“L-Let me go and talk to Josh,” I stammered, as the hunters dropped yet another explosive.

“Where is he?” Shayla asked.

“I left him in my apartment. Lethe, please take me there.”

Lethe soared away with me over the treetops. As we reached my treehouse, he paused and lowered to the veranda, allowing me to leap down. I raced into the apartment to find that Josh had moved up to the window and was staring out at the chopper-filled sky over the Port.

He turned to me as I entered, looking just as confused and anxious as he had when I’d left him.

“What is going on?” he croaked.

I drew in a deep breath, buying myself time as I thought about how best to explain this to him. But in the end I figured it was best to just tell him the hard truth and not try to sugarcoat it.

“The IBSI… They admitted that they were using you as a specimen for experimentation, though they refuse to say what for… but they’re demanding that we hand you back to them.”

His eyes bulged. “What? How do they even know I am here?”

I scanned his face, neck, arms, and hands: every inch of his skin that was uncovered by clothing. “They claim to have inserted some kind of tracker in you. But right now, that’s beside the point.” I swallowed hard, steeling myself for my next words. “Josh,” I said, “they’re claiming that if we do not return you, you’re going to die.”

He stared at me, dumbstruck. “Die? Die from what?”

“Well, that’s just it,” I said, blowing out in frustration. “We have no idea. A part of me thinks that they’re simply lying and this is some stupid ruse to get us to give you up, but another part of me is… afraid.” I paused again. “I hate to lay this on you, Josh. I really do. But this is a decision that none of us can make. This is your life. You need to decide.”

He covered his face with his hands, rubbing his temples, even as he let out a low groan. “I would rather die than return to them.”

Although that was what I’d expected he would say, I didn’t voice my agreement. He needed to make this decision without any interference on my part.

He raised his head and gazed out again at the choppers, buzzing around in the sky like angry black hornets. He shook his head, shuddering. His brown eyes darkened. “I don’t want to go back to them.”

He might’ve lost his memory, but deep down I believed he must have still been conscious of the trauma they had put him through.

“For all I know,” he went on, “they could wipe my brain all over again. Lock me back in some tiny, airtight bunker for God knows how long.”

As more explosions were let off, I said, “Are you sure about this? Don’t feel you have to rush to make a decision. These hunters might be causing a disturbance, but they can’t get inside. No matter how hard they try. You have time to think about this.”

He took another moment to think, but then met my eyes, his mouth set in a thin hard line, his expression resolute. “I would rather assume that they are lying than take the risk that they are not.”

I held his gaze for several moments longer, trying to verify whether I really saw true conviction in them. I did. He had made up his mind. “Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll go and tell Shayla your decision.” I was about to rush out again but I held back to give his hand a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of this.”

Then I turned on my heel and returned to the veranda before resuming my seat on Lethe’s back.

As he carried me back to the Port, I tried to fill my mind with only positive thoughts. I tried to reason with myself. We were seeing small signs of improvement in Josh, like his being able to hold in solid food, and his stamina slowly rebuilding. If the hunter really was telling the truth, how would that be possible? Wouldn’t he only be getting worse?

Descending on the crowd that was waiting for us, I informed Shayla, “He doesn’t want to be handed back. He is staying with us.”

She nodded, not looking in the least bit surprised. Then she fixed her eyes on the hunters, her jaw setting in a grimace. “Then it’s time to give these bastards an ass-kicking… Shade-style.”

Grace

Neither Lethe nor I were needed for this task. This was a job for the fire dragons. I doubted even the jinn and witches would be required for this.

The fire-breathers burst through The Shade’s boundary, unleashing an unholy storm of flames. It engulfed the choppers completely, as well as every patch of sky within sight. It had become a sky of fire.

Shouts abounded, along with the firing of bullets and the dropping of more explosives, but from what I could make out through the blaze, the fire dragons were already above them and had blinded the hunters far too much with their fire to make their aim anywhere near accurate. Besides, the dragons’ scales were so tough, they were practically magical. They could withstand the spells of witches, which in their own way were just as powerful as these explosions the IBSI were raining down on us.

After five minutes of chaos, the dragons relinquished their flames just a little bit. The helicopters that had survived were rapidly fleeing the area. The dragons didn’t bother chasing after those who had escaped, but they did burn all who remained within easy reach to cinders. Several aircraft crashed down against the roof of the island’s barrier, along with the limp bodies of men. The dragons swept down, clasping the wreckage and the bodies within their claws, and flung them miles away, into the ocean.