Chapter 549
“Brandon!” I shouted, floating over to where he had disappeared. He didn’t answer, and I realized he must’ve fallen all the way in. “Dang it.” I looked around the battlefield. I knew he was safe down there, but I hated that he was in that miserable place. Cadence was firing at Daunator now while Christian moved in, to place the grenade, I assumed, so I thought perhaps she’d be safe for a few minutes. I decided to help Brandon.
“Are you all right?” I asked, using my telepathy.
“Thank goodness,” he thought, probably not even to me. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just really dark in here.”
“I know. Hold on, and I’ll get you out.”
“If I hold on, won’t it be harder for you to get me out?”
“All right smarty pants.” I needed to focus all of my energy if I was going to do this quickly and not exhaust myself. My powers don’t deplete like Jamie’s used to, but I can get physically tired. It took me a few seconds to be able to get a grip on him since I couldn’t see him, but eventually, I had him moving in the right direction.
“Cass, where are you?”
Aaron’s voice in my head sounded slightly frantic. I wondered if something was wrong, but I didn’t want to turn my head to look. “Trying to get Brandon out of a hole in the ground. Need something?”
“No, never mind.”
I wanted to know why he’d asked, but Brandon was only about halfway up the shaft now, and I couldn’t ask at the moment. Perhaps he was just afraid he’d fall back in himself. I hoped he and Eliza just about had that Vampire gone, and I wondered if Christian had landed his grenade yet. I hadn’t heard any explosions.
I saw the top of his head first, that unruly, curly dark hair that I love so much. His hands popped out next, but I kept lifting him until he was all the way out. Though he had a light dusting of soil on his shoulders, he was otherwise fine, not stinky like Christian. His leg had basically healed itself already, too.
“Thank you,” he said, and I gave him a quick hug, hoping he didn’t do that again.
Behind me, there was a loud scream, and I looked over just in time to see what looked like a leg go flying up into the sky and over the ledge. “You have got to be kidding me,” I said just as Scarlet shouted into my head, “Cassidy! Can you get Mila’s leg?”
I realized she wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t an emergency. Mila was bleeding badly, and Scarlet was doing her best to stop it while still using her powers to Heal the Guardian. Scarlet had recently had a second round of serum, but she wasn’t as strong as Jamie, who was currently helping hold down the Vampire Aaron was beheading.
“Yeah, I can get it,” I said, heading off in the direction I’d seen the leg go. It was far off in a ravine beneath the mountain range. I might be able to pull it to me, but I couldn’t see it at all, and without visuals, the possibility of picking something up that was so small and so far away, would be hard.
I was going to have to get closer. “I’ve gotta go get that leg,” I said to Brandon who was already opening fire on the black creatures again.
“What?” he asked. All I could do was shake my head as I flew off after the limb, hoping Scarlet or Jamie could actually reattach it once I was able to bring it back.
Flying as quickly as I could, above the bullets that were still zooming all over the battlefield, I was just about to cross over the edge of the cliffs when I heard a large explosion. “Please let it be Daunator,” I said, crossing my fingers. Rather than turn my head, I used my IAC. Cadence and Christian were still engaged with the Vampire, so it wasn’t that. I checked with Brandon.
It took a second for me to recognize what he was looking at. A tree was on fire—the same tree that Aurora was handcuffed to, and she was screaming as flames licked her hair and face. Jamie’s light engulfed her as he sprinted in her direction. He couldn’t put the flames out, though, so Aurora continued to scream and try to pull herself free.
Shane tossed something down on the ground and ran over to help her, and that’s when I realized what had happened. Christian’s crossbow, the new weapon he’d been working on, apparently didn’t work correctly. Shane must’ve fired it, and instead of catching Daunator on fire, it shot the wrong way, and now Aurora was paying for it.
If she wasn’t my friend when she wasn’t shooting my other friends, I would’ve thought it was a little funny.
Hannah’s voice was calm as she told us, “Be careful. All three of the Healers are taking care of the injured right now, so everyone do your best to stay safe.” I wondered where Cale was and checked in to see he was also helping Mila. It made me nervous that he wasn’t with Cadence anymore. Hopefully, Aaron would be over there soon. He wasn’t a Healer, but I knew he’d keep her safe.
The tops of the trees whizzed by beneath me as I narrowed in on Mila’s leg. A funny feeling bubbled around inside of me, one I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I felt like I needed to get back. While it was a comfort to know Heather was there, I saw that she was helping the Guardians out of the holes now, so she was also busy. It would be best if I could just get myself back over there in case something else went wrong.
The leg was stuck in the top of a tree so it was easy to spot. I tried not to focus on the gross part where the Vampire had plucked it from the Guardian’s body, and I didn’t even pick it up with my hands. Instead, I lifted it up with my powers and sent it flying back in Mila’s direction, guiding it to the Healers as I headed back to Brandon. The last of the Vampires, other than Daunator, let out a scream, there were only a handful of black creatures left, and Aaron should be able to help Cadence now.
I was almost back into position when a blinding light off to my right, where Cadence and Christian had been battling Daunator, had my hands flying up to cover my eyes. Instantly, I realized it was Christian’s grenade going off, and I hoped that meant Daunator had been defeated. It took a second for my eyes to adjust, but when they did, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A plume of ash and smoke radiated out from the center of the spot where the light had originated, but behind it, hanging in the air, at least ten feet away from the cliffside, my sister floated in the air for a split second before she slipped below the horizon, gone.
