Hailey cruised over London, shielding her eyes from the sunset while a stream of pings bounced through her phone. Her other hand clutched a handful of gemstones—a variety pack, with all the colors of the rainbow that she could pick up from the Laushire estate. Thomas and Mary had let her take everything they had, down to their favorite jewelry. Really nice people, at the end of the day… Kendra was never that nice a teacher. A good teacher, but man, she was strict. I had to get so much help from Jessic—

  She dropped a few feet in midair as her eyes clouded over. Hailey shook her head, hair flying wildly in the rushing wind as she straightened herself out with a few hard flaps of her wings. She wouldn't let anything hold her back. She wouldn't stop until he was brought to justice.

  Her phone pinged again. Hailey glanced down—and there it was, finally. Not another message from Josh, Nikki, Rupert, Weston, or any of the other innumerable friends desperately trying to get in touch with her. It was from Lani, and it had an address attached, with coordinates—an estate outside London. Lani had included a note, presumably from Rook, that the place was likely heavily guarded and well-armed.

  Yeah, but can they beat magic?

  Hailey clipped her phone back on her belt and shifted her wings, tilting around to the north. A tip forward and she shot into a steady dive, gaining speed fast as she glided above the streets of London. Sirens pursued her—a small cavalry of flashing blue lights trailing her from below. I don't want them to get hurt…

  She climbed back up into the sky with a hard bank to the left, flapping hard to gain enough altitude to dip into the low cloud layer. A shield of swirling wind in front of her caught most of the water before it struck her, but she still felt a mist on her face as she burst through the first few clouds. Still, as Hailey looked down again, the police seemed to have scattered in the entirely wrong direction.

  Hailey turned back to the north again, straight on target for Malton's estate, where she'd do… what, exactly? What am I gonna do when I get there? If he's got tons of armed guards, can I take that on? I can pull their guns, but… what if I get shot? Even Omega couldn't just block bullets...

  ...except he could.

  Hailey suddenly remembered a conversation between Josh and Nikki, from the funeral three days earlier. They'd been discussing defensive options for dealing with firearms, particularly from a range where telekinesis and other similar spells were of no use. Magnetics could be used to pull bullets off course, but Hailey couldn't that due to her diffinity for Nature magic. She couldn't hope to melt the bullets in mid-air either—with some math and the internet, Josh landed the required temperature well above the surface of the sun for the period of time between a bullet firing and hitting its target.

  She was stuck with two options: either try to push the bullets aside with the strongest wind she could muster, or make herself so solid, so dense that she could just brush away the impacts like nothing, just like Omega's golems and—presumably—himself.

  Hailey went for both.

  She couldn't make herself invisible, and there wasn't really a way to sneak into the place anyway, so she didn't bother trying. She needed Malton, and he was right there. His mansion had wide, tall windows—exactly the sort of modern, fully exposed aesthetic she might have expected from a high-power CEO with absurd piles of cash available to him. Malton stood in the wide living room that overlooked the rolling hills out to the north, a phone to his ear. He was no doubt hearing about Rook's betrayal already. Hailey didn't have a second to waste.

  She dove.

  Armed guards were posted on the corners of the roofs. They were quick, spotting Hailey flying out of the cloud layer in mere moments. Man, Alden, I wish you'd figured out how to explain lightning to me… Hailey grabbed at her favorite tourmaline stone, the very same one with which she'd first discovered gemstone power—when Jess helped me figure out how to double jump, and then how to fly…

  With a shout of exertion which echoed through the hills, Hailey summoned the fiercest wind she'd ever created in her life. A sound like metal tearing apart shrieked across the whole Malton estate, deafeningly loud. Half of his guards doubled over, clutching their ears and ducking for cover. Hailey hadn't expected that, but she wasn't about to waste the opening.

  Except… she didn't have a choice. Gunshots rang out. Malton's men had opened fire.

  Here we go.

  Hailey diverted the wind just slightly, though she didn't let up on the relentless assault. Malton's soldiers propped themselves against vents, pipes, walls—anything they could to stabilize themselves. One hapless man tumbled off the roof in the hurricane preceding her dive, thrown away by the wind and falling out of sight.

  Bullets shrieked past. Most were off-target, and the few that came close were pushed just aside by the split gale of sheer wind Hailey threw at them. If anyone gets a really straight shot, though…

  She grabbed at another gem in her hand, a malachite, while Malton's house rushed up to meet her. Oh god, this is gonna hurt.

  The gem evaporated between her fingers as Hailey forced energy into her jacket, altering its structure just enough—thickening the leather, layering it tighter and pushing it together to form a solid mass in front of her chest. The increased weight buckled her flight, and Hailey had to flap twice as hard to maintain the altitude of her dive or crash head-first into the walls of the mansion.

  She was only a couple hundred feet away when it happened. One of Malton's men finally got a straight shot—just before she was in range to take their guns.

  It felt like somebody had taken a hammer and chisel directly to her chest and slammed it in as hard as they could. Hailey's entire body flung backward, and she dropped twenty feet from the sky in an instant before her wings took hold and found the air again.

  She was dazed and her vision blurry, but as Hailey looked down, there wasn't a hole to be found. The makeshift bulletproof vest she'd turned her jacket into had held—just barely. There was a huge dent in the fake leather, and Hailey didn't doubt for a second that she'd have a wicked bruise—maybe a broken rib or two, with how much it suddenly hurt to breathe—but she was alive.

  Jessica got shot, more than once, by these people. She didn't have anything to protect her.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Coughing, with blood filling her mouth from the chunk of her tongue she'd accidentally bitten off, Hailey swung in close to the roof. She was half-blind from pain, and working purely on instinct and the senses magic had given her. Malton's men looked scared, but they were aiming for her. She had to do something.

  Hailey shouted. It wasn't anything specific. A pure expression of rage, of pain, of hatred. She wanted to hurt these people for what they'd done—and she could.

  Her tourmaline stone cracked, its face turning to pitch as Hailey's hurricane winds doubled over in force. The nearest of Malton's men didn't simply stumble and fall—they were hurled from the wide flat roof of the mansion. As Hailey landed on the surface, the others were blown away, unable to aim a weapon in her direction, or even look her way.

  Hailey held out a hand and pulled. The guns flew to her, landing in a neat pile on the stone roof. She sent a burst of magic into her hand, strengthening it just as she had in the chamber with Rook, and punched straight down. The stack of pistols and rifles twisted underneath her, crushed into a useless heap, and the ceiling went along with it.

  A huge piece of the roof collapsed inward. Hailey fell through, but her wings kept her straight and aloft with ease. The twisted pile of destroyed weapons landed amid the cloud of dust and debris on the handsome wooden landing just beneath. A few of the house staff that had been cowering in the hallway scrambled away from the sudden hole she'd created.

  Another guard—one clearly less well-trained than the professionals on the roof—raised a quivering pistol. He was shaking so much, Hailey doubted he could hit her even without the gale of wind that had begun to swirl into the hall along with her. She shook her head, and with another quick pull, grabbed the pistol from his grip before he could do anything.

  Time to use that huge voice I bothered learning. Hailey switched out the stone in her hand for a simple agate. It wasn't really the right gem, but she had no idea what was best for making her voice twenty times louder than usual, so she made do. The little grey-brown stone cracked and shattered in her palm as she lifted her voice, punching the air over her vocal cords to a deafening degree.

  Hailey's throat shuddered and her ribs ached with pain as her voice echoed through the whole building, like a massive loudspeaker was pointed at the structure from every direction.

  "Everybody who isn't Cornelius Malton, get out of here. Right now."

----------------------------------------

  Jeremy tossed his phone back into his pocket as their car swung around the next curve. Makoto was keeping the thing under much better control. Apparently, he'd taken pointers from a few driving experts online during the flight from Tacoma, and was doing far better as a chase driver—even if he still managed to end up on the wrong side of the road every few turns.

  "Left side, dammit!" Jeremy shouted as they careened through the empty streets. A police escort a few blocks ahead was clearing up roads as fast as they could, but Jeremy didn't want to find out how bad their luck could get if Makoto took them down the wrong road. "Doesn't Japan drive on the left?"

  "I've only been there twice," Makoto shot back, actually annoyed for once.

  Cinza spoke up from the back seat, looking winded. "Have we confirmed it?"

  "Yeah," said Jeremy, "she went to Malton's private estate. Motherfucker went there too. Guess he assumed we didn't know he owned the place." Jeremy frowned. "Why the fuck's he in hidin', anyway? Did he know Hailey was comin' for him?"

  "Maybe Rook warned him before we got to her," said Cinza, frowning.

  "She didn't know Hailey was comin' either!"

  "I don't know!" cried Cinza. "Does it matter? We have to stop her!"

  Jeremy nodded, forcing his temper back under control with the breathing exercises they'd drummed into him. "...Okay." He nodded. "So how the fuck do we stop her? You got anythin' in your bag of tricks?"

  "I'm too weak for strong magic," said Cinza, "and she's more powerful than all of us combined. We cannot hold her back."

  "So we just talk her down?" asked Jeremy. "Fuck-all that did."

  "I—"

  Jeremy's phone rang. He snatched it up and answered without even blinking. "Talk to me."

  Maddie, of all people, was on the other end. "Hand the phone to Cinza, right now."

  Without a second thought, Jeremy passed it over. Give me a fuckin' miracle, Maddie. Cinza took the phone, surprised. "Who is this?" she asked, a slight quiver in her echoey voice.

  The engine whined as they sped up, while Cinza listened to whatever Maddie had to say. Jeremy wished he'd just put the damn thing on speaker, but Maddie hadn't asked for that. Whatever was going on, he just had to hope his sisters back home had something good up their sleeves, because he was completely out of ideas. He just knew they had to get to Hailey, whatever it took.

  "...The situation's being broadcast live worldwide," Cinza reported. She pointed up out of the window, where they could just barely see several helicopters flying in the same direction they were driving.

  "Oh, fuck me," Jeremy muttered. The fuck kind of miracle is that, Maddie?

  "Your sister is in contact with President Stafford and… illuminated him on her contacts within the Awakened," said Cinza slowly, a growing suspicion plain on her face. Oh shit… Did Maddie just tell her about Rachel? No, no way. This is somethin' else. "She's been asked to inform us that Hailey has been issued an international warrant for her arrest and extradition back to the United States."

  "Do they got any bright fuckin' ideas on how to arrest her?" Jeremy asked, grabbing ahold of the handle above the door as Makoto took another sharp turn.

  Malton's estate was visible in the distance, up a long and winding driveway. The gate blocking the entrance had been blown off its hinges, and a small cadre of house staff and bodyguards were streaming away in every direction. Makoto had to slow down, else he'd plow through a half-dozen people fleeing in terror. Smoke and dust rose from the building in the distance, and Jeremy could just barely hear the sound of shattering glass and pops of gunfire.

  Holy shit, Hailey...

  Cinza smiled grimly. "The government has approved any action you might take to retrieve her, as a reinstated special agent of the Thaumaturgical division, and the British have granted you permission to act within their borders under official authority."

  "About fuckin' time," Jeremy growled. "Tell Maddie thanks for me."

  Cinza nodded, but her expression fell as she listened to the next few sentences. "...No," she said finally.

  "What?" asked Jeremy. Cinza held up a hand to forestall him. Makoto was weaving through people on the driveway, blaring the horn to get them to clear the narrow road.

  "I will advise her as I see fit, and I will not disown her." Cinza shook her head. "Don't play politics with my family."

  Jesus Christ! Jeremy leaned back and snatched the phone from Cinza's fingers. He only managed to catch a few words from Maddie, but it was plenty chilling.

  "...creating a negative image for everyone. It's best if she's treated as an outlier and an outcast. Make it clear that you want nothing to do with her, and you're bringing her in for public safety."

  "Fuck you, Maddie!" Jeremy snapped.

  "Jeremy?"

  "Hailey's my fucking friend too," he growled—surprising himself with the indignation in his voice. How the fuck can you think like this, Maddie? "I'm not leavin' her out for the damn wolves!"

  "Jeremy, you don't understand. The public's terrified. A lot of people just got hurt in that house. If we show support for a girl who thinks she can fly around the world and do whatever the hell she—"

  He dropped the phone, practically shoving his finger through the screen to end the call. Cinza looked up at him, and Jeremy nodded. "We're gettin' her back," he said shortly.

  Cinza nodded. "Yes."

  A huge bang. Her head pitched forward into the back of his seat, hard.

  Makoto had spun the wheel and slammed on the brakes. The car squealed in protest as it skidded across the pavement. Jeremy spun around in his seat, squinting at the house—only to see a sleek black sedan speed past them. In the driver's seat, a man with premature grey hair and a perpetual scowl, and seated next to him—

  "That was Malton," said Cinza, turning to watch the car speed off. "Makoto, follow that car."

  "But—" Makoto started, glancing up at the house.

  No fuckin' way Hailey's stayin' there when her prey just left. Jeremy's fear was proven true an instant later, as the front of the house exploded outward. A vague figure shot out through the dust, swooping over their car and chasing after Malton.

  "Follow that car," Jeremy repeated.