The Undoing Of Villains | ✓

thirty three

(a/n: im sure the number 33 is my unlucky number or something, i swear ... even in the last book i got stuck on this chapter exactly when writing it. yuck. shoutout to my fingers for actually typing this out tho! dedicated to SharingIsntCaring for always leaving amazing comments keeping me motivated. if this is your addiction, it's at least a bit healtiher than drugs so i'd say you're fine <3 xo, cleo)

thirty three

FOR A BRIEF MOMENT I wondered where Declan was, almost instinctively relying on someone else for help, before I realized that wouldn't make gravity stop pulling us toward certain death any slower. It was like glancing at the world through a sludge of transparent oil, as everything seemed to move slowly – my eyes stuck on an errant piece of bloodied gravel, cascading through the air in parts of cracked, gray stone as if it were rain. 

And as long as that split second seemed to be, it ended. The rushing sound of wind in my ears registered, the scrape of smaller rocks skittering over exposed skin – meanwhile I flailed, attempting to grasp something resembling a solid surface. Blood roiled in my veins as I spun mid-air, vision switching from normal to dark to black again as nausea twisted my mind. In the outskirts of my eye, I was able to see two other figures also falling: Xandra and Tetra. 

It registered a heartbeat later, that one of them was unconscious, the other unpowered. Xandra's scream split the night, spearing through the sound of crashing, splintering concrete and rubble. The fall seemed impossibly quick now, the ground a fast-approaching spot of darkness. I swallowed, heavily, then rotated my arms so that I fell stomach-first, able to survey my surroundings. 

The biggest piece of rubble from the walkway was an enormous chunk och both the walls, roof and floor, all falling in a sharp, edged heap. Just a few feet below that heap was Xandra and Tetra. Tetra – falling aimlessly, eyes closed in oblivion. Xandra – screams escaping her, so unnatural for the normally poised criminal, but now she was desperate. My hair whipped into my eyes as I shifted them to the ground, heart beating in my throat as I realized we were seconds from impact. 

My eyes glowed vividly red, heart burning at the effort it took to dredge up my powers. I summoned them to me, once again a red comet in the night , and propelled myself through the air, until I neared the other two falling bodies. I caught Xandra's eyes, nearly entirely white. They were wide, terrified, understandably so. She shouted something, but the wind swallowed the noise. I avoided her gaze, saw the ground again. Seconds remained. 

My hands burned brighter as I turned them, palms up, to the mass of rubble falling above us. Then I turned one of my hands around, until one palm faced the rubble, the other facing Xandra and Tetra. Xandra was desperately grasping Tetra's hand, attempting to keep them from being separated mid-air. I swallowed, allowed myself a moment to breathe. I heard one of Xandra's frantic shouts carry over the rush of air: "Do something!"

So I did. My entire body tensed as red light flared out from both palms, spearing into the dark night. One hand directed the light into a ball, the red light growing until it enveloped both of my companions, forming a sphere. 

The other hand directed the light so that it grew into a large, flat wall. It expanded and stretched, pulsing with light as rubble connected with its surface. Milliseconds later, we slammed into the ground. The sphere of red light crashed into dirt, burning itself a few feet into the ground as its energy pulsed vividly, almost angrily. The impact shook me, pain radiating from my palm to my head. My mouth tasted like iron, and my heart was either beating too fast or too slow, I couldn't tell – at this point, I was functioning on survival instinct.