Page 87 of Secret Gifts
Fuck that hurts.
Jase winces, his eyes desperate to find a way too me, but there aren’t any options. I try to force my sleepy gift free, and a few laughable pebbles sling across the ground to represent my pathetic attempt.
That’s fucking embarrassing.
Jase’s eyes look different. It looks like he’s about to do something, but suddenly shit starts turning to ash all over.
Thank God for Savage Unc.
I look over to see Uncle Grayson’s eyes dilated, and I’m thankful his savage is more controlled around full bloods than my brother's. Jase dives and rolls in my direction, but he’s pinned down behind another one of our vehicles as they fire even more rapidly in our direction.
Suddenly, the ground splits and jagged rocks emerge to form an instant cliff, cutting me off completely from the others.
“Aria!” Jase and Rex both scream.
“I’m fine. They have a gifted. They probably have more! Watch your backs,” I blare through the stone wall.
I look around for an escape, but someone has surrounded me with this stony trap, leaving only the swamp in sight. I fire blindly toward the invisible attackers who are cloaked by the deep swamp, but I can’t see if I’m hitting anyone or not. The overgrown natural veil is too thickly covered, making it the perfect place for a guarded attack by a group of sniveling cowards.
Damn, I wish I could fucking use my gift.
I try again, and this time I’m able to launch a pile of idle grenades into the swampy area, their pins all falling out in unison and plopping against the stagnant puddles of mud.
Sure, no one gets to see that shit.
The deafening boom rattles throughout the swampy area, and I hear some celebrating for my small accomplishment. I try to see, now that I’ve set the marsh on fire, and then I smell the methane swishing through before the fire blows up even hotter, another boom erupting.
Fucking shit!
The force comes out so hot and heavy that it throws my body into the massive rock someone forced up as my cage, and I drop to the ground as blood falls from my mouth. I feel my wounds healing, and then I start running while the bullets come in a little scarcer. I see a gap, and I slide through it, hoping for open ground, but I’m greeted by a man holding a gun.
I scream as the uranium burns through my veins with one, two, three bangs.
Damn it.
“Aria!” Jase screams when he hears my mind’s distress.
I thought he couldn't hear me if he couldn't see me. Shit.
Tears start to drip when I hear him yelp out after most likely being shot.
“No!”
I try to crawl away from my attacker, but I’m forced to scream again as more shots of uranium slice through my back, finding my organs, and pushing the blood out in heaps. I turn in time to see the tattoo peeking out from under his shirt sleeve on his wrist. The scorpion.
Fires blaze up and over the rock, but they miss the man. It’s that same fire, that same beautiful, hypnotizing fire from the day of the jets. The fires come again, but they miss him, unable to find him, blinded by the cliffs that have been made.
I feel too dizzy to stand as my blood pours out more, and then I feel my weak, fragile body being thrown over a shoulder, the scorpion tattoo staring me in the face as his wrist swishes back and forth on the arm not strapping me down.
More men ash to death as Uncle Grayson goes phase two, things starts moving faster as Aunt Angelica panics, and then cries erupt as my brother's sane mind disappears and his savage takes over to destroy the minds of the rest. It’s too late though.
Everything becomes a distant blur as the rock wall moves out of our way, and I feel the wind against my back. He’s moving too damn fast, and they’ll never catch up with our attackers still holding them back.
I love you, Jase.
“Arrrriiiiiaaa!” his yelling, frenzied voice yells back in response, but it become a dull, distant echo almost too quick as my eyes falter, slowly giving up hope.
Within a near blink, we’re already miles and miles away, the swamplands gone. This guy shouldn’t be so fast. He’s faster than me, faster than Jase, faster than my damn mom.
