Jerry gave a rough cry of surprise as the gun flew from his fingers. He scrambled after it, but was pulled back. Gabe struggled to keep control of his own gun. Allie heard the slap of fist against face. The bone-crunching sound of metal striking a skull. Someone grunting from the pain.
Behind her, Nathaniel’s voice rose. ‘Is this your doing, Lucinda? You were to come alone.’
‘And you were to trade fairly for Jerry Cole,’ her grandmother replied with icy indignation. ‘I am not alone in breaking the rules of parley.’
That was when the gun went off.
It was too dark and too chaotic to see who fired. Later, Allie would think through that moment over and over again, trying to see more. Had Jerry recovered his gun? Was it Gabe? Was it accidental?
But at that moment, as the retort cracked through the air, she just flinched and reached instinctively for Carter, who caught her hand and pulled her to the ground with such force it knocked the wind out of her.
Then the echo of the gunshot faded away and the night went silent again.
Allie fought to get her breath back. Cool strands of grass, soft as feathers, tickled her cheek. Carter had flung his arm across her, holding her down. But he wasn’t moving.
‘Carter? Are you hit?’ Her voice sounded breathless and thin.
‘No. Are you?’ As he spoke, his hand pressed against her back as if seeking verification that she was OK.
‘I don’t … think so,’ Allie said, unsure. ‘I don’t feel shot. I think—’
‘Lucinda?’ The voice that interrupted her was Nathaniel’s. He sounded strange. Frightened.
Somehow, Allie knew then. She just knew.
She sat up just in time to see her grandmother sag into Nathaniel’s arms and then slowly, so slowly, slip down to the ground.
39
Thirty-nine
For an instant, Allie didn’t move. She felt dizzy. The lights of the city at the foot of the hill seemed to spin up and around her.
Grandmother.
Stumbling to her feet, she began to run towards her. She was vaguely aware of Carter’s voice calling her back but she kept going. She wasn’t far from Lucinda but those few steps seemed to take forever. As if the world itself had slowed down.
She could hear Nathaniel talking to Lucinda but his words made no sense. Saw him reaching for her hand.
Then she fell to her knees beside him. The lights of London illuminated the bloom of red on the white silk of Lucinda’s neat blouse. Just above her heart.
‘Grandmother?’ Allie was shaking now, her teeth chattering, as she reached out to the woman she’d only known a few months. Only seen a few times.
Nathaniel looked pale and drawn. He pressed both his hands against the wound on Lucinda’s chest. Blood bubbled between his fingers. His breath hissed between his teeth.
‘Oh God, Lucinda,’ he whispered.
This is bad, Allie thought. Bad, bad, bad …
‘Allie.’
Lucinda’s voice was unexpectedly strong. At the sound of it, relief flooded through Allie. She sounded fine. Yes, she’d lost a lot of blood but she’d be OK. They’d get her an ambulance.
‘I’m here,’ Allie said, fighting back a sob. ‘We’ll get you to a doctor …’
Her grandmother reached out with a blood-slick hand and grabbed her wrist.
‘Your promise.’ Lucinda held her gaze with fierce grey eyes. ‘Keep your promise.’
Allie’s brain wouldn’t function. Too much had happened. ‘My promise?’ At that moment, someone grabbed her from behind, dragging her roughly to her feet. Lucinda’s hand slipped from her wrist, letting her go.
‘No!’ Allie screamed, struggling in the unknown arms, swinging her elbow back to connect with a muscular torso. But the hands only tightened.
‘Allie.’ Carter’s tone was grave. ‘We have to go.’
She stopped fighting. At her feet, Nathaniel was still pressing his hands against Lucinda’s wound and talking to her in a low voice. ‘Stay with me, Lucinda. Please. You can’t do this.’
‘Go?’ She stared at Carter. ‘We can’t go. Lucinda …’
‘Your promise,’ he said, holding her gaze as if to force her to remember, ‘was to run.’
Suddenly she remembered the conversation in Isabelle’s office. Lucinda’s insistence that she swear she’d leave if she was hurt.
For the first time she paid attention to the landscape around them. Dark-clad bodies had flooded the hilltop. Guards from both sides were all around them. Everywhere was fighting and shouting.
She thought she saw Nicole, her long braid flying as she kicked a man in the face, sending him crashing into a tree. Then the two moved into shadow and Allie couldn’t see her any more.
The whole nightmarish scene, she realised, was like the paintings in the Cimmeria library – crowds of people, their faces contorted with hate, trying to kill each other.
Carter didn’t wait for her agreement. Holding her hand in a tight grip, he ran down the hillside through the fight towards the trees, half dragging her with him.
Night School: Resistance (Night School 4)
C.J. Daugherty's books
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