Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,6

hurt my crew.

Claude shot ice my way but he couldn’t see well enough to aim and I easily ducked it.

I turned my face to the guys, “Door. Behind them.” I jerked my head toward the wall since my hands were currently both occupied.

Malcolm immediately ran toward that wall to check for the door. “No handle,” he notified us.

Fucking hell. Of course, there was no damned handle. Fate couldn’t make it easy for us, not once.

Zavier bolted to Malcolm’s side and pulled out a lock-picking kit that had been tucked inside his shirt. The slim but muscular thief winked at me as he put a metal tool into the lock. It clanked as he jiggled it. But the fucking thing glowed orange and the metal started to melt.

Z dropped it before the liquid metal could reach his hand. “Shit!”

Then Andros gave a roar where he stood, his neck arching back and his arm muscles bulging.

All of us froze and turned to stare at him. He charged and I thought he was about to smash through the door but, suddenly, he rammed Evan in the gut, shoving the other man to the ground.

What the—what’s he doing?

He kicked Evan’s ribs before turning to Gray. He grabbed Gray’s shirt, but the billionaire’s son managed to wrench out of his grip and stumble backward.

“What the fuck—” Gray lifted his arms and a weak blast of wind lifted Andros from the ground so he couldn’t walk. The huge man floated three inches from the cement, fingers flexing, mouth foaming like a wild animal.

“What’s—”

“He’s possessed!” I shouted. Dammit to hell. When I’d turned my light power back on I must have freed the fucking ghost to come back. This was my fault. Shit. Shit. “They brought a gho—” My words were cut off when Andros backhanded me across the face. He might as well have hit me with a two-by-four, his hand was that fucking huge. My jaw started to swell immediately, even as I tumbled backward and smacked into the ground—then my elbow sang with pain.

Andros still floated off the ground, but barely. Gray’s control was slipping, his power frayed and worn after how much he’d exerted tonight.

I turned to glance at Z, who just shook his head, his brown eyes serious. He had nothing.

Evan still lay on the floor, unmoving.

My power flickered as I tried to decide what to do. I saw Claude start to lift his hands but I had to make a choice—who could do more damage? Claude? Or a possessed Andros?

Motherfucker.

Claude reached into his suit pocket and yanked out what looked like goddamned air freshener.

"Gray!" I pointed at Claude.

But Andros' feet touched the ground just then. Gray was out of juice.

Claude shoved an arm over his nose and pressed the head of the spray bottle just as Andros grabbed me, the whites of his eyes red. A familiar bubblegum-like scent filled the air as Andros' thick fingers wrapped around my neck. His hand was so huge that his fingertips could nearly touch.

Before he could lift me and choke me, I blasted my crew member with shadow. I had no idea if it would work on him the same way it had worked inside myself, but I had to try.

I also gasped out, "Dad!" just before Andros cut off my air supply.

I stared dumbly, dazed, as the Bubble spray that Claude had used made everyone in the foyer of the vault grow light as air.

Malcolm's feet rose from the ground first. Then Zavier swam up, using his arms to breaststroke through the air with a chortle. Ginny floated limply up to the ceiling, her eyes still blinded by the blast I sent in her direction, her red skirt flapping like a flag trying to tempt a bull. Her jaw was limp instead of curled into the snarl I’d seen since she’d appeared. I thought for a second she was still completely unaware, but when she heard Z's chuckle, she lifted a hand and shot darkness toward him, trying to blind him. Luckily, the shadows didn't even touch him as he ascended until his head bounced against the ceiling and he had to raise his arms to stop it.

Fuck, that Bubble must be potent, I thought with a vapid giggle, as my entire body relaxed and floated until my back touched the cement ceiling and my hands dangled toward the floor. I felt like a chandelier and the Sia song started to play in my head.

Even the possessed Andros couldn't stop his body from