“Don’t touch me!” she says.
“Christ, Nat. I’m only trying to help,” I reply, stung by her reaction. “I need to check it.”
I reach out again.
“No, wait! Ash, STOP!” she cries out as my fingers touch her blood-soaked skin. “I have the Wrath!”
I snatch my hand back. “What did you say?”
Natalie peers up at me, her blue eyes shining with tears.
“I have the Wrath,” she whispers. “I must have caught it from the Darkling boy who bit me.”
“Are you certain?” I say hoarsely.
“I ran a test in the laboratory back in the Barren Lands.”
A low groan escapes my lips as I bend double, my body crumpling under the weight of her words. I have the Wrath.
Suddenly everything makes sense—the way she’s been pushing me away, the fact that she hasn’t been able to hold any food down, the conversation with Elijah in the laboratory. Somehow I find the strength to lift my head.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I say.
“I wasn’t ready to lose you,” she says. “I’m sorry, Ash. I never stopped loving you, I—”
I kiss her.
I put as much meaning in it as possible—I’m going to be there for her, she’s not alone. She returns my kiss, wrapping her arms around me. My heart aches, with love, with grief. I’ve got her back, but for how long? A week? A month? A year? We have no idea how this disease affects humans.
“I love you,” I murmur against her lips.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you,” she replies.
“Me too,” I say, referring to Giselle. “But all that matters is that we’re together.”
I hold her hand while Giselle and Madame Clara patch up her leg. The wound isn’t as bad as we first feared—it’s deep, but it didn’t hit the bone or any major arteries. Once she’s bandaged up, I walk over to Elijah. He gazes at me, his swollen cheek covered in a sticky-looking ointment.
“You’re taking the news well,” he says, glancing toward Natalie.
Grief aches through me. “I think I owe you an apology.”
“No, you don’t,” he says quietly. “I’ve overstepped the mark a few times myself. Sorry about that.”
I sit down beside him. “So, you found Esme?” I say.
He nods, and tells me everything they learned.
“So the laboratory’s on a mountain near Gray Wolf?” I say.
Elijah nods. “I’ve never heard of the Claw before, though. Have you?”
“No,” I admit.
“It’s probably another nickname,” Natalie says, overhearing our conversation. “Like the way Crimson Mountain is also known as the Devil’s Fork.”
“We should head to Gray Wolf after the attack tomorrow,” I say. “Someone might’ve seen where the Sentry took your mom and my aunt.”
“Can we stop off at Viridis on the way?” Elijah says. “It’s only a few days away by boat, and it’ll be safer than trying to take the roads. You can talk to the senate about joining the rebellion while I gather supplies, and then we’ll continue on to Gray Wolf.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I say, reinvigorated.
Elijah lowers his eyes. “Good; I’m certain my dad will be excited to meet you.”
I return to Natalie and scoop her up in my arms. I carry her to our caravan and gently lay her down on the bed and help her undress. There’s a nasty purple bruise on her shoulder, and her skin is covered in scratches. Soon her skin will be rotting and covered in welts. The thought hits me like a sucker punch, and I have to place a hand on the dresser to steady myself.
“You okay?” Natalie asks quietly.
I nod, finding a shirt and passing it to her. Once she’s dressed, I take off my own clothes and climb into the narrow bed. There’s not much space, so we’re pressed close together. I wrap my arms around her, and she rests her head against my chest, her fingers lightly tracing over my scars.
“I’ll understand if you want to leave me,” she says quietly.
I tighten my arms around her. “That’s never going to happen.”
“I’m really sorry I got bitten, Ash,” she says.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I reply, grief clawing its way up my throat. “Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay?”
Natalie doesn’t protest. She nestles closer to me.
“Are you worried about tomorrow?” she asks sleepily.
“A little,” I admit, kissing her head again. “Try to rest.”
She shuts her eyes. It doesn’t take long for her breathing to slow down and deepen.
“Natalie, you still awake?” I whisper.
She doesn’t respond.
Only now that she’s asleep do I let the tears fall.
35.
ASH
THE SUN IS HIGH over Thrace, making the whole market sparkle as thousands of mirrors catch the light. We’re inside a tavern at the end of Spice Square, about fifty feet away from the Thrace City Hall. The two white-and-red Sentry banners still hang down the front of the city hall, fluttering slightly on the breeze. For the past few hours, I’ve been watching the guards come and go from the building, trying to gauge their movements. There’s nothing out of the ordinary.
To our right, directly opposite Thrace City Hall, are the giant digital screens, showing the countdown: 36:04:01, 36:04:00, 36:03:59, 36:03:58 . . . Situated on top of one of the digital screens, carefully camouflaged, is a camera.
So far, I’ve spotted around a hundred Sentry guards, several squads of Trackers and two Lupine packs coming and going from that building, including Sebastian and Garrick. They’re heavily armed, but because they’re not expecting trouble, we’ve got the element of surprise on our side. Plus, unless they open up the large decorative doors that dominate the façade—which doesn’t look possible, considering how rusted the hinges are—all the guards will have to exit the building via the small access door one at a time, making them easy pickings for us.
Across the square is the ghetto wall, punctuated at even intervals by guard towers. These appear deserted, but I know better. Gilderoy Draper and his team have been up there, hidden from view, since dawn. The fact that the Darkling ghetto is empty has worked in our favor, as it means the guard towers have been unmanned for over a year.
Above us, a Transporter travels to one of the Destroyer Ships, carrying a platoon of guards who have just finished their shift. There’s only one Transporter left, parked down Cinnamon Street, next to the city hall. Everything is going as planned. First thing this morning, two dozen of the Dacian rebels, including one of the clan elders, Miranda, allowed themselves to be captured and taken up to the Destroyer Ships. Hidden under their clothing were homemade bombs.
My stomach knots as I anxiously watch the airships. If everything is going to plan, the rebels have already freed the prisoners from the cells and are making their way to the hangar deck to capture the Transporters so they can get the Dacians off the airships before they blow up. So much can go wrong, and we’re relying on Miranda and her teams to take out the airships; there’s no other way we can seize Thrace.
Natalie, Elijah, Giselle, Neptune and Sol Becket are with me. I check my watch. It’s almost noon. In two minutes, we’ll be unleashing hell on this city. I flick a look at Natalie, who is adjusting her sword. I know she’s had experience using a sword, so that brings me some comfort. She’s wearing a black hooded robe, and has Cinderstone powder painted over her eyes and nose like the rest of us. She glances up at me, her face almost entirely hidden in the shadow of her hood. I smile at her, and she smiles back. Madame Clara gave her some medicine to manage the pain in her leg, so she’ll be able to fight.
I check my rifle for the umpteenth time, and then adjust the canvas bag hidden under my robe. It’s loaded with ammunition and smoke grenades, cobbled together from ingredients Neptune’s men were able to gather for us yesterday. Everyone else has a canvas bag similar to mine, as well as a sword, dagger or rifle. It’s not much, but it’s all we have. I hope it’s enough.
Neptune pats me on my shoulder. “You ready, boy?”
“Yeah, I’m ready,” I reply.
“Ash, look!” Natalie says, pointing up at the sky.
On cue, the azure sky fills with Transporters. They zoom away from the Destroyer Ships and fly toward the agreed-upon rendezvous point a few miles outside the city. A second later, there’s a tremendous explosion to the north of Thrace—it’s the Destroyer Ship hovering above the docks. Burning ash and debris rains down on the city as the scorched skeleton of the airship crashes into the ocean.
The access door to Thrace City Hall bursts open, and Sentry guards spill out of the building to find out what’s happening. Now it’s our turn. We each light our smoke grenades, causing white vapor to swirl around us as we run into Spice Square, just as scores of Dacian wagons speed up the side streets, blocking the Sentry’s only escape routes. The Dacians leap off their vehicles, guns and swords in hand. They’re all dressed in black robes with Cinderstone powder painted on their faces, like me. The guards skid to a halt, stunned, as a hundred Phoenixes glare back at them through the smoke, our hooded capes billowing like wings. Rose thinks he’s killed the Phoenix? He can think again.
The Sentry guards barely have time to register what’s going on before Gilderoy’s men appear in the watch towers and begin shooting. A dozen guards are killed before the others snap out of their stupor and start firing back. Their aim is wild, disoriented by the smoke. There are screams all around me as Dacians and Sentry guards are gunned down in the cross fire. Blood stings my nostrils, making my fangs throb, but I control my thirst as I lob a smoke grenade through one of the shot-out windows of Thrace City Hall, hoping to flush out the remaining people inside. Natalie and Giselle do the same, while Elijah pounces on a Sentry guard, sinking his saber teeth into the man’s throat.
A thunderous sound suddenly rips through the city as a second Destroyer Ship erupts into a ball of flames, then a third goes down toward the west, crashing into the Rainbow Forest. The ground vibrates with the weight of metal smashing against the earth. One by one, the bombs detonate, tearing through the remaining two Destroyer Ships. They lose altitude fast, but the pilots manage to steer the aircraft toward the fields outside the city, perhaps trying to keep civilian casualties to a minimum or maybe just hoping to escape. Either way, as soon as they hit the ground, the airships explode.
The skies are empty.
Now all we need to deal with is the enemy on the ground.
I toss another smoke bomb through a broken window, and Natalie and Elijah follow suit, causing a string of explosions. It does the trick, as the Moondogs bound out of the access doors, led by Jared. They snarl and snap their jaws as they charge toward us, their red coats flaring behind them. I don’t see Garrick’s pack anywhere. The smell of blood in the air is intoxicating, and the Lupines trample the dead Sentry guards with their steel-capped boots, crushing their bones in their thirst to feed. They don’t care who they kill, consumed with bloodlust: Sentry, Dacian, it makes no difference to them—it’s all just flesh. They tear apart ten rebels before we manage to draw our rifles and swords.
We rush at the Moondogs, slashing and shooting at them as we run. Neptune, Giselle and Sol take the creatures on the left, while Natalie, Elijah and I tackle the ones on our right. Natalie spars with a smaller, female Moondog who has a mane of dark black hair and is wearing a scarlet top and pants. The woman swipes at Natalie with her razor-sharp claws, but Natalie ducks out of the way and plunges the tip of her blade through the Moondog’s heart, killing her.
“Good one!” Sol calls out to Natalie. His glasses are splattered with Lupine blood.
“Sol! Watch out!” Giselle cries as another Moondog lunges for the man.
It seizes Sol and mauls his throat. A blade to its stomach from Neptune finishes the creature, but Sol’s already dead. Movement to my left draws my eye. Through the smoke, I spot five figures climbing out a first-floor window in Thrace City Hall and dropping onto Cinnamon Street below: Sebastian, Garrick, Sasha and two more of their Lupine pack. Garrick appears to be limping slightly. They shoot the Dacian rebels who block their path and manage to reach the Transporter parked on the street. A moment later, the engines whir, and they fly off, leaving the rest of their men to fend for themselves.
Fragg!
I don’t have time to dwell on it, as there are still the Moondogs to contend with. There are three left—two females and Jared. I shoot one of the females in the chest, then whip my gun around on Jared. I’m about to pull the trigger when he grabs Giselle. I can’t shoot him without hitting her.
Her gray eyes snag on mine.
“Do it, Ash!” she cries out.
I hesitate.
“Shoot!” Giselle yells as Jared plunges his canines into her neck.
I pull the trigger, once, twice.
Giselle and Jared collapse on the ground, unmoving.
Natalie and Elijah take down the remaining Moondog, bringing an end to the fight.
The square falls silent. All the Lupines are dead, and the Sentry guards that are still alive are cowering behind the pile of bodies near the city hall steps. The only people left are the Trackers, who have yet to leave the sanctuary of the city hall.
I walk forward, smoke swirling around my feet, and stop in front of the steps. I fix my eyes on the Sentry guards. At that moment, the digital screen on the west wall flickers, and a live feed of Spice Square appears on the monitor. Pandora and her band of rebels have successfully taken control of the news station. Right now, my image is being broadcast on every screen, in every city across the United Sentry States.