Page 91 of Ravage
“Get Kellan, get your cuff, and throw on a hoodie,” I order softly. “Then meet at the exit hatch.”
Dane’s fingers fly over his keyboard as he locks everything down and deletes any local files, then he jumps out of his chair to get Kellan. I run to my room to don more metal.
A spray of gunfire attacks the windows and Kellan roars in pain.
I grab two of my thick broad swords that are a foot in width each and put them side by side between me and the windows. I focus on their shape, using my gift to bend the metal at will until the two swords become one large metal shield with their pommels turned into a handle.
Bullets clang against it as I grit my teeth and lift it before running back into the main room to look for the others.
They’re both waiting for me at the escape hatch on the floor, crouched behind the coffee table. Dane’s wearing a hoodie with the hood up to hide any distinguishable features and his hand is glowing against Kellan’s chest. Kellan’s hunched over Dane should any bullets get through. His scales are on full display.
Dane can block someone from using their gift or he can turn the gift on full through touch. The former part is what GE is most likely after, but the latter…well, only Kellan’s gift has benefited from it so far.
“Get through the hatch!” I shout. “I’m right behind you.”
Kellan yanks the hatch open and waits for Dane to drop down first. He looks at me like he might wait for me to make it over to them.
I snap, “Go! Dane needs you at the bottom when he gets there.”
Priority one is to get Dane out without anyone realizing he’s been here this whole time or with us.
Two is getting the Guild members to safety and hoping that GE doesn’t realize there are gifted people here.
Three is the safety of Kellan and I, and making sure Jackson is safe.
Raegan’s face appears in my mind, and I shake my head.
Crouching behind the table, I re-curl my sword back to its whip-like form, then sit on the edge of the hatch and grab the handle to pull it down over me when I drop. The shield rests over me as I fall down the long, winding slide we had made when the building was renovated. It goes halfway down the Tower to the Guild’s main floor and dumps me onto my feet in the kitchen’s storage closet.
Dane’s holding Kellan’s upper arm to keep the scales activated while they stand by the door to wait for me.
“We should go for a sneak attack,” Dane starts. “I’ll cancel their gift and you can knock them out.”
Kellan growls and shrugs his arm away, starting his one-hour time limit with his impenetrable body. After the scales appear, he has an hour with them before they retreat and he’s vulnerable again without some rest. “It sounds like there are too many. Hide here while Aiden and I take them out. We can’t let them see you.”
“Someone could find him here when we aren’t looking,” I consider aloud. “He stays with one of us.”
“You take him then. I’m going to go bulldoze through them all.” Kellan throws open the door and runs out of it.
I curse his brashness and hand Dane a dagger. I split my shield into a halberd and a smaller shield and give the latter to him as well. “Watch my back. Don’t go far or chase after people.”
He clenches his jaw but nods. It’s difficult for him to be a primary target by GE, especially with a gift that doesn’t let him fight back himself. But there are other ways he can fight, so long as he doesn’t get separated from us.
We walk out the door and through the kitchens into the great hall where chaos has broken out in the massive, three-story room.
It’s gifted fighting against gifted, with only the clothing separating GE from Guild members. Our members are being dragged or carried away and my hands clench over my weapons.
It looks like our secret’s out.
Or was it already out somehow and that’s why they’re here?
I hook the halberd across my back and snap my whip sword out. Then I flip it up and swing it at the first line of GE fighters. The blade slashes across them and knocks them down. I keep the edge blunt so I’m not cutting everyone in half, but injuring them enough to keep them out of the fight.
I keep moving through the hall taking out anyone in my way, but it’s never fast enough. I stop one Guild member from being taken, only for two more to be whisked away. For as many as I’ve taken down, another swarm floods in until we’re outnumbered three to one.
Most of the gifted here don’t use their abilities to fight. The difference in skill and training between the Guild and GE is glaring, and I know we will lose if we keep fighting.
“Code Blue!” I shout out. “Code Blue!”
