“Kai, go!” Banks yelled.

He swerved, past the gazebo, Sticks, and the White Crow Tavern, jerking the wheel and skidding around the corner.

Banks whimpered, holding the safety bar above her window, and I could tell she was losing her mind. Every moment those kids weren’t in our arms, the more chance we had of never finding them.

I had no idea what Taylor and Ilia were planning, but if they’d wanted them dead, they would’ve done it at the house. There was no way they were planning on returning them, though. It’d be suicide.

Thoughts of things so much worse invaded my head, and my stomach rolled, knowing what happened to kids all over the world. The horror that might await if we lost them tonight.

I rubbed my eyes, the sweat on my forehead coating my hand.

The headlights burned a hole in the darkness ahead, snowflakes fluttering to the ground as the gun dug into my back. I was tempted to use it.

God, I was tempted to take our family over that line tonight.

“Stop!” Banks yelled. She pointed ahead, and everyone looked, seeing taillights in the ditch off the side of the road. My heart hammered in my chest as Kai swung up behind the SUV and pulled to a stop, everyone knowing without a word that it was the same car.

What the hell happened? The kids…

We jumped out of the car, the cold nipping at our faces as we ran to the crashed, black SUV.

Relief and fear washed over me at the same time.

Taylor was collapsed with his head over the steering wheel, his window partially down, and I leapt down the ravine, grabbing hold of the door handle.

“You son of a bitch!” I yelled, reaching over the window and trying to grab him. He swayed, his face bloody, but the fucking car was crashed between two trees, and I couldn’t get the door open.

“Octavia!” Emmy shouted.

Followed by Banks. “Mads!”

I darted for the rear of the car and pulled open the hatch, crawling over the backseat to the motherfucker.

“They’re not here!” Banks yelled, crawling in after me.

Emmy broke the driver’s side window just as I reached Taylor. He swung around, pulling out a gun, but just then, she shot her hand out, knocking the weapon to the floor, and whipped the ridge of her palm right into his neck, crushing his throat.

Heh. Did Kai teach her that? Looked familiar.

Blood matted Taylor’s hair and dripped down his face. I grabbed him, gripping his jaw. “Where are they?” I bellowed. “What did you do?”

But just then, I saw it. My stomach rolled, and I winced, averting my eyes for a moment. Jesus fucking Christ. What the fuck?

His goddamn eyeball hung just outside its socket, blood spilling out of the other one, as well. How did that happen?

“That…that…” he gasped, trying to get the words out. “That kid is crazy. He killed Gibbons.”

Huh? “Who?” I barked.

You know what, I don’t care. “Where are they?” I fisted his collar, shaking him.

And where was Ilia?

Emmy moved out of the way, letting Kai in, Mads’s father grabbing hold of Taylor with me, both of us squeezing his skull.

I fitted my thumb just between his nose and eye, ready to dig in. “Now, or I take the other one!”

He closed his mouth, and I barely had time to realize what he was doing before he spit in my face.

Kai growled, grabbing him and burrowing his thumb into his eyes, threatening to blind him completely.

“Ahhhh!” he screamed.

“Where?” Kai yelled.

“The marina!” he cried. “The marina!”

I scrambled out of the car, grabbing Emmy’s hand as all of us raced back up to our SUV. Lev and David pulled up, climbing out of their car, having probably tracked Banks’s phone.

“The Pope,” Kai told them, but then he reached across Taylor and pulled out a white mask.

It wasn’t one of ours. More like a full phantom mask. Did he recognize it?

Or…

My stomach sank. They were at the party.

Jesus Christ.

Kai threw the mask back into the car, and then stalked to ours, yanking his door open. “The twelfth floor,” he instructed.

“Yes, sir,” David replied.

Good idea. We weren’t turning Taylor over to anyone’s care this time. We had a place to hide him. If he survived.

They ran over to collect Taylor as Banks jumped on her phone. “The marina,” she told someone, probably Damon. “Kill him if you have to.”

And please hurry.

I opened the back door, letting Emmy in first.

“That was a good move, baby,” I told her, remembering her little hand trick on his throat. “John Wick, right?”

“John Wick 2.”

I nodded, rushing in after her. “Oh, right.”

“I’ll keep you posted,” Rika told her mom on the phone. “Don’t worry.” She listened, then nodded, glancing at me. “As soon as we know something, yes.”

She hung up and handed the phone to me. I tucked it into my pocket, Damon in the driver’s seat in front of me and Winter wringing her hands next to him.

I heard a notification beep, and then Damon tapped the screen of his cell.

“What is it?” Rika asked.

“Banks texted,” he told us. “The kids are at the marina.”

“Does Banks have them?” I blurted out.

But he shook his head, punching the gas, the engine revving under us. “I don’t think so.”

“Damon…” Winter begged, and I could see her knees shaking.

He clasped her hand. “They won’t do anything.”

“They might not plan to, but I doubt that dead body upstairs was planned, either,” she pointed out. “Something went wrong. They’ll be more scared now.”

Rika scooted forward and put her hand on Winter’s arm.

“If they were going to…” I started, but thought better of saying that out loud. “They would’ve done it at the house. They want ransom or something.”

Winter paused a moment, dropping her head. “Or they’re selling them,” she muttered. “Or bringing them to someone else.”

Jesus. I closed my eyes, groaning. We all knew the worst-case scenarios, and none of them ended happily for us if we didn’t catch up to those kids in the next ten minutes.

I hated that she let those thoughts fester, but…it kept us alert, I guess.

“Just go,” Rika barked. “Go around him.”

Damon swerved into the wrong lane, passing another car, and then jerked the wheel again, speeding on ahead, in front of it.

Taking out my phone again, I dialed Athos.

I should’ve called her right away. Shit.

“Hey,” she giggled, and I could hear her friends’ chatter in the background. “I’m not drinking. I might do some kissing. And I’m raising a little hell. Proud of me?”

“Go to the theater,” I blurted out. “Now. It’s an emergency. Stay there until I come and get you.”

There was silence, and I half-expected to be questioned, but she didn’t fight.

I heard her swallow. “Okay,” she replied quietly. “I’ll text when I’m there.”

“Love you,” I said.