Breathing hard, my chest heaving, I stepped away from him, feeling as though my heart would indeed burst with the effort it was taking just to draw air. “I will never go with you willingly.”
A snarl curled his lips as his stolen body fell back with a splash into the pooling water. The shakes took me as I realized how fucking close that had been. Clinging to Erik’s threads, like a child clinging to the belief that under the covers was safe from the monsters, had been a close call. I forced myself to look around.
Every single coven member was dead, both those collared and un-collared. Their bodies were blown apart. That’s what Orion had done with a single clap of his hands through a witch of power. How much stronger would he be if he took possession of Zane?
“Erik, are you okay?”
My uncle nodded and peeled himself from the wall. “We still have a demon to deal with. One left. And the two other kids.”
I Tracked them and had to fight the well of frustration in me. They were another level down and the water was spewing up.
“They are further down. I’ll get them. You get my mom out of here.”
From three flights up, I finally registered Frank yelling for me. “She’s hurt, Pamela’s hurt!”
My feet feeling as though lead had been poured into them, I stumbled as I forced them to move. Grabbing Amelia, I hauled her to her feet, her dress and hair soaked through from the salt water. “We have to go. Right now.”
She nodded, her eyes blank with fear. “Where’s Robert? He tried to stop them from hurting me.”
I pushed her ahead of me as I Tracked Robert—my dad—, felt what was left of him on the other side of the room. I sloshed over to where he lay face down in the water, my guts churning.
With one hand, I rolled him over. His neck had been slit, a gaping wound like a second smile grinning at me. I squeezed my eyes shut for split second, the pain of what could have been washing over me. He’d invited me to visit, wanted to make amends for the past and now there was no chance of that, not ever. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
But, again, there was no time, no time to grieve. I made my way back to Amelia and again grabbed her arm. I would tell her later what had happened to Robert, but not right then. “Alex, we’ve got to go.”
“Yuppy doody, I is coming.” He bounded through the water to us. Hauling my mother behind me, I circled the room. There were no doorways out. “Fucking hell!”
“Rylee, she’s not doing well.”
Fear for Pamela replaced the pain arching through my body. Whatever Orion had done, it had burned through me when I’d forced his power out, teasing my newly healed synapses. “Sister. Get those two out.” I didn’t want to use Berget’s name and have Amelia have a melt down. I took off my coat and put it around my mom’s shoulders. It wasn’t much, but it would help keep the chill somewhat at bay.
Erik took my mother and dumped her over his shoulder. “I’ll get her out, get the kids.”
He set off at a jog to the doorway he’d come through. I bent and scooped up my one sword I could find, sliding it into my back sheath, then followed him. There were steps going up and steps going down.
Down was dark and the water sloshed up from the bottom.
One of these days, it was going to be a beautiful, sun-filled, cookie factory that I had to rescue someone from. I smiled, thinking how fucking ridiculous that sounded even in my own head, and started down the stairs.
Deadly, gloomy, and dangerous, here I come.
Chapter 12
THE STAIRWELL LIGHTS flickered as I ran, one hand on the railing. Alex leapt from the top and landed in the water at the bottom with a splash. He ducked his head once and came up slopping wet.
“We have kids to find, Alex.” I Tracked all three of them, and found two together. India and Kyle were to the left. The water was up to my knees and I ran as fast as I could, the pull on my muscles dragging at me. It still didn’t seem fast enough as the water rose noticeably with each minute that passed. The threads of the two kids were close and seconds later I stopped in front of a door with a large lock. Hadn’t thought this through. Fuck.
“India!”
There was a muffled yell from inside the room. “Rylee!”
I kicked the door once, out of frustration more than anything else. How was I going to get them out?
“The answer to the question you are undoubtedly asking is, you aren’t getting them out.”
I spun to face the direction of the voice. My eyes met those of Simon, the supposed young Tracker, and my heart sank. His eyes should have been swirling with blues and greens. Instead they glowed a steady, dull red as he stared at me.