The ping of metal hitting metal draws my eyes to the floorboard.
“SANCTUM AMP!” Wayra shouts. He moves to cover it with his body to save Drex and Jax. An instant later, the loudest BOOM I’ve ever heard in my life blows out of the grenade. Shrapnel cuts through Wayra as a fireball consumes the vehicle.
The blast forces me from the skiff, launching me through the starry night.
“NOOOOO!” I scream, but it only comes out in a cracked whisper.
“Kricket!” Trey breathes, holding me tight to his chest while he rocks me back and forth with his body.
My arms feel heavy and limp as I stare at the fire in front of me. “Burning...” I whisper weakly, still feeling the eerie coldness within me.
“Burning? Kitten, you’re freezing—your skin is like ice,” Trey says frantically, rubbing my arms.
“Ambush, Trey,” I say in a raspy voice, breathing heavily as I try to force more of the words from me. Trey’s hands still on me and his eyes meet mine.
“What?” he asks in a tense voice.
“Ambush—retreat…Jax is dead…Wayra—sanctum amp, chiggers, squelch—reverse…Kyon gone—” I say in a frantic stream of words, my voice oscillating with a need to scream when I can hardly speak.
“Did you see something?” Trey asks, the pressure of his hands on my upper arms causes pain.
“Palace gates—AMBUSH—PALACE GATES!” I shout at him, my eyes opening wide as I try to make him understand me.
“There’s an ambush at the palace gates?” Trey asks in a military tone, his jaw tensing as his eyes search my face.
“YES! THEY’RE ALL DEAD!” I sob, feeling my body shaking with cold and trauma. Seeing Trey check the pockets of his pants he exhales with a grim expression.
“HOLLIS! GIBON!” Trey roars, while letting go of me gently and getting up from his knees on the floor in front of the fireplace.
“SIR!” Hollis responds, running into the drawing room.
“Hand me your communicator,” he says, holding out his hand. “Tell Gibon to contact the Regent police. We have enemy infiltration at the palace gates.”
“Yes, sir,” Hollis responds.
Accepting the communicator, Trey barks words into it and waits a few seconds.
“Hollis, you knob knocker, what do you want?’ Jax asks in an amused tone.
“Give me your position,” Trey orders curtly.
“Sir! Uhh…I didn’t know it was you—” Jax begins.
“Position!” Trey barks again.
“We are in route to Skye, approaching the palace main gates.”
“Halt! Ambush ahead at palace gates! Fall back—everyone on alert!” Trey says, his jaw tense as he’s scowling at the room around him.
“HALT!” I hear Jax yell to the occupants of the skiff through the communicator. “AMBUSH! FALL BACK, I REPEAT, FALL BACK!”
“Do you see the enemy?” Trey asks Jax.
“No, we’re fifty dicrons from the gates,” he replies.
“They have squelch trackers and sanctum amps and chiggers and an E-One to transport Kyon!” I say, trying to relate the information to him quickly.
“Is that Kricket?” Jax asks.
“Yes, she said they have squelch trackers, amps, chiggers, and an E-One,” Trey replies.
“How does she know that?” Jax asks, sounding tense. “Wait. One of the guards just stepped out of the guard house.”
“GET BACK!” I yell. “Tell him to get to a safe position!” I order Trey.
“AHHH! MOTHER OF ALL WACKERS! The guard just vaporized, sir!” Jax says, his voice heightening with tension.
“FALL BACK!” Trey barks.
Entering the room, Gibon stands at attention and says, “Regent police have been dispatched to the gates, sir.” He stares at the communicator in Trey’s hands as the sound of rapid bursts of gunfire and explosions issue from it.
“Dispatch Rapid Ascenders—there’s at least one enemy E-One nearby that has cloaked itself from detection. Destroy it,” Trey demands.
“Yes, sir,” Gibon responds grimly, before pulling out his communicator and barking orders into it.
The sounds of yelling and gunfire go on for several minutes, while I wait in tense anticipation next to Trey. Then, Jax says, “Enemy E-One brought down. Prisoner secure. Returning to base.”
“Good work, Cavars,” Trey says, before lowering the communicator.
Exhaling a deep sigh, I sit down on the sofa by the fire, feeling exhausted and physically beaten. “Kricket, that was…” Trey trails off, looking like he’s searching for the right word.
“Freakish?” I mumble, half in shock.
“Amazing,” he counters. “You saved my men.”
“But first, I had to watch them die,” I reply, still shaking from trauma.
“How did you—”
“I don’t know,” I rest my head against the cushion wearily, while listening to the sound of my teeth chattering.
Trey plucks me off the sofa and sits down on it, pulling me onto his lap. He strokes my hair while holding me close to his chest, as he whispers in my ear, “Everything is okay. You saved them...you saved them...you saved them...” he keeps repeating it softly, like a mantra, until my teeth stop chattering.
CHAPTER 19
BEND OR BREAK
After waiting for Jax and Wayra to return from transferring Kyon to another unit, I’m greeted in the drawing room like a hero by them and the rest of the detail. I answer every question that Trey and the other Cavars put to me about what happened—what I saw. When we compare the two scenarios with the guard at the gate, my version is reasonably similar to how that guard was actually murdered. I’m dizzy with fatigue when the Cavars begin discussing strategy regarding my security.
Seated on the sofa near the fire, I lean my head against Trey’s shoulder.
**
I open my eyes to the darkness of my bedroom. Disoriented, it takes me a second to realize that I’m in my bed. As I sit up, I glance around in confusion, seeing an odd shape in front of my bed that I don’t recognize. I bend forward and rub my eyes, before remembering everything that went on tonight like a blur of unreality. Pushing back the thick blanket, I’m about to get up and make sure that everything’s all right when Trey’s voice stops me.
“Kricket,” he says softly.
“Trey?” He moves closer. Reaching me, Trey’s hand strokes my hair soothingly. He touches my cheek, making my heart leap in my chest. “Is something wrong?” I rub my eyes again, realizing he must have carried me up here at some point during the night. I glance at my clock on the nightstand; it’s been hours since the Cavars returned. I must’ve been sleeping for a while.
Trey’s voice is hushed, “I need you to get up now—change as fast as you can into something you can travel in. We have to leave before morning.”
I reach out and take Trey’s hand in mine. In a rush I ask, “What’s wrong? Where are Wayra and Jax?”
“Shh,” he quiets me softly, “they’re here, downstairs—they’re fine, everyone is safe.”
“What is it, Trey?” I squeeze his hand, sensing something is extremely wrong. Trey is in my room in the middle of the night. He’d never normally do that because he’d be afraid of risking my reputation.