Sacrificed (The Ignited Series) Read Free

of silver as they surveyed the scene. 
    Oh, this keeps getting better and better , I grumbled to myself.
    It wasn’t looking good, for any of us. My stomach dropped when I remembered Callie, an innocent, but guilty by association. I had to fight for her too. I knew Nathan wouldn’t go down without a fight—and neither would I. At least if we all died, we died fighting.
    I took a step forward, and Callie grabbed my leg. I shook her off easily, but didn’t get far before she grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back with unyielding force. I turned to her—to tell her to run, because I wasn’t leaving Nathan.
    It wasn’t Callie that had grabbed me.
    It was a boy. A boy that I knew, even if I didn’t know I did until I looked into his eyes. I recognized the black hair that curled under his ears, the slope of his shoulders, his tall lean frame.
    I’ve seen him nearly every night for months. In my dreams. The Boy-in-White—only dressed in faded jeans and a black hoodie. As if seeing his face for the first time now, in the flesh rather than in a dream, wasn’t enough, I found myself lost in his eyes—such a pure green that they redefined the color.
    He held my gaze as firmly as he gripped my waist, and I got the impression he was just as stunned as I was. He recovered first, grabbing Callie with one hand, and quickly steered both of us behind the cover of a large boulder several yards away.
    The only reason I let him was because I was in shock.
    A shriek of horrendous pain behind me snapped me out of it, and I remembered what I had been doing before the boy grabbed me.
    Nathan needed my help.
    As if sensing my intentions, the boy pushed me down behind the boulder, beside Callie, before I could slip out of his grasp. He dropped to a knee in front of me and brought a finger to his lips, instructing us to be quiet.
    Then he finally spoke, and his familiar voice was like a lullaby to my ears. “Stay right here. Let the pros handle this,” he said. He froze me with a quick wink, and then he was gone, heading straight for the fight.
    I crawled around the boulder after him. I had always sensed that he meant no harm to me, and I was still sure of that now…but Nathan? I didn’t know what he intended for Nathan.
    And then, there were the other Kala to worry about.
    At least, from what I could see, Nathan was okay. Another Skotadi had been dissipated while I’d been in la-la land with the Boy-in-White. The two Kala had joined Nathan in fighting the remaining five Skotadi. That was reassuring, but still, I had a brief pang of concern as the mystery boy from my dreams drew closer to him.
    The Skotadi saw the boy and faltered. Enough for Nathan and the other two Kala to quickly finish off their immediate threats. As three bodies evaporated, the boy produced two shiny objects, seemingly from nowhere, and with two snaps of his wrists, dispatched them into the chests of the two remaining Skotadi as they stared at him. They both dissipated, probably before they even knew what hit them.
    In a matter of seconds, nothing remained of the Skotadi.
    There was a beat of awed silence as the two Kala and Nathan surveyed each other, then all at one, all three raised their guns. Two pointed at Nathan; one pointed at the Boy-in-White.
    The Kala shifted anxiously once they realized where Nathan’s gun was aimed. Nathan didn’t flinch. He might not have known what I knew, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew this boy was someone important. And having a gun pointed at his head gave Nathan the upper hand.
    If only Nathan knew what I knew. It was quite possible that the fate of humanity rested on this kid’s shoulders. But Nathan only had one thing on his mind. As disturbing as it was, I found it flattering.
    “Where’s Kris?” he demanded of the boy. When a response apparently didn’t come fast enough for his satisfaction, he added, “I will shoot you.”
    That threat—because I knew it wasn’t an empty one—kicked my butt into gear, and