One minute, Reed was frozen in place, and the next, Dex had released him.
“Get your fucking power off her now, or I swear to all the gods I’ll —”
“You’ll what?” Marcela’s violet-colored eyes flashed as her head tilted. She still had a hold on me.
Fight back, Odessa.Kage’s voice urged me.
My power surged, but the pain was unbearable. I couldn’t take it.
Fight back! Come on!
With a guttural scream I sent my power slamming right into her like she did to me. It punctured her chest and began ripping her skin from her flesh.
“Fuck!!” Marcela cried. Her face twisted as blood sprayed from her open wound. It stopped her from ripping at my insides. And my power increased, making me stronger and more in control. I sent my shadows into her as I stood gripping my sore stomach. The shadows kept slicing at her skin. And then Dex, looking like death incarnate, turned all his powers at her. It started with her paralysis, then morphed into a torrent of water that he shoved down her open throat, drowning her where she stood. Her throat struggled and gurgled, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back. And a dark little part of me was reveling in it. As my shadows wrapped around her body, her feet began to turn into stone. There was so much power flying around us that it started ripping her apart at the seams until there was nothing, but her mask left.
I dusted myself off and walked over to where her mask lay and picked it up. It felt heavy in my hands, but now I held the key to saving my mother. I just had to get out of here. I fit neatly into the backpack, joining the other masks that Dex had collected. My fingers ran along their edges, feeling the vibration of their collective power.
When I turned back around, Dex was rushing over at a sprint.
He gripped my arms, looking me over. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head no. “I’m fine.”
He brought his lips down to mine in a fierce kiss. “I thought she was going to kill you,” he said, voice tight as he pressed his forehead against mine.
“I’m okay,” I reassured him again. “I thought she was going to kill me too.”
With everything going on, I hadn’t even noticed that Reed had taken off running.
“Where did that little shit go?” Dex asked.
“I don’t?—”
A rumble from down the middle tunnel erupted and a cloud of dust and smoke filled the space as chunks of ceiling came crashing down.
It seemed we had an answer.
In his haste, Reed had run right into a trap. And we were now right in its path.
Chapter 36
Dex
Alarge boulder came careening straight at us. We broke apart just in time. My body slammed into the wall behind me as I avoided being crushed to death, but the boulder began to roll towards Odessa.
“Move!” I called out with panic in my chest.
She tucked and rolled out of the way narrowly missing being crushed to death.
The dust continued to kick up making it difficult to see as boulder after boulder fell from above. It shook the ground with each one that came careening down. Fuck Reed for tripping this motherfucking trap.
I hoped one of them crushed him until he was nothing but dust. A whisper of what he once was for putting us in danger twice.
My body moved. Legs pumping and adrenaline coursing through every nerve inside me. I couldn’t see where Odessa was. Couldn’t tell where the boulders were coming from.
“Odessa!” I called out, but all I heard in response was the sound of rock hitting ground. Where was she?
In the cloud of dust, a shining red light began to emanate from just ahead.
