A third shot fired.
Neven shrieked.
A spasm went through her. She dropped like something had swatted her from the sky. One of my hands slipped from her neck. I lunged closer to hold on, but for a second, my arm was the only thing holding on to her, the rest of me weightless and flailing. The roof of the granite skyscraper flashed nearly a dozen feet below. A glimpse of Neven’s tail, part of the scales stripped off, the flesh beneath open and red. Splashes of blood glittered in midair.
“No! No!” Neven howled. A flap of her wings. With a heavy groan, she straightened herself. I thumped back onto her neck. She whirled and dove straight down, maybe to avoid another bullet, maybe to—
Oh.
By the time I realized what I was seeing, Four had already slammed onto the roof.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
Thump.
The sound was brief. Muted. I barely heard it over the noise of the helicopter or the chaos below.
It was still enough to turn my stomach.
Four lay facedown on the stone surface. We had to get down there. We had to—
A bullet zoomed past us. It hit the roof a couple of feet from where Four lay. Stone spat in all directions. My head snapped up. The helicopter hovered close by. The barrel of a rifle stuck out from the open door.
Everything inside me screamed to get to Four. Even if she were alive, though, that wouldn’t last if they kept shooting at her.
“Neven! You have to fly closer!”
“But—Four—” Neven’s voice hitched.
I’d never heard her panic. It only lasted a second. Then she tensed up beneath me. She shifted course, shooting toward the helicopter.
“Plan?” she asked.
“Distract,” I called back. “Then fly right underneath.”
Neven’s turns were slow and jerky. Every now and then, a shudder rippled through her. She kept her tail rigidly behind her.
She still flung herself at the helicopter without hesitation. She dragged claws over the cockpit glass and spun to dodge shots, fast as lightning.
Gratitude washed over me, twisting itself up with fear over Four and rage at that helicopter.
Ten seconds of taunting were enough to draw attention away from Four. Torrance and the agent had their hands full maneuvering the helicopter out of the way.
Good enough. I gave Neven’s neck two quick squeezes. She picked up on the signal immediately and approached the helicopter diagonally from behind, out of reach from the gunfire.
I had my knife ready. My arm stood straight upright, pointing the blade in the air. Neven brought me close enough to reach the hull. The knife tore smoothly into the metal, the handle scraping across.
I slashed, taking out misshapen chunks and cutting wide gashes. Metal rained around us.
The helicopter tilted, whirling from its path. I heard alarmed yells as they attempted to bring it back on course. They veered sharply away, downward, spinning and tilting further, struggling to reach a low rooftop a block farther down.
Neven flew out of the way in time to avoid getting caught in their descent.
I hoped the helicopter would reach the building safely.
But I wouldn’t stay to make sure.
Within moments, Neven landed on the rooftop where she’d dropped Four. I climbed off, stumbling and coming to a sliding landing by Four. She still lay facedown, unmoving. The sight of blood near her head made my heart freeze, but then I saw where it came from—her shoulder. However nasty or big that injury might be, it wouldn’t be lethal. I thought. I hoped.
I pressed a shaky hand to her neck. For an agonizing second, I felt nothing.
Then: a heartbeat.
Another beat.
Another.
She was breathing, too. I could see the faint flare of her nose, pressed against the ground.
“She’s alive,” I told Neven. “What do I do? Turn her over like Dad?”
“No. If she’s bleeding heavily, try to stanch it. Otherwise, there’s nothing you can do. She needs medical help.”
“And you? Can you fly all right?”
“‘All right’ is the correct term, yes. I will be fine.”
“Then, can you take Four out of here?” I looked up, pleading. “And the others?”
Even if I managed to close the rift, I didn’t know how long the Power would take to send the Hazels home. It could even renege on our deal entirely. If anything went wrong, I wanted a backup plan. Four needed medical help whether in her world or ours.
“I’ll get the others first,” Neven said, “then come back for Four. The less she’s jostled, the better.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
“Hazel . . .?”
“Go,” I said. I didn’t need an audience for what I was about to do. I swallowed. “Please.”
She hesitated. “You deserved better than this, you know. So much better.” Then she glided off the roof, her wings outstretched and her tail still.
I tried not to jostle Four as I scanned her for any bleeding I might’ve missed. A thick cut on her forehead. A scrape on her cheek with dirt embedded. I flicked off what I could, but didn’t dare dig around. Her arm looked oddly twisted, and I gently tried to position it in a more natural way. You were supposed to do that with broken bones, right? God, I didn’t know. I definitely didn’t know how to handle a concussion or internal bleeding. She’d dropped at least one story, maybe two—how bad was that? What were her odds?
I needed to go. I needed . . .
I brushed hair from Four’s face. She was breathing normally, rhythmically. “Guess what?” I whispered. “I finally cut up a helicopter.”
No response.
I swallowed. “You’re going home. All right? You’ll see Mom and Dad and Caro again. You’ll be OK.”
As long as I did what I needed to do.
I tore myself away from her side. My movements were mechanical. Step by step, I approached the edge of the roof. I peered down over the narrow ledge.
Directly below me, the rift filled half the street. I could no longer keep track of what went in and out or what was spiraling endlessly, restlessly in its
