The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(207)

Though their faces were half-obscured by windblown hair, Melissa found something new and dark in their expressions.

“Wouldn’t you rather keep living?”

“That’s all we want,” said Hannah.

“That’s all we ever wanted,” said Amanda.

“Then you have only one choice. Now it couldn’t be—”

Before Melissa could say “simpler,” a new complication arose behind the sisters. Fourteen pistols swung to aim at the shiny silver aerovan that popped above the building like toast.

Zack peered through the rear passenger window, narrowing his eyes at the large assembly of men.

“David, blind the hell out of them.”

“With pleasure.”

Melissa spotted the boy’s vengeful sneer through the window. She recalled David’s flare attack on Howard and pressed her hands to her eyes.

“Everyone cover your eyes! Cover your—”

A thirty-foot cube of piercing white light enveloped all the cops and Deps on the roof. The sisters turned their wincing faces. Soon they heard the electric whirr of a sliding door behind them. Amanda felt soft young hands on her shoulders.

“It’s okay,” said Mia. “I got you. Let go.”

With a delirious cry of relief, she released the tempis and fell back into Mia’s arms. Amanda never had a chance to see the van. For all she knew, her other little sister had flown in on angel wings.

David supported Amanda’s legs as Mia pulled her into the van. Hannah kept her eyes squinted shut, reeling with perplexity as someone seized her by the armpits.

“What’s happening? Who’s got me?”

“I do,” said Zack.

The actress cracked a dizzy laugh. “Oh my God. I want to kiss you so much. Is everyone else okay? Theo?”

“I’m here,” Theo said from the front. “We’re all here.”

“I knew it. I knew you’d find us.”

He smiled exhaustedly. “I knew you’d know.”

The cube of light vanished, leaving eight cops and six Deps fumbling helplessly on the concrete. Melissa uncovered her eyes and rushed to the railing. Even half-blind, she had no trouble recognizing the driver.

“Peter, don’t do this. You have more to lose than they do. You have a son!”

David cast a sphere of light around Melissa’s head. She fell to her knees, grimacing.

The door slid closed. Peter floored the accelerator. He bounced a baleful glare at David through the mirror.

“Goddamn it, boy. You didn’t have to do that.”

“She’ll recover.”

“I’m talking about the whole thing. What was that light you used? Was that the Cataclysm?”

“It was, in fact.”

Peter pounded the wheel. “Jesus Christ! You ghost the Cataclysm on Commemoration, right on top of a goddamn building? People probably saw it for miles! They’ll be talking about it for months!”

David leered at him in umbrage. “I did what I had to.”

“You could’ve used darkness on them. You could’ve stunned them with noise. I know you folks are new to this world, but there are consequences—”

“Hey!” Zack shot forward in his seat, his face flushed with rage. “We almost died because of your instructions! You don’t get to lecture him. And when your people stop trying to kill us, maybe then we’ll give a shit about protecting their secrets. Until then, f*ck them and f*ck you.”

Hannah sat between David and Zack, her hands clutched tensely on their thighs. She felt like she missed a year of plot development. She wasn’t even sure who was flying the van.

Theo held up a diplomatic palm. “Look, we’re all shaken up right now. Can we just—”

“Oh no!”

Everyone followed Mia’s gaze out the window. Two sleek blue police cruisers flew along the Seeker’s left side while another kept pace to the right. A pair of flashing aerocycles rode up the rear.

Theo’s mind spun with helpless flurry. This aerial chase was a whole new wrinkle. His counterparts in the God’s Eye had gotten away scot-free.

He looked to Peter. “What now?”

The Irishman aimed a tight scowl out the windshield. “It’s okay. They won’t get us.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you haven’t seen what I can do.” He heaved a loud, woeful breath. “This won’t be subtle either.”

Seven stomachs lurched as Peter pulled the Seeker into a sharp ascent. He leveled out and looped to the left, steering them back toward the buildings of Battery Place. Despite everything her senses told her, Amanda couldn’t accept the nitty-gritty, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang details of her current existence. She was flying. Over the city. In an automobile.

Hannah nervously scanned the police vehicles. “They’re shifted. You can’t outrun them.”

Peter studied her in the mirror. “Which pretty sister are you?”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Hannah.”

“Figured. You’re already thinking like a born swifter. It’s not always about speed, hon.” He turned to Theo. “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to ask you for a little advance on trust.”

“What do you need?”