The Gift

Chapter 86

Wisty

It's totally, totally mindblowing. That was a real military battle, wasn't it? We're unarmed. And we won? A bunch of kids beat the N.O.?

The thrill of victory is followed by another and yet another success. We've seriously upped the Freeland raven population, and our confidence is sky-high.

We're clearly running on adrenaline for a while as we triumph through several similar battles. Eventually, though, we're running on empty. The magic has consumed every calorie from that bacon-and-waffle breakfast. Everyone's basically curled up on the ground, trying to recoup some steam.

"Another squadron on the way!" Sasha suddenly shouts, pointing into the distance. I think that if I ask them to join hands one more time, everybody is going to start crying. Even bouncy Emmet has dark bags under his eyes. "Wisty," he says, "shouldn't we come up with another plan?"

My eyes follow the planes. "They're not coming our way. They're veering off toward -"

"Where we came from," finishes Whit with a shudder. "Garfunkel's."

We don't know if someone got their intel messed up on the New Order side, but they must think we're still there. Because they proceed to drop what seems like their entire N.O. arsenal on the center of the town behind us. Right where Garfunkel's is.

Or was.

Where some of the Resistance kids were still hiding out, after refusing to leave with the rest of us. They'd thought our quest was a suicide mission.

I look at Whit, and he's squinting hard, obviously holding back tears. We watch as the store-and maybe even those kids-all go up in flames.

We're mesmerized by the twisted fireworks finale until Sasha calls out again. He's pointing toward the horizon-a horizon that's disappearing under a black cloud… that isn't a cloud at all. It's still more New Order planes.

And under the black cloud are gray curtains, the way you can sometimes see rain falling beneath a distant thundercloud. Only in this case it's not rain-it's bombs.

As they hit the ground, there are eye-stinging flashes of blue light. We can feel the earth shaking, even from however many miles away we are.

Is it the beginning of the end? Or just the end?