Flashback ( PDFDrive )

dragged it back to her. “I mean it,” she grunted, barely dodging its
snapping teeth. “Light leap—teleport—whatever you need to do. Just
get out of here and head somewhere safe!”
Sophie was tempted. This fight was beyond anything they’d trained
for. But . . .
“What about you?” she asked as the newborn raked its claws across
Tarina’s face.
“I’m not leaving until this hive is sealed again,” Tarina gritted out,
thick red lines streaming down her cheeks.
“How do we do that?” Dex asked. “It doesn’t even have a door
anymore.”
“I’m not sure yet,” Tarina admitted, grabbing the newborn’s giant
fangs and wrenching them away from her neck. “But that’s my
problem. My people made these beasts.”
“Luzia helped,” Biana argued.
“She might’ve helped with some of the others. But not with this
batch,” Tarina insisted. “The hive was sealed on your side.”
“Yeah, until my brother and his creepy friends opened it,” Fitz
reminded her. “And now they’re hiding under their little shield like
cowards.”
“This is not our fight,” Vespera said. “And this is not your fight
either. If you had any sense of survival, you would flee.”
That settled it for Sophie. “I’m not going anywhere,” she told her
friends. “But if you guys want to leave—”
“I’m staying,” Keefe interrupted, and Dex, Tam, Linh, and Wylie
agreed.
Marella hesitated a second before she added, “Pretty sure you guys
are going to need to fight these things with fire, so I’m in.”