The Radiants Chronicons : Vol. I & II Of The Radiants Duology Series

Defiant (Vol. II) - Chapter Forty Two

Chapter 42
While others were huddling around to empty up the rooms. My job was as straight forward as it got. A facial recognition was all it took for Kel and I to enter the main control room.

I growled. "I'm going to try to deactivate the alarm system, while you should use that fancy key card of yours, to release the guarded Radiants as we planned. Got it."

"I already know what we're going to do. I was there when Levi laid out the plan." Kel repeated with a sigh. "I'm not going to betray you."

I ignored her, of course. I wasn't patient enough to listen to what story she tried to convince herself with. I'd rather worry about her truth, after the whole plan works out. She was once my friend, but now, I didn't think she could ever make up for everything.

I typed through the computer, as swiftly as I could. Pouring my gaze through the screen and trying to figure out where the damn alarm system icon was hidden. I let out a small chant, when my eyes spotted it and began to disengage it.

Kel wheezed out. "I'm done." I glanced at her screen and nodded, before talking with the walkie talkie. "Kel's done. And I'm almost do— oh shit, it's complete. Start going out now. Kel and I would be on our way out."

"Olu just finished his, seconds ago. The collars are off." Lyra's calm voice soothened me. "Nice work, Tamar. I'll get the word out."

Beaming softly at myself, my head immediately whipped to the direction of the opening of a door, where Kel had entered. I cursed. No, no, no, she was trying to betray us again. I knew I shouldn't trust her.

The door closed, before I could make my way to it. I tried to force it open, but it was sealed shut. My angry roars echoed through the room. "Open the damn door, Kel. What do you think you're doing?"

From the other side, she let out a small whisper. "I'm so sorry, Tamar."

I banged against the door. I kicked and kicked, until my legs couldn't keep up anymore. "What are you sorry for? What did you do?"

The door flipped open, and as I was ready to lunge towards her, my eyes caught something. I paused to gape at Kel, who had unshed tears stinging her tangerine eyes. "Why is there a timer on? Kel."

She sniffed. "You guys have three and half minutes to leave this place, until it explodes. I'd advice you to start leaving."

"What are you going on about?  What did you do?"

Kel glanced her eyes to the timer. "Proving my worth."

It was until then it dawned in me. She wanted the building gone not caring what it did to her. "It'll kill you."

She shrugged. "I can't let them do this to another one of my kind."

"They'll build another one." Her silence made me angry. "Was this your plan all along when you came? Do you want to die that badly."

Kel's lips tightened. "You should go. You already have less than three minutes left."

I begged. "Don't do this, Kel. It's not worth it. There are other ways—"

"My mom hurts and kills my kind. I want her to feel pain and I don't care what it does to me. She knows this shit is illegal, so she set up a fall guy, whose job is to kill himself, if the illegal things they did came out. The fall guy is set to collapse this place from them getting caught. When the timer ends, the fall guy has to press a button, that would blow up the place from the inside out. I want to collapse this place because it costs them billions to make and It would take years to recreate." She glanced at the timer. "You have a minute and 46 secs left."

A sob choked in my throat. "This isn't worth it."

"Take care of Juan for me." Her tone was emotionless, but I could see the raw pain in her eyes. "Take care of the Clandestine. It needs you."

I gave her one last glance, and turned to my heels. Screaming at the top of my voice, I said. "Everyone, get the hell out."

There were already less than ten people in here, but I wasn't ready to lose anyone else. Levi's eyebrow raised. "What going on?"

"This place is blowing up in less than a minute." That immediately jolted a response from everyone as we raced out of the building.

Levi looked between the faces of everyone, before landing his gaze on me. "Where's —"

In that moment, the explosive sounds pushed us to the floor. Smokes and soots roared out of the impending fire and the bomb lit through the building, crashing it all down. The deafening sounds yelped through my ears, and we scurried to safety.

Tears trailed down my cheeks and Laurena gave a look. "What's wrong?"

Levi's eyes narrowed. "Where's Kel?"

My voice turned soft. "She made up for everything."

Lyra took my arm and hugged me softly. "I'm sorry about Kel."

Juan stiffened. "What happened to Kel?"

Lyra sent me a glance, before falling her gaze to the floor.

My voice came out quietly. "She was in the explosion. She sacrificed herself so no one else would ever be locked up that building."

His gaze flew to Lyra. "Is she dead?"

Lyra's eyes drooped. "You know my gift doesn't work that way."

I quickly said. "She wanted us to leave. The police would soon be here. We can't be caught around here. This was what she wanted."

Juan's eyes widened. The poor guy looked like he was wanted to cry. "And you left her in there."

"I had no choice. She made her choice."

Juan scoffed furiously. "You should have stopped her."

Levi frowned at him. "You can't blame Tamar for this. Kel must have made up her mind."

Juan growled. "I'm not going to listen to this."
He threw himself into the van and slammed it shut.

Levi sighed. "We don't have time to angry. We are indebted to Kel, but Tamar's right. The alarm triggered the police and they'll be here in minutes. We need to get to the vans.  It's time to go home."

Oge scoffed. "What home? The Clandestine is ruined. "

Levi shook his head. "We're going to Radiants Island." I sighed to myself and turned my gaze to the rubbles of what was once the powerful and mighty refinement facility. The sun's orange hues began to rise slowly behind us, as we entered the van, awaiting what the future had ahead of us.

THE END

★★★
That's it, folks.
This marks the end of the final book of the duology.  I had been battling how I wanted it to end, but its bittersweet ending held the amount of emotions I wanted. Though, I'm still feeling stuck about whether I should end this series on this book or try out writing the third book, considering the many loose ends that needs to be tied. I would, however, take a short break to figure how I want this last book to go.
So, thank you for reading thus far.
Xoxo
Jasmine