Broken Kingdom (Corium University Trilogy 3)

My eyes lock with Lucas’s; he hovers behind Brittney with his arms crossed over his broad chest wearing a stern expression. The wrinkles on his forehead appear even deeper than normal, and the usual frown on his lips looks grimmer than ever.

“What the hell is going on? Why do you have power?”

“We’re trying to fix it,” Lucas growls. His gaze drops to where my hand is holding Aspen, and his expression turns from grim to disapprovingly. Aspen must notice it, too, because she tries to pull away, but that just makes me hold on tighter.

Brittney is so zoned in on whatever she is doing on the computer that she doesn’t even acknowledge us.

“You shouldn’t be here. Follow the evacuation plan and continue upstairs to the castle.”

“Not until you tell us what’s going on,” Aspen says, beating me to it.

Lucas glances past us to Vito and Ren. As if he is weighing his options on whether to tell us. After a moment, he huffs. “Someone is hacking into our system and has turned off the power everywhere besides this room, which runs on a different circuit.”

“I’ve almost got him,” Brittney murmurs, never looking up at us. Her fingers keep flying over the keyboard like it’s an Olympic sport and she’s pushing to get gold. “I’m going to kick him to the curb and keep his ass locked out.”

Him. This has to be Phoenix.

“You need to go upstairs to the surface,” Lucas orders. “Let her work. There’s nothing you can do here anyway.”

“What if she can’t get him locked out?” I barely finish the sentence when Brittney lets out a loud snort, letting me know what she thinks about my doubt without words.

“Let’s go.” Aspen tugs on my hand. “She’s got this one.” I guess Aspen has more confidence in her friend than I do. Because there is no doubt or fear in her voice.

“Not a word to anyone about this,” Lucas warns. “As far as the rest of Corium knows, this is a fluke power outage. I don’t want to deal with panicked parents and students, nor do I want to do the fucking paperwork.”

“Got it.” We all agree before turning and heading back the way we came.

Since we were in the bright room for a few minutes, the hallway seems darker than before. The flashlight from Ren’s phone barely lights our way.

Vito opens the heavy metal door leading back to the staircase, and we all pile into it. It is clear the other students must have all made it to the surface, and we are the only ones left. I blame the eerie quiet surrounding us on the bad feeling brewing in my gut.

I should have known better.

15

ASPEN

The explosion rocks me to the core, and my muscles tense as I try to stay upright. Quinton’s steel-like grip around my waist is the only thing keeping me in place.

Heavy breaths escape me, and I find myself on the cliff’s edge of panic. The world spins around me, and my ears ring from the aftermath of the blast. Dust and debris fill my lungs as I force air deep into my chest, just to cough it out in a fit.

I hear nothing but the low ringing in my ear. My body is numb, and all my senses are in disarray. I don’t know where up or down is. Forget about left or right.

With a hammering heart, it takes a minute for me to open my eyes. Dust coating my lashes makes my eyelids heavy. Slowly, my body adjusts, and I get my bearings. I’m pushed against the wall, Quinton’s body pressing me to the cold surface.

“You okay?” Quinton asks, his voice a low rumble in my ear.

“Yes…” The word wheezes past my lips.

We slowly peel away from the wall, scanning the small area surrounding us. Ren and Vito are only a foot away. Quinton exchanges a silent nod with his cousin before returning his attention to me.

Luckily, we were all on this side because what used to be the stairs going up is now nothing but rubble. Shocked, I realize we’re surrounded by concrete. Both exits are blocked, leaving us stuck in a compact ten-by-ten space.

The realization hits me hard… there won’t be any way for us to continue to the surface. Vito picks up his phone from the ground and shines up and down the staircase… or what’s left of it.

“It’s still moving,” he whispers, probably more to himself because it’s very obvious that it is. The floor we’re standing on is still vibrating, and the sound of falling debris is heavy in the air.

“We can try moving it now before it settles.” Quinton takes a step away from me, motioning for me to stay. If my legs weren’t so weak from shock, I would follow him, but instead, I lean against the wall for support.