Page 59 of Gray Dawn

Muscle flickered in his jaw, and he clenched his hands, but he couldn’t get out the rest. That was when I understood. He was fighting. For her. Clay, therealClay, was doing his best to claw his way out.

How? How was this possible? How could he defy orders?

“YouareClay.” Colby fluffed into a sphere of white fuzz. “The director doesn’t want you to remember, but you do. I can tell. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have hidden me from him. You knew I was in danger from him, and you protected me. That wasn’t following orders. That was following your heart.”

“Moth girl…” He wet his lips. “Go be. Safe. With. Your friends.”

“Youare my friend,” she insisted, refusing to back down. “Part of you knows that.”

“Col…by.” He gripped both sides of his head. “I don’t…” He hit his knees. “I can’t...”

“Clay?” I stumbled forward, numbed by shock. “Is that really you?”

“Stop me,” he panted. “Please.” He dug his fingers into his scalp. “Don’t let him…”

“I understand,” I rasped, my heart beating in the roof of my mouth.

“Bjorn.” He choked on the name. “He…”

Pungent magic filled my lungs as Dad joined us, and his presence snapped the tether on the golem.

An agonized roar burst out of Clay, and his arms fell to his sides as he rose wearing a smooth expression. There was no recognition in him now. Just a blank mask and a jut of determination in his chin.

Oh, yeah.

This wasn’t good.

The director must have ordered him to take down Dad if he got a chance, and here was an opportunity.

“We need to smudge hisshem.” I marked the symbol with a finger on my forehead for the wargs’ sakes. “Break those lines, and he’ll freeze like a troll exposed to sunlight.”

Magic would have made this easier, but oh well. I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty. I could do this, with or without that extra zing in my touch. I had to believe that, to trust that I was enough on my own.

The Mayhews waited until the golem burst into motion to charge him. Marita knocked her shoulder into his as Derry mule kicked the bend of his knees. The golem fell sideways but ducked into a roll that kept a grinning Marita from connecting her fist with his face.

Before he straightened to his full height, I leapt onto his back. Impact was like jumping off a bridge into a dry creek bed, but I held on, linking my arms around his throat and my legs around his sides.

“Rue.” Dad launched skyward, but he was too late to stop me. “Let him go.”

“Not until I finish this.” I got my hand as high as the golem’s cheek before he clamped down on my wrists. “Do your worst.” I stretched my fingers, reaching higher. “I can hang here all day.”

A cough exploded out of me when my back hit the dirt. Wait. Dirt? He had flung me over his shoulder so fast, I hadn’t seen it coming. I felt it, though.

Ouch.

I jerked my head higher in time to see Dad arrow into Clay’s spine, knocking him onto his hands and knees. Dad clung to his back, reached around, and raked elongated claws across Clay’s forehead.

The change was instant and heartbreaking as Clay froze on the spot, stuck until we redrew hisshem.

Colby lit on his bald head, spread her wings wide, and hugged as much of him as she could hold.

“When it’s time,” she hiccupped, tears in her voice, “I want to reanimate him. I remember how.”

Eyes downcast, Blay positioned himself behind Clay, watching over Colby in her grief.

“You’ve done it before?” Dad climbed off Clay. “Drawn hisshem?”

“I taught her to the last time he was damaged.” I had been so proud of her. “What are you thinking?”