Pushing up from the ground, I decide the monster wants to play. Apparently my dream has me ready to fight back, and I’m more than ready. I try to shift, but I can’t, and I remember the collar isn’t on me. Even now they’re controlling what I can and can’t do, and that shouldn’t be allowed in my mind.
But this can’t be real.
“You’re awake!” Dad gasps when his eyes dart to mine. He jerks me to him, hugging me so tight that it feels so real, and the confusion only grows as I hug him back, ignoring the rattle of the chains that protest the movement.
Glancing down, I see the stone bits still attached, and I curse my escape world. I can’t use magic in these shackles.
“Well, those dumbasses! They’re not blocking the power of an incubus!” Dice exclaims, reading my cuffs before suddenly jerking one off. “That’ll fucking teach them to forget about me. I’m the motherfucking little engine that could. Hashtag—incubuses rock.”
Now I know this isn’t reality, even though Dice does a good job at staying true to his agenda of being weird. Dice is my hero and Dad is wearing rodeo attire—complete with cowboy boots and the tightest jeans I’ve ever seen.
My head is so fucked up.
But at least this dream allows me to fight.
The other cuff breaks off, and I grab both chains, ready to have some fun as I turn the corner. It’s my fight. It’s my mind. It’s my mind fighting back, to be more specific.
So why the hell is Ella here and looking like a crazed madman on the loose? She’s fighting the horde of dark users and the Gemini, and he’s fending off her attacks while managing to keep the swarm off him.
Her dark laughter grows louder as the walls around us quake, and I hear Slade curse from here like he’s struggling.
A blast of power is knocked away by my barrier, and I look down just in time to see Thad trying his best to get up, his eyes on the fight and not on me. My lips curl into a smile as the fury bubbles up inside me.
The monster is finally here.
Dad joins my side with a sword just as Dice shakes me, forcing me to look into his eyes. “They could probably use you going a little crazy right about now. And I don’t mean in the talk-to-yourself kind of way.”
The top of the prison is torn away suddenly, and blinding light blares down on us as Ella’s power rumbles free from her. With a wave of my hand, I toss aside several of the unsuspecting dark users, bashing their skulls into each other as I walk through death alley.
Thad manages to get up, and his wide eyes meet mine as screams emerge around, terror rising and feeding the darkness that surrounds our souls. The fight doesn’t matter anymore, because I’ve found him.
“Get her out of here!” the incubus yells to someone, but I’m too busy staring into the honey-colored eyes.
“Be prepared to run!” I hear Slade yell back.
Grabbing Thad by the back of the neck, I pull him down to me, enjoying the way he immediately grips my sides and kisses me back with the same abandon as all hell breaks loose around us.
Even as the light dims around me and I go limp in his arms, I feel the peace wash over me despite the nightmare.
Chapter 41
THAD
“Probably not the best time for a make-out session, you fucking cliché,” Dice says while shoving a sword through the chest of a dark user just after a blast of power misses my head by inches.
Roslyn drops, but I scoop her up and cradle her to me, before glancing up to the thirty-feet between us and freedom. Reese is right. This place really is toxic to my girl.
“How good are you at jumping?” I ask the incubus as I squat, preparing to launch us up as orbs, streaks, and madness flash all around us. Something slices against my side, and I curse while staggering.
“I guess I’m about to get really fucking good,” Dice groans, and I leap, barely clearing the top, but I manage to land on my feet without dropping the unconscious girl in my arms.
Dice yelps before plummeting back down after an epic jumping fail, but Reese pops up with the incubus in his arms seconds later. Dice curses while jumping down, dusting himself off, just as Gage and Kimber leap out.
“Hope your mojo works at full potential now,” Dice tells Kimber a
s she struggles to open a portal.
Something explodes from behind us, and my heart sinks to my toes as Kimber screams for Ella. Gage grabs her before she can rush back, as smoke and flames race toward the sky.