Page 21

Raito

Am I ready? I have no idea, but this is the only opportunity we’ll have.

I turn to the crimson-haired Omega. “Let’s do it.”

She coaxes us closer together and to lean toward her. My head is right up against Colton’s, Mira’s against Aubrey’s. Nyx takes two collar boxes in each hand and whispers, looking right into my eyes. “You have to do it as soon as you’re able.”

Time is of the essence in every way imaginable.

I nod in confirmation and close my eyes, searching with my mind for the electronic mechanisms in our collars. I’ve always felt them, but could never manipulate them, and now I hold onto the faint connection with the locks’ power sources that my curse grants me.

When I open my eyes, several things happen at once.

Electric bolts embrace Nyx’s fingers, and the tingle they cause around my neck grows almost unbearable, but there is an audible click over the crackle, and I gain control of all four collars in her grasp. My eyes burn, my brain tingles, and I am at one with the locking mechanisms, commanding them to disengage.

Then, the power units fall to the floor, and Nyx holds up her empty hands.

“Fuck yes,” she breathes.

I blink rapidly, the heat in my eyes dissipates. Standing up straight, I rub my neck, bare for the first time in over a decade.

Free.

I look to my pack, breath caught in my throat. All of them look ready to jump for joy, but there’s no time. My brain tingles again, my eyes heat. Something is happening. The security system.

“They know,” I tell them. “Or they will. Soon. We have to move.”

“Nyx,” Mira chokes, and I know she doesn’t want to leave her friend behind, but we must.

“Go,” she tells us all as she gathers the dead collar boxes. “I’ll ditch these.” She looks at Mira. “Stay safe.”

“I’ll lead us out.” Colton heads for the door. “I’ll listen for anyone coming for us.”

Their thoughts.

“I’ll monitor the security system.” I take a second to push my connection outward, feeling for anything useful, and finding it. “Eastern helipad. The two helicopters are there. Let’s move.”

Colton opens the door, and we all file out into the hallway. We still stay as quiet on our feet as possible while jogging along the corridor and down the stairs to the main level. Colton puts his fist up in a stop command when we reach the bottom, then motions for us to go in the opposite direction we need to. I trust him, as we all do, so we duck behind a doorway just as a couple of soldiers, rifles on their backs and sidearms on their thighs, walk into the entryway from the back entrance. They chat as they head up the stairs, and we wait until they’re out of sight to start moving quietly again.

There’s no additional feed from the security system, but I feel the cameras on the outside of the building. As we keep moving, I push a signal to them to turn in the opposite direction we’re going, keeping us out of view and hopefully not alerting anyone who may be watching the feeds live.

No one has ever attempted an escape like this. They won’t expect it.

Colton stops us again at the back door, open into the darkness. “ There are guards at the helipad,” he broadcasts in our minds.

Hang on, I think back at him. There are alarms I could set off all around us, but I need to choose the right one that won’t have soldiers crossing our path before we can get clear. There are two possibilities, and I pick the furthest one, hoping I’ve made the right choice. My brain singing, my eyes searing, the wail of an alarm fills the air. I hear the ruckus of the soldiers nearest to us as they hustle to the source, and Colton shouts into my mind, “ Run!”

As we move, I reach out to the furthest helicopter with my curse, extending my arm toward it and willing it to lose power. At the same time, I extend my other arm to the nearest helicopter and will it to come to life, the burning of my eyes growing unbearable, the hum in my brain deafening. But I have to keep going. We have to get away.

“Get in!” I grit aloud, and they do. With my pack secured, I get into the control seat and meld with the controls, my mind and body becoming one with the machine in a way I’ve never done before. There’s no time to bask in awe. We rise off the ground at my slightest whim, the machine following my will. I’m vaguely aware of Colton whispering in my mind, “ Three hundred fifty klicks north, northwest.” It is a very specific direction, and I follow it, just as the alarm begins to wail and a peppering of pings and pops hit the belly of the helicopter.

The soldiers’ futile attempt to stop us in an armored helicopter.

What’s more, I feel a tracking device and a remote control unit. My mind reaches for them, and they are gone at my command, shorted and useless. For good measure, I kill the radio communication as well.

Colton is beside me, Aubrey behind him, and Mira at my back. They shuffle to put headsets on, and Colton passes one to me. I slip it over my head and ears, and everything around me fades away into a form of tunnel vision. My every muscle twitch commands the helicopter.

I am truly at one with the machine.

Part of me is exhilarated, the other is scared to death.

But I have to get my pack to safety.

“ Good work taking out the other helo,” Colton says in my mind. “ That will buy us time.”

I nod in confirmation, keeping part of my attention on commanding the machine to go in the right direction. Mira places a hand on my shoulder, which I grasp, rubbing her bare fingers in gentle strokes. My beautiful hime, I think. I will keep you safe.

Mira’s hand stills on my shoulder, and I feel her lean forward. “I heard you,” she says into the microphone. “Just now. In my headset. I heard you! But...you didn’t speak.”

Did I communicate through technology? Using my mind?

“Stranger things, bro,” Colton offers aloud, and I turn my head to find him amused.

It should scare me that I feel nothing at this revelation. I guess that’s not entirely true, I do feel something. Right. Like, being at one with my curse, not fighting it but embracing it, is just...right.

This helicopter is capable of flying over two hundred miles per hour, but although the fuel is full, I don’t want to push it too hard in case we can’t stay where we go. But I do fly fast for the first fifty miles or so to get away from the academy. When there’s no chatter for a while, I take a quick glance behind me to find Mira and Aubrey passed out. The stress and anxiety of today’s events must have drained them terribly if they can sleep with this racket.

Colton is still awake but deep in thought, looking out the window to the earth below. Even from this angle, I can see his drawn brow and the concern etched on his face. He must hear an errant thought of mine because he turns to me with his usual cocky smirk before thinking at me with sarcasm, “ Just wondering if I made the right choice bringing us out here, or, you know, if I’ve thrown our lives away.”

I raise a brow at him before looking back at the instrument cluster, ensuring we’re still on the right course and making small mental adjustments. We had no choice. They would have killed us if we stayed. At least we have a chance now. I look at him a moment and then ahead again. That’s thanks to you.

He snorts a laugh. “ Really, it’s thanks to you and Nyx for disabling the collars. Didn’t know you had it in you, man.”

I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Mira. Our mating...changed my curse somehow. Maybe we’ll be able to figure it out now that we’re out of that place.

A bit more than an hour into our flight, something peers over the lightening horizon. They’re structures of some kind.

“Holy shit,” Colton says aloud in a whisper. “It’s fucking real.” He leans forward to get a closer look and begins to point. “Look! They’re buildings covered in snow and ice.”

I do look, and he is right. Some of the buildings reach high into the sky, some lay lower to the ground, all are pure white and glisten where the rising sun’s beams hit them.

“Wow…” Colton’s voice in her ears must have awakened Mira, and Aubrey too, as they both lean forward to peer between the seats to get a look at what might just be our salvation. “Do you think there are people in there?”

Colton’s head is shaking as he responds. “I can hear thoughts, but they’re really distant.” He jolts. “They know we’re approaching.”

Aubrey taps Colton’s shoulder, and he responds, “Yeah, arriving in a GBE helicopter can’t be a good look if those inside are rebelling.”

“Do they seem hostile?” I ask. “Maybe we should land farther back and hike.”

“So we can freeze to death when we’re this close?” Colton is obviously not a fan of my idea. “Have you seen the way we’re dressed?”

Good point. Not one of us has even a coat on.

“There’s a wall around those buildings,” Mira says. “Let’s land outside that by the arch there.” She points, and I follow the line of her gesture to where an enormous arch opens up the wall.

I don’t wait for a consensus before guiding the helicopter in that direction with my mind. But something is wrong. My body, my mind, both begin to feel light and distant, disconnected.

“ Hey, brother,” Colton says in my mind with alarm enough to jolt me. I hadn’t even realized I was falling asleep. “ Hey, deep breaths. Just land us right there, nice and gentle.” His words come fast, a bit panicked. In the back of my mind, I can’t blame him. We’re in a giant death trap, and I’m losing control of it and of myself.

I get to the spot we’re going to land in and begin our descent, but then there’s cursing and a loud crash before blackness envelops me.