Guardians: The Girl (The Guardians Series, Book 1)(53)

Meanwhile, Jay has trapped Frenzy underneath one of the tables. Chaos has Miku under his control and forces her to attack her brother with a discarded dagger. Rio shields himself. Ameana comes to the rescue by picking up a piece of sharp jagged metal and plunging it right into Chaos’ back. He yells out in pain as it lands between his shoulder blades. He yanks it out and goes to attack Ameana.

Jay grabs a Para light a few feet from him and shines it on Chaos, causing him to go blind temporarily. Ameana is able to get away.

Just then Rage is unfrozen. I go to press the Stopper again but Mayhem kicks it out of my hand. It flies off and lands several feet away. Rage gets on his bike and takes off. Seeing this, Jay says we need to get to the Cave before Rage gets there and moves Julian.

“I saw a car back there near the entrance. Let’s go,” Marcus says as the Akons take off following their leader.

Marcus leads us to the back of one of the huts where a small car awaits. It looks to be about a hundred years old.

“We can make it work. Get in,” Jay says confidently.

We all pile into the car. Jay closes his eyes. It’s like he’s negotiating with the car. Or sweet-talking it like he does the girls at school. Whatever he’s doing, it works. The car slowly comes to life. Jay then turns it off and tries again. The car roars.

“Yes, that’s what I’m talkin’ about,” he says as we race down the road.

The Akons have a big lead on us. The fact that the angels can’t fly in this area is frustrating. Had they been able to take to the air it would speed things up. The car is already going eighty, but that isn’t fast enough. Jay says he doesn’t want to push it by making it go any faster; it might stop altogether.

Marcus takes a quick glance at me. He flinches at the sight of my left eye which is now completely shut. I turn away because I don’t want him to worry and anyway, it’s not his problem. I should have gone for the Stopper first. That way I wouldn’t even have had to tackle Rage. But I did the first thing that came to my mind because I couldn’t let him suffer.

There is a light coming from down the road. The car slows down until it sputters and dies. It can go no further.

“We can run the rest of the way,” Marcus says.

We get out of the car and head towards the cave.

“Meana and Jay will take Rage and Chaos. I’ll take Mayhem and Frenzy.”

“How can I help?”

“By staying out of the way,” Marcus answers.

“No, I can help. I have a Stopper. I’ll watch and when it’s best, I’ll zap him.”

“Alright, just stay out of the way until then. And if they come close to you, use the Para light to blind them. When they start shooting, you take cover no matter what is going on with one of us,” Marcus says pointedly. I take that to mean he didn’t appreciate me risking my life to save him.

We see the cave Ebo had spoken of. It is glowing brightly from within. Around the cave are miles of wildly growing trees and brushes.

Rage shoots at us from on top of a nearby tree. We duck and take cover. Ameana picks up all the bikes and starts dropping them on their respective owners. Jay is able to flash the Para light and blind Rage long enough to get him to stop shooting. Marcus takes off after Mayhem who has just thrown a dagger inches away from my face.

He instructs the twins not to worry about us and to focus on reprogramming the timer at the base of the Cave. They take one more look at the battle situation and reluctantly go towards the cave.

“I can see him! I see Julian” I shout to the team as I head over to the opening.

“No,” Rio says as we are about to enter.

“What is it?” his sister asks.

“A Soul Chaser. I can hear the wind swirling. Stay behind me.” He takes out his shield and Miku gets behind him.

“It’s too strong. We won’t be able to go in. It’ll pull my wings right off. We need to be able to turn it off at the base.”

I run over to them. “I’ll go. The Chaser won’t cause me as much damage.” They look at each other not sure they should allow me to do in. Marcus overhears our conversation as he and Rage throw blows at each other.

“No!” he shouts to the Twins.

This is stupid. It’s my planet too.

“I’m going,” I say and head into the cave.

“Emmy, it’s too strong for you,” Marcus roars as Rage throws a fireball at him. He is so focused on me he barely has time to move. If not for Ameana, navigating the fireball away from him, he would have been set ablaze.

“I’m the only one that can come close to it without dying. I’m going.”

“Jay will Glide over and do it,” he shouts. He is trying to get to me but Rage is on his tail and won’t let up. He keeps having to dodge fireball after fireball.

I look to Jay just as Mayhem stabs him in the leg. I start to call out his name but before I get the words out the twins are at Jay’s side.

Frenzy hurls a bolt of lightning straight for Ameana.

“You are really getting on my nerves, you freak,” she yells.

It’s the first time I’ve seen her lose control in the line of duty. She pulls a tree out of the ground and drops it on Frenzy. He moves away just in time. It falls on the ground, shaking everything around us.

Seeing that Ameana has managed to almost get the better of Frenzy, Rage launches a fireball at her. Unlike the other times, she doesn’t see it coming. Both Marcus and I call her name at the same time. She looks up just as it lands on her.

I think my heart has stopped. I look over expecting to see Ameana up in flames. But there is nothing there. A few yards away Jay holds Ameana protectively in his arms. Marcus calls for Rio to shield him as he makes his way over to Ameana.

“Are you okay?” he asks to her.

“Fine. Thanks, Jay,” she says breathlessly.

“Ain’t nothing.” He puts her down. Marcus pulls her close.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks again.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“I thought you were—”

“No way.”

“It’s time, let’s go,” Rage yells at his team. All of them get on their bikes and take off.

They didn’t think they could defeat us. They just wanted to slow us down so that we would get caught up in the blast. The others are thinking the same thing, too.

“It was all just to delay us,” Jay says.

“I should have known,” Marcus says bitterly.

“Focus, guys. We need to get to Julian,” Ameana says.

“We can’t go in. The Chaser is too strong. And, according to this, we only have two minutes until the whole damn cave blows up” Rio replies.

“Can’t you rewire it?” Marcus asks.

“Not enough time,” the twins reply.

“I can do it,” I insist.

“No, it’ll pull you in,” Marcus counters. There’s no time to argue. I take a deep breath and run into the cave.

“Emmy!” Marcus calls after me.

The whirlwind is more like a hurricane. It’s louder and more vicious than the one back at the village. It is pulling me in. I grab hold of the cave wall as the wind lifts me off my feet. I am now completely sideways. It’s like I’m holding on to the wings of an airplane. It’s sucking the air from my lungs. Breathing becomes almost impossible.

I have to get close enough to press the release without getting sucked in. I hear Marcus’ voice but with the rush of the wind whirling around me, it sounds like a whisper. I think he is coming into the Cave after me. I can’t tell. I am too focused on getting to the center of the Chaser to look behind me. Even if I could, the pressure would snap my neck in half.

The only way this will work is if I let go of the side of the cave. Then I can try and reach the release before it sucks me in completely. I let go, but for some reason I don’t get sucked into the center of the Chaser. Something is holding me back. I feel Marcus’ hand around my foot.

“Let me go. I can reach it,” I shout.

“No, it’ll kill you.”

“We only have one minute,” the twins shout to us. “We can get out of here or save Julian, but we can’t do both.”

“I can get to him,” I shout to Marcus.

Marcus refuses to let go of me. I kick him as hard as I can and I feel his hand slip away. Normally I wouldn’t be able to get free of Marcus’ hold but the Chaser has weakened him greatly.

“Thirty seconds,” the twins shout behind me.

I see a blurry figure beyond the Soul Chaser. He lies motionless on the floor.

As soon as I get close enough, the wind claims me and drags me to the center. My body is being sucked in.

My limbs feel like they are being ripped from their sockets.

“Twenty seconds,” the twins call out.

I force myself to stay focused on the center of the Chaser and pay no attention to the agony traveling down my body.

“Ten seconds.”

I try in vain to steady my fingers. The wind is too strong. I can’t get a strong enough grip to press the button at the center of the Chaser.

“Five seconds.”

“Emmy, no!” Marcus roars in pain.

I grab on to the side of the ball and press down as hard as I can.

It is too late. The wind of the Soul Chaser is replaced by a blast of blinding white heat. I can feel my body cut through the air. The blast grips me and tosses me like a weightless paper bag.