Chapter Thirty-Six
Astrid
The ship built into the float cracks in half and Draco senses it just in time. He jumps off his perch and lands next to her on the front part of the float. The contents of the boat pour out. Demetria knew he would show and she brought weapons.
“What are those things?” Astrid asks, staring at the flying objects. She’s pulled her mask over her eyes. The others do the same. In seconds, they’re linked up.
“You know bad things live in fairy tales too, right?”
“Casper, find Jensen for me,” she says over the com. He’s got facial recognition software. “I need him to get out of here.”
“Shit,” Owen says, running over in his attempt to get out of the way of the tree that has now come to life. The trunk grows legs and steps off the float, entering the crowd. The screams, a mixture of confused excitement and fear, are so loud Astrid covers her ears.
“Draco.” He looks at her. “Go neutralize Demetria or I’ll have to.”
He nods, but they both know it’s too late. She’s standing in the middle of the float like a woman on fire. Her dress spins around her ankles and she holds her hands up, directing her weapons into the city.
Quinn snatches one of the small creatures out of the air and holds it up. It’s small but alive. It looks like a lizard. No. It’s a—
“Fucking dragon,” Owen says.
Quinn tosses it off the side of the float and it expands mid-air, growing to the height of a small building. Smoke billows from its long snout. Its feet land hard on the ground, cracking the asphalt.
Two more explosions rock the Harbor Line and off in the distance a huge ball of fire shoots toward the sky. Police and firefighters run toward the flames, while those caught in the middle, between the explosions and the float, are trapped. The police try to manage them, but the hysteria is too big. “Pan, help these people. Calm them down. Make them see whatever it is they need to see to get to safety.”
“Got it,” he replies, moving to the edge of the float. The dragon ambles ahead of them, on the heels of the marching band.
“Echo, I found him.” An image from the scene pops up. Jensen is stalking through the crowd in the direction of the fires. That’s what heroes do. They run to danger, not away from it.
“What do you want me to do?” Charger asks. He’s ripped off the stupid pirate costume and she finds he’s fully suited up underneath. She isn’t surprised.
“Casper said bombs. Are they on electronic triggers? Timers? Pull up the map and see if there’s anything you can do to disconnect them with your power.”
“What about you?” he asks. There’s no mistaking the look of concern in his eyes.
“I’m going after Blaze. I owe him one.”
He nods. “Be careful.”
The dragon roars and other creatures come to life. Strong horses with sleek black manes. Lizards and dinosaurs. Pixies with sharp teeth.
“You too.”
He reaches for her and pulls her close, kissing her on the forehead before jumping off the float and into the crowd.
She’s about to follow him off the platform when Pan calls her name over the com.
“What?”
“I need your help. This crowd, they’re panicking, and people are getting hurt.” She’s tried to push their voices out of her head—ignore the screams--but lets them in and it shakes her to the core. Hundreds if not thousands of terrified people running in a dozen directions. “I’ve got a way for them to get out of here, but they need to calm down. I need you to calm them down.”
“I don’t know how to do that,” she says.
“I’ve seen you!” He shouts something away from the com. She tries to find him in the crowd, but it’s swelled into a frenzy.
“Not with a crowd this big.”
“You can do it. You have to, Echo.”
The dragon roars, spitting a burst of fire into the air. Chaos follows, and she takes a deep, steadying breath and rips off her gloves. She doesn’t plan on touching anyone but she needs as much of their emotional energy as she can get. With the heat of the dragon at her back and another explosion rocking the ground she grabs hold of the panic in the air…
Terror, distress, agony, torment, suffering…
The feelings grip Astrid like a vise.
Sweat pools on her back and she claws at her ears, at her skin, wanting it to stop. But she doesn’t run. She channels it, pulls the energy into her core, building it into a small but powerful ball. Astrid lets it grow, feeding on every scream. Every faltering step. She consumes as much as she can until she feels like she will burst and then she puts her hands together, wrapping them around the energy and holding it with both hands.
“Holy shit,” Casper says in her ear.
She barely hears him because she’s now focused on shifting the energy, but…
“I can’t do this. I don’t know how.”
Her knees threaten to buckle under the weight of it all.
“Open your eyes,” Casper says.
Her eyelids feel like they’re held down by weights. The same with her arms, her legs and shoulders, but she fights against the pull and blinks, looking into the crowd.
They’re moving, following a bright light down one of the side streets away from the danger. It’s a peaceful scene, the opposite of the horror and destruction of the parade route. Bright paper lanterns lead the way along with twinkling lights and a starry sky. The buildings are painted a cheery color and the crowd moves calmly, carefully toward their escape.
“How?” she says, her arms and hands aching from holding the energy.
“You took their fear,” Casper says. “And Pan? Well, that’s not an oasis down that alley, but it’s better than the alternative.”
She holds, feeling the wave of exhaustion rolling over her, but her heart swells when she sees the crowd thin; children racing to safety, parents carrying three kids in their hands. She doesn’t look for Draco or Charger, knowing the slightest distraction will destroy her efforts, but she does exhale in relief when Pan comes through the final people. He looks up at her with a huge smile and gives her a thumbs-up.
“We’ve got the people clear,” Casper says over the group com. “Echo, you’re good.”
She has no idea what to do with the energy but she’s willing to try something new. She turns and faces the lumbering, terrifying dragon and opens her hands, blasting all of the pain, fear, and distress into the fantastical creature.
The energy shoots from her, kicking back and knocking her on her ass. She flails, trying to see what happened, but another explosion goes off. No, not an explosion, but a wave ripples over Astrid’s skin just as the hum of the city falls away and darkness shrouds the street, other than one thing.
Blaze stands in the middle of the street with a ball of fire in his hands.