Page 42 of The Void

She shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks. “I loved you.”

“I love you,” he said softly. “I’ve been trapped here, alone, fighting for what is to come. Meet me. I’ll explain everything face to face.”

“You tried to kill me last time.”

Her brother was quiet for a moment. “An unfortunate mistake.”

“What? That you missed?” she yelled back. “Lei, don’t do this. You can’t have the djinn powers. I won’t give them to you.” When her brother didn’t respond she added, “You’ll have to kill me first.” Without waiting for a response, she returned to the safety of the city to wait for Lucas.

She was standing on the rooftop, leaning on the railing and watching the fires grow bigger along the mountains, when Lucas set down next to her almost an hour later.

His hands moved to her shoulders. “I found Jain. She’s making her way to your meeting point now. She’ll be there. Watching over you. If anything goes wrong, she’s to bring you to a safe spot.” He leaned in and placed a kiss on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?” he asked after turning her around and seeing her tears.

“I talked to my brother,” she said, holding onto Lucas. “He’s not going to back down.”

“How?” Lucas asked.

“I can fly. I just wanted…” She stopped when Lucas tensed. “I only went five feet outside of the city.” She leaned back and looked up into Lucas’s golden eyes. “I wanted to ask Feng more about why she made this city, these people.” She sighed, then gasped when she remembered the important thing she’d found out. “The alignment is tonight.” She motioned to the sky.

“Yeah, Jain told me. If she hadn’t, I would have noticed it myself.” He motioned to the sky.

She’d been too busy wallowing in self-pity to notice how close the three moons were now. Besides that, the sky was growing lighter as the two suns rose together in the opposite direction.

“I’d wager we have about half an hour,” Lucas said with a sigh. “Are you ready?”

She nodded. “I know what I have to do.” She felt her heart sink.

“Mia.” Lucas pulled her closer and took a deep breath. “Whatever happens now—”

“Don’t.” Her heart and head hurt too much to hear his next words.

“After.” Lucas nodded. Then he bent down and kissed her until she felt her toes curl.

When the kiss was over, she shot up silently into the night sky. Her tears blinded her until she reached up and wiped them clear.

Looking down, she saw Lucas shoot off the roof and head in the direction of the outer city wall, where they had agreed he would wait until the meeting was over.

Taking a deep breath, she glanced down at herself and, with the swipe of her hand, changed into what she thought of as a warrior’s outfit—black jeans, a skintight black shirt with a leather corset, black ankle boots, and a leather jacket. If she was going to die, she was going to do it in style.

She looked as good as Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels. Damn, she should add this outfit to her closet when she returned home.

When she landed a few feet from her brother, she glanced around.

Lei stepped out of the shadows dressed in a long black robe that reminded her a lot of the smoke creatures.

“No evil minions made of smoke tonight?” she asked, feeling her anger rise.

Lei shook his head. “They’re around, but for this, it’s just us.” When he opened his mouth to talk again, she held up her hand to stop him.

“I want to say something first.” She took a deep breath when he nodded in agreement. “You were my everything. I spent what little time we had together looking up to you. You were my best friend. I loved you so much. There’s still time to stop this. To return home to your family.” She watched his eyes fill with anger and a hint of sadness.

“There was never going to be that possibility,” Lei said. “It’s not in my destiny.”

“What is?” She wanted to scream. “Death and destruction of an entire world?”

Lei shrugged. “It’s what I’ve seen since I was born. There’s no stopping it.”

“Together, we can do it.” She made a move towards him, only to come up against something solid. Frowning, she reached up and touched the invisible barrier.