Page 5 of Shadow Fall: Part Two

"I get it," he said quietly, giving me a look rife with understanding. "I can't stand it here, either."

I glanced away, uncomfortable with how much he saw.

"Let's find Renna and get the hell out of here," he said, releasing my hand and scowling at the glowing cells.

I jumped when I realised the people within them had begun to move. A chill went down my spine, and my gaze found Haley, the sight of her like a comfort blanket for my panic. If the titan had locked these people up, they were valuable. Dangerous.

Phoebe said these were the most powerful of his prisoners.

"Where is she?" Haley demanded, scanning the prison as winged people flew unsteadily from open cells, others descending via ladders I hadn't noticed running between the cells. "Where the fuck is she?"

"She's bright purple; she can't be hard to spot," Harvey murmured, scanning the prisoners.

I drew my knife, my hand shaking and magic roiling in my gut. Part of me was still kneeling on that marble floor, with Andryas's hacking my wings from my back.

"I'll fly up. Hales, Harvey, you fly down," Emlyn said confidently. "We'll be able to find—"

"No," Kai argued, his voice flinty and even. His red eyes were on me, unwavering. "Wane, what can you feel?"

I swallowed. "What?"

"You're terrified, your fight or flight instinct is going crazy. I think you can feel something we can't. Something in this dark magic shit."

The dagger shook harder in my hand. "I can't feel anything. It's just my memories, that place—"

Kai came close, slowly enough to not freak me out, his eyes glowing crimson in the darkness. "Humour me for a second. Close your eyes—what do you feel?"

"I can't," I breathed. Panic choked off my air. I couldn’t find a reason why I was suddenly petrified of what Kai suggested.

"Kai," Haley murmured. "What are you doing?"

"We've got your back," Kai told me, grabbing my head and holding eye contact. "You're not going back to that place; he's not getting you again."

I clenched my jaw. Fuck. Fine. I closed my eyes and quietened my power, just feeling the blazing mess of panic in my soul and—I scrambled away from Kai, my eyes flying open.

"There's a link. Oh, gods, there's a link between my power and this … this vile magic—"

I was going to be sick. Prisoners landed on the ledge; Apollo rushed over to show them the way out. I didn't care. I could feel the dark, oozing shadow the titan had built this place from; it wrapped suffocatingly tight around the magic I'd foolishly used to open the cells.

I didn't know how to get it out. It was inside me now, part of him was inside me—

"Get out," I forced out my sore throat. I stared at my family, terror squeezing all air from my lungs. If I lost any one of them… "Get out. Get out!"

The link trembled with horror and excitement, a twisted mix of both. I shook all over, choking on each breath I failed to inhale.

He was coming, he was—

Someone screamed, a woman's voice so loud and piercing that I flinched. Remembered pain cut across my shoulder blades and drove into my skull where my horns had been snapped off.

I scrambled away from the ledge, pushing Harvey towards the opening we'd entered through, grabbing Kai and shoving him too.

"Get out," I chanted, "get out."

More screams joined the woman’s wail. I shook, shivered, icy cold deep in my soul. Frantic, I pushed my family towards the exit, but it was already crammed full of prisoners trying to escape.

"Shields," Em roared. "Wane, shield Haley."

Shield Haley. I could do that.

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