"Here," I said. "Take this. I don't want Grimes getting his grubby hands on Fletcher's maps or the knives that you made for me. Don't worry. I've got plenty more weapons in my vest."
"Don't," he said in a low, strangled, anguished voice.
"Don't give me your knives. Don't give up. Don't you dare
give up."
"I'm not giving up. I'm being realistic."
More shouts echoed through the trees, along with a few more crack s of gunfire, as if to punctuate my words.
"I want to stay with you," Owen said, his words almost a snarl. "I want to fight with you and be by your side to the end - no matter what that is."
"I know," I said, my voice as calm as his was violent.
"But you can't. Warren and Sophia are both injured, and they will never get off the mountain without help - your help. Grimes's men will catch up with them and drag them back here. He'll use them as leverage against us, and then we'll all be dead. So I want you to go, Owen. I need you to go. Please. For Sophia and Warren - and especially for me."
Owen closed his eyes a moment, his body shuddering, as though his heart was tearing in two as he accepted the truth of my words and what we both had to do now. Then he snapped them open, grabbed my arm, and pulled me close to his body.
"Whatever happens, you survive," he growled. "I'll come back for you as soon as Sophia is safe. I promise."
Stubborn determination blazed in his violet eyes, making them burn as brightly as amethyst stars, and my heart swelled with love for him. Despite everything that had happened between us and all the ways that we'd hurt each other, I still loved him. I would love him for as long as I lived.
I just didn't know how much longer that would be.
Because I didn't think that I would survive this fight.
Grimes and Hazel had too many guns, too many men, too much magic, and I was all out of time - and options.
This one precious moment might be all that I had left.
So I cupped Owen's cheek with one hand and stroked my bloody fingers over his face, smoothing out his worried frown and trying to memorize his features. I stared into his eyes, letting him see just how much I cared for him, just how much I loved him. Then I wrapped my arms around his neck and crushed my lips to his, wanting to feel his arms around me just one more time.
He returned my kiss with equal fervor, wrapping his arms even tighter around me. Emotions exploded inside me, one after another - heat, desire, need, want, love. For a moment, I gave myself over completely to it, this hot, burning, unending wave of emotion that threatened to pull me under and drown me with its intensity.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Another round of gunfire burst out, closer this time, shattering the moment, and our kiss ended as quickly as it had begun, although the emotions lingered, sparking through my body like bolts of electricity, jolting every part of me and making me feel more alive than I ever had before.
Owen leaned forward and touched his forehead to mine, still staring into my eyes. "Survive," he whispered.
"Promise me."
"I promise," I whispered, even though I knew the words were an empty lie. Then I stepped away from him.
"Now, go. Before it's too late for all of us."
His eyes met mine, violet and gray, and the emotions roared over me again, even stronger than before - heat, desire, need, want, love. They made me want to fight, they made me want to survive - for him, for us - even though there was a slim chance of that, at best. Still, I grabbed onto those feelings, those emotions, those soul - wrenching jolts, and added them to the cold, black rage that was steadily beating in my heart, crystallizing my determination to protect him and the others, no matter what.
Owen nodded, shouldered my backpack, and started backing away across the ridge. He kept his gaze on mine the whole time. All too soon, though, he reached the trees on the far side. I grinned, trying to reassure him.
He returned my grin, although agony still burned in his eyes at the thought of leaving me behind. But Warren couldn't get Sophia off the mountain by himself, not before Grimes's men caught up with them, and we both knew it.
"Go," I called out to him. "Now."
Owen gave me one more longing, solemn look before he turned and disappeared into the trees. I watched him go, wondering if I'd ever see him again.
I hoped so.
But hope was a useless emotion in this situation, so I set it aside and locked it down tight inside me, along with all of my other soft feelings, where they would stay safe and out of the way of what was to come. Instead, I embraced the blackness in my heart until there was nothing left but the icy rage to kill every single person who came within arm's reach of me.
Until I was no more and no less than the Spider once again.
Then I unzipped a pocket on my vest, grabbed one of
my extra silverstone knives, and went to face my enemies.
Chapter Nineteen
When I was sure that Owen, Warren, and Sophia had a good head start on Grimes's men, I stepped out into plain
view on the top of the ridge, my knife in my hand, making sure that everyone in the clearing below could see me.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
A few bullets pinged harmlessly off the ridge farther down the slope. Most of the men seemed to be armed with revolvers, so they weren't really in range yet, but they surged forward, scrambling up and over the rocks, trying to fix that. I stood there and let them come.
My gaze scanned over the men, and I counted at least a dozen headed my way, each armed with at least one gun.
There were probably more of them at the east and west ends of camp, slogging through the woods and racing toward my position, but they wouldn't be a factor right now.
Twelve on one. Not bad odds, considering.
"This is for you, Fletcher," I said. "I hope that I make you proud."
Crack!
Crack! Crack!
More bullets pinged off the rocks, although they were slowly getting closer to hitting the mark. Still, I waited.
Until finally - crack! - a bullet chipped into the stone at my feet.
I grinned. Now that was definitely close enough. Still, I waited until most of the men had climbed a few feet higher before I crouched down and held my hand up.
A silver light flared in my palm, centered on my spider rune scar, as I reached for the Ice magic flowing deep inside my veins. I studied the glowing circle and eight thin rays of silverstone embedded in my skin, watching the shimmer of magic grow and grow as I grabbed hold of more and more of my power. I wondered if this was the last time that I'd ever see my own rune.