away from me at the last second. And I stand there and let it all come, let them see what happens. Let them see they can’t stop me.
“Surrender!” I shout. “Surrender now.”
And Celia arrives with five of the trainees, guns pointing. “On your knees,” she shouts.
“Soul’s dead,” I say to Celia and she repeats it as a shout for the whole room to hear. And then arms go up. The surrender begins and spreads quickly. I see Annalise’s father with his hands in the air and I know I could kill him in a second. I go to him and spit at his feet, then turn from him. Celia will deal with him and all the other Council members. I need to concentrate on Jessica and the Hunters.
There’s shooting and explosions from other rooms. I must clear the ground floor of Hunters to make sure the Alliance members aren’t hurt. And I have to use my lightning carefully now, to ensure I don’t hit any of our own fighters. I move from room to room, down each corridor. It’s a huge building, lots of rooms, and lots of shooting and smoke and bodies. The Hunters still want to fight.
I’ve not seen Gabriel and that’s bothering me. I know he’d come to me. He’s dressed as a Hunter and in all the confusion he could be taken for one of them.
Greatorex and three trainees join me and we clear out the rooms, checking the interlinking passages. And we check as we go that the Hunters we kill really are dead. It takes time until we’re satisfied that the ground floor is clear. Two of the trainees have been hit, one killed and one wounded. I tell Greatorex that they should keep back and let me lead.
The first floor is easier. It’s a smaller area and the layout is simple. I move through it room by room and by the end of it another ten Hunters are dead. Greatorex and the trainees check the bodies and all the hiding places. I still haven’t seen Gabriel but I try not to think about that. I’m in the furthest room when I hear more shooting and I head back along the corridor and catch a glimpse of three Hunters in a room and one of them sees me too.
Jessica!
She shouts at me and points her gun. “You!”
Jessica shoots and I send lightning to her but she’s gone. These rooms are all linked and I run along the corridor to the next room expecting to see her but there’s no one there. Is there another exit we don’t know about?
More shots, and I run back to the corridor. Another of our trainees lies on the floor, close to the stairs. Greatorex and the others have taken cover in the next room.
From up the stairs I hear a Hunter shouting, “Keep back. Don’t come after us or more of you will die. We have hostages.”
And again I wonder where Gabriel is but I know I shouldn’t think about that now.
I tell Greatorex, “I have to go up there.”
“They can’t hurt you but they can hurt the hostages.”
“You have a better idea?”
She shakes her head.
“I think there’s some of them in these rooms too,” I tell her. “Jessica and two others. Check them out.”
I go invisible and move up the stairs.
There’s a group of Hunters just inside the first room. I can’t see how many but they have their hostage standing in the doorway. It’s not Gabriel. It’s Adele. There are two guns pointed at her head and there’s a thin rope round her neck. I see the skin on her neck is shiny and metallic where the rope is digging in.
But even invisible I can’t rescue her without her being shot.
I need to talk to them.
I become visible and the shooting and shouting starts again but I stay standing at the top of the stairs and wait. Eventually the shooting stops and it’s quiet again.
I shout at them, “You can’t hurt me. The building is full of Alliance soldiers. Your best option is to surrender. If you kill the hostage I’ll kill you all. The only person who will live through this will be me.”
I feel a bullet tap my forehead and another my chest. “Soul’s dead, and Wallend. I’ve destroyed the witch’s bottles so you can’t go invisible, but I guess you’ve worked that out already. Now you need to accept that you’ve lost.”
Another bullet taps my forehead.
“That’s annoying but it’s never going to hurt