Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(45)

He didn’t dodge. He didn’t even try. I buried the sickled edge into the crook of his neck.

And yet he was still coming for me. Fear seized me. I let go of the handle and stepped back as he lumbered forward, undisturbed by the blade still in his muscle. With my mouth gaping, I did the only thing I could think of. A wall of fire, tall enough to keep him in place. Eveline jumped back from the flickering flames as it circled him.

“Is this thing human?” Eveline screamed, reaching into her pocket for new rounds, reloading her gun.

It couldn’t have been. But his partner was. I could hear her laughing—a high-pitched voice, joyful and murderous as she dodged Rhys’s and Belle’s attacks. Still struggling against the aftereffects of the attack, neither fought at their full potential, but this girl’s speed and agility would have been hard to guard against regardless. Blocking the swing of Belle’s sword with her armored biceps, she ran for Rhys, dipping to the side to dodge his gunshot.

“What’s wrong, Aidan? Nah, that’s no good. You used to be a better shot, sweetie.”

Rhys froze to the spot at the sound of her Australian voice, and in that one second, she was behind him, grabbing his hand, pointing his gun at Belle.

“Let me help you!”

The shot tore through Belle’s leg, but it was Rhys I ran for, trying to make it before the woman, using Rhys’s own hand to point his gun at his head, could fire the shot. Rhys overcame her himself, stretching his arm up just as the shot rang out into the air. She quickly snapped his wrist before maneuvering out of the way. Rhys doubled backward in pain.

“Rhys!” I said as he tripped on a spare wheel. I caught him before he could fall. “Rhys.”

“Jessie . . . ,” he whispered, his face pale. He couldn’t see her face. But her voice was enough. “It’s Jessie.”

The woman he’d called Jessie was fast. Too fast. She dodged Eveline’s shots until the agent’s gun clicked empty, but she was already on Belle, whose sluggish ice attack couldn’t land its target. As the ice spread across the ground a few feet away from us, Jessie grabbed Belle’s wrist with one gloved hand and slammed her other hand into her neck. I didn’t understand what had happened until I saw the frost forming at Belle’s fingertips fizzle and die.

There must have been some device inside Jessie’s glove. I could see a red spot of blood where Belle’s neck had been pricked. And her powers . . . her powers were gone.

Jessie took advantage of Belle’s shock to knock her out with a well-placed elbow to the temple. Next she came for me. Fast. Smoke sputtered from my hand erratically as I tried to control my equally erratic heartbeat. Calm down. I had to calm down. Jessie had already caught my wrist. A small circular metal device in the palm of her glove seized my attention, the tiny needle in the center of it glinting as she reached for my neck.

We heard the soft clink at the same time. My neck-band. I could almost picture Jessie’s surprised expression behind her helmet as she paused, looking from her glove to my neck.

Taking advantage of her confusion, I kicked her away and summoned my weapon once more, but heavy footsteps behind me forced me around. It was the Big Guy. His armor was still smoking from the fire he’d just charged through.

With clumsy steps, he ran at me. From wild instinct alone, I swung my scythe at him, hoping that this time the blade would slice clean through his neck. But he dodged, catching the handle just underneath the sickle and lifting me off my feet. I swung my feet in the air, too shocked to react when the beast-like man rammed his other hand into Eveline’s face as she made for him, swatting her away like a fly. Rhys was busy avoiding Jessie’s hand-to-hand attacks. As Eveline hit the ground, unconscious, I knew I had to finish this guy off myself.

I grabbed his head and set it on fire, the force of the explosion pushing us back. I ripped his helmet off as I fell, and that’s when I got my first look at him.

Oh, god.

The moment my boots hit the ground, I stumbled and landed on the floor, stunned. My stomach heaved as I saw the maggots—tiny, squirming things in the eye sockets of the rotted flesh where the Big Guy’s head should be. Parts of his skull peeked through. I covered my mouth.

This was impossible.

“Ah, man,” Jessie said. “You ruined the surprise. Still, it’s impressive, right?” Flipping back to create enough space between herself and Rhys, Jessie took off one of her gloves, revealing a sickly pale, slender hand, and snapped her fingers.

The monster started to move. Lumbering. Lurching at her command.

But phantoms were the only monsters that were supposed to exist in this world.

Phantoms and Effigies.

“Take her, Dead Guy,” Jessie commanded her slave. “Take the girl.”

The girl. Me. My arms were lifeless at my sides as I stared at the maggots slipping in and out of his flesh. I couldn’t move.

Suddenly, sirens echoed around us.

Sect vans sped down the tunnel from both ends. Encouraged, I whipped around to face my attackers again, but Jessie didn’t waste any time. Without another word, she cut across the tunnel, grabbed something from her back pocket, and threw it against the wall. The small metal device latched on to the concrete with four metal arms spread out like a lucky clover, each arm lighting up with red bars down its length.

A second passed.

Then, the explosion.