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“What about Mel and Roland?” Weylin hopped onto a metal box that covered the air conditioner for the store.
“She didn’t say. Just that he wanted to leave. ” Ree looked over the edge of the roof and watched as some pedestrians made their drunken way from City Market.
“Maybe he found something. ” Paden suggested. “They’re gone. ” He nodded toward the ground before using one arm to push off and over the concrete wall. He landed smoothly on the ground in an alley beside the building. Ree stepped off the wall and landed next to him. Once Weylin was with them, they ran through the streets, aware the sun wasn’t far from rising. It would be harder to hide from the police looking for them in the daylight.
“Maybe. Or he could just be trying to avoid being here during the day. ” Ree jumped a pothole. It didn’t take them long to get to the other side of town. They stood back in the shadows as they scanned the restaurant.
“Any Dark Ones?” Paden’s eyes swept the area intently.
“No. They’re probably holed up somewhere. ” Ree frowned at the empty parking lot. Her gut kept telling her something was wrong. “I think I sense the others nearby. ”
“I guess we should go then. ” Paden grabbed Ree’s hand and they crossed the road quickly. They stayed close to the building to try and not to attract any attention from the few passing cars. Weylin seemed to be feeling something odd too, because he had the pommel of his sword in his hand. Juliette and Bryce appeared seconds behind them. Juliette had a huge slash along the chest of her shirt and she was wearing Bryce’s jacket.
“Are you okay?” Ree asked. Her stomach clenched at the thought of what could have happened.
“Meh. I’m fine. Mostly caught my shirt. ” Juliette looked down at the tattered ends of her shirt. “Jerk. ”
Bryce frowned but didn’t say anything. Ree knew it had probably scared him to death.
“Have you seen Roland or Melanie?” Weylin asked Bryce, his eyes sweeping the empty parking lot.
“Not yet. ” Bryce looked at everyone. “We should go to the boat. ”
“I’ll text them. ” Ree pulled her phone out and sent a quick message. Hopefully they were just avoiding people and would be back soon. Almost immediately a text came back. “Start boat. Got company. ”
“Start the boat!” Ree ran for the whaler and hopped over the edge. Bryce grabbed the helm and the boat roared to life. Paden and Weylin untied the boat from the dock and stood holding the ropes.
“Pay! Turn the boat so we’re facing out!” Bryce looked over his shoulder at his friend. Paden and Weylin pulled on the ropes until they had the boat facing the direction they wanted.
“Dark Ones or cops?” Juliette asked.
“No idea. ” Ree shook her head, but didn’t take her eyes off of the parking lot. The sound of sirens reached her ears, and her gut clenched.
“Shit. It’s the po-po. ” Weylin looked over his shoulder just as Roland and Melanie tore across the parking lot.
“Get in!” Bryce revved the engine. Paden and Weylin jumped in with the ropes. The boat took off, but Roland and Melanie jumped at the last moment, both landing in heaps on the floor of the boat. Roland rolled over to his back and looked up at the sky, while Melanie laughed.
Ree felt her eyebrows raise in surprise, but was relieved to see they were both okay. She reached down and grabbed Melanie’s hand to help her stand. Roland stayed where he was for a moment longer, before standing and moving to take the controls from Bryce.
“What happened?” Paden asked.
“A cop saw us walking from between two crack houses. He shined a light on us and then did a double take. He obviously recognized us, because he turned the car around and hit the lights. ” Melanie pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked at her friends. Ree noticed there was a happy glint to her expression, and she wondered what had happened while they were out searching.
“That area is patrolled heavily, so we were constantly ducking cops. Thankfully, we’re a little faster than their cars. ” Roland threw a smile over his shoulder at Melanie. For a split second, Ree’s stomach clenched in jealousy, but it was gone so fast it might as well have not happened.
“Did you find any Dark Ones?” Bryce asked.
“Two of the houses are used as safe houses, but they all disappeared. Roland thinks there was a portal or something. ” Melanie sat down on a bench next to Juliette.
Paden looked at Ree, obviously thinking along the same lines. Now they knew where their mystery Dark Ones had come from.
“Was this after we told you what we were going to do?” Ree frowned at Melanie.
“Yeah. Why?” Melanie redid her ponytail while watching Ree’s face.
“I think I know where they ended up. ” Ree sat down on the opposite side of the boat.
“Ah, that’s where they came from!” Weylin moved to stand on the other side of the console from Paden. “But, how?”
“A god can open a portal between places. ” Roland glanced at Ree. “You mean to tell me all of those Dark Ones showed up where you were? What happened?”
“The Dark One started a fire, but I don’t know what he actually did with it. ” Ree shook her head. At this point, she didn’t really care how it worked.
“A summoning spell. They would have contacted whoever is helping them and asked for help. ” Roland narrowed his eyes at Ree. “What did you do when they showed up?”
She shrugged and looked out over the water. “We took care of it. ”
“Damn right! Ree lit up the whole street like Christmas! That house is complete rubble!” Weylin held his hand out to Ree for a high-five. She returned it weakly, but didn’t meet anyone else’s eyes.
“That was that flash? You destroyed the house?” Melanie looked at her with big eyes. “But, that would have taken a lot of power, right?” She looked at Paden and Weylin as if checking for wounds.
“Not just the house, Mel. She took out all of the Dark Ones that showed up. ” Paden kept his voice steady, but she could feel him trying to send her support. “It was the right decision. ” She nodded her head but still didn’t look at anyone. She hated knowing she had killed all of the earth on that block. She worried nothing would ever grow there again.
“You did the right thing. ” Roland seemed to understand she had taken energy from things around her, and his voice was firm.
As they left Savannah behind them, the sick feeling in her stomach didn’t go away. The closer they got to the island, the worse she felt. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and stood up from her seat. She went to the front of the boat and watched as the sun came up. Paden moved to wrap her in his arms.
“You saved hundreds of people by doing what you did. ” He rested his forehead against the top of her head, obviously thinking she was dwelling on the destruction she had caused.
“No, something’s wrong. Don’t you feel it?” She looked at him over her shoulder.
“I do. ” Bryce stepped up to take the spot Paden had left. “Roland, can you call the island?”
“We might be heard on scanners. ” Roland shook his head.
“Man, something isn’t right. ” Bryce leaned toward Roland. “You’ve got to have a private band. ”
“I do, but someone could still happen on it. ”
“Do it anyways. ” Ree turned to look at Roland. She knew her face was set into grim lines and, apparently, he understood something was very wrong.
Roland picked up the receiver and spoke into it several times. He held it with one hand while steering the boat. No one answered. He tried again. Still no reply. Ree turned back to the front of the boat and prayed everyone on the island was safe.
Once the island was in sight, so was the large plume of smoke. There were muttered curses from everyone on the boat. Ree took off her jacket and threw it onto one of the benches. By the time they were near the dock, everyone was prepping for t
rouble. One of the boats next to the dock had been sunk, only the very top visible from the dock. Ree leapt from the boat as soon as they were close. She drew her swords in quick movements and flew down the path. She couldn’t feel any Dark Ones, but it was obvious they had been there. An ash pile was still steaming near the wall around the house, and Ree wanted to be sick. This was supposed to be their safe place, guarded by the gods, a sanctuary for the people who had already been hurt by the Dark Ones.
The house was a smoking shack. The walls had crumbled, smoke still curling into the air.
“Ellie! Kay! Pam!” Ree shouted as she leapt over piles of debris. Melanie was right behind her, her voice panicked as she called for her mom. “Pam!” Ree crawled over smoking furniture and charred walls to get to the kitchen. When she got there, her power flared out in an angry wave. Pam was lying on the counter, her throat torn out. Blood pooled under the woman’s head, her kind eyes blank.
She looked up at the sky and hollered. “Where the fuck are you? You let someone step into our home and snub your power, yet you do nothing?” She spit the words out, barely able to keep from sending the rest of the house down on everyone. She reached down and closed Pam’s eyes.
“Ree. ” Paden stood in what remained of the doorway. “We need to look for everyone else. Can you feel any humans on the island? Any at all?” He held his hand out to her, but she brushed past him, too angry to take the comfort he offered. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She searched for anything. After a moment, she opened her eyes and headed toward the back of the house. There was a very faint spark, but she hoped whoever it was could be healed by Paden.
Ree kicked through ash piles and frowned, realizing they were dead Dark Ones. By the time she reached the room where the dwindling spark remained, she was ready to kill something. Using her anger to add to her strength, Ree threw a couch out of the way and pushed her way into a back bedroom. She almost tripped on Ellie’s lifeless body and couldn’t help the gasp of anguish that slid out of her throat. She didn’t stop though, desperately wishing there would still be someone alive.
“Oh, please, please, please. ” Ree mumbled under her breath as she fought through the debris. Between a large dresser and a corner, Melanie’s mother was curled into a tight ball. “Melanie! Paden, help me! I found Kay. ”
Ree moved the dresser as carefully as she could and Paden slid in next to the dying woman. He started to lift her, but paused. He ran his hands over the woman gently, the green glow highlighting her battered form.
“Don’t let Melanie see Ellie like that, Ree. ” Paden didn’t take his eyes off of the woman in front of him, but his words seemed to snap Ree into motion. She turned and walked over to the dead woman blocking the doorway.
Kneeling down, Ree scooped Ellie into her arms and moved her from the doorway. Carefully she placed her in a clear space out of the way. Yanking the blanket off the bed, she placed it over Ellie. She didn’t linger, not wanting Melanie to see the dead body right away. With slow steps she moved back to Paden and watched as he worked on Mel’s mom.
The sound of furious gasps and fear announced Melanie’s arrival. She stopped in the doorway for just a moment, fear and pain clouding her features as she looked from the covered form to her mother. Ree stood up and moved so her friend could take her spot but Paden shook his head.
“Help me move her to the bed now. ” Kay’s eyes were clenched in pain, tears mingling with the blood on her face. “Gently, I’ve got to concentrate on her back. ”
Ree helped lift the older woman, and carefully placed her on the bed. It was clean of ash and that struck Ree as weird, until she realized she had taken the top blanket to cover Ellie. Melanie moved next to Ree, her eyes on her mother’s face.
“Mommy?” Melanie moved to kneel next to the head of the bed, her hands shaking as she brushed the hair out of her mother’s eyes. “Paden?”
“She’s hurt, Mel, but I think I can help. ” Paden never looked at anyone else. His eyes stayed on his patient as he worked. Ree looked up when the others slid into the room. Weylin shook his head no, letting Ree know they hadn’t found anyone else alive. When Juliette saw the shrouded body near the closet, she covered her mouth and turned into Bryce’s chest. Ree watched numbly as her friend’s shoulders shook with quiet sobs. Weylin moved to sit next to Melanie, his arm sliding around her shoulders. Ree felt her breathing hitch when she saw the tears on her normally chipper friend’s cheeks. Kay had had been like a second mother to Weylin.
Unable to take sitting there and doing nothing, Ree walked past her friends and left the room. She walked through the house, staring at the odd bits and pieces that had survived. There was blood splattering the walls near the kitchen and she felt her stomach quiver. She tightened her resolve and pushed her way back out the front door. She stood staring up at the sky, her hands clenched at her sides. The soft sound of footsteps made her turn around and she looked up at Roland.
“How could this happen?”
“There is a god-strike near the dock. Someone blasted through the enchantments. ” He frowned and looked toward the house. “They had help. ”
“Melanie needs you. ” Ree turned to the side and the statue of Brigid caught her attention.
“I doubt she would want to see me right now. ” Roland shoved his hands into his pockets and looked away from Ree.
“You’d be wrong. ” Ree looked at him, her face blank. She wanted to be alone, but she knew Melanie needed someone to be there for her right now. Roland looked torn for just a moment, but ducked into the house without another word.
Ree marched over to the statue of the goddess and stared at it for a minute. She wanted to know how this could happen and she planned on getting some answers. She picked up the statue and headed for the large tree along the pathway.
Chapter Fifteen
Ree set the sculpture down next to the tree and sat down on a large root. Her anger hadn’t dampened while carrying the marble statue through the woods and she still wanted answers. She looked at Brigid’s white face and then placed her hand on the tree trunk. Taking a deep breath, Ree tried to calm the anger in her heart before addressing the goddess.
“I don’t know if you’re listening, Brigid, but something has gone very, very wrong. Where are you? Why weren’t you here to protect your island?” Ree waited for a minute, but there was no answer. She stood up and looked down at the statue. “Where the hell are you? You’ve screwed us left and right and don’t even bother to show up when another god gives you the finger?” Ree threw her head back and screamed at the top of her lungs. The power flew out of her and the statue shattered into a million pieces.