Then I felt the world shift. That horrible itching on the back of my neck as my hairs stood on end.
Something bad was about to happen.
A roar of heat—like the air itself igniting.
I turned just in time to see the flames.
POM Security forces. At least three of them. Their black, featureless masks reflected the red warning lights, and then glowed an unsettling soft orange as their hands wreathed in fire.The rain hissed against the unnatural heat. The sleeves of their jackets were etched in glowing orange as their Flux activated, enhanced and controlled by tech.
I barely had time to shout before one of them hurled a wave of fire straight at Taos as she cut across the open space between the building and the gate.
She screamed.
Vex and Marco kept running as she fell to her knees. Vex at least turned and fired a few rounds, but bullets didn’t faze them. Yellow light flashed around the guards as their shields activated. One swept his arm in an arc, unleashing a wall of flames.
The heat slammed into me like a solid wall, scorching through the rain. My breath hitched, the air thick with the acrid stench of burning plastic and flesh. Taos was down, curled in on herself, hands clutching her side where the flames had disintegrated jacket and skin. Her face twisted in agony, the hair on the right side of her head burned away.
I didn’t think. I ran.
I slid across the wet pavement until I was beside her, wrapping an arm around her less-injured side.
The second my fingers closed around her, the next wave of fire came roaring toward us. I threw up my hands.
Flux surged—wild and erratic from the Vector—but it answered.
Electricity crackled through the air, snapping and twisting around us like a living thing. I barely had control, the charge slipping against the raw heat pressing in.
The fire slammed into my shield of electricity.
For a second, the world was nothing but blinding light—orange and violet clashing in a violent, writhing storm.
Pain lanced through me. My arms shook, my legs nearly buckled. The energy was pulling too much, the Vectoramplifying it beyond what I could hold. My nerves screamed. My heartbeat slammed against my ribs—too fast, too erratic.
But I didn’t let go.
Taos whimpered under me, trying to move. “Eon—”
“Don’t,” I hissed through clenched teeth.
Vex and Marco were still pinned behind the gate, their gunfire useless.
A guard stepped forward, hand raised to break through my faltering shield.
I twisted my wrist, shifting the charge. The storm around me changed, violet energy snapping downward. Lightning ripped from my fingertips, arcing toward the guard’s chest.
His shield flared. Sparks danced across the surface, then cut through. The tech unable to withstand pure energy.
He staggered, dropped to his knees, then crashed face-first into the ground.
I ground my teeth so hard my jaw ached. I hadn’t just—no way, I wasn’t that strong. My whole body itched from it, Vector making everything feel just slightly wrong. My nerves stretched too tight, like I wasn’t entirely in my own skin. The perfect high was already wearing off, and I was left shaking.
Then fire surged again.
I barely had enough left to block it.
A shockwave rattled through me, my knees hitting the wet pavement as I collapsed under the force. My vision blurred, flickers of violet bleeding into the edges of my sight.
Too much.
