King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(7)

Mysticals were still running toward the growing mass behind us, running to security. They were breaking away from the fighting I could now see to the left and right of my peripheral; the two battles would soon converge into one. With how efficiently we were completing Jack’s orders, they didn’t have much time. Even more heinous was that it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. We had close to three hundred Mys behind us — shouting for the others to hurry — who we were responsible for.

We began lowering the edges to complete the dome, my best friends and I glacial in our stances, knowing we were leaving to their deaths those who couldn’t reach us. The decision had been made. We were the Prodigies. With power came hard-hitting burdens, the choices, one of which we were currently enacting.

The edges lowered further as we began creating the shape of the dome.

Vampires began blurring from their sure safety to grab those among the growing number of Mysticals racing toward us, carrying them with speed. Mages hurled magical golden bubbles to capture hysterical Mysticals inside them and threw the trapped persons to Shifters in the protected zone. The Shifters caught them deftly, using their powered strength, and quickly placed the frantic individuals where they needed to be. The Elementals began an offensive attack on the Coms running in our direction. Any other Mystical who was close to reaching us dove under the dome just before its edges touched the ground.

Mysticals who hadn’t made it in time began pounding on the outside of the dome, pleading and crying to be let in, and Jack’s tone turned hard. “We make the spout now. In the center. As tall as before, since it will have to reach past the ocean’s surface.”

We nodded jerkily.

I tilted my head far back, staring at the section we wanted the spout, which in effect turned my attention away from the pleading Mysticals. The Coms were bearing down on them as the two battles became one outside the dome’s safety.

The spout was made.

Jack’s voice was as chilled as ice. “Time to move.”

Our elite guards were still protecting us against the few Mysticals inside the dome who were begging for us to lift it. Just loud enough not to break my concentration, I called quietly over my shoulder to them, “We’re moving out. Pass the word on.”

Felix decked a Vampire, who was crying for her mate on the other side of safety. Even before she hit the ground, he shouted to the anxious crowd, “If you’re not organized yet, get so now! We’re leaving, people.”

I heard resounding murmurs behind us as I looked forward. “Let’s go.”

Ezra glanced down at me, his eyes as haunted as mine. This wasn’t training, when Antonio had used his Mage magic to transfer his memories of war chaos to outside the dome’s walls. This was reality. Our friends, family members, and individuals we had spent the last year with were outside the dome’s wall. They were more than likely going to die.

Ezra wrapped his free arm around my waist, holding me close against him — both of us needed the comfort so to hell with our ‘no touching in public’ policy right now — as we began to move the dome with our will. Putting one foot in front of the other was difficult; we saw the will of our dome begin to shove Mysticals and Commoners out of our way as we moved toward the back edge of the school property. To the Sound.

I was trembling, my chest aching in anguish and guilt, as I watched from our shelter. Swiping tears away from my cheeks with my free hand, I rested my head against Ezra’s chest and focused the best I could. I was trying to ignore the cries for assistance when what had to be the second round of the attacks began taking place. Explosions rocked the ground again, shaking my entire body. To my left I saw a swarm of Coms, dressed not in plain clothes as the other Commoners had been, but in black tactical wear. They were racing from the trees, on foot or in military vehicles, and firing on any Mys they saw.

Jack murmured, “Keep moving. Will the dome to be impenetrable but see-through. No rockets or bombs should be able to get through it. Will it. Push it.”

I focused, doing exactly as he had said.

“Perfect,” Jack murmured.

Only a beat later, bullets from machine guns hit the dome and grenades were thrown.

“My mom,” Pearl whispered, her voice soft and cracking. She pointed with her free hand over Jack’s shoulder. Her mom was on the fringe of the battle straight ahead. “They’re almost on her.”

“Don’t watch,” Ezra ordered immediately, his gaze snapping to Pearl’s profile as his grip tightened around my waist. “Look down.”

Jack’s right arm snaked back, and he wrapped it around Pearl’s waist, tugging her close. He tucked her face against the crook of his neck before giving a harsh dictate. “Keep focused and keep moving.”

Pearl’s grip on his shoulder appeared brutal, keeping her will in contact, as she nodded her head of golden hair and as her soft sobs racked her body. But she kept her feet traveling forward, kept the dome from crumbling by her added will. She was tough on a whole other level.

I watched in horror as a group of trained tactical Coms advanced on the group of Mysticals where her mother was already fighting. My brows slammed together in sudden confusion, leaving me blinking, as at least fifty of the trained Coms began…sinking. With my eyes darting across landscape, my breath caught when I saw King Fergus, King Venclaire — my biological father — King Kincaid, and King Nelson off to the side of the group, almost hidden behind the trees. They were linked like we were, and King Fergus’s arms were raised, his eyes glowing fiercely. He was using his earth Elemental power.