𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃//𝐊𝐚𝐳 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫

𝐕𝐈𝐈.

CHAPTER 7

The Crows Reunited

     Brynn could feel the chaos around her resonating deep in her bones, the screams in her ears as if they were right next to her. She wished she could help, but Kaz kept them moving down West Stave, away from the crowds and the noise.

Her thoughts were running through her mind far faster than she would have liked, her senses heightened to the highest degree. And it was because of those heightened senses that she sensed someone behind them before Kaz did.

Whirling around, Brynn saw a Shu woman with bronze skin standing in the dark alleyway, eyes set on Brynn, dark hair pulled back. She narrowed her eyes at Brynn, stepping forward.

Brynn reached her mind forward, as she had done with Van Eck and his men not too long ago, to control the woman's mind. But where there should have been thoughts and pictures from an active brain, there was nothing to grab onto, nothing to control.

The Shu woman surged toward Brynn at an inhuman speed, hand reaching for her neck. Brynn was too slow to stop her, and fingers curled around Brynn's neck with strength that was almost too incomprehensive. But whoever this woman was, whatever she'd done to enhance herself, Brynn had a few tricks up her sleeve, too.

A flare of fire appeared in Brynn's hands that were wrapped around the Shu's wrist. The woman's eyes blazed, but she didn't cry out of pain. Soon enough, thought Brynn.

Brynn reached out her hand, grabbing onto the woman's hair, fire still in her hands. Her hair singed and burned off, then Brynn grabbed onto the Shu's head, fire burning brighter than before.

Somehow, the woman still didn't feel the pain like she should have. The fire in her eyes died out slowly, her grip on Brynn's throat loosening. Brynn was almost sad to kill this woman who might have once been like her. She sent a small prayer up to whoever might have been listening, to help this woman find peace in whatever life was after this one.

Brynn stood up and turned around again. Kaz stood, watching her with interest. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he dismissed, turning his back to her to continue on. "Let's go."

She followed Kaz, ditching their Mister Crimson capes and masks in a heap behind a run-down little brothel called the Velvet Room, where Kaz had stashed another change of clothes for them. The bulky coat and roughspun trousers of a dockworker wasn't Brynn's ideal outfit, but if that was what it took to get back to her friends, she'd do it.

They made their way into the warehouse district, disguised in their dockworker costumes. To anyone else, they looked like two boys looking for work or going to their shift.

The high of parem hadn't worn off yet. She could feel Kaz's mind, his thoughts orderly and determined. Brynn kept out of his brain, though. That was a whole different kind of privacy invasion that she wouldn't dare cross.