Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue
Chapter 37

(Violet)

Everything stopped working.

The words rang in the awful chill of the room, my brain still struggling to grasp the terrifying implications of what they meant.

I’m going to die. She’s going to kill me, right here and now.

It was impossible to comprehend. I flat out could not believe it.

“Five,” Sandelle said, with a grin that would’ve terrified me if I’d been able to be any more scared than I already was.

But then I realized that she was counting down. As if my death was something to celebrate over.

And somehow, that made everything even worse.

“Four.”

My brain was screaming at me to move, to stop her somehow, but I couldn’t do it. The cold barrel of the gun dug into my head, impossibly, horribly real.

“Three.”

My breathing stopped. There was no way. This was it.

Spectrum was lost.

“Two.”

I’m sorry, Lucas. I’m sorry, everyone else. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry…

“One.”

Sandelle’s grin widened. “Say goodbye, little brat.”

Her finger pressed down on the trigger as the world slowed around me.

And then I snapped.

“STOP!!!”

The scream echoed around the room, so loud that it made me jump. It took me a second to realize that it was my own.

It took me another second to realize that Sandelle was completely frozen in place, her finger still on the deadly trigger. And that my eyes were locked firmly on hers, a new form of magic I hadn’t even known exploding into existence.

I swallowed. “Give me the gun.”

And, to my complete and utter shock, she did.

It felt awful and wrong in my hands, an instrument of death and destruction, but I knew I’d need it if I ever wanted to make it out of this place. So I held on to it, even though I wanted to hurl it somewhere far, far away, where no one would be able to see it ever again.

I took a deep breath, struggling to keep my voice steady. “Open the door. But don’t look away.”

Not taking her eyes off mine, Sandelle walked backward to the door and pulled it open, giving me a free exit. I ran to it, almost forgetting to keep my eyes on hers in my desperate rush to get out of this awful, awful chamber, but remembering at the last minute not to look away. When I was just outside the doorway, I forced myself to stop, even though everything inside me was screaming for me to run as fast as I could and never look back.

“Stay here,” I ordered, putting every ounce of magic I could muster up into my voice. “Just stay here, and don’t come after me. Just stay here, and leave me alone.”

And with that, I turned and ran.

(Lucas)

“I don’t remember this place being so empty.”

Kari and I strode down the halls of the prison, dressed in uniforms we’d stolen from an unfortunate pair of guards. Not that we needed them. The place was deserted. It was as if no one had ever been here for years.

We’d been walking for hours, wandering around the tunnels. I’d forgotten how notorious the Protectors’ Mountains were when it came to getting lost. Yet again, I hadn’t fully thought things through before rushing in.

It was beginning to become a serious problem.

“Yes, that is strange,” Kari remarked quietly, in answer to my question. “After all, you’ve just escaped from here. They should be under high alert.”

“Unless this is high alert and there’s going to be ninjas popping out at us or something in about five seconds,” I pointed out, mostly to calm my nerves. But then again, this being Mask, it was actually a possibility.

She smiled wryly. “I hope they’re cute ninjas.”

“You would.”

We rounded a corner, still not seeing a single other person. We were either seriously lost, or something was seriously wrong.

“A trap?” I asked warily.

“Most likely. But that doesn’t change a single thing, does it? You’re still going to rush headlong in there and hope you’ll live somehow.”

“So are you.”

A smile appeared on her face. “Well, no one’s ever called me safe.”

I’d just registered how true this statement really was when something slammed into me at top speed, knocking me off my feet. I hit the ground, the air flying out of my lungs at about the speed of light.

For a second, I thought it was a bullet or something, and that I was dead. (On the bright side, that would probably mean we had the right place.) But then I heard the thing stammer,

“D-Don’t move! O-Or I’ll shoot!”

And my eyes flew wide, because I had to be dreaming.

I definitely had to be dreaming.

For sure.

Because there, in front of me, hands shaking as she leveled a freaking gun directly at my face, was Violet.

Of the people who could’ve been pointing a gun at me at the current moment, this was the one I had not been expecting.

I probably would’ve stared for an hour if Kari hadn’t cocked her head to the side and asked, “How in the world did you get out?”

Which, to my complete and utter shock, resulted in Violet pointing the gun at her and ordering, “Stay away from me! Don’t you dare try to touch me! O-Or I’ll kill you! I mean it!”

She was shaking so bad, I was afraid she was going to pass out. But the gun stayed firmly locked in place, her eyes full of determination. With another cold wave of shock, I realized she was actually telling the truth. She was definitely going to shoot us if we tried to stop her.

Which was why I pulled off the hat I had to wear as part of the guard uniform and tried to rub some off some of the mud I’d smeared on my face to help disguise myself before she made good on her threat. “Violet, what’re you doing here?”

Her eyes grew wide. “Lucas?!”

“What happened?” I demanded. “And where the heck did you get the gun?”

Violet stared at it as if she’d never seen it before. Her bottom lip trembled as she slowly looked up at me, eyes wide with horror.

And she promptly burst into tears.

The gun fell to the ground as she collapsed, shaking with sobs.

“Vi?! What’s wrong?!”

“Sh-She was going to… I-I didn’t wanna – I mean, I don’t… I didn’t know… I-I’ve… I…” Violet’s voice broke, and without a second thought, I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around her little form, gently patting her back. She was tiny, even for her age, and my heart twisted for all the things she’d had to see and hear and do. The kid should’ve been sitting at home eating cookies with that big bright smile on her face, not crying her heart out in a freaking prison cell.

“Shh, Vi, it’s gonna be okay. Don’t cry. I’m here now. Everything’s gonna be all right, okay? Don’t cry.”

She sniffled a bit and looked up at me, wide amethyst eyes filled with tears. “She was gonna kill me.”

“Who? Who was going to kill you?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

“S-Some lady named Sandelle. She had this camera, a-and…” Her face crumpled. “They were gonna kill me in front of all of Spectrum. She was counting down, l-like it was some kind of big celebration. I was going to die for sure.”

I was dumbfounded. “Then… Then how in the world did you escape?”

She shook her head. “I-I don’t know what I did. She was about to pull the trigger, and I just… I just…”

Her voice cracked, and she stopped speaking altogether; just buried her face in my shoulder and bawled. I was ready to just let the poor kid cry all she wanted, but we had priorities, and of course, it was Kari who reminded me of them.

“Lucas, I think you two have had enough touchy-feely moments for one day. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re still in a high-level security zone, and there is a seven-million Lure price on both of your heads. I suggest we get out of here. Now.”

Her tone suggested that it wasn’t a choice, and she did have a point I wasn’t going to argue with. “Right. Come on, Vi. We need to move.”

She nodded, and to my surprise, picked up the gun. “We might need it if we get attacked,” she explained when I blinked.

“…Right. Let’s go.”

And we would’ve gotten away so easily, too, if Commander Fallon hadn’t come strolling around the corner, a smile on his face.

“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible, private. Because this is the end of the line.”

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