Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Oli
I have traveled enough of the country to know some of the major cities, but I don't recognize where we’ve chased the god-bond to.
There's no major markers or touristy spots that give it away, just lines and lines of apartment buildings that now have ice damage to the side of them, sections of them blown to pieces and, of course, the two apartments that have been completely demolished by the fighting.
We’d landed directly in front of one of the piles of rubble—the only spot there wasn't already Resistance fighters camped out and waiting for us—though that in itself shows that it's a trap.
I'm not sure if walking into a trap is better or worse if you know exactly what it is, but all I can do now is cling to the hope that we’re stronger than these people, strong enough to handle whatever they throw at us.
Strong enough to go home safely at the end of this all with Kieran in tow and Sage’s Bonded Group back together.
I realize now that the reckless streak in me, the one that has me running off after my friends without a thought for my own safety, has calmed a little.
Not that I wouldn't still run headfirst after them if they were in danger, only now, I would ask my Bonded to tag along too.
I need to have them with me now the same way that I need air.
Knowing that Silas Davies is dead and no longer out there, ready to strap me to a table and carve me into pieces, bolsters my courage a whole damn lot. It's probably stupid and naive of me, but I feel as though I can face the god-bonds far easier than I could ever face that maniac.
I don't have trauma when it comes to them.
Sure, my own god-bond does. All of them do, thanks to a hundred deaths in a hundred lifetimes, but me?
I still get the sweats and the shakes thinking about that goddamn table and the box of weapons that was used against me over and over again until my bond had to come out and play.
All of the tactics used by a madman against a child, all of the ways he broke me.
I can admit that now that I'm a little older and I've seen a little more of life, both through my eyes and through Nox's.
I was a child, and he was a fully grown man, playing his little games and torturing me in the most creative ways.
His sick mind would come up with a hundred different ways to carve a body up, only to have a Healer put me back together so he could start again.
If that pain couldn't break me then whatever Gift this god-bond has can't either.
I'm not even sure the Pain god can touch me with its power anymore now that we're all awake and the Soothsayer has reinforced our minds. We’re not just stronger because of the power boost. I'm stronger because I have my Bonded with me.
I'm stronger because I know that every last one of my moves is backed up by them, all of them are here to work with me to get us out of here alive and whole. We’re going to get through this together and be ready to take on whatever else might appear in our future.
Otherwise, what’s the point?
The moment that Gabe shifts into the Draconis and the dragon hops off into the air, I feel a moment of panic at his disappearance that is only eased by Gabe’s voice in my mind as he reassures me that he's going to keep us safe, that everything here is going to be okay.
I'm more worried about what’s going to happen to him up there than anything else, as though the distance between us is an unbridgeable gap when really, I know that we're going to be fine. Everything has to be fine.
I wouldn't have come out here unless I was sure that it was going to be fine.
Liar. You chased after Kyrie to a Resistance camp that terrified you purely because she’s Gryphon's sister. The reckless, self-destructive tendencies in you are strong, Nox sends to my mind connection, and I startle for a second.
Are you reading my mind right now? Because I can only handle that happening with one person. To have you in there as well is terrifying.
He shakes his head at me, moving us away as North and Gryphon start mobilizing teams on the ground, pushing out and beginning to head towards the Resistance battalions waiting for us on the next street.
They’re trying to draw us away from the rubble here.
I don’t need anyone to tell me why when I get an eyeful of Sage as she stares at the piles of rock as though her life depends on it.
Kieran is somewhere in that rubble, alive and breathing, for now.
Everything is fine, I'm sure, but he's trapped under there, and we have no way to know if he’s bleeding out or something right now.
Gryphon is quick to confirm it before I'm even able to cast out my own Gift. He can breathe just fine, but he's unconscious and at the very least, his arm and both his legs are broken.
I look over at Sage and give her a thumbs up, pointing at the pile for a second, and she's quick to dart over to it. She scrambles a little on the rocks as she begins moving them away, as though she's going to lift them all by herself to get to her Bonded.
It’s cute but highly impractical, and time isn’t exactly on our side here.
“I brought someone with me who is kind of an expert at this,” I say to her loudly enough that if anyone's around, it would give away our position, but the thick streams of smoke around us slowly forming into creatures are more than enough to do that.
Atlas carefully guides me over to the pile, making sure I stick close to him, and then, as though it's nothing , he begins to move giant chunks of building away from the pile.
He literally picks up an entire wall and moves it away as if it’s nothing but a pillow.
I have to remind myself of the seriousness of this situation so I don't swoon. I hear the screeching of the Draconis in the air as though it’s miles away, then the heat of his fire as he spits it out a few streets over.
It feels hotter than the sun, even from this distance, and I lift a hand to shield my face from it.
“Do you think he's gonna be okay?” Sage asks me as she watches Atlas, and I nod my head, rubbing her arm.
“Of course. He’s going to be perfectly safe and very grouchy while he gets completely healed up. I'm sure he will also hate every single second of you fussing over him and all of the shit that Gryphon and North are going to give him for scaring them like this. Everything is going to be fine.”
Everything is definitely not fine.
As the bullets and harpoons, freakin’ harpoons , start to arc through the sky towards one of my beloved Bonded, my chest tightens and my eyes shift as I call on my power.
I throw out my Gift as though it’s a net, finding as many of the Resistance as I possibly can and tearing their souls out.
All of that energy and power that I take, I funnel through to Gabe.
I feel as it seeps into his body, strengthening him and healing any small wounds he may have already.
I feel him take it into himself, and the next stream of fire he breathes covers twice the distance of his last, burning hotter and devastating our enemy with ease.
It’s magnificent to watch.
While I work, Wick and Riley start talking amongst themselves. I can't pay attention to their words while I rip souls out. I have to focus to get the right people, but the next thing I know, they join in with the fighting while Atlas and Sage dig for Kieran.
I’m surprised to find them working together.
Riley uses his Gift to lift objects as Wick sets them on fire, and then they're flying through the sky, landing on the Resistance and crushing them as though they are nothing.
When there’s shouting and more gunfire to the left, Sage slides across the rubble towards us, reaching out her hands, and a wall of flames bursts out of her.
It slams into the building next to us, the entire front wall catching fire as dozens of soldiers stream out.
Whether they were lying in wait to attack us, or simply waiting for a safe moment to retreat because they were too scared of the shadow creatures to face us, it doesn’t matter now.
As they descend from the staircase, yelling as their uniforms catch fire, I tear their souls out and let their power fill my veins.
North and Gryphon push their TacTeams further out, trying to draw the god-bond to them. My instincts tell me to funnel all of the extra power to my Bonded, but I try to remember what I'm going to be facing here soon. Instead, I keep some of the power that I get from the souls for myself.
I don't like doing it.
It feels selfish to me, but I also don't think I can afford to take a three-day nap this time. I can't leave us exposed like that.
Atlas continues to move the rubble away, glancing over his shoulder every so often at me. It’s as though he's sure I'm going to disappear the second he steps too far away. Nox sidles a little closer to me, his shadows casting out more and more, dozens of them covering the area.
As another hail of bullets fly through the air, Atlas straightens for a moment, pushing his hands out in front of him. The bullets all stop mid-air, hitting the barrier that he has been working so hard on perfecting, and they roll away.
We haven't just managed to become a Bonded Group that gets along well, we’ve become a cohesive unit that can face our worst enemies and have each other's backs, to protect our family and make it through this in one piece.
I've never been sure of our ability to do so before, but now, I think maybe we can do this. I think we can make it through the fight with the god-bond and create a better world for ourselves.
I think we're going to survive this.
There's a loud screech overhead again as the Draconis closes in on another section of the Resistance, this time above where North and Gryphon are pushing the teams further.