Broken Knights (Gifted Academy #4) - Michelle Hercules Page 0,66

finally spurs me into action, but as hard as I fight the man, I can’t pry his hands off my neck. Dark spots are already speckling my vision from the lack of oxygen. Desperation makes me search inside of me for my Idol spark. A foolish hope. There’s nothing but an empty void there.

Suddenly, Wallace’s hold on me slackens, and he falls to the side. My vision is blurry, but when it returns to normal, I find Rosie peering down at me, holding a smaller lightning-glass stone in her hand.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

I rub my neck, finding it tender to the touch. “I will be in a moment,” I croak.

Felicity joins us and then offers me her hand. “That was close.”

“I know. Thank you.” I look beyond them, searching for Stone. I find him down, unmoving. “What did you do to him?”

“The same thing I did to that guy over there.” Rosie points at Wallace. “Knocked him unconscious.” She tosses up the stone in her hand, catching it again with dexterity. “These are good in raw form too.”

“We have to move. It’s possible someone overheard the ruckus.” I straighten the wheelbarrow and then fill it up again.

“Wait. We can’t just leave these guys here,” Felicity says. “The moment they’re found, or they come to, they’ll sound the alarm.”

I curse under my breath. She’s right. Shit. I drop the wheelbarrow and run back to the cave. “Stay here. I’m going to look for a cord to tie them up.”

I’m lucky that there are a few rolls of cord right at the entrance. I return to the girls as quickly as I can, but the laborious work of dragging the passed-out Norms out of the open takes time. We move them to the forest and tie them up to a tree that’s concealed by heavy shrubbery.

“We have to gag them,” Rosie says.

“I know.” I take off my jacket and then rip off strips of my T-shirt.

Rosie and Felicity giggle.

“What’s so funny?” I ask, irritated.

“Your shirt’s like a girlie crop top now. You look hilarious,” Rosie replies.

“Hahaha. Yeah, it’s hilarious. Quit laughing and help me here.” I toss a strip in their direction, not caring who catches it.

Two minutes later, we return to the abandoned wheelbarrow and reload the stones as quickly as we can. When we finally veer toward the forest, my anxiety levels have risen through the roof. And to think Daisy lived most of her life like this, afraid of what or who was going to harm her and her sister. I feel so wretched now that I’m walking in her shoes, not because I’m sorry for my fate but because I’m ashamed of how badly I treated Norms and Fringes in the past.

Letting depression take hold of my emotions won’t help me, so I push it to a far corner of my mind and focus on the task at hand. It’s a little hard to navigate uneven ground, but it’s the only way we can be sure to not get caught. By my calculations and the steepness of the terrain, I’d say we’re about halfway to our final destination: the campgrounds’ parking area. We have to load the stones into Felicity’s and Renata’s car trunks and then return to the assembly. Eventually, those mine workers will be missed, and a search party will be sent out. We can’t be anywhere near here when they’re found.

The forest is thinning out, and the best part is I don’t hear a sound coming from up ahead. Hopefully the parking lot is truly deserted. I begin to let myself believe everything will turn out okay when cold dread licks the back of my neck, sending ripples of worry down my spine.

Bryce is in trouble.

26

Bryce

“What kind of nonsense is that? Make a God-killer? There isn’t such a thing!” I yell, losing my temper.

“Bryce…,” Mom starts.

“What? Did you know about this?” I laugh without humor. “Why am I asking? Of course you knew.”

“I don’t understand. How can we make a God-killer?” Daisy asks Harry, who is watching our meltdown with amused curiosity.

If he makes some kind of asinine comment, I’m going to wipe that fucking grin off his face with my bare hands. I know I’m blowing up faster than normal. I can usually control my emotions better. I guess I should say “could.” It’s been a while since I’ve turned into a short-fused person like Rufio used to be.

Artex rubs the back of his head, getting flustered all of a sudden. “Well, the