“Nothing can happen to you,” I murmured into his chest as I gripped his shirt. “Please, don’t let anything else happen.”
He took my chin and gently tilted my face up until we gazed into each other’s eyes. “Promise me you’ll stay safe the next time you go out there. When I saw you on the ground covered in blood…” He swallowed hard and pinched his eyes shut.
“Now you know how I felt in the garage.”
He nodded. “This is a very dangerous situation we find ourselves in, Tallyndra.”
“Our whole relationship has been built around danger,” I said, realizing it was true. We hadn’t known one minute of peace. Even this one felt so fleeting I thought I might blink and it would be gone.
It was as if the Fates knew it too because, before Vaughn could pull me in for one more kiss, the alarm on his watch began to wail.
“That watch again!” I moaned. “Throw that thing in the ocean.”
He grumbled and tilted the watch face upward. Words flashed across the screen while his face registered surprise and concern.
“What is it?” I asked.
“They’ve detected someone alone, far from the compound, up the beach. They seem to be trying to flee a group of guards.” His eyes shot up. “We need to go get them. We need to go now.”
“Someone alone? Guards? Vaughn, what does that mean?”
He pulled me toward the doors as he answered my question. “Tally, I think it means someone has escaped the dome.”
Chapter Nine
Vaughn and I rushed out of the mess hall and headed straight to the command center. There, the people who manned the ship sat around computer monitors, frantically pressing buttons and focusing their surveillance devices onto a thin strip of beach. The dean stood in the middle of the fray, hands behind her back, Vinya at her side.
For a moment, we stood frozen, watching the activity with wide eyes, uncertain of what to do. The dean issued commands and the things she requested appeared on a large screen overhead, images switching back and forth at a rapid rate, the screen splitting into sections until several frames revealed exactly what was going on down there.
“Zoom in on this frame,” she said.
The square at the bottom corner of the monitor changed, offering a closer look at a person running down a stretch of white beach. Long green hair blowing behind her, she sprinted for her life.
I gasped. “That’s my aunt.”
“You mean the Queen of the Seelie Fae, Kiana?” Vinya asked.
I nodded without taking my eyes off the screen. My aunt wore a torn dress, her long legs taking huge strides as they pumped at an impressive speed. Maybe she hadn’t deserved her title of Queen—she’d stolen it from her sister, after all—but she was impressive nonetheless. Her strength was evident, her velocity awe-inspiring. She was a trained warrior, who had many times been to battle and emerged victoriously. Still, that didn’t explain how she’d escaped the dome. She had no magic to breach the barrier.
Another section of the screen showed half a dozen guards chasing her.
“They’re not shooting at her,” Vaughn pointed out.
Vinya narrowed her eyes. “They must want her alive.”
The dean wrung her hands together. “We have to rescue her.”
“Has anyone thought this might be a trap?” I asked. “Maybe the Habermanns put her up to this, and the moment we go down there, their monsters will attack.”
“It very well could be,” the dean said. “Still, we have to do something.”
I opened my mouth to ask what we might do when Charlie and Rowan rushed into the room. They wore their battle outfits along with determined expressions.
“We’re ready.” Charlie stood at attention, ready for orders from the dean.
“Wait!” I said. “I have to go. I have to help.” They would not leave me behind. This fight belonged to me more than anyone else.
The dean smiled sadly. “Don’t worry, Tally. You won’t miss any of the action. Charlie and the others are needed elsewhere. There are problems at the Academy, which I suspect are not a coincidence. The Habermanns are powerful people, and by now, they know we’re involved. You, Vaughn, and Vinya can help the Queen if you’re willing.”
I nodded, so did Vaughn and Vinya.
“And what about us?” Becca asked behind me. I hadn’t noticed when she’d come into the room along with Ronnie. “We can help.”
“No chance in hell. You’re just kids,” Vaughn said.
“No fair,” Becca complained, pouting as if this were a game and not a life and death situation.
Antonio pushed himself into the room. “I’ll go. I’m no kid, and the Habermanns owe me. Big time. No one sinks me to the bottom of a lake and gets away with it.” His eyes flashed red for an instant, betraying the level of hate he felt toward the twins.
It seemed everyone had heard the alarm and stood just outside the door, waiting for their turn to offer their services. I expected Regina to come in next and announce her hatred for our captors as well—they’d cruelly starved her for days, after all—but she didn’t appear. It surprised me that she would let Antonio go without her, but Regina had always seemed the type to look out for herself.
“We can use a strong vamp,” Vaughn said with a nod of comradery toward Antonio.
The dean turned to Charlie. “Be careful and keep me abreast of the situation at the Academy.”
“I will.” Charlie and Rowan rushed out of the room. It would have been great and a lot easier to have them with us, but clearly the Habermanns had devised a way to interfere. Resourceful and wicked. A terrible combination.
Vinya turned away from the dean and faced us. “Let’s go. I don’t think the Queen can keep running like that for much longer.”
Ronnie and Becca stepped out of the room as we rushed out. They looked unhappy, but they would be safe up here, hidden among the clouds, a weight off my shoulders.
We reached the back of the ship, our normal teleporting spot, just in time to see Charlie and her team dematerialize, headed back to their beloved Academy. She and the others had fought hard to make it a safe place for all Supernaturals. Now, danger threatened it again because of their involvement in this impossible situation. I prayed to the gods that they would be safe from harm.
We had no time to change into our battle suits, but our weapons hung on the wall, waiting for us. After quickly snatching my belt with a knife and sword, I ran to the center of the room where Vinya waited, her hand outstretched. Vaughn joined us next, placing his large hand on top of mine. He had a knife and a gun in his belt, though I knew he much preferred shifting and charging the enemy in his werewolf shape. A small backpack hung at his back, which contained a change of clothes.
Antonio, on the other hand, didn’t seem opposed to weapons at all. He had a sword strapped to his back, two handguns, and two knives at his waist. He seemed confident and ready, a clear sign that he’d battled before. He joined us last, and as soon as he rested his hand on top of Vaughn’s, we dematerialized and reappeared in a small clearing surrounded by thick brush.
I glanced around disoriented, completely clueless about which way to go. I looked to Vinya for instruction, but before she had a chance to point us in the right direction, Vaughn leaped into action, running through the bushes and clearing a path.