The roar of artillery rang in the distance. Time to go. I took off in the direction Will had gone earlier. "Tink, I need a boost, but don't make me crazy-town. I don't want people to see me like that. It might scare them."

I'll do what I can, but if it's a choice between killing dark brothers-or saving your life-and protecting your ego, we're going into killer mode.

"Deal," I said. The booms from the rockets and the tanks were growing fainter as they drove the Freaks toward the Potomac. Bodies, both monster and human, were sprawled across the mall lawn, turning a normally awesome place into a thing I'd have nightmares about for years to come.

"You know what?" I said, enraged at the number of dead civilians around me. "Spin me all the way up. Turn me loose."

Now you're talking, Tink said, her voice tinged with gleeful menace. Keep running. I'll make it quick.

True to her word, she slammed power into my chest while I ran and my feet sped up without my direction. The magic burned such that I thought I might be glowing, but it didn't hurt, not this time. I was too p.i.s.sed to hurt.

Up ahead, a Freak had landed. It bent to peck at one of the bodies-that of a woman with dark red hair. In an instant, her face became Ella's and I closed the remaining distance in three giant bounds before leaping on its back.

Startled, the monster took flight, me hanging on for the ride. It banked hard to the right, then to the left, in an effort to sling me off, but I gripped it around the neck in a spot it couldn't reach. When it dived low, heading for a row of trees, I slashed at its wings. The Freak lost alt.i.tude and crashed hard.

"Thought you'd flay me with the branches, huh?" I growled. "Guess you didn't realize you'd grabbed the wrong guy."

I slit its throat with a savage slash and rolled off, looking for my next target.

I found a news camera instead. A shaking reporter, holding it on his shoulder, trained the lens on me. Worse, a red light on the top of the camera was blinking.

"Are we live?" I barked.

The man nodded.

"You get all that just now?"

He nodded again. "What's your name?"

"You've got to be joking." I cursed under my breath, p.i.s.sed to even be in this situation. Needing to get back to the fight and tired of the bulls.h.i.t, I stepped closer to the camera. "My name is Matt Archer. My team has been working under cover for more than four years to keep you safe. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some monsters to kill."

Chapter Five.

I ran through the mall with inhuman speed, fueled by a rage that kept growing. The reflecting pool between the Washington and Lincoln Memorials was red and choked with carnage. A cry of anger flew from my mouth-and the voice was Tink's.

Dazed civilians stared as I pa.s.sed, but I didn't slow down to check on them. I was out for blood, and we'd have it.

Sounds of battle came from my left, so I bore south, crossing Independence and entering West Potomac Park. Here, soldiers and wielders fought side by side against a dozen Freaks. Ramirez directed an ordnance team in bombarding two monsters with grenades, trying to time the strikes well enough to damage their wings and bring them down so he could take them out with his blade. His right hand man, Master Sergeant Murphy, called out positions, while watching Ramirez's back. He looked up as I ran by and gave me a grim nod.

Since they had things well in hand, I plowed further in. Will and Parker were up against a pack of three, dancing as beaks clacked together just inches from their heads. The ground here was soft, churned up by boots and talons, and Parker was having a hard time keeping his footing. He twisted too fast to slash at one of the Freak's necks, and slipped.

My heart shot into my throat, thinking he was done for, but he rolled away right before the thing slammed a talon into his chest. I closed in while the other wielders had them preoccupied and ran right up the back of the nearest monster. Two hard slashes and the Freak crumpled underneath me. I jumped off, landing in a crouch behind Will. The monster he was fighting swung out a wing and flung me away. I tumbled a good fifteen feet before slamming down hard on my back. Gasping for air, I crawled back to my feet as Will slashed the thing across the breast bone. He was showered in dark green blood, but the Freak collapsed. Parker finished his off a split-second later.

At the other end of the park, a tank boomed and another Freak rained down in pieces. a.s.suming there weren't more of them somewhere, we were finally making real progress. Only eight left.

"Which way?" I asked them. Three monsters circled the Potomac, but if they didn't stay in ordnance range, there wasn't much we could do with them. The other five were down with damaged wings, but tearing apart anyone who came close.

"Pick one and go," Parker said, running for the nearest Freak.

I nudged Will and pointed at a pair who were hara.s.sing the Humvees where Dorland's grenade team had set up. We took off.

It seemed Jorge and Ramirez had gotten the memo, too, because they broke free of their support teams and went after the nearest monster.

Now it was me and my Freak. It squawked angrily as I approached, using its wing to scoop up a huge pile of dirt and gra.s.s. I hit the ground on my belly just before it threw its load, and debris sailed over my head in a ma.s.sive cloud. Before it could try that again, I charged, using the nearest Humvee as a launch point.

I ignored the stares of disbelief from the soldiers in the vehicle as I leapt onto the Humvee's hood in one bound. One more jump and I flew at the beast head on.

It opened its beak wide and raised its wings, but Tink gave me an extra boost, sending me over its head. As I soared by, I stabbed it in the eye. It shrieked and scrambled back.

I hit the ground hard and rolled, turning to take a second pa.s.s from underneath. While it danced in pain, rubbing its head on the gra.s.s, I scurried under its legs and finished it. Getting out from underneath before it dropped was dicey, but I crawled free just in time.

Done with mine, I turned to see if anyone needed help. Ordnance had gone quiet, so I a.s.sumed we had it under control, but better to check.

Will was riding his monster as it tried to take off with only one wing. The other had been cut off. He let out a war whoop and slammed his blade into its skull. One more down.

Ramirez was still busy, but Jorge was getting to his feet next to a dead Freak. That was three.

And Parker was ...

My pulse stuttered. Parker's Freak was dead, but he wasn't there.

"Parker?" I called, hoping he was with the other soldiers, directing an attack on the monsters still in the air. "Captain Parker!"

Jorge's head snapped up and he scanned the sky, then pointed. Bile scalded my throat as I stared that direction.

Parker was caught in the talons of the largest Freak. The other two flying with it were barely staying airborne; their wing membranes were in shreds. But the big one was nearly intact.

And it had our wielder.

"No!" He was sixty, seventy feet in the air. If we shot at the monsters, they'd drop him. What should I do? What could I do?

Wait, there was one thing. Something I'd never asked before, but might work. "Tink, I need your help!"

If you're asking what I think you're asking, I can only do this every so often and you'll be too late, she murmured. Do you want to waste this chance?

"When we were in Amsterdam, you said if I ever wanted to fly, just to ask. Well, I'm asking! No fair if you helped that witch fly and won't help me now!"

So be it.

A whining filled my ears and my skin started to itch all over. My limbs shook as I fought to control the pain and stay focused. Then my feet rose from the ground. Holy c.r.a.p, I was flying! This was amazing-and extremely weird. But I was flying!

"What the h.e.l.l?" Will said, backing away. "You're floating!"

I'd have to explain later. For now, I needed to get our man back.

Flying wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I pointed my body in the direction I wanted it to go, and willed myself to move. And I did, closing in on the pack of Freaks like a rocket.

It was almost too easy to stab the wounded monsters. They were hurt and couldn't bank or change alt.i.tude fast enough. I was quick, praying the big one didn't drop Parker before I got there.

Once they were out of the way, I hovered over to the last Freak. Parker squirmed in its talons, turning his head so he could see me.

His face was white as plaster. "Help."

G.o.d, he sounded so weak. The monster must be slowly squeezing the life out of him. I shot over the Freak, trying to get its attention, not sure what I'd even do. If I killed it without being in exactly the right place, Parker would drop. If I missed and didn't kill it right off, it might crush my wielder.

I had to force it to fly lower. Then if it dropped Parker, he might survive the fall.

I circled back and dove straight at its head. It swooped beneath me and I swerved to cut a jagged line through its wing.

"Just like Afghanistan, sir," I said, hoping he could hear me. "We know how to deal with winged monsters. We got this."

No answer. The monster turned and flew at me. I went low and swiped at the other wing. Finally, it faltered, gliding toward the ground and the rest of the team. It was going to drag its load before crash landing right on top of him and half the men below.

I zoomed underneath it and slashed at its talons. With a startled cry, it released Parker and wheeled away. I caught him as the Freak crash landed in the Potomac. The tanks immediately opened fire, blowing it to pieces.

What a hand-held rocket launcher couldn't do, heavy artillery could. If only we'd had this kind of support in Africa and Australia. But by then, Congress was already suspicious and moving a tank to a foreign country without a U.S. military installation nearby would've been the last nail. Too bad we had to get their attention by destroying half the capital and suffering civilian casualties.

I carried Parker down and set him on the gra.s.s near the closest Humvee. Ramirez dashed over and fell to his knees next to me.

Parker's eyes fluttered open. "Get them all?"

"Yeah," I said. "That was the last one."

His smile was faint. "Good, then I'm done. The last flight."

"Hey, none of that, okay?" Ramirez said. "Help's on the way."

"Not this time," Parker whispered. He lifted a hand from his abdomen, revealing a bloodied Cla.s.s A shirt. "My job's finished. This was it for me."

"You aren't finished," I said, desperate to keep him talking until the paramedics came, but knowing they wouldn't arrive in time. "Hang on."

He took a breath and wheezed. "Dark's coming. Stay strong. And don't let ... your brother give you ... any more ... shiners."

I managed a laugh despite the film of tears covering my eyes. "I can't believe you remember that."

"I remember."

Parker's back arched and his eyes rolled back in his head. Blood saturated the ground beneath him. He jerked twice, then went limp.

Ramirez reached out to take his pulse. His shoulders slumped. "Gone."

He leapt to his feet, stalked a few feet away, then screamed curses at the sky. Ramirez, the POW survivor, the stoic one, the guy with the steadiest head, came completely unglued in front of fifty men and three other wielders. But he'd been closer to Parker than the rest of us. For a horrible second, I imagined Parker was Will. I would've done more than scream at the sky. I would've raged against the universe as a whole.

Now, though, I felt empty. All this death, and for what? We'd lost another wielder but we were no closer to ending this war, and now we had the blood of hundreds of civilians on our hands, too. People who simply had the misfortune of being here when disaster struck.

"Where's Parker's knife?" I asked.

Will put a hand on my shoulder. "I'll go search for it. You stay with Parker."

Jorge squatted next to me. The rest of the soldiers moved around us, picking up the pieces and clearing the battlefield. He sighed long and deep. "He was a good man."

"Yeah. Probably the nicest one of us. Always polite, which is pretty rare in this outfit," I said. "His mother is a manners coach at a school for rich girls."

Jorge's smile was quick. "He told me."

"So what now?" I asked. "Do we have to search for a new wielder?"

"The knives seem to find the wielders for us." Jorge glanced downrange.

True, and one problem I wouldn't have to solve. "My girlfriend is out here somewhere. And Will's."

"I'm sure they're safe, but I'll ask one of the men to call your support team and have them locate the girls for you." Jorge pointed downrange. "William found the missing blade."

I looked up in time to see him stoop and reach for something. A moment later, he jumped backward, shaking his hand.

"I think he needs your a.s.sistance," Jorge said. "Go. I'll stay here."

Too tired to ask why Will would need my help, I weaved my way through the devastation that used to be West Potomac Park. Ramirez beat me there.

"What do you mean, you can't touch it?" he asked Will.

Will shrugged. "It burned me, sir."

He held up his hand, and red marks scored his fingers. Nothing serious, but like when you accidentally touched the stove. Ramirez frowned and squatted down to pick up the knife. Its blade was driven into the dirt so that only the handle stuck up.

The major reached for it, but as soon as his fingers touched the handle, he s.n.a.t.c.hed his hand back. "What the h.e.l.l? It's red hot."

Maybe you should get that, Tink said, sounding both tired and coy. An odd combination, and one that made me suspicious.

"Why?"

Because you can.

Sighing, I bent and wrapped my fingers around the handle, expecting to be burned, too.

Instead, a quiet male voice said, Take me to my new wielder, please. You're the only one who can help.

Then a picture of Uncle Mike's house flashed through my mind.