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Nadia hustles in alongside them, nothing but fierce resolve showing in her expression. I didn’t see her so much as hesitate during the commotion in the hall.
My heart sinks, but I don’t let the punch of dread shake my concentration. This isn’t the result I wanted to see, but it is what it is.
I have to accept reality. Clinging on to unjustified hope has already left too many people dead when maybe we could have stopped the carnage sooner.
The rogues march toward the weapon, their gazes sweeping the room. They can’t see me or my waiting companions. They have no idea we’re here.
But just before Jacob rams an invisible force into the door to slam it shut in their wake, before my lips have even parted to give my killing shriek the full power I can put behind it, something must catch Cutler’s attention.
He whirls around, his yell reverberating through the room an instant before the bang of the door. “It’s a trap!”
With a stutter of my heart, I hurl my killing shriek from my throat.
Twenty-Nine
Dominic
The wayward shadowbloods’ footsteps drum against the hard floor as they gather in the large room. Andreas projects the memory he’s using into my head too—and I assume Griffin’s as well—so we know what our targets are seeing. So we can be prepared for their reactions.
The little girl ducks back behind the cardboard box. The box is really there; she isn’t.
Her whimpers carry through the air. Devon crouches down a few feet from the box and speaks more softly than I’ve heard any of the rogue shadowbloods manage before. “Hey. How did you end up here? We can try to help you.”
The scarred man—the one Griffin said is named Omar—makes a gruff sound. “Ask her if there are more guardians around nearby.”
One of the other teens strides forward with an air of impatience. “Let’s just get her out and get on with this.”
My nerves jangle. It’s only a matter of seconds until they realize the girl is a hoax.
But Zian has been watching from outside the door. As the six shadowbloods who ventured into our room reach the far end of the space, he springs invisibly into action.
With the full heft of his substantial supernatural strength, he plows into the three figures who hung back outside the door, concerned but too wary to actually enter. The man and the two teens stagger several steps through the doorway, the girl falling to her knees, and Zian yanks the door shut behind him.
The instant it bangs shut, a hissing sound fills the air. I touch my gas mask instinctively, confirming its fit.
With that bulky thing over my face, I’ll look even more like a monster than I normally do, but no one can see me anyway.
Clouds of chemical smoke gush from the two vents we otherwise sealed, triggered by Griffin. I brace myself to jump in for my role in this plan.
A couple of the shadowbloods shout in alarm, but they’re already swaying with the drug’s effects. Rollick helped us pick out one that’s both potent and fast-acting.
We couldn’t have succeeded using this tactic on the full crowd of rogues. In a space big enough that they’d all have willingly come in, we’d never have been able to affect them all in time to prevent a counterattack.
Even now, while the four smallest teens slump on the floor unconscious, the other five figures keep stumbling through the hazy air. Sparks shoot from someone’s fingertips.
We can’t have them fighting while Andreas is working his memory wipes on the others—or worse, bashing their way out of the room into the fresh air. Zian is stationed outside, but he’s got to stay on guard against escapees from both sides.
If we want to save anyone from a worse fate, it’ll be a lot easier if we can keep them contained.
I shove myself forward from the corner I was tucked into with the invisibility Andreas granted me. One of my tentacles wraps around the neck of the kid who was shooting sparks; the other catches Omar by the wrist.
As soon as my suckers connect with bare skin, I’m hauling their energy into my veins. At the same moment, I reach out my hands toward the farther shadowbloods and yank at the thrum of life I can sense emanating from them.
Shadowblood energy comes so quickly, so easily. The thrilling rush sweeps over me from every side. Giddy shivers ripple through my limbs.
An ache forms in my chest to drink in even more. To find out just how good the full force of so many lives at once could feel.
No. I’m not even entertaining that thought. I’m draining them toprotectthem, not to gratify some selfish urge inside me.
