Page 101 of Mantle

“Yes,” Jaxon admitted.

He drew his hand away as we reached the entrance doors toPolaris.

But then he pulled up short and pressed his hand to his temple.

“Mind-linking?” I asked.

He gave a nod and concentrated for several moments.

When he blinked out of it, he was tense, his brow furrowing.

“That was Ry. All the protections concealing Chimera Circle labs have collapsed. He’s just had it verified beyond a shadow of a doubt, and checked the source to ensure it wasn’t a trap or some misdirection. And those protections were decimated by Ariana’s power.”

“What? She’s… how?”

“I don’t know. She’s been unreachable—which, especially with what we know about Corvin, suggests she’s been taken. But her power being used… He must have forced it. Stolen some of it. She wouldn’t have even known about that network, let alone how to access it. We didn’t. Not until now.”

“So taking her and using her power for good? We now know he was one of the scientists who made Ketheron. He killed the other two.” I clenched my fists, a snarl escaping me. “And he was there while Nyx was being experimented on too. He wouldn’t do something altruistic.”

“I agree. There’s a greater and darker purpose behind it, and—” He froze, his breath catching.

Then he stumbled and doubled over with a grunt.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something’s wrong… something.” His gaze snapped to mine. “Draco’s sword has been fully activated.”

“You can feel that?”

“I was connected to him, imbued with his knowledge. I was actually surprised that I didn’t feel the Hellfire being used and repurposed from it, or it being removed from the Celestial Plane.”

“The connection must just be weak then, needing a full-blownactivationlike this for it to be felt.”

“I know where it is,” he revealed, staring off into the distance, a grave look on his face.

“Then we call in the Guardian Movement? This has got to have something to do with ArianaandCorvin.”

“I can’t call in Ry. Or Mia, for that matter, despite the help that it would be.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Mia was brutally stabbed by that thing and suffered a Celestial wound that almost killed her. And Draco used its Hellfire to set Ry on fire. It burned through his body until his limbs were a charred mess. He only survived because Mia was imbued by the power of the Celestial Plane at the time and was able to heal him. There’s too much trauma there. And even if they could focus through it, it’ll still compromise them.”

“Motherfucker. Let’s go then. Now.”

He grasped my hand to teleport us. “Follow my lead. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

And then he was enveloping us in a cloud of teleportation.

We rematerialized at a familiar location.

The Unity Council.

Its striking, once-impressive structure was now a shadow of itself—torn apart, utterly ravaged.

Its glass façade was shattered as Hellfire tore through it, that former luminous blue unearthly glow now snuffed out.

The statues that flanked the entrance were melted down to nothing but molten stumps.

The double doors of black steel were thrown open, people screaming and rushing through them, others teleporting out frantically.

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