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I don’t have time to divert my focus to them. I’ve got to deal with the ones I have, or they could all end up turning the tables on us.
A blast of Sorsha’s fire roars toward the twenty or so figures my scream has locked in place. I wrench at them one by one as quickly as I can, snapping necks and sending shards of skull through brains without catering to my inner hunger’s desire for extended pain.
The fire consumes most of them before I need to shift my focus that far and ripples over the few corpses I’ve sent to the floor as well. They barely even had time to yelp.
A knot of guilt condenses in my gut—and a flare of blinding light sears through the room.
Obviously Nadia was one of the rogues who sprang out of range. I sway, swiping at my stinging eyes, knowing that the light will have brought my body back into visibility too.
Now I’m a target as much as the remaining rogues are.
Heat and smoke flood the room from the inferno of burning bodies around the supposed weapon. Then a wordless bellow splits the air, followed by an ominous creaking sound.
Blinking hard, I scramble sideways mostly on instinct. My vision is still blurred.
The air whooshes against my skin, and one of the concrete columns that lines the room crashes to the ground, just a couple of feet from where I’m standing. Broken concrete shards fly out to jab at my limbs.
“Let us out!” a voice hollers—I think it’s Cutler.
With another wordless roar, the gymnasium door rattles, the hinges groaning. A bolt of fire shoots toward it.
When I look again, the thick slab of the door looks fused into the frame. But Sorsha didn’t manage to hit Cutler. I can’t see him or any of the other rogue shadowbloods who escaped our initial attack.
If Sorsha were here alone, she could send the entire room up in flames. But if she does that now, she’ll incinerate me and Jacob too.
She won’t risk it, not unless it looks like the rogues will break out of the building if she doesn’t act.
I’d want her to, but I’d really prefer the battle doesn’t end like that.
I back up to the relative security of the wall to at least give me protection from behind. My gaze sweeps across the room, the images fragmented even now that my sight is clearing. The raging flames make the shadows dart and gyrate.
Cutler lets loose his earth-shaking bellow again. A crack ripples through the base of another column—the one Sorsha was braced behind.
As my pulse jolts with panic, the massive concrete tower careens toward the door. He must be hoping the weight will smash it open.
But Jacob sees it in time. A sudden shove of invisible force heaves the column to the side. It crashes to the floor several feet to the side of the door, shattering a couple of the nearby crates into splinters.
The ground shakes beneath me with the impact. I stare through the smoke as well as I can.
Where’s Sorsha now? I didn’t hear any sound of pain—but she won’t be able to move very far with her dizziness.
My eyes catch on movement by one of the far columns—a man, flitting from one to another.
That must be the thug whose supernatural talent is immense speed. It’s not surprising he fled in time, but we can’t give him the chance to strike back.
I draw a shriek into my throat. The second he dashes to another column, I send my killing scream pealing after him.
My power rams into his slim frame and yanks him to a halt. If he makes any sound, it’s lost to the warbling of the fire.
I clench my hands and will his heart to burst.
Even as that man crumples, Cutler’s voice rings out. “It won’t do you any good. Even if you kill all of us here, you can’t destroy us completely.”
A chill shivers through my gut. What’s he talking about?
There’s a scuffing sound and a thud. Jacob calls out to me and Sorsha: “Got another one!”
Twin streaks of flame lash out from where Sorsha must be poised now, somewhere behind the fallen column. A cry breaks the air, but I can’t tell if she dealt a fatal injury.
