Page 778 of Coal Hearts

“Mollie.” I dropped to my knees and cupped her cheek.

I recoiled in horror.

The perfect hole in her skull.

The blank glaze of her stare.

No...

Another pock-mock of dirt bounced into the air.

Another aimed right at my feet.

I threw myself behind the bush where Mollie had appeared, hiding from the snipers on the wall.

Through the branches and night-glossed leaves, I stared at my friend.

A woman who’d been so brave.

A jewel who’d traded her life for mine.

Great wracking sobs gathered in my belly.

I bit my fist.

Not yet.

Not yet.

I couldn’t cry.

Not yet.

Looking back at the fortress, I staggered to my feet and ran.

Flames danced from multiple stories and windows. The west wing had a hole in it where a dayroom used to be. The deck where I’d kneeled beside Henri so many times had caught fire, the wooden planks blazing like a platform to hell.

Another island-shaking BOOM.

In the distance, the tower standing guard to the dungeons shivered, shuddered, and tumbled. A waterfall of stone fell in slow motion, taking with it carved angels and gargoyles and Victor’s proudly waving flag of a brilliant sparkling diamond.

I kept running into battle.

Shadows of fights between Masters and jewels flickered in the backdrop of chaos. A few jewels jerked and twitched on the ground where Masters electrocuted them, only to be pounced on from behind by other jewels.

I ran into the thick of the acrid smoke, ducking past a fighting Master and guard, then dashing past a jewel hacking a Master to pieces with a butcher’s blade from the kitchens.

I didn’t study faces.

I didn’t want to know.

Rain continued to fall from the sprinkler system, hissing and splashing all around me as I darted back into the fortress.

I almost ran straight into Kirk who staggered out of the games room, soot streaking his face, blood dripping down his arms.

“Kirk.”

He blinked, dead-eyed and barely alive. “Ily, I....” Raising his hands, he frowned as if he couldn’t remember how he’d bathed in crimson. I’d always thought he looked like a Viking with his tall frame, blond hair, and slightly wild eyes, but now he looked as if he’d stepped through time after slaughtering an entire medieval village.