Ethan burst out of a room and saw us, his eyes widening in horror. “They’re here.” He didn’t frame it as a question, he already knew.
“Help us,” Theo pleaded. “Please.”
I’d never heard Theo speak with such desperation.
Ethan nodded. “Head for the garage. I’ll meet up with you.”
He disappeared back into the room he’d come from and we ran.
It wasn’t long before we heard people chasing us.
“Kill them!” someone yelled.
“We need the girl alive,” said another.
“Faster,” Theo urged.
I thought my legs might fall off. Why was this place so big? We kept running, screams echoing around the walls behind us, slowing as we came to bodies on the ground.
“Shit,” Theo breathed.
Victor lay on the floor, struggling and gasping for air. Blood was coming out of his mouth and his body quaked. The bodies of three Iniquitous lay around him.
“Victor,” I gasped, shock coursing through my body.
He choked on his blood and reached for me.
“Mara, we need to go,” Theo warned, reaching for my arm to pull me away.
“No,” I snapped, and jolted away from him. I bent down to Victor. His face was sweaty and I saw the sword lying nearby one of them that must’ve used to slash his throat. “What is it, Victor?”
He reached for my hand, getting blood on me, but I didn’t care.
He coughed, his body seizing. “G-Get away f-from here. F-Find C-Cleo. She h-holds the k-key.”
“The key to what?” I pleaded, begging him for answers.
“T-The truth.”
His eyes rolled back in his head.
“Victor,” I cried. “What do you mean? The truth of what?”
Theo grabbed my shoulder. “He’s gone.”
“No.” I shook Victor, trying to get him to wake up, I needed to know what he meant.
But Theo was right.
He was dead.
A blast sounded behind us and the walls shook.
Theo grabbed me and hauled me up. “They’re close. We have to go.”
We started running again, leaving the bodies behind us.
Adelaide struggled to run in her dress and ended up ripping it so she could move more freely. Her shoes were gone. Winston had ditched his tuxedo jacket and his sleeves were pushed up his arms.
Theo’s desperation to get us out—to get me out—leaked into the air.
Ahead of us, Ethan burst out of another door, outfitted like Theo.
Theo shoved me toward him. “Go with Ethan.”
“No!” I screamed. “I’m not leaving you!”
“Mara, for the love of God, do as you’re told. Please.” His eyes begged me to listen.
“Well, hello, light one.”
We both turned at the sound of the voice.
Three Iniquitous stood thirty feet away. The one who’d spoke stood in the middle with the other two flanking him.
Theo growled and tore away from me. He lifted his hands and blasted out some sort of magic that was easily blocked. He grabbed a dagger and threw it. It struck the one to the right in the chest and he fell to the ground.
“Tsk, tsk, dark one, that wasn’t nice,” the one who was in the middle spoke.
The man held out his hand and whispered something, and a blue light shot right for Theo.
“No!” I screamed a blood-curdling scream. Magic blasted out of me and I was shocked to find Theo encased in some sort of purple bubble. In fact, the bubble was so large it protected all of us.
The man who’d sent the blast paled, his face full of horror as his magic sizzled.
Theo grabbed something from his pocket and threw it at them. The hall began to fill with a hazy smoke.
“We have to go.” He turned and grabbed me, my bubble disappearing as we ran for the garage again. We didn’t make it far before it sounded like an entire army was behind us.
“Ethan,” Theo commanded. “Take them. Keep them safe.”
“No,” I shrieked, knowing what he was doing. “You can’t. Come with us, please,” I begged, sobbing.
“Mara, this is what I was born to do. I can’t neglect my duties.” He pulled his sword out. “I vowed to keep you safe, no matter the cost, that’s what I’m doing.”
My chin wobbled.
He grabbed my face and pressed a rough kiss to my lips before wrenching away. “Go.”
He ran toward the sounds of the Iniquitous, his sword held out.
“Theo!” I sobbed, feeling like my whole body was being ripped in two.
He couldn’t take that many on alone. He’d die.
I started to run after him, unable to leave him behind to fight this without me, but Ethan grabbed me before I could take two steps and tossed me over his shoulder.
“Don’t let his sacrifice be useless,” he warned, and ran with me over his shoulder.
Winston and Adelaide followed.
I sobbed as I hung upside down; I couldn’t help it. The most perfect night of my life had turned into the worst.
We made it to the garage and Ethan grabbed a set of keys from where they all hung. He pressed a button, unlocking it, and the headlights of a Lincoln MKX lit up. He pushed another button on the wall that opened the garage.
There was a crash behind us—they were closing in.
I heard Theo bellow out and my heart lurched.
“Theo!” I screamed, kicking against Ethan’s hold.
“Ouch, stop it,” he groaned, carrying me to the car.
“We can’t leave him,” I sobbed. “We can’t. Please. We can’t. Go back,” I begged brokenly. This couldn’t be happening. Not after … not after everything.
Ethan set me down by the car but kept a hold on me. “We have to go,” he said slowly, like he was speaking to a child. “Theodore’s holding them off so I can keep you safe. This is his job. His duty. We need to go now, before we all die.”
Before we all die.
He knew too Theo wouldn’t be making it out alive. Not with so many chasing us and only him to defend.
“Mara,” Adelaide said softly, touching my arm, tears coating her cheeks. “I don’t want to leave him behind, either. But we have to.” Her voice cracked on the last word.
I cried harder. I knew they were right. I knew I had to go, but I didn’t want to.
Theo was right when he said I would die to protect him. I’d do it in a heartbeat.
When you love someone, your life doesn’t matter anymore. Only theirs. I’d willingly die if it meant he’d live.
I looked to the door we came through, shadows moving, the sound of swords clanging.
We had run out of time.
I wanted to dash toward the door, to fight with Theo, to die with him, but I knew I couldn’t.
Not because I wanted to live, but because I had to.
I was important—that’s why the Iniquitous wanted me.
I finally nodded. “We’ll go.”
Ethan slipped into the driver’s seat, Winston the front passenger, and Adelaide and I tumbled in the back. Before our doors were even closed, Ethan was backing out at a dangerous speed. I let Nigel out of the bag and cuddled him to my chest even though he tried to escape. He was my tie to Theo now.
Ethan whipped the SUV around, tires squealing, and I turned, getting one last look behind us.
I saw Theo stumble into the garage hurt, sweaty, and bleeding.
A sword plunged into his abdomen and he stumbled, clutching at the wound.
I screamed.
He fell to the ground and didn’t move. They closed in on him, at least fifteen of them, their forms like dark shadows.