The crowd gasped.
We rose higher until we hovered just below the dome of the electric grid.
The Titans matched our height, hovering fifty yards away, monsters in the sky.
Power deserves to be seen.
Far, far away, a little girl freed herself from a rope outside a dilapidated trailer. She ran into the woods, climbed under a fence, and collapsed into a field of wildflowers.
I raised the rod up high.
For her.
Pleasant humming buzzed along my palm.
Shakily, I got to my knees.
I planted my feet and slowly stood up in the middle of Fluffy Jr.’s thick back, rocking back and forth to keep my balance, as his wings flapped.
Gasps echoed.
“Angelus Romae!” people called out from every direction.
Screeeeeeech.
I pointed the end of my rod at the Titans.
They shot toward me, a blur of black.
Everything slowed as blood lust pounded through me, my senses heightening.
I raised my rod and, once again, swung—one Titan screamed, slashed mid-flight. Agony exploded inside my sternum as it dropped like a rock toward the sand.
The other Titan dodged my swing. It turned around midair and streaked toward me.
I leapt forward.
Legs wide, rod extended.
Suspended over free air, I slammed into the remaining Titan.
Everything blurred.
Talons scoured my side. Shrieks echoed. I stabbed it with my rod.
We careened to the side, its patchwork wings struggling to keep the two of us up as I ripped downward with all my might, dragging my rod through its innards.
Air whistled. The sand approached.
The classic Euclidean problem: What is the closest distance between two points?A straight line.
Pressure exploded as we slammed into the sand in a tangled roll.
The world went still.
A loud ringing muffled both of my ears.
Peering groggily through my obstructed eye, everything was fuzzy and out of focus.
