A longma landed on the bailey’s roof, and its soldier aimed a fireball right at us. Lucas yanked me inside, and the fire whooshed against the stone parapet. Lucas slammed the door behind us, and we were plunged into darkness. Occasionally, bright flashes broke through the arrow slits in the bailey, but everything was pitch-black. At least, it was to them.
“We can’t stay here,” Lucas said as he blindly felt around for the wall.
“We’re trapped!” Amador cried.
Nix froze at the top of the stairs, her hand on the wall. “It’s too dark!”
“I can see,” I said. I wasn’t entirely human anymore.
“What?”
“I’ll get us down.” I grabbed her hand. “Everyone, hold on.”
Lucas and Amador grabbed on to me just before I leapt offthe edge, carrying everyone to the ground floor. Amador let out a shriek as we dropped, and the air rushed around us. We landed, a little harder than I’d intended, but at least we were on the ground and away from the worst of the bombings.
Lucas burst out the door and into the gardens. Fires lit up the sky like it was midday, and smoke filled the air, choking the life out of me.
Lucas led the way, pushing through soldiers rushing toward us, calling orders, and moving troops around for the best defensive positions.
I turned around just in time to see a longma and its rider soaring overhead, but a bolt of fire from the ground shot up and hit the rider in the side. He toppled off the saddle and plummeted to the ground, and the longma flapped its wings, fleeing into the sky.
“Get back to the throne room!” Lucas called, grabbing my hand. “Keep moving!”
“They’ve breached the gate!” a voice cried out from the wall. Fighting broke out, a clash of metal and shouting. Jade Mountain had broken through. I couldn’t tell which side was which, who was fighting for whom. It was chaos.
Lucas sped to the front door of the palace, but it was already barricaded. There was no getting back inside.
Another bomb exploded overhead, and we ducked instinctively. My ears rang, and the air itself felt like it was splitting in two.
“We’re stuck here!” Amador shouted.
“I know a way!” Nix said, and dashed along the wall.
She rounded the corner and pressed her hands against the stones like she was playing Whac-A-Mole.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Just as I spoke, Nix’s hand pressed down on one of the stones, and it sank into the wall, melting the stone away to reveal a hidden door. “Secret passages! I found them all over, remember? Came in handy sneaking around, kissing Amador.”
“Later, darling,” Amador said, breathless.
The moment we stepped through and Nix closed the secret passage again, it was as if the door had never existed. It was perfectly flush with the wall, hidden unless you knew what to look for. I could still hear sounds of the battle—bombs, shouting, and fighting—but the farther we got into the palace, the quieter it got. We reached the end of the tunnel only to emerge behind a tapestry in the grand hall.
Soldiers rushed by, barricading the door. The palace trembled with the sounds of more explosions. Jade Mountain was coming for me, and they would destroy Biringan City to do it.
“They’re going to burn this whole place to the ground,” I said, barely managing to hear my own words because my ears were still ringing so loudly. Growing louder.
Pain shot through my stomach, hot and all-consuming, and I cried out.
“MJ?” Lucas was at my side in a moment, his hands warm and strong on my arms. “What’s wrong?”
The pain worked its way through me, boiling my insides. I was shaking; it hurt so much.
“It’s…happening,” I said. I shrank away from him, turning my head so he couldn’t see. But he held on to me and refused to let go.
When Lucas met my eyes, his softened. “MJ…”
The pain subsided, easing away like the tide, and in its place came hunger. It filled in the pit that hollowed out my stomach, making the saliva gather on the back of my tongue.You will hurt him,that horrible, craggy voice said, echoing in my mind.You will hurt him…
