Chapter Twenty-Four Ren
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ren
I head toward the fray.
It feels like the violence is waiting for me, setting a trap I can’t escape. The police post is up ahead. It’s a hive of activity. People hurry toward it, some alone, some in groups. The shadow has descended even farther. I lift my hand, as if I can touch it.
A bizarre screeching makes me whip my head around.
A vehicle appears out of the darkness, its rubbery tires turning across the dirt. Moonlight dashes off its sides and top. Several men push it, forcing it forward, aiming at the police post.
Dread grips me.
Officers are outside the building. They hold rifles, but the threat isn’t stopping anyone. People rush toward them, like they have nothing to lose. Or maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe they have so much to lose that they’ll do anything to protect what’s left.
“Ayyy, Dragon!” A hand lands on my shoulder, and I almost jump out of my skin. Kai. His bandanna is tied around his forehead, as it always is, but out here, amid the uprising, it looks like a sign of war. Excitement wells in his eyes. “I knew you’d come!”
“What the hell, Kai?” I’m torn between slugging the damn fool in the jaw and hugging him in relief. James and his buddies mill about me in frenzied circles, red ants whose hill has been kicked, ready to swarm, attack, bite.
“Hey!” James steps close to me, squaring up. “You’re either with us or you’re one of the traitors. Which is it?”
I take a shallow breath, trying to be calm. James and his minions are jumpy and wired—I’m not about to bring their wrath down on me.
“Leave him alone,” Kai interjects. “He’s here to help.”
“He doesn’t have it in him,” James accuses.
“Ren has always had it in him.” Kai grins like we’re kids again and this just some sort of mischief we’re going to get into. “He doesn’t need to release the dragon, because he is the dragon.”
“Sure. Whatever. I’m going home, Kai.” I take a step forward. “You’re coming with me.”
“No,” he says. For once, there’s no humor or bravado or wildness in his voice. I stare at him. “I know what I’m doing, Ren. Don’t worry.”
He flashes the smile that always gets the girls swooning, but his eyes are as clear as a glass of water.
He turns away from me, heading toward the skirmish.
He’s always claimed to be a tiger, and never has he seemed more like one as he stalks forward through the desert. But I’m not leaving without him.
“Kai!” I shout. “Come on. Stop.”
Something whistles through the air and lands with a thunk.
Gray clouds explode in plumes. My eyes burn.
My throat spasms. A horrible stinging sensation spreads across my skin.
I smell…pepper. Tear gas. I take a panicked breath.
Makes things worse. Drags the sting deep into my lungs.
My nose runs, my eyes weep. Feels like my brain is melting and leaking out of me, draining down my chin and onto the front of my shirt.
I stumble forward. Something bright bursts through my vision.
Something else flickers overhead. I look up. Red bolts shoot through the looming shadows, connective points of electricity. I see my hand, floating just ahead of me, reaching for Kai.
But when I break through the smoke, he’s not there.