by J. L. Weil
Before any of the Night’s Guards could react, Dash grabbed my father and slammed him against the stone wall. Ryker and Cyan rotated to watch Dash’s back. My father held a palm up in the air, signaling for the Night’s Guards to stand down.
Dash shoved his forearm into my father’s throat, cutting off his ability to breathe. He was showing restraint, giving my father the chance for redemption. I knew it took everything in him to not kill my father right then and there.
“It’s all for the greater good. Blah, blah, blah. Heard it before. You need some new material.” He released his chokehold on my father, allowing him the luxury of sucking in air, but that was the only liberty given.
“Don’t you see? With their blood, we can live longer. We can cure diseases. We can prevent war. Everything I’ve created has been for you and Ember. A legacy for you to carry on.”
I scoffed. “A family legacy of murder? How sweet. You’ve brought war upon yourself. Creating hybrids and torturing them has brought destruction to the Institute you worked so hard to build. The council’s reign is over. No more will the mortals, the Gifted, or the Forsaken bend to your will. We’re here to take back our freedom, our rights, our lives. There has been enough bloodshed, but more will spill before the night is over, unless you surrender.”
Ryker and Cyan were doing everything they could to keep an eye on the Night’s Guards in case one of them decided to play the hero, but our time was running out. From outside the gates, the band of settlers was chomping at the bit, ready to go to war. I whipped my head from the anxious sounds of combat, to plead with my father one last time, but I stopped myself. I saw it in his eyes. It didn’t matter what I said. Nothing would change his mind, and an overwhelming amount of sadness surged through me. In that case, he chose war, and a war he would get.
“Dash.” I laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s time.”
A sinister grin sliced across his face. “I never thought you’d say the words.”
“Charlotte, you’re making a mistake,” my father warned somberly.
I guess we’d find out. I would do my best to destroy everything he’d worked so hard to mastermind. “Sorry, Dad. I have to do this.”
“Autumn!” Cyan boomed, giving the order to one of his warriors.
At the entrance, Autumn, a young woman with raspberry-colored hair, lifted her hands over her head and clapped them together. Every single gun in the vicinity, including all the Night’s Guards weapons, flew through the air, landing at her feet.
I loved this chick.
“We’re doing this the old-fashioned way.” I struck a boxer’s pose, fists raised.
Like a match had been lit, the heat turned up to holy craptastic. The battle for the Heights had begun.
Dash and Ryker moved simultaneously, one in front of me and one remaining behind me at all times. Arrows. Flames. Ice. Teleportation. Water. Wind. Tails. Metal. Magnetism. And about every other thing you could think of erupted. Gifted clashed against Gifted.
What none of us had factored in were the effects a fight of this magnitude would have on the environment. We could destroy the world with the kind of abilities now colliding around us.
Could the Heights endure it?
Could we?
Instinct propelled me to utilize those combat skills I’d learned from the Institute. I fought alongside Dash and Ryker, holding myself back from using any of my other powers. I stuck with my blade and a swift kick of my foot to the gut.
All around me, the sounds of battle echoed—groans, hissing, zinging, screams, and roars burst through the air.
There was no way to tell who was winning.
“Hey, big Sis.”
I closed my eyes before forcing myself to turn around and face the one person I knew I wouldn’t have the heart to fight.
Ember.
Her jeering face glowed yellow from the flames licking her fingers, like melted butter. A cut sliced down her temple, blood dribbling along her hairline, but she gave no indication of feeling any pain. “Have your blue eyes worn you out?” she sneered.
The jab at my invisible shield was to inform me she knew I was weakened. “I won’t hurt you,” I said, backing up, but I kept a firm grip on my dagger.
“Too bad.” She tsked. “I was looking forward to this.” Then Ember leaped off the ground, a burst of flames firing from her fingers.
For the love of zombies.
I rolled out of the way, but not quite fast enough. Tendrils of fire caught the end of my hair, scorching the tips. Never mess with a redhead’s curls. I regained my composure and spun to face my sister. “You should be fighting alongside us,” I told her, flipping the burnt pieces of hair over my shoulder.
She raised her chin, and I knew her stubbornness was about to kick in to gear. “I’ve never pretended with you. I never made you think I was someone I wasn’t. This is who I am.” With each sentence, she stalked toward me until we were nose to nose. The heat from her fingers scalded my skin, but I refused to flinch.
“Charlotte!” Dash screamed my name.
I flicked my eyes toward the sound of his voice, but it was too late. A wave of energy blasted into me, knocking me flat on my ass with Ember towering over me. “This is one war you can’t win, Sis.”
My brain suddenly stopped overthinking. Something inside me woke up like a sleeping giant. Watching everyone around me fight, seeing those I cared about bloodied, and witnessing bodies littering the ground, uncoiled the power inside my core.
I could do this. I could fight, overcome, and win.
I actually believed it.
Standing, I concentrated on the ribbons of bravery weaving inside me. Energy clawed at my chest. I would kill them. Kill them all. And in one, perfect, blinding second, I could see it. Our victory.
“It isn’t over yet,” I ground out.
Throwing back my head, I let the combined energies of four very different gifts emerge. The outcome was nothing I could have imagined. Never had I contemplated merging the powers inside me into one, and it was too late to back down now.
The earth shook, and the air swirled. In the distance, a single spear of lightning broke through the blackness with a searing white flash. A dense fog swept in from the four corners of the Heights, blanketing the Institute, and in its afterglow, the Forsaken appeared.
Magic and power trembled in the air, dancing over my skin in an electric current. Tiny sparks of light soared down from the star-strewn sky. I held my blade high, letting the metal absorb the energy I created. My blood heated with resolve, and I welcomed the warmth.
I swiped my arm in powerful strokes, tearing the dense fog to smithereens.
The night fell silent. My zombie army surrounded me. “Still think I won’t be able to stop you?” I snapped at Ember, who was surveying the field and the woods, stunned by the mass of Forsaken. I sounded cocky. Who wouldn’t with a zombie legion at your back?
“Charlotte, what have you done?” Ember hissed.
“What needed to be done.”
She walked backward, shaking her head. Fear finally registering in her eyes. “You’ve doomed us all.”
Dash stood at my side. “You have it wrong. She’s saving us.”
Ryker appeared at my other side. “This is for every person you’ve ever hurt or killed. It stops now.”
A grim determination burned in her green eyes. I admired my sister for her tenacity. “So be it.”
“Join us. You don’t have to fight for him.” I tried one more time to convince Ember to stand alongside us. She had a choice. I just hoped she would realize it before it was too late.
“I can’t.”
My heart sunk. “Can’t or won’t?”
Her shoulders lost some of their rigidity. “Does it really matter?”
I guess it didn’t. She’d made her choice, and no matter how much it hurt, I had to move forward.
A dark horde crept along the edge of the Institute, and goosebumps spread over my arms. “Kill,” the Forsaken hissed
all around me in an eerie chorus. Their movements vibrated; they were eager to fight.
The Night’s Guards were suddenly not so keen to attack and slowly began to back away. The world seemed to take a timeout, waiting to see what I would do next. Hell, I didn’t even know what I would do.
But one person stood her ground. “You’re not the only one with a secret,” Ember said. We were locked in an old-fashioned duel. Sister against sister, neither willing to cave for what we believed in.
I shuddered to think what kind of secret the Institute had waiting for us. Dash and Ryker tensed, preparing themselves for the worst. World War III. Another nuclear bomb. The possibilities were endless, but I still felt pretty freaking fantastic about my odds. I’d like to see them top a zombie army.
Ember gave the signal to a guard with a nod of her head. Everything inside me tightened. A mixture of emotions flooded me—anxiety, fury, and impatience. I’d had enough of the games.
“Surprise,” she mouthed.
From behind my sister, stepped a petite figure. Not the kaboom I was anticipating.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
My eyes had to be deceiving me. I rubbed them, taking a step back. This had to be a trick, an illusion surely. I was dumbfounded into silence, but not Dash and Ryker. Beside me, they both uttered a single word: “Star.”
I wanted to run across the battlefield and throw my arms around her. Tears stung my eyes.
It really was her.
Or was it?
Upon closer inspection, something was different about my friend. Was it the color of her hair? Her pale cheeks? Or the detached expression in her eyes?
Ryker staggered forward. I could only guess he wanted to verify she was real, but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. He could hate me later for what I was about to do. Throwing out my shield, I blocked Ryker from advancing into enemy lines. He spun on me. “What are you doing?” he said. “We have to save her.”
“Are we sure it is even her?” I countered, trying to be the voice of reason.
“What are you talking about? She’s right there.” He pointed forcefully with his finger.
“No, Charlotte’s right,” Dash agreed. “We can’t be positive this isn’t a trap.”
Star grinned, and at that moment, I was more confident than ever that my father had done something to Star; he had changed her.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
The hissing in my head was the reminder I needed. Now wasn’t an ideal time for a reunion. I would figure out what the hell my father had done to my friend, but first, I needed to get to her.
And I had the perfect distraction.
“It’s go time,” I whispered.
Dash dipped his head to mine. “You’re sure?”
I nodded.
“It’s on like Donkey Kong.”
“No one actually says that,” Ryker said.
“I do.”
“And that’s why you’re lame. Now let me out of this bubble.”
I rolled my eyes impatiently. “In a second.”
“Charlotte!” Ryker roared, but the sound got lost in the hissing that filled the air.
I waited until the cacophony of my zombie army swirled around me like a tornado—a hundred eerie voices rising up as one—before I dropped the shield. Those who came to fight alongside us lifted their weapons in the air. The steel flashed brilliantly under the moon.
The battle reverberated through the courtyard and carried deep into the woods. I’d never been in the center of warfare before. It was more brutal and tragic than I’d imagined. Even the creatures of the Heights seemed wary of the zombies that swarmed around the Institute.
Dash released a volley of arrows, observing the battlefield with sharp, silver eyes. He could anticipate his enemies’ movements before they struck.
The second the shield disappeared, Ryker was on the move with one thought in his mind—save Star.
I ducked as a crystal spear of ice shot over my head. Power thundered inside me, heightening all of my gifts. Whatever had happened transformed me, changing the way my powers interacted. They no longer seemed to fight against each other, but worked in harmony.
Wind twisted my hair as Dash swirled in motion around me, fending off attacks from all sides. Everything turned to chaos the second I unleashed the zombies. With a battle roar that surprised even me, I lifted my arm and the zombies lunged against the Night’s Guard and through it, I tried to locate Star.
Ryker hadn’t gotten very far. “If there is a way to save Star, I have to try. I need to get close to her,” I yelled over the clash of weapons and stomping feet.
Dash raised his sword and jabbed it through a guard’s neck. “This way.”
Ryker leaped in front of me, snatching the end of a tail whipping straight for me. He gave one good yank, sending the half-animal half-human stumbling into his fist. The smacking of bone into flesh could be heard even over the madness. Thump. His body hit the ground. “You’re not leaving me behind.”
The three of us threw ourselves into the fight, carving our way through what felt like endless ranks of guards. Even with the zombies, the battle was intense. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I became lost in the dance of war. Ducking, striking, blocking, swinging, parrying, we inched our way forward. Power swirled around me, so much stronger than before that it almost scared me. I sliced my hand through the air, cutting down a guard with a bolt of white energy. He convulsed on the ground for a minute, then two, before going still.
But another and another took his place.
Distracted for a split second, I searched for Dash, just long enough for a guard to slip through my defense. The tip of his spear touched my flesh, and I jerked, the head scratching my shoulder. I winced, heat flaring down my arm.
It wasn’t a deep cut, but the wound had my shoulder singing in agony. My fury magnified. “You’re going to pay for that.” When the guard came at me again, I shoved my palm into his nose, doing more than just fracturing his skull. The shock sent him spiraling backward. Another score for team zombie.
Throwing my hands into the air, I pushed out another stream of power, catapulting a cluster of guards into the air. It cleared the path straight to Ember and Star, who were waiting for me.
I felt Dash and Ryker step up beside me. “Freckles, just what the hell is going on with you?” Dash muttered.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “I can control my powers now. They no longer limit me.” And when they worked together, they gave me an insane amount of capability.
The worry about the drain on me from my powers left Dash’s face. He angled himself so he had a clear shot of Ember if anything went south.
“You came back for more,” my sinister sister taunted, with impassive green eyes.
“Stubbornness runs in the family. I came back for my friend.”
“She can’t be killed, but you’re more than welcome to try.” Of course with the way my sister’s twisted mind worked, she would immediately jump to that conclusion.
“No,” I heard Ryker moan beside me.
My father must have finally perfected his formula for immortality. Death wasn’t something humans should meddle with, but the scientist in my father couldn’t let nature take its course. If human DNA could be mutated to have extraordinary abilities, why not take it a step further and make us live forever?
Dash puffed out his chest. “Charlotte might not be able to undo what your father has done, but I most certainly can. There’s nothing in this world I can’t kill.” His bright silver gaze flicked to Star. “Human… or not.”
Ryker stepped in front of him. “Don’t. She’s alive. Doesn’t that matter?”
“That girl isn’t Star. Not the one we knew,” Dash countered without hesitation.
“But you can’t be sure parts of her still aren’t alive, no matter what they’ve done to her,” Ryker insisted. He couldn’t bear to see her killed again.
I wasn’t sure I could stand it either.
A flash of fire and smoke eru
pted, rocking the ground under our feet. Triumphant screams and howls rose up, as white bricks from the Institute began to crumble. “It’s over, Ember. Let her go.”
My father stepped out from the smoke without so much as a scratch. The rest of us were fighting for our lives, and he was cowering in his tower. He was so messed up. “The most powerful couple in the Heights. You’ve proven there is nothing you can’t achieve, but if you don’t stop this, you’ll ruin us all.”
“What you did to my friend, I can’t forgive.”
“Enough destruction has been done this night. Call off your… army,” he rolled over the word in disgust. “Your freedom has been won. No one will be punished for your defiant behavior.”
I clutched the dagger in my hand, slowly understanding the decision I had to make. I prayed it was one I could live with. “No deal.”
Dash, Ryker, and I shared a meaningful look. I was about to make a move, and they were alert. I flew at my father. Dash went for Ember, and Ryker rushed across the field, grabbing Star around the waist.
The Forsaken kept the guards from interfering. They didn’t have to do much work, for all eyes were on me. Under the moon and stars, my dagger glinted as I pressed it up against my father’s throat. “Move and I’ll cut you.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Dash withdraw an arrow, aiming it directly at Ember’s heart.
Ryker had Star pinned against his chest. She didn’t fight him as I’d anticipated. She didn’t do anything at all. Her expression was blank, and my heart dropped.
One problem at a time.
I turned my focus back to my very human father.
“If you think killing me will change anything, you’re wrong,” my father stated, in a last attempt to save his own skin.
Lightning crackled over my head, and I stared into my father’s familiar face, a plethora of scenarios running through my mind at high speed. It was less than thirty seconds, but in that short time, I saw the future and all the possible outcomes based on my next actions. Not a single one of them was the answer I’d been searching. I’d had to make some hard choices lately, but this was by far the absolute worst. These gifts weighed heavily upon me, and suddenly felt like too much of a burden for me to shoulder.