She sounded desperate, as though she wanted—needed—me to understand. I wanted to argue. I wanted to scream and grab Four and run; I wanted to sob and laugh hysterically.
Instead, I said: “Use me.”
“Hazel . . . No. Not you. You’ve been through enough.”
“Use me,” I repeated. “Leave Four here. You need to take me if you want to close the rift. I’m—I’m not Alpha. I’m Prime. We switched places at the farm. Killing Four, killing any of the other Hazels, won’t close the rift. You need me. I won’t fight.”
Torrance hesitated. “Taking Prime’s glasses is a nice touch. I’d almost believe you. But I know you, Hazel. And I know you’re not her.”
“What?”
“I worked with you for years. You think I can’t tell you apart from the others? Just because you hate me doesn’t mean . . .” She let the words hang there. “I know you’re trying to save Four. It’s brave of you.”
“But taking you risks trouble and trolls,” the agent cut in. “Four’s already sedated. She won’t even know. Step aside.” She aimed her gun. There was a tremble to her hands. “I won’t ask again.”
“I’m not Alpha!”
Torrance hoisted up Four, giving me a pleading look.
The agent swallowed visibly. “You probably don’t care about what happens to you. You’ve dealt with a lifetime of shit in your own world. But you care about what happens to her.” She shifted the gun, pressing it into Four’s temple. Her skin scrunched up. “We want to keep her alive. Honest. But—but I’d rather throw a dead Hazel into the rift than none at all. Back. Off.”
We stared at each other in silence.
Above us, a flash of dark broke the hellish whiteness of the sky. I automatically glanced upward. Just for a fraction of a second.
It was enough.
The agent darted forward. One hand yanked down my knife hand. The other grabbed my shirt. Before I knew what was happening, she’d tossed me to the platform. She planted her foot on my wrist, pressing it against one of the recessed spotlights on the fountain surface.
Behind her, Torrance hauled Four into the helicopter.
The agent scanned her surroundings with narrow, nervous eyes. Probably checking for trolls.
“See?” I said. “There’s no trolls, there’s nothing. I’m not Alph—”
Her foot moved from my wrist to my torso. She brought down her heel into my stomach. Pain lanced through my gut. I rolled to my side. Doubled over. I sucked in sharp, shallow gasps.
“No!” Torrance called from the helicopter. Her voice caught. “Don’t hurt her!”
“Stay down,” the agent hissed. “If you try anything else—if that damn dragon even comes near us—the girl dies.”
Her footsteps faded. There was a thump. Voices. A fierce gust of wind yanked at my hair. A swoop-swoop-swoop sound filled the air, louder by the second.
“Don’t . . . Don’t go.” I mumbled the words. Pain fogged up my mind so bad I realized only belatedly I should’ve yelled. Not that it’d have made any difference.
By the time I managed to sit shakily upright, the helicopter was a few feet from the ground and rising fast. My hair whipped around my face, stinging my skin. The wind from the rotors rushed into me so aggressively I could barely keep my eyes open.
I’d lost.
The thought came as a second kick to the gut. I imagined Four inside the helicopter as an unmoving heap, that agent shoving her out, her body limp as it fell . . . The images played on repeat in my mind.
Even if I died—even if the rift closed—
I’d still have lost Four.
I’d still have lost.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Voices called my name.
A shadow glided over the courtyard. Those movements . . .
“Neven?” I said, dumbfounded. Glistening scales. The beating of wings. Two ghostlike girls clutched her back like their lives depended on it.
Neven had to be that dark flash I’d seen in the sky. I’d thought it was something from the rift. Why would Neven come here, why would she bring the others, how had she even found them—?
A dozen feet away, Neven’s heavy body thumped onto one of the planters flanking the fountain.
“Prime!” Rainbow slid off Neven’s back and came running. She peered up mid-run. The helicopter was passing over the building behind the courtyard. “What happened? What’s with the helicopter?” Rainbow had to speak loudly to be heard over the sound of the rotors. “Wait, is this Commerce Square? I barely recognized it—What’s that light—?”
“Are you OK?” Red sounded worried. “Where are the others?”
“They have Four.” I watched the helicopter disappear behind the skyscraper. Tears pressed at my eyes. “She’s in there. They’re going to—They’re—”
Rainbow helped drag me upright. Pain shot through my torso. She looked over her shoulder at Neven. “We have to go get her.”
“No!” I blurted out. The agent had warned me about taking Neven up to the helicopter.
What was the alternative? Letting Four fall?
Rainbow was right. God help me, I needed to take the risk. I shook my head, fighting off the tears. “I’ll go.” I gestured. “Alpha is two blocks that way. Near a restaurant. Facet is around somewhere, too.”
I picked up my knife and sprinted toward Neven. With every movement, pain radiated from where the agent had kicked me. By the time I reached Neven, I was limping more than running.
“You’re here.” I panted. “We—we have to—”
She was already crouching, flattening the plants below her. “That helicopter, yes?”
My belly ached. My legs were exhausted. My socks slid off Neven’s scales twice as I climbed onto her back; it took her tail acting as support before I managed. She instantly stood. “But stay at a distance,” I called at her. “They’ll kill Four
