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The glass doors of the hotel had been blown to pieces, but the lobby itself was free of fire. “Dad, stay out here.” I shut off the bike and let it drop, running towards the building as a wave of heat rolled out, making me take a few steps back.
“Genie?” I called out. “Cedes?”
First there was nothing, then a small, “Secret?” The feminine voice could have belonged to any of my friends, but a twinge in my guts tugged me forwards, drawing me along with a leash of fear. Genie. I assumed the worst, that my sister was trapped beneath a pile of rubble and burned debris.
“Genie? Where are you?”
Against all common sense and any of my better judgment, I ran headlong into the building. Pieces of the walls were coming down. The edifices had all been constructed from polished obsidian to give the lobby a sleek, black finish. Now with the added heat and the force of the explosion, the wall panels were cracking and falling in on themselves in large, sharp chunks.
I narrowly avoided one of the smoky quartz chandeliers falling from the ceiling and landing in a ragged heap next to me with a cacophonous jangle.
“Secret, help.” The voice rang out again from behind one of the concierge desks, and I vaulted the counter. Huge pieces of the walls and a rafter beam had come down, burying someone beneath them.
I grabbed the beam and pulled, but even with my substantial strength, the reinforced steel wasn’t budging.
Move, I pleaded desperately, yanking at the metal with all my might.
My tingling fingers were sticky, like they were attached to the metal, and with one strong tug the bar lifted up and I was able to toss it over the counter like it weighed nothing.
The wall bits were considerably less heavy, and I was able to get them off without much fight, revealing not Genie, but Mercedes curled into a ball on the floor. There was a large gash on her forehead, and her black hair was matted with blood. My stomach lurched at the sight, terrified I might have come too late.
Losing more friends was not part of the bargain I’d made. What good were these powers and the promise of my death if I couldn’t help the people I cared about the most?
“Cedes, are you okay?” I hauled her up to her feet, cupping her face and turning it gently for a better look at the wound. She was pale and her hair was dusted with ash, making her look like a ghostly version of her former self. Her eyes were clear, though, and in spite of the fear I saw there, I didn’t see a reason to worry about her. I let out a sigh of relief. Desmond and Holden had come into the lobby but stood back, seeing I didn’t need help anymore.
“We thought… You’re late. We thought something had happened to you.”
“Where is everyone else?” The lobby looked otherwise empty.
“A few people went out to check for you, but Genie went upstairs. She thought you might have gone back to the penthouse. She was…”
“When? When did she go?”
“She just got into the elevator maybe a minute or two before the explosion. I don’t…” Her voice drifted off, unable to complete the unpleasant thought forming in both our minds.
If Genie had still been in the elevator when everything exploded, there was a very real possibility she was dead.
My stomach clenched, and bile rose in my throat. I refused to believe it. I wouldn’t allow anyone else to die tonight. I didn’t care how unrealistic my hope was, I couldn’t accept Genie being dead.
“Did you hear the elevator fall?” I was already glancing at the bank of double doors, none of which looked badly damaged. But if the elevator had gone down, it would have plummeted straight to the basement.
“No. But I didn’t hear a hell of a lot after the ceiling came down.”
“Stay with her,” I instructed Desmond as I climbed back over the counter. I paused for a moment, looking at them. I should stay here and protect them, but I couldn’t give up if Genie was upstairs somewhere. I memorized what Desmond and Cedes looked like, promising myself there would still be an opportunity to say goodbye properly. “Holden, can you see if anyone else is nearby? Let them know we’re back and what happened.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find Genie.”
From the lobby doors came another female voice, this one less welcome. “Lucas said he was heading up there too, before we all went looking.” Morgan appeared stricken. Evidently even banishment to Siberia had done nothing to diminish her feelings for the wolf king. “I’m coming with you.”
The last person on earth I wanted to have by my side while I searched for Genie was Morgan. But I also didn’t feel like wasting time and energy arguing about it. “Just stay the fuck out of my way.”
I led the way to the stairwell doors, since the elevators were clearly no longer an option. The building had eighty floors, and I had no idea how we were going to figure out where the elevators had stopped.
“If we divvy up the floors, we can check the elevator bays individually,” Morgan suggested. “It’s pretty quick to get from the stairs to each bank of elevators. If I do the odd floors and you do the even, it’ll cut our search time in half.”
Well, goddamn if she wasn’t proving herself to be useful already.
