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He let it flow through his body and sure enough, a boom of thunder rippled through the air. He threw out his arm and watched, wide-eyed, as lightning flashed from his fingertips. Heavy, gray clouds moved in, rumbling over each other and as the sky grew dark, rain began to fall. He glanced down to see the wall of fire put out and the earth shaking. People were falling all over the ground.
The Weavers and mates took advantage of the chaos and began running. Hale flew over their heads, trying to keep one eye on Harrison. Calder stopped and wove the rain into a wave that took out any of the people still standing. Then he caught up to the group as they ran behind the shop and toward the mountains. Hale stayed in the air, completely drenched, his clothes heavy, but he ignored that and hovered over his friends.
When a new line of people gathered, Clay threw out his hands and the earth shook again, this time cracking open. Screams and cries sounded as some fell in the deep cleft, but the Weavers and their mates didn’t stop running. They wove about tables with umbrellas as they passed a sidewalk café, then jogged around the building and into a side street. A car drove toward them and Clay brought down a telephone pole, crushing its hood and affectively halting it. Calder kept throwing water at people as he ran and Hale zoomed lower to knock a few over. He zipped around the people, unable to tell if any were pestilents with the rain blurring everything. People were slipping in puddles, but they kept coming.
A huge flock of birds came flying through the rain and started pecking at the hordes of people and out of the mountains, a band of coyotes came running out of the hills.
There was no way to keep from hurting these people.
Hale told himself a few casualties couldn’t mean anything in the wake of the entire world ending, but his heart still ached at the loss of life. He swiped water out of his face as he flew through the air and knocked people off their feet. They were like relentless zombies as they scrambled back up.
Clay had stopped running to fling limbs off trees. Lucien tried to use his fire, but the rain was getting in the way. Calder was whipping water all over the place, his expression almost serene as he worked. Someone right below Hale cried out and fell over and he could only guess it was an invisible Gio using his fists.
He looked out over the crowd to see where it was thinning and flew down to Clay. “There’s a break up ahead, and we can get through there. Run into the mountains.”
“We have to circle back around and get the vehicles. All our weapons are in them.” Clay snapped another limb off a tree and flung it at a group of people.
Hale flew toward the shop where they’d parked to see that most of the people had followed the Weavers and their mates. He zoomed to Clay. “It’s clear!” he yelled. “We can go now!”
Clay nodded as he cracked the ground again. The screams as people fell into the hole were deafening despite the rain and thunder. Hale looked for Grey to find a fierce frown on his face as he worked to remove the brainwashing. He was starting to seem a little ragged, exhaustion pulling his handsome features taut. His husband worked beside him, doing what he could to help Grey.
The coyotes were attacking and more screams filled the air. Clay barked out orders to run back to the vehicles, and the Weavers fought their way in that direction. If John and all his minions hadn’t been blocking them before, they wouldn’t have run. By the time they reached the SUVs, everyone looked worse for the wear. They quickly filed into the cars while Hale stayed in the air. He flew up high, searching for the best way out of town, then rocketed down to point the way.
Their only choice was to drive into the mountains.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Harrison watched the skies for Hale as they drove along the narrow road into the mountains. The scenery was incredible as they went higher with sweeping valleys and sandstone spires. Green was already starting to bloom in the trees, though most were still dormant from winter. They passed people and probably pestilents, but a lot of the road was empty. Harrison leaned forward to stare up as Hale soared above them. He had to be exhausted from using his magic for so long, exhausted and cold.
They pulled into a clearing and parked as Hale landed next to Harrison’s SUV. Harrison got out and grabbed him in a tight hug. He’d been so scared when they were in town, with Hale up in the air. He’d watched him swooping down to fight, his heart in his throat each time.
