She shrugged, then lunged past me, letting out a war cry as she charged another wolf. I stood pressed against the wall, weaponless, powerless, and terrified. If Terra wasn't even here, what were we doing? Had she taken Brenon and Gia and left us to die?
Right as I was forcing myself to take deep breaths, I noticed a flash above me. Glancing up, my whole body tensed. Terra was standing on the balcony overlooking the whole warehouse. Her arms were spread wide, an arc of lighting radiating between them like an evil rainbow. Next to her, stood Gia, arms pressed firmly to her sides. Was she bound? I squinted, trying to see if Gia was unharmed. Before I could make it out, Terra released the lightning, sending it out into the crowd.
"No!" I ran into the middle of the room, but it was too late, the electricity had already struck, and in a second, most of the people who were engaged in the battle were lying motionless on the cement floor. I was standing in the middle of a pile of bodies.
Chapter 22
Terra looked down at me, I swear she was smiling. Then, she and Gia were gone, leaving a dense gray smoke that settled in the air, masking the scene around me. My lungs constricted and my throat burned. Coughing, I carefully moved through the fallen, arms in front of me. I knew the wall had to be around here somewhere and when I found it, I could open the door to let the air clear.
My toes came into contact with something soft, and my stomach flipped as I realized it was a body. I wasn't able to identify if it was a wolf or one of our own through the haze. Tears streamed down my cheeks, a combination of watery eyes from the smoke and my heartbreak at the destruction left in Terra's wake.
Finally, I found a solid wall in front of me and I kept my fingers on it as I followed it toward what I hoped was the front door. After pausing a few times to cough, I finally felt a seam in the wall. Tracing along the seam, I felt hinges. Blindly, I continued along until I found the doorknob, then opened it.
A rush of fresh air hit me, and I inhaled, blinking against the cold air. I turned to the smoke, expecting to see it pulled toward the door. Instead, it hung there, unmoving. I heard other coughing and attempts to move around. We needed to tend to our injured, and we needed to get away from here before Terra returned. With the smoke, there was no way that was going to happen any time quickly.
Then I realized it must not be typical smoke. It had to be magic. I leaned against the door, so my body weight kept it propped open, then I closed my eyes, recalling the pencil and the rose. I hadn't needed words or a spell. I made magic happen with my mind. Thinking of the smoke, I pictured it weightless, wispy, like a fast moving cloud on a windy day. I imagined all of it blowing through the open door, dissolving into the night without a trace. Clearing my mind, I focused on the motion of it, what it would feel like if I were lighter, if I were the smoke.
I opened my eyes, and while the warehouse was still filled with gray smoke, it looked thinner. I took a breath in, noticing that I wasn't coughing this time. With a sweeping motion, I swung my arms toward the door, picturing the smoke taking the lead, and following my motion through the open door. To my surprise, it started to thin even more, dissolving in front of me. As the smoke dwindled, I could see it making its way through the door. It was doing as I commanded.
Finally, the room was free of the toxic fumes, and the true damage was crystal clear. My heart was heavy in my chest as I saw the remains of the ambush. We'd planned to do the same thing to Terra, but she'd anticipated it, and she was stronger.
At first glance, I seemed to be the only one standing in the room. I'd heard other survivors, I couldn't be the only one. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that one of the other doors was open. Whoever remained must have made their way out as the smoke cleared. There were so many who didn't make it. Were any of the fallen still alive? Did they need help?
My lower lip trembled as I walked into the crowd, looking for familiar faces. For Brenon. Where was he? I'd seen Gia with Terra, but not him. Had Terra taken him or had she already finished him off?
Where was my aunt? Or Maggie or Adam? Had Joe even come inside or had the Circus kept him safely away? I stopped in front of a fallen Sayge I didn't recognize and felt for a pulse. Nothing. I moved over to check the fallen wolf next to him. Nothing. Slowly, I made my way around the room, checking for survivors and hoping I wouldn't find Brenon or anyone else I'd come to care about among the fallen.
On the other side of the warehouse, another door opened and several people came running in. Performance or not, the flashy clothes told me they were members of the Circus. That's when I realized all the fallen were Sayge or wolf. The Circus had done their duty and stayed outside the doors. Now that it was over, they flooded in.
I balled my hands into fists, angry that they'd stayed outside and done nothing. My foot slid as I stepped onto a faint silvery powder and I recalled why they'd remained outside. The iron powder. The floor shimmered in a layer of the stuff. The Sayges had been using it during the fight. Had any of it hit Terra? Had it just not worked?
"Ara." A breathless Evangeline caught up with me. "Where is he?"
She didn't need to explain who she was trying to find, she was searching for the same person I was looking for. I shook my head. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since he left to join you. But I did see Gia with Terra. She took off, and I think she took Gia with her."
From somewhere behind me, I heard a groan. I perked up, was it possible that in this destruction, there was someone alive? Spinning around, I turned in the direction of the sound, then glanced back at Evangeline. "Help look for survivors. We need to get all the injured to safety."
For once, she didn't argue with me. She turned and headed toward the other Circus members who had entered the room.
I continued on toward where I had heard the sound. "If you're hurt and you need help, speak up if you can. I'll get you help. You're going to be okay."
My heart thumped in my chest. I needed to find someone alive in this mess. It couldn't end like this. There needed to be something I could do to help.
My breath hitched as I noticed the familiar dark hair. Brenon was sprawled out on the ground on the other side of the warehouse. Leaping over a dead wolf, I ran to him. Please be alive. Please be alive.
I dropped to my knees in front of him, noticing the ground covered in blue iron dust. He'd been exposed to it at the very least, possibly even hit by the dust. Thankful for the gloves, I brushed as much of it as I could away from him, then removed the gloves and tossed them away from us.
I placed my fingers on his neck, out of habit to feel for a pulse, then remembered that he wouldn't have one. Brushing his hair back, I leaned my face over his. "Brenon?"