The earth shook violently, flinging us all to the ground. My spine hit the dirt as screams from the stands and pit curled up with the distant explosion. Right away, another explosion quaked the prison so hard, clumps of the ceiling fell, the lights flickering out.
“Kovacs!” Warwick rolled over me, his body barricading me from falling debris. The generator lights kicked on, the room glowing in dim light. His aqua eyes captured mine, and I had a strong sense of déjà vu of us when Halálház was bombed.
When my uncle saved us.
“What the fuck was that?” Caden coughed and hacked next to us, the sprinkling of dirt still trickling down. He tried to protect his mother from most of the debris, panic, terror, and grief lining her dirty face. Birdie was on her other side.
Birdie’s gaze lifted, meeting Warwick’s, a slow hint of a smile on their faces.
“Distraction,” they both uttered at once.
“You think...?” Hope bubbled and churned. Could Mykel be here? Could Eliza and Zander have reached them? This was nowhere near the destruction of Halálház, but we were far deeper underground this time. Could my uncle be saving us again?
Shrieks of confusion and fear rang out in the dome. Even the feral beasts set to attack us sensed danger, all running for the cages for protection, their survival instincts kicking in.
Warwick climbed off me, pulling me to my feet, Caden and Birdie following, both helping Rebeka stand. She looked lost, terrified, and numb. In the last few weeks, her entire world had overturned. Something I completely understood. Though I had been trained to battle, she had not.
“How do we get out?” Caden asked. “My father has made sure this place is secure. And it’s been spelled.”
Spelled?
My head whipped to the balcony. Through the commotion, haze, and darkness, my eyes went to the balcony. Soldiers were rushing Istvan, Olena, and Ivanenko out through the tunnels. In Marko’s hand was the box of nectar. Behind the newly self-instated royals, guards moved Sonya, Lazar, Sergiu, Simon, and Tad.
The Druid we needed to break the spells... from within.
They were headed for the only way out of here. The factory floor, where their escape vehicles waited, and the gate which could free us.
I turned around, shouting at anyone who could hear me. “Get everyone to the factory floor! Grab anything you can for a weapon.” My shadow told Scorpion the same thing across the arena. “Now!”
Ash, Lukas, Kek, and Kitty were the closest, their heads nodding at my command.
“Go!” I ordered Caden and Birdie.
“What are you doing?” Caden’s brow wrinkled in that familiar, concerned way, when he had no clue what I was up to.
“I can’t let him leave.” With the nectar, with Simon or Tad. Whirling around, I already sensed Warwick sprinting with me. We understood without speaking. With everyone funneling to the factory above, we would get waylaid. And with Simon and the nectar on the line, nothing would stop either of us from getting to them.
Warwick raced ahead of me, leaping up to the first level, far above, pulling himself up and climbing onto the rail before leaning down and yanking me up with him. Repeating, he drew me up to the next level until we reached the balcony. The moment my feet landed on the concrete floor, I rushed toward the tunnel, almost tripping over Leon’s corpse. The sounds of our boots clipped the floor, our breaths in sync.
I could feel the nectar, but with the goblin collar around my neck, it denied me the ability to pull anything from the source, to even dive into my own powers.
Terror sat on my shoulders, biting into the back of my neck, but I couldn’t let myself acknowledge it. If I did, it would cripple me. Tear all courage from under my feet and render me useless.
Everything was against us, but hope was a powerful weapon. When you had something to fight for, it made you believe anything was possible.
The tunnel ended at the stairs leading up. I could hear sounds from above echoing down. Orders were barked out, car engines turning over.
Panic made me spring up the steps faster. The thought of Istvan escaping, of everything slipping through my fingers, hurled my feet to take them two at a time, my heart rapping wildly against my chest.
Warwick and I barreled through an open door into the factory. The generator lights gave enough light to see the hundreds of HDF soldiers who worked at Věrhăza darting around. Six armored trucks were lined up, their headlights on, engines revving, as the guards hurried the various parties into them. My eye went to the last vehicle. White hair and a robe sliced through the sea of dark uniforms like a beacon, a little boy being heaved into the truck before him.
“Tad!” I bellowed his name, hurtling toward him like a bullet. I knew it would bring more than his attention to me, but I couldn’t pause. If I hesitated before he was put inside the car, they’d be lost to me for good.
His head whipped around, eyes finding mine through the vast, dimly lit room as if he knew exactly where I was. His mouth was gagged and arms tied. I saw his head dip as guards followed his gaze, trying to locate me. It was in that moment our gazes stayed locked, and I swore I could feel the lifetimes in it.
Guards started moving in our direction, and everything was in slow motion until I saw Tad wink. Then everything flipped into chaos.
Tad, with his frail, curved frame, barreled into the guard holding him, causing him to stumble to the ground out of pure shock, while Tad slammed his head back into one behind him, cracking his nose and wiggling out of their grip.
Warwick reacted first, already sprinting for them. He leaped quickly onto a guard not ready for him, snapping his neck, the body not even dropping to the ground before Warwick stole his rifle, knocking the next in the head while swiveling around and shooting another.
Damn, that man turned me on.
Running, I dropped to my side, sliding into a guard. I rammed my heel into his knee, snapping it the wrong way. The guard screamed, falling to the ground in agony. Swiping up his weapon, I leaped up, bashing it against his head, then twisting and firing at several more coming at me. Cutting down anything moving for me, I wiggled my way toward Tad, slipping up behind a guard who was trying to shove him in the car.
Bang!
The bullet went through his head, the weight taking both of them to the ground.
“Tad!” My nails tore at the heavy weight over him, pushing the dead body off him. I heaved a sigh of relief when he blinked up at me, his face smeared with blood. My fingers yanked at the cloth around his mouth.
“Excellent timing, my girl.”
“Go! Go!” I heard a soldier yell, cutting their losses at the back. The large gate creaked open, and behind me, I could hear masses of people climbing the steps to the factory floor, the inmates about to flood the area.
Istvan’s car lurched forward, the nectar about to disappear from my grasp.
“Help me up!” Tad groaned as I got him to his feet, his mouth already moving, a low chant closing his eyes.
“Simon!” I yelled as someone in the passenger seat leaned back, grabbed the door, slamming it closed. The door locked. “No!” I yanked at the handle as the armored truck tore away.
“Simon!” Warwick bellowed, heartache and terror weaving through his gruff cry, his feet tearing off after the vehicle, jumping onto the back, riding with the caravan like a stowaway.
I felt my chest splinter as the truck drove through the exit. The magic around the gate was spelled to keep us prisoners inside. It recognized Warwick as a fugitive, zapping an electrical current through his body. Warwick jerked and convulsed as voltage went through him, pitching him back onto the cement with a thump.
“Warwick!” I ran for him. The commotion from the inmates streaming in, attacking the guards left to fight, was muted in the background. Dropping to my knees, my hands touched his face, sliding down to his unmoving chest.
No heartbeat.
No breath.
No life.
Chapter 26
“Warwick!” I slammed my hands down onto his chest, feeling heat simmer inside me, a flame catching on fire. “Don’t you dare leave me. Whatever it takes.”
Letting myself dive into him, I shoved against the goblin metal trying to contain me, sweat dripping down my forehead as it battled and pushed back, feeling the murmur of my powers whispering in my ears, bubbling up from the depth, telling me something I couldn’t quite make out.
Thunder purred around me, a crack of lightning, wind brushing my cheek in a kiss.
“I forbid you to die, asshole.” Slipping under his skin, I pushed even deeper, wrapping around his heart while I pumped on his chest.
Warwick seized forward, gasping in breath, his eyes moving around until they landed on mine. His nose flared, taking another deep inhale, swallowing. His hand cupped my face, pulling my forehead to his, his voice raking through the gravel and dirt.
“Sotet démonom.”
A gasp of relief huffed from my lips against his, my lids closing briefly. “Don’t ever fucking do something so stupid again.”
“What’s the fun in that?” He tried for humor, but his features were streaked with worry as he sat up. “Simon.”