Chapter 24 #2
This couldn’t go on. If she killed someone, there was no way she’d earn her way to Elysium, and if she got herself killed, it’d be too soon. She hadn’t done enough good in the world yet. “Cover me.”
“What?”
I shot to my feet and ran into the alley beside us.
I hurried toward the fire escape and leapt up into the air, grabbing on to the bottom pole of the ladder.
I jerked down and the ladder slid lower.
My heart raced in my chest as I climbed up the ladder and headed straight toward the roof.
When I got to the top, I ran across and looked down at the street.
Three men were closing in on Anastasia. They were taking slow steps toward her, each one holding their gun at the ready.
I took a few steps back and sucked in a deep breath.
Had I still been a god, I could take her from here in a flash.
Now I had to rely on training I’d long forgotten.
Training I’d done at a time when the gods would battle with each other.
But that truce had been called long ago.
Now I prayed it was a talent that was still in me.
I sprinted toward the edge of the building and planted my foot on the ledge.
I threw myself over the side of the building.
It was only three floors but still higher than I could’ve imagined.
I dropped down onto the hood of a car right behind them.
The car dented in, cushioning my landing.
They whirled around but I leapt between the three of them.
I grabbed one of the guns and forced it toward the sky while I planted one foot and kicked the other guy across from me right in the chest. He flew back across the street, his back slamming into the side of another car.
The glass exploded outward, and I twisted around just as the gunman pulled the trigger.
I yanked him to the side, and the shots missed me, striking his own man.
I pulled the gun from his hand and spun around, smacking him in the side of the head with it. He fell to the ground, and I sucked in a deep breath. “We’re good.”
Anastasia popped out from our hiding spot three cars up. “Maybe you are a god.”
“Former.” I wanted to believe that I was still human, but could a mere human do what I’d just done?
“Rightttttt.” She jogged to my side.
I glanced at the car beside us. “We need a ride.”
She rolled her eyes and walked over to the driver’s side. “I got it.”
“You know how to steal cars?” Elysium was getting farther and farther out of reach for her.
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” She used the butt of the gun to shatter the back driver’s side window. She stuck her arm in and forced the door to unlock.
I turned toward the street, watching for any other men heading toward us as she climbed in the driver seat. People started to come back out into the street, milling around watching the two of us. “Hurry.”
“You wanna give this a try?”
“Seeing how I’ve never driven, I don’t think that wise.”
“You’ve never what?”
“Focus.” A second later the engine purred to life, and I was reminded again that her idea of curating might be closer to theft than she let on.
I hurried to the passenger side and got in. She put the car into gear and pulled out onto the street. “We’re only going to get so far in this thing before the cops notice.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to take another.” I glanced over my shoulder just as two black SUVs pulled onto the road behind us. “Go faster.”
“Wh . . .” She glanced to the rearview, then slammed her foot down on the gas. “Shit.”
My body slammed back into the seat as the car lurched forward. But the SUVs were gaining on us. I patted the dashboard. “Come on, little car. Go faster.”
Anastasia gave a humorless chuckle. “That’s not gonna help.
She yanked the wheel to the side, and we turned down another street.
The traffic grew thicker, and she wove her way through the cars.
Horns honked and people bellowed from their windows.
She flew through red lights and turned around sharp corners.
The SUVs didn’t stop their pursuit. The sound of gunfire came, and the back window shattered.
I threw myself toward her, putting my arms over her head.
“I’m not seeing a way out of this, Thanatos.” She pressed the gas harder, forcing the car to redline. The world flew by in a blur as gunfire followed us.
A sharp whistle drew my attention to the sidewalk. The world slowed and then I saw him standing there. Maze. Neon-green smoke swirled around his arms and feet. His eyes flashed from green to milky-white and back again. He hiked his thumb to the right.
“Turn here!”
“What?”
“Here!” I grabbed the wheel, jerking it to the side.
The wheels screamed and the car swerved from one side of the road to the other.
Cones were set up in the middle of the road in an S-shape as if laying out our path.
Ophelia sat in the bed of a construction truck.
She held a dagger in her hand, flipping it end over end.
She wore a bright-orange vest over her black clothing and a yellow construction hat.
When we got closer, she stopped flipping the dagger and used it to point to the left.
“Left!”
This time Anastasia reacted to my voice and turned the car down another side street. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“No.”
Again the world slowed, and Tilly appeared on the sidewalk. She smiled, flashing her tiny fangs. She waved happily, sending her blond curls bouncing. She did a little spin and pointed to the right.
“Here!”
Anastasia reacted quickly once more and the tires screeched. “You really seem like you know where you’re going.”
“I don’t.”
She eased off the gas. “Is that a dead end?”
Up ahead the street came to a stop with a large building at the end of it.
The outside was a thick concrete that’d been painted white.
The paint was cracked and falling off in places.
But just over it was a shimmer. Is it magic?
They’d directed us here and it had to be.
Anastasia eased up even more. I shook my head. “No, don’t stop. Go for the wall.”
“No!” She took her foot off the gas once more.
More gunshots came from behind us, and I shoved my leg across the car, hitting the gas once more. She grabbed on to the wheel, turning it. A black cat ran into the road, and she swerved to miss it, forcing us to head right toward the wall once more. “Hold steady!”
“You’re going to kill us!” she screeched.
The car surged forward right toward the wall and I stiffened, unable to look away as we got closer and closer.
Fuck. Am I going to kill us both?