Chapter 64

"Your majesty!" Justin Masters wailed, racing down the path toward us. "A prisoner has escaped! Mildred Canopus has taken Geraldine!"

My whole world flipped on its axis, terror taking hold of my heart and refusing to release me.

"Which way did they go?" I cried, running towards him, but Orion got there first, grabbing a fistful of Justin's shirt.

"Which way?" he barked.

"She blasted through the gates with Dragon fire and is flying towards Tucana," Justin choked out, trying to claw Orion's hand off of him.

Orion dropped him and I took out my Atlas, sending a voice message to the group chat.

"Geraldine's been kidnapped. Mildred has hold of her in Dragon form. I'll get in the air and see if-"

"You're not fast enough," Orion said urgently. "I can run, but the only way you'll keep up is…" He took my Atlas, continuing the voice note. "Everyone meet at the parking garage, bring your keys. Caleb, carry everyone if you have to. Get there now."

Orion picked me up without another word, shooting away across campus at a ferocious speed. When he placed me down, I was standing in front of the Heirs' gleaming sports cars and Darius and Tory's motorcycles.

Caleb appeared with Darius on his back, Tory under one arm and Seth under the other.

"I'll grab Max," he announced, disappearing in a flash and reappearing a moment later with Max on his back.

"Where's Gerry?!" Max boomed, rage and terror pouring from him so thickly, it clogged my lungs.

"We'll get her back," I swore, my chest roaring with the call for vengeance.

"Too fucking right we will." Max unlocked his dark blue Aston Minotin, dropping into the driver's seat while Seth got in his white Faeserati, and Tory and Darius got on their bikes.

Orion yanked open the door to Max's passenger side and I got in, needing no further encouragement. He leaned down low, grabbing my seat belt and clipping it in place, giving me an intense stare.

"See you soon, Blue." He shut the door and the roar of the engine rumbled beneath me as Max took the lead, driving out of the parking garage at a wild speed.

Caleb and Orion shot away ahead of us, but the moment we were on the road, Max put his foot down and we tore along behind them. Seth was on our tail and Darius and Tory let their throttles loose, racing ahead and keeping pace with the Vampires.

Adrenaline spilled through me as we made it through the gates and Max sped onto the road so fast, my heart leapt.

His fists were tight around the steering wheel, his jaw pulsing with murderous fury, and the whole car was heavy with it.

"Don't hold back," I said darkly, magic burning in my palms as my own rage seeped through my chest. No one could take Geraldine Grus away from us. She was the beating heart of our group, and I'd go to hell and back to bring her home.

We turned onto the road that led over the mountains toward Tucana and my breath hitched as I spotted the mud brown form of Mildred's Dragon swooping up the hillside.

"There!" I pointed her out and Max seethed, slammed his foot down harder on the accelerator.

I opened the window, taking control of the wind and casting it at our backs, giving us every advantage at gaining speed. Orion and Caleb veered off the main road, taking a more direct path straight up the mountainside. We sped up the winding road at a terrifying pace, and I pushed us even harder with air.

We climbed faster and faster, the world turning to a blur of green and brown around us.

Just as we crested the mountainside, a row of shadows in the sky made my heart lurch and a snarl spill from my lips.

Dragons. A hoard of them flying this way, passing Mildred by and coming right for us.

"Fuck," Max spat.

"Just keep driving," I demanded, leaning out the window and raising my hand.

I built a fireball of Phoenix flames in my palm that roared with all the heat of the sun, then let it burst from me with an explosion of air behind it. The fire slammed right into the face of a giant blue Dragon and the beast roared, careering out of the sky and slamming into the peak of the mountain up to our left. Huge boulders came tumbling down the mountainside heading right for us, and I cast a ramp of earth to shield us so they rolled right overhead. The Dragon went crashing past too, continuing its descent down the mountainside, its talons scrambling to try and get purchase and stop its fall.

"Nice shot," Max said in satisfaction.

Darius slowed his bike, pulling up alongside my window and calling out to me. "Get ahead of the Dragons, we'll make sure you make it through. Just get to Geraldine."

"On it," I said, and Max put his foot down again.

Tory veered sharply on the road ahead just as a fireball slammed into the ground, but though my heart beat out of rhythm, it was clear she was safe within an air shield, the fire billowing right over it.

We overtook her and Max burned up the tarmac, the engine bellowing. Seth fell back with the others in his Faeserati, letting the gap grow between us.

Magic was blasting overhead in a calamity of power, meeting with the Dragons' fire, and my breath caught as I spotted Caleb and Orion tearing along the mountainside sending huge blasts of magic at the Dragons too. With so much distraction, we made it past them, sailing under their bellies while I shielded the car with air and took every blast of their power, not letting a single crack form in my defences.

Mildred was only a few hundred feet ahead now, but she was gaining height in the sky, racing for the cover of the clouds above.

"I'll call her back to us with a Siren lure, but you need to take the wheel," Max said.

"What?" I gasped. "I can't drive."

"Just hold the wheel steady and put your foot down, the car does the rest," he demanded.

"Max, wait," I said, shaking my head, but he was already unclipping both our belts.

He grabbed my hands, forcing me to take the wheel and I groaned, accepting that this was really happening.

"You got this, little Vega," he said, giving me a firm look and filling the air with so much confidence that I couldn't help but listen to him.

"You go over, I'll go under. On three," he said, keeping his eyes on the road while I did the same. "One, two – three!"

He let go of the wheel and I propelled myself into his seat while he lunged into mine. We lost some speed for half a second before my boot slammed down on the accelerator and the car lurched forward wildly.

"Holy shit," I gasped, gripping tighter to the wheel.

Max shoved his head out the window, opening his mouth and releasing a song that was the purest, most beautiful thing I had ever heard. It was an enticement that pulled on the tethers of my very soul, begging me to go to him, and it was spiralling its way up into the sky, right toward Mildred.

The huge brown beast turned her head, looking back at him with a beady eye, a spill of smoke pouring from her large nostrils. Geraldine looked up from where she was clasped tightly in her talons, gazing down at Max with her lips parting. She cried something out to him that I swear contained the words slippery salmon, but I couldn't hear anything except the alluring song that swept from Max's lungs. Navy scales crept over his hands and up his neck, his Order form coming out in full force.

My focus kept drifting, my eyes falling to him, the need to get closer mounting up in my chest. He was a god among Fae, a creature made to be worshipped, and I wanted to be the first to get down on my knees for him.

"Ohmagod," I hissed, blinking out of it and calling on my Phoenix to block out his Siren power.

I focused on the road and the sharp turn coming up ahead, panic darting through me. I couldn't slow down. Geraldine was relying on me, and I had to keep up no matter what.

I gritted my teeth, my knuckles turning white from how tight I was holding the wheel, and a squeak left my lips as I took the turn at a hundred miles an hour.

Max's head hit the window frame, and I shot him an apology, but he didn't seem to notice, his song still tearing from his lips and his eyes set on Geraldine.

I doubted Geraldine in all her life had ever wanted a knight in shining armour to come save her, but I'd bet my ass she'd take an Heir in shining scales right now.

Mildred slowed her pace, working hard to resist Max's call, but was clearly affected by it all the same. She turned her head to look back at us, a growl leaving her before she spat a line of fire at us.

I cried out as I turned the car this way and that to avoid it, the wheel so sensitive that the car jerked manically at every light touch. I managed to keep us on the road, speeding along it again and gaining on them. To our right, the steep drop was only growing steeper, no barrier in sight to keep our car from careering off it if I made one wrong move.

I stole a glance in my rear-view mirror, briefly taking in the scene of fire-breathing Dragons and the rogue band of my family beneath them before I forced my eyes back onto the road.

Mildred suddenly swept around the mountain's peak and I cursed as we lost sight of her. But she wasn't far. I just had to keep going, stay on her tail. Because I wasn't going to stop this plight until Geraldine was safe, back where she belonged.