and he saw the titanium bars. He had to recoil from the metal, even from where he was, the energy of it so strong.
But Kyle was prepared. He reached into his bag, extracted a powder, and threw it on the bars.
Sidnius Moroxide. The only compound which could dissolve the titanium.
Kyle waited several moments, and as he watched, the titanium turned colors, from a glowing silver to a pink. Once it al turned, he knew was ready. He reached out, grabbed the bars, and yanked with al his might.
Even with the effects of the powder, it took considerable strength. But as he pul ed and pul ed, he eventual y tore the thousand-year-old bars from their hinges.
The moment he did, the savage seven stepped forward, only feet away from him, snarling. They were the most evil demons he had ever seen, preachers from hel , ones that made his entire race look like fairies. Their gnarled faces were thousands of years old, and they lifted up their huge claws, and snarled at him, ready to pounce even on him, their liberator.
He knew that these creatures would not be grateful. On the contrary, they would kil him if they could.
He admired that. And he wanted them to kil . But he didn’t want to fight them himself. That would defeat his purpose.
Kyle turned around and took off at a sprint, then broke into flight, knowing they would fol ow on his heels. He headed up higher through this through the circular fort.
The savage seven where as quick as they were rumored to be, and within moments, Kyle sensed them flying on his heels, right after him.
Good, Kyle thought. They’re ready.
He flew and flew, and final y burst out onto the main level, through the front door, and right to the drawbridge. As he hoped, the seven fol owed him, like a pack of hornets, but now, as they saw a glimpse of freedom, they got distracted.
They lost sight of Kyle and instead, tore the heads off al the guards in the post.
Kyle flew out into the open, relieved to have them off his tail.
He had a huge smile on his face.
Below him, thousands of citizens were fighting to the death, storming the building. On the other side, the savage seven were tearing apart the guards from the inside. Within minutes, they would be free, roaming the streets with the others, and they would weak destruction of a scale that Paris had never known.
Kyle hadn’t felt so giddy since he was a boy. This was exactly what he had needed. Now he could find and kil Caitlin quite easily.
Now, his revolution could begin.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Caitlin sat on her bed, staring down at the open container in surprise. Inside it lay a delicate scrol , curled up, and sealed in wax. On the wax was an insignia of a smal , ancient cross, one which Caitlin immediately recognized as identical to the design of the smal silver cross that she wore around her neck. Caitlin reached down and felt her necklace now as she looked at the symbol, and felt comforted to know that it was stil there.
She reached out and took hold of the scrol . It was brittle, written on a hard parchment, and yel owing. It looked ancient.
She gingerly broke the seal, and unrol ed it.
The first thing she noticed was that the scrol ended abruptly as she was halfway through unrol ing it. She looked at the bottom, and saw the torn ridges, and she could tel right away that this was an incomplete scrol , apparently torn in half. She only held the top half.
She looked at the scrol , and observed the elegant handwriting. It reminded her of the script she had once seen when looking at a copy of the Declaration of Independence: it was so perfect, it was hard to imagine it had been done by a human hand.
She felt her hands trembling as she stared at it, realizing that this was the script of her father.
That he real y existed. That he’d real y left something for her. That he cared enough about her enough to do so. She felt her heart lift, and felt more determined than ever to fulfil her mission—
and to find him. She read each word with utter fixation: My dearest Caitlin:
If you are reading this, you have already surpassed many obstacles. It means that you have already chosen to travel the road less traveled, to take the difficult path. For