Rage of Vendetta (The Vendetta Series #2)

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

“Are you crazy?”

I glance back.

“If you’re going to follow, speed up, don’t hold me back.”

Jesse sighs as he attempts to keep up with me, exasperated. “I appreciate your company too, love.”

“Oh, don’t you sarcasm me in the middle of a battle.”

He finally manages to catch up, grabbing ahold the tail end of my shirt, but that’s only because I slowed, coming across the new mindless energy-users. Most of the other mindless are congregating towards the path towards the House. We’re somewhere out in the diagonal direction of the forest, where everything is denser and less visible.

There’s a sudden flash of yellow, and then the tree next to us comes snapping down, having been hit with energy. 

I throw my arms over Jesse instinctively, protecting him from being slashed by the debris. 

“You okay?” I breathe, pushing the tree far away with a swipe of the earth ability. 

“I’m supposed to be protecting you!”

I ignore that, pulling him to keep moving. 

“Where are the others?” I ask. A short mindless boy rushes forward, and I barely manage to hit him back with fire.

“Still defending in the heavier sections. I slipped out in the same gap you did—”

“And by the time they realized we were gone, it got too chaotic to follow,” I finish predictably.

He nods, holding back a smile.

Prickles dart up my neck, and before I know why, I grab Jesse and throw us to the floor, scraping against sharp twigs and dry leaves.

Energy bursts through where our heads would have been, hitting a tree instead and charring it black. Sparks fly off, setting small fires in the dry ground. Jesse tenses up, looking away from me. 

I jump to the worst conclusion. “Did you get hit?”

Just by the way he moves as he shifts into a crouch, I know something is off. 

“Jesse, look at me!” 

I seize his chin and force his face to turn towards me.

And his eyes are fully encased in a creepy, swallowing green. 

Oh, man.

“Cecily?” I try, scrambling to my feet. This is never going to not get weird.

“It’s still me,” Jesse assures, his voice strained. “She has control over my arms and legs though.”

“She can do that?” I exclaim.

“Either that or my legs can just move on their own now!”

A blast of energy hitting the ground right before us makes me jump. Dirt flies up, bits and pieces sticking to my face. I wipe the specks off, incensed. Aunt Nelly is getting away, and the mindless are blocking the route she went down. 

“Run.”

“What?” I screech. “There’s an impenetrable line of mindless!” 

“Run,” Jesse repeats. A low whine begins to hum around us, the same one I heard on that rooftop. “I’ll be right behind you. I hope.”

His eyes are still illuminated, wholly consumed so that not an inch of blue is left of his iris. It’s not just a faint glow anymore, but piercing light: the searing, electric green strangely reminding me of lazy chemistry classes where we burned zinc sulfide.