Leon sprinted to the other side, where the wall was still intact, pulling his guns as he ran. Cornelius took off toward the main house.
Alessandro turned and walked up the stairs back onto the wall. A hole gaped in the pavilion, but it was still standing. The reinforced walls resisted the blast.
The hill was a sea of flames. Someone was walking through them, like a ghost conjured from fire.
There was no pyrokinetic in Arkan’s roster.
The wildfire parted and I saw the mage’s face. Adam Pierce.
How? He was supposed to be incarcerated in an impregnable prison in Alaska. He was supposed to spend the rest of his natural life surrounded by ice and cold.
There has been an event in Alaska.
Oh my God.
Alessandro didn’t even see him. He was looking at Arkan and his grandfather.
I took his hand.
“è un uomo morto,” the Artisan said.
Franco Sagredo was a dead man.
A wall of flames surged ten feet high and rolled toward us. The temperature spiked.
“We have to move.”
He gave no indication that he heard me.
“Mom, I need a bullet,” I said into my mike.
“I’ve tried. The fire is too hot.”
How the hell was Adam generating fire hot enough to stop high caliber rounds? No pyrokinetic could . . .
He gave him the serum. Arkan gave the Osiris serum to a Prime. Holy shit.
The fire was roaring like a living creature, deafening. He would never hear me.
There was nothing we had to counter that. This was Armageddon.
A dark object arced through the sky. For a second, I thought I’d imagined it, but then my brain processed what I was seeing.
“No!”
Linus’ mech landed on top of Adam Pierce. The two men vanished in a white-hot ball of fire. The blast wave of heat smashed into us, picked me up, and threw me against the wall.
It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have.
I opened my eyes. Somehow, Alessandro had wrapped himself around me, his magic cushioning the blow.
Linus died. For real this time. Nobody could survive that.
“What was that?” Arabella demanded.
“Nothing.” My grief and fury jerked me to my feet.
The flames had vanished, and the mech was glowing red.
They killed our grandfather.
Static crackled in my ear.
“Frida,” Linus’ voice said in my helmet. “I need a bit of help. I’m stuck in my mech and it’s quite warm in here.”
Oh my God.
Next to me, the Artisan bared his teeth. “My turn.”
“Go. I have your back.”
He lunged through the gap in the pavilion and jumped off the wall, his magic flashing as he landed. I walked through the gap after him and stood at the edge of the ruined wall.
Franco scoffed and started toward his grandson, pulling two maces out of thin air. He didn’t go for the guns. I knew what he wanted. He wanted to beat and humiliate Alessandro. Alessandro had disobeyed, and Franco counted on their family connection to either enrage his grandson until he became sloppy or make him hesitate.
He was wearing the headphones like the rest of them.
Another wave of Arkan’s soldiers ran up the hill toward Alessandro. Magic sparked among them. Some of them sprouted blades. They were Arkan’s best combat mages. He’d kept them in reserve for just this moment. Alessandro tore through them like they were paper dolls.
Franco was on a collision course, heading directly for him. They were like two knights sighting each other across a medieval battlefield. Nothing was going to keep them apart. Arkan was watching it like it was a movie.
There was no place to draw another circle. The wall was strewn with rubble. That was okay. I didn’t need one.
Twenty-five yards separated Franco and Alessandro.
I took my helmet off and dropped it by my feet.
Twenty.
I sent my magic spiraling forward. Its tendrils found the impenetrable wall of Franco’s mind.
Fifteen.
My magic wrapped around the old man’s consciousness, locking me onto my target.
Ten.
Let me show you how much I love your grandson.
The black wings tore out of my back, and I screeched.
Not just the harpy. Me. The harpy and siren combined into one. I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t hold back. I gave him everything.
My magic bored into Franco’s mind like a laser.
The granite crag that was an antistasi’s mind resisted.
I kept screaming, the torrent of sound geysering out of me.
The granite quaked.
Soft fuzzy blackness crept on the edge of my vision.
You have all of me forever.
I fed the last drop of my power into my scream.