In Vendetta House (The Vendetta Series #1)

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

I almost stop flying for a moment in surprise. Fortunately, I regain my momentum and dart over, hovering above the flames licking the protruding towers.

Bethany is slowly sinking back into the House, as if being pulled away the more she lingers. She is trying to mouth something furiously.

"I don't understand!" I shout back desperately.

Only her head is visible now, engulfed by fire. She can't feel it, but the heat and smoke is getting to me the longer I stay.

She mouths it carefully, but I cannot distinguish the complicated syllables she is forming. Desperately, she raises a translucent hand, and started writing in the air, fast. I can't make out what she is trying to write, but thankfully, that isn't what she is doing. She is manipulating the flames I made. They swirl and bend to spell out words for a flash of a second, but I catch it.

Manhattan. New York City.

I look at her, having understood but still confused. She taps her head, then is pulled under, disappearing.

Confused, I dart back from the flames, watching it soak into the inside and cause smoke to puff out the windows in huge clouds. Why did Sasha's sister use so much effort to surface out a ceiling only to tell me a place in a city?

I stumble onto the ground, my feet hitting the grass with a solid thump. Sasha has already returned, admiring her handiwork.

"Good enough," I cough. "Let's go."

"What took you so long?" she asks as we race towards the front gate.

"Your sister showed up."

Sasha skids to a stop. "What?"

I grab her arm to keep moving. "Bethany. She couldn't seem to leave West Wing completely, but she stuck her torso out enough to make the flames say something: Manhattan, New York City. Do you know what she might of meant?"

Sasha shakes her head. "No idea. I've never even been to America, never mind New York City."

Before I can reply, a huge shock wave echoes throughout the large yard, traveling fast from the House to the fence and back.

"How many of those annoying shockwaves is she going to emit?" I mutter, reaching for Sasha. I grip her and fly, racing to the others and arriving within seconds. Eric is sprawled on the floor from the shockwave.

"Just leave me here on the wet grass to die!" he groans. "Ow!"

Jesse sighs and tugs on Eric's shoulder. "Stop being so dramatic. Get up."

I turn towards the House. The entire back section, where West Wing juts out is engulfed in complete red glory, lighting our path much better than the moon.

"I feel like this is a trick of some sort," I say. "Escaping can't be that easy. If all we had to do was make a racket, others would have escaped years ago."

"Maybe they just had nowhere to go," Jesse says. "Where are we going by the way?"

"Anywhere but here. To warn the people necessary that Aunt Nelly is threatening war. The least we need is World War Three between Cambions and Nephilum."

"Do you think the official Cambion council will support Dr. White or go against her?"

I suck in a breath between my teeth. "I don't know. Siding against her will mean certain death. Siding with will bring attention and attack from Nephilum."

"Hey!" Courtney interrupts. "Can we discuss this later? Maybe when we're not out in the open?"

"We don't know if there's going to be another shock wave," I say. "If another comes, we could be knocked unconscious."