“No shit, Sherlock. What do we do?”
“Stay still. Try to keep them calm. I’m cutting through, but it’s a mess out here.”
“Friends!” Levi tries to talk over the chaos, his usual charm strained but still present. “I know this is a lot, so exciting, I get it, but how about we all take a nice step back? Give us a little breathing room, yeah?”
It doesn’t help. If anything, his words seem to make people more aware of just how close they’ve come, sparking nervous energy. The panic starts small, as murmurs of discomfort, and then it spreads—a spark catching dry kindling.
I shift my focus to the trio of frozen bastards—Foster, Blackwood, and Belmont. I wanted to keep them locked in place for the cops. It would’ve been cleaner and easier to let the authorities bag them like the trash they are. But as the crush of the crowd grows, surging closer, I realize there’s no way in hell I can guarantee that they won’t get pushed and trampled.
I want them in jail, not dead.
Fuck it.
If they flee, the police will have enough evidence in their hands to track them down. And I’m not about to waste time babysitting.
With quick strides, I walk past them as I press a finger to each forehead. “Wake up.”
Their eyes snap back into focus, confusion morphing into panic as they take in the chaos around them.
Good luck running now, assholes.
I turn on my heel, moving back toward Levi, who’s still trying to hold the crowd’s attention, though the strain in his voice is starting to crack. “Friends,please!”
“Ezra, move faster,” I hiss into the comms, my eyes darting over the sea of faces pressing closer as I step up to Levi, ready to pummel anyone who gets too close to him.
Veronica’s still shrieking, twisting in Nicholas’s grip, yelling for her security again.
One of the Heights security guards, who is built like a house, barrels through the throng, struggling against the press of people. His face is red, furious, and he’s shouting orders no one is listening to. Then, he pulls a gun.
The crack of the shot fired into the air is deafening.
The crowd scatters like a bomb went off—people start ducking, screaming, and shoving into each other.
I glance at Levi, who’s still holding it together as Pebble flutters anxiously on his arm. He strokes over her wings and murmurs, “Get out of here.”
Pebble takes off in a flurry of feathers, disappearing into the dark above us not a second too soon, as the chaos swallows us whole, bodies pressing in from every side.
“Fuck.” I grip Levi’s arm and pull his back to my chest. “Ezra, where the hell are you?”
“Hold on,” Ezra barks. “I’m pushing through. Just… shit, stay put!”
“Guys, you okay?” Nova asks anxiously.
Veronica screams again, trying to wrench free from Nicholas just as the guard finally breaks through to her. He doesn’t hesitate and clocks Nicholas hard across the face.
Fucking hell.
Nicholas staggers, letting go of her, and the guard grabs Veronica, shoving his way back into the throng with her. His shouts rise above the chaos as he presses forward, one arm around her and the hand with the gun raised above his head. “I have a gun! Move, or I’ll use it!”
The crowd panics harder, pressing tighter, and I swear it’s as if we’re suffocating. People are shoving past, some falling to the ground and scrambling back up, and it’s all I can do to keep Levi close. My arm is around his shoulders, and I shove space around us as much as I can while hands keep darting out for us.
“Don’t touch me!” Levi snaps, his voice sharp with pain as a fan claws at his neck, her nails leaving red scrapes in their wake.
My pulse spikes, fury and panic crashing together. “Ezra!” I shout into the comms. “We’re in the middle of a fucking mass panic, and people are grabbing Dove. I can’t hold them all off!”
“What the fuck?” comes from Alaric.
“I see you!” Sylus cuts in, frantic. “I’m trying to drive to you, but these people won’t fucking move!”
