The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,203

officers’ faces.

I threw out my arms as I summoned the Source. Whitish light with swirling black shadows powered down my arms as I pictured them going in the same direction as the rifles.

Shouts erupted as the first row of officers lifted off the floor. I didn’t let myself think about whether this would hurt them or if it would do worse. I couldn’t. Not when I knew where they were from, most likely who sent them.

They flew up and up, all the way to the skylight. Some went through the holes already there. Others shattered the glass, their shouts of surprise ending in screams.

“Holy crap,” Nate gasped behind me.

A dozen or so more officers remained.

A bolt of the Source streaked out from Daemon, taking one of the officers and sending him spinning into the wall. Another blast shot out from Grayson. He hit an officer, and he hadn’t been holding back. The officer fell facefirst, body smoking when it hit the ground.

Luc sent three flying into the wall, their bodies hitting with a fleshy smack that gave way to the stomach-churning sound of bones crunching.

At that point, the remaining officers, just under a dozen, knew what was up. They started to turn, to run, and I couldn’t let that happen. My gaze flipped up to the second-floor railing made out of heavy cement and glass directly above the officers. Daemon and Grayson took out another two. Luc threw another through the storefront.

Trusting that I wasn’t going to do anything that would cause me to have to reboot or whatever, I dug deeper, and a burst of heavier, thicker power rippled through me as I stared at the ledge above. The cement cracked straight through the middle, sending a plume of fine dust into the silvery moonlight. Pushing out with my hands, I controlled the fall of the large swath of cement and glass. It swung down, catching the remaining officers as they turned to flee. They didn’t make it far.

Lowering my hands, I looked to Nate as my heart pounded. “Are there more?”

Trembling, he nodded.

“I guess this is a bad time to say I told you so?” Grayson said.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was.

Luc lifted his hand. Sparks flew from his fingertips. The very air lit up, like I’d seen him do once in his apartment above the club. Glittering golden dots of light rolled out from Luc in all directions, spreading down the dark halls on either sides, eating away at the void.

The halls were empty.

“Where are they?” Daemon demanded, having returned his human form. “Where is this Morton? And be detailed, kid. I know there are over three hundred stores in this building.”

Nate kept his arms close to his chest. “He wanted me to bring you to him.” He stared at me. “He said he’d be in the park.”

“The park?” I repeated.

He nodded. “The one beside the big tower.”

“We just came from that direction. No one was out there,” Daemon said.

“I don’t know. I swear. That’s where he said he’d be,” Nate repeated. “He’s there. He has to be. You’ve got to help me get Tabby back.”

“We will,” I told him.

Grayson shot me a look that said I shouldn’t have said that.

“How many more officers did you see?” Luc asked, the pupils of his eyes diamond white.

Nate shook his head. “Maybe the same number as the ones that were here,” he said.

“And what is he going to do once you lead Evie to him?” Grayson asked, returning to the dimmed, human version of himself. “He just going to hand Tabby over?”

“That’s what he promised.”

Grayson huffed out a laugh, shaking his head.

“What? What are you saying?” the kid shrieked. When Grayson looked away, Nate shuddered. “He promised. I did everything he asked. For years, we stayed away from you guys, but then he told me I needed to get supplies from you all. That’s when I went into the community. He said that I couldn’t be seen until I saw you.”

My stomach sank even though we already knew. The Daedalus was here. They’d been here, and God only knew what was going to happen from here—what could already be happening in the community. And they were here because of me.

After everything I’d done, I still put the community at risk.

“He told me what you looked like, and he told me I needed to get you to follow me, but not right away. It would be too suspicious.”

“Why did he want her to follow you?” Daemon asked.

“He had to confirm who she was.”