Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Its goal was no longer its survival, but to end me.
I gathered the same light I used when I tracked through Faydor and propelled it. A flash of energy rushed from my hands and struck the Kruen. It thrashed and wailed before it disintegrated.
Ash.
A slog of exhaustion threatened to drag me down, but I couldn’t sit idle or even contemplate it before Pax shouted, “Aria, behind you!”
On a jagged exhale, I spun around to find a man rushing up from behind.
No weapon in his hands, but hate on his face.
Refusing to slow, I hurtled toward him, drawing the light and letting it go when I was within two feet of him.
It flashed through the space, and when the light struck him, his body blew backward, flying through the air before it crashed down onto two other deviants who were moving toward a Laven twenty feet away.
Each toppled, limp when they smashed to the ground.
I gasped for air, for strength, and I focused on the light that I could feel lapping inside me.
Dulled but still real.
I willed it to build. I needed to be able to wield it. Over and over. For it not to fail.
To my right, Pax warred with a slew of the corrupt, fighting them off one after another.
My attention roved over the mass that battled and raged, searching for Ambrose in the middle of it.
I had to get to him. It was the only way.
Darkness sat heavy on the earth, and the whirling clouds continued to spit spikes of ice from above. I blinked through it, trying to find the monster who no longer stood on the gazebo steps.
Frantic, I searched.
There was no sign of him.
Though what I did see sent a buoy to my spirit.
Laven.
They’d begun to pair with their Nols. Their hands bound for a few moments before they would split apart.
And they were splitting apart to bind the Kruen that battered through the horde with their tendrils whipping as they lashed out at any Laven they passed.
But the Laven were prevailing.
Throughout the crowd, I saw it. The wails and writhing of the Kruen before they were left to dust.
Annihilated.
Pax raced up to my side and grabbed my hand. A flash of warmth streaked up my arm. It rushed through me.
A stark rekindling of my strength.
“Do you see it?” I muttered in disbelief as we ran, diving toward a seething knot of people to our left. “The Laven. They’re binding the Kruen in the day. While awake. Together. They just needed their Nols to be able to do it.”
Because that was what we were when we joined.
Powerful.
Unstoppable.
Pax’s hand tightened on mine as he exhaled a rasping breath. “You were right, Aria. You were right.”
“But it’s so much more than I had ever thought or imagined.”
“It’s why Ambrose was afraid. Why he tried to end you all those times. Why he sought to distract us and keep us from coming here,” he said, voice grating from his ragged breaths. “He knew what would happen if we came together.”
“But we were all drawn here anyway.” It was awe. A blustering of hope swelled from the deepest parts within me.
The despair that had riddled me when I’d first seen the number of mutants drawn here was eradicated in a burst of belief.
An echo of Valeen’s voice whispered in my ear, a reminder of what we’d been sent here to do.
A Kruen suddenly surged out from the mob and thundered our way.
This time, Pax just held my hand as we gathered the strength.
The light.
We released it at the same time, and the Kruen roared when it was struck before it combusted to dust.
A disbelieving laugh ripped out of me, and Pax almost smiled as we shared a look.
An understanding.
Pure awe that rippled through us before we threw ourselves back into the riot.
To my left, a man burst through the crush, a screech flying off his tongue as he drove a knife into a Laven who battled with another beast. On a shock of pain, the Laven woman fell, trampled underfoot.
I felt torn, rent in two, the one second of levity we’d found now extinguished in the dismay of what this battle would cost.
Those who had already fallen.
My spirit ached as I watched the woman meet her death. I wanted to lean down. Pick her up and hold her as she breathed her last breath.
But there was no time. Nothing I could do.
I could only drive deeper, searching through the disorder for the one I had to bring to his end.
Internally, I begged for my family to be safe.
Josephine and Ellis.
Timothy and Dani.
The four of them swept into the tumult.
Plus, in the chaos, I’d recognized a few faces of other Laven from our family. More who had come when they’d been called.
I wasn’t shocked. I understood now. What had been pressed on all our souls.