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Most of the crowd had scattered with the explosion, but it was only a matter of time before the first responders who were already on scene for the shadow’s bloody attack started closing in on us.
Under no circumstance could I let them get their hands on him.
It was bad enough that I didn’t know whether he would heal. What if he did heal but did it while he was in police custody? Or at a hospital? What would they do with him if he was miraculously okay in a couple of hours?
If I remembered right, that was how long it’d taken when the sirens attacked his ship.
I dragged myself to my feet, ignoring the stench of singed hair and the pulse of heat inside my chest, and looked for a way out of our current nightmare.
The man/demigod was too heavy for me to carry.So, what are my options?
We were inside the barrier the police had set up, right in the middle of the carnage left behind by Petra’s shadow and my brother—blood and gore that was now littered with more shattered glass, broken brick, and the fine coating of dust and ash that was still falling.
Maybe I can drag him to some sequestered corner away from prying eyes?I crouched at his side, gently lifting his head to get an idea of how bad the damage there might be. My fingers touched something soft and slimy, and my gag reflex kicked in. Violently. It was all I could do to ease his head back down.
Tears stung my eyes, and for one brief moment, I considered letting them fall.
“You’re tougher than this,” I hissed at myself, shuffling back a few inches. Everything from my stomach to teeth was caught in a tightening vice, but I could do this. I just had to—
“Never!” Lily yelled.
I yanked my head around, blinking furiously, to find her stumbling through the black door with Leo in tow. They looked rough, covered in dust and soot with their hair in tangles. When the big guy’s gaze fell on me and then Hook, everything about him hardened.
He charged forward, pushing past the approaching first responders as though they were nothing. “Are you okay?” he bit out.
I nodded. “But Hook...”
He stared down at him for half a second before hauling the other man’s body up and over his shoulder, and not gently. Then he took off running, ignoring the shouts and warnings of police as he broke through the tape line. I followed, racing after him until strong fingers clamped around my upper arm, wrenching me in another direction.
“Not that way,” Lily snapped. “We need to split up.”
Instead of arguing or questioning, I did as she said, following her quick footsteps away from the carnage. My heart wanted to go wherever Leo was taking Hook, but Lily was right.
Throwing a glance over my shoulder, I checked the scene behind us. “We’re not alone,” I said, turning forward and putting on a burst of speed to keep up with her.
“Good.”
We’d split up to give us all a better chance of getting away. Given the number of uniformed officers I’d seen trailing after us instead of them, their odds had just gotten a whole lot better.
We ran until every step made my legs shake and every breath felt like shards of glass scraping down my throat. When we came to the fourth—or maybe it was the fifth—locked metal gate meant to keep people out of the narrow walkways between the old buildings, I almost didn’t make it over. The sharp finials along the top caught on my jeans, and I lost my balance, hitting the ground on the other side with an indelicate groan.
I rolled into a loose fetal position and laid there for a second, dragging in breaths that felt like a special kind of torture.
“Get up,” Lily said, her voice commanding.
“Trying,” I breathed.
But I wasn’t. I needed a minute to make sure my heart wouldn’t explode and my lungs wouldn’t collapse. Just the thought reminded me of the way Hook’s bones had moved and shifted under my weight, and I turned my face into the filthy pavement so Lily couldn’t see my pinched expression.
She crouched beside me, breathing heavily but nowhere near as desperate for air as I sounded to my own ears. Not that I could hear a whole hell of a lot over the whomp-whomp-whomp of blood rushing through my veins.
Lily didn’t say anything as she waited. She just rested at my side, watching the world beyond the metal gate. I have no idea how long I laid there like that trying to get my shit together, but when I finally dragged myself to my hands and knees, I could actually breathe again.
It hurt. Everything the cool air touched on its way down seemed to burn, but it was better than it had been.
“I don’t know how much more I can run,” I confessed.
She stood, holding out a hand to help me up. “Then we walk. It looks like we lost them anyway.”
