#grandfinale

I teleport the door toward the motorcycles, causing them to crash into each other and knocking off those still on them. Then I drop down and teleport myself to the nearest gunman and wrestle his weapon from his hand. I elbow him in the face and his grip loosens enough for me to take it and shoot at the engine of one of the motorcycles, making it blow up into an inferno that the men scurry to avoid.

Chapter One

 

Where could he be? I squinted toward the horizon, where stormy sky met turbulent sea. Brantley had planned to be back by midday, but the primary sun was already lowering beyond the churning waves. Not a good sign. Wind howled from the ocean, and the ground bobbed. A gust slapped into me, rippling my tunic and forcing me to lean forward to keep my footing. My toes dug into the tangleroot.

The moon’s moon gleamed clear and bright, and I stood transfixed by the canopy of stars, their faint colors shining against the velvet vastness of space. Ceres hovered above the horizon, a pale, blue speck, while Thalassa’s lights flashed overhead, only a few degrees below the orange point of New Triton. My drone’s tendril gently twined about my shoulders, and my implant magnified the deep sounds of space. The stars’ dissonance rumbled underneath the team’s voices and my own pounding heart. I smiled at the beauty of it—

Rhen leaned forward on the fireplace iron as if it were a cane. “Nimona, my dear, you do see that I have just saved you from certain peril, do you not?” He gestured vaguely toward Wes with his chin. “Though the boy might be able to prevent a direct attack by magic, he certainly has no power to keep a serpent from puncturing your precious skin.”

My name is Kerr Flick. Or Cadence. Or . . . something. I don’t know. A month ago, if anyone told me that my Dorm Leader would be offering to break the law for me, I would have laughed. No—worse than that. I probably would have reported them for losing their minds.