𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧

Forty

Even through Liana was exhausted, she ran faster then she ever had before. Her blood pounded in her ears, and her legs trembled as the scenery shot by, blurring together. She only focused on the path ahead of her, knowing she had to get to Jerik. Liana considered teleporting, but the jump had made her nauseous, and she decided against it. Taylor panted a few steps behind her, clutching his bandaged stomach, and Liana's shoulder throbbed as she remembered the bullet wound. With the last ounce of her strength she boosted his steps, trying as much as possible to help him,

The treeline zipped past her as she bounded into the camp, covered in dirt, blood, grass, and sweat, her face a mess of redness and fatigue. Taylor turned and gagged, trying to hold in his stomach. A couple people who were walking around the camp froze as they saw Liana and Taylor, buckle into the lawn, flinching as they spotted both red and blue blood covering her face.

She only had to croak once word for them to take off. "Jerik."

Taylor crumpled somewhere behind her, coughing and groaning, and Liana struggled to stand as spots danced in her vision. Her knees crumpled, and she staggered across the lawn, hoping the Outcasts had found him. Between using her power and running from Blackhawk Bay to the camp, she felt drained.

With a start, Liana remembered that she was supposed to solidify the acid fog into a solid so they could drop- bomb it on the SEAM or Blessed Lands, but now...

"Liana!"

The familiar voice felt like a breath of relief as Jerik entered the clearing, running towards her. He seemed to have grown more gray hairs during the day and a half of her capture.

"Flush..." she breathed, the motion like needles in her lungs. "I don't have strength-"

"It's okay, Liana. We can go in the bunker if we have to. I already have people-"

He was cut off as someone tackled her with a hug, and she wrapped her quivering arms around Iris, trying to blink tears out of her eyes. Charlie joined in, and Travis helped Kian lift Taylor to his shaking legs.

"We were so worried! Don't ever do something like that again!" Iris said, her voice shaky. Over her shoulder, Liana could see the blurred shapes of Corey and Beth.

Charlie was more put together, releasing Liana from her tight grip instead of strangling her like Iris was trying to do. Beth wormed her way in between them, wrapping her arms around Liana's waist. "Thank you," the little girl whispered, so quiet Liana almost couldn't hear her over her own strangled breath.

"Let her breathe, Iris," Jerik commanded, running a hand through his hair. A permanent worry line had formed between his brows. "As I was saying, before you got mobbed, I already have people prepping the bunker. No one's used it in years, though, and we'll probably go crazy cooped up in there for days, but..." his gaze swept over her battered, bloody body. "I'm so sorry, Liana."

She swallowed, her legs giving out as Iris and Charlie tried to help her up. "I saw Blackthorne. Demitri. Allie."

The name brought a shudder to everyone, especially Charlie, who glared at her feet. "Did they... try anything?" she chose her words carefully, picking them off the dirty ground.

"Blackthorne tried to use mind control," Liana rasped in between gasps of air, her hand hovering over the nape of her neck, where the syringe had been injected. "He tried to make me... slit everyone's throat on this island in order to save Taylor from my own power."

Taylor's eyes brimmed with rare tears, and he turned away, red- faced. "He took control of her power and her limbs, but not all of it. She stabbed his neck before he could do anything to me."

"You knew," Liana murmured, remembering his ability as a Foreseer. "You knew I wouldn't risk your life."

Her chest swelled as he nodded. "I knew. I'm sorry I made you kill him."

Liana sighed as she tightened her grip around the girls. "I'm not."