10

Ashton

Through the flurry of whirling snow, Charlotte’s raven hair and pale skin was unmistakable, and Ashton’s heart stuttered when she tore from the cottage, her speed still so startling to him. He skidded to a stop, tracking her trajectory. Headed straight for the fire, just as they no doubt planned, running into an ambush. They used her heart against her again, threatening those she cared about.

“Stop!” Ashton leapt over the barrels strewn across the path, drawing his sword as he ran. Scanning the terrain, his pulse paced up. Where were they? He knew they were coming. He fought against the crowd of panicked onlookers, pushing them aside as he sprinted, shouting Charlotte’s name over and over.

Lightning spider-webbed across the sky crackling in bright threads behind the flaming building. A chilling wind hurled jagged shards of icy snow. It bore down, tinging against his armor and glistening in the flashes from the storm. Thunder rolled down the path toward him, shaking the planks of the walkway and reverberating off the dirigible balloons.

Charlotte ran up to the burning structure. “Jack, Lilah!” her voice was frantic as she banged on the door. The flames took the roof, caving it in and sending debris raining down around her. She yanked on the handle, screaming. “Help, someone, help!”

Almost closing the distance, Ashton spied the figures looming in the shadows, crouched and waiting.

“Charlie, move!” He leapt for her, taking them both down in a dive as a lash of tracer fire seared the door.

They rolled, Charlotte’s small form beneath him. He stared down into her pale eyes, pain evident behind them. Fine flakes landed softly on her nose and lips as she looked up at him with surprise.

“Ash, th – there is something wrong. I feel—” she twisted in his grip, holding her head and crying out.

The clatter of armor behind them spurred Ashton to move.

Knights of the Order, swords drawn, streamed in their direction. A half dozen, with their dark gaze trained upon her. They barreled through the panicked crowd, felling them with their swords and firing tracer guns indiscriminately. The mob of bodies swarmed as terrified citizens scrambled to get away from the attackers.

Ashton leapt to his feet and pulled Charlotte with him. She glanced over his shoulder, gasping, eyes wide. When their low moans warbled through the storm, her body tensed against his.

“They’re Tremblers?” She stumbled backward, her face full of horror. “How can they be Tremblers?”

A flicker of lightning illuminated the black eyes and pale blue skin beneath the armored helmets. Though they moved with furious speed, their quaking limbs threw them off balance on the swaying planks of the walkway. Still they managed to throw innocent victims out of their path and over the railings to their deaths. Others tried to shoot them with rifles. The rounds hit the Tremblers, making them jerk, but not slowing them at all. The lead knight, a man he’d once known, gnashed his teeth through a tremor, pointed with his blade, and let out a keening scream. They charged.

“Run, Charlie,” He took her hand, dragging her with him as he pushed through the crowd “You have to trust me. This is a trap. This is Arecibo, run,” he shouted, propelling her in front of him. “Go, go, go!”

She ran with him, hand to her head as she winced with pain. “It hurts, Ash. What are they doing to me?”

He gritted his teeth and searched for a craft to commandeer. He needed to get her away from them. Gaze leaping from vessel to vessel, he spotted one. Hovering under full lift, the pilot struggled with the tie line, trying to get the aircraft free of its moorings.

“Over there.” He pointed, glancing back.

The knights gained, their mechanica helping them adjust to the uneven terrain.

Charlotte’s wide-eyed fear told him she did not recall anything from before, and it left them at a dire disadvantage. “To the ship!”

The cry of a child pulled her gaze, and he turned with her, spotted the doctor clinging to her small boy near an inn opposite them. His heart fell.

“They’re alive!” She panted, her face filled with relief.

The lead knight followed her line of sight and shouted, sending three men off the attack. They veered toward the doctor.

Charlotte did not hesitate, with incredible agility she veered left, scaling debris as she hurtled over the rubble to intercept.

The knights tracked her across the night, and fired tracers after her.

Ashton ground his jaw, hit the switch on his arm guard, and followed after Charlotte. Metal sections rose and unfolded from the brace around his forearm, the nickel scraping as it connected and locked into a solid shield. He held it aloft, throwing himself between the tracer lashes and Charlotte. They bounced off his armor, whipped wildly in the night storm, and dissipated in branches of purple light amid the falling snow.

Lightning burned the sky, blinding him as he ran. Sword swinging, Ashton deflected another lash with his blade and directed it back at the knight as he leapt across a chasm of open air between slips. The soldier went down, seizing with the energy cracking over his body. Up ahead, Charlotte ran, arms waving, shouting for Lilah to get inside. A whip of purple light streamed across the path and wrapped around the doctor’s waist. She went down writhing with the child in her arms. Thunder snatched their tortured screams.

“Stop!” Charlotte cried. Her anguished gaze flared into fury as she whirled, facing off with the charging knights. “He’s just a baby!” Charlotte threw herself in front of them, her palm going up in front, as another lash flew from the lead knight.

Ashton dove, reaching with his shield as he flew through the air. He deflected the whip of energy a millisecond before it hit her.

A high-pitched throbbing pulsed out of Charlotte, bursting the nearby windows inward and shattering the glass of the lanterns. The knights staggered and fell to their knees, their shouts of pain echoing along the buildings. The devices at her temples burned silvery white.

And then he knew. He knew why Arecibo would do anything to have her back.

Charlotte rose, her back to him. She stood astride the lurching pathway, riding it with perfect balance as the storm whipped it in waves and knocked Ashton down. She coiled, her piercing glare on the thrashing knights. Dark hair whipping in the wind, she glanced over her shoulder at him. Charlotte’s pale blue irises went black as energy crawled down her spine. Her weapon extended with a metal clang and sparks flew from the point.

“Charlie, no!” He yelled, but the thunder took his words with it. The rage, it frightened him to his core. Please do not let it take her…

With a furious scream, she pounced.