Page 111

Slowly—painfullyslowly—they nodded.

“Then believe me when I say I trust Fletcher with my life, and in this case, withRoka’s life. Neither he nor I will let anything bad happen,” she told them, infusing as much certainty into her voice as she could. “And if—when—all this is over, we’ll have Grimm here and we’ll be able to wake Roka. He’ll be back with us again for real.”

She could tell her friends were struggling, but their faces also flashed with hope. It was enough for her to know they weren’t going to keep Fletcher from what he was about to do.

Squeezing both their hands, she said to Zain, “While Kyia is in here helping Fletcher, you need to be out there waking the others and warning them. If we don’t manage a clean getaway from Meya, we might have company on our heels.”

“We’ll be ready,” Zain promised. “If needed, we’ll hold them off until you can free Grimm and revive Roka, then we’ll all retreat back to Akarnae with you. The wards of the Library will keep us safer than anywhere else.”

Alex nearly swayed with relief at seeing Zain’s determination and knowing that he, the leader of Meya’sZeltora, was willing to follow her plan; was willing to rally his people at her request. She was asking so much of him, ofbothof them. To endanger Zain’s best friend and Kyia’s beloved—tokillRoka—was nosmall ask. And yet, here they were, putting their faith in Alex, just as they always had.

With one final squeeze of their hands before releasing them, she whispered, “Then let’s do this.”

Their nods of agreement, tentative though they were, were enough for Fletcher to quietly instruct Mayra to pass over his medical bag. He rifled around until he pulled out his MedTek device, hooking it up to Roka to function as a heart rate monitor that prompted a steadybeep, beep, beepsound to echo around them. He then reached back into the bag and withdrew a syringe and a vial of neon yellow liquid.

“I’ve never seen you with a needle before,” Alex observed, feeling somewhat woozy at the sight.

“That’s because you’re terrible when it comes to anything medical,” he murmured distractedly as he drew the liquid into the syringe. “The only time I can get a needle anywhere near you is when you’re unconscious. When you’re awake, I have to baby you with ingestible alternatives.”

Alex would have been embarrassed by his declaration if it hadn’t had the effect of lightening up the tense atmosphere, with everyone other than her offering flashes of smiles—albeit, small ones—at his comment. At least until he spoke again and their expressions turned solemn once more.

“This will be nearly instant,” Fletcher said, lining the needle up against Roka’s inner elbow. “Be ready.”

Everyone nodded, and Alex moved towards the entry of the tent, ready to duck outside and activate theValispathas soon as she was given the go-ahead. Hunter and Kaiden followed, sticking close, while Zain, Kyia, Mayra and Fletcher hovered above Roka.

“Be safe, little human,” Zain whispered. “And return to us swiftly.”

With her quiet promise that she would, Fletcher plunged the needle into Roka’s arm, the yellow liquid instantly flooding his veins.

As the doctor had warned, it took barely seconds before the monitor noises slowed, thebeep, beeeep, beeeeeeepeventually dragging out in one long, telling sound.

“It’s done,” Fletcher said tightly, starting his compressions on Roka’s chest as Kyia took her position near her betrothed’s head. “Go, Alex.Go.”

Thirty-One

Alex was out the tent before thesecond ‘go’ had left Fletcher’s mouth, Hunter and Kaiden right on her heels. She instantly summoned theValispath, and with a feeling similar to welcoming an old friend, the Eternal Path activated at her command, sweeping the three of them away from Draekora and down towards the dangers of the city below.

They streamed through the dawn-lit clouds beneath the floating islands, with neither Kaiden nor Hunter appearing fazed by what, to them, would seem like an invisible rollercoaster.

“I’m taking us straight to the palace,” Alex said as she concentrated on directing them there, grateful that she was just as competent with theValispathas she’d been while using it in the past. “I don’t know if they’ll be there or inTaevarg, but it’s been barely an hour since Jordan, Bear and D.C. were taken, so I’m counting on them having been delivered to Aven first, before…”

… Before he locked them up or did something much, much worse—the possibilities of which she wouldn’t allow herself to consider.

“I agree,” Hunter said.

“And remember—” Alex cut herself off when theValispathdropped into clear sky, affording an unobscured view of Meya touched by the brilliant light of sunrise.

“What the hell is that?” she screeched.

Surrounding the city was a thick, dark cloud. Or so Alex thought, until she was close enough to see that it wasmoving; that it was a mass ofwingsandfangsandclaws. The cloud—it was thousands upon thousands of flying creatures, all of which were circling the Myrox spires in what looked to be a protective formation.

Hunter cursed. “I forgot to tell you about the veeyons.” Then he cursed again, louder.

Alex whipped towards him for an explanation, but Kaiden didn’t wait, and reached for both her and Hunter’s hands. An instant later, her vision blurred as a familiar trickling sensation washed over her.

Knowing what he’d just done, Alex looked at him in concern and asked, “How long can you keep us transcended?”

“As long as it takes,” he answered, with steely determination.