Page 138 of Remnants
Kellan yanks me into his arms, swallowing me within his beast form. “Are you hurt?” he demands.
I rest my hand on the back of his arm, feeling the smooth scales there and finding comfort in his embrace after all the information Vera shared. “No.” I take a deep breath to calm the racing thoughts so I can focus on the most important and timely one. “We have to get back to the Guild. Was Royce upstairs?”
Kellan helps me through the wreckage to the living room and the others. “No. Upstairs was empty.”
Before I’m completely clear of the hole in the wall, Aiden pulls meto his chest, his heart galloping frantically against my ear. “Leash,” he mutters, reminding me of what he’d said in the hospital room.
Smiling, I withdraw and bump into another body directly behind mine. Jackson wraps his hand around the front of my neck, holding me tight against him while his thumb angles my chin up to look at him. His midnight blue gaze pierces mine, and a cool shiver snakes through me.
“I’m sorry,” I breathlessly offer. To him. To all of them for making them worry.
Dane grabs my hand, stroking my wrist softly. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Jack releases me, and I shift so I can see everyone.
“Reid found the five hostage Guild members in the basement. I guess Tinsley was with you,” Aiden fills me in. “He’s dropping them and Harvey’s body off at the Guild and he’ll be right back. What happened?”
“Vera was filling me in on what GE’s been working on and what she and Tinsley have been doing. But we can talk about that later. She said that Royce is attacking the Guild and he was calling her there.”
Reid appears suddenly behind Dane. “There’s trouble at the Guild. I dropped them off in the infirmary, but there are zombies and agents flooding the Hall.”
Tinsley zips into the room and crashes into him, taking them to the ground. “Reid!”
“Tinsley!”
He grabs the back of her head and pulls her into a kiss. She moansunashamedly, and Dane snaps, “Save the make-out session for after we defeat the zombies and Royce.”
Tinsley pops back, beaming at Reid and then helping him to his feet. She latches on to his arm and whispers something in his ear, drawing a small smile to his lips.
“I thought I destroyed all his zombies.” When I look at Jack, he nods once and strides outside. I follow him, the others doing the same, until we’re standing on the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach where the zombie caves had been.
Three portals line the beach, and zombies pile into them. I bring my gift back, flexing my hand as it tingles beneath my skin. “Jack, get me down there. I’ll take care of them.” I have no idea how many already made it through, but I can cut them off here.
He kneels before me, and I climb on his back.
“Reid, bring us down, too,” Aiden orders. “We’re returning to the Guild together.”
Reid frowns. “We should head back now to help.”
“I’m not risking the two of them alone in case Royce is waiting around to turn them on each other. The Guild can hold their own until we get there. It’s what we’ve been training for.”
He’s right. We need to trust that the Guild is fighting back.
Jackson jumps over open air, guiding our descent toward the caves and portals. “Where do you want to be?”
“Between two of the portals.”
He swings his arm out before we land, a blast of air throwing the zombies back. As soon as his feet touch the ground, I drop and thrust my gift into the sand. I channel my gift, the beach fissuringand glowing red within those cracks as they spread beneath the mass of zombies before us. I latch it onto their feet, immobilizing them as I work further back. All the way to the caves and then spidering my gift along the cliffside.
“Don’t overdo it,” Aiden warns from the side.
I don’t make a move to acknowledge him, but I hear him. There’s still a fight happening at the Guild, and if I overexert myself here, I won’t be able to help there.
Once I’ve outlined the framework of my attack, I trigger it, releasing the burst of my gift to flood the zombies and the rocky cliff.
The beach trembles. Stone snaps. Pops. The first opening in the cliff caves in, stone separating and falling inward. Then, the next one and the next, a domino effect of cave-ins that bury the dead and block their escape.
I pump one last burst through my gift, making sure the zombies on the beach are unable to move. Unless Royce returns to fill them with more souls and heal them, they won’t be going anywhere.
