“I know,” she replies in a meek voice.
“I’d better go check on the other students,” Ellen declares in a somber tone. Her mood has definitely changed now that she knows what Renata did.
Renata continues to cry, but I’m not in the mood to listen to her pity party, so I tune her out. Glancing at my phone, I press the button to call Daisy.
It rings until it goes to voice mail. What the hell? Why isn’t she picking up the phone? I try Rufio, Phoenix, and Morpheus, getting the same nonresponse.
“Toby, can you get a hold of Rosie?”
“I texted her not too long ago, but she hasn’t replied yet.”
Vises of worry tighten around my heart. “Okay, we aren’t waiting until nightfall. We’re leaving now.”
“But we don’t know where the safe house is,” Toby argues.
“I don’t care. I’ll drive all over town until I can pick up Daisy’s signature.”
“Drive what car? And how are we getting out of here without your mother noticing?”
“You can borrow mine,” Renata chimes in. “And I’ll distract her and Nurse Ellen.”
“Okay, that could work,” I say.
“There’s only one problem. My car is still in the school’s garage.”
Shit.
“We can’t fight the Neo Gods, but I can tell if the coast is clear or not. I can pick up brain waves from pretty far,” Toby says.
Not ideal, but I’ll take it.
“Let’s do it.”
14
Daisy
My heart is racing as I stare at the cruel face in the clouds. It vanishes after a second, but the terror it caused in my heart lingers. It’s the same nauseating feeling I felt when I dreamed about the island where Chaos branded the loves of my life.
“Did you see that?” I ask.
“That’s him. That’s Chaos.” Morpheus stops closer to me.
“Can he attack Daisy inside the house?” Rosie’s voice trembles a little.
“I think he’s tethered to the island,” he replies without conviction.
The storm is getting larger and moving quickly toward us. “I don’t think he’s bound to the island anymore,” Phoenix pipes up.
“What’s going on?” Xavier steps next to me.
No sooner has he asked than a bolt of lightning strikes the beach in front of the safe house, making the floor shake beneath my feet. I jump back with my hand clutching my chest. A knee-jerk reaction. My heart is now stuck in my throat, and quickly, panic starts to take hold of me. I feel powerless and alone, like I’m right back in that nightmare. Heavy rain falls from the sky, and the ocean that had been calm a minute ago becomes turbulent. The waves crash against the shore violently, getting closer and closer to the house.
Someone grabs me by the shoulder, dragging me away from the windows.
“We need to get out of here now!” Morpheus yells.
I finally snap from my stupor and seek Rosie in the room. She’s with Rufio, running toward the front door.
“Don’t look back,” he tells her.
Morpheus laces his hand with mine, and together we run after Rufio and Rosie, with Phoenix and Xavier close behind us. We’re a few steps away from the door when a loud boom reverberates against the walls, and a split second later, all the windows facing the beach explode. My time-bending power kicks in on its own, as it usually does when I’m facing mortal danger. The deadly shards of broken glass move at a slower pace, and only a few of them reach us.
Rufio and Rosie are already getting inside the car when we burst out the front door. The rain has turned into hail and drops heavily on us, each piece of frozen rock bigger than the next. Even with my time bending, I feel the sting of the hits. We’re all running pretty fast thanks to our enhanced Idol abilities, but Xavier manages to keep pace with us. He almost pulls the driver door off its hinges as he opens it roughly, but he stops briefly to look at the sky.
I don’t dare copy him, afraid if I do, I’ll get wrapped up again in the terror. Deep down, I know the feeling isn’t natural. Chaos has somehow managed to amplify everything that I’m feeling, twisting my emotions against me.
“You can run, but you can’t hide. I’m everywhere, I’m everything,” Chaos speaks in my mind, making me whimper.
I don’t know if Morpheus heard his voice too, but he squeezes my hand tighter, right before he lets go to push me inside the car. I almost fall on top of Rosie, who is already crying. Rufio has his arm wrapped around her shoulders, comforting her, an action that makes me love him even more. It’s a sight I never thought possible.
The passenger side door shuts loudly as Phoenix slides into his seat. Hail continues to fall, and the hits against the car sound like we’re target practice for a machine gun. Xavier peels out of the driveway, burning rubber as he goes. And yet, we can’t seem to outrun the storm. A huge piece of ice drops on the windshield, cracking the glass. Rosie lets out a scream.
“We’re okay, Rosie.” I grab her hand, and she squeezes so tight it hurts a little.
“Where are we going now?” Phoenix asks.
“I don’t know. I’m kind of busy trying to outrun this tempest,” Xavier shouts over the loud noise outside.
Suddenly, Morpheus tenses next to me. “Watch out!” he warns.
A second later, lightning strikes a tree ahead of us. Instead of catching fire, it breaks in half and tilts toward the road. It’s going to fall right on top of car.
“Don’t stop. Keeping going!” I order.
I slow down the massive tree’s descent, and we manage to speed past it, missing it by a hair.
“That’s fucked up.” Rufio twists his neck, looking back.
“We’re not going to get far if we don’t stop Chaos,” Xavier mutters under his breath.
Morpheus shifts his body next to mine, becoming tenser. “Let me out.”
“Are you fucking crazy? I’m not letting anyone out,” Xavier shouts.
“I’m the only one who stands a chance against Chaos. I can buy time so you can get away.”
“No, Morpheus. You can’t leave.” I grab his arm. “He’s going to destroy you.”
He stares at me with determination in his eyes. “I have to do this, Daisy. It’s the only way.”
I open my mouth to argue, but Morpheus reaches for the back of my head and crushes his lips to mine. The kiss is quick and rough. A goodbye kiss. “I love you,” he whispers against my mouth, then turns to Xavier. “Stop the car.”
To my dismay, he presses on the brakes, bringing the car to a sudden halt. Morpheus is out the door before I can stop him. I start to follow, but Xavier takes off again, and I miss my chance. My vision is hazy when I turn around in my seat to watch Morpheus stand alone on the road, facing the wrath of Chaos.
MORPHEUS
My heart is pounding as I look up at the sky. The clouds morph into Chaos’s odious face again. There’s a wicked smile there, solely for me.
“You’re a foolish boy if you think you can stand against me.” His voice sounds like thunder, and I feel it deep in my core.
“I’ll fight you until my last breath,” I shout.
“Oh, I look forward to it.”
He sends lightning my way, but I jump to the side. My pulse is racing as I try to come up with a plan. I’m a demigod, but I have no idea what I’m doing. My father was able to deflect Chaos’s strike. Could I do that too? It would have been nice if the guy who sired me had bothered to teach me a few tricks while I was growing up.
Chaos tries to strike me again with more bolts of electricity. I keep jumping from place to place and soon realize the god is toying with me. Son of a bitch.
“Use your gifts, Morpheus.” A female voice sounds in my head. It’s not my mother’s or Daisy’s—not that they’ve ever been able to communicate to me telepathically. Who the hell is speaking to me, then?
“He can’t see you inside the shadows,” she continues.
A rock made of ice hits me in the shoulder, drawin
g a grunt from me. More rocks the size of basketballs fall down from the sky. It seems Chaos got tired of trying to fry me and now he wants to literally crush me. I have no choice but to heed the mysterious voice in my head. I release the shadows that were already churning inside, letting them cover me from head to toe. I can still see through them, but it seems Chaos is unable to. The frozen rocks keep falling, but nowhere near me. He sends more lightning bolts that also miss the mark.
Okay, I’m now hidden from him, but nowhere close to striking back. I wouldn’t know where to start. How does anyone fight a primordial deity?
“You know the answer already, Morpheus. It’s in your heart,” the lady speaks again.
“Who are you?” I shout in my head, not wanting to give away my location to Chaos.
“Family.”
“Family? Are you a demigod too?”
She doesn’t answer right away. Meanwhile, I can sense Chaos growing more enraged that he can’t find me. His storm system begins to move forward. He’s going after Daisy.
“I don’t have time for riddles. If you know how to defeat Chaos, tell me now!”
“You already know. What’s the opposite of chaos?”
The hail stops. No. It didn’t stop. Chaos simply got tired of me and moved on. Xavier should be miles and miles away from us by now, but when the clouds stop moving suddenly, I know he’s found his next victim.
Since I’m not getting any straight answers from “family,” I go after the wrathful god, running so fast it feels like I’m flying. When my feet don’t touch the ground, I look down. My body is gone; I’ve turned into a big shadow, zooming across the land without bodily restrictions. The feeling is exhilarating and terrifying.
A blast goes off ahead. The horizon turns bright orange as a cloud of flames rises up.
Daisy!
15
Bryce
The entrance to the tunnel leading to my mother’s secret hideout is deep in the forest surrounding campus. It’s actually not far from our treehouse. There’s a reason no one ever stumbled upon it. It’s camouflaged, hidden by a powerful illusion spell put in place by a high-level Idol. Probably a former principal, if what Mom said is true.
Getting out undetected is not a problem. There isn’t a soul nearby. We run nonetheless toward the dorm buildings, but not as fast as I would like. I’m still too weak from the lightning-glass poison. We slow down when we reach the path leading to our goal. There’s no place to hide from here until we reach one of the buildings.
“Crap. How are we getting to the garage without being spotted?” Toby asks.
“This is the only way. We’ll have to make a run a for it,” I say.
Renata looks at me. “You can’t run fast enough yet, can you?”
She’s correct, but her observation rubs me the wrong way. “No, but I’ll manage.”
“Nonsense. I can carry you.”
“I’m not going to let you carry me as if I were an invalid,” I grit out.
“So you’d rather we get caught?” Toby asks.
I glower, hating that he’s siding with his former bully.
“Come on, Bryce. Don’t let your ego get in the way. The people we love might be in grave danger,” he continues.
Fuck. His words are akin to a punch to my throat. I’m being a complete idiot right now. “Fine. Let’s hurry, then.”
Renata offers me her back, and awkwardly, I hop on. She’s a tall girl, but I’m much taller than she is, and it feels strange to clutch to her like that, as if I’m trying to climb a streetlight post. She’s got a good grip on my legs though.
“Ready?” she asks.
“Toby, do you sense anyone nearby?”
“No. I’m picking up nothing.”
“Let’s go, then.”
We take off. Renata is a little faster than Toby, even with my added weight, and reaches the secondary dorm building first. As soon as he joins us, he pushes us both against the building wall and signals for silence. His spine is tense, and his face is twisted into a worried mask. I wait a few seconds, but I’m too impatient.
“How many can you sense?” I whisper, hating that I can’t simply walk out of my hiding spot and face the Idols out there.
I can’t even pick up on their signatures. I’m so depleted that I could very well be a Norm right now. Guilt immediately pierces my chest. I may feel this way, but I still have my powers, unlike Rufio.
“Three, at least,” Toby replies. “They’re about to walk out of the school’s building.”
“Can you tell me their levels?”
“I haven’t got the hang of that yet, but they feel similar to Renata, a little stronger maybe.”
“They’re definitely twelves,” the girl chimes in.
“Are you sure you can’t read their minds?” I ask Toby.
“No, but they’re restless and annoyed. Like they don’t want to do something.”
“Maybe they were told to stand guard in case some lost Fringe appears. You can’t go anywhere without a car,” I say.
“There’s the bus,” Renata reminds us.
“The bus stop is probably being watched too,” I counter. “Okay, we need a plan, stat.”
“Can’t you summon even a little bit of your powers?” Toby asks.
I lift my fingers and manage to create a sparkle between them. “I don’t think I can do whole lot of damage right now.”
The sound of a car approaching draws our attention. I press my finger to my lips and wait to hear who comes out. A door opens and shuts, followed by heavy steps on the sidewalk.
“What are you idiots doing here?” my father asks.
My blood runs cold while my pulse skyrockets. If I had all my powers at my disposal, I’d kill him on sight. Rage is making my body shake. I clench my teeth and curl my hands into fists, digging my nails into the softness of my palms.
“We were ordered by the principal to guard the garage’s entrance. He thinks there may be Fringes still around, waiting for an opportunity to get their cars and escape.”
He grunts. “I wouldn’t waste my time with runaway Fringes. I heard my son was here.”
There’s a pause, and then one of the students replies, “He got into a fight with Nate and a few others and got hurt pretty badly.”
“And yet he managed to escape. Pathetic.”
“Principal Fa—I mean, Fallon helped him.”
“Of course she did. She wouldn’t let go of her precious weapon, would she?”
He continues on to wherever he was going, probably to see the new principal, his Neo God buddy. He’s gone, but the fury in my body lingers. Until next time, asshole. You will pay for what you did to my brother.
“I have an idea,” Renata says. “Those guys might not know I helped you escape. What if we pretended I captured you?”
“I’m sure they do know you betrayed them,” I argue.
“We don’t know that. Besides, I just need to get closer to them to inflict some pain.”
“You’re going to fight three Idols on your own?” Toby’s eyes go round.
“I just have to hit them in key points to make them useless for a few minutes. It should buy you enough time to escape.”
I can’t believe I’m about to say this.
“If you’re going to expose yourself, then you’re coming with us. I can’t leave you behind to suffer the consequences. My father will destroy you.”
She stares at me without blinking for several seconds. Great. I stunned the girl.
“Okay. Are you ready?” she finally says.
“Let’s get this show started already.” I crack my knuckles.
She gets in between Toby and me, taking hold of our arms. Her grip is strong but not painful. We walk out of our hiding spot and put on a show for the three Idols ahead of us. At once, they glance in our direction. Their faces are familiar, but I don’t know their names. I was never the social butterfly at school.
“Well, well, well. Look who we got here.” The one in the mid
dle smirks.
“Where did you come from?” The second Idol narrows his gaze, watching us with suspicion.
“The forest. They were hiding in their treehouse,” Renata replies.
“Bullshit. You helped Bryce escape earlier.” The suspicious guy steps closer, and his friends close in. “But Bryce boy here got hurt by lightning-glass. He can’t use his powers, can he?”
Fuck. They made us. I knew this plan was idiotic. Then I remember the throwing star I dropped in my pocket earlier. I decided to put my jacket back on with blood and all because of the cold, and now I’m glad I did. The lightning-glass weapon is still there. I stick my hand in it, careful not to cut my fingers on its sharp edges.
When I have a good grip on it, I send it flying straight into the eye of the guy in middle. He lets out a bloodcurdling scream that will alert everyone that something is wrong. Renata lets go of Toby and me and hits the other two idiots in their necks and between their shoulder blades. They drop like flies, unconscious.
“Come on!” I urge, choosing to run instead of letting Renata carry me. We need her unhindered in case she needs to fight others.
The garage is almost empty, and for a second, I fear her car is no longer here. But she makes a beeline for a shiny red sports car, unlocking it. No sooner do we jump in our escape vehicle than several shouts echo around us.
The engine roars, and then we’re off. Renata presses the button to open the garage door, which does nothing.
“It’s not working.” She panics, slowing down.
“Use your telekinesis to make it!” I shout.
“I’m not strong enough.”
“I’ll help.”
I shove every bit of energy into making the damn metal door open, grunting as I go.
“Hurry up! They’re coming,” Toby warns us.
I feel something sticky come out of my nose—probably blood—and black dots appear in my vision. I must be on the verge of passing out when the damn thing finally budges. Renata presses the pedal to the metal when the gate is only half open. A loud screech follows as the top of the car scrapes its edge.
Broken Knights: A Paranormal High School Bully Romance (Gifted Academy Book 4) Page 10