sweet genius. How I loved the way he was. Silent, supportive. Wonderful. Loving. Nausea rolled through me.
“Do it, Red.” Isaac’s voice brought my gaze to his. The surety there. The confidence in himself, in us. It was beautiful to see before the end. His hand moved on top of Miles’.
My heart filled with love as I turned to Ethan.
Ethan nodded. “You go, we go.” Ethan. My romantic at heart. I wished I had more time with him, with all of them. My creative genius. The only one who could understand what music and art meant to me. Ethan’s hand covered his brother’s.
“Together,” Asher said, drawing my attention. Fuck. Asher. Words couldn’t even capture how I felt about him. His sweetness, his love, everything he was.
Tears slipped out and rolled down my face as his hand covered Ethan’s. My chest grew tight, hard to breathe.
I looked up and met Zeke’s eyes. Shadows warred inside them as his hand joined ours. “As always.” My tortured teddy bear. The courage it took for him to admit that he couldn’t protect us now, that he couldn’t sacrifice for us now. Love poured from me in tears.
I wouldn’t be able to do what was needed if I kept thinking about it. I pulled energy from around us. From me, from them, and sent it to the stone. It grew to a scorching heat in my hand. I met each of their eyes again.
“We’ll see you on the other side,” Miles promised.
Ethan, Asher, and Zeke moved to protect the rest of us. Someone jerked me against them.
A blast hit us, and there was nothing.
Chapter 14
I jerked awake, smoke and shattered glass everywhere. A heavy weight was shoved off of me. Numb, I looked up to find Mila, my grandmother, squatting beside me.
“You did good, girl.” Mila smiled as her arms moved to my shoulders. I didn’t understand until she helped me sit up. The conservatory was gone. Only a warped steel shell remained, and the house … The house was engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed from the ruins, turning the sky dark.
But none of that mattered when I saw the bodies. Everywhere. Bodies lay thrown back from us in the rubble. Only the crackle of flames filled the silence.
I struggled to my feet and desperately began searching for the guys.
“Slow down,” Mila said.
“Where are they?” I demanded as I spotted Zeke beside me. His ice-blue eyes were open, his shirt wet and stuck to his body. A large shard of glass protruded from his shoulder. He didn’t move. I grabbed his hand. “No, no, no, no!” I quickly checked his pulse. Please … No. Nothing. There was nothing.
Mila reached down and closed his eyes. “He protected you from the shrapnel.”
I closed my eyes. Of course he did. Tears burned a path down my face as I began to look for the others. A flash of blond hair had me crawling through the debris to Asher’s side. His shoulder was covered in blood as I rolled him onto his back. His eyes were closed, his skin already cooling, his chest still.
“No!” I screamed as my heart shattered again. No, no, no. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t end this way! It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I searched the wreckage for the others.
Miles! His beautiful hunter-green eyes were open, shirt soaked in blood. His right arm was under a large chuck of cement, blood pooling around it. I whimpered and wrapped my arms around myself. This couldn’t be happening. Please …
An aching pit grew inside me as I spotted the twins. Ethan was wrapped around Isaac, trying to shield him from the blast. Both were covered in blood. Both of their chests were still. They were gone. Uma. Where was Uma? I searched the wreckage but saw nothing. Gone. Juan just lost another parent. “No!” I screamed on a sob. My voice cracked, unable to hold the sound.
Mila wrapped her arms around me and held me to her shoulder as I sobbed. Completely broken, I fell apart in her arms. They were gone. Dead. I’d killed them. Someone help me, I’d killed the men I loved. Every heartbeat was agonizing as the realization clawed deep into my soul. Gone.
“Red. Breathe.”
I opened my eyes and jerked away from Mila. Isaac’s spirit was there, kneeling beside me, his hand out as if he had tried to touch me only to realize he couldn’t. The others fanned out behind him. All of them, shimmering as if made of light.
Unable