Page 48 of Awakened Gifts
“Finally,” I say, taunting her.
I can still smell her weakness from here. I knew she wouldn’t be healed yet. She needs more than weeks to recover from the brutal mess inside her body, but she hides her pain well. Masks are easily seen through by someone with empathic powers.
I circle her, watching her carefully as she keeps her eyes on me. As if we’re duelers waiting for sundown, we stare at each other, each waiting for the other to make a move.
“You’re different,” she says, hissing as she narrows her eyes, her confidence fading as fast as her smile.
“I’m stronger.” My laughter bubbles out, and her eyes widen when I allow my pupils to dilate and expand to black.
She only falters for a second, but she regains her composure quickly, throwing her hands out as the first strike releases, thundering through the air with a vengeful intent.
And so it begins.
JASE
“Simone and Kellan are still locked up together, and you really don’t want to go anywhere near that room,” Rex grumbles, a litany of curses falling out behind his warning.
He runs a hand through his already disheveled hair, and I numbly look over all these supposed leads Araya and Brazen are tracking down. Four fucking hours—that’s how long Kellan and Simone have been gone. I swear, it’s as though they’ve lost track of the universe.
“Grayson thinks Kellan was starving for a blood screw,” Angelica says with tight lips, her eyes on the papers in front of her. “His body may have demanded it after being stripped of all its energy.”
Only hybrid I know that’s afraid of the word fuck. Not even that is enough to distract me from the harsh reality in front of me. And I really don’t give a damn what Kellan needs right now. He’s supposed to be helping us get back Aria, and so is Simone.
“These are mostly just sightings of a girl with dark hair. They’re chasing their tails with these, especially since Aria’s savage can just vanish into thin air within a blink. Where she may or may not have been spotted is pointless.”
No one says anything, but they all agree. I can hear it in their weary minds. The thoughts have slowed down, and only hopelessness has become a constant promise inside their heads. No one has faith that we’ll get her back. Even I’m losing more and more hope on a daily basis.
I start to tell Rex something, when a familiar sensation runs over me, bringing me to my knees with a painful cry. Her voice is in my fucking head, but it takes a minute to sort through the words.
“Sherlan. I need… Sherlan.”
The waves of nausea cease as quickly as they came, and the dull echo of voices grow louder and louder as my mind’s fog lifts. Mel is right beside me, shaking me hard in a desperate attempt to gather my attention. All at once, the voices yelling become distinctly clear, and my breath rushes in.
“Aria’s at Sherlan. She needs help,” I say, wincing as I stagger back to my feet.
I stumble into different things, still hurting from catching the projected thought, but Mel grabs me by the arm before I reach the door.
“It’s a fucking trap, Jason! Don’t be an idiot. Aria didn’t call you—she wouldn’t dare call you there to face that thing controlling her body. She’d never put you at risk.”
With a grim smile, I nod. “I know. It wasn’t Aria that sent that message. It was her savage.”
Everyone’s eyes widen, and Rex grabs me before I can walk out. “You can’t go out there. None of us can. She’ll tear us apart for fun. She already warned us that she intended to.”
With a heavy breath that is saturated in all the angst one can acquire, I nod slowly. “She could have killed us then, but warned us to stay away. Now she’s calling for me. It’s Aria. I’ll take whatever chance necessary.”
Rex frowns, but he grabs a gun—not that he’d ever use it against his sister. “Then I’m going with you.”
I don’t argue. It’d be pointless. Besides, she just did a number with that projection. Sherlan isn’t too far away, but it felt like she was calling me from much, much farther away.
“Shit,” Mel says, drawing my attention. She’s on her phone, but I’m so drained that I don’t even bother to pay her any attention. I focus on hastily making it to the car without falling over.
As soon as we get into the car, Mel switches on the monitor, her eyes wide as she hangs up the phone.
“Two women were seen tearing each other apart,” she says breathlessly, flipping through the United feeds. “This is on the most northern tip of the Unaligned.”
The screen stills as Rex revs the engine. I look on at the land that was once a glorious forest. It looks like a meteor the size of the moon hit it. Motherfucker. Everything is leveled, ashes litter the ground, blood paints some of the landscape, and there are numerous embers still smoldering from a recent fight. But it doesn’t have video footage of who it was. Not that I need it. Alice. Aria’s savage went after Alice.
“Go faster,” I say to Rex, feeling the ball of anxiety within me grow. She’s contacting me for help because she’s hurt. It doesn’t look like either woman could have gotten out alive.