I exhaled, taking another deep breath. ‘I have enough enemies to fight tonight already.’
Adele looked pale as Josephine released her. She made her way hesitantly to Drenson, who had slumped back to the ground.
‘Thank you,’ I said to Josephine.
‘Keep him away from her,’ Lincoln said, his tone deadly clear.
Josephine opened her mouth to say something, but her attention was caught and I turned to see Drenson, now awake, huddled close to Adele, whispering.
‘I hope you are everything they believe and more,’ Josephine said, and I detected a note of tiredness in her tone that I had not heard before.
‘Who are they?’ I asked.
She tilted her head to the sky and back at me before crossing the road. ‘He will not bother you again.’
‘She’s so strange,’ I murmured as Lincoln collected his backpack of supplies from where he’d dumped it on the ground and hooked his arms through its straps.
‘She wants us to be strong,’ Lincoln said, leading us towards the riverbank. The wind was so forceful now it felt like we were walking into a wall.
‘Us?’
‘Grigori. All of us. She wants us to triumph, and most of what she does is done for that reason. I think it’s hard for her to consider that though she has always been the strongest leader, that may be changing.’
I shook my head, frustrated. ‘It isn’t about who’s the strongest, Linc. It’s about who’s trusted. Who will be followed.’
He nodded, smiling.
‘What?’ I asked.
His lips twitched. ‘Nothing. I just realised I’m not your teacher any more.’
I smiled in return. Because maybe that was true.
Lincoln’s phone beeped. Then again. Then mine. Then they both started to ring. We both answered.
‘Violet, you’ve got incoming,’ Gray yelled, out of breath like he was running. ‘I don’t know what the bloody hell happened but a huge group of dark exiles stormed through, taking out every light exile in sight. Hell, we barely made it out of that damn power plant!’
Lincoln was talking quickly on his phone, looking down towards the French Quarter. He put his hand over the mouthpiece and spoke to me. ‘It’s Mia. She said there are thousands of light exiles marching down the streets of the French Quarter. They’re headed this way.’
‘Violet, where are you?’ Gray yelled.
‘We’re on Canal Street, almost at the river,’ I replied.
‘We’re almost there. They’re headed right for you. Get out of there! Get out!’ The line went dead.
Lincoln had my hand and started to pull but my feet were rooted to the spot as I looked from left to right. Canal Street was wide – three lanes each way and streetcar tracks through the centre. The road was straight and flat and I could see clearly as, via the dozen side streets on each side of the dividing road, exiles began to pour out.
Thousands.
And thousands.
Lincoln and I stood right in the middle of their battlefield.
As light and dark faced off from opposite sides of the street, Lincoln and I tried to move back towards the river. My heart thudded seeing the sheer number of exiles in the one place.
‘Linc,’ I said, my hand trembling in his.
‘Just keep moving,’ he said levelly, adjusting his backpack.
But the wind was lashing like crazy and pushed me so hard I stumbled. Lincoln caught me, but it had been enough. The eyes of nearby exiles turned.
A group of at least twenty dark exiles started to run towards us. I braced for the impossible onslaught.
How can it have come to this? I have to get to Sammael! I have to save Spence!
Fury took the place of fear and I grabbed my dagger.
‘Look!’ Lincoln yelled, pointing to our left.
Gray and Carter barrelled out of a nearby side street, their troops close behind. Their team of wayward Rogues worked seamlessly as one tight unit, taking down exiles as they moved through.
‘Gray!’ I screamed.
He looked around frantically, and the moment he spotted us he started to shout out orders.
‘Get to them! We protect them at all costs!’
Gray’s team hit the onslaught of exiles just as they reached us.
‘Go!’ Carter yelled, putting his body between the exiles and me.
My mind raced. I knew I needed to run, to stay alive until I could face Sammael, but I couldn’t just leave them.
Lincoln grabbed my arm. ‘We have to!’ he shouted, his face looking as pained as I felt.
Indecision bit at me.
‘Gray!’ Lincoln yelled. ‘Mia’s got the rooftops!’
I looked up, seeing he was right. Grigori scampered along on the edges of many of the buildings edging the street. The conductors’ team were in charge of putting up a force field to keep the battle hidden from human eyes as much as possible, but while they were doing that they could also help out with other things.
Gray ordered his team back, trying to give the high-placed warriors a clear shot, but they were boxed in.