Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky, #3)(38)

“Stop!” Hess yelled. “Put away your weapons! He can’t harm you!”

Aria turned to Roar, whose face flashed with the strobing lights, thinking now.

Roar pushed back from the table. He grabbed his chair between his bound hands, hurling it at the wall of windows.

It struck with a crack, bouncing off. The glass splintered, spiderwebs splaying across its surface, but it didn’t shatter.

Aria dropped and rolled beneath the table.

She came up on her knees by the door leading to Perry and Cinder’s chamber. Behind her she heard yells, footsteps scattering in panic. She jabbed at the security panel. A red flashing message told her what she’d already known. Only a special access code would get her inside.

“Soren!” she yelled, having no idea if he’d help or if he was in league with Hess now.

The rattle of gunfire exploded around her. She covered her ears, tucking into a ball. Gunshots pocked the door in front of her, and the smell of hot metal seeped into her nose. She braced for the same slap she’d felt in her arm when she’d been shot in Reverie. It didn’t come.

“Stop! Don’t hurt the boy! He cannot be harmed!” Hess shouted over the noise. Aria peered behind her to see him shove a Guardian, who dropped the pistol in his hand. One of the Horns had Roar by the arms, and Soren was belly crawling toward her from the opposite side of the room.

She didn’t see Sable.

“Out! Everyone out!” Hess yelled.

Abruptly, the gunfire ceased and men rushed for the door. Guardians and Horns jammed at the exit, pushing, shoving in their hurry to flee. In the kick and trample, the fallen pistol skittered across the polished floor, stopping a few feet from Aria.

She snatched it up, aiming at the man who was dragging Roar outside. “Let him go!”

The Horn soldier released Roar without a fight, plunging into the corridor. The door slid closed behind him.

Sable and Hess. Guardians and Horns. Everyone had cleared out.

Roar rushed to her side, Soren a second after. A high-pitched alarm exploded through the room’s speakers.

“We have to get out of here,” Soren yelled. “They’re going to gas the chamber.”

Aria looked up, tuning her ears, listening between the siren’s blares. A faint hiss came through the air vents. It was already happening.

“Find something to cut me loose, Soren,” Roar said.

Aria faced the glassed room. The only thought in her mind was reaching Perry. She adjusted her grip, finding the trigger with her left index finger, and fired at the glass at an angle. The weapon bucked in her hand five, six times, before the window peeled apart and fell in a heavy sheet.

She vaulted through the window frame into the room, rushing to Perry’s side. She set the gun down and began unbuckling the heavy straps. She felt slow and clumsy with her bad hand, but she forced calm into her movements. Panicking wouldn’t help.

She glanced at Perry’s face and found his green eyes fixed on her. “Are you hurt?” she asked.

He looked tired, his skin washed of color. Cinder was almost unconscious. The brief use of his power had bled him dry.

Perry gave her a small, strained smile. “Too angry to feel pain.”

Roar unfastened Cinder’s bindings. Soren came over and undid the ones on Perry’s feet. Aria saw Soren’s hands pause for a moment as he swayed, balance unsteady. The gas was affecting him.

She felt it too. The alarm sounded further away and deeper in tone, like it was disappearing into a dark tunnel.

As soon as she’d freed Perry’s hands, she shot to the door and found it locked.

“Aria . . .,” Soren said behind her. “It’s too late. I don’t have time to hack it. . . . The gas isss . . . ,” he slurred.

“It’s not too late!” She backed away from the door and aimed at the locking mechanism. Her head was spinning. The room was spinning. She couldn’t keep her aim steady. A bitter taste like rancid limes slid over her tongue, and her eyes began to burn.

Roar’s hand closed over hers. He took the pistol. She noticed he was breathing raggedly. “It’ll ricochet. . . . Soren’s right.”

Disappointment washed over her. Crushing her with the feeling that they’d just made their situation worse.

Aria turned. Perry leaned against the bed, his wide shoulders hunched. “Aria,” he said simply.

Soren sat heavily against the wall. Then he slumped onto his side, eyes fluttering closed. The lime taste seared down Aria’s throat and the walls flapped, undulating like sails in the wind. She couldn’t move.

Perry’s head tipped to the side, heavy and resigned. Not the playful tilt she knew. “Come here.”

His voice drew her forward. She went to him, walking across the tilting floor. Her face smacked into Perry’s chest. He caught her by the arms. She’d only vaguely registered that her bicep didn’t hurt at all when she found herself on the floor, with no memory of sitting down.

Perry pulled her against his side, putting his arm around her. Soren had passed out. Cinder lay still on his bed. Roar sat against the door, glaring into space.

He seemed so far. The room seemed to stretch out and go on forever.

“S’good at least that—” Perry turned to face her, and his knee knocked into her thigh. “Sorry.”

“Didn’t feel it,” she managed to say through a numb mouth. “What’s good at least?”