He took her face and kissed her, still going even after the judge moved on.
“Kai and Nikova, I pronounce you husband and wife.”
“Come here,” Kai said, crashing his mouth down on his wife’s. She giggled.
Banks giggled. I shook my head.
The pulse in my neck pounded, readying myself and feeling like I was about to have a heart attack.
I looked into Em’s eyes, whispering, “I love you, baby.”
“Good,” she told me. “Because I wasn’t actually on the shot like I said I was in the greenhouse.”
Huh? My eyes went wide, and I froze for a moment.
But then I snorted, diving down and kissing her before I was told.
Fuck yeah.
“William and Emory,” the judge said, clearing her throat to try to give us a hint to stop kissing.
But before she could pronounce us husband and wife, thunder pierced the air in the distance, and I jerked, opening my eyes.
What the hell was that?
I pulled back from Emmy, hearing screams and shouting as all of us turned in circles, searching for where the sound came from.
And then we saw it. Beyond the cathedral, far into the black sky toward Cold Point—a cloud of fire and smoke rising into the air like an atomic bomb.
Oh, my God.
“What is that?” Damon yelled.
“It’s near the Cove,” I said. I knew exactly where it was, and the only thing that it could’ve been.
People started running, and I grabbed Em’s hand, all of us racing out of the gazebo. I searched for the kids, Misha, Ryen, and Alex, but then something caught my attention, and I narrowed my eyes, spotting the little girl from the Cove the other night. Still dressed in her dirty black clothes and the beanie on her head. She was staring at us.
“What the hell?” I growled. “Michael!”
“What?”
I pointed toward the cars at the curb in front of Sticks. “Get her!”
Was that what Rika meant when she said she thought she saw something?
“Oh, shit,” he exclaimed.
Keeping Emmy’s hand in mine, I hurried with her through the crowd, the little girl spinning around and trying to get through the people as a car tried to exit the alley, and a food cart blocked her other way out.
She slipped through a patch in the chaos, but I lurched forward, catching her arm just in time.
I hauled her back to me, her arms flying out and trying to hit me.
“Let me go!” she yelled.
I wrapped my arms around her as she thrashed and kicked, and her head hit my nose, pain shooting up into my head.
Fuck.
“Hey, hey,” Rika said, pulling her out of my arms. “It’s okay. No one will hurt you.”
She fell to her knees in her red gown, looking up at the little girl and taking her hands in hers.
“I promise,” she told her. “No one will hurt you. We just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” she barked and tried to pull away. “Let me go!”
Damon grabbed her, keeping her there.
But Rika looked up at him. “Let her go.”
He frowned but did it, and Rika smiled up at her, trying to soothe. “I saw you watching the wedding,” she said as people ran every which way around us. “Did you like it? My mom says I should’ve worn white.”
The little girl scowled but didn’t move, her eyes trailing over Rika’s earrings and hair.
I rubbed my hand over my face. Jesus Christ. We didn’t have time for this. The Cove blew up, the townspeople were in a frenzy, most of them probably loading up to go check out the trouble for themselves, and this kid just happened to be there the other night and now here tonight? This was connected.
“I like red, though,” Rika teased her. “Do you like red?”
The girl just stared at her, and after a moment, reached out and touched Rika’s earring, enamored.
“Do you know what that was at the Cove, honey?” Rika asked.
The little girl looked around, fear etched in her eyes.
Rika tipped her chin at her. “It’s okay.”
The girl swallowed, finding her words. “No. I left the night you guys came and set the fire.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Rika told her. “We didn’t know you lived there.”
“I had already left my hiding spot when you got there,” she explained. “When the men came through the tunnel from the sea a couple of hours before.”
My eyes shot to Michael, seeing Micah, Rory, and everyone else join us.
“The men?” Rika asked.
The girl nodded.
“What did they look like?” Rory asked her.
“One looked like him.” The kid pointed to Michael. “But with darker hair.”
Darker hair and hazel eyes.
Aydin.
“The other one was hurt,” she said. “His hand.”
Taylor.
“What’s your name?” Rika asked.
But the kid took one more look around at all of us hovering over her and whipped out of Rika’s hold, slipping between Alex and Em and diving into the crowd.
“Wait, no!” Rika called as Banks lunged for the kid.
But she was gone.
No matter.
I looked to Micah, Rory, and then Em. “Aydin and Taylor,” I said.
They nodded.
The train went under Deadlow Island. I didn’t know how they’d gotten that far, or if they had help, but the tunnel could’ve certainly connected to Coldfield and the Cove tunnels, as well.
Michael shook his head. “Two nights ago…”
They’d been here for two days.
Motherfucker.
“And they just announced their presence,” Kai said, staring off at the black cloud dissipating into the air off the coast.
The town swarmed around us, people hopping into their cars, while others chatted wildly.
“Get out of your dresses,” Michael told the girls. “Everyone meets at Coldfield in thirty minutes! Go!”
Emory
Present
Lev and David carted everyone home in the SUVs, and after we’d scrambled into new clothes, and the kids and grandmas were secure at Kai’s parents’ estate, safely under the care of Katsu and Vittoria, we raced down the black highway, pulling on jackets. I slipped on a pair of black leather gloves Banks lent to me, since it was chilly.
But I was pretty sure it was because she didn’t want me leaving fingerprints.
I didn’t argue. She’d had more experience in this. The girls had filled me in last night on everything I’d missed over the years—Delcour, the Pope, Pithom, Evans Crist, Gabriel Torrance, and everything the guys did wrong—and right—in their quests for vengeance.
And Trevor. I’d known he was dead but not the extent of his demise. It all should’ve scared me. It was a lot to take in.
But I couldn’t help it. Something bubbled up inside me as Will drove, and I couldn’t believe how running wasn’t even an option. Even with the fear knotting my stomach, I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Sensing him staring at me, I pulled my black ski cap on and glanced over at him in his black hoodie, and the veins in his tattooed hands bulging out as he gripped the wheel. His eyes flashed to me again, his mouth opening and closing.