The air reeked of salt, blood, and rotting flesh, but the adrenalin running through my body kept the nausea from emptying my stomach. Another corpse came at me, a sword clutched in its bony arm. I went to slash at his head, but a blur of white pulled the corpse down in front of me. As the blur slowed, I realized a giant white wolf was ripping apart the zombie. Fighting through the carnage, I wondered where Samantha was and hoped she was doing well.
Out of nowhere, the sky darkened further. I looked up to see a flock of giant white birds that resembled hawks. With wings extended, the birds soared before suddenly diving down to the field. I covered my head instinctively, trying to protect myself from getting clawed. When I felt no claws, I moved my hands and looked for the birds. The hawks were only attacking the Bravado. Screams filled the air as the hawks went after the soldiers. I tensed as Blake’s men passed by me as they tried to leave the field. It took me a minute to process it, but then I remembered Alexander telling Bry to get the Aves airborne—they were the hawks. As meek as the Aves seemed in person, they were a terrifying sight as a flock of birds amidst the battle. Of all the strange things I had witnessed since discovering Energo, the shifters were the hardest to accept. Between the Zatamanian cats and the Ave hawks, I started to think that anything was possible, even zombies, apparently.
The Bravado slowly began to retreat, and I searched for Samantha. Although I fully understood that she could take care of herself, I needed to find her.
She found me first. “Something about this does not feel right.”
I expected Samantha to be excited; her words took me by surprise. “What do you mean?”
“The Bravado should not be retreating so easily. It is as though Blake planned it all along, and he went into the battle for reasons other than destroying the Resistance.”
Samantha was right, and I needed to find Charlotte. What if his goal was to kill her, and he succeeded? My heart sank as I ran frantically toward the caves.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Charlotte
I jumped at the touch of a hand on my shoulder, and it tore my attention away from James. Kevin and I locked eyes before I stood up and let him take me into a hug. He pulled away from me, a look of amazement on his face. Turning around, I found the object of his attention—Mom. Glancing back at Kevin, I could have sworn there were a few tears. He didn’t move, and Mom eventually closed the distance and hugged him. She pulled away from Kevin long enough to gesture for me to join them, and the three of us hugged as though our lives depended on it. Maybe they did. I knew instinctively that the future of Energo lay in our hands.
Without warning, Kevin let go of us. “What’s he doing here?”
I spun around to see who had Kevin so worked up and saw him staring at Calvin.
“Calvin is with us, Kev. Calm down.” I was sure Kevin heard me, but he brushed past me as if I wasn’t even there.
“So you think you can just walk back into my sister’s life, just like that?” Kevin’s voice was harsh and loud. Everyone was staring.
“I am her Gerard. I have always been in her life. I never should have doubted her.”
“Cut the crap. Seriously, is everyone just willing to accept this?” Kevin looked around, and for a moment, no one responded.
Liam moved toward us, clutching his sword. “What choice do we have? We need him.”
“Liam? Wait. Is that a Guardian sword? What’s going on?”
Liam lifted up his sword as though it were weightless, something only a Guardian could do. “Yeah, it looks like I’m officially part of the team now.” He raised an eyebrow and grinned.
“But how? You know what? I don’t want to know.” Kevin broke into a huge smile, seemingly forgetting his disagreement with Calvin. Liam caught my eye, and I could tell he was as relieved as I was that Kevin hadn’t pushed it further. I didn’t think any of us could have handled a discussion about the kiss at the moment.
After the relief at seeing Kevin faded, my thoughts returned to James. He wasn’t going to wake up on his own. I knew the second I touched him that there was nothing I could do to bring him out of the coma. What good was having the power to heal when it wouldn’t work on your friends? Even understanding how powerless I was, I refused to just sit there and wait. I tried to stop the tears from pouring down my face, but I was so physically and emotionally spent, I couldn’t. I knew that my Guardians were willing to sacrifice themselves for me, but I never imagined just how horrible it would feel if they actually did. Mom and Calvin tried to calm me down, but I shrugged off their arguments, pulling into myself. James may not have been perfect, but he was my friend, and he was only injured because he was trying to save me. Besides, I was the one who insisted on tapping into the Source again to find Kevin. If I had only listened to my mom and waited… the guilt was strong. I also felt horrible about doubting him.
“Come on, Charlotte. We’ll find a way to bring him back,” Kevin said.
“What if we can’t?”
“Then we can’t. He was doing his job. He knew the risk. He made the decision to jump in front of you.”
“He saved me!” Sometimes I wanted to slug my brother, even if he was the hero of the day.
“And I’m glad he did, but what good does moping about it do? Besides, you know what this is really about.” Kevin moved within inches of me as he raised his voice, but then he was pulled back by Calvin. “Whoa, man! She’s my sister. Did you really think I would hurt her?”
“You are clearly upsetting her. Stay back.” Calvin glared at Kevin angrily.
I didn’t wait for Kevin to respond. “What? What is this really about, Kevin?”
“Your guilt. And that is plain dumb. If you question every move you make, you will get nowhere. James is one of your Guardians. Any one of us would have sacrificed ourselves for you; it comes naturally. If James could talk now, I know he would agree.” Kevin looked at me as though I were a child.
His expression just made me angrier, but I also knew he was right. I owed it to myself, James, the rest of Energo, and all of the Pact nations to snap out of it enough to do my job.
“I think she gets the point, Kevin,” Mom said. Unlike when we were kids, Kevin didn’t argue with Mom. He was probably still in awe of having her back.
***
I barely ate dinner that night; I was just too overwhelmed. The joyfulness of the reunions had died down, and a silence hung, amplifying my awkwardness. It was wonderful to have everyone together, but it was also hard. I had accepted Calvin’s presence quickly, but it was ingrained in me to want, or really to need, him by my side. It wasn’t that way for Kevin and Liam. Not only did they have to listen to him as their leader, they had to stand by and watch him with me. As much as I enjoyed being close to Calvin, I didn’t enjoy hurting Liam. I could almost feel his eyes burning into me whenever Calvin put his arm around me or kissed my forehead. For once, I would have welcomed James’s annoying sarcasm because it would have at least relieved some tension.