Water poured from her fingers, slamming into the guards’ faces, drowning them where they stood.
Even when they shot her. Even as the bullets filled her, bursting like stars on her body. She didn’t stop.
For a moment I heard her whisper—inside my head.
Kill them all.
She walked through the guards like she felt no pain, taking down one, after another. One guard shot at her. She built a bubble of water around herself, slowing the bullet down, flicking it to the side.
“Amelia.” I said.
For a moment she stared at me. And she smiled.
“Time to run, little girl.” She rasped, raising her arms. A tsunami of water poured up around her in wobbly columns. I watched it grow and slide down the throats of the guards.
I watched them choke to death. I backed up, stumbling for the way out.
A bullet caught her straight in the throat. Her eyes rolled back.
The water collapsed instantly — like a string had been cut.
She fell. I reached for her, before I could stop myself.
But she was already dead.
Maybe she had been all along.
Just another broken soul for Marr’s collection.
I caught a sob in my throat and scrambled away down the hall.
I ran. I had to get out of here.
Bodies fell all around me. I reached a door. I yanked it open, only to see reinforcements arrive.
Three guards charged in, their weapons aimed at my face.
As if from nowhere, Ash leapt over my back and hit them directly.
He ripped them apart like paper. I fell back on to my ass, my back hitting the wall.
I saw it all, even as my vision went black.
He was covered in blood, from head to toe.
And I had never seen something so beautiful.
“Seph!” he yelled, reaching for me, just as another explosion hit the building.
The walls crumpled around me and all I could see was Ash’s terrified expression before something struck me hard in the head and sent me into darkness.
Chapter 51
Dev
The institute was crumbling around us.
The rockets had obliterated most of the ferals. The few remaining were being wiped out by Sy’s fire—efficient, merciless, final.
