Broken Knights (Gifted Academy #4) - Michelle Hercules Page 0,37

only way.”

I open my mouth to argue, but Morpheus reaches for the back of my head and crushes his lips to mine. The kiss is quick and rough. A goodbye kiss. “I love you,” he whispers against my mouth, then turns to Xavier. “Stop the car.”

To my dismay, he presses on the brakes, bringing the car to a sudden halt. Morpheus is out the door before I can stop him. I start to follow, but Xavier takes off again, and I miss my chance. My vision is hazy when I turn around in my seat to watch Morpheus stand alone on the road, facing the wrath of Chaos.

MORPHEUS

My heart is pounding as I look up at the sky. The clouds morph into Chaos’s odious face again. There’s a wicked smile there, solely for me.

“You’re a foolish boy if you think you can stand against me.” His voice sounds like thunder, and I feel it deep in my core.

“I’ll fight you until my last breath,” I shout.

“Oh, I look forward to it.”

He sends lightning my way, but I jump to the side. My pulse is racing as I try to come up with a plan. I’m a demigod, but I have no idea what I’m doing. My father was able to deflect Chaos’s strike. Could I do that too? It would have been nice if the guy who sired me had bothered to teach me a few tricks while I was growing up.

Chaos tries to strike me again with more bolts of electricity. I keep jumping from place to place and soon realize the god is toying with me. Son of a bitch.

“Use your gifts, Morpheus.” A female voice sounds in my head. It’s not my mother’s or Daisy’s—not that they’ve ever been able to communicate to me telepathically. Who the hell is speaking to me, then?

“He can’t see you inside the shadows,” she continues.

A rock made of ice hits me in the shoulder, drawing a grunt from me. More rocks the size of basketballs fall down from the sky. It seems Chaos got tired of trying to fry me and now he wants to literally crush me. I have no choice but to heed the mysterious voice in my head. I release the shadows that were already churning inside, letting them cover me from head to toe. I can still see through them, but it seems Chaos is unable to. The frozen rocks keep falling, but nowhere near me. He sends more lightning bolts that also miss the mark.

Okay, I’m now hidden from him, but nowhere close to striking back. I wouldn’t know where to start. How does anyone fight a primordial deity?

“You know the answer already, Morpheus. It’s in your heart,” the lady speaks again.

“Who are you?” I shout in my head, not wanting to give away my location to Chaos.

“Family.”

“Family? Are you a demigod too?”

She doesn’t answer right away. Meanwhile, I can sense Chaos growing more enraged that he can’t find me. His storm system begins to move forward. He’s going after Daisy.

“I don’t have time for riddles. If you know how to defeat Chaos, tell me now!”

“You already know. What’s the opposite of chaos?”

The hail stops. No. It didn’t stop. Chaos simply got tired of me and moved on. Xavier should be miles and miles away from us by now, but when the clouds stop moving suddenly, I know he’s found his next victim.

Since I’m not getting any straight answers from “family,” I go after the wrathful god, running so fast it feels like I’m flying. When my feet don’t touch the ground, I look down. My body is gone; I’ve turned into a big shadow, zooming across the land without bodily restrictions. The feeling is exhilarating and terrifying.

A blast goes off ahead. The horizon turns bright orange as a cloud of flames rises up.

Daisy!

15

Bryce

The entrance to the tunnel leading to my mother’s secret hideout is deep in the forest surrounding campus. It’s actually not far from our treehouse. There’s a reason no one ever stumbled upon it. It’s camouflaged, hidden by a powerful illusion spell put in place by a high-level Idol. Probably a former principal, if what Mom said is true.

Getting out undetected is not a problem. There isn’t a soul nearby. We run nonetheless toward the dorm buildings, but not as fast as I would like. I’m still too weak from the lightning-glass poison. We slow down when we reach the path leading to our goal. There’s no place to hide from here until