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How horrible it was to watch this unfold. To see the conflict in Paxton’s tear-lined eyes. A boy in need of his mother’s love, but too afraid of his father to go to her.

“Do it,”Max urged, though his stomach roiled. His odds of getting away from someone like Donovan… They weren’t good. Still he said, “We’re running out of time.”

Shay thought about it another moment longer, then nodded once.

“No tricks,” Ivy said sternly as Shay shut her eyes. “Not this time.”

Shay drew in a long breath through her nose. Blew it out through her mouth. The ground rumbled beneath Max’s feet, the air shifting with energy—whose, he didn’t know.

Because Donovan was rallying his magic too, his power so strong there were stones and debris floating all around him,as high as he was tall. The darkness closest to him seemed thicker, as if a piece of the Void lived inside him. Begging to be unleashed. Just one whisper of that dreadful power—that was all it would take to end them.

White light glowed through the rips in the arm of Shay’s battle-suit—her conduit tattoo.

It was almost time.

Max angled his body. Getting ready to run.

Theyallgot ready to run.

“I love you, Max,” Ivy said. Though the words themselves were softer than a flower, her tone was stronger than steel. “Try not to die.”

“Three…,” Shay began.

“I’m not dying today,” Max replied, his heart beating out of his chest.

The debris floating around Donovan began to vibrate so hard it blurred.

“Two…,” Shay whispered.

Max added, “None of us are.” They hadn’t come this far just to lose.

“One.” Shay opened her shining black eyes. Sucked in a breath and screamed, “NOW!”

None of them were prepared for what happened next.

An ear-splittingcrunchcut through the night.

Wind whipped down the street in violent gusts, stirring up debris and dust as a military-grade helicopter suddenly lost control, rapidly careening to the ground. Two big monsters that looked like bats were latched onto the aircraft, a third ripping itsway inside and devouring the screaming soldiers and pilots. One of the men jumped out, breaking his back on the way down.

Roman’s eyes widened. “It’s going to hit,” he breathed.

It was going to hit right where they were standing.

“Holy gods,” someone whispered.

“LOOK OUT!”Roman bellowed.

He tackled Paxton and Shay to the ground and threw himself over them—shielding them with his body.

The helicopter crashed to the road and smashed into pieces, the impact bursting what was left of the aircraft into flames.

Blood sprayed.

Objects were hurled through the lot with horrific force, smashing glass and breaking streetlights apart.

In the end, it was only their shields of magic that saved their asses.

And among the commotion, as the helicopter slid across the pavement in a roar of fire and smoke, rotary blades snapping off, they seized their one and only chance.