Chapter Forty-One
Kalen
“Fuck!” It hurts like a motherfucker. What the hell just happened? One minute I’m racing all over, looking for Amelie, the next I’m doubling back to the ballroom and being thrown across the room by a blast so strong it rattles my bones.
I blacked out for sure. I remember hearing screams, but they sounded distant, underwater. I came to on the ground, pinned down by something fucking heavy.
And then Slate was there – or was it Onyx? – I’m not sure, but he lifted the rubble off me before I sent him to find Amelie. I’ll be fine. We need to find her.
With that thought, I grit my teeth and force myself to my feet.
Looking around, I can see that the force of the blast when I was in the doorway to the ballroom threw me back out into the corridor.
What’s left of it anyway. Gingerly, wincing with every step, I pick my way between the chunks of fallen plaster and marble, heading into the ballroom.
I know I should be heading to find Amelie, but Onyx – or was it Slate? Damn, I think I have a concussion – will surely have found her by now. I need to check on the others. My brothers. Our father. Even Grandfather.
I know he’s awful. Evil. But he’s still my blood. I can’t leave without knowing he’s okay. If only so that I can be the one to take him out, on my terms.
But the ballroom is chaos. There’s no way I can make my way across the room, even if I was in perfect health. Which I’m clearly not. I think I’ve broken a rib or two. And I don’t even want to think about the sticky blood drying on my forehead.
Painstakingly slowly, I circle around the labyrinth of corridors, until I come to one of the other entrances to the ballroom. A sea of panicked Order members are still pushing past, trying to evacuate. I have to stand to one side until the crowd diminishes, and then I slip through.
Bodies, blood and bones greet me.
My stomach lurches and I can’t even begin to process the devastation in front of me.
Think, Kalen, Think! I know one of the twins is okay.
Amelie was probably out of the building by the time the blast went off.
If it was Slate that I spoke to, it would make sense because Onyx had stormed off before.
So he could be safe too. That means I need to find Sawyer first. Father next. Grandfather last.
Tentatively I tiptoe through the rubble.
It’s awful to say but I ignore everyone who isn’t family, my eyes desperately scanning the.
..bodies for the people on my list. Aside from a handful of initiates, I knew every person in this room.
We were bound together through The Order and the many losses will be felt hard.
But the time for grieving comes later. Family first.
Movement out of the corner of my eye draws my attention to the stage where the board members had congregated.
In the wings, where black curtains once hung, I spy the material in tatters on the ground.
For a moment, I think it was just the scraps fluttering in the breeze of the blown-out windows beyond that caught my eye. But then I see it.
A body. Trapped under a lighting rig which has come crashing down. A body which is still moving.
My gut twists. I need to find my family. But—
What if it’s Grandfather? He was standing in that area when I last saw him.
I hesitate.
I have to check it out.