Free The Gravity Engine by Kylie Chan Page B

Semias on the shoulder. ‘I will be back for you.’
    ‘You can’t take a whole city with you, lad,’ Semias said. ‘Just go and leave me to it. Free your family.’
    ‘I won’t forget what you’ve done for me,’ Michael said. ‘We will return and clear the demons from the European Heavens.’
    ‘Just go!’ Semias said with urgency. ‘They could return any time.’
    Michael clasped Semias’s hand then released it and flew up and west.
     
    He kept flying west, though the cold night sky of the deserted Heavens. The Asian Heavens were full of the telepathic buzz and energy signatures of the Shen that lived there; these skies were eerily silent. The cold and emptiness bit into him, and he missed the warmth and camaraderie of his brothers and sisters back in the White Tiger’s palace. The skies blazed with stars overhead and he was glad for his ability to see in the dark.
    It was obvious when he approached the estate where his family were being held – it registered as a seething mass of demonkind. He approached the manor carefully and felt the women’s presence inside, on the top floor. Stupid demons, that was the easiest place to free them. Unless it was a trap for him, but he couldn’t see any reason for them to suspect he knew where the women were.
    The manor was as Semias had described – about a hundred metres long, three storeys high, with a tall ground floor that was double the height of the others. The land around it had been cleared and planted with a variety of domestic flowers, the gardens overgrown and tangled from neglect.
    He landed silently on the roof and sent his senses down through it. Rhonda and Clarissa were in the room directly below him, playing cards at a table in a bedroom they obviously shared. Demons filled every other room, all the way through the mansion, and some of the demons were enormous. His best bet was to sneak in the window, grab the women, and run back to Semias’s city where the spirit could open the gateway to Rotterdam for them. He made himself invisible and floated down to hover outside their window.
    Mom , he said. Don’t say anything, but I’m just outside the window. I’m here to get you out.
    Rhonda looked up and nodded.
    There are demons everywhere. All around you. Just a sec, I’ll tell Clarissa . He changed to Clarissa. Hello, my darling, I’m here to get you. I just spoke to Mom. Don’t say anything but I’m floating outside the window. Nod if you understand.
    Both women were nodding now, smiling conspiratorially. Clarissa shivered with delight.
    Careful , he said. They’re watching you. Can you open the window, Mom?
    Rhonda shook her head.
    Okay. Can both of you move closer to it?
    Clarissa and Rhonda put their cards down, wandered to the window and made a show of looking out.
    ‘It’s so beautiful here,’ Clarissa said. ‘I wish they’d let us out to go for a walk or something. Anything.’
    ‘I know. It’s awful being cooped up,’ Rhonda said.
    Both of you get Best Actress trophies when we’re home , Michael said, and the women shared another grin. That’s too close, I’m going to break it. Either side against the wall, on three.
    He counted to three, the women moved, and he burst through the window and landed in the middle of the room amid a shower of glass. He took a few seconds to heal the cuts – he didn’t need to be losing blood while they were on the run – then scooped the women up, one on each arm, and jumped out the window again. He’d grabbed them clumsily and both were in danger of slipping out of his grasp, so he flew as fast as he could for a hundred metres then landed.
    ‘Just need to get a better grip on you,’ he said, releasing them to shift his hold . There was a loud bang, something smacked him on the shoulder and he reeled forward. The demons had shot him. He grabbed Clarissa with his left arm but his right wouldn’t move – his shoulder joint was shattered and his right arm hung uselessly, the fabric of his