"Stop," I whispered, forcing myself up from the scratchy leaves, back throbbing. He wasn't—couldn’t be—talking to me. Shadows crowded in on the edges of my vision.
Kane was gone. Officially, he was missing in action. I had already mourned him just in case, because that's what soldiers did. We abandoned hope for practicality. Even if I knew Kane was too stubborn to die. I fought off the sudden heat of tears springing to my eyes. Nope. Not here. Not now.
Kane's voice said, even gentler, "it's going to be okay." I’d never heard him use a tone like that. I shook the shadows from my vision and willed the sound to be gone. When I finally got my bearings, I charged forward, aiming at the beast's neck as Evans and Jones feinted back and forth with it.
"Get it parallel to the forest again," I shouted to my team. “I’ll lure it after me!” I was bleeding. My arm must've gotten cut in the fall. The beast’s nostrils flared and it lurched after me, revealing the wound on its neck from a profile view. It lunged at me—and then its neck spurted gore as the sniper rifle cracked.
I wrenched back, narrowly avoiding the dying beast's tongue as it collapsed onto its side. Finally, I could breathe out in relief. Jones and Evans were good, but Colin almost never missed.
“Fall back,” I ordered my team. It wasn't our job to bag the baddies. A team of scientists would be dispatched when it was all clear.
I shook my head and ignored a snicker from Jones and a smirk from Evans. They’d had front-row tickets to my dramatic freak out and fall, but if I responded to Jones’s obvious desire to make a “fall back” pun, I’d just look petty.
From across the clearing, Jessica was shouting. "You can't just, like, arrest us. We have rights."
I stalked over to the couple. Jessica was valiantly trying to fight her way out of Holt's grip near the ridge where we’d originally hidden. I scowled at her, but she didn't see me yet. Dan looked down at the ground, embarrassed.
"You can't hit me, I'm a girl," Jessica blurted to Holt. He raised his eyebrows and darted a glance at me.
"Well, it's your lucky day. I'm a girl and I pack a killer punch, so if you don't want to deal with that, then I suggest you listen," I snapped. She paled as I poked my finger in her face. "We just fought off a monster to save your sorry butt, so shut up and say thank you."
Jessica lifted her camera with a little smirk, as if that would deter me. "What spooked you out there?" she asked.
Holt sucked in a breath. I’d told him earlier to get the camera. I narrowed my eyes and wrenched it from her hand, letting it fall to the ground with a satisfying crunch.
"Jessica Laurence, you are under arrest for trespassing on government property." I grabbed handcuffs from my kit and went for her wrists as Holt cuffed Dan, who put up no resistance. Jessica fought for a bit, but I was rough. I wasn’t going to feel bad about it. She’d endangered the lives of several people today. I had soldiers under my command, and I was responsible for their lives, even if they didn’t respect me.
Can I blame them, after I had a hallucination in the middle of battle? I swallowed that bitter thought as I directed the captured vloggers to sit on the ground. Without their camera, they were powerless.
The flight back to Chicago put me in a foul mood. No, it was the mission. I stewed sourly in my seat as I reviewed everything that had happened. Jones and Evans had followed my orders, but there’d been an undercurrent of disrespect while they did it. I understood their position, of course, and I couldn’t say I’d have been any better in their place. But they didn't expect poisonous tongues, since they’d spent their most recent years fighting redbills. They had years more experience than I did, but I was the one in charge thanks to my experience in the Immortal Plane. My team was still skeptical, and they’d just watched me spaz out.
I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. Now, I had to convince these people that I knew what I was doing. Half of my team was resentful. Colin hadn’t said a word, but even Holt, who treated me civilly, had looked askance at my mishap today. I leaned my head against the window to watch the glowing lights of Chicago come closer, reflecting off the lake.
Had I really heard Kane’s voice? I wasn't crazy, right?
What does it mean? Without realizing, I traced the slant of Kane's usual scowl onto the window with my finger. I’d never imagined how much I would miss it.
The captain announced that we were landing soon. I pulled myself away from the window and pushed the thought of Kane far from my mind.
3
Lyra
Bryce sprinted from the other side of the compound to join us just as Dorian and I caught sight of Cam—far into the trees on the forested side of the destroyed Bureau office. His eyes were trained on a wall of scraggly vines hanging between the tree trunks, head cocked to the side, gun at the ready. He darted into the overgrown mess, not a move I would have expected from the serious and careful soldier. The rest of us followed, Bryce looking livid.
"Get back here," Bryce bellowed as his nephew’s red hair disappeared deeper into the forest. "I'll have you back on that plane sooner than you can call your mother to beg for forgiveness."
My pulse staggered. "Cam, he’s right—we don’t know what’s out there."
We caught up to him in a small clearing at the beginning of a rough path through the
