Chapter 16 #3
“We’ll find her, Chandler.” Tammy gave Eros a curt nod, desperate to redeem herself.
She was on her feet, weapon reloaded. She gave the two suited guards a disdainful once-over before checking a slim watch worn alongside elegant gold bracelets.
“You need to load up and get out of here. We’ll handle the witch.
” As she regarded me with a simmering detachment, I thought my insides might wither.
And here I thought I couldn’t feel anything at all since Cliff had uttered those words to me.
He’s leaving. He’s choosing his father. He’s leaving us—
The panic left me dizzy. So rattled, I almost didn’t register her next words: “Gas them.”
Tammy vanished down the hall with two guards tailing her, shutting the door firmly behind them.
The remaining guards moved in sync, obedient as trained dogs.
They produced slender face masks, covering their own noses and mouths.
I glimpsed Eros offering Cliff an identical mask before pulling his own into place.
The guards produced compact devices hidden behind the holsters that housed their handguns.
The design was sleek, refined in a way that terrified me with the sheer preparation that had been poured into this.
Of course, a company as well-founded as Evercor would have invested in more effective ways of incapacitating fae than clumsy bullets.
They were going to turn the very air in our lungs against us—inescapable, and terrifyingly patient.
Each man thumbed a trigger at the back, and with a low hum, the devices released a pale mist that spilled outward like slow-moving fog.
One whiff, and my body seized with a visceral stiffening that went right down to the sinews of my muscles. I whirled to Ben, flying to his side.
“We have to get out of here,” I panted.
We searched the ceiling for openings we could squeeze through—an air vent, an unrepaired crack, anything.
But there was nothing.
“Shit,” Ben whispered. “They’re gonna…”
“Don’t panic,” I said, cutting over his tightening voice. But stars, the primal fear burrowing in my chest made it hard to think, hard to even breathe. Death might be preferable over the alluded fate of these captives.
I braced my palms together and raced through the incantation to send a volley of razor-sharp ice shards toward the encroaching guards, but my lungs seized as more and more of the mist made its way into me.
My wings became heavier, my eyelids leaden. Ben grabbed my hand, and by the look on his face, he was fading fast, too.
With the pale haze closing in on us, I pulled him down to the open glass tank, where Zia and Rowan clutched each other in the corner, their wings clipped.
The iron-core frame that held the glass together numbed their magic while inside—but if I could pull Zia out, get her to help…
She was a noble. She had more power than all three of us combined.
I dropped on top of the glass case, letting Ben’s hand slip from mine. His shout of protest melted behind me, turning into a ragged cough as he sank to his knees.
I leaned over the opening, casting a desperate look to Zia. “You’re a noble. You can stop them if we just get out of there.”
Zia shook her head, her face twisted in anguish. “Even if you could, I can’t help. I’ve sworn not to bring harm onto any living being.”
My jaw dropped. “Now is not the time for oaths!” I shouted. Stars, I couldn’t believe I spoke to a noble like that.
I glanced at Ben next to me. His wings looked awry, half-folded at an odd angle like they could scarcely remember how to fly. I wondered if I looked the same. My thoughts felt thick now as sedation sank deeper into my bloodstream. Every moment felt like wading through molasses.
“Help me get her out,” I begged him.
“No!” Zia protested in a strangled voice. “I can’t—I won’t hurt them.”
“They put you in here. They might kill you, all of us! Are you insane?” I snarled.
Zia buried a sob into her hands. “I know. I-I’m sorry.”
The last thread of my plan evaporated before my eyes.
I slammed my fist against the reinforced glass, blinded by rage and terror and utter desperation. Aching at the hole that Jon was gone, and Cliff had turned on me, and I might die tonight without ever finding my family again.
“Fucking do something!” I shrieked, voice raw.
Behind me, I spotted Cliff had pulled on one of the protective masks that covered his nose and mouth—and was now moving toward us.
A fragile seed of hope blossomed. This was it—with Tammy gone and Eros’ defenses defused, he could drop the act. He was coming over here to save us, to kill the guards with a few well-placed movements that I’d seen him capable of so many times before.
Ben’s coughing seized again, his wings fluttering feebly. My vision swam in doubles, my will to resist unconsciousness weakening by the second.
Cliff tilted his head at me, his words muffled by the mask. I wanted to believe it was something reassuring—a hope that dissolved like acid when I felt him wrap a hand around me and lower me into the case with the others.
Trapped.
I was almost grateful when darkness crawled over my vision completely.