“Not long. Plus I could use a shower,” I say with a grin. “And breakfast.”
“I could attempt to make you French toast. With a few burnt edges. My signature dish,” he offers, and I laugh. I lean over, kissing him softly.
“How about I cook as you shower?”
“Are you saying I stink?” he playfully asks, and he starts to tickle me. I giggle, escaping his arms and standing up. His laugh warms my ears as he stands after me, and I turn around just as Shadow jumps onto a rock behind us.
“Hey, you,” I say, holding my marked hand out for him. He jumps onto our rock and presses his forehead into my hand. “Did you have a good night hunting?”
He doesn’t reply of course, but I get the sense that he did in my soul.
“Ana,” Alex calls me, and I turn to see him near the edge of the rock, looking over the sea. Something in his tone makes me rush to his side, searching the sky for what he is looking at. There in the distant sky is a large dark cloud, but it’s moving right towards us, and it really isn’t a cloud at all, it’s dozens of birds surrounding an army type plane. “They won’t get through the barrier. They have been making attempts for weeks, but I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to worry you.”
“Are you sure?” I question as we watch them get closer. Alex wraps his arm around my waist, holding me close to him as the barrier does nothing but let them in. The magic briefly glimmers in the sky, but it doesn’t stop them.
“Shit. Get on Shadow now and warn whoever you can and then hide before that plane lands! I won’t let them get anywhere near you. I’ll go tell the guys,” Alex commands, letting me go and running to the beach. He calls for Ki-Ki as I climb onto Shadow, who leans down for me.
“Take me to my parents, Shadow,” I command. He jumps off the rocks, and I hold on tight, seeing Alex changing Ki-Ki into a hawk as we run past. Shadow runs into the city, past cars and down the street until we get to a little shop. He leans down by the door just as the alarms start going off, and I rush inside. Mum and dad are already running to me, and we all head outside. I only have to point at the plane over the sea coming right our way.
“Get to a hiding place, Ana. Take your mum with you,” dad commands, and he runs off without another word. Mum picks up her cat familiar, placing her on her shoulders and grabs my hand.
“Shadow come with me,” I say to him, knowing he will follow no matter what. Mum leads me around a few buildings before we find a literal hole in the pavement with stairs that women and men are leading children and elderly into. Many stop, staring at me and mum and Shadow mostly as we follow them down the steps into a large basement with walls of boxes. Grey mattresses are pushed up against the one wall, and some of the adults are pulling them out onto the floor.
Shadow huffs as he passes me, sitting by the door, and we sit next to him. Mum is silent, even as the alarms get louder, and the last of the people come into the basement. No one else I know is in here, but plenty of them look to mum for guidance, and she doesn’t say anything.
“How many of these places are there?”
“Forty-two, all around the city. There is one near your hut, so the girls will be okay,” she promises me, but she can’t guarantee that, and we know it. I sit back as the doors are locked and pray that everyone is okay.
Chapter 17
Mason
One plane too many.
Digging my fingers into Hex’s wings, I watch as the plane gets to the beach, landing in the sand with a crash. The many birds around the plane immediately start to attack the army of familiars on the beach, with Alex and Ki-Ki heading for the plane. Liam looks over at me and nods once before swooping down with Silver in her hawk form. The birds stop, moving out of the way as Silver lands on the beach and shifts back into a fox almost instantly. Silver’s fox distracts the birds as Ki-Ki comes up from underneath the plane, wrapping it with her body and squeezing the plane. Soldiers covered head to toe in black clothing fall out of the plane in a stream, most of them screaming as the plane gets destroyed like a bug.
Only, they have guns.
“Fly away, now!” I demand of Hex, jumping off his back and rolling to a stop in the sand. I punch the first soldier that gets near me, knocking him out with one hit, and pull his gun from his belt. I kneel down and start shooting, taking out as many as I can, even as they kill the familiar army led by Ana’s dad. Talking of which, Clive isn’t here, missing, and Alex is trying to command the group while watching out for Ki-Ki.
God, I hope Ana is hiding somewhere, well away from this. Just thinking of anyone hurting Ana and our baby makes me so angry I can’t concentrate, so I push all thoughts of Ana to the back of my mind, focusing on the fight. The crowd are so lost in each other that they don’t spot a group of three running to the city.
Fuck that if they’re trying to hide in our city.
I run after them, crossing the sidewalk and getting to a house just as the three break the door and go inside. Looking up, I see Hex in the
