Especially Hope. She was precious.
Logan heard footsteps behind the stairwell door. On his right, the Warden vaulted over the railing and headed for Logan at a dead run.
The stairwell door opened. “Here!” shouted Hope, holding the door open for his escape.
There was no time to argue. He darted through the door and grabbed her arm as he passed. He started to drag her down, but she resisted.
“Up. I have an idea.”
Logan went with it, simply because fighting her would waste seconds they didn’t have. He’d stash her on one of the upper floors and continue on without her.
Even if he had to knock her out.
“We’ll push it off the roof,” she panted as they ran up the stairs.
That might work. He wasn’t sure how many stories tall this building was, but it was possible the impact would kill it.
The scream of bending metal and wind chimes rose up from below, getting closer. If they kept up this pace, the Warden would catch up with them before they reached the top of the next floor.
Logan slammed his shoulder into the door leading to the sixth floor. More signs of construction showed up here, though it hadn’t progressed as far as on the first floor. The elevator shaft was easy to spot.
He ran for it and jabbed the up button, hoping it was functional. Surely, they hadn’t been carrying all these construction supplies up the stairs.
Lights over the door moved as the elevator car slid toward them.
Through the window in the stairwell door one transparent eye gleamed. It saw them.
Hope stabbed the up button. He could smell her fear, and the need to protect her from it rose up in him, roaring with the need for violence.
The stairwell door exploded inward. It flew across the room, gouging a deep scratch in the concrete floor.
Hope let out a frightened breath. “Oh God.”
The elevator doors opened with a cheerful chime. Logan backed her inside with his body. He hit the button for the top floor, then the close-doors button. He waited until the doors began closing, and then darted out through the opening, knowing the Warden would come after the closest target.
The sun was down, but the last lingering glow on the horizon made everything he did harder. With his strength hampered, he was going to have only one chance to trick the Warden and shove him out through a window.
The Warden charged. Logan waited until the last second to duck behind the brick-and-steel-encased elevator shaft.
Crystal blades swung at him, lodging deep in the wall, their tips only inches from Logan’s face. While the Warden struggled to pull them free, Logan sprinted to one of the large floor-to-ceiling windows. The wet street six stories down gleamed under streetlights that had just begun to flicker to life.
He picked up a drill lying nearby and swung it by the cord, smashing out the window.
The Warden freed itself and turned. It saw Logan and let out a howl that sounded like shattering glass. Its feet slipped on the floor as it gathered speed.
Logan stood in front of the open window, his feet braced. He focused inward, collecting sparks of power as he wrung them from his blood cells.
The glow of sunset behind him seemed to burn his back, but he ignored it. There was no time for pain now.
The Warden’s crystalline muscles bunched and it lunged for Logan. Logan dodged. The Warden flew out the window. Logan turned to watch it fall, to be sure it shattered on impact.
The Warden was right there, clinging to the window frame.
Logan heard its swords shatter as they hit the pavement below. Too late, he realized his mistake.
The Warden grabbed Logan’s arm and hurled him out of the window.
The feeling of free fall registered as his arms and legs flailed to find purchase. There was nothing to catch himself on. He was between buildings, dropping like a stone.
Above him, he saw Hope’s head peek out over the edge of the rooftop. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened around a scream of horror and loss.
“No!” she shouted.
The Warden’s head craned around, looking up at Hope, and through its transparent skull, Logan could see its eyes glow with the sight of its next victim.
Chapter 19
Hope stared in shock as Logan’s body fell. An unnatural wind whipped around her head, sending her hair into a frenzy. She swiped it out of her face in time to see Logan hit.
She flinched and a cry of denial was ripped from her mouth by the wind. Tears stung her eyes as she stared down, hoping for a miracle.
For a second, she thought she saw him move, but that was just wishful thinking. He couldn’t have survived a fall like that.
The crystalline monster that Logan had called a Warden stuck to the side of the building like a spider. It looked up at her. Light poured from its eyes as it began climbing the wall, right for her.
Rage and grief flooded her system, making her fingers curl into fists. That thing had killed Logan. She was going to kill it.
She scanned the rooftop, searching for some kind of weapon. A pipe. A two-by-four. Something.
There was nothing up here but an air handling unit.
The Warden crawled over the edge. It had lost its swords somewhere along the way, but she could see a new growth of crystals beginning in its fists. It was growing new ones.
Hope couldn’t let that happen. She had to strike now, while she could. Once it had its weapons back, it would slice her in two before she could even get close enough to kick it in the shin.
She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t see any other choice. She had to knock it off the roof and send it careening to the pavement below.
She’d catch herself at the last second if she could, but she didn’t think that would be possible.