Oh, shit, that did not sound good.
“No! I won’t do it. I won’t be what you want anymore!” Ethan roared, and pointed his wand, not at his father, but at his own left shoulder. A flash of light and then nothing.
The scene went completely dark. I could have dug in farther, but I could feel the pain vibrating off Ethan from just that single memory. We weren’t actively kissing anymore but standing close with our foreheads touching. The connection between us was running hot, his magic sliding under my skin with a pleasant buzzing sensation.
This was what it was like to kiss someone in your crew, and suddenly I could see the draw of it, could see why Frost had been with her vampire lover. What if I had been in love with Ethan? How much stronger would this have been between us?
This was why Jared had stayed with Frost even while she aged. This was . . . addictive was the only word I had for it.
I wondered what he felt, and the second I questioned it, I knew. He felt safe, here with me. Despite the situation, Ethan felt safe. For the first time in a long time, despite the Shadowkiller being so very close.
I blinked and looked into his eyes. “He made you kill Colt.”
Ethan groaned. “I . . . I couldn’t stop it. I wanted to, but I didn’t realize what was going on until it was too late. I couldn’t let him do the same to you and the others. . . that’s why I did what I did. I can’t lose you too, Wild. I know I’ve been an ass. I’ll probably still be an ass after all this is done, but I’m here. I’m with you. All the way.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, a part of me still wanting to hate him, but I couldn’t. Being controlled like that by his own father? “Are you sure you’re free of him?”
“My left shoulder was where the bindings he had on me were buried. Deep in my shoulder.” It was then that I realized he’d barely lifted that hand. “It’ll get better.”
I was not a hugs-and-kisses kind of girl, so I think it surprised me as much as him when I pulled him in for a tight hug. “I’ve got your back, Ethan. Even if you are a dick some days.”
He hesitated and then hugged me, though that left side was weaker for sure. “I’ve got yours too, Johnson. Even though you’re a boss bitch and I’m . . . beginning to doubt you need me.” His smile slipped. “Not an easy thing for a Helix to say.”
He pulled back from me first. “What do we do now? The prison is out in the harbor. They’d see boats coming a literal mile away.”
I nodded. “I know. I’m hoping to cash in on a favor.”
Ethan frowned. “What kind of favor?”
I smiled, and it widened at the sound of wings whooshing through the air. “The kind that involves a kick-ass ride.”
15
I’d hoped for one alicorn—Amalthea, the boss mare I’d ridden in the trials—but I got all of them. Okay, not all of them, but the alicorns that each of my crew had ridden to our victory.
Amalthea was as stunningly beautiful as the first time I’d seen her, maybe more so in the dark of night, the city lights in the background giving her coat a silvery cast. Was it weird seeing a creature like her here in New York City, so out of place? You bet. But weird was pretty much the name of the game in my life now, and I didn’t even blink.
Time to roll with things and rescue my friends.
After a quick hello to the alicorns, I grabbed hold of Amalthea’s mane and leapt onto her back, making sure not to hit her wings. “We need to get to that rock out there—” I pointed out to the island, “—and then can you wait for us? We’ll need a ride back.”
The mare bobbed her head, horn sparkling impossibly bright. Glowing on its own like a beacon.
I turned to see Ash standing next to Nicholas. “We will meet you on the southern side. There is a narrow strip of beach there where the alicorns can land. I do not believe they will trip any alarms.”
Tightening my legs around Amalthea’s barrel, I nodded. “See you on the other side.”
Ash blinked. “Perhaps a different saying would be best, considering what we are headed into.”
He wrapped his arms around Nicholas and launched into the air with a powerful leap. One flap of his wings, and he was high above us, soaring toward the prison.
“You sure you can trust them?” Ethan asked from atop another alicorn.
I shook my head. “Not at all. But to get the others out, I’d sell my soul to the devil himself.”
Ethan’s blue eyes were sharp. “You may have done just that.”
“I know.”
Shit, did I ever know, and Ethan didn’t even know the half of it. That I’d agreed to go with Nicholas after my friends were safe.
“Ethan,” I said, looking away from him, “no matter what happens, promise me you’ll get them all out.”
His voice was hard. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I didn’t answer him. Mostly because I wasn’t sure why I was holding back. He should know what I’d given Nicholas in return for his help.
But I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I urged Amalthea forward and she took off at a gallop, her unshod hooves thudding dully across the wooden pier as she stretched out her wings and picked up speed. At the end of the pier, she leapt up, her wings taking us high in a matter of seconds.
The wind whipped around me, cold and damp, and although the alicorns were no less spectacular now than they’d been during the trials, it was nowhere near the same sensation. Back then, I’d felt free, without a care in the world.
Now . . . I was riding into a trap. One I’d agreed to. “Do I have to keep my word to them?” I whispered into the wind.
I was a Shade, through and through, and what was our motto? Survival. At all costs.
A solid sense of understanding slid through me. Whatever the cost, I would survive this, and so would my friends.
Ethan and his mount flew closer and the other alicorns followed behind us at a distance. “Do you have a plan?” he shouted over the wind.
“I think we go in the south end and deal with whatever comes our way. I can find them.” I tapped my head. “We just have to get close enough for me to pinpoint their location.”
The air seemed to get colder the closer we got to the prison. Shadowspell Island Penitentiary rose up ahead of us, a black, blocky building as imposing as its name. The alicorns swept around to the south side with little urging from me, and they came in across the shallow water for landing.
Amalthea’s hooves caught the very edge of the waves as we dropped, sending up a cold, salty spray of water before she hit the sand and immediately slowed to a smooth trot, tossing her head and flipping her mane back and forth. The strip of beach was only about ten feet from water to the rocks that went straight up to the base of the prison, but it was long, about a mile and a half by the looks of it.
We approached the two figures waiting for us, and a whisper of a warning hissed through me. Ethan and his mount and the other alicorns landed behind us, letting us lead the way.
Ash and Nicholas didn’t move but instead waited for us to approach. I slid off Amalthea’s back and whispered softly to her, “Be ready to leave. If someone spots you, get your ass out of here. Don’t wait for us if it isn’t safe.”