Page 35

Damon

T he air snapped tight, the way it had before Frankie teleported.

Good. Maybe she’d teleported herself into the nearest volcano.

I didn’t want to talk to anybody, didn’t want to see anybody.

I just wanted to sit here and cling to Kit.

They’d taken her from me. The bastards might not have won, but they hadn’t lost, either.

Kit was gone.

A hand touched my cheek. I jerked my head up, teeth bared, but before I could shove the intruder away, a hand caught my wrist.

Chang.

He was pale, deep grooves carving lines around his mouth.

He opened his mouth and spoke, but the words were garbled and muffled.

Nothing made sense now.

Nothing would ever make sense again.

The world would go on and eventually, I’d find a way to go on, too, but for now—

“ Damon .”

That hard, commanding voice cut through the fog and I snapped to attention, some lingering response from the boy I’d once been.

“Let me see her,” he ordered.

“She’s gone,” I told him dully, still clinging to Kit. I couldn’t let her go. Not yet.

“Do you trust me?” he asked gently.

Slowly, I released her into his arms. But again, I told him, “She’s gone .”

I couldn’t hear her heartbeat.

I couldn’t hear her breathing.

Chang’s dark eyes flashed purest gold as he rose.

The second he turned away, I shot to my feet. “Wait, what are you—”

Frankie was waiting.

I shot past him and Lemeraties grabbed me, her hands icy against my flesh.

“Don’t,” she told me.

“I don’t want her touching Kit!”

I threw her off but before I gained an inch, she had hold of me again—and so did Chang. The two of them wrestled me back and I bellowed, staring furiously at Kit’s limp body as Frankie knelt down.

A black aura emanated from Frankie’s hand.

“Let me go !” I snarled, twisting violently against their combined hold. Lemeraties grunted and went flying back. Free of her, I turned my focus to Chang.

And he took me down. Pinned under him, I struggled to free myself.

“She’s not dead!”

“Get off me!” Half-crazed, I wrenched under him, dislocating my shoulder. Tendons tore. I didn’t care.

“Listen to me.” Claws punched through my skin and I smelled my blood in the air.

It didn’t matter.

“ She. Isn’t. Dead. Not yet.”

The words were spoken quietly. He rarely raised his voice.

But they finally penetrated.

“I can’t hear her heartbeat,” I whispered, going limp.

“I can. I’m not surprised you don’t. You’re bleeding from your ears, your nose…but she’s alive . Frankie says she can save her.”

I bucked suddenly, twisting under him and throwing him off.

But he was between Frankie and me, Kit and me, in a blink, that liquid, eerie grace and strength outmatching me in every way.

“You can’t trust her!” I shouted.

“I can.” His voice was steady. “I have to.”

“ Why ?”

“Because…” He heaved out a sigh. “I just learned she was the one who helped save you .”

Over the crashing roar of blood in my ears, I heard Frankie. A throaty, husky voice, speaking in coaxing tones.

“Come on, honey,” she said gently. “Come back to me. You don’t really want to die here, do you? After everything you went through. Just hold on for me…a little longer…”

Past and present blurred.

“Come on, honey. I don’t want to die here and I don’t think you do, either. Let me get you out of here. You’ve got family somewhere, don’t you?”

Dark eyes, staring into mine.

Gentle, strong hands.

You’ve got family somewhere, don’t you?

I went to my knees, staring at the Black woman where she knelt over Kit.

“How?” I whispered.

Chang’s hand came to rest on my shoulder.

“I don’t know, Damon. You were in Africa when I finally tracked you down. I’d gotten word of a sighting. I’d been all over the fucking world—you’d been missing for more than five months. I thought you were dead. You and Nene.” The hand on my shoulder clenched.

“Nene is down in the tunnels. I…I saw her body.”

“You’ve remembered, then.”

“Most of it.” I struggled to my feet, dazed to realize my limbs didn’t want to cooperate.

“Steady there, son,” Chang said gently. “Steady.”

Step by step, he walked me to Kit—and Frankie.

Frankie’s cheeks were hollow, her face ashen.

“She’s fading,” Frankie said bleakly. “I didn’t get to her in time.”

No —

“No.” Lemeraties voiced the denial building like a scream in my soul, thrusting herself into the center. “I can bridge the void.”

She shoved a hand into Kit—and the other into Frankie.

Frankie screamed.