Page 31 of Kingdom of Chaos
Talon’s face leaches of color.
“Get in!” Imogen yells again. She holds up a black leather-bound book I don’t recognize. “I have this too,” she says, waving it in the air.
I’m ready to dive into Ensley’s car when Talon straightens, his gaze locked on the book in Imogen’s hand.
His mom yells his name again and starts jogging toward us. The two other males appear behind her and start sprinting in our direction. They’re coming for Talon and we only have moments to escape.
“I get you are angry. But you know this is the best chance you have. Let me help you!” Imogen shouts, her gaze panicked as she watches Jade and the others approaching.
Talon mutters a curse under his breath and then yells for us to get into Imogen’s vehicle.
Wait. What? No!
With her backpack slung over one shoulder, Ensley casts a longing glance at her baby before sprinting to Imogen’s vehicle and yanking the door open. She climbs into the back seat, and Titus is right behind her.
Talon grabs my arm and hauls me toward the hulking vehicle, yanking the back door open and practically shoving me inside behind Titus. He dives into the front passenger seat and shouts, “Go!”
Imogen floors it. Gravel and dirt spray everywhere as she spins the SUV around and barrels down the tree-lined drive. Shouts ring out behind us, muffled but angry, and though I hear them, I don’t look back.
We don’t even make it to the end of the cobblestone before a tree to our left explodes, sending splinters flying.
I cry out as the Valkyrie swerves. My shoulder slams into the door and my head knocks against the window.
“I can’t believe Jared just shot at us,” Imogen mutters, checking the rearview mirror. “He’s definitely off my birthday list.”
Talon twists in his seat, eyes sharp. “It was a warning shot. But Atlas is coming.”
His voice is low, steady, but I hear the edge in it. Tense. Focused.
“Those shadows sure would come in handy right about now,” Imogen says, shooting him a sidelong look.
“Yeah,” is all he says.
A bone-rattling screech splits the air, shrill and feral, like an enraged housecat, only louder, deeper, and close. I whip around and spot a cheetah charging after us, disturbingly fast, its eyes gleaming. It’s covering ground at an impossible pace, muscles rippling as it dodges debris and launches over potholes with effortless precision.
“Give me your necklace,” Titus demands.
I blink at him, startled.
“Quick!” he snaps, already reaching for the ceiling controls.
I yank the chain over my head and shove it into his hand. He grips the pendant, then hits a button on the ceiling. A mechanical whir fills the car as a rectangular glass panel begins sliding open. Before it fully retracts, Titus is already shoving to his feet, cramming his upper body through the opening.
“Hold on!” Imogen yells as she swerves to dodge a fallen log that wasn’t there a second ago. My shoulder slams into the door and I bite back a curse. Loose rocks spit from the tires as she slams the accelerator, the back-end fishtailing before she regains control.
Outside, the cheetah leaps and in a blur of speed lands with a bang on the roof and then scrambles to the hood.
Ensley and I scream.
Imogen jerks the wheel, sending the SUV veering into the underbrush. A branch scrapes across the roof, nails-on-chalkboard loud. The cheetah snarls, its claws digging into the metal, but can’t hold on. The force of the turn launches it off the side; it tumbles across the ground in a flurry of limbs and fury as Imogen jerks the Valkyrie back onto the cobblestone drive.
Titus, still half out the roof, grits his teeth and extends one hand toward the trees behind us. The necklace chain dangles from his other fist as he focuses, his jaw clenched and shoulders taut with effort.
The air thickens.
Magic ripples outward in an invisible wave, warping the space around us. I feel it prickle across my skin like static electricity right before a storm.
The ground starts to quake.
