“We have to help her.” I speak quietly, under my breath.
“No. We have to get out of here, now.” His command is as urgent as it is panicked.
“I’ll carry her.” I lift her broken body.
“No, you cannot. They will trace you. Put her down,” he orders.
“I’m not leaving her here to die,” I hiss.
“She has been marked by them. She is already dead.” His eyes are as hard as steel.
“By who? Kieron, we have to get her out of here!”
“If you do that, you’ll soon be dead, too. And so will everyone you care about if you take her back to Dryndara.” His face is marked with anger and fear.
I can’t believe what he’s suggesting. It’s like he doesn’t even care that my friend is badly hurt and I have to save her.
When I don’t move, Kieron pries my hands away from Ivy’s body, forcing me to set her back down. “Don’t touch her anymore. Their energy is still all over her. Their toxin is poisoning her, and she’ll be dead shortly. It’s amazing she’s lasted this long.” He looks deep into my eyes. “You cannot save her.”
“Kieron, I have to. She’s my friend…” I push him away, and try regaining my grip on her. But he clamps his hands around my wrists and shakes them loose.
“You take her anywhere, dead or alive, and they will find her. And you. All of us. And it will be bad. Very bad. Worse than the worst thing you can imagine. We are not safe, and we need to get out of here now!”
“No! You may be afraid of them, but I’m not! What demons did this? I will find them and kill them. You can run away—”
“A demon didn’t do this, Lucky,” Kieron says, his voice low and heavy. He glances around nervously and leans closer.
“Of course a demon did this…look at her. Look at Cody! No human could possibly even remotely…”
“It wasn’t a human. It wasn’t a demon.”
“Then what was it? Tell me, or I’m taking her out of here right now…”
He tightens his grip around my wrists so I can’t move. I had no idea he was so strong. But it’s the terror in his eyes that’s got my attention.
“Lucky, it wasn’t demons who did this…it was Light-angels.”
******
Wordlessly, I stare into his blue eyes, my mouth no longer able to function properly. The crunching of twigs behind us causes me to jump, and Kieron looks over his shoulder.
“Is she alive?” Bones asks in a dull voice, grief clouding his masculine features.
I slump down, my gaze slowly moving from Bones over to Kieron, down to Ivy’s motionless body, and back to Kieron again—a silent, desperate plea in his eyes.
Almost imperceptibly, I shake my head no.
“Probably for the best. Don’t imagine one would want to live without the other,” Bones says. Now he sounds cold and detached. He holds up a small black band. “Found this in what was left of Cody’s hand. I’m guessing they either just had their blood-binding ceremony or were about to when they were…attacked.”
I glance down at Ivy and gasp. I hadn’t even noticed she was wearing the sacred gown of the blood-binding ritual. She and Cody had finally made it official, or were about to.
I close my eyes, my insides thoroughly shredded as I release my grip on her and stand up.
“Whatever demons did this are in for a world of hurt. Let’s go,” Bones says, before falling onto four paws and sprinting off toward Dryndara.
I can’t believe I’m leaving Ivy here to die alone. But I know Kieron’s right. I know we have no choice. My legs wobble as I gaze upon her battered body one last time. Kieron wraps his arms around me and holds me steady.
“We can’t leave her here to suffer like this,” I whisper. “I just can’t…”
He nods grimly. “We need to be fast.”
I feel like I’m dying a million deaths as I release the explosion of electric fire from my hands, and instantly reduce Ivy’s body to ash.
“I will kill you for this! Do you hear me? I will find you and I will kill you!” I scream at the top of my lungs, not caring who or what hears me.
Kieron gives me a haunted look, and grabs my hand. We take off running.
Chapter 16. Liora
I know something’s wrong the moment I open my eyes; there’s a disturbance deep within my soul. Something’s happened with Lucky. But I don’t want to know what it is. I don’t want to think about anything right now. I just want to lie here in my bed and bask in the soft sunlight streaming in through my bedroom window. School’s out until tomorrow, so I’m going to savor this one last day of peace and quiet before having to face Kieron and my humiliation.