Page 33 of Ravenous Prophecy
But she grimaced as she turned one of her hands in on herself, pressing it against her own abdomen. She screamed again, her chin raised, her shriek so loud it echoed in the building, shaking it. When she stopped, blood soaked her blouse, and her eyes were perfectly normal, brown again.
I couldn’t look away, even as I could feel a familiar buzz in my skull. Wincing, I crushed my hands to my head, huffing in pain and reaching out with my mind. Where were the helmets? I knew there had to be some. There had to be something?—
“My babies!” Kane wailed, and my head snapped around.
He was staring at three men in the doorway, blocking our exit. All of them wore helmets, and I had a sudden realization. If they could turn any of us, Julian, Griffin, Elaine, even Brigette? The rest of us would be dead.
Well, not if they got me, but why would they wantme? An academic with no magic to speak of and the upper body strength of one whose only workout was lifting piles of ancient manuscripts?
I couldn’t let them get my sister. With a last look, I saw Elaine raise her hand, a more nuanced restraint spell spiraling off her palm, catching five men at once and pinning them to the ground. Then I was running for the front door, picking up a weighted pole on my way, the end designed with a thick bulb at the top.
It was either confusing art or an inefficient fire poker,and I didn’t care either way because I was not letting them take Elaine. I wasnot?—
None of the men looked at me as I approached, too consumed by the chaos of the fight. Or they knew the truth, that I was useless here, that I had no power to speak of and they could overlook me.
Well, fine. Overlook me. Go ahead. I wasn’t going to let them take anyone.
Raising the pole, I slammed it across the head of the nearest man. He yelped, the impact denting the helmet hard enough that it jammed into his skull. Blood leaked down his neck, and he fell, his body going lax with what I hoped was unconsciousness.
I didn’t wait. I swung again, but the next man grabbed hold of the horribly inefficient, artistic fire poker. Wrenching it out of my hands, he swung it back at me, and I had just enough time to dodge forward and put my hand on his head.
“Let go,” I commanded, feeling a buzz in the back of my skull that rose in volume like a jackhammer.
He stared at me, his teeth bared. “What are you talking about?”
But he didn’t swing the pole. His friend turned to him and said, “What’s going on?”
But the question was too late becauseIhad some idea of what was going on. “Let go.”
He dropped the pole.
“Give me the helmet,” I said, feeling my voice echo as though it was carried on a thousand wings, as though the air moved specifically to lift it and move it.
He blinked but lifted his hands and took it off, handing it to me.
“What are youdoing?” his friend shouted. “What are you?—”
I put the helmet on.
Immediately, the rest of the world disappeared and, at the same time, I could see everything. I couldheareverything, the whispers of sound but also a current of murmurs that I realized were thoughts.
That’s it, Corazon, you and me,Julian thought, his words a murmur of affection as he used the flat of the blade to push someone back. Then he flipped the sword so he could draw a slice through the strap of one of the guns, letting it fall awkwardly, and the man yelped?—
Brigette’s mind was a soft whisper of codes and waiting, a hum of affection as Kane’s office safe gave in to her, letting her in, and oh, look, there was some money to go along with those important-looking documents?—
Where is he? I left him right here? Where is he? Did they get him? Did Williams take him? Was that his goal all along?I almost paused at Griffin’s thoughts, so wholly focused on me, as though I was the most important piece in the puzzle rather than the only one here who could be left behind to no one’s detriment.
Consume. Take. Breed. Consume Take Br—NO No no nono. Elaine’s voice was a pure scream, a horrible wrenching sound as something bigger than her tried to press down, tried to take away the free will she clung to.
Next to me, the other helmeted man was a buzz of sound, a thousand voices at once, and I realized I’d been mistaken.He wasn’t forcing his will on everyone else. He was merely the vessel, the radio antenna accepting something far, far more powerful and spitting it back out into the world.
I reached out, grabbing his head in the physical world, and I felt his surprise, his shock at how fast I moved, at how strong I was as I yanked the helmet off his head.
Then it was just me, and I fell to my knees, the voices that had been divided between two now forced on me, but I didn’t care, I had to—I had to?—
“Stop.” But my words were ineffective, too many things at the same time, the press of the city beginning to encase me, the whispers becoming shouts in my ears. I needed less. I needed them to stop.
“Stop them,” I commanded. “Stopthem.”
