The remaining Chosen all gathered around me, patting me on the shoulder and congratulating me for the victory, but all I felt was hollow inside. Our escape couldn’t come soon enough.
“Gabriella, are you okay?” asked Troy.
“Let’s just get out of here,” I replied.
“I’m working on it,” said Peter, as he drew a sword from his side, in place of the chain that was still embedded in the dead Behemoth’s face.
All of the surrounding Pitguards aimed their guns at us, as the doors at the end were opened and a number of extra guards came in, using Peter’s chain to drag the dead beast across the ground – leaving a smear of dark blood on the sand – and out of the arena.
Hades raised a hand and in an instant the crowd silenced.
“Congratulations,” he said with a dark smile. “You entertained me, so you will all live to face the next challenge. This one will be particularly interesting to some of you I think.” His eyes lingered on me and his dark smile grew, becoming even more sinister.
What is he talking about?
He turned and gestured down towards the doors. I watched as a solitary figure appeared, stepping out into the sunlight. My blood turned to ice in my veins. The strength in my knees gave out and I collapsed to the ground.
“No,” breathed Troy. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“What’s wrong?” said Peter, glancing between us.
My head felt like it was going to explode. Everything I knew told me that what I was seeing was some kind of trick, that the person standing in front of me in full Alliance uniform wasn’t real. But there he was, wearing his signature grin and sweeping a hand through his pale hair.
Grey.
“No,” I shouted over the silence. “No, I watched you die!”
Grey shook his head, his grin turning into a mocking smile. “No Gabriella, you didn’t.” He cracked his neck with both hands. “Although I must confess I have one hell of a headache.”
It’s another of Lilith’s cruel tricks. It has to be.
“Where is Grey?” I demanded. “What have you done with him?”
“Oh my dear, I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your friend has been dead for a long time. I should know, I was the one that carved out his heart after I stole his identity.”
My head was spinning and I felt like I was going to be sick. This can’t be right. It makes no sense.
“You still seem confused. Allow me to make this simpler for you.”
I watched in horror as Grey’s jaw detached like a python’s. His facial skin became slack and his body shuddered like he was having a fit. Then all of his skin slid downwards, and a fur covered muzzle emerged from within, pulling itself out from inside the elasticated flesh, as a loud series of cracks and pops echoed around the silent arena. A moment later a giant creature ripped itself free, letting out a piercing howl as it grew to its full size.
No. No. No.
I had seen the change countless times, but I had only ever seen the gigantic albino creature once before, when he had almost killed me and several other Guardians on Atlantis Outpost. My stomach lurched as I took in Grey’s true form and realised to just what level everyone at the Warren had been deceived. The person I had thought was my friend, the person who had come on countless missions with us, fought with us and helped keep us alive on several occasions, wasn’t my friend at all. The whole time he had been a Skinshifter imposter.
Yeth.
43
Alex
The elevator broke out onto the platform and instantly I was belted with the torrential wind and rain that slewed in sideways from around us. The sea beyond the raised platform bucked and thrashed like a possessed thing, tossing the tightly tethered ships around each other and making the statue that anchored them creak and groan. The sky above had turned as dark as a bruise, and streaks of lightning mapped themselves out above the clouds every few seconds.
Where are the Lawbringers?
I scanned around – narrowing my eyes against the spray of seawater that hit from every direction – and expected to see guns aimed at us. But when I finally found the Lawbringers, I saw that they were already unconscious and all bound together against one of the legs of the great statue.
I heard shouting above the roar of the heaving sea and saw a cluster of figures standing at the bow of what a catamaran would have looked like if our world had only ever known war. It was a massive, imposing thing covered with valves and steam pipes, and the two black hulls that connected to the towering main deck were each fitted with enough heavy artillery to fend off an army. There were a dozen similar but smaller ships surfing the heaving waves around it, but it was the monster in the middle that Zero headed for.
“Why are they so far out? They should be anchored close!” he shouted to no one in particular.
We all rushed over to the giant ship and I saw the word Buttercup brazened on the side in bright yellow letters, next to an image of a tiny flower. The people on the deck were shouting and pointing down at something. I had no idea what we were supposed to be looking at until I saw the ripped corrugated sheet of metal getting thrown about in the waves and realised that it was a broken section of the gangplank we were supposed to be using to get on board. The rest of it was sticking out at an angle from the leftmost hull.
“Shit!” shouted Zero.
“What do we do?” shouted Grediya over the roar of waves.
“I know what to do!” I shouted. I raised my hand and summoned the Protectors down from the statue. They stamped onto the platform and Zero swore loudly, reaching for Princess.
“It’s okay, they’re on our side!”
“What in the bloody hell…”
“Everyone grab hold of them!” I shouted. “They can carry you to the ship!”
Delagio, Hollie, Danny, Siris and Lokar all clambered onto one of the Gargoyles. Zero, Grediya, Torin and I climbed onto the other. I raised my hand and then thrust it forward.
“Take us to the ship!” I commanded.
I gripped onto the Gargoyle’s arm tightly as we soared into the air. At the same time there was a roar that rose into a quick crescendo and a fleet of Umbra Skyjets burst through the dark clouds in the distance like a flock of giant, metal birds.
Oh god no!
The jets flew so low and at such incredible speed that their slipstreams knocked the Gargoyles off balance and sent them both tumbling through the air. The Protector carrying my teammates smashed down onto Buttercup, sending everyone clinging to it rolling across the deck. The Protector carrying us sank backwards, flapping its stone wings wildly as it tried to catch the air. Torin lost his grip and plummeted – screaming – into the thrashing sea, where he was instantly dragged under the powerful waves.
“Torin!” yelled Zero.
The rest of us almost followed right after the lost mercenary. But at the last moment the Gargoyle gave a final, desperate flap of its wings and managed to crash land on the Freeport’s entrance. We hit the stone platform hard and rolled for several feet before coming to a rest. The mercenaries on all of the ships had activated the heavy artillery guns and were unleashing hellfire on the Umbra Skyjets. The aircraft split formation and banked around in the sky, coming back for a second run. A few of them were plucked out of the air and came crashing down, smashing into random ships and boats with massive explosions that sent shuddering shockwaves punching through us.
The Skyjets returned fire, tearing large chunks out of the mercenary ships’ hulls. I saw one of them aim its guns towards Zero; I grabbed him by his shirt collar and rolled him with me out of the way. A split-second later thundering tennis-ball-sized bullets ripped up the stone where he had been seconds before. I raised a hand out to the nearest Protector. “Help us!” I shouted. The Gargoyle flipped back to its feet and was joined with its counterpart. Both flew towards the Skyjets with their jaws open and fire brimming in their throats.
“My guys are sittin’ targets!” shouted Zero. “We need to toss
the anchors and get the hell out of here!” He spun around on the spot in desperation. “But how the heck are we going to get on the ships? Not even a Chosen can jump that far and those Umbra bastards will have your flying things out of the air in seconds!”
I scanned around, searching for a way. I caught sight of the statue and looked up at its massive hands that held all of the ships. “We climb the statue and cross the chain to the ship!” I announced.
Zero pointed to the space where his amputated arm would have been. “I ain’t the best climber, kid!”
“Get on my back!”
He looked at me like I was mad. “What?”
“Trust me!” I shouted.
Zero paused for a second, and then wrapped his arm around me. I clamped one hand over it and hoisted him up. “You, follow me!” I shouted at Grediya. Before she could reply I rushed over to the statue and jumped up onto its leg, shimmying up a few feet. Then I leaned down and held out my hand to the female mercenary.
“Grediya, grab my hand and don’t let go!”
The Elf looked at her leader.
“Just do what he says!” ordered Zero. “You better know what you’re doing, kid!” he added.
Grediya reached out and placed her hand in mine.
I switched.
Yanking the Elf off her feet, I hopped up the statue, grabbing onto its nooks and folds with one hand, and dragging the dangling mercenary with the other. Zero kept his one arm pinned around my chest like a vice, swearing loudly with each large leap I took. In my altered state, the pair weighed next to nothing, and I scaled the huge statue in seconds.
I swung my arm up and deposited Grediya onto the space between two of the statue’s massive heads. Zero climbed off my back and I followed him up. Then we all climbed over the huge shoulder and started to run down the long arm, shielding our eyes against the beating rain and torrential wind.
“Skyjets!” shouted Zero.
I grabbed the mercenaries’ coats and yanked them both down, throwing myself on top of their backs and pressing myself flat.
“Hey what–”
“Just keep still!”
The Skyjets tore overhead, so close that if I had stood on tiptoes I could have reached up and touched their undersides. The tailwind that followed in their wake was like a hurricane. It ripped at my body and I grit my teeth together as I fought against the incredible power. My knuckles turned white as the gale tried to snatch Zero and Grediya from my grasp. But I was stronger – I kept holding tight and stopped both mercenaries from being ripped right off the statue.
“Get up!” I shouted once the wind died down.
We sprang to our feet and rushed as quickly as the mercenaries could manage down the rest of the statue’s rain-slicked arm until we reached the coiled fist that anchored half of the countless ships to the city. Down below, Del, Danny and Hollie were helping the mercenaries load round shells into what looked like mortar launchers. They all shrank back and covered their ears as the devices released their payloads. The shells shot up high into the air – right into the path of an Umbra Skyjet. When they exploded, the blasts linked together as if each shell were some type of magnet, creating a web of fire that engulfed the aircraft and tore it to pieces. The debris rained down onto a small wooden ship below, reducing it to splinters.
We all ran towards a chain the width of a car that descended down in a concave arc towards Buttercup; the metal links swayed and bobbed in front of us like an insane obstacle course. Running it wasn’t an issue for me, but it was too risky to try and carry Zero and Grediya with me, and I couldn’t leave them behind. Zero and his mercenaries saved us and helped us escape; the least I can do is make sure they get onto their own ship safely.
“Go!” I said and waved the pair ahead of me.
Zero went first, crouching down and straddling the bucking chain. He shimmied and slid down the thrashing links, releasing a stream of swearwords with every shudder and sway of the turbulent tether, and ducking as stray bullets and shells shot past his head. Grediya followed close behind, scrambling as quickly as she could down towards the boat. I started to crouch-run behind them, balancing on the swinging chain like an acrobat. There was a series of harsh pinging sounds as bullets ricocheted off the chain around me and I looked down to see a large cluster of Lawbringers standing on the elevator platform and aiming up at us. At almost exactly the same time, I heard a blaring horn and glanced up.
You have got to be kidding me.
Three giant Skyships emerged from the clouds. Unlike the ones at Fenodara, these new ones were rounder, with spiked wings at either side and horizontal stabilizers at the rear, which made them look like metallic stingrays. The new arrivals cruised slowly through the air, the torrential rains hammered against their metal hulls. Hatches opened at their bases like giant jaws, revealing hordes of the mouthless Umbra soldiers, dressed in their black metal armour. The Skyships dipped low and the forces rushed out in reams, storming down onto Buttercup and its sister ships, instantly clashing with those on-board.
The sky became a hive of activity as the Protectors tore into the fuselages of the Skyjets, the Skyships unleashed their living payloads, and three different groups exchanged gunfire. At the same time one of the Skyships broke away from the others – flying towards us – the front row of Lawbringers sank to a knee and started to fire at us. Grediya let out a scream as a bullet glanced off her shoulder.
She jerked backwards and fell off the chain.
I dove forward, sliding several yards down the chain and snatching out with my hand. Our fingers connected and Grediya jerked to a halt, dangling high above the tempestuous waves. I stared down at Zero’s warship, quickly analysing its layout and distance. Then I closed my eyes for a split second, using my improved abilities to work out what strength and angle I needed to use. Bullets continued to rain around me, always close, but never actually connecting. I opened my eyes.
“When you land, roll,” I shouted down to her.
Grediya’s eyes went wide. “What?”
“Roll!”
Before she could stop me, I swung my arm backwards to gain momentum and then flung her forwards. She fell – screaming the rest of the way – and landing on a part of the main deck covered with thick rain canvas, just as I had planned. And just as I told her, she rolled as she landed, coming to a halt on her back. Several mercenaries broke away from the fight to help her, and I saw with relief that she climbed to her feet unharmed.
“Let’s go!” I shouted to Zero.
“I think we need to renegotiate the hire price, kid!”
He threw himself forward feet first, sliding on his side down the thrashing chain and using Princess to dispatch Quiet Ones in the nearing Skyship as he went. Every single bullet he fired hit its target, and several of the sinister Umbra folded in on themselves, hitting the cargo floor. But there were plenty more to take the place of the fallen. The Quiet Ones kicked their dead comrades right out of the open hatch and then took their positions, kneeling down and unleashing a spray of gunfire towards the mercenary. Two bullets hit Zero at the same time, one grazing his leg and the other removing a chunk of his ear. He’s never going to make it down alive. Time to repay the favour.
I took a deep breath and then jumped from the chain towards the Skyship.
I landed inside the open hatch, knocking several Quiet Ones to the floor. They flipped back to their feet in seconds and then dozens came at me at once. Spinning Crimson around, I pivoted, blocked, thrust and stabbed my way through the fuselage, severing heads and limbs. The Quiet Ones bore down on me in their masses punching and kicking with incredible skill and speed. If I had been in my normal state they would have overpowered me in seconds. But I was still drawing on the unknown energy and I dodged and blocked each attack. At no point did any of them try to shoot me or use deadly knife strikes.
They don’t want to kill me. They want to capture me. Well that ain’t happening.
A fist flew in from the left and I ducked, rising up wit
h Crimson and severing the hand. A roundhouse kick came from the right and I caught the leg, smashing it hard enough with a fist that the fractured tibia burst out the side. An aggressive headbutt came in from the front, which I just accepted and then returned with a headbutt of my own. My enemy’s face crumbled into broken shards of bone behind a sheet of skin.
The Quiet Ones never ceased and they never made a sound. Not even when their bones snapped or their skin was sliced open. Not a single whimper or a moment of hesitation in the entire time we fought. When it became clear that fists and feet weren’t good enough to subdue me, gun butts and knives came at me. I deflected and dodged, but it was like a storm of metal flying in from every direction. A few hit, but they barely pierced the skin.
I heard a noise from above and looked down the bare cargo hold to see dozens more Quiet Ones running down a set of metal steps. Ducking a hand inside my uniform jacket, I pulled the Biomote out of my pocket. The screen was flashing with two missed vocal-link communications from Scarlett. Don’t really have time to call back, I thought as the storm of fury continued to hit from every direction, with more on the horizon. I absorbed the punches and knife blows as I switched screens and activated the self-destruct setting.
I hope you’re okay, Scarlett.
The unit started bleeping, slowly at first and then faster and higher in pitch. I grabbed the metal plates of a Lamiae’s armour and ripped it open, stuffing the Biomote inside. Seizing him by the horns, I threw him back into the new arrivals and then broke away from the pack. The Quiet Ones scrambled at the Lamiae’s uniform, trying to get at the unit.
I sprinted through the hold, towards the hatch. The unit exploded behind me, and I felt a wall of heat and intense pressure as I dove out of the opening. I cut through the air like a knife, falling the hundred feet down onto Buttercup’s deck. Below me I saw that a Succubus was locked in battle with Danny. As I darted towards the deck, I altered my angle so that when I landed, I collided with the Succubus. Umbra bones broke as I rugby tackled the Quiet One, driving the back of her head hard into the floor. When I stood up, I saw that she was dead, her eyes staring blankly upwards and rear of her head split open on the deck.
The Veil Page 62
