Of Ashes & Ruin (The Invisible Circus Book 3) by Lindsey Bakken

Author:Lindsey Bakken [Bakken, Lindsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Xavier

This is not a drill. Please report to your stations and await further instructions.

Davidson leads me down the hall, straight-faced. If he knows what this is about, he doesn’t show it. If he’s as frenzied as the others, he doesn’t let on. As we walk, I can feel the tension in the air like a physical weight.

Quinn and Kane race past us, heading in the same direction. The direction of my room.

The weight drops, hitting me straight in the gut.

They found Devin.

Of course they did. Did I think it’d work to hide him in my room like a pet fish?

Davidson follows the buzz around us, and it accumulates at my door—just like I knew it would. A mess of brown hair on the floor confirms it. They have his hands tied behind his back. He cranes his neck up when I enter the room and he says, “Hey, man.”

We’re screwed.

He’s not getting out of here.

None of us are.

Unless I can still get him to that room. Then he can teleport.

I shove away from Davidson. He’s too slow to react, and I’m at Devin’s side in seconds, lifting him to his feet.

A guard tries to push me away from Devin, but I punch him before he can make his move.

He spirals back, stunned from shock, and his rising shirt reveals his weapon. I reach for the taser while helping Devin stay steady. I’m glad that I explained the route to that exam room already. When I say, “Go. I’ll buy you time,” I know he knows the place.

I taze the guard closest to me and sprint after Devin to defend him against anyone who tries to stop him. It’s a desperate race. Taking the corners at full speed, a fragile blossom of hope blooms.

We could make it.

We could get him out of here.

Around the next bend, I run face-first into Prescott. He looks genuinely disappointed as he scans me, stopping at the taser in my hand. A weird twinge courses through me.

My mind goes blank and my body runs on instinct. I push forward, my heart drumming.

Prescott moves to block my way, which isn’t hard in the narrow hallway, and I hear guards coming from behind me.

I stare him down.

Will he stop me? Will he fight back?

The hallway narrows impossibly more as I step forward, testing the uneasy air between us. Prescott makes no move, but his breathing picks up. Every step feels like an eternity and every second brings me closer to the showdown I feel looming.

I told myself fighting was futile. Not to do it unless absolutely necessary. But I’ve been working out in my cell, and I’m ready to do what needs to be done.

A commotion breaks the tension. Kane runs into the hall, “Which way?”

Prescott points behind him, in the direction Devin went, and Kane rushes past both of us. Prescott raises a brow at me, challenging and cold.

I swallow my fear, push it down, and lock it away. I can’t let him see how much it means to me that Devin gets out.

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