She didn't realize that there was still a chance to save Adam without Scribe writing him back into our world.
I tried to get the message to her, but the air would barely fill my lungs. I hissed at her twice, but she ignored me. Scribe snatched up his pen and scribbled, but only got a few words out. Izzy shattered both of his legs with a single whistle. He screamed, dropping both book and pen, and fell back against the window as she tilted her head at him and nudged the book closer. "What's the matter? You were busy. You were writing me a whole fucking novel."
"Isabella, please. You don't understand. It's the aliens. They're the villains, not me," he panted, the pain thick in his voice.
He deserved it. Blood needed to flow to pay for the things he'd done and it was his that would quench Izzy, would make me feel... somewhat better.
My gaze cast among the others and I saw no sign of Adam. My big, protective fly boy was gone, but he didn't have to be. He didn't. And Izzy had to know that. "Iz."
It was all I could get out. The word left me in a rush and it took every effort I had to drag in another breath. She looked toward me and I used every ounce of strength I had to point at the book. She reached for it, picked it up, and flipped through it. Something lit in her eyes and I knew she'd found the page we needed.
I was so busy paying attention to her that I'd lost track of Scribe. ...And so had she. He crept up behind her, a penknife in one hand. My eyes widened and I tried to warn her. She tore the page from the book and flung it into the flames just as he drove the knife into her thigh, straight into an artery, and tore it back out again.
The spout of blood was an impressive, horrific sight. She crumpled, the book still in her hands. Her powers released us but it took the extra few seconds to gather our wits and actually move. Nate flew to her side, ripping his belt off and trying to tourniquet the wound. Armed with a knife, moving slowly to put his back in line with the wall rather than the window, Scribe faced us down and sneered at us.
Lexi had been knocked ass over head into a wall and dazed at some point during the fight. She lifted her head to stare at the situation, at her girlfriend on the floor, at Nate trying to fix her and begging her to stay with us. At Adam, who had reappeared and lay flat on the ground next to where the desk had been before I'd pitched it.
There was a reason we'd named her Wreckless. It'd been a reminder to wreck less shit and cost the Alliance a little less cash.
That all went out the window in the space of a heartbeat.
She tore into battle and sent Scribe through a wall. He stabbed her repeatedly when she came on him again, but she didn't care. One wall, two walls, I watched as they shattered through the Alliance building and ran to catch her when I realized what was going to happen. He tried to rake words into his book with the blood on the knife, but Lexi was too much for him. They hit the outer wall and I grabbed her by the back of the shirt as he went tumbling down to the ground below.
Scribe's book landed on the floor beside us as I clung to the wall, hoping that I hadn't condemned Lexi and me to the same fate. "Don't fucking move. Don't. Don't try to pull yourself in. They'll come for us. They'll come and-"
There was a terrible sound beneath us. The wind swept his scream to our ears as a car crunched on the ground below. My fist tightened in Lexi's top as she balanced on the edge, arms tight by her sides as she tried to keep from ripping that weak cloth that kept us connected.
It was Adam that came to get us, picking me up and hauling Lexi back to the edge. She didn't waste any time. Over she went to Izzy, where Nate was still working on her. Adam followed her and I hesitated, not wanting to intrude. My head tipped back out the hole Lexi had created and I stared down at Scribe's body. He lay mashed firmly into the roof of the car we'd stolen.
When the hell had that gotten there?
I didn't know. I didn't want to know. It wasn't as if he would have survived such a fall if he'd landed on the concrete or the asphalt, anyway. But it felt as though... I don't know.
It felt justified.
It felt terrible.
Really, it just felt, and I didn't want to feel like that anymore.
I turned my back on my long-time mentor and went to find Nishelle, instead.
As it turned out, Nishelle had sustained a broken leg during the fight, though fuck if I could remember when it'd happened. "You okay?"
"Just a little bit shattered at the moment," she said. "You figure out where Allison went?"
Ah. Fuck.
I will always be here in some form, Allison said, deep in my mind. But the ghost you saw is gone, exhausted from fighting you within the Dream.
"Yeah, I know exactly where she is," I sighed and looked up at James, who was busy trying to put my girlfriend's leg on some sort of splint. "When you have a minute or five?"
