Logan carried her across the five hundred yards to the warehouse. It was flashes of dark and light, the sound of their boots slapping concrete as they ran through a maze of large, open rooms, sun streaming through the windows to light on crates and boxes, metal and wood.
Brianna pressed her eyes shut tight, forcing control of the images that sought her. She clung to the material of Logan’s shirt, grasping at the realness of it. She had to ground herself, to anchor her mind in the now. Daniels called out, some directive that they’d found the safest vantage point, and she felt Logan shift as he lowered her to the floor, keeping her back propped against his knee and his arms around her.
She opened her eyes slowly, allowing for the tilt of the room as the scene from her vision and the world surrounding her coalesced. It was that warehouse, the one from her dreams. It was the concrete and fire, only waiting for the flame. She could almost feel the heat of it, the scent of sulfur and the certainty that he was coming for her. She burrowed tighter into Logan’s arms, her eyes squeezing closed again.
Logan placed a hand under her chin, tipping her head back to face him. “Brianna,” he whispered. “Stay with us, Bri.”
She nodded, the smallest shift of her head, and forced herself to open her eyes again. She focused on Logan, on the amber glow of his eyes, the way the bits of gold shone in even this dim light, a rim of darkness surrounding them. It was Logan. He was here. He was real.
“Brianna,” her sister said in a hushed tone that still seemed to echo through the space. “What is it? What is coming for us?”
Emily. Emily and Aern and Logan. The Seven, the soldiers, all of them were here. And they needed her. That was what was real.
She swallowed hard, pulling herself up to face them. They stood scattered through the room where she and Logan knelt, half watching the doors, half watching Brianna. They were waiting for her, waiting for an order.
“There are other shadows,” she said shakily. “They are older and stronger, and they have ways of manipulating the power that we’ve not even thought of.” She took a steadying breath, running the palm of her hand over her jeans. “Callan was using his power, drawing mine to him in order to block their prophets from seeing our path.” She shook her head, finding Emily’s gaze. “I don’t know if he made a deal with them, or if they were totally unaware of what he’d done, but I know his intention now. And I know that they want you.”
Emily stiffened, caught off guard by the turn of events, and then winced at forgetting her recently dislocated shoulder. But Brianna was the one they’d been focused on, Brianna had been the only person Callan had made contact with, and it didn’t make sense. “Why?”
Brianna grimaced, forcing back the visions that were even now trying to warn her. It was close, they didn’t have long. “Because the shadows,” she said, “have a prophecy of their own.”
The shadow guards were moving through the grounds, Brianna could see Logan’s men signaling their alert, but the footsteps were silent. These weren’t like the others, the ones who’d attacked Council.
“The other ancients gave power to the Seven Lines,” Brianna explained, watching Emily. “But you’re the only one who can take it back.”
“Take it back?” she whispered. “Why would they care? The Seven didn’t even know they existed.”
Brianna brushed the hair away from her face before she answered, murmuring cautions circling her mind and running over her skin. “Because their prophecy is different. Their prophecy says we will destroy the world. You and I.”
Emily scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.” And then she saw the look on Brianna’s face, the gravity of her sister’s expression, and the air rushed out of her. “Gods, Bri, is it true?”
Brianna shrugged. “It isn’t like we thought, Emily. There are so many futures, so many ways this can play out. But we have changed things, haven’t we?” She gestured toward Aern, turning her hand up helplessly. “I’ve given them the gifts, you’ve created a union that will allow you to rule…”
Emily ran a palm over her face, groaning. “So what are we supposed to do?” She pointed in the direction of the doorway, a line of stone pillars cluttering the main space. “They’re coming to kill us.”
Seth and Kara turned at her words, eyes sharp on the two of them as Brianna said, “No, just me.”
“They want to use you,” Aern said to Emily. “They want you to break us for them. To take away all of our powers.” What he didn’t say lingered there, because they would kill Emily, after they’d had their use of her. After she’d taken away Aern’s sway and the Seven had lost any hope they had to fight.
“So all this time,” Logan said, “they’ve just been watching, waiting for you to show yourselves?”