Page 80 of House of Kallan
“Yeah,” he said, backing away. He was barely a foot back when the building shook again. But this time, the detonation cracked the magic.
The children screamed as daylight poured in through a hole in the wall of the orphan wing. Letting Aden go, I raced to the door in time to see a hybrid beast come down, claws out, reaching for one of the kids.
Before I could react, Solana streaked toward the opening and raised his hand. From his palm came a beam of sunlight that burned where it touched. The sound the beast made was agony as they went spiraling down.
Two more came, one managing to grab onto one of the littlest kids. He screamed, his big eyes staring back at us in fear.
“Burn him,” Jinnah said. “I’ll catch Wayway.”
Solana did as Jinnah said. As predicted, Wayway came tumbling down and Jinnah was there to catch him, but not before the second hybrid was on them.
I wasn’t sure where Shadow came from. But the room suddenly turned dark as night and my sweet, silent ten-month-old was there, standing on his chubby legs as if he had been walking his entire life. With his stuffed fox in his hands, he stared almost bored.
There was no doubt that when the shadows moved on their own, creating little monsters with teeth and claws and tails, that it was Shadow’s doing. These things weren’t silent. It seemed for all that Shadow didn’t make a noise, these things were jarring.
All the worst sounds in the world—nails on a chalkboard, teeth scraping metal, yappy dogs incessantly barking—every horrid sound that you felt in your soul that made your jaw hurt, erupted from these things.
The sounds were just a distraction, though. A shadow wrapped around the hybrid that had nicked Jinnah’s wing and tore him in half. Jinnah and Wayway went spiraling, the two screeching. One of the other children, a storm, wrapped them in an air stream and brought them barreling into the bulk of thekids to catch. They tumbled, went down like bowling pins, but were already on their feet again and ready to fight.
These kids who had been tortured to unlock their secrets were now using them. I almost wished that the rest of the kids knew how.
And then a wail filled the air. I turned in time to see Raleigh cringe as he simultaneously tried to clutch Bael to his chest and push him away. Bael’s screams made the entire room shiver. I swear, the very edges of reality were shaking. Vibrating.
Outside the hole in the wall, tortured screams and grotesque ripping sounds filled the air. Aden pulled Bael from Raleigh’s arms and rushed him to me. “This seems like a hugely irresponsible thing to do with an infant, but he needs to be closer to the hole,” Aden yelled over Bael’s crying.
“Let me have him,” one of the kids said, reaching for Bael.
Tyrus was going to have my head, but I nodded, and Aden handed him over. Just as he entered the orphan room, another blast hit the building, and it shook violently. I was sure that it was going to come down. A huge chunk of the corner of the room was now missing from the third floor orphan room, opening our kids up to a wider attack.
But nothing hit the kids. I wasn’t sure where it originated, but a dome appeared around them, blocking them from the attack and us behind them. Wow, I felt small standing behind children.
“No!”
I turned, afraid of what I was going to see. Jasper was off to the side with seven kids, all of which I recognized from the party a few weeks ago. Two of the older ones pulled away.
“Dad, we have to help,” one of them said.
Jasper shook his head. “No fucking way. You stay with me, Apricot.”
The girl wrapped her arms around him. “I know you’re scared, but we have to. Just like our moms and dads. We’ll be okay. They need our help too.”
The desperate fear in Jasper’s eyes said that he wanted nothing more than to force the kids back. But he released Apricot and the three oldest rushed into the room. Raleigh moved to his side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as the next two oldest ran off, too, leaving just their youngest behind, though he wasn’t at all pleased with this.
“It’s okay,” Raleigh said, taking a breath.
All the humans from our families gathered around Jasper. I recognized Jex as the other belonging to Darkyn. Oliver, one of Hawthorn’s friends. A quiet, almost mousy girl who was the wife of the aerial Aves and a man who belonged to the fae.
Aden looked at me. “What do we do?”
“You’re not going to like my answer.” He pressed his lips together. “Help the nurses evacuate the pregnant mothers to the basement. You’ll see the rest of the Haven’s occupants heading for safety. Follow them.”
“You’re right, I don’t like that answer.”
“I can’t leave them,” Jasper said.
Staring at little Shadow still orchestrating his darkness around the room and all the kids using their magic as if they were a decade older than they were made my chest tight. I turned back. “I promise you, I will never let anything happen to your babies. Jasper, Iwillbring them home. Take the infants and the pregnant women and go. Please.”
He wanted to argue, but Raleigh nodded resolutely. “Let’s go, Jas. Trust Tatum.”
