The Pyramid Chronicles: Fortuna Guard (#2) [MOVING JUNE 30]

Chapter Forty-One: Light it Up

They didn't make it far. Soldiers poured out of the darkness ahead and surrounded them, trapping them in the clearing.

Right next to the building.

Which would explode any minute now.

Scorpion's altered moved forward to fight. Not all of them, Veronica noted. A few hung back. And as she lifted her gaze, she spotted Ash standing at the edge of the tree line.

Worse than the altered were the unrelenting soldiers. The others fought hard to keep them from firing their weapons, but Veronica was too exhausted to build another gravity field.

Summer appeared at her right. Lifted her bat. Lowered it. Her shoulders sagged with her heavy sigh.

Momentarily forgetting her own fatigue, Veronica rested a hand on Summer's shoulder. "Summer? You okay?"

Summer hung her head. "I'm so tired," she muttered. "I was trying to keep the Fortuna Guard together."

"You did amazing," Veronica told her. "You're a great leader."

"Leader?"

"Yeah."

Summer looked up. "There's a lot of soldiers. And we're all tired. If I had a power source, I'd fry them all, but..." Another sigh.

Lightning flashed again, drawing Veronica's gaze up to the sky. "Hey. Summer. I think I found your power source."

It might've been a bad idea. A dangerous one. But if anyone could do it, it was Summer.

A grin spread across Summer's face. "Veronica, you're a genius."

Veronica couldn't help but smile back. "Just be careful."

"Always am. Cover me?"

"You bet." With renewed strength, Veronica latched onto the nearest soldiers and pulled them to the ground, freeing a few altered to focus on other fights.

Summer reached up to the hand Veronica had on her shoulder, gave it a quick squeeze, and stepped away from the group.

Eric glanced their way as he sent a fireball sailing into the trees. It was unclear what he'd been aiming at. "What's Summer doing?" he asked.

Summer stepped away from the scattered battles. Most of the attention moved her way, but Veronica formed a circle of high gravity around her, preventing any attacks from hitting. While Summer firmly planted her feet against the ground, fireballs crashed to the grass around her and fizzled out. Bullets struck the ground. Her gaze lifted the sky.

The clouds above lit up. Static electricity lifted stray pieces of Summer's hair.

Lightning reached down from the clouds, and she took all of it.

Veronica lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding flash. When the light faded, Summer's veins were left glowing. She lifted her hands and took aim.

Electricity leapt from her fingers, lighting up the night. Every strike on a soldier sent a deafening crack through the air. One by one, the soldiers dropped.

Scorpion's altered stared on as the bulk of their army went down. A few slowly backed toward the trees.

Summer lowered her hands and turned toward Veronica. Veronica's breath caught in her throat.

A screech came from the building. Followed by the shattering of glass as a fourth floor window blew out. Shards rained down on the earth, joining Apex in its descent to the ground. It landed on its six legs without giving any indication of pain.

In the blink of an eye, it lunged at Eric. He yelped and dove out of the way. Veronica tried to pin the Apex down, but it was too fast, slipping out of her gravity field just before she could get control of it.

"Eric!" Summer exclaimed as Eric hit the ground. She lifted a hand. Lightning shot from her to him.

Eric reached out a hand to take in the electricity. His other hand aimed at the Apex's chest as it pounced again. Sparks jumped from Eric's palm. The space between them exploded with light.

The Apex collapsed to the ground, completely limp, electricity dancing across its skin.

A long moment of silence followed.

Veronica broke the stillness with a tentative step toward Summer. "You okay?" she asked.

"I'm great." Summer's response was bursting with energy. She glanced down at her arms and noticed the faint glow she was giving off. "Ow. Wow." Her eyes met Veronica's. "I must look kind of weird."

"Honestly, you look really cool," Veronica blurted.

Summer grinned.

"We need to go," Eric said, already back on his feet. "The bomb could go off any second."

"We should take the Apex's body," Sam said. "Maybe we can figure out where it came from."

Veronica nodded, the biologist in her already wondering what they'd find under its skin. "Let's grab it."

It took four other altered helping them, but she and Sam picked the Apex's body up off the ground and carried it toward the trees at a reasonable pace. Veronica did her best to lighten the load, but she was too tired to do much. Sam was clearly in the same boat.

Somewhere behind them, an engine roared. Veronica glanced back to see a jetchopper drop down and pick up the remaining Altered. Ash was the last to climb in before it moved back up.

As the chopper lifted to the edge of the light provided by the roof of Scorpion's headquarters, the ground trembled. There was a rumble, louder than the thunder that shook the sky, and the explosion ripped through the building.