“Because she’s my daughter,” Jack said firmly, standing. He walked to the bedroom door, and then turned to face Shax, his hand on the knob.
“You’ve underestimated my family many times, Beast. This time may be your last.”
Shax waved him away, and a loud noise forced me to cover my ears. Misshapen arms exploded through the door, throwing splintered wood onto the floor and my covers. Before I could recover from the noise, Jack was pul ed through the door. Only traces of his blood on the door jamb and carpet had been left behind.
“No!” I screamed, reaching out from my bed.
Shax took a step closer, and I recoiled.
“Stay away from me,” I said, looking around the room for something to use to defend myself.
Shax lurched forward, his wild, black eyes and sharp features inches from my face. I scampered back, first against the head of my bead.
Panicked, I continued to crawl backward away from him, and found myself half- way up the wal .
Shax stood, looking up at me. He smiled with his crooked mouth and perfectly white teeth. “Running wil get you nowhere, Precious. We know what you are.”
He jumped, landing on al fours on the wal . My arms and legs couldn’t move fast enough as I climbed backward up the remainder of the wal .
Shax's arms and legs made quick, jerking movements as he moved slowly toward me. His body looked twisted and unnatural.
When I realized I was on the ceiling, looking down at my bed, I closed my eyes.
“Wake me up, Jared! Wake me up!”
I opened my eyes, and I was back at the loft. Jared, Bex, and the bed were al twelve feet below me.
“Agh!” I screamed as I fel face-down onto the bed.
“I’ve gotta learn how to do that!” Bex said, jumping once with excitement.
Jared immediately turned me onto my back. “Nina?” he said, brushing my hair from my face.
“I’m fine,” I said, angry.
“That…was creepy,” Jared said, scanning me with his dark-blue eyes.
“She was like Spiderman! That was freakin’ incredible!” Bex said. “I bet I can do that. I’m going to try.”
“We can’t float or climb wal s,” Jared said through his teeth. The skin around his eyes was tight with worry.
“But she’s human! Even if she’s influenced, if she can do it, we must be able to!”
Jared’s brows pul ed in. “What happened?”
I took a breath. “Jack was there.”
“And Gabe?”
“No, but Shax came. He said he knew what I was. Jack said that Shax had underestimated our family before. He said to get the book.”
Jared nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“I think he meant now,” I said, feeling a sense of urgency.
Jared looked to Bex, who was looking around the loft, listening.
“Bex?” Jared said.
Bex nodded.
“We al need to pack a few things,” Jared said. “We’re going to be gone for a couple of days. I want to be in the car and ready to go in five minutes.”
Jared's and Bex's forms turned obscure as they raced around the room at impossible speed, and I immediately pul ed on a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and then shoved my bare feet into sneakers. Jared held the door open for me as I pul ed my hair back into a ponytail. The iron steps knocked and echoed with my footsteps alone, although Bex was in front of me, with Jared fol owing behind.
Bex threw our bags into the back of the Escalade, and then froze. He looked into the air, waiting for something.
“Are they coming?” I whispered.
Jared paused, and then took a step toward the loft. “No,” he whispered.
Bex shook his head. “They’re here.”
Jared left me, then. My eyes barely kept up with his blurry form sprinting into the loft.
“What…?” I said. Bex moved in front of me in a protective stance, and then gasped.
The building exploded. Multiple bal s of fire rol ed into the sky. Debris shot toward Bex and me, and he turned his back to the explosion, shielding my body from the blast. I crawled out from under him, seeing the bright orange glow of heat and smoke that used to be our home.
“No!” I wailed, reaching over Bex. I knew trying to escape from him grip was futile, but the explosion had happened less than a second after Jared had reached the stairs, and I was desperate to get to him.
I looked up to Jared’s little brother. His eyes were wide. He clearly didn’t know what to think. We waited there, and even though the fire roared before us, everything was silent.
I waited for Jared to emerge from the rubble. Every second that passed seemed like an eternity, and panic began to overwhelm any rational thought I tried to have.
“Come on, Jared,” Bex said, his grip on my arms a bit tighter.
“Go get him,” I demanded, my voice broken and shaking.
“I have to stay here with you,” Bex said. He seemed confused and in shock.
I pushed at Bex. “He’s in there somewhere! Go get him!” I screamed.
Bex grabbed each side of my face, looking deep into my eyes. “They are here, Nina. They’re al around us. I can’t leave you.”
“Good kid,” Jared said from behind us. His hair and clothes were singed, his face covered in soot, and the skin on his cheek bone was scraped and bleeding, but he was alive.
He held up two dusty picture frames; one with the black and white picture of me he took the day he fel in love with me, the other of us playing at the beach in Little Corn.
“Don’t do that to me ever again!” I yel ed, bal ing up my fists, and landing them straight into Jared’s chest.
He wrapped his arms around me tightly. “I’m sorry. I realized what was about to happen, and I had to go. These pictures were the only things in the loft I couldn’t lose.”
We turned to watch at our home fal in defeat to the fire. The beams creaked as they gave way, and glowing ash was thrown into the sky, floating al around us. My eyes poured out rivers of tears. I’d never realized how much I loved the loft until I witnessed it dying in front of me. Memories of our first date, listening to our song for the first time, cooking together, laughing, watching Claire and Bex grow a little more each time they entered the front door. It was al gone; reduced to cinders.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
“We have to go,” Jared said, gently escorting me to the passenger side of the Escalade.
As he pul ed away, I watched the flames and glowing smoke until I couldn’t see them anymore, and then turned to face forward. Jared placed his hand over mine, and then Bex put his hand over ours.
“It had to be Donovan,” Bex said.
I shook my head. “No. Claire took care of al the humans that might be a threat to us.”
“Except Donovan,” Jared said. His knuckles turned white against the steering wheel.
Bex leaned back in the seat. “He’s the closest human to Shax. Claire left him alive because he's the Taleh of a Half-breed.”
“What?” I said, looking to Jared for confirmation.
He nodded. “Isaac. Very fast, very strong, but emotional. He's been known to make mistakes, but he's stil dangerous.”
I blinked, processing what Jared had said. “So to kil Donovan we’d have to kil a Hybrid.”
“Not just any Hybrid,” Bex said. “The son of Michael. An angel in the Holy Army. A warrior of God. At His word, they would exterminate entire blood lines, entire kingdoms.”