Page 50 of The Brotherhood

No fucking answer.

He climbed on his swamp dragon right as the voice mail beep hit. “Cat, listen to me,” he ordered, his entire body shaking. “Do not go into the dungeon with Big G or AL, do you understand me? Do. Fucking. Not. I’m headed to Rukem aboutthis dream bridge. Fucking call me when you get this message,” he ordered, hanging up and cranking the dragon.

He took the direct route, navigating over land and water, till he reached the back of their property. He aimed for the bank and hit the gas, his dragon roaring up the steep incline before he blasted through the short forest and headed for the parking lot at the rear.

He ignored the stares from students and even nuns roaming the grounds as his dragon's underbelly growled across the asphalt till it met the grassy edge at the far end.

He pulled his phone from his pocket after hopping off, dialing Rukem and hurrying for the door. “I’m here,” he said when he answered.

“We all heard,” he assured. “I’m on my way to you.”

“I’m at the back side of the main hall I think.”

“Headed there now. You have any more information?”

8-Bit shook his head as he set off at a jog. “I couldn’t find anything, no error, no breaks in the system. You?”

“Same. All the Kings are meeting with us. I see you, brother,” he muttered as 8-Bit opened the door and hung up his phone. “This way,” Rukem said when he caught up to him.

“What do you think this is?” 8-Bit asked as they walked.

“I donotknow,” he muttered. “But the lights are different.”

“How?”

“The colors. They’re orange. They’re usually just white. Any idea what that means?”

“I didn’t catch that. It says extraction required. Do you think there are more colors?”

“Nokinglyclue,” he said, not happy with all the unanswered questions.

“I counted several thousand,” 8-Bit said as they turned down another hall. “How the hell are we supposed to bring thatmany in at once? I’ve run the numbers. Even with every able-bodied person, we can only manage a couple hundred.”

“Where is the Quantum King on his soldiers?”

8-Bit shook his head at that one. “I don’t put anything past him but with everything going on lately, if he managed a single damn one, I’d be damn shocked.”

“We need to get them on the line for this meeting,” Rukem said, opening a door where all the Kings were. Not sitting like the royalty he’d once remembered but milling about the room, looking high on souped-up gifts while tripping on hard dicks. Probably why they weren’t sitting. It would’ve been funny if he wasn’t in the same fucking boatwithoutthe bite.

The first five minutes were rapid-fire questions—how, who, what, when, where, and why.

“You said something was chasing them?” Nidev double-checked.

“That’s what it felt like,” Rukem said.

“So you’re not positive,” Skul realized, clearly not happy.

“Even if he’s not sure,” Dalk said, “we’d have to err on the side of caution until we learn more.”

“And how do we learn more?” Alerik asked.

“Drones,” Quantum said over the comm. “We send out drones to every location and see what we can see, then organize a rescue party.”

“What if it’s a trap?” Vex asked.

“Set by who?” Krovax wondered.

“How about that psychopath MOMMY prick,” Vex muttered.

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