Allegiant (41 page)

Impulsively, I take a step around Dane.
“It’s not his fault!”

Dane tries to stop me, by grabbing my arm,
but I look at him and mouth the word “no.” My argument for staying
at school, instead of running away, comes back to me. “He’s been
used; we’ve both been used.”

Kellan looks at me, his mood shifting again
as he offers me a maliciously arrogant retort, “A fact we’ve taken
in consideration, I can assure you.” He gives me a sly smile. “I
said he should be banished not that he would be.” He winks. “Your
decisions are about to get a lot harder, sweetheart.”

Before I can ask what that means, Ethan and
Abraham reappear with Garrett in tow. My mind reels trying to
figure out how that’s possible. Dane steps protectively to my side,
wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

“
Well,” Kellan says. “Look
at what the cat dragged in.”

Abraham and Ethan push Garrett to his knees.
His eyes grow wide as he sees Lucas trapped in Kellan’s hold. He
looks to his left, spotting James, and then to his right, finding
Dane and me. A defeated look crosses his features, but he regains
his composure and faces Kellan.

“
What? You still feel
justified?” Kellan asks. He nods toward Lucas. “You still believe
in his cause? You don’t even know what he was fighting
for!”

“
And you do?” Garrett
asks.

Kellan scoffs. “I know a hell of a lot more
than you.” He looks at Ethan who lashes out with his fist,
connecting with Garrett’s temple. I cringe against Dane’s side.

“
You went against
everything you’ve been taught, everything we stand for,” Kellan
growls. “To hurt our Wards goes against the essence of our very
being, yet you wounded yours beyond repair for your own selfish
gain!”

Abraham gives Garrett a sickening kick to
his lower back, which causes him to fall against the floor. As much
as I despise what Garrett did to James and me, I can’t bear this.
Garrett was a friend.

Kellan turns and unexpectedly releases Lucas
from his hold, his body crumpling to the floor in a heap. He walks
over to him and kneels by his side. “Your muscles have been
severed, but your senses have been spared,” he says in an eerie
tone. “How does it feel?” He pretends to listen for an answer that
doesn’t come and smiles. “That’s what I thought.”

He rises, grabbing one of Lucas’ hands in
the process, and drags him across the floor toward Garrett. “You
wanted to be human?” he spits. “You sacrificed the Choice for a
human life?”

Garrett clenches his jaw as he pushes
himself back to his knees. He defiantly stares at Kellan.

“
What you desire will not
be yours,” Kellan says. “Your mentor should have known better. Now
he will watch as you are destroyed, and he will know the cost of
his mistake.” He looks to the others, and they step around Garrett
to stand beside him. The four of them make up a line, Lucas
included, although he is lying defenseless on the ground. They leer
over Garrett, each of them touching one another at their feet, with
the exception of Kellan, whose foot is set against Lucas’s
head.

Tears spring behind my eyes, and I lean into
Dane, grabbing his shirt and twisting it in my fist. He clutches my
shoulder and reaches up to shield my face against his chest.
Neither of us thought we’d be witnessing a murder today.

Even though my eyes are closed, I still see
the blinding light behind my lids. I can feel it, too. Instantly,
the temperature in the room increases by multiple degrees. After
several seconds, it returns to normal with a cool rush of air,
leading me to believe they have incinerated Garrett. Tears course
down my cheeks.

“
Emma look,” Dane
whispers.

I open my eyes expecting to see a pile of
ashes where Garrett knelt, but instead find him still there in one
piece. My face twists in confusion until my eyes land on James.
He’s holding his hands out in front of him, examining them, with a
look of complete awe.

Kellan leans down, leveling his face with
Garrett’s. “Your Ward now has what you so desperately wanted,” he
says with a smug expression. “What you thought you’d taken from
him, we’ve given back.” He presses the palm of his hand against
Garrett’s forehead. “While you rot for eternity as one of the
Banished, keep this one thought close,” he sneers. “He’s human and
you will never be.”

With those words, the patio door shatters
with a deafening crash. Dane pulls me to the ground and covers my
body with his as shards of glass fly across the room and rain over
us, hitting the floor and bouncing off the wood around me. I lift
my head to see a man charging through the broken glass, arm raised,
a crude weapon flashing from his hand. He’s headed straight for
Kellan.

Suddenly, the protective weight of Dane’s
body is pulled from covering mine. I look above me to see him
wrestle out of a woman’s grasp. “I’m not going to hurt you!” she
says, her emerald eyes wild and anxious. She looks at the action in
the center of the room and back to Dane. “Pick her up!”

Dane does as she requests and heaves me off
the floor by my arm. The woman moves us back from the chaos,
shielding us from the battle that’s now taking place. Dane stands
with his back against the wall, his arms around me, as I’m
sandwiched in between him and the stranger.

Under her outstretched arm I can see the man
who came crashing through the door as he attacks The Allegiant.
They dance around one another, and I notice he appears to be larger
than the others. His brown hair is parted down the middle of his
head, falling to his chin and catching the stubble on his jaw as he
dodges a blow from Kellan. The man still holds an unrecognizable
weapon – is it a knife or a dagger? – and I notice his outfit as
reminiscent of another time. Suddenly, a woman with a long gray
braid appears from nowhere, ripping my attention away from the man.
I watch as she starts to assist him in the fight. They work
together, as if they’ve rehearsed this routine, and my eyes jump to
where Garrett and James once were. I find them defensively standing
together near the kitchen. My heart threatens to beat through my
ribs. What is going on? Who are these people?

“
My name is Madeline,” the
woman in front of us answers, as if she read my mind. She looks
over her shoulder. “That’s Ash and Claire. You don’t have to be
afraid of us.”

I take a moment to look at her and she’s
gorgeous. Her eyes are wide, a shocking shade of green; her black
hair is braided like the other woman’s and it falls past her lower
back. Her clothes look almost medieval, and I notice a stunning
bracelet on her wrist. It’s made of thin, knotted leather and a
shiny silver amulet sits in the center.

I hear a guttural growl and pull my
attention away from her. I catch a glimpse of Abraham as Claire
pulls her weapon from his side. He stands frozen for a moment then
bursts into dust, literally disintegrating before my eyes. Kellan
and Ethan look at each other frantically as Kellan maneuvers his
way toward Lucas.

The battle is more evenly matched now, even
though Claire is looking winded. One of the end tables and a lamp
goes flying across the room, and Madeline lowers her arms from her
protective embrace around us. She looks as if she’s contemplating
joining the fight.

“
Go on,” Dane tells her.
“We’re okay.”

She looks at us then charges forward,
pulling an identical weapon from her belt. Claire sees her coming
and looks relieved. Madeline heads straight for Ethan. Beyond them,
I notice both James and Garrett inching their way toward us. Dane
and I look at each other and silently decide to meet them half way.
We take only two steps when suddenly Claire’s body comes hurtling
toward us. Both Dane and I try to catch her, but the force of her
body being thrown through the air sends us sailing backward. My
head cracks against the wall, next to Dane’s shoulder, as James and
Garrett give up being stealthy and rush to our side.

Garrett rolls Claire over as I right myself,
and James grabs hold of my upper arms as he looks me up and down.
“Are you okay?” he asks, panicked. I feel Dane appear at my
shoulder.

“
I’m fine,” I say and turn
to make sure Dane is all right as well. He nods as my eyes are
drawn to the woman on the floor. She’s the one who needs help.
She’s bleeding heavily from her abdomen, so I immediately crouch
beside her. There’s got to be a way to stop the blood with my
hands.

Garrett moves beneath her and holds her head
in his lap. “Claire! What can I do?”

My confused gaze snaps to Garrett. Does he
know her?

She looks up at him and shakes her head,
giving him a small smile despite her pain.

“
No!” he shouts. “You can’t
die!”

She glances around the faces that surround
her until she finds mine. She stares into my eyes and gives me a
genuine smile, then grimaces.

“
ARGH!” I hear another loud
groan and all of us turn to see what’s happened. Madeline has
wrestled a dagger from Ethan because she now holds one in each
hand. He must have taken Claire’s weapon and struck her with
it.

Fingers wrap around mine, and I turn to find
Claire grasping my hand. She raises her head and pulls me forward,
her strength impressing me for a dying woman.

“
She wants you to come
closer,” Garrett says.

I oblige her and hold my face inches from
hers. Her kind expression shatters my heart. How can she look so
peaceful while bleeding to death?

Garrett cradles her head and helps her bring
her mouth to my ear. “Respira,” she whispers, almost inaudibly.
“Respira.”

I have no idea what that means. I lean back
and look at her, giving her a tiny smile like I understand. I don’t
want to disappoint her even though we’ve only just met.

The fray continues behind us, and I hear
something crash to the floor. My instincts tell me it’s the flat
screen. I try to look, but Claire pulls on my hand. She wants my
attention on her. Releasing my hand, she removes a bracelet,
identical to Madeline’s, from her wrist and places it in my palm,
folding my fingers over it. “Safe,” she says and her eyes grow
wide. She nods, asking if I understand.

“
Yes,” I promise her. “I
will keep this safe.”

“
No.” She shakes her head
and rasps, “Keep you safe.”

Before I can ask how, Garrett moves out from
under Claire and gently hands her off to Dane. I give him puzzled
look, and Dane’s eyes flit to the sparring combatants. I follow his
gaze and it appears Ethan has the upper hand with Madeline, and
he’s backing her into a corner. James and Garrett take one look at
each other and decide to enter the fight. I watch in horror as the
two of them attack Ethan from behind in an effort to give Madeline
the advantage.

Suddenly, the pressure around my hand
releases, and I turn to watch Claire fade before my eyes. In one
blink she’s there and the next she’s gone. My hand that clutches
her bracelet is smeared with her blood, and I watch in amazement as
the fresh bloodstain fades from my sight as well. It’s like she
never existed. My chest feels hollow as I unfold my fingers and
stare at her gift.

“
I think that’s important,”
Dane says as he kneels in front of me, his face pale after what
we’ve just witnessed. “You should put it on.”

I agree. As I start to slide my fingers
through the knotted leather band, an unnatural howl bellows from
behind us. My head snaps around to find Kellan emitting the sound,
his eyes locking on mine, his face contorted.

Distracted by his outburst, Ethan turns and
is immediately dispatched by Madeline, falling into a cloud of dust
as she twists both knives into his back. Kellan’s gaze is pulled
from mine; he knows he’s outnumbered. He moves quickly opposite Ash
and holds him with a beam of light similar to the one he used on
Lucas. He kneels and collects Lucas under his free arm as Madeline,
James, and Garrett advance. I feel the bracelet slammed on my wrist
and turn to see Dane’s hand around it. My eyes flash back to Kellan
who’s staring maliciously at Dane and me. My pulse accelerates
sending a clear warning that resonates to my core.

Somehow, some way, I know Dane is the next
target of Kellan’s beam of light. He cannot be hurt; I won’t allow
it.

Without thinking, I launch myself at Dane,
wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my body against his.
“I love you,” I gasp and block him just as Kellan aims directly at
us. I catch Kellan’s beam in the center of my back, absorbing the
blow. It feels like a million knives are cutting my skin as waves
of electricity course through my body. Mercifully my senses shut
down, unable to manage the pain, and I melt to the floor. My world
turns black, my body goes numb, and my ears ring.

I have no idea how long I lie there until a
peaceful feeling finds me. It creeps in and slowly weaves itself
around my body and into my mind. It envelops my world, and I
welcome it with open arms. It erases my wounds. It eases my pain.
It soothes me, and I let it lure me into a deeper darkness.

“
She moved.”

I hear a voice that I do not recognize.

“
Are you sure?” another
unfamiliar voice asks.

“
Yes, her arm
twitched.”

Someone grasps my hand, and I feel my arm
bend at the elbow. “Emma? Can you open your eyes?”

They know me? I try to lift my lids, but
they feel like they weigh a ton.

“
If you can’t, can you
squeeze my hand?”

That I can manage. I tighten my fingers
around the hand that holds mine. In response, I hear a surprised
gasp.