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“What is there to even see? It's all black, grim, and filthy. Excellent, we’ve seen it. Let’s leave,” the same guy grunts, sparking anger in my veins as I bite back my remark. He’s also a fucking idiot; a product of his elite surroundings who wouldn’t survive a day in Shadowmoor, with or without his powers.
Professor Meade rattles off which group is going where and I fall into step, ready to give Shadowmoor the respect it deserves and learn everything there is to know. By the time we’re halfway around the outpost, it’s embarrassingly clear that there’s nothing to be proud of here apart from the fact that it’s still standing and doing its job.
Every room holds gallons of blood staining the walls, the names of the people it belonged to unknown, as all remains are cast out at sea. It doesn’t make sense, it’s like they send people to this outpost to die. It’s a suicide mission, but why?
We move from one dreary room to another in the left tower, careful not to touch anything as the wind whistles through the broken roof. No one speaks apart from the professor guiding us, which only adds to the eeriness. “That’s everything from the west tower. If we make our way back down, we will hopefully get a moment to speak to the people on guard before we travel over to the east tower.”
I don’t see what the point is. It’s beyond depressing and I hate that the guy with his shitty comment was correct. Once we’ve seen one room, we’ve seen them all. I take the spiral staircase two steps at a time, ready to get the hell out, and I find Zane and his group at the door when I get to the bottom.
He smiles when our gazes lock and I rush toward him with added urgency, hoping to suck up some of his warm energy before I have to endure any more. I’m two steps away from him when a boom ricochets off the walls around me, the ground rumbling beneath my feet, and panic starts to kick in.
“What’s going on?” I yell to anyone who will listen, but everyone is as clueless as me.
“Stay there, Raven,” Zane orders, rushing back outside, but there’s no fucking way in hell I’m just going to stand here.
“What’s happening?” Finn hollers, but I don’t answer, chasing after Zane.
Horror washes over me as I step out under the dark sky to see a huge ball of flames hurtling toward us. I’m frozen to the spot as it soars over my head before it crashes into the top of the tower and everyone inside cries out with fear.
“We’re under attack,” someone screams at the top of their lungs as another burning orange light shoots through the sky.
The ground continues to rumble beneath my feet as I call out to Zane. He spins to face me with panic shining in his eyes as he screams my name. I follow his gaze and watch in slow motion as another fireball smashes into the tower, knocking slate and brick in every direction as an explosion sounds out.
Then everything goes black.
35
ZANE
Raven falls and time slows around me as I race to catch her. I barely manage to stop her head from smashing into the ground as I collapse to my knees with her in my arms. Blood trickles down her face from where the brick hit her head.
Fuck.
My heart thunders in my chest, my pulse ringing in my ears, muting the chaos around me as panic sets in. I need to get her out of here. I need her safe.
Grunting, I rise to my feet with her in my arms, looking for the best escape from the fire now consuming the west tower.
“What’s happening?” Finn asks, frowning down at Raven’s limp body in my arms.
“You, come with me,” I bite, turning away from where the attack is coming from. To my surprise, Finn stays at my side, not saying a word as a professor yells over the commotion.
“There are trolls on the other side of the wall. The guards are holding them off but everyone must take cover.”
This is fucked up.Sofucked up.
A familiar flash of black hair catches my attention in the distance. “Creed, over here!” He freezes at my yell, spinning to face me, and panic consumes his features when he sees Raven in my arms.
He calls out over his shoulder and, moments later, Eldon and Brax appear too.
“We need to get her to safety,” I state when they all gather around us.
“What happened?”
“The tower. We need to get her to safety so Finn can heal her.”
“I can?” Finn says with a scoff, and I turn my glare in his direction, but Eldon speaks before I get a chance.
“If you want to fucking live, then yeah, you’ll heal her.” He gulps, nodding in response.
