I wasn’t Cy. I didn’t have the bottomless reserves of a natural-born combatant. I was barely holding it together.
Taos whimpered again, and the sound cut through the static in my head.
I had to keep it together.
The two remaining guards advanced—slow, methodical, confident.
I had seconds.
Through the haze, through the burn in my veins, I reached out with Flux.
Not at them.
At the ground.
Electricity danced through the rain, surging along the slick pavement. The first guard stepped forward—right into the trap.
Sparks snapped upward, a violent charge jumping from the wet asphalt to his legs.
The energy detonated—not enough to kill, but enough to send him staggering. His muscles seized. His balance broke.
“Move, now!” I gasped, grabbing Taos and dragging her toward the gate.
Vex and Marco sprang into action, laying down more useless fire as I hauled her forward.
We made it past the gate, and Marco grabbed her other side.
My vision blurred with Vector and adrenaline, and the next thing I knew, we were in an alley, the two men standing over Taos and me.
“We have to keep moving,” Vex said. “We can’t keep carrying her. We’re too slow.”
In the distance, sirens wailed—sharp, rising. The low whine of a drone hovered somewhere above the rooftops.
Marco shifted on his feet, his hands flexing at his sides. “We did what we could. We got her out.”
I clenched my teeth.Igot her out—barely. Taos lay between us, panting through her teeth, her arm curled against her burned side. She wasn’t moving much. That scared me more than the sirens.
“We’re not leaving her,” I said.Maddox wouldn’t have…Cy wouldn’t have.
Vex exhaled sharply. “I get that you feel responsible, E, but—”
“She’s dying.”
The only sound was Taos’ soft moaning. Rain dripped from the edges of the alley, pooling in the cracks beneath us.
Marco glanced down at Taos, then away, jaw tight. He knew I was right.
Vex swore under his breath. “People die.”
I laughed, breathless and bitter. “Go fuck yourself, Vex.”
He didn’t argue. Just looked down at Taos one last time, then turned and started down the alley. Marco hesitated—only for a second—then followed. Their footsteps faded into the night, lost to the rain and sirens.
I let out a shaky breath and turned back to Taos. Her skin was clammy, her breaths uneven.
“Stay with me,” I murmured, checking the wound. The burns were bad, the skin charred and oozing. I had no MedKit, no supplies. I hadn’t been prepared for this.
A shadow moved at the mouth of the alley.
