“On the other side of this is the prison, and through that door are stairs to it. It’s a metal door, so you can bend the metal and get in,” Hollis explains. “Rhodes’s distraction should be—” An alarm buzzes through the air and the guards all turn, running towards what looks like a castle in the distance. “Well, there it is.We have twenty minutes. The wards test for Vian blood here too. I will be right here when you get back.”
“You’re not coming?” I demand.
“You need to focus and kill if anyone tries to stop you. The prison might be keyed to ward against you, but I can’t risk it won’t sense me. The king doesn’t trust me and Rhodes anymore. He would expect me to get Severi out. Rhodes would have made sure the Vian who warded Severi’s cell is dead by now, so you can get him out without an alarm going off. Don’t let anyone else out even if you want to, because they will have alarms on their wards,” he explains and grabs my upper arm as I let the magic drop. “But shout and I’ll come. Fuck anything else. Nothing will stop me.”
I smirk at him. “Don’t start caring now, enemy.”
His laugh is infectious. “Who said I ever stopped? I’m almost as good a liar as you. Now go.”
I don’t know what I’d even say back to him, anyway, so I push myself away from Hollis and the boy, running right to the gate. I’ve never used the new metal-bending power before, so this is going to be interesting. I touch the bars and close my eyes, tapping into where my Nexus holds our power. It’s like a well that never ends, and I imagine it now, bending the gate with my hands. The metal groans before it pushes open, parting slowly until there is a massive gap in the middle. I did it. I look back once, only seeing Hollis’s shadow by the houses before I slip through the gate and push through the mud-feeling ward.
The chill and smell of blood hits me first, quickly followed by the pain-filled moans echoing up the damp stairs. I try to push past it as I climb down the staircase, which has electric wires hanging on the walls, connected to dim lights. By the time I get to the bottom of it, my legs burn, and I come to rows of metal cells, barely lit by hanging lamps. The ceilings are a mix of mossand more wires attached to the stone. It’s so cold down here. I wince at the intense smell and how much worse it is down here.
I count a dozen Nexus as I walk past their cells, most of them huddled in corners and others rushing to beg me to let them out as I go past. I try not to look at them, to feel the guilt from leaving them here, as I search for Severi.
I find him about halfway down. Oh Gods.
“Severi,” I whisper, my heart cracking. He doesn’t look good. Severi barely even looks like himself, and he has more blood coating his body than I thought he could bleed. He has been beaten badly. Massive cuts lie down his arms and his face. His bare chest is covered in whip marks that aren’t healing. His eyes are swollen shut, lips bruised and cracked open. One of his arms is hanging dodgy, and his left leg is snapped in two. My Nexus whines, and he looks up. He’s alive. Relief nearly pulls me down to my knees, and I grab the bars. “I’m here, Severi. I won’t leave without you.”
I’m not going to be able to carry him on my own, I realise. I look around at all the other cells, which I was told not to open, noting who and what is in the cells, and then make up a quick, mad plan. Hollis is going to be pissed. I raise my voice. “Anyone here got a water-based power? Don’t bother lying or else we will both be dead.”
“I can summon water.” A Scottish man’s voice echoes to me, sounding gruff, like he hasn’t spoken in a while. I rush down to find him. He is a big man, bald and covered in tribal tattoos from his face to his arms. “What do you want?”
“I need you to carry someone out, and I’ll cloak us so we’re hidden. When I say, flood the ground with water,” I tell him. “Don’t make me kill you, because I will. My mate’s life is in danger.”
The man rises to his feet from the stool he was sitting on. “I know well how fierce mates can be protected. I’m in.” I don’thave a choice, and I wrap my hands around the door lock and tug, feeling the ward ripping out with the lock. There goes the silent alarms. The door swings open, and I nod.
We go back to Severi’s cage, and I break his door in the same way, but his has no ward on it. No alarm. “Go and get him for me while I do something.”
I rush to the walls and grab the wires, yanking them down to the ground and ripping them open. The loose wires bounce on the floor as the Scottish man carries Severi over his shoulder to me and frowns when he sees what I’m doing. “I might as well tell you my name if I’m being electrocuted. It’s Cole.”
“Gwen,” I return my name. “Get on that crate there!” I command him, hearing the guards coming down the stairs. I raise my voice. “Everyone else, get on the stools and don’t touch the floor!”
Just before the guards come down, I grab Cole’s arm and hide the three of us on the crate. The guards rush down, search the cells, and I wait until every single one is down the stairs. “Flood the room now!”
Cole’s eyes widen, but he raises his hand, and water pours out of every crack in the stone wall until a giant wave of it floods the ground. The guards scream as the water hits the wires, and they are electrocuted one by one, dropping like flies until the room is silent. “Smart.”
“Thank you. Now can you get rid of the water?” He does, making it disappear through the very cracks it came in. “Run. I’ll be right behind you.” I close my eyes and let my Nexus take over. People scream as she walks across the stone. With a wave of her hand, every gate clicks open, and she frees the lot. I’ve never known her to be a saviour. I guess she is feeling nice today. She stays at the front of my mind, watching out of my one eye as we run up the stairs after Cole and Severi. He is at the top of the stairs, and he moves aside when he hears me. I come out to findten Vian, each holding a shield of glowing black, and one steps forward. “Welcome to the city, Goddess. Our king wishes to see you, won’t you stay?”
“I’m afraid not,” I reply before letting her loose. My Nexus is joyful as she rushes to the Vian and punches through their shoulders like they are butter. She tears them apart with her hands to begin with, nulling their powers with her own, before shifting and letting her wolf do the rest. Soon I’m in wolf form, covered in Vian blood, and it’s silent.
“I’m really glad I’m on your side,” Cole whispers from where he hasn’t moved, holding Severi. I growl at him and turn my head, signalling him to follow. I walk to where Hollis was, seeing blood on the walls and bodies nearby. It’s easy enough to track his scent and the way out of the city, so it doesn’t take long to get to the north wall where we came in, but it’s different now. It’s heavily guarded on both sides; the gate is shut too.
I’m about to begin my attack when my Nexus howls to the sky, and a massive bear charges through the gates, smashing them apart. He is followed by Onyx and Aleksander, who wield swords and cut down any Vian in their path, with Onyx blocking any magical hits with his own wards.
They’re alive.
They are back and fighting to get to me. I didn’t know how much joy and relief I could feel seeing them, but it swallows me up. I run over, tearing through the guards who are running away until I come face to face with Aleksander. I shift back, and he catches me in a hug, holding me to him, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “You’re back.”
“I found you,” Aleksander breathes, his voice shaky.
Onyx is finishing two Vian guards off, but he calls to us. “This way. We need to get out now!”
I don’t need a second warning. Aleksander takes my hand, and Cole runs behind us with Severi as we pass through thegates and the muddy wards. I don’t want to know how Onyx and Aleksander got through the wards, but I’ll ask them later.
Rhodes and Hollis are parked with two trucks just by the forest, Franklin is likely bundled in the truck with Hollis, and it looks like they just pulled up. Rhodes is covered in blood and pale, Finnegan looks no better, and I’m not sure what happened, but we need to get out of here. We load up the trucks, our new friend coming with us once I quickly shout to Finnegan he is to be trusted. I pull Severi’s head onto my lap in the back of the truck, and his eyes flicker open. “Why?”
Shaking my head, I look at my once former enemy, who I know has stolen my heart like a thief in the night. “I told you once that I was the only one that was allowed to kill you.”
