Page 15 of Kingdom of Chaos (Creatures of Chaos #2)

Ten

Talon’s expression is locked down as he eyes Ensley’s small sportscar. He looks almost bored, but I’m positive that’s not what he’s feeling right now. I don’t know if he even said goodbye to his mother or the two mystery men who arrived with her.

Bending over, he checks out the back seat.

When he sees how small it is, he frowns.

I don’t blame him. Even though I’m petite, it’s going to be a tight squeeze for whoever sits back there with me.

Talon and Titus are both over six feet tall; even Ensley is tall for a female.

We’ll just have to deal with it and hope the gate Talon takes us to isn’t far away.

He grabs the handle and yanks the door open. After pushing the button to slide the front seat forward, he hunches like he’s about to crawl in the back and take one for the team when the roar of an engine and the crunch of tires spitting up gravel makes us all turn.

A hulking machine that’s part SUV and part military transport barrels around the corner toward us. I stumble back to get out of its path as it skids to a stop beside Ensley’s cherry red sportscar, making it look like a toy someone left out on the battlefield right before the tanks rolled in.

The tinted window rolls down to reveal Imogen in the driver’s seat. “Get in,” she orders, looking straight at Talon. “Your mom hasn’t realized you’re about to leave yet, and if you don’t get out of here now, she’s going to put that magical gag on you.”

Talon’s face darkens as he locks eyes with his cousin. I can tell he hasn’t forgotten or forgiven her for trying to compel me.

Good, because I haven’t either.

“Go put the Valkyrie away,” he tells her. “You know you can’t come with us. The Society would have your hide.”

I agree Imogen can’t come, but not for the same reasons as Talon.

I couldn’t care less if she gets in trouble with his mom or the Arcane Society.

Honestly, after what she pulled back there, it’d be a little poetic justice.

The truth is, I don’t trust her. I don’t want her with us. I’ll be glad to leave her behind.

“It’s a half-day’s drive to the closest gate, but you know you can’t go there because Aunt Jade will have members guarding it now that she knows what you’re up to.” Her accusatory gaze slides toward Ensley, who blurted out that part of our plan.

Ensley lifts her chin, daring Imogen to call her out, but even so I see a flash of guilt cross her eyes. It’s not her fault. How were we supposed to know not to let Talon’s mom know that we knew about the gates and were planning on going through one?

“If you want a chance of getting through a gate, you’re going to have to go for one of the hidden ones. And the closest one is a heck of a lot farther than a half-day’s journey.”

Uncertainty creeps onto Talon’s face. “We’ll just have to fight our way through.”

“You’re kidding yourself if you think you’ll be able to get through trained Society members.”

“I’ve done it before.”

Imogen’s gaze softens, and the way she looks at Talon now almost borders on pity.

“Yes. But that was before,” she says pointedly. “Things are different now.”

Talon’s jaw tenses as he clamps his lips shut, the muscle ticcing beneath his cheekbone.

Stepping forward, I address Talon. “I’d rather take my chances against other Society members than trust her.”

Talon gives a single nod, backing me up, and some of the tightness in my chest eases.

“Let’s go,” Talon says, and then hunching again starts to fold himself into Ensley’s back seat. He only gets one foot into the car before someone shouts his name from the direction of the compound.

Twisting, I see his mother walking briskly toward us. She has something clenched in her hand. It looks like a bottle or large vial. “Wait!”

Talon’s face leaches of color.

“Get in!” Imogen yells again. She holds up a black leather-bound book I don’t recognize. “I have this too,” she says, waving it in the air.

I’m ready to dive into Ensley’s car when Talon straightens, his gaze locked on the book in Imogen’s hand.

His mom yells his name again and starts jogging toward us. The two other males appear behind her and start sprinting in our direction. They’re coming for Talon and we only have moments to escape.

“I get you are angry. But you know this is the best chance you have. Let me help you!” Imogen shouts, her gaze panicked as she watches Jade and the others approaching.

Talon mutters a curse under his breath and then yells for us to get into Imogen’s vehicle.

Wait. What? No!

With her backpack slung over one shoulder, Ensley casts a longing glance at her baby before sprinting to Imogen’s vehicle and yanking the door open. She climbs into the back seat, and Titus is right behind her.

Talon grabs my arm and hauls me toward the hulking vehicle, yanking the back door open and practically shoving me inside behind Titus. He dives into the front passenger seat and shouts, “Go!”

Imogen floors it. Gravel and dirt spray everywhere as she spins the SUV around and barrels down the tree-lined drive. Shouts ring out behind us, muffled but angry, and though I hear them, I don’t look back.

We don’t even make it to the end of the cobblestone before a tree to our left explodes, sending splinters flying.

I cry out as the Valkyrie swerves. My shoulder slams into the door and my head knocks against the window.

“I can’t believe Jared just shot at us,” Imogen mutters, checking the rearview mirror. “He’s definitely off my birthday list.”

Talon twists in his seat, eyes sharp. “It was a warning shot. But Atlas is coming.”

His voice is low, steady, but I hear the edge in it. Tense. Focused.

“Those shadows sure would come in handy right about now,” Imogen says, shooting him a sidelong look.

“Yeah,” is all he says.

A bone-rattling screech splits the air, shrill and feral, like an enraged housecat, only louder, deeper, and close.

I whip around and spot a cheetah charging after us, disturbingly fast, its eyes gleaming.

It’s covering ground at an impossible pace, muscles rippling as it dodges debris and launches over potholes with effortless precision.

“Give me your necklace,” Titus demands.

I blink at him, startled.

“Quick!” he snaps, already reaching for the ceiling controls.

I yank the chain over my head and shove it into his hand.

He grips the pendant, then hits a button on the ceiling.

A mechanical whir fills the car as a rectangular glass panel begins sliding open.

Before it fully retracts, Titus is already shoving to his feet, cramming his upper body through the opening.

“Hold on!” Imogen yells as she swerves to dodge a fallen log that wasn’t there a second ago. My shoulder slams into the door and I bite back a curse. Loose rocks spit from the tires as she slams the accelerator, the back-end fishtailing before she regains control.

Outside, the cheetah leaps and in a blur of speed lands with a bang on the roof and then scrambles to the hood.

Ensley and I scream.

Imogen jerks the wheel, sending the SUV veering into the underbrush.

A branch scrapes across the roof, nails-on-chalkboard loud.

The cheetah snarls, its claws digging into the metal, but can’t hold on.

The force of the turn launches it off the side; it tumbles across the ground in a flurry of limbs and fury as Imogen jerks the Valkyrie back onto the cobblestone drive.

Titus, still half out the roof, grits his teeth and extends one hand toward the trees behind us. The necklace chain dangles from his other fist as he focuses, his jaw clenched and shoulders taut with effort.

The air thickens.

Magic ripples outward in an invisible wave, warping the space around us. I feel it prickle across my skin like static electricity right before a storm.

The ground starts to quake.

Ensley shrieks as the vehicle rocks side to side on the uneven road, and I throw my arm across her to steady both of us. Behind us, a seismic crack ripples through the ground.

“Roots!” I shout, peering out the back window. “They’re moving!”

Trees along the drive behind us writhe like they’re alive.

Branches twist and tangle, slamming down across the road in rapid succession.

The cheetah is still giving chase and gaining on us again as thick roots burst from the earth, snaking upward to form an enormous living barricade.

Bark splits and groans as the trees fuse into a wall so dense, it swallows the path behind us.

A second later, an impact rocks the barricade. The whole wall shudders, but holds. I don’t see the cheetah anymore. I don’t even see the castle’s outer walls. It’s like the forest swallowed everything.

My heart pounds as Titus collapses beside me. Sweat beads on his brow; his face has gone waxy and pale. He looks like he’s seconds from passing out. Considering the magic he just unleashed to command those trees, I’m shocked he’s still conscious at all.

“Titus?” I say, placing a hand on his arm.

He doesn’t respond. His eyes are glassy, unfocused. He’s breathing—but barely.

On the other side of him, Ensley grabs his shoulder and gives it a gentle shake, panic washing over her face.

“Keep him upright,” Talon orders from the front. “We need him alert in case that wall doesn’t hold.”

Ensley cradles Titus to keep him from slumping sideways as Imogen barrels forward, the SUV bouncing over roots and stones littering the drive. She doesn’t let up, and I don’t blame her. Whatever’s chasing us might find another way around. And we’re not out of the woods yet.

Literally .

We reach the narrow gap at the end of the drive and Imogen slows just enough to squeeze through. I glance out the back window, not spotting any pursuers, and breathe a little easier.

Titus’ eyes are half lidded, his skin still pale, but as the Valkyrie steadies on the turn, he shifts and blinks, like he’s slowly pulling himself back into the moment. His breathing evens. It’s still shallow, but steadier, and he lifts a hand to grip the edge of the seat for balance.

Ensley leans in closer, laying a hand on his bicep. “Are you all right?”

He glances down at her fingers curled around his arm; a faint smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah. I’m okay. Just used up a ton of magic. I need a little time to recover, but I’ll be fine.”

He glances at me, then shifts his gaze to Talon and Imogen up front.

Talon is half turned in his seat, eyes flicking between Titus and the back window as if expecting the trees to part and another attack to come charging through.

His body is still coiled, alert, even though the danger seems to have passed.

“If there was any doubt that was the real deal before,” Titus says with a tired chuckle, “I think that settles it.”

In the rearview mirror, I catch Imogen’s gaze as she glances at Titus. Her brow is furrowed with concern, but she stays silent.

“Here,” Titus murmurs, holding out his hand. The pendant dangles from the chain clenched in his fingers.

I take the necklace and slip it back over my head. Talon’s eyes track the motion until it settles against my chest. Then his gaze lifts to meet mine. There’s something unreadable in his expression, hollow maybe, but it vanishes as he turns away and faces forward again.

“Okay, Imogen,” he says, his voice clipped. “You wormed your way into this, so where are we going?”

I watch her profile as she licks her lips, her fingers tightening on the wheel. “As you know, the nearest gate is down in New Harbor. But we can’t go there.”

She’d said as much before. Reaching down, she grabs the book she waved at Talon earlier and hands it over. He opens it, flipping through the worn pages.

“The only other gate on the continent we can reach that won’t be swarmed is at the Devil’s Mouth.”

Devil’s Mouth?

Talon’s head snaps toward Imogen. “You sure about that?” His tone is sharp with surprise, though I don’t know exactly what’s caught him off guard.

“See for yourself,” she says, lifting one hand from the wheel to gesture toward the book.

Silence settles over the car as Talon flips through the pages, his brow furrowed in concentration. After a couple more turns, Imogen weaves the vehicle smoothly back onto the main road that leads out of town, the only sound the steady thrum of tires on asphalt.

The longer he searches, the thicker the tension grows, until finally Talon exhales hard and snaps the book shut.

“Looks like we’re headed to the swamps.”