Page 100 of Master of Chaos

She replied.

you’re not gone yet?

doors locked now. missed my chance

The letters appeared slowly now.

sux. thx anyway for trying to help

anytime sister

I entered.

don’t get sentimental on me. you’re supposed to be smart. outwit that motherfucker. Go crush him.

On it

I typed.

Smart, hah. On it, was I? Here it was again, that fucking bar set so high it made my eyes water and my stomach flip. I was running toward my doom unarmed, poised between Jana’s ticking bomb and empty oxygen tank, Reggie’s killer nano-bots, and that cackling goblin out there, hungry for my blood. I was supposed to outwit him, crush him, in this state? God, I wished that Shane were here. Shane was brilliant in situations like this. He’d just snap right into action, do some improbable, mind-blowing thing right off the cuff, like catapulting an ice sculpture into a car full of goons, or jumping out of a plane without a— oh… holy…shit.

My startled thought made me stumble. I recovered, picking up frantic speed.

“I see you, Cassandra,” Halliwell taunted me. “I see everything.”

“See this, dickwad.” I flipped him off once again and sped straight toward the French doors that opened out onto the huge terrace.

The open air was cold and damp. Wind rushed in my ears, the surf, the screeching of wheeling seabirds. I closed the door, got myself behind one of the potted trees, pushed like hell. It didn’t move. Then I saw Halliwell, emerging from his office, which gave me that panicked burst of energy I needed… and I moved it, howling with the effort.

It slid, slowly, blocking the French doors from the outside.

I scrambled for the base-jumping single parachute backpack that I had stowed in that gardening cupboard. I struggled to put it on. It was ice-cold, damp, and my hands were clumsy and shaking. I’d watched the jumpers in horrified fascination during that depraved party, always with the thought in my mind that base-jumping was the very last fucking thing that I would ever do, in this life or the next.

Hah-hah. Just another of life’s amusing little pranks.

I snapped the clasps of my harness, tightening them and hoping it had been packed properly. I was trusting my life to some rando I never met. Then again, the alternative, i.e., being vaporized, really put that kind of risk into perspective.

A huge crash made me stagger back with a cry, losing my balance. I was showered with shards of glass. The French doors had shattered, and the bloodied stone goddess that I’d used to clobber Halliwell flew out, hit the ground, spinning and sliding in the glittering shards.

Halliwell swung the barrel of a gun at the sides of the big hole in the glass, smashing on either side to widen the hole, and then stepped through it, his feet crunching on the broken glass, teeth shining in a maniacal grin. Blood streaked his face. He looked terrifying, his eyes bright, glittering, and utterly mad. He advanced, pointing his gun right at me. Driving me back.

“Don’t move,” he said. “Or I’ll shoot you.”

“You’ll shoot me anyway,” I said. “You just want to run off your mouth first and I don’t want to hear it. Do your worst, asshole.”

“Language, Cassandra.”Bam.

I staggered back, hitting the stone balustrade with a gasp, sagging down. It felt like a punch to the shoulder, but when I touched it, it came away red, sticky.

I was shot. So this was the end of the line. I thought about Reggie’s sweet smile. Shane’s kisses. The hunger in his eyes. The wild, wonderful possibilities that I had to let go of now. The beautiful future that was now no longer an option. I hoped that Reggie would have a future, at least. My sweet baby. I wouldn’t be there to see it, but she would have to live for both of us.

I had to pitch myself over that cliff. I didn’t want to die up here. Better to fall into the sea, or onto the rocks. Anything was better than dying here with Halliwell.

I struggled up onto my feet. My blood pressure was dropping. The world going dark. Not yet. Not yet.Stay strong, Cass. Almost done. Almost there.

I dragged myself up with the balustrade. My ears were roaring. So loudly. The sound was overwhelming and getting louder. Halliwell wasn’t looking at me anymore. He was looking past me, mouth open. Shocked confusion on his bloodied face.

A huge crack of gunfire sounded over the roar. Halliwell clapped his hand against his belly and staggered, eyes wide with disbelief. Blood ran over his hands.