Power(107)

“We’re the same!” He called out to me. “This is pointless! Don’t make me kill you for no reason—”

I pulled out the last stops and summoned Bastion, Wolfe, Gavrikov and Bjorn front and center.

I hit him with the War Mind again and he blanched like I’d smacked him with a metal girder, hanging there like a big sack of meat dangling in midair.

Use me as well, came Eve Kappler’s soft voice.

I summoned her forth and blasted him with a net of light that wrapped him up like the pig he was. He looked shocked as it curled around him, pinning his arms to his sides. I could feel the invulnerability of Wolfe and his speed coupled with Gavrikov’s flight as I slammed into Sovereign. I hit him again and again, crying out with inarticulate rage as I broke every bone I could find.

“WE ARE … NOTHING … ALIKE!” I screamed into the wind.

“We … are …” he said through bloodied lips. “And you’ll realize that … given time …”

“Your time just ran out.” I could feel the change in my body as I drew forth the power of Roberto Bastian. I could feel his embarrassment at the ability he so rarely used, but I had no similar reticence holding me back. My clothes ripped and tore as I drew forth the power of the Quetzlcoatl-type, my arms turning into wings and my legs flattening and smoothing out. I could see scales on the parts of my body that grew beneath me, and I elongated like a snake until I was the size of a four-story building.

Sovereign hung there, staring at me, still bound in the net of light, his mouth agape.

And then I burst into flames.

“Wait,” he said as I hovered over him, a dragon on fire with rage and power. “You can’t—I’m the last—if not with me then you’ll never —” He took a breath and sounded calm. “You’ll never be able to touch him.”

“This is as close as I’d ever let you get to touching me,” I said, in a voice I didn’t even recognize. “You picked the wrong fucking girl, jackass.”

I went at him full out and he didn’t even have a chance to move. My jaws were around him in an instant, ripping and shredding him faster than he could heal himself. Pieces dropped out of my mouth, and it felt horrifyingly natural, this deep, predatory need to destroy. I could hear him screaming, but whether it was from the grinding of his bones or the fire burning around my jaw, I did not know.

I spat him out a little piece at a time, in small enough segments that I knew Humpty Dumpty wouldn’t ever get put back together again. I moved as I did so, and the last bit came out as I drew closer to the ground.

I blinked as I caught sight of a house below that looked different from the others. There was a mammoth, gaping hole in its roof, and I knew it immediately.

Home.

I felt the power flee my limbs and my body shifted back to its normal shape. I was still wreathed in flames, and the power of flight stayed with me as Eve, Bastian and Bjorn withdrew to the back of my mind.

My body was filled with fatigue, my limbs aching, my mind taxed. I dipped as I came down, intent on the house with the hole in the roof. My vision grew cloudy, and I knew I was seconds from passing out.

Well done, Sienna, Wolfe said. You did very well.

Marvelous, Gavrikov said.

Not bad, Eve conceded.

Tactically impressive, Bastian said.

You did the impossible, Bjorn added.

I hit the grass and rolled, the flames snuffed upon impact. My naked body fell back, staring up into the blue sky, and the sun shone down upon me.

You’re safe now, Zack said. I’m proud of you.

“I’m proud of me, too,” I murmured and caught a glimpse of the house somewhere off to the side. I realized I could just barely see the window I used to peer out of to look at this very spot. “Thanks, Mom,” I muttered.

And then I passed out.





Chapter 59


When I woke up, I was outside my house, in the backyard, and the sun was shining down on me. And after a moment, I realized I was naked.

I rolled to my feet and hurried to the back door, breaking the lock and slipping inside before anyone could see me through the cracks in the fence. There was a giant, gaping hole in the middle of the living room floor and it had that whole deconstructed scent that I’d become so familiar with at the Agency. I frowned as I looked up through the hole in the roof at the same sky I had seen from the backyard. Then I sighed and went into my room, put on some clothes, and sat on my bed for about thirty seconds before I heard tires squealing outside.

I scrambled for a weapon, but I’d lost my last spare when Gavrikov had saved my life by burning it out of my hands. My eyes searched my bedroom and fell on a pair of eskrima sticks by the door. I grabbed them. Not that I necessarily needed them to beat the living shit out of someone, as I’d just proven, but it never hurt to have a weapon at your disposal.