20
“Eric.” I forced myself to my feet, swaying as I tried to get the room to hold still.
There were bodies on the ground. So many bodies. But Eric was still standing, glaring down at the sole remaining survivor from Kendrick’s side of the fight.
“Surrender, and you will be allowed to live,” Eric said.
The girl didn’t look up at Eric. She knelt where Kendrick had been right before the flash of light. But there was no Kendrick, not even in corpse form. He and two of his cronies had disappeared, leaving the lone, living girl kneeling beside a boy who couldn’t have been more than seventeen.
The boy didn’t move. Not even to breathe.
“I am not without mercy,” Eric said. “You were forced into Kendrick’s employ, but you do not have to share his fate.”
A shadowy hand took my arm, guiding me
