A Storm of Chaos (The Hunter Legacy #1)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kaya knew it wasn't possible, not in a city like Brax, but despite her animosity toward Chaos she wouldn't deny that it had never misled her, had never been wrong. Knowing that, Kaya listened. The distant sounds of the festival, even Noah's voice, faded away as she looked toward the docks where Chaos urged her to.

And she saw, one-by-one, the sunstones around the docks begin to disappear.

The streets were turning dark.

Then Chaos lurched inside her chest with such force Kaya stumbled again, almost losing her footing on the tiles. Noah moved at the same time, sweeping her up into her arms so quickly she skipped a breath – only for Chaos to steal that breath away. She realised Noah intended to leap from the roof and before she could protest, her vision flashed with blue-white light in a way Chaos had never done before.

Noah jumped and through the pain Chaos caused her she braced herself for the impact – but there was none. They were already on the ground, as if the wind itself had carried them down, and Noah carefully set Kaya back on her feet.

'What happened?' Felix demanded, appearing from the shadows.

'Reapers are here,' said Kaya as she clutched at her chest.

'That's impossible. Reapers haven't breached Brax City in decades,' Felix said, looking to Noah who watched the nearby streets.

Then it sounded; the cry of a Reaper. It was distant, but anyone within earshot would recognise it for what it was because it seemed to silence the entire city – even the festive music came to an abrupt stop.

Shock seemed to ripple through the streets around them.

And it was all because of her, Kaya was sure of it.

First Wayside, then Devenese, and now Brax City – the Reapers were coming for her, and because of it the people who had only a moment ago been enjoying the festivities would be killed.

Burned bodies flashed in front of her eyes.

Kaya tore herself from Noah, grimacing. 'I need to get back to Shield Tower,' she said, and even as the words left her lips she felt the guilt they left behind.

This is your fault, yet you won't even use Chaos to fight?

She rationalised it with the fear that Lecreux or Brocard would discover she had left her room, or the Anarchists might hear of what unfolded in the streets and realise a Hunter existed, but she knew they were lies.

She only wanted to save herself.

Coward.

'Kaya, wait!' Noah shouted, but Kaya was already running.

They had walked some distance from the heart of the festivities when they went to watch the fireworks, but Kaya headed back toward it now as she recalled the fastest way to Shield Tower. More screams lifted into the night sky behind her, screams of people as Reapers descended on them. She expected that Shields would be quick to swarm the area, but not even Shields could kill the Reapers; only she could.

Only she could.

But Kaya pushed aside that thought, and she ignored the sharp tugging on her heart that Chaos did to urge her turn back around, to face the Reapers that had breached Brax City in search of her.

It was always because of her.

Kaya's knees protested as she came to a jarring halt, her eyes widening as she saw the sunstones in the street ahead begin to disappear like snuffed candle flames. The sight of dying sunstones in a city like Brax should have shocked Kaya, should have been unbelievable because such a thing had never occurred before. But it had, and she remembered because it had happened the night her mother was killed. She remembered feeling Chaos stir but not quite understanding it or why, and her mother standing at one of their windows, the curtain pulled back, as she peered out into the street of their quiet, peaceful little town. Kaya, only eleven years old, had gone to her mother – who had been too distracted to notice her approach – and looked out the window as well, only to see the sunstones disappearing one-by-one until their street was plunged into a darkness that not even the moon could shift.