Chapter 452
A fourteen hour flight is really only good for two things—eating and sleeping. And I intended to do both. Sitting next to my sister, who was not holding back either, I sank my teeth into a turkey and cheese sandwich the size of Elliott’s head—and that’s pretty big.
I assumed we were going to Rome, even though my sister kept saying she didn’t know yet. For the first few hours of the flight, she was undecided. So I ate and tried to fight the butterflies in my stomach that had nothing to do with the breaded masterpiece before me. I sensed something major was about to happen, and I didn’t like the unsettled feeling it created.
The plane was noisy. There were a ton of people on it. Tara, Ashley, Amanda, Aurora, Hannah, Christian, Cale, oh, and in the back, tied and gagged, Hamish Stewart. He was about to get a real insider’s look at this portal he’d helped open not so long ago. I liked jumping into his head just to see how terrified he was. It was the only sense of calm I was able to summon.
I’d packed a few of Brandon’s things in my bag. I’d thought about just bringing his suitcase, but I didn’t know how many changes of clothes he had from the other night. So I just grabbed his essentials and a couple of shirts and jeans. His mom was there, and we talked for a few minutes. She was trying to hold it together but wasn’t doing well. I wanted to stay and talk to her, try to comfort her, but she was bringing me down, and I just needed to get out of there. She had said she would get Elliott’s stuff together, which was nice. Before I left, I went to the pantry and grabbed a bag of Cheetos and stuck those in my suitcase, too. He had asked me to bring them, after all.
Keeping track of what time it was served to be challenging. There was the time back home to think about, the time where we currently were, and when the portal would open. Rather than trying to sort that all out and keep track of it, I set a timer on my phone to go off two minutes before the portal was supposed to open and then every six hours through the next day, just in case we messed this up. I was praying we wouldn’t.
After I washed down my sandwich and a couple of chocolate chip cookies with a can of Dr. Pepper, I thought I might snooze a little, but it was almost time for the portal to open again, so I didn’t. I knew I wouldn’t be getting any texts on my phone, but I was still nervous. My alarm sounded, and I turned it off, noticing the vibration made my sister jump a little. She was on edge, too. I think we all were. I reached for her hand.
Cadence’s phone buzzed a few times right on cue, but I wasn’t paying any attention to that because instead of getting five flickers on my IAC, I was in Brandon’s head. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at, and it was terrifying.
I squeezed Cadence’s hand even tighter as I watched the ground flying up to meet me—or Brandon, anyway. It wasn’t just solid earth down there, though. There was a building, a large one, one made completely of limestone. And he was about to collide with it.
I wanted to scream at him to reach out and grab ahold of the lip of the Colosseum to slow his pace, but I realized his hands were full. He had Heather with him, his arms wrapped around her. At the last second, his hand shot out and grabbed for the limestone, but his fingers dragged along what looked like the edge of an ancient column, and then he hit the ground. Hard.
My hands flew to my mouth as Brandon screamed in pain. It sounded to me like he’d broken at least one leg. I couldn’t see anything now because his eyes were shut, but I could hear Heather trying to help him. I had Dax on, too, but only glanced over to see he’d managed to get his hands on the narrow roof and was climbing down, cautiously.
Brandon’s broken leg was only one of his problems. Gunfire rang out all around him. He opened his eyes at the sound, and it was apparent he was in the middle of a war zone. And he was the prize.
It was so difficult to watch, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t dare look away, but knowing he was on another continent, writhing in pain, with Vampires closing in, was somehow more terrifying than when he was still in the portal. Tears began to stream down my face, and I heard Tara behind me, bawling. At least Dax wasn’t injured. Maybe those were tears of joy.
“Is he out?” Cadence asked quietly.
Maybe she didn’t have access to his IAC yet. “Yeah. But he’s hurt. And there are Vampires everywhere.”
She squeezed my hand reassuringly. “It’s okay. Lex will get to him.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I assumed Lex was the Hunter Leader of Rome but hadn’t even tuned into that yet. I watched as the shootout continued; it seemed evident to me that Brandon alone was the objective. The Vampires were pouring through doorways, windows, holes in the limestone, any place they could fit, and Lex’s team was having trouble holding them off.
At least Brandon had a Glock. Heather was also armed. I got a good look at her as she stood to try to keep the bloodsuckers at bay. When I realized the weapon she was using was familiar, my stomach twisted into a knot. I couldn’t think about it at the moment, though. There were more important things to worry about than the fact that she was using my dead friend’s modified musket. It was clear she was doing whatever she could to try to protect Brandon.
