“They have battle armor,” Kale said. “You need to go for lower legs, forearms, sides, and necks.”
“Or just get them to simply lose their balance and act as a human bowling ball down the stairs,” Rod said, pushing his way into the hallway. “I’ve got first doorway on the right.”
“I’ll take left,” Gabriel said.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Kale said.
Constance went to the doorway behind Rod, and me behind Kale.
I threw open the door, briefly scanned the dark room, then crouched beside the door frame. Across the hall and down two more doors held the rest of our party, and that door was now closed. We couldn’t let anyone get that far. I was the last line of defense before reaching that door. I glanced across the hallway in front and saw Constance crouched behind her open door. We locked eyes for an instant before hearing the first intruder begin climbing the stairs.
I felt my heart in my throat as the soldier slowly creaked up the stairs. The gun shook in my hands, my palms now slick with sweat. The last thing I needed was to drop the gun. With my luck, the damn thing would go off and the premature bullet would hit me.
Then I heard sniffles coming from deep in the room. I needed to focus on the stairs, but instinctively turned toward the melancholy sound. A dark figure sat hunched between the closet and the en suite.
A shot was fired down the hall, snapping my attention back to the approaching threat. The shot was followed by several more, all seemingly aimed at the stairs. The soldier didn’t have a chance to return fire before dropping his weapon and falling to his knees.
Gabriel rushed into the hallway and tugged the injured soldier into his room.
More creaks came from the bottom of the stairs.
I turned back to the shadowed figure at the back of the room. “Piper, is that you?”
At first, she didn’t answer, then came a meek, “Yes.”
I was relieved to have located her, having now accounted for almost everyone. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.” Though I couldn’t promise that at all, but it was something I would have said to Mina if she’d been alone in there. Piper seemed fragile—very breakable—since she’d returned from captivity, and I didn’t want her to crack now of all times.
More shooting erupted down the hall as another soldier’s head came into view. Like the first one, this soldier was wearing a helmet and face shield, but a direct hit at such a close range did throw him into the wall. He caught his balance before toppling down the stairs and returned fire.
Then another soldier reached the top of the stairs, then another. Now that Gabriel had one of their assault rifles, he was able to spray bullets much quicker, but was still mindful of how many bullets he was using. We all had a limited supply.
The soldiers ducked at the edge of the stairs, using the floorline for cover, with just the top halves of their helmets and rifle barrels visible.
No one was aiming as far back as I was stationed, so I didn’t want to give myself away yet. I also didn’t think my aim would be good from that range, so it was better to save my bullets.
Then the shooting stopped. I peeked into the hallway expecting the worst, but could still see Constance and Rod behind their doors. Constance glanced back at me, the look in her eyes conflicted and fearful.
“They retreated,” she said in a hushed tone, just loud enough for me to make out.
“But they’re not gone,” I said.
Gabriel apprehensively stepped into the hallway, now wearing the helmet from the soldier he’d dragged into his room. He had the strap of the assault rifle slung over his shoulder. He crept over to the staircase and peered down.
“We may need to make a run for it,” he said. “There are two dead at the bottom of the stairs, but their rifles were already taken. I think if we wait here—” He pivoted the barrel of his rifle and fired several shots down the stairs, then fled to his doorway. “There’s a group of them coming! Be ready!”
I closed my eyes, praying we’d make it out alive—but also afraid this might be our last stand.
“Close your doors!” Gabriel yelled.
My eyes shot open just in time to see a metal canister flying through the air and bouncing off the hallway floor. Smoke poured from the canister, quickly expanding and filling the hallway. It was just like the one Duke Mackenzie had used to get me out of the cabin. The cloudy gas slithered toward my open door. I scrambled backward and kicked the door closed.
“Piper, grab a blanket and get under the bed!”
I dove for the bed as well, but before I could reach it, the door was kicked open and an armored soldier stepped out of the smoke like some hellish creature; he entered the room.
36
Byron
“How long do you think they can hold them off?” Ariel asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, leaning against the headboard, the pistol propped on one knee, the glass of water on the other. My head was still swimming, and I continued to drink the water like it was the antidote to my ailment. But I knew that wasn’t truly the case. Only time—or nanobots—would provide reprieve, and I had neither.
“I used to sneak out at night and had to avoid the staff and guards,” Johanna said. “Perhaps we can too.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
She stood by the window, peeking out around the edge of the curtains. “My room is just a few doors down the hall. There’s a roof ledge within reach outside. We can take it around to the other side of the house, where there’s a tree close enough to jump to and climb down.”
“I’ve done it,” Mina said.
“You have?” Johanna sounded offended. “You could have fallen.”
“So could you.”
“And you want us to try that now?” Ariel asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, knowing I had a hard enough time standing, let alone balancing on the roof and attempting to descend a tree. I felt dizzy just thinking about it. “Do you see anyone out there?”
“Not anymore,” Johanna said. “This might be our chance. Do you really think Victoria and the others will be able to hold them off?”
“I’d like to think they can, but I don’t know what we’re up against.” I’d overheard someone earlier mention an explosion and I was awake enough now to recognize the gunfire, earlier outside, and now mostly coming from downstairs. But I had no idea what size team was sweeping through this estate.
The youngest girl—her name escaped me—was crying now. The boy—her brother, if I remembered right—was trying his best to comfort her. But she was making too much noise.
Gunshots rang out from the hallway. The soldiers were making their way upstairs. If they made it past the rest of our group, did I really think I could hold them off?
I shook my head. Damn Mackenzie. It felt like needles were embedded in my skull. My eyes had a hard time focusing on anything, so I wouldn’t be able to hit anything over five feet away. Damn Mackenzie. I wanted to blame him, but the fault was just as much mine. He’d better follow through.
“I can’t stay here,” Johanna said. “Is anyone coming with me?”
“I am,” Mina answered, rushing to stand beside her older sister at the window.
Johanna unlatched the window and pushed it up. Everyone in the room froze, including myself. Johanna waited a moment before sticking her head out the open window, then proceeding to crawl through.
“Be careful!” I said, getting to my feet and stumbling over to the window.
“I still don’t see anyone,” Johanna said, poking her head back inside. “Come on.”
She helped her sister through the window, then Ariel.
“I don’t want to leave you behind,” I said to the brother and sister. “We should all stick together.”
“But I’m scared,” the girl cried. She was hunched, looking folded in on herself while her brother enveloped her in a hug.
I awkwardly dropped to one knee and looked her square in the eyes. “I am
too, but I think Johanna’s right and it will be safer for us outside. But we must move fast. I need to you follow us. Can you do that for me?”
She gave me a weak nod, but made no attempt to move forward. Her brother let go and stood at my side, then tried to coax her to the window.
“Together we’ll be okay,” I said, then cringed as the gunfire outside the room seemed to be growing louder.
“Come on, Anabelle,” the boy pleaded.
She dragged her feet, but she was moving. Johanna was waiting on the other side of the window. I helped Anabelle through the opening and Johanna helped her find her footing on the roof. The brother was the next through, then it was my turn.
Please don’t let me fall off the roof.
I lifted one leg and almost stumbled backward into the bed. I took a deep breath and steadied myself.
“I can help you,” Johanna said.
“No; help them,” I insisted. “Lead them to the tree and help them down. I’ll be right behind you. Then we’ll run as fast as we can to the woods.”
“Right behind us.” Johanna said, in a parental tone. “You better be.”
I clutched the window sill for balance, then swung one leg up and through the window. The gunfire in the hallway had ceased, but now there was yelling. At any moment, someone could burst through that door.
I looked out past the roofline. The ground was a long way down, and even though there was grass below, it didn’t look very forgiving.
“Come on!” Johanna was waving me over. She held Anabelle’s hand while Kimera and the other kids ran ahead of them.
After another shaky maneuver, I was standing on the slanted clay tile roof. I couldn’t untether myself from the open window. The tiles below my feet didn’t offer much traction and I could feel myself slipping as soon as I let go. I looked toward the ground again and got a full vertigo head rush. Closing my eyes, I tried to get the feeling to pass.
“You’re doing great.” It was Johanna’s voice again. From what Victoria had told me about her, I couldn’t believe this was the same girl. And I didn’t know what I would do without her right now.
The next window was only about twenty feet away. If I could just make it that far, I’d have another sill to grab hold of. I let go of the window sill and took my first, careful steps. As I moved, it felt like the earth was moving with me. I tried not to let the spinning feeling completely throw off my balance as I quickened my pace to the next window. A few steps more was all it would take.
Should I have closed the window?
Competing thoughts and doubts distracted me as I continued to the next window. It was nearly within reach.
“You did it,” Johanna exclaimed as I grabbed onto the new window sill.
The curtains were drawn and the room inside, dark. I glanced back to where I’d started from. There was no one peering out from the open window, which was a good sign.
I felt like I’d made it a long way, but this was a damn big house—not compared to the palace—but huge in my disoriented state.
Everyone but Johanna was already out of sight. She waited patiently at the corner of the roof—three windows away.
More gunfire rang out, this time sounding like it was from somewhere outside—the blasts echoing in the night air. I was the one hurting our chances of escape.
I didn’t linger at this window long, then made my way to the next, then to the next without stopping.
“The tree’s right over here,” Johanna said, pointing around the corner with her free hand. The other hand still held tightly onto Anabelle.
Mina was the first to make her way onto the tree, followed by Kimera. The boy had passed Ariel and was next to scale the branch and hop down the tree.
Johanna went after Ariel and waited by the trunk. We both helped Anabelle across the outstretched branch. Once she was by the trunk there were plenty more branches to grab hold of.
While the rest of the group descended the tree, I carefully climbed across the branch, which groaned and bowed under my weight. The movement brought on another dizzy spell, which needled at my nausea. The gun dropped from my hand as I fought to regain my balance. I watched it tumble to the ground, which only brought back the vertigo, intensifying the sickness in my stomach. I thought I’d throw up right there, but before my body could complete the protest, there was a loud crack—the branch that had just been holding me up now dropped to the trunk like a sprung trap door. I reached for something—anything to keep me from falling, but there was nothing but air.
A scream came from overhead, but I could make out nothing clearly as the ground rose up to meet me at what felt like light speed. Before I could rationalize how I was falling and the best way to land, my feet hit the ground—and another loud crack split the night like thunder. Pain shot up my right leg and traveled all the way up through my neck. I cried out in agony as I collapsed onto my back, banging my head against the ground.
Mina was suddenly beside me. “Oh my God! Oh my God!”
Then Kimera and the boy appeared next to her.
I tried to move my right leg and the effort only sent lightning bolts of agony surging through my body. I couldn’t move it at all. We were almost there. I was so afraid of falling off the roof, I’d never even considered falling out of the tree. There was no way I could continue with them. I’d have to be carried, and the group of kids now surrounding me would not be able to do it, even with their collective strength.
“Grab my gun. It fell over there,” I said. “And give it to Johanna. Go! You all can make it to the trees. You’ll be safe with their cover.”
Four sets of sorrowful eyes stared down at me while Johanna retrieved the gun.
Then I heard the crunch of grass under boots and the click of metal as a machine gun barrel came into view.
“It seems the great Prince of Easteria was here after all,” the soldier said.
The kids cowered around me, a few of them now sobbing. I didn’t know what the soldiers had planned for us, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. If he was going to shoot me or us, I hoped he’d make it quick. I closed my eyes and waited for his instruction or the click of the trigger.
The click sounded and the boom of a shot echoed in my ears.
37
Victoria
“Drop your weapon and place your hands on your head,” the soldier demanded, his voice sounding tinny and thin due to the mask. He closed the door to keep me in and a majority of the gas out.
I did as I was told, but didn’t slide the gun over to him. I instead dropped it to the floor at my feet, only a few feet from the bed. Maybe he wouldn’t pick it up and Piper could retrieve it after we were gone. I hoped we’d have that much luck—though I wasn’t counting myself particularly lucky right now.
Enough gas seeped into the room from the bottom of the door to make me cough, especially not being able to cover my mouth and nose. But the soldier didn’t seem concerned.
He pulled a small communication device from his pants pocket. “I’ve got one of them. Second floor.”
“Is the floor secure?” a female voice projecting from the device asked.
“There are casualties,” a male voice said. “We need backup.”
“We’ll be there shortly,” the female voice said.
The soldier put the device away, keeping the gun aimed at me the whole time. “I guess we wait.”
Within seconds, the door burst open again, but this time it was Rod with one of the soldier helmets. Instead of an attack of guns blazing, he tackled the soldier before he could fully swing around. Rod ripped the helmet off the soldier and proceeded with an onslaught of punches to the face.
“Go! Downstairs and join the others!” Rod yelled as he continued to strike, then was forced to grapple with the soldier.
My mind was racing so fast that all I could do was react. I bolted out the door and down the hallway. I lifted the collar of my shirt over my nose and fought through the fog quickly before my eyes began to sting too badly.
At the bottom of the stairs, I leapt over two bodies, headed for the front door. But as soon as I opened it, I saw several soldiers and one of my sisters headed directly for me with no one from my party in sight.
I slammed the door, which would no longer lock thanks to the beating it took earlier, and ran down the hallway, trying to determine where to go next. My fear almost took me back upstairs where I knew were at least two people from my party.
I should have grabbed Piper! I cursed myself for running out of the room so fast. I should have grabbed the gun on the floor! I was seriously screwing up at every turn.
I rounded the dining room. Someone else passed by the window outside, but I couldn’t tell whose team the shadowy person was fighting for.
Then I saw the door to the cellar. As much as I dreaded ever going down there again, I carefully opened and shut the door, doing the best I could to minimize the sound. For all the years I’d lived down there, I didn’t need the light to show me where I was. There were thirty-six steps, and I hurried down them all, counting as I went.
The darkness was all consuming as I continued down the corridor. I was no longer counting steps, but it felt like I should be passing my old room about now. I reached out to find the wall, then ran my hand along it a few feet before finding the door jamb. I knew exactly where I was.
I stepped away from the wall, holding my hands out in front of me until they located linens over stacked furniture. It didn’t take long, then I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled inside the makeshift cave. I inched through the maze of chairs and table legs until I found a deep enough spot with ample leg room and stilled, hugging my knees to my chest.
Footsteps creaked along upstairs. They seemed to be going in all different directions—probably multiple people splitting up to cover more rooms.
I hadn’t run back to check on Prince Byron and the kids before dashing downstairs either. I felt like the most terrible person ever. I went through the mental list of all the things I should have done, but had neglected to do in my panicked escape.
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