Chapter 274: Maizie
Everything was in chaos. There were so many people who didn’t belong here. I didn’t understand where they had all come from or why they were here. I had never seen them here before. The guards were running toward something, but no one paid me or Mark any attention as we carried kid after kid to the portal. It wasn’t hard to see that Bentley’s strength was waning, but I had to be sure no one was left behind. I checked every room that I knew existed. We would have to send people back when this was all over, to just make sure we weren’t missing anything, but I was fairly confident that every child had been saved.
“Sawyer?” I mindlinked my mate.
“Hi babe, a little busy right now.” He responded and I could hear the strain in his voice.
“Where are you?” I asked, uncertainly. I didn’t like that my mate was in danger. I had risked him enough today, the least I could do was help.
“Go. Find. Grace.” The sentence was choppy, and my worry grew. A part of me wanted to ignore his plea, but if I wanted to help him, we would be stronger all together.
I hated that I couldn’t mindlink Grace in the same way I could Sawyer. It was so much more convenient especially in moments like this.
I pulled my phone out and searched for the dot that represented Grace. I had been all over this damn building but I hadn’t found her or Claire. I didn’t know how I was going to have to tell Michael that she was gone, but I didn’t have time to think about that right now.
One problem at a time.
Once I found Grace, I started to make my way out of the training room Bentley was in.
“Wait!” Mark called after me. “Where are you going now? We got all the kids.”
“Go on.” I told him. “I have to find Grace. Michael and Iris will be excited to see you. I have to go find Grace.”
Mark gave me a hard look but the idea of safety prevailed, thankfully.
“I’m coming with you." Bentley said, closing the portal he had created.
I wanted to argue, but the words wouldn’t come, and if I was being honest, I really didn’t want to go alone, so I gave him a single nod, and we were off again in the direction that I knew Grace to be.
My heart pounded as a loud crash could be heard from a room that had always been off limits before. I hesitated for only a moment before throwing open the door to pure chaos. Grace was standing above Kinsley, who I couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead. Leon and Caleb were both engaged in a fight, and for the first time, shifting came easily. There was no drug that forced me to. It was completely within my control, and my body changed before I even had time to think about it. Leon and Caleb were both outmatched. Bentley jumped in in his human form, and before anyone even realized we were there, they were dead.
Grace stood up slowly from where she had crouched next to Kinsley and gave me a tired smile as I shifted back, and Leon threw a pair of clothes at me from his backpack.
“Hey Maiz.”
“Hi.” I whispered before rushing over to hug her. I needed her to be real. Because if she was, then we were still in this. If she was, then I was a little less afraid, even if it didn’t really make sense.
I pulled away when I saw the little girl huddled in the corner. Her hair was the same blonde as Michael’s, I knew immediately who she was.
“Claire?”
The little girl’s eyes widened, but she nodded slightly.
“I’m a friend of Michael’s,” I told her. “We’re here to get you to safety.”
She looked like she wanted to argue, but she bit her tongue. I knew they must have been spreading terrible rumors about Michael, and all of us really, but I just hoped she’d one day realized how hard her brother had fought for her.
“Is this the Pyxis?” I asked Grace, changing the subject.
“I think so. Claire was fueling it, I think.” She answered, turning back toward the wall where magic was swirling weakly.
“Oh shit.” The idea of a child being used for that was horrifying. “I think it must have disrupted it because there’s a whole bunch of people out there who don’t belong here.”
Grace nodded, staring at the magic as though if she stared at it long enough it would make sense to her.
“I don’t know how to fully shut it down.” She finally admitted. “It’s still getting power.”
I frowned and stared at it too. I didn’t think shutting it down would be easy, but I had hoped it would be.
“Maizie, I bet you could drain it’s power.” Bentley stepped up next to me.
For someone who had been my rival for as long as I could remember, he sure was being helpful... It made me slightly suspicious, but who we are and who this place made us, I knew were too different people.
I looked at Grace, who shrugged and said, “Worth a try?”
I reached out toward the magic and felt it come to me without hesitation. The magic flooded my system and I felt a surge, almost like an adrenaline rush that had no where to go. I nearly stumbled, but Grace immediately reached out to steady me.
As soon as her hands were on me, the surge felt more like a manageable pulse. Like she was grounding me or something.
Sawyer burst through the door, and I almost threw the magic at him in surprise, but I forced myself to stay focused. Slowly, the magic seemed to dim.
“Not to uh rush this, but we have to go.” Sawyer said after a minute or so.
“Bentley, open the portal,” Grace said, not turning or taking her hands off me. She seemed to be totally focused on something, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was taking for her to ground me. I also don’t know how she knew Bentley or how she knew he opened portals, but it didn’t really matter.
A pounding on the door forced my attention away from the Pyxis, but Grace forced it back.
Bentley frowned, but attempted open the portal. Keyword, attempted. It didn’t open. He was so tired, I could nearly feel it.
“We’re trapped here, if you can’t open it,” Sawyer warned, throwing his body against the door to hold it closed.
Grace didn’t hesitate though. She grabbed his hand, put it on me, and I felt the power flood through me and into him. Tired or not, he now had the energy to open the portal, and as soon as the Pyxis was drained, Grace through all her power at it in an earth shattering scream, it shattered to nothing, and we headed home to fight a fair fight.
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