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I watched, frozen with the guys on either side of me as an unconscious Fallon was taken by two soldiers dressed in all black, no markings or anything showing their affiliations. My mind whirled as reality hit me, like a hard slap in the face.

No, not again. This wasn’t happening.

Someone I cared about was not being taken under my watch again.

I grabbed the nearest thing within reach, smashing it into the screen and shattering the image before me over and over again. A fire burned within me, desperate to ignite this unjust world and turn it to ash.

“It has to be Victrus and we’re not letting him take her,” Kayden said, firmly grabbing my wrist. Blood trickled from my cut-up hand, over Kayden’s fingers, and down my arm. I released whatever I’d been holding, letting it fall to the desk with a clang. “That’s not how this is going to go down.”

“Teleport to her.” My words were a cold order. “Take us all to her.”

“I can’t,” he replied, frowning down at me.

I felt shitty for causing the helpless look on his face—I’d demanded something we knew he couldn’t do. Fallon was a fair distance from here, and there was no way he’d be capable of transporting us all such a long way.

“I’ve already used so much power tonight. Teleporting takes a great deal of energy. If I fuck it up, we could all get badly hurt. But that’s not going to stop us. There’s no way her father is going to get away with this. Teleporting is not the only weapon in our arsenal.”

The rage quietened in my chest at his words, and I nodded, slipping my wrist from him. “You’re right.”

“Too fucking right he is,” Ace agreed, opening the door to the control room and adjusting his hold on his pulse gun. “Now, move your asses, we have a princess to rescue.”

Zane handed me a guard’s uniform from the hook on the wall and I realised I was still naked and covered in blood.

I quickly threw the slacks and shirt on, not bothering with shoes, and used strips of the jacket to wrap my hand.

I should have registered that it hurt, but right now, all I felt was anger and a chilling fear at the possibility of losing Fallon.

I grabbed my knife tightly around the hilt, ready to find our girl.

We ran through the hallway, stepping over the bodies of dead security guards and other staff. Blood stained the floors, the signs of a struggle evident in the marks on the walls and the broken doors hanging off their hinges. There was not a single sign of a living person anywhere.

In the short time we were in the control room, the outside had become much worse. The House of Ascension was a war zone.

Soldiers marched through the grounds, shooting at Potentials and anyone else standing in their way.

Some channelled their powers to fight magic, the ground tearing up as it was used as a weapon against an attacker.

Water torrents flew through the air, hitting their mark with loud crashes and dropping those that stood in their way, whilst fire ripped through trees and burned those unlucky enough to stand in its path.

The House Jupiter soldiers were not here to take hostages; they were eliminating anyone who got in their way. It was wrong. Everything that was happening was against all that Terrulia stood for, yet none of it surprised me.

The last few months had prepared me for this.

It had been only a matter of time before Victrus Auger made his desire for even more power known.

He wouldn’t have sat in the shadows much longer.

His ego wouldn’t allow it. I should have predicted the trials would never occur fairly.

It was foolish to believe otherwise and we were now paying for that mistake.

I followed the guys, dodging shots and magic as we went.

Powerful gusts of wind nearly knocked us off our feet, only to have a high-pitched, sonic scream bring us to our knees.

The attack was short-lived with the Potential taken out by one of the soldiers.

I could see the soldiers closest to her bleeding from the ears. At least she’d put up a fight.

Ace pushed on, leading us through the grounds again.

We halted not long after as chunks of the cafeteria building flew by us in pieces.

They narrowly missed us as Master Nolan fired bits of broken debris at the soldiers.

Huge chunks of stone landed on a small group, squishing them into the ground before they could shout in fear, while shards of glass flew like spears, lodging themselves in other soldiers.

Screams and destruction filled the air, a bone-chilling song that would never leave me.

“Nolan!” Zane shouted in warning as he, Ace, and Kayden shot at the soldiers, but their efforts were in vain. I didn’t have a gun, just a knife, so all I could do was watch the tragedy unfold.

The remaining soldiers aimed their guns at Nolan and fired, striking the Master in the chest. The loud blasts blocked out everything else as a light flashed and he flew backwards.

Smoke drifted from the burns through his suit and scorched flesh.

Cracks spread out on the wall behind him as his body collided with the already fractured cafeteria building.

I couldn’t help but freeze as I watched it all unfold. The domineering man who’d been like an unwavering pillar, was now dead. The building crumbled to the ground in a cloud of dust, burying Master Nolan with it.

“Look!” Kayden shouted, pointing to where a man surrounded by nasty-looking guys all in black was striding from the main building in the opposite direction as we’d come. “What do you think he’s got in his hands?”

“Fucking Cormac,” Ace hissed, taking off into a sprint towards his old gang leader.

The burly guy with neck tattoos and golden rings on his fingers clutched an ancient-looking chest with engravings marking its wooden sides.

“The weapon!” Kayden shouted as realisation dawned on us.

What a convenient time to come and collect it.

I broke into a sprint, Kayden and Zane at my sides as we chased after Ace.

He raised his hand, sparks ready to fly when a loud boom vibrated through the air and threw us backwards from the blast. I blinked, clearing my sight as the world came back into view.

The main building burned brightly as debris fell from the air and black smoke billowed into the sky above, blocking out the clouds. My ears rang and my eyes watered as I stumbled to my feet and searched for the other guys. I’d gained a few extra cuts and bruises, but nothing was broken.

Kayden and Ace groaned but seemed fine, though Ace was lying just ahead of me, his leg twisted at a sickening angle. I rushed to his side, my stomach flipping at the bone jutting out.

“Kayden! Zane!” I shouted before gently lifting Ace’s leg. “Hold on, I’m going to fix this.”

Zane reached us first, his dusty face paling at the sight. “Oh, shit on a seashell.”

“Not helping, Merman,” I snapped. “Use your calming magic. Take his mind off the pain.”

Kayden dropped to the ground beside me. With one quick glance my way, he took hold of Ace’s leg.

“What is he about to do?” Ace hissed, trying to sit up. I shoved him down and he groaned in pain.

“He’s going to give you a quick tickle and it won't hurt a bit,” Zane told Ace, the latter’s face softening. “You’re actually going to enjoy it and thank Kayden afterwards.”

With that, Kayden shoved Ace’s leg back into the right angle and instead of a scream tearing from Ace as blood spilled from his wound, he simply laughed. “Thanks Boulder Boy.”

“No problem, Twiggy,” Kayden said, shaking his head.

I quickly placed my hands over Ace’s injury, letting my healing magic flow whilst Kayden and Zane stood over us, watching our backs. This would use whatever drop of magic I had left, but I had no choice. We needed Ace... Fallon needed him.

“He got away,” Ace said, bitterness lacing his words as he pointed up at the sky. “He got the weapon, and he fucking got away.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Zane replied. I could feel his magic settling over us all, calming my breathing, and I watched as Ace’s features smoothed. “All that matters is Starfish.”

He was right. As soon as Ace was healed to the best of my ability and bandaged with some torn-off strips of my shirt, we took off again.

The wound wasn’t completely sealed, but the joint was mended, and the bone was partially set.

We couldn’t delay any longer. I was terrified to think what would happen to Fallon if we were too late.

“Noah!” Zane called, and I shook my head, getting out of my thoughts and hurrying to catch up to the guys ahead of me.

Now was not the time to spectate or dwell on what-ifs.

We weaved through more fighting as dwindling Potentials and academy staff battled to defend the House of Ascension from the intruders. When we’d last seen Fallon, she was in the DH area, so that’s exactly where we headed.

We passed through the Verdant Plateau grounds, and I found myself gaping in awe at its transformation.

Vines clung to anything and everything they could grasp, climbing up trees and creating nets between trunks.

Soldiers hung suspended as the vines slowly strangled them to death.

Master Luna was at the centre of the chaos, her hands twirling as she toyed with her prey like a spider with her webs.

Then the vines descended upon us, only to pause right before striking. They rose from the ground, writhing like snakes around her head, poised and awaiting her command.

“Oh, it’s you four!” Luna exclaimed, and I turned to see her wave her hands. The vines dispersed, moving away to prey on the soldiers instead. “My mistake!”

“All good!” Kayden shouted back whilst Zane leant towards me and whispered something about an ancient Greek myth of a woman with snakes for hair.

I had to admit, I could see where he was coming from about the whole Medusa thing.