Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(37)

That made sense, though the idea turned my stomach. They’d been alive not two minutes ago. “Do you have a lighter? Matches?”

“No.”

I checked the street around us. More late-night walkers. More witnesses. “Why are these people even out? Don’t they know what’s happening all around them?”

We’d run out of time.

People walking became people running, their phones already out as their boots pounded the pavement toward us. By the shouts, most were calling 9-1-1 but the man with the dog actually snapped a picture of the bodies. What the hell was wrong with people?

“Too late. Let’s go.” Julian yanked on my arm. We ran the way the fledgling had gone.

“Maybe we can still stop him!” I yelled. I had no idea how to fight but together, Julian and I could overpower him.

We rounded another corner, towards the shouts and bangs ahead. Julian seized my arm, yanking me back into the shadow of a doorway. A large truck parked along the curb helped our cover.

“What?”

Julian pointed at moving figures half a block ahead. Fledglings. Hundreds of them: running, attacking, running again. But that wasn’t what he was pointing at. A wall of soldiers in war fatigues marched into the area, arms laden with heavy-looking guns, all directed out.

“Don’t they know that guns can’t stop them?” I tried to keep my voice down. “They’re going to get slaughtered!”

I spotted the orange emblem of the fledgling we’d been chasing. He darted toward the soldiers just as one raised his gun and fired. As if in slow motion, I watched the bullet—a large torpedo-shaped silver object—sail through the air and drive into the fledgling’s chest.

The fledging dropped to his knees. “One … two … three,” I counted quietly, expecting him to rise. Orange flames suddenly sprouted from the fledgling’s chest. He let out a blood-curdling scream and then toppled over, his entire body engulfed in seconds.

“Holy shit,” Julian said as the soldiers took off, stopping to target the fledglings distracted by their kills. Countless fires burned on the pavement.

These were the special guns that Mage had talked about—the ones that made our kind highly mortal.

“We need to get out of here,” I warned Julian, grabbing onto his hand. We took off, sprinting past the soldiers without earning so much as a head turn. I silently commended them for risking their lives. Truly, that’s what they were doing. Because Julian and I could easily have snapped their necks where they stood.

As we ran deeper into Manhattan, more bodies littered the streets. Countless sirens wailed in our ears. And fledglings ran rampant.

We had to find Caden and the others. And then I hoped we’d run until we found peace, because I didn’t believe that any peace would come to this city despite our best efforts.

Chapter Ten – Sofie

Caden’s lone figure stood leaning against the bronze rabbit, like a beacon within our deep well of darkness. I allowed myself the smallest sigh of relief before distress bowled me over.

Amelie was not waiting us at the rendezvous point.

I rushed forward.

“Bro!” Bishop reached him seconds before me to slap him over the shoulder, Fiona on Bishop’s heels. The two of them had been physically inseparable since the Fates brought her back. I couldn’t blame either of them. If I could bring Nathan back from the dead—the real Nathan, not an emotionless wraith who resembled him—I would never leave his side.

“Is she okay?” I blurted out, halting mere feet away.

“Yeah, she’s fine. She’s …,” a small smile touched Caden lips, “better than fine, actually.”

I opened my mouth, about to press for more information, when Mortimer appeared, elbowing his way past me to demand in a rushed voice, “Veronique?”

Again, another tiny smirk flickered across Caden’s lips. “She’s fine too. They’re all fine.” His tone turned harsh. “Have you found Amelie?”

I could only shake my head. “I was hoping we’d find her here.”

Caden’s face mirrored my disappointment. He looked around. “Mage? Lilly?”

“They’re a minute behind me.” The last I saw, Lilly had been ambushed by two brutes—common thieves thriving on the chaos—thinking she was an innocent child. That was the downside of Lilly’s appearance. Or the upside, depending on how you looked at it. In any case, Mage hung back to help her. “Something feels very wrong about this. She’s been gone for hours now,” Fiona said.

“I know my sister’s flighty but not like this,” Caden agreed. “And how on earth could a fledgling take down Galen like that? It doesn’t make sense. We need answers.”

“No, you’re right,” I said carefully. If they came to the conclusion that I already had—that Viggo was behind this—they’d lose all focus.

“I’m going to do a few rounds through the subway system,” Caden said. “Maybe there are some clues.”

“No!” I barked but then softened. “We need to stick together.”

“We’re coming with,” Fiona was quick to follow, ignoring me. She gave Bishop’s arm a tug. “She’s got to be out there.”

Bishop nodded, his focus on the chatter crackling out of the police radio in his hand as he dialed through the channels. “Oh shit, guys. Listen to this.” A rash of voices erupted as Bishop cranked the volume. The rapidly delivered commands were hard to follow but I got the gist: the “dead” were coming alive in hospital morgues and attacking the staff. The Jersey City Hospital had declared a state of emergency.