Page 107 of Kingdom of Chaos
Kade shakes his head, a look of disappointment on his face. “Contact us when you’re serious. We’re done here,” he says as he pushes to his feet.
I sigh. I didn’t actually think they were going to give Becks over just because I asked nicely, but I was hoping they would.
“Actually, we’re not,” I say firmly. “If you want to stay on friendly terms, like you keep claiming, you’ll sit back down.”
Kade’s nostrils flare. “This isn’t a game?—”
“Oh, I’m well aware of that. But I want my friend back and that’s a non-negotiable for me. If you walk out that door, Ipromise you I’ll still get Becks back by the end of the night, but I won’t lift a finger to help you defeat Kerrim.”
It’s a tense thirty seconds before Kade reluctantly takes his seat again, his gaze sharp as he assesses me.
I have his attention now, and a bit of the knot of anxiety in my chest begins to loosen.
“I’ll be honest with you,” I say. “I don’t like the idea of Kerrim running around your world with unchecked power any more than you do. And even though he deceived and manipulated me, I still feel somewhat responsible for him being here. Even if the part I played was completely unintentional.”
I lean forward, meeting both Kade’s and Ares’ eyes.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get Shadow Striker back from him the way your prophecy claims. But I’ll admit this much: I know him better than anyone else here. And with me, you may have a better chance of defeating him.”
Kade crosses his arms over his chest, a frown pulling at his mouth. “We’llhave a better chance of defeating him?”
“That’s right,” I say. “I’ll agree to stay and help you with Kerrim, but I’m not going up against him alone. That would be suicide. If you want my help, you’re going to release Becks, and we’ll all work together to bring Kerrim down. No more blackmail. No more leverage hanging over my head to strong-arm me into doing what you want. After this, that ends.”
Kade starts to say something but I cut him off by holding a hand in the air. “And I’ll tell you why you’re going to be so accommodating. It’s because if you don’t agree to these terms, my friends, who I’m sure you’ve noticed by now are suspiciously missing from this meeting, are going to break Becks out of your headquarters and then destroy it on their way out. We’ll leave the human world for good, and Kerrim will only be your problem then, notours.”
Kade’s face hardens to granite, his eyes boring into me as he tries to determine whether or not I’m lying.
I’m not.
Talon was right. It would be easier to break into the Order’s headquarters and free Becks than to go up against Kerrim. But at the same time, Kerrim has to be stopped, and I don’t know that I can live with myself if I just leave. I have to at least try to get Shadow Striker away from him, no matter how perilous it might be.
But I don’t want to be a sacrificial lamb either. Taking down Kerrim is going to take more than just one human or creature. It’s going to take a small army. And that’s exactly what the Order is.
But because of the prophecy, Kade believesI’mthe only one who can defeat Kerrim, so he won’t go up against him. Not unless he’s forced to. Which means not until I’m either gone . . . or dead.
There are two things I need from Kade that he hasn’t been willing to give me: Becks, and backup against Kerrim.
So when Talon and I got back with dinner, we sat down with Ensley and Titus and came up with a plan. While I meet with Kade, the others are already at the Order’s headquarters, including Imogen, who was practically vibrating with excitement at the chance for violence when we called to tell her—are already at the Order’s headquarters. Their mission is simple: retrieve Becks peacefully if Kade agrees, or break him out if he doesn’t.
If we have to take Becks by force, we’ll return to the creature world immediately, leaving them to deal with Kerrim on their own. But if Kade agrees to release Becks and stand with us, we’ll stay and fight too.
“You’re bluffing,” Kade says.
“I’m not.”
His phone buzzes with a message, and I say, “That’ll be someone at your headquarters letting you know the power’s been cut. Go ahead and check it.”
Imogen and Talon are a strategic force on their own, but once Titus got involved, it took the three of them less than an hour to come up with a plan to cripple the Order and infiltrate the building.
We know exactly where Becks is being held, and with the combined powers of all four of them, it would take the entire NYC Order to stop them. But we also know the building isn’t fully staffed in the middle of the night.
The first phase starts with disabling their electrical systems. Not just to help us get in and move around undetected, but also to show Kade we’re serious.
Kade checks his phone like I suggested, then mutters a curse under his breath. Ares leans over to read the message and his eyes go wide.
Kade sets the phone face down on the table and looks up at me. “You’re really asking us to give up our leverage and just trust that you’re going to put your life on the line?”
“Yes,” I answer.
