood, his threat extinguished.
It seems like we’re in the clear, until Nasha’s scream hits my ears.
I whip around to see her crumpled on the ground, cradling her brother’s lifeless body. Alex is dead, and tears cascade down her face like a waterfall of grief as she rocks back and forth. “Sorry,” she mutters over and over again.
But why isn’t Aurora getting up yet? What did they drug her with?
I push past Nasha’s anguish and drop to my knees beside Aurora, my hands reaching for her before my brain can process what I’m seeing. A dagger protrudes from her chest… a dagger with a brown handle that I recognize instantly.
Alex’s dagger.
My hands shake as I lift Aurora’s head into my lap. I fumble for the healing Avidian in my mask, pop the top, and hold it beneath her nose.
“You’re going to be all right,” I whisper, shaking. “Breathe in the Avidian, Aurora. It will heal you.”
Tears flood my cheeks, hot and relentless.
Malachi drops down beside me, his hands gentle but firm as he tries to pull me away. I fight him, my voice cracking as I scream, “Stop! She’s okay!” But he doesn’t relent, and when he grabs me harder this time, something in his grip makes me look at him.
His hands frame my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. I see grief that mirrors my own.
“She’s gone, Kat.”
She can’t be gone, not Aurora, not now, not like this.
Cade lowers himself to Aurora’s other side with the reverence of approaching an altar. His fingers brush her hair from her face with infinite tenderness, and I see the tears streaming down his cheeks.
No. No, no, no.
I start shaking my head, a violent denial that my body can’t contain. Malachi grabs me again, his voice cutting through my fracturing mind. “Kat, she’s gone. We either abandon the mission now or we keep moving.”
“Mal, she’s in no shape to keep going,” Bash says.
“My brother was the rat,” Nasha squeaks. “He betrayed us, and now these deaths are on my hands.”
