‘As members of the Assembly we must consider the implications of an allegation that you are in fact still involved with the exile Phoenix and indeed aided him in his attempts to resurrect Lilith and utilise the Grigori Scripture.’
My mouth fell open. ‘Who said that?’ I exclaimed. ‘That’s not true! I would never have done that. And in case you’ve forgotten, he dropped me into a volcano not so long ago. That hardly says “same team”!’
My words fell on deaf ears, Josephine lifting a patronising hand to silence me. I wanted to scream.
‘I’m afraid I have been left with no alternative,’ she addressed the room. ‘Violet Eden is simply not one of us. I must vote therefore, fail.’
Whispers rushed through the crowd. Murmurs of agreement, sounds of horror, as arguments sparked and I simply stood in silence as one by one the Assembly filed out of the room, Rainer and Wil both looking at me apologetically as they followed.
That was it.
Testing complete.
I’d failed.
I turned on my heel and walked at a steady pace out of the room, not looking at a single person. The rules still applied.
I don’t run away.
That didn’t mean I didn’t power through the Command building, over the skywalks and to my room, all the while forcing back the threatening tears. Once there, I grabbed my backpack and started shoving my things into it. If I had failed then at least I didn’t have to stay here. And just because I wasn’t part of their stupid Academy, that didn’t mean I wasn’t Grigori. I could hunt just fine without them.
My door swung open. I didn’t stop packing. I’d felt him coming.
‘They were wrong and everyone knows it. Josephine set you up to fail. Griffin will fix this.’
I kept packing. I couldn’t even speak.
Suddenly he was there, his arms wrapping around me from behind, supporting my weight as I crumpled from sheer exhaustion.
‘You were amazing. No one can stop talking about how you took on Decima.’
I leaned back into him, ignoring the sting from the gash in my back and instead drawing in all that he was.
‘I’m sorry, Linc,’ I said, mortified that I’d just ruined his future as well.
He hushed me, his arms tightening around me, using the moment to heal the worst of my wounds.
‘You have nothing to–’
But his words were cut off as an explosion rocked the building. Lincoln threw me to the ground and himself on top of me. Everything shook with the force of the blast. As soon as the vibrations settled we heard several smaller explosions further away. By then, we were already on our feet and running in their direction, back towards Command.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
‘Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.’
William Shakespeare
Charging through the halls, Grigori were running everywhere. Lincoln and I picked up the pace, people moving out of our way as we passed them, our legs and arms pumping with all we had. We made it onto the skywalk just as we heard another explosion, which shattered more of the glass walls containing Command.
Lincoln and I saw our problem at the same time: the explosion had hit part of the skywalk we were racing across. Lincoln didn’t stop running but looked over his shoulder to shout, ‘Faster!’ to me, and then to the Grigori following us further back, ‘Go back! Go back!’ His voice held the kind of authority one did not argue with. We kept running, faster and faster, the walkway threatening to give way beneath us.
Without slowing, Lincoln thrust his hand back and I grabbed it just as he leaped forwards, pulling me with him as the glass gave a final sensational crack and fell. I landed in his arms, and he held me to his chest until he was sure I was safe. We looked down and watched the skyway fall, but before the largest piece of glass hit the ground it stopped and hovered, suspended in mid-air.
Confused, I looked back over to the building we had fled. Hiro and some of the other telekinetic Grigori were using their powers to hold it there, preventing a catastrophic collision with the pedestrians that swarmed the pavements beneath.
‘Okay?’ Lincoln asked, eyes searching me as he pushed the hair back from my face.
‘Yes,’ I breathed.
Two Grigori ran towards us from Command, as if they were headed for the walkway. ‘Get a clean-up crew on the ground,’ Lincoln ordered shoving them back in the other direction. They didn’t need telling twice.
‘Linc!’ I yelled, as we started to run again. ‘They’re everywhere!’ It was all I needed to say. My senses were buzzing, but his would be too. We both knew where we needed to go. ‘They’re going for Evelyn!’
This was what Josephine had been waiting for, but I was willing to bet she’d never counted on an assault of this magnitude.