The Girl From Above [Ground: Zero, Book 1]

31: It Isn't Over

Lightning cracked.

The air felt hot and blistering despite the suffocating rain.

Her stomach turned. Did that really just happen? Was Liam really dead? Did he really murder Devany?

Ryan swallowed the lump in her throat. It wet and sour.

She resisted the urge to scream. It was like her emotions had overcrowded her mind, and now all she could do was sit still, her head to the ground.

Dominic's wings rested above her and Zack like an umbrella, keeping the rain away.

"Did it really happen, Ryan? Did you really see Aemulus?" Zack stammered.

She nodded. Any energy she might've had vanished into thin air.

"Hey!"

Ryan turned her head towards the new voice.

Carson flew over the grove of trees in his owl form. In a swift motion he landed and transformed into his humanoid form.

He glanced to Ryan and Zack. His eyes filled with regret. He turned away.

Ryan didn't notice it before, but both Dominic and Carson were covered in an array of new wounds. Claw marks decorated both their faces, their arms and legs covered in burns and cuts.

Carson and Dominic locked eyes. The sound of the rain deafening as the four stood deathly still.

Carson took off his beanie and held it to his chest. Rain simply rolled off his feathery hair.

"Dominic—"

"I killed him, Carson." Dominic murmured.

Thunder boomed. The two stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Then, without a sound, Carson walked up to Dominic and wrapped his arms around him.

"It's over, Dom."

Ryan didn't know what Liam did to them exactly, but considering their wounds, she didn't want to imagine the hell they were put through.

She thought back to their green eyes and the smoke. How could she not have noticed before?

At least it's all over. She thought.

Liam couldn't hurt them any longer. All of them were safe, the celestials hadn't been released. Liam was dead. Dominic and Carson were ok. Everything was ok.

Right?

Ryan looked up towards the smoking hole where the ground had sealed back up. The memory of the glowing man blazed in her mind.

Something felt off about the whole situation. If there was a magical glowing man who magically fixed everything, then why didn't Trophonius seem worried? Nothing could ever be that easy, could it?

She fidgeted with her bracelet.

Lightning struck, illuminating the area.

She looked up to find a figure standing above the smoking hole.

He was nine feet tall at least, orange eyes glowing through the darkness of the storm, and a long coat that flew in the wind. He had his hands in the pockets of his coat. His expression blank.

His shadow didn't match his figure, instead shaped like that of a roaring monster. Wings outstretched.

Without a word, he vanished, leaving ice in Ryan's stomach.

"What were you looking at?" Dominic asked.

Ryan shook her head.

"I'm just seeing things."