The lights in my room switch off. I turn, thinking it’s Jax still messing with me, but the hallway is dark too, and he’s looking around suspiciously.
“Status on power,” Jax requests into his wrist communicator.
“Scouting perimeter now,” Zenon’s voice responds. Then, seconds later: “Intruders. We’re surrounded.”
“Have you identified them?” Jax asks.
“I can’t make eyes on them,” Zenon says.
That means that whoever is surrounding the manor must be spread out or not looking at each other. When a person is alone, Zenon can only identify them if he recognizes their body or clothes, or if they’re staring into a mirrored surface like a puddle or glass.
“I’m taking Eduardo to the panic room,” Jax says.
The panic room has existed in the manor since the Senator was a child, but he’s had it updated over the years as he’s made more enemies. It has everything we could need—independent high-speed internet connection, fridges with enough food to last two weeks, top-of-the-line wands, bathroom with functioning shower, foldout beds, and, most importantly, the strongest power-deflecting gleam-shield that money can buy. I don’t want to go down there. I can’t risk tripling the number of locks keeping me in the manor.
It’s a long shot, but what if Emil is here to rescue me? If he suspected that the enforcers got their hands on me, then maybe he would’ve thought the family home would be a good place to check out. Then again, it’s damning to break into the house of the presidential candidate who is running on a platform of how dangerous celestials are. If the Spell Walkers are risking their necks for me, it’s only because Emil made the case that I came back for them during the invasion at Nova.
Then I’m hit with a terrible thought that would track against me: What if Emil just thinks I ran away again and never comes looking for me?
Jax tells me to follow him, and I cooperate to buy time to figure out my next move. I’m tense as we go down the hall. Glass shatters from the downstairs foyer, and we pause at the top of the stairs. The backup security alarm goes off for mere seconds before being disconnected. Even I couldn’t have disabled the alarm that quickly; maybe Wesley dashed in and handled it.
While Jax is distracted, I run toward the Senator’s office so I can open the window and climb down the terrace. I don’t make it far before I’m telekinetically yanked back so hard that it feels like my spine might snap. I’m suspended in the air, all my joints stiff as Jax rotates me toward him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Jax says with glowing eyes.
Zenon’s voice booms from Jax’s communicator: “Above you!”
We both look up. My heart sinks when it’s not a Spell Walker falling from the ceiling, but a Blood Caster. Dione drops fast like this one time she fearlessly jumped out of a building to escape enforcers. She tackles Jax in front of the office with her six arms, pinning him down before he can defend himself, and she unleashes a flurry of punches on his face and chest.
The telekinetic hold on me breaks.
I have to run. If I’m not fast enough, being locked up won’t be my biggest problem. The Casters will torture me for betraying them, bone by bone. I don’t want to be around to see if Luna succeeded in her ritual. I can’t go through the office without risking Dione grabbing me with one of her arms. I run downstairs, rounding the corner and sprinting through the dining room and into the kitchen. The Senator and Zenon are standing in the doorway, and I skid to a halt. But Zenon knew to expect me, and he slams me against the wall before I can reverse course.
“Why are the Blood Casters attacking?” the Senator asks.
“You tell me,” I say.
“I bring you home and the gang arrives not even twenty-four hours later! If you sent them a message—”
“I ran away from them, remember? You’re the one who spoke with Luna last. Maybe she’s trying to clean her hands of you for good.”
He looks like he wants to throttle me.
“Acolytes approaching,” Zenon says as his glowing eyes flash like twinkling stars. “They’re all armed.” He releases me and aims his own wand at the doorway.
Unless he’s a sharpshooter, I’m our best shot. I take a deep breath, and the familiar gray light washes over me as I transform into Dione. This is the first time the Senator has seen me use my power. I hate that in saving myself I’m also saving him. I step out into the dining room with my shoulders hunched, doing my best to impersonate Dione’s mask of determination when she’s hunting. The acolytes freeze when they see me.
“What are you doing down here?” I bark in Dione’s voice. She’s never patient with the acolytes. “Go upstairs and spread out.”
They follow my orders. This will buy us a minute at most—just until they find Dione laying into Jax. I have to escape before Stanton shows up. If he’s focused on hunting me, my morph won’t mean anything. He’ll be tracking my scent.
“Get to the panic room,” the Senator says as they all come out of the kitchen.
If I’m locked in that room with the Senator, only one of us will come out alive.
“Someone’s coming in,” Zenon says, pointing at a wall without a door.
We’re all confused until my nightmare comes true—Luna and June emerge from the wall holding hands. Luna’s silver hair is dirty, and there’s blood all over the same ceremonial cape she wore the night I got my powers. More bloodstains decorate the stomach of her silky white blouse. If she’s been wounded and is still managing to hold herself upright like this, this must mean she’s won.
She’s unkillable.
Zenon fires multiple spells from his wand but they sail through Luna and June as if they aren’t really there.
Luna’s green eyes study me. “Dione, dear, why haven’t you snapped this fool’s neck?” She’s right. Dione’s allegiance is always to the woman who gave her power when she felt defenseless in the world. “Drop the charade, darling Ness.”
I cross my arms as I revert back to myself.
“Family reunions are so beautiful,” Luna says. “Especially when someone returns from the dead.” She appears distracted for a beat, then pulls herself out of her reverie. “I must say, Senator, this welcome doesn’t feel very welcoming. First we’re greeted with spells, and now no one is even offering us a seat. Get your house in order.”
“Maybe if you’d given us some notice,” the Senator says. “If you’re here for the specter of yours who’s been detained in the Bounds, I cannot advise Bishop to release him under any circumstances. It won’t do well with our supporters.”
Luna waves him away. “I hold no present concerns for Stanton. He’s a soldier who understands the great sacrifices we must make.”
Stanton’s locked up? I don’t even have to know why right now. This is great news.
“Then why are you here?” the Senator asks.
“To discuss our futures. Is the living room this way?” Luna asks as she and dead-eyed June walk past us. “Beautiful dining room, by the way,” she calls over her shoulder, walking through the manor as if she owns it.
Footsteps on the stairs catch my attention. Dione glares at me, four of her arms retreating back into her sides; I clock her bloody fists before they vanish. Jax might be dead.