Page 55 of Solstice

“Gods be damned,” Siobhan said, taking a deep breath.

“Drive,” Finn snarled, his hand on the dashboard to direct Theo. “Fucking drive, goddamn it.”

I lurched backward as Theo slammed on the gas, and Siobhan grabbed two of her daggers from the holsters at her sides, palming them in her fists. Finn ripped the sheath off his enormous sword, keeping his attention on the chaos outside.

I had only a moment to wonder how to defend myself when we crashed into a hard, invisible force, and I tumbled forward, slamming my head on the back of the seat in front of me. Pain ricocheted through my skull and down my spine as hot, sticky blood squirted over my chin.

“Shit,” I shouted, grabbing at my busted nose. I couldn’t see, the agony radiated through my entire face. I didn’t have time to wallow in it because obsidian swirls of smoke seeped in through the cracks in the windows on either side, making my chest cave inward with panic.

“Theo, drive!” Lex shouted.

“I can’t.” The wheels burned against asphalt, the taste of rubber pungent on my tongue, as something none of us could see held the vehicle still. Siobhan sliced at the tendrils with her blades, cutting them as easily as snipping the heads off flowers.

Finn growled again and muttered a loud, “Fuck,” before slamming his elbow into the side window, shattering it. I grabbed on to Carter, my eyes wide, my head pounding, and Siobhan kicked the glass out on the side closest to her. Both fairies stabbed at the smoke, slicing through bodies and flashes of bone. They moved so fast I had a hard time keeping up with what was happening.

I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t do magic. I was just some weak, telepathic human. We’d thought we’d been prepared. We’d thought we’d done our research. How inadequate that seemed now that we were up against the real threat. I sat there stunned, and when a monstrous arm of smoke reached inside the driver’s side window and yanked Theo through it, I realized nothing I could have done would have made any difference.

I gasped as the cloud consumed him.

Everyone froze for a heartbreaking second, as if trying to make sure we’d seen what we thought we had. Finn shouted a louder, “Fuck,” and Siobhan grabbed Carter’s shirt, tugging him forward.

“Get us out of here,” she said, her brown eyes wide. I didn’t know Siobhan very well, but I’d never seen her this scared.

I didn’t want Carter to be the next Theo, so I started to protest. He gave her a timid nod, seeming to understand something I didn’t, and lumbered over the seat, cramming Lex against the window as he tried to get up front. Siobhan moved to the back next to me, smashing me against the wall as she fought off another thick arm of smoke.

An icy-cold rope wrapped around my throat, and I tried to claw it off me, but my nails dug into my overheated skin, scratching me instead. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I struggled against the tether as Carter got the car moving again, my body jostling around. The air sucked out of my lungs and my chest caved in like I’d never be able to breathe again.

Stars danced in my vision, but not because I was dying.

No, something else was happening, something that terrified me even more.

I had only a moment to process it before I collapsed under its weight, letting the darkness consume me.

17

Carter

When Siobhan grabbed me and told me to get us out of here, I didn’t immediately understand what she meant. Once I climbed into the driver’s seat, I got the picture. It was too dark to see, the thick clouds of Alberich’s energy blocking out all the light.

“Go!” Finn snarled from the passenger seat.

Go where?

I didn’t have a goddamned clue. I wrapped my fingers around the steering wheel and slammed my foot on the gas. The SUV lurched forward, only to slam into something hard. Metal crunched and I grimaced, fear slicing through me that I might be the next person to get sucked out the window.

Poor Theo.

“Ivy!” Siobhan yelled from the back seat.

I glanced in the rearview mirror, watching as one of the dark swirls choked the life out of my Weeds.

“Don’t worry about her,” Finn said, snapping my attention up ahead. “Drive!”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

What was I supposed to do?

Close your eyes,the magical part of me said, the one that told me which cards to pick in a poker game.Intuition could be an asshole sometimes, but I didn’t have any better ideas, so I listened to it. I closed my eyes and put my foot on the gas, and when it told me I should turn left, I did. The tires hit a rough patch of asphalt, gaining traction, and we surged forward. I white-knuckled that steering wheel the whole way, and when I felt like I should head straight, I went with it. It shouldn’t have been possible, but fuck it. A lot of stuff that had happened to me shouldn’t have been real. I stopped questioning it years ago.

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