“We’re not splitting up,” Daemon cut in, his voice sharp with anger. “Not again. We all stay together, no matter what. I have to think of something. There has to be something…” He trailed off.
My heart skipped. “What?”
Daemon blinked slowly, and then he laughed. I frowned. “I have an idea,” he said.
“Waiting.” Luc snapped his fingers.
Daemon’s eyes narrowed on the kid. “You snap your fingers at me and I’ll—”
“Daemon!” I shouted. “Focus. What’s your idea?”
He turned to me. “It’s risky, and it’s completely insane.”
“Okay.” I pulled my hands free. “Sounds like something you’d come up with.”
Daemon smirked, and then his gaze focused on Luc. “It’s something you said before. About their strength being in the fact that no one knows about them—no one knows about
My brain hardly digested that. “Are you suggesting that we expose ourselves?”
“Yes. We go out there, and we make the hugest scene possible. Get the humans wound up. Create a big enough scene to cause a diversion.”
“Like at Area 51? Except this time…” This would be epic and completely uncontrollable.
Dawson smacked his hands down on the side of the Hummer, earning an outraged look from Luc. “Then let’s do it.”
“Wait,” Paris said.
Ignoring him, Daemon reached for the door handle. There was a series of clicks, and Daemon got nowhere. He turned a stunned look on Paris. “Did you just hit the childproof locks on me?”
“I did.” Paris threw his hands up. “You need to think about this first.”
“We don’t need to think about anything,” Dawson said. “It’s a good enough plan. We cause enough chaos, we should be able to slip out.”
Luc leaned over his seat, on his knees. His amethyst eyes fixed on the brothers. “Once we do this, there’s no going back. Daedalus will be even more pissed and gunning for us.”
“But it will give us time to get away,” Daemon argued. His pupils were starting to glow. “Or do you have a problem with cutting them off at the knees?”
“A problem?” Luc laughed. “I think it’s brilliant. Honestly, I’d love to see the looks on their faces when there are Luxen walking around on the evening news.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Dawson demanded, giving a quick glance to the line of cars ahead. There wasn’t any movement yet.
Luc smacked the back of the seat. “You all just need to be sure about what you’re planning to unleash. It’s not just Daedalus, but the entire Luxen community that is going to be upset. Me? I’m all about causing a rebellion —and this will be a rebellion.”
“There are others,” Paris added quickly. “They will use this for their own benefit, Daemon. They will take advantage of the chaos.”
I swallowed hard, thinking of that nasty percentage of Luxen Dasher had mentioned. “We’re stuck between a mountain and a volcano about to explode.”
Daemon’s eyes met mine. I already knew what he’d decided. When it came down to his family and the rest of the world, he would choose his family. He put his hand on the handle. “Open the door.”
“You sure?” Luc said solemnly.
“Just make sure there aren’t any humans hurt,” I said.
A wide, wild smile broke out across Luc’s face. “Well then, it’s time to introduce the world to a little bit of extraterrestrial awesomeness.”
Chapter 28
This had to be one of the craziest stunts I’d ever pulled. Not only was I throwing everything in the face of Daedalus and the DOD, I was breaking every rule the Luxen lived by. This decision didn’t affect just me, it affected everyone. Something this massive should make me hesitate at least a little bit. Make me rethink things, come up with another route.
But there wasn’t time. Matthew…Matthew had betrayed us, and now we were here on the verge of being caught.
Like I said before, I’d burn down the world to keep Kat safe. The same went for my family. This would just be a different kind of fire.
People were already watching us, trying to figure out why we were abandoning our cars as we walked back toward where Archer waited behind the wheel. I knew the fact that Dawson and I were walking together was driving a lot of the attention.
“I already know.” Archer killed the engine. “I think it’s crazy, but it could work.”
“What is crazy?” Dee asked from the front seat, which was duly noted. She must’ve been chomping at the bit to get her butt up there the moment Dawson got out.
“We’re basically trapped in this line of cars,” I told her, leaning in the window. “They have the road blocked up ahead, and there’s a group of soldiers searching vehicles.”
Beth sucked in a sharp breath. “Dawson?”
“It’s okay.” He was immediately at the back door, opening it. “Come here.”
She slipped out of the SUV and planted herself to his side.
“We’re going to cause a little bit of trouble to distract them,” I said, eyes narrowing on the two. Something was definitely up, more than the overprotectiveness that might run in the family, but I didn’t have time for that. “Hopefully we can get the roads cleared at the same time and get the hell out of here.”
“Call me cynical, but how are we going to get this clusterfuck cleared and get out without being stopped?” Andrew asked.
“Because it’s not a little bit of trouble we’re going to cause,” Archer explained, opening the door and forcing me to take a step back. “We’re going to light up the Vegas strip like they’ve never seen before.”
Dee’s eyes went wide. “We’re going to show our true selves?”
“Yep.”
Ash leaned forward. “Are you insane?”
“Quite possibly,” I answered as I knocked a strand of hair out of my eyes.
Archer folded his arms. “Need I remind everyone that by getting in that car back at the house, you agreed that you’d be down for just about anything? This would be the part of ‘anything’ Paris had been talking about.”
“Hey, you have no arguments from me.” Andrew grinned, hopping out. “So we’re exposing ourselves?”
Kat made a face, and I almost laughed. Andrew did seem way too excited about this.
He stopped at the front of the SUV. “You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to freak out a few humans.”
“I’m not sure if I should be offended by that or not,” Kat mumbled.
He winked, and I felt a rumble move up my chest. “You’re not too human anymore,” Andrew pointed out and then grinned at me. “When do we do this?”
We were minutes away from nightfall. “Now. But—pay attention—we don’t split up too far. We keep everyone in eyesight. Either I or…” The next words took a lot for me to say. Physically hurt my soul. “Or Archer will let everyone know when it’s safe to get out of the city. If our wheels are gone—”
“God I hope not,” Luc whined.
I shot him a look. “If our wheels are gone, we’ll get the next best thing. Don’t worry about it. Okay?”
There were a few nods. Ash still looked like we’d lost our damn minds, but Dawson tugged her out of the SUV. “I need you to do something big for me, okay? A huge favor,” he said.
Ash nodded seriously. “What?”
