She rematerializes three feet to my left, that same dead expression on her face.
“Shit,” Aurora breathes, her hands still glowing with heat. “How are we supposed to hit her if she can do that?”
I roll to my feet, shaking off the dizziness. “Keep her moving. Make her work for it.”
Aurora launches another blast while I circle around Meadow’s right side. The fire passes through empty air as Meadow vanishes again, reappearing behind Aurora. I lunge forward, throwing a hard right hook at Meadow’s ribs. My fist connects with solid flesh, and she staggers. At least she’s still solid when she’s not shadow-jumping.
Meadow spins toward me, her hand shooting out to grab my wrist. I duck under her reach and sweep her legs. She goes down but rolls backward into darkness, disappearing before she hits the ground.
“This is bullshit,” Aurora mutters, flames dancing around her fists as she scans the shadows. “She can’t keep this up forever, right?”
Meadow materializes directly between us, close enough that I can smell the antiseptic scent clinging to her clothes. She grabs for Aurora’s throat, but Aurora jerks back and sends a concentrated burst of fire at Meadow’s chest. Meadow dissolves again as I throw a punch at where her jaw should be.
We’re fast and coordinated, but she’s always one step ahead. Every time we think we have her cornered, she melts away.
The sound of heavy boots pounding through snow reaches us, and suddenly Cade and Malachi burst through the darkness, weapons drawn.
“What the hell?” Cade startles when Meadow rematerializes right in front of him.
“Move!” Malachi shouts, throwing a blade, but Meadow’s already gone again. He rushes to my side. “Are you all right?”
Aurora blurts out, “She’s here for Kat.”
“Apparently, she can move through shadows now,” Cade adds, scanning the darkness around us.
I turn to Malachi. “Do you have any Avidian?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
“Avidian? You’re lucky we have a few blades. We didn’t think you guys would be getting into trouble, but I guess we should have known better,” Cade says. Aurora lets out a loud huff.
I think for a moment that maybe Meadow got spooked with all of us here, but her darkness hasn’t dissipated. The black smoke still billows around us waist-high, thick and unnatural.
“Stay close,” Malachi mutters, drawing a long shiny dagger from his jacket. “If she can teleport, she could come from anywhere.”
She appears next to Cade, and he slices across her arm as Malachi springs toward her. She vanishes instantly, but I’m already moving, anticipating her next move. Malachi must be thinking the same thing because he hurls his dagger at the space behind me where she’s most likely to go.
Meadow materializes directly into its path, the steel burying itself to the hilt in her abdomen. She staggers, gripping the weapon’s handle, and pulls it free with a wet, horrible sound. Bright-red blood spurts out of her wound in pulsing bursts. The blade must have severed her abdominal aorta.
Her black eyes lock onto mine as she crumples to her knees, then collapses backward into the snow. I rush forward despite Malachi’s attempt to stop me, something deep inside compelling me to reach her.
I press both hands against the gushing wound, but it’s useless. The blood seeps between my fingers, warm against the cold air.
“Meadow, I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.”
She tries to speak, but blood bubbles up instead. I lean closer, my heart breaking. She may have come to capture me, to hurt us, but none of this was her choice. She’s another Avid, another victim of Marco’s experiments, a weapon for him to wield. Whatever they did to turn her into this hollow, robotic thing must have been unthinkable.
“I’ve seen…” she gasps.
The others crowd around us, listening.
“I’ve seen you down there, Katja,” she says with her final exhale. Her eyes drift past us, unfocused, and the unnatural darkness melts away like morning fog.
“She’s gone,” Malachi says softly, his hand gentle on my shoulder as he helps me stand.
“How didyou know where to look for us?” I ask Malachi from the passenger seat as he navigates the empty streets back to the Depths.
“I told Bash where we were going. I’m not completely reckless,” Aurora pipes up from the back seat, and I can’t help but smirk.
