Miss Quick

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Battle

I take a wild step back and my foot catches, flinging it into the air. I'm falling backwards for a fraction of a second until hands catch me. My bad arm is jarred by the catch and I wince. I turn around and Carlos says softly, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, arm, I, um..." ...have apparently forgotten how to form sentences.

"Chaste?" Tara says cautiously, her voice wavering.

"Let's just address the elephant in the room. I faked my death," Chaste says simply.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. And then I felt tears coming. Desperately holding them back I stepped over the body pile to where Chaste was standing up and hugged him. My arms couldn't squeeze him hard enough and my nails dug into his back.

"I hate you so much right now," I said.

"I can't breathe," he gasped.

I quickly let go, and when I met his eyes I felt all my emotion pouring out in words. "Listen, I'm fighting back an urge to slap you right now, which I know sounds weird after I hugged you, but you better give me a good explanation for why you pretended to be dead. Or...I might just kill you myself."

"Okay, yeah. Right. Sorry about that." He cleared his throat. "I couldn't fight those guys anymore, and I knew they were either going to kill me or put me back in a cell, and neither of those things sounded like a good option. So I decided to play dead and hope that they'd leave me here and I could run away later. But then someone kicked me really hard-" he titled his head and pointed to a huge red spot forming a bruise on his temple "-and knocked me out. When I woke up I heard voices, so I just laid super still, and then I heard you talking about the pendant and I realized it was you guys."

"That was smart of you, to play dead," Tara tells him.

"Thanks."

"We should go before anyone else wakes up," Carlos whispers, gesturing to all the unconscious men.

"You're right. Ready, guys?" Tara asks. Chaste and I nod.

Carlos breaks down the door with a crunch.

I cradle my arm to my chest and leap through the dented hole in the door just as a fist flies at my face. I duck under it and throw my full weight, good side first, into the owner of the fist, knocking him over. I look up and I'm surrounded by Jared's men. Inwardly, I groan. I can feel my energy draining already.

Someone charges at me, aiming low for my legs. I sidestep with time to spare and knee him in the side of the head. He grunts loudly and falls over. "That was for you, Chaste!" I shout as I kick another man between the legs.

"Thanks!" he shouts back from somewhere behind me. His yell is followed by a man shouting, "It came from there!" and a grunt. I feel someone catch my wrist and tug on it roughly, so I windmill my arm, forcing the man to let go. Right, focus. Don't let them catch you. Twist, duck, kick, duck, punch. My extra thoughts filter out, and then it's just me versus the men who move in slow motion.

A shout breakd me out of my zone, and I look behind me to see three guys surrounding Tara. I want to kick myself, why didn't I think to stop and let Tara simulate my ability?

I tear through the throng of black clothes, making sure I'm going fast enough that no one can catch me. I decide to use my speed as an advantage and aim for the closest guy, barreling into his side. He's on the ground before the noise that comes out his mouth is finished.