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.The sting tore through me.My vision scattered and blurred.But then the pain disappeared.The roof stopped spinning.Within seconds, I couldn’t feel a thing.Voss paced in an angry circle a few feet away.“Why?” I called out.“Why do you hate us so intensely?”Voss clenched his fingers to his head like he wanted to rip his own ears off.“Don’t you get it?” he fumed.“Your father deserves to be miserable.He thinks he’s above everything, that he shouldn’t have to be punished for his crimes like the rest of us.” Voss clenched his fists.“I…am…tired of holding back.I’m tired of being patient.It’s time for restitution.I don’t care about the cost.”With raging black eyes, Voss strode across the rooftop.His hand reached behind his back and sprang forward with a gun.“Hamlin’s about to watch everything he loves disintegrate into dust…starting with you.Too bad you were so pitiful and weak.I much prefer a challenge.”I stared at the gun, voice trembling.“You really think that killing me is going to make you feel better? That it’s going to fix things somehow?”For a moment, his expression went numb.Then he moved in on me, his sick breath hot against my face.“I wish Hamlin were here to see you grovel,” he said.“But I’m still going to enjoy this.”I wondered if I should start begging for my life, but I couldn’t hold back the anger.“It won’t change anything,” I hissed.“You could kill all of us and you’d still be the same miserable, pathetic person you are now.”“Hamlin is the pathetic one,” Voss scowled back.“He wanted what was rightfully mine, and when he couldn’t have it, he turned everyone against me, turned my wife and my own son against me from the moment he was born.”“Why do you even care?” I said.“I’ve seen you with Ash.You treat him like he’s nothing but a huge disappointment, or an inconvenience.”A fire ignited Voss’s eyes.“Hamlin…Hamlin drove the wedge between us! Now my son hates me.” Voss thrust the hard tip of the gun to my forehead.My lip quivered, eyes frozen open, begging for release.Not a shred of mercy existed in his voice.“Hamlin took my son from me.Now I’m taking you from him.” Before I could make one last plea, take one last breath, Voss’s finger pulled back the trigger, and the rooftop disappeared.21.REVIVALLife gasped through me.My eyes burst open and I gulped in the air.He shot me.Voss shot me in the head.My hands fumbled around my face and hair, finding something wet.I yanked down my hand.Blood was smeared across my fingers.My hand flew back to my head and searched again for the injury, but I felt nothing, no holes or gashes in my skin, no signs of any damage at all.There wasn’t even pain.Somehow, after all that, the Water Briolette was still in my pocket, and when I pulled it out, it was glowing again.The stone was like a miracle-maker, my own personal Keeper while Rayne was locked away.It saved my mom first, and now it saved me.I was starting to feel like a cat with nine lives—dying and surviving over and over again.I was so overcome that I felt myself both tear up and release a laugh at the same time.Voss didn’t win.I braced myself against the wall as I scrambled to my feet, limbs weak and jittery.The hum from the helicopter was gone.I hoped that meant Voss was gone too.I stumbled to the edge of the rooftop, throwing glances back over my shoulder.Lights flickered up from the city below.There were other tall buildings nearby, office buildings.They almost looked familiar.Then I saw it; the unmistakable, stair-like feature of the roof on the Island Hotel.I knew exactly where I was, and it was only a fifteen minute drive from my house.I spun back around and headed for a gray door at the corner of the wall.I made it halfway there when the door burst open and a swarm of agents spilled out with guns in the air.My feet froze in place.“Secure the area,” Agent Duke commanded.As the men spread out, my father rushed in behind them.“Sadie!” he called when he saw my face.“Are you hurt? I thought I heard a gunshot through your tracker.”I closed my eyes.I hadn’t decided if I was going to tell him, or anyone else, about the Water Briolette.“No, I’m fine,” I finally said.“He took a shot, but he must have missed.I’ll probably just have a few bruises tomorrow.”Out of nowhere, my father reached out and wrapped his arms around me.“I’m so sorry.I heard everything.I’m sorry we couldn’t get here sooner.”For a second, I let the embrace wrap around me, feeling the warmth of my father’s safety, but the awkwardness of his unfamiliar touch returned, and I pulled away.“I’m okay,” I said.“But I think Voss has gone completely off the deep end.You should have seen his face.”My father stepped back rigidly.“I’m personally going to make sure he never comes near you or your mother ever again.”“Where is Mom?” I asked in alarm.“You didn’t leave her by herself, did you?”“No, of course not.I had her come with us in case this was all some kind of decoy to leave her vulnerable.I made her stay in the car with Orion.”Agent Duke reappeared from around the corner.“Voss isn’t here,” he said to my father.“He must have taken off with the helicopter.”“That’s what I figured,” my father said.“Get on the radio and make sure our team in L.A.is ready to take over.”Before Agent Duke turned away, I said, “Hey, didn’t I just see you get shot in my bedroom a few minutes ago?”Agent Duke’s face hinted at a smile.“We brought Healing Water.”My father placed his palm on my shoulder, ushering me toward the door.“Come on,” he said.“We’re going to the house to grab your things, and then I’m moving you and your mother somewhere safe.”The agents filed through the door, sticking within a few feet of us all the way down to the parking lot.As soon as my mother caught a glimpse of us across the way, she sprang out from the car and ran toward us [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]