She shook her head a few times, her short hair falling forward across her forehead. “I … I don’t kno—”
Before she could finish her sentence, her flames burst to life. Emma, Maya, and I slammed ourselves back against the closest wall, barely escaping an agonizing death by flames.
“Callie!” Emma shouted, the roar of the fire was noisy inside the cavern. “What are you doing?”
Callie slowly lifted her head then, and I gasped loudly. Her eyes were glowing … and they were empty of all recognition as they brushed over us, looking right through us like we weren’t even there. She stepped forward and picked up the stone.
It felt like I might be in a little shock, because I just stood there openmouthed and stared at her. “What is happening?” Maya cried, clutching my arm.
I shook my head, refusing to believe what I was seeing. “This is not her,” I told them, completely sure. “This is not our Callie. Something is happening to her.”
Laous.This had to be him.
Callie started to walk toward the new opening. “Callie!” Emma screamed, straightening to go after her.
We followed, but there was no way for us to get close. Her flames were hotter than I’d ever felt before, the rocks on the walls around her turning red as she passed.
“We need the guys,” Maya said. “You two follow her, keep trying to get through to her. I’ll go get them—they’re going to be waiting for us to come back the same way we entered. They need to know about this new exit.”
I hated separating, but she was right. We needed help with this. Only Lexen and Daniel could touch Callie when she was burning like this, so we had to get them here now.
“Be safe,” I told her. “If you get to the front entrance and no one is there, do not step outside. We have no idea what Laous might have done.”
I knew that bastard had been up to something. Whatever was happening to Callie, it had to do with him.
Maya nodded, hugging us both and sprinting back the way we’d just walked.
Emma and I wasted no time hurrying after Callie, who was just about to step out of the cave and into the morning light beyond.
“Come on,” I said, gripping Emma’s hand, picking up the pace so we could catch up.
Luckily we did, because the moment the stone left the round room, the entrance started to close. We had to dive through to avoid being crushed, and I felt the burn of stone right across my arm as I leapt.
“What is happening to her?” I asked, trying to piece it together in my head. “How is Laous controlling her like this?”
Emma’s face went pinched. “It has to be the … the Soulstealer goo.”
The what now?
“Callie was taken by him and placed in this tank of goo,” Emma explained. “It’s a weapon, designed to wipe away the enemy’s mind and make them more compliant to suggestion. Laous wanted to use it to control her … all the secret keepers. We thought Callie had fought it, that her bond with Daniel kept her mind safe. But what if…?”
“He’s still managed to control a small part of her,” I finished.
Emma nodded. “Yes, it must have been dormant, just lying in wait until he could use her.”
She tripped over a stick and I caught her before she faceplanted. We were pretty close to Callie now, who had also started running.
“Come on,” I said, “we can’t lose her now.”
The fields were catching fire behind our fireball of a friend, which definitely made the chase more difficult as we dodged flames that were starting to spread across the dead grass and scrub. The sound of a helicopter grew louder in the distance, a few miles away across the open area. When it appeared, I let out a relieved sigh—it was the craft we had taken here. But then as it landed and the first figures appeared on the steps, I knew we were in big trouble. Laous, the bitch, and the dude who never said anything had somehow commandeered the aircraft and were now waiting for their prize to run to them.
They were here for Callie.
“Maya should have gotten back to the guys by now,” I said, fear lacing my tone. If Laous was here … where were our guys? There’s no way they would have let him just walk away from them without a fight, especially when we were out of sight.
Emma didn’t say anything, but her grip got tighter on my hand and I knew she felt the same worry.
“Callie!” I shouted, praying with everything I had that something would get through to her. “Fight him, Callie, you are stronger than Laous.”
