Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue
Chapter 32

(Lucas)

The hallway was gone.

Everything wasgone.

I stood in a black void, surrounded by nothing but darkness.

Kari appeared in front of me, looking beyond stunned. Shewas as close to being in shock as I’d ever seen her. But her voice came out perfectlycalm, probably too stunned to even bother sounding that way.

“We’re dead, aren’t we?”

I didn’t reply. Just closed my eyes.

There.

“Duck!” I ordered,and dived toward the general direction of down. (Really, though, when you’restanding in a black void, it’s not exactly easy to tell which end is up andwhich is down.)

Kari must’ve thought I was some kind of lunatic, but sheobeyed. Just in time, it turned out.

Something swept over my head. A blade.

“What was that?” Kari demanded. “It felt like…”

“That was Fallon,” I replied tersely.

“But… the explosion… We can’t still be alive.”

I kept my eyes shut, hating this scenario beyond anythingelse, because this was the type of training I used to always fail. “You figuredout earlier that Fallon has magic. Guess what it is.”

I hadn’t really expected her to be able to guess, but thenagain, Kari had been defying my expectations ever since I met her. She lookedat me, realization dawning.

“He’s an illusionist.”

“That’s right. He plays with light.” I got to my feet,bracing myself for another attack. “Which is why we’re at a disadvantage.”

“We can’t see him,” Kari breathed, eyes wide.

I nodded. “And he can see us.”

“He flipped the tables on us, didn’t he?” Her eyes narrowed,but there was a smile playing at her lips. Her next words were so quiet, Icouldn’t quite catch them, but they sounded something like, “However, thisworks to my advantage.”

Which both scared me and made me extremely glad she was onmy side.

Unfortunately, I’d let myself be distracted. And as anysoldier knows, you should never, ever be distracted while fighting an opponent.

This was especially true when it came to Fallon. Which waswhy I almost got slashed in half.

The reason why I didn’t would keep me awake at night for along, long time.

I don’t know how she did it. I don’t know how she evenrealized he was there, but next thing I knew, Kari slammed her leg into emptyspace, and there was a scream of pain.

Fallon’s scream.

That was what took me by surprise. Fallon was abattle-hardened soldier, almost immune to pain. One measly kick shouldn’t havebeen enough to make him scream like that. Something had happened.

Something I wasn’t really sure I wanted to know about.

The black space vanished like it hadn’t even been there inthe first place. (Technically speaking, it hadn’t, but let’s not get into thatnow.) Fallon was doubled over in front of us, sword in hand, clutching hisstomach. His eyes radiated pure hate.

Kari grabbed my hand before I could even stop to think aboutwhat just happened, practically jerking me off my feet as she flew away fromFallon at about the speed of light. It took me a moment, but I shook off herhand and demanded, “What did you do?”

“A girl has to have her secrets, hon. Don’t pry, okay?”

“Fallon is one of the most terrifying people I know. Onekick shouldn’t have been enough to do that to him. What did you do?”

“Listen, Lucas, we’re on a tight schedule here, if youhaven’t noticed. Stop asking me questions I’m not going to answer and run.”

She sounded more serious than ever before and had a point,so I shut up and obeyed. We swerved around a corner and up a staircase, takingthe steps three at a time, and for the first time in days, sunlight slammedinto my eyes.

It both hurt like heck and felt like the best thing ever.

“Where’s the door?” I demanded, knowing that if I didn’tmake it out now, the sight of that sunlight would haunt me until I did. Karismiled and pointed, caught up in the thrill because we were almost there.

But I’d learned to never, ever underestimate Fallon. Not ifI wanted to live.

So when he appeared at the top of the stairwell, not evenwasting a single second before attacking, I wasn’t at all surprised. And thatwas what probably kept me alive.

I dived forward, hoping to dodge the attack, but Fallon wasfaster. The blade slashed across my back, ripping my shirt.

But it would’ve been a lot worse if I hadn’t known he wascoming.

I kicked at his legs, hoping to unbalance him, but missed.He stabbed downward, so I rolled, somehow getting to my feet, and giving theroom a quick sweep to see if there was anything I could use as a weapon.Nothing. Not good.

Fallon’s eyes were hard, completely unfeeling. It was thelook he had whenever he had to eliminate an enemy, and would not, could not fail no matter what. A lookI’d seen more times than I’d like to admit.

But now, unlike all the other times, it was directed at me. I was the enemy, and he was going tokill me if it was the last thing he ever did.

And that, more than anything else, was what terrified me tothe very bone.

Fallon struck again, and barely missed. It was too close. Icouldn’t dodge forever, and he knew it.

Kari appeared behind him and pulled back her fist to punchhim, but he caught the punch and twisted, flipping her off her feet andslamming her into the ground. She gritted her teeth, and tried to get up, buthis sword was at her throat, and he had her trapped. She went limp, having noother choice.

“Well, I must say, this makes things much easier.” Fallon’svoice was quiet, deadly quiet. “What will it be, Lucas, your life or hers?”

I glanced at the exit, biting my lip. The logical choicewould’ve been myself. I was the more valuable prisoner, the one it would damageMask more to lose. Kari was the expendable one here.

But she had come back for me. And because of that, Icouldn’t just leave her here to die.

“Play fair, Fallon,” I snapped. “You have a weapon. We’reunarmed. Where’s the honor in that?”

“Oh, so now you suddenly care about honor.” The bladepressed harder against Kari’s throat, and I could see her eyes darting around,calculating, trying to figure out how she was going to get out of this mess.But there was no way. And everyone in the room knew it.

“Where was your oh-so-precious honor when you betrayed me?” Fallon asked coldly.“Where was the honor when you turned down my chance to die like a hero? Whereis the honor in dying like some common criminal, Lucas? Why don’t you tell methat?”

I stared back, and there was no trace of trickery or deceptionin my voice when I said, “I never betrayed you, Commander.”

“Never betrayed me?”Fallon laughed. “Then what do you call the fact that you abandoned Mask’s armyto work for the other side?”

“To betray you, I had to have once been working for you. AndI told you, Fallon.” I stepped toward him, watching his eyes narrow. “I wasnever yours.”

“A shame you think so, Lucas, but we’re getting off subjecthere. What will it be? Her life or yours?”

I bit my lip and didn’t reply.

It was impossible. There was nothing I could do. Nothingthat wouldn’t get at least one of us killed.

But then Kari’s eyes changed. And I knew something was upthe instant I saw the new look in them.

Resignation?

Her hand closed around the blade of the sword, eyes narrowing.And I knew what was coming next before it even happened.

A single, strange crackling noise. And then…

Fallon’s scream shook me to the very core, pure shudderingpain exploding into the air as he howled and dropped the sword. My eyes widenedas Kari snatched up the blade and tossed it to me, tearing down the hallwaylike there was no tomorrow, which there really wasn’t if we didn’t get out ofthere right now. I plucked the swordout of the air and scrambled after her, footsteps pounding as I ran for dearlife.

Kari reached the door and slammed her foot into it, almostblasting it off its hinges. She flew out the door and out of sight, and I spedup, desperate to do the same.

Come on, come on, youcan make it, you can –

“Not so fast!”

I’d literally just set one foot into the doorway when Fallongrabbed the hood on my jacket and jerked, yanking me off my feet. He spun mearound and hissed, eyes burning with icy cold hatred,

“I will not let youget away again, traitor!”

He moved to close the door, but then Kari was there, and shewas grabbing my legs and leaning, putting all her weight into it and jerkingback. Fallon’s fingers clamped down onto my shoulder and dug in as he held on,both of them taking part in a bizarre game of tug-of-war. With me playing thepart of the rope.

But I wasn’t some floppy, obedient rope. Not by a long shot.

So I leaned over and chomped down on Fallon’s wrist like itwas a slice of triple-chocolate cake with extra sprinkles.

Fallon barely even reacted – he was Fallon, after all. So Ibit down harder, knowing that one of us had to give, and it sure as heck wasn’tgoing to be me. I could see his eyes getting worried, whatever Kari had donetaking its toll on him. But who would give out first – him, or us?

At which point, I remembered the sword in my hand. Oops.

I brought it up and slashed blindly across whatever part ofhim was closest. Fallon dropped me with a hiss of pain, and I crashed to theground, barely remembering to move the sword before I impaled myself on it. Iwould’ve laid there, stunned, for a while, only Kari was running, and my footwas still in her hands.

“HEY!!!” I snapped. “Let go!”

She dropped me without a word, and I scrambled to my feet,blasting out the door…

And almost falling over the edge of a cliff.