Page 175 of Bound By Fury

When I search for Kai, I’m met instead with black hair slicked back and glistening. Daisy is on a Guardian’s back, her arm around their throat in a choke hold. They spin, flinging her across the ground. Screaming, I run to her side, my hands spreading out, the falling rain accumulating in the blink of an eye and blasting the hood in the chest.

Kai is facing Lucas who’s wrapped him up in his web of vines. Sam and I take off. They run to help Daisy, and I head for Kai. Another person joins me at my side, blood trickling from her nose.

“Missy?” I ask, too confused to say much else.

“What?” she scoffs. “Why should you get to kick all the ass?”

Shaking my head, I try to regain focus as she yells across the room.

“Lucas, let him go, you bastard! You’re on the wrong side, and you know it!”

“It’s too late now,” he says, his voice trembling, his stolen magic waning. I can’t tell if the hesitation I hear is fear or regret.

“It’s never too late,” I warn, splaying my fingers as I approach him slowly. “You’re still in there, I know you are. You’re hurting, but I am too. So is Kai… We can still fix this. Don’t make me do this. Please.”

He shakes his head, blinking slowly. Blood trickles from his nose. He swipes at it and stares down at his hands. When his eyes meet mine again, they’re devoid of humanity.

“You can’t fix me, Harper, because I’m not broken.”

He raises his hands, but I don’t wait to see what he’ll do next. Instead I release my power into his chest, the force propelling him back. He falls, his head cracking against the protruding leg of a nearby pew. Blood leaks from the side of his mouth.

Immediately the vines around Kai’s body wither and die.

I nearly vomit.

I don’t recognize myself as I turn around and face the remaining Guardians, their features still obscured, generations of tradition compelling them to hide their identities.

They stand at perfect intervals, challenging us. I can tell from the set of their shoulders that they don’t want this to be over, but I’m ending it. Right here, right now.

When I’m sure they’re all looking at me, I climb onto a pew.

“Who’s next?” I snarl, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Mr. Hyde and Dr. Rogers rush forward and grab Lucas under the arms. As they pull him toward the entrance of the chapel, his head lolls, his limbs limp. I can’t bring myself to see if his chest is moving. If he’s breathing.

Dread pools in my belly as Mr. Hyde points a shaking finger at Kai. “You will regret this, Malachi Matsoukas, traitor to your own blood! Treason against the Guard is punishable by death!”

Kai says nothing as they turn and flee through the front doors.

Daisy and Sam just stand there, frozen as they watch the Guardians retreat.

Missy stares at me as I climb down from the pew, exhaustion overtaking the resolve that was on her face only a few moments ago.

When the quiet of the surrounding forest rings in my ears, I fall to my knees and finally let the dark consume me.

FIFTY-SEVEN

I STARE INTO THE TURNING sky, the edges tipped in pink as the sun slowly rises. Kai and Missy are on my right, Daisy and Sam on my left.

We’re at the base of Hanging Rock.

I ignore Kai. I haven’t quite processed all that’s happened between us. But I can feel him, in a way I think I always will now. And I know that his heart is broken, just like mine. Only in a different way.

My friends haven’t said a word since I told them about Fiona. Missy has her back to us all, her shoulders shaking as she cries.

It dawns on me that I’ve been surrounded this entire time by people I should have trusted—and I’ve failed them. Now they’re embedded in this mess just as I am.

I find Polaris.