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Kai snorted at the same time Verena did, and I smiled even if I was scared to death.
"We need to keep moving," I urged. "Where's the exit from this place?"
"At the base of the main road," Kai replied, sobering as we resumed walking even faster. The air crackled with magic, adding an acidic bite to its sweetness until my nose burned and my lungs tingled. "We'll be able to see it around this corner."
"How far?" Haley asked, drawing her wavy daggers, her fingers bone white around the pink hilts.
"Five minutes," Kai replied tensely, scanning the street the same way I was, waiting for the titan to jump out of the sky and snatch us up. "Maybe ten."
"Fuck!" Emlyn growled. "We don’t have ten minutes. Haley, grab Kai. I'll grab Verena and—"
"And me and Harvey are fucked," I pointed out, a lump in my throat.
Emlyn's blue eyes flashed. He shot me a stern look as we rushed across the bottom of the street, following Kai's sense of direction. "You think we'd leave you behind? Not a single damn chance of it."
My chest warmed. My eyes stung. I nodded.
The titan was here; he'd kill me, lock me back up, and resurrect me to kill me all over again, but my family was here, too. They'd stop him. Haley wouldn't let him hurt me. She didn't make empty promises.
I ran through every reassuring word she'd told me to settle the frantic edge of my panic.
"Kai, get over here," Haley barked, stopping so suddenly at the bottom of the road that we all froze with her. "Em, grab Verena. Verena, don't fight, this shit is life or death. Wane, ride Harvey. Run as fast as you can. Yeah?"
Harvey rumbled his assent, and I nodded. Shit, this might work.
Climbing onto my brother's huge, furry back wasn't easy, but with the help of a few shadows, I scrambled up onto him and dug my hands into his fur, settling my weight and bracing myself so—
He shot off without warning, and I screamed, throwing my body low over his back.
"You could've given me some warning," I quipped.
His rumbling reply seemed to remind me that we were in immediate danger and didn't have time to piss about. He was right.
I tilted my head back, searching the skies above us and—was the sky darker than it had been a few seconds ago? It had been a perfect cloudless blue, but now it edged closer to storm grey. My heart sprinted; I speared my soul through my bond with Haley and exhaled a rough breath when I found no pain, only urgent fear.
Haley flew above us, her dark wings carving gracefully through the air and Kai clasped to her body. She was too high for me to see, but I swore she glanced down and met my gaze, and the sharpest edge of my terror eased. She was right there; she was safe. He hadn't killed her.
Emlyn flew beside her, Verena clutched in his arms, her face drawn with fear and red hair whipping around her face. She was too young to be facing anyone as evil as the titan; she didn't deserve this. None of us did.
I dropped my head back to Harvey's neck when his body shook with a deep noise, and I realised what he’d seen: the gate was ahead of us, massive and golden and—ripped off its hinges?
Had the titan done that? He loved destruction, loved to take things apart until they were broken beyond repair.
Fear closed my airways until I could only gasp, but I clenched my hands into fists of Harvey's fur and kept my gaze fixed on the open gates. Salvation. I focused on the wind tearing at my hair, raking claws through my clothes, trying to knock me off Harvey’s back; wind meant fresh air, and air meant freedom. I wasn't locked up. My family found me again, freed me again.
Haley sent a rush of reassurance down the bond, and I nodded as if she'd spoken. They would always come for me. I was safe now. No matter what happened, the titan would never take me away from them again or—
Harvey pulled up so suddenly I screamed a curse, knocked violently out of my seat. I hung by a single hand clenched in his fur, my breathing sawing in my lungs and fingers clenched so tightly pain shot through my joints.
The toes of my shoes scraped the ground. I slipped another inch.
No!
We were so close to freedom, I had to stay on, I couldn’t fall or—
The tuft of black fur ripped from my grip and I was thrown to the ground, landing so hard my teeth sliced the inside of my lip, filling my mouth with blood. A bad omen. My hands shook when I saw why Harvey skidded to a stop; directly in front of us, a black blur of dark magic spiralled down from the sky like a tornado.
Shadows.Myshadows.
