Raven's Will

Chapter 49: Raven is back

Jett couldn't breathe. It was like fear itself had closed its long, cold fingers around his throat and squeezed with all its strength. He stared at the lone Kairg flyer who'd just landed on the roof before them.

The flyer was like a viper wound up, fangs bared and ready to strike. His coal-black eyes burned with a cold fury.

"I said," the words came forth in a hiss, "I came for what is mine."

Those terrible eyes focused with unerring accuracy upon Jett, who shuddered.

He knew this flyer, this man, this monster. Even though his mind was as shattered as this city, some part of him recognized that face on the spot.

It had the same unruly black hair and the same tormented eyes and the same freaking nose; it was wrong. That wasn't supposed to be the face of a monster, because-

Wasn't it?

It was the same face as Jett's, but just older.

The same. Just like when he peered through the holes of the silver mask and saw the face rippling on the surface of the water. He'd seen those cold, burning eyes of a murderer then, too.

The same.

Where did the mask go?

It hurt, like cracks splintering in his mind. Seb had helped him accept and acknowledge the shadows in his head, but those shadows only masked twisted ruins that lay beneath. Sometimes, Jett wondered how those ruins got there, and other times, he wondered if he'd always had been this broken, ever since the day his mother passed and left him all alone.

But that didn't fit quite right.

A low groan ripped free, and Jett clutched at his head. Nothing fit right in his head anymore.

Someone's hand curled around his arm, just below the pauldron of his armor. It gripped tight, steadying him.

"It's all right," came a low voice. It washed over Jett in soothing waves, disintegrating some of the panic.

Jett looked up at Raven, who tilted his hooded face towards him. From this angle, Jett could see Raven's shadowed features. The mouth was smiling, but the eyes were hard purple diamonds.

"Remember what I said?" Raven asked. "Just think of that guy as a big old Fartface."

He did not bother lowering his voice, ensuring that everyone on the rooftop heard him. A muffled snort came from Gray. The gray-suited flyer currently stood between Jett and the menacing 'Fartface'.

Three of us, Jett thought, against a monster.

Ra'Skevvor had made his demand known twice. He wasn't going to utter it for a third time. Even though Jett was watching him closely, Ra'Skevvor vanished from one eyeblink to the next.

Gray shouted a warning.

Jett's eyes widened, and Raven was immediately in front of him, blocking off his view. He could only see the broad back of that silly coat.

"No," Raven said. "You're not touching him, Fartface."

A low growl was his answer.

"Go, Jett. Follow the plan."

How Raven sounded so calm was beyond Jett. But he wasn't going to stay around and find out. He had a role to play, and if he wanted his brother and Gray to survive this, he needed to follow it.

He whirled, and even though every part of him screamed against it, he ran for the edge of the roof.

"Stop!" The cry chased after him like a ravenous bear.