I had to get the hell out of here. Time to break out the big guns.
I created a tornado of snow and ice. It whipped around me, winds up to 100 km an hour. The soldiers were yelling at each other, calling for a full retreat. I couldn’t see them; they couldn’t see me. The helicopter was also out of sight.
I slipped into the shadows. The tornado died almost instantly. It didn’t matter, I was gone before anyone could get reoriented, heading to the only person I knew I could trust.
22
THE VOLUNTEER
I couldn’t breathe.A news chopper had been circling Steelview’s private airstrip for ten minutes. The news anchor was talking about reports of gunfire—an unknown group of armed men and women were locked in a battle with Avalanche.
Five minutes ago he was on screen—his leg bleeding, still standing tall like he didn’t even notice. He was throwing all kinds of frozen things at the soldiers and they were throwingbullets in return. I watched five shots hit him before he disappeared.
I was a mess; pacing back and forth, picking up my phone to call him only to panic and put it back down, staring out my balcony door as if that would make him appear.
What the hell was he thinking? Who was he going after? Why was he alone? How did he get cornered like that? Did he really weasel his way back into my life just for him to leave—permanently?
Two knocks sounded at the door. I placed Frosty on my glass coffee table and cleared the apartment in a few steps. I tried to look through the peephole but it was pitch-black. I almost didn’t open the door, considering I was only wearing an oversized t-shirt and underwear, until?—
“Violet, please.” Avalanche’s voice was weak, shaky.
I flung it open. The hallway was dark, I couldn’t see him anywhere, until he literally fell out of the darkness and into my arms. He was still in costume but his hair was black, someone could still recognize him like this.
I dragged him into my apartment and closed the door.
“Av? Oh my god.”
He looked so much worse than that last moment before the tornado. Dried blood smudged his face, fresh blood was still seeping out of his leg, stomach, and shoulder. I kneeled over him as he lay on the tiled floor in the entryway. His eyes were unfocused, but he still tried to meet my gaze.
“I’m sorry, I had nowhere else to go. I need your help.” He sounded so vulnerable, like he was in so much pain. Of course he was, he’d just been shot at least five times.
“What do you mean? What about Eva? Don’t you have doctors and things like that you use as villains.”
“You’re the only person I trust right now.” He hissed out a breath, trying to get to his elbows. “I think Eva set me up.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why?—”
“Please, Violet, I need you to get the bullets out. My body can’t heal itself. I just need them out, you don’t need to do anything else.”
“You say that like it’s easy! Avalanche, I’m just a volunteer, you need a doctor. I can call Amber or Maddy, they?—”
“Violet.” He grabbed my arm. “I just need them out. There’s already a hole, you just need a long pair of tweezers and something to clean it out. None of them hit anything major; I was super lucky it only hit tissue.”
“I can’t?—”
“V, look at me.”
I met his gaze. He looked so calm, like he wasn’t asking me to do amateur surgery on him.
“I trust you. I know you can, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Please.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, okay. Can you make it to the couch?”
“Help me up.”
I regretted asking him the moment he started to move. He was breathing so heavy, every little movement looked like it caused him more and more agony. But I got him to the couch and adjusted him so he was more comfortable.
“Okay, now what?”
