Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (38 page)

“B
ut, we fight each other,” I point out
.

“I would follow you,” he replies
without a hint of subterfuge.

“Follow me where?” I ask
.

“Home,” he replies
.

“I do
n’t understand
…” I trail
off, seeing something in his eyes. Something like hope.
“You want my help to ge
t back to Paradise?” I ask
.

“You would consider it?” he asks
, his eyes widening.

I nod
numbly
, seeing a brief smile appear i
n the corners of his lips
right before a d
ivine
Power angel pauses
behind him
and dri
ve
s
his sw
ord through the
back
of this fallen angel
and out the front of his chest.
Blood spews
f
rom his mouth, but the smile does
n’t leave his face.

“NO!
DON’T!” I scream
, st
artled as I reach
out to the
dying
f
allen angel, but my clone
’
s hands slip
right through him.

“Are you hurt?” the d
ivine angel a
s
ks
me as the f
allen Archangel falls
limply
away from us
toward the ground
,
dead and b
roken. All I can do is
shake my
clone’s
head, while turning
her
away.
My eyesig
ht within my clone fades
as my concentration wavers
.

A warm hand touches my skin
as Phaedrus says
, “Stay focused, Evie. You have to find Russell. He needs you.”

I t
ake
a deep breath, keeping my own eyes closed as I try to calm my
racing heart. In moments, I’
m
fully conscious
again within my clone. I reach out and feel
a pull
toward the center of the city.
Streaking as f
ast as I can
toward
s
that pull
of
energy
, my clone
enters
a clock tower through the black clock face covered with a
gold,
twelve-pointed star.

I locate
Russell and Anya on the interior stairway of the clock tower,
fighting ba
ck to back as Fallen pour
at them from all angles.

“I found the
m,” I breathe
to Phaedrus next to me.

“Go
od, where are they?” he asks
.

“Clock towe
r—
black face, golden star on it,” I describe
.

“The Town Hall,” Phaedrus says
quickly. “You need to create another clone and send it to Reed with this information.”

“That’s
possible?” I ask
.
“Sss
heeesh—
” I hiss
, seeing Anya r
eceive a slash to her thigh.

I direct my clone to hop
up on the railing
of the staircase
above Russell and Anya.
Waving my
clone’s
hands in the air to get the attention of the Fallen, I yell,
“HEY! EVIL FREAKS
!”

The instant the
Fallen surrounding Anya
see me, I di
ve off
the edge
of the railing and plummet
through the open air surrounding the winding staircase. Mock falling toward the ground like a
wounded bird, they all abandon
Russell and Anya to pursue me.

“You’
r
e
alive,” Russell’s clo
ne says
, falling next to mine
an instant
later
.

“I
’m at the
Brama Mostowa
—i
t’s
the
medieval tower near the
river
,” I reply
, grinning at him
in relief
.

“
Oh,
the Bridge Gate,” he translates
for me
,
probably
remembering it from 600 years ago
. “
Nice
, huh
?” he asks
as
he touches down on the Town Hall’s marble-
tiled floor
by my side
.

“
Nice?
No
t so much
. I
t’s
more like
a
medieval prison
meets
corporate
office
building
, but
it does have one perk:
no Fallen
,” I reply
.

“Sound
s
fine by me. Now we just need help gettin’ ther
e,” he says
with a frown
.
“It’s
thick with
the
smell of rotten
Fallen outside and I’ve
got
Anya. I need to go back
up
to her
.” He points
to where he’d left his body and Anya.
“
I think she’s hurt.”

The Fallen
begi
n hacking at our clones
with their weapons, but we
ignore
them.

“I’ll tell Reed w
here you are—
m
aybe he can help,” I say
quickly.

“Okay,” Russell agree
s
as his clone dematerializes,
causing the Fallen
surrounding me
to
growl in frustration.

“
Phaedrus, I need to stay in this clone so the Fallen don’t go back up and try to get Ru
ssell—” I begi
n.

“Shatter,” Phaedrus advises me
softly, like a voice inside my head.

“What?” I ask in confusion
.

“I want you to shatter as if you were
a broken piece of glass. Send Reed a fragment of the clone you a
re in now,” he explains
. “It will be a soft whisper of you, but enough for him t
o feel—
t
o hear, smell, follow
—
”

“A piece
of me,” I murmur
, feeling stumped and wishing I were
more like R
ussell—
more of a doer than a thinker
.
“Shatter…” I breathe
.
Nothing happens
. “Break…”

“Reed could be in trouble
. You should get him here as fast
as you can,” Phaedrus’
voice
says
in my head
.

Instantly I feel
brittle.
Cracks begi
n crawling slowly up my arms
as light from within me shines
out
t
hrough
them
. The Fallen
who have
been
surrounding me step
back, distancing themselves from what they don’t understand.
A piece of me, fr
om where my heart resides, breaks
out of my clone. Gl
owing golden, a soft orb floats
briefly in fr
ont of the f
allen
angels
before shooti
ng through
the side of the brown brick wall
.

As the Fallen continue
to circle me, I
attempt
to ignore their trash talking because some of the stuff they want to do to me and my soul is really terrifying.
Feeling Phaedrus re
ach out and take my hand, I understand
that he can hear what the Fallen are saying as he li
stens to the thoughts in my mind
.
And then,
as if by magic, they all stop
speaking while two of them lay prone in pieces on the floor.
Reed, covered in carnage
stands
before me
,
staring
i
nto my clone’s eyes as several d
ivine
angels
cut
down the rest of the Fallen
angels
surrounding us

“What are you do
ing here, love?” Reed asks
.

Pointing up, I say
, “Russell and Anya
are up there
.”

A smile pulls
at the corners of his mouth
while
he calls
out, “Russell?”

“Yeah! Y
ou
got my back now?”
Russell asks
in a sour tone
, looking over the railing
from the tower above. “’
Cuz one of them freaky demon
things
almost ate me after y’all left!”

“A Riser
nearly ate you?” Reed asks
with humor in his tone

“Yeah
,
whatever—i
t’s not funny!” he calls
down, sounding irritated. “Next time, I want Zee for my wingman.”

“That is because I am the
ultimate assassin,” Zephyr replies
from behind Reed.

Russell flies
down from the tower above with Anya
in his arms. “Zee!” Russell says
, grinning.

“Russell,” Zephyr replies
,
and
his tone
is
a little
tight
as he
rests
his hand on Russell’s shoulder
. “The last time I saw you, you were being eaten by Gancanagh.”

“A
pparently, I’m deliciou
s,” Russell says
with a cheeky grin
as Zephyr drops
his hand
.
“Is Buns here, too?” he asks
Zephyr.

“Nearb
y. She is not fighting,” Zephyr answers
with a frown, “
a
t least, she better not be
. S
he was told to stay in the tower
gate
.
”

“Di
d she go postal?” Russell grins
at him, “Y
ou know, for pullin’
her portal on the island
and sendin’ her to you
r safe house before the fight
?”

“Define postal?”
Zephyr counters
, his brows pulling together further.

“Insanely angry,” Russell says
.

“Yes,” Zephyr nods
his head adamantly
, pointin
g
at him
. “She has not called me
‘
s
weetie
’
since.”

“Oooo,” Russell says
,
ducking his head and wrinkling his nose
. “Doghouse.”

“Yes,” Z
ephyr agrees
blandly. “We must dis
cuss how I am to get out of it. But,
who is this?” Zephyr asks
, indicating Anya.

“Long story,” Russell mutters
, pulling Anya closer to him.

“M
y favorite kind,” Zephyr replies
, his assassin’
s
eyes almost twinkling
.

“I need to get her somewhere safe
and warm, she’s freezin’
. Y
ou
think
you
can help m
e out with that?” Russell asks
,
looking a little cold himself.

“We’ll take you to the Bridge Gate
,” Zephyr replies
.
“Ma
ybe she can give Buns a project—
”