Our Handlers crouch, shielding Woody as another ball of fire soars past Amber and smashes into the rail above their heads. Fire licks up the wood, crackling as it climbs the spindles.
“I’ve got this.” Hands uplifted, Julio pivots toward the ocean, summoning water from the surf. I take an unconscious step back as it twists through the air, shielding my eyes from the spitting mist as it gathers into a funnel and spins over the dunes. Julio closes his fist and the funnel breaks, raining seawater over the parking lot. The wood hisses as the fire sputters out.
The Autumn shakes the water from his eyes. Nostrils flared, he looks past Amber to Julio. Then to me and Fleur.
“You’re outnumbered, Hunter.” A memory clicks into place when Amber says his name. He’s the Autumn Amber was sparring with when I snuck into their gym. She defeated him easily, no weapons or fire. And yet, if he’s intimidated by our numbers, he gives nothing away.
“Looks like it.” Hunter’s combat knife glints under the streetlamp as he unsheathes it. Amber’s attention is torn between its jagged teeth and Woody’s shriek of pain as Poppy jerks a piece of silver from his thigh. Hunter smirks as he and Amber circle each other.
“He’s armed,” Julio says tightly. “I’m not liking the odds.” Fleur hands him her knife and he starts across the parking lot.
“Wait,” Fleur stiffens. “Do you smell that? It smells like...”
Julio’s steps falter as he smells it, too. “Summer.”
We all turn toward the beach as a figure crests the dunes. The boy’s breathing hard, his hair slick with mist or sweat. He stops short, nearly tripping at the sight of us, the sharp scent of hot rain on asphalt close enough to choke me.
Fleur’s hand brushes mine, instinct pressing her closer to my side. The Summer expels a deep, violent cough and wavers on his feet. He backs up slowly, his wide eyes leaping from me to Julio, then to the parking lot where Amber and Hunter are grappling. Suddenly, his focus sharpens. Like a magnet, it snaps to Fleur.
I slide in front of her, tucking her behind me.
“Back off,” I warn him. The Summer stares past me, taking a bold step toward her.
“Cyrus!” Julio wedges himself between us and shoves Cyrus back by the chest. “This isn’t your territory. The state line’s twenty miles that way, man.” Julio points south with a hard finger. “You should get lost before anyone realizes you’re here.”
“No, she’s mine!” he says, pointing at Fleur. “Gaia told me to come north. She said you were in the wind. If you’re not going to do your job, then move over and give someone else a shot.”
My grip tightens on Fleur.
“Something’s not right,” I say, just loud enough for her to hear me. It makes sense that Amber’s replacement would be waiting for us. But why would Gaia send another Summer here so close to the end of his season?
There’s the sound of a hard punch landing. Julio turns at Amber’s startled cry. Seizing the opportunity, Cyrus charges at Fleur. Frostcrackles over my skin as I brace myself to stop him. At the last second, Julio recovers, tackling him from the side. The Summers go down in a tangle of limbs on the pavement. I stumble back, reaching behind me for Fleur, but there’s only empty air.
I call her name, but she’s already halfway across the parking lot, a blurring streak of pumping legs and pink hair. She’s fast. Faster than I’ve ever seen her, even during her peak. She sprints for the woods. Two figures leap out of the trees, both trying and failing to grab her as she sails past them. I race after her, chasing the floating red lights of their transmitters in the dark.
Two silver scythe patches catch the streetlight as they hurtle after her.
My heart hammers wildly as the Guards tear through the trees, close on her heels. One eye tracking Fleur, I crash into the slower Guard’s back. We hit the ground, and the impact knocks me breathless. She rolls out from under me, her hands white-hot, impossible to hold on to. Her knee slams into my gut. While I’m sucking wind, she grabs my hair and slams my head against the ground. Her furious face swirls in and out of focus. I taste blood. All around me is the sound of knuckles on skin. Of Julio’s muffled cussing and Amber’s sharp attacks.
“Now!” the Guard shouts. Her fingers are raw fire around my throat.
I shut my eyes against the sudden glow radiating through her skin, so bright it’s almost blinding. For a second, I’m paralyzed by it, disoriented and confused. I’m not dead—not even close. And neither is the Guard. So why’s she disappearing?
Stars ring the edges of my vision as her grip on my throat tightensand her light grows brighter. I grope wildly for the red light of her transmitter, catching her and pushing her back by the face. Pale pinpricks of light glow in my hand where it touches her. Fear seizes me and I push back harder, until her skin blisters with frostbite. “I’ve got him! Do it now!” she yells.
I twist and kick out hard, scrambling free of her hands just as her magic flares. Eyes watering, I shield my face from the brilliant flash as her matter condenses into a dense ball of light.
I duck as her magic soars over my head and disappears into the nearest ley line. Staggering to my feet, I stare after it, trying to make sense of what the hell just happened.
I’ve got him! Do it now!That was the order she shouted through her transmitter while her hands were around my throat.
I rub the burns on my palms, my ragged breath slowing as I remember Fleur’s lilies—the ones I found tucked inside my hand when I awoke from stasis. The ones she sent home with me through the ley lines.
My body stills as the answer slams into me. Organic material—living, cell-based, biological material—can be carried through the ley lines. Back to the Observatory.
The Guard wasn’t trying to strangle me. She was trying totakeme. One touch is all it would take for Chronos’s Guards to ruin everything.
Heart pounding, I run after Fleur.
