Free Spearwood Academy Volume Eight (The Spearwood Academy Series Book 8) by A.S. Oren

Twin Connection
    The acrid scent of the school crumbling to the ground in a haze of black smoke floods my nose and burns my nostrils. My heart races to the point I think I might break a rib from the inside. What just happened? I don't even think before I sprint toward the flames and rubble. I need to find him. I need to find Amr, now. Tears streak my cheeks. I can't lose someone else. Not now, not ever. An arm goes around my waist and pulls me back down to the clearing. I kick and try to free my arms, but their bind overwhelms me. "Calm down, Princess. You can't go out there right now. It's too dangerous," Lusk whispers into my ear. 
    "I don't give a shit!" I scream. I kick him in the leg and stomp on his foot, but his hold never lessens.
    "Fire. You have to calm down. Think rationally about this."
    I try to twist my body, but I can’t even get a millimeter on him. "I have to find Amr!"
    Tears blur my vision as Bullock comes to stand in front of me. He places a hand on my shoulder and a wash of calm moves through my body. I stop thrashing. "Avalon, if Amr was hurt or dead you would be the first to know. Whatever happens to him you feel. If he were dead . . ." He pauses. "You would be dead soon too. You know that. "
    I swallow hard, searching myself for answers on Amr's wellbeing. How can I even tell if the twin thing is working? He doesn't know he's a twin right now. "I don't know. I don't know! I can't feel him. Let me go, Lusk!" I start to struggle against his arms again.
    His arm never budges. "Not until I know you won't dart off and do something foolish."
    "Concentrate. Focus on only him. Don't let the worry flooding your mind cloud the feelings coming from him," Dante says as he comes to stand next to Bullock. 
    I close my eyes, shutting out the chaos of the school falling and the horrible smells rushing at us. Amr, I focus on him only. The way he looks with his short golden hair and hazel eyes. How he always seems to have some kind of happiness showing behind them. My brother, my twin.
    A pull on my navel takes my spirit away from my body and to Spearwood. I float above it all. Just near the forest line lie Horace and Amr. Their eyes closed. Triton crouches overs them.  Amr’s chest rises and falls, but he appears okay. No blood trickles from open wounds and I don’t have any pain. Maybe he is fine. Before I can investigate more on the entire situation at the fallen Spearwood, my body pulls me back.
    I’m lying on the ground when my eyes flutter open. Lusk, Dante, and Bullock lean over me; if Lusk gets any closer, I could kiss him. Wait, why are my lips wet? My chest throbs. “I’m okay,” I say, as I sit up, I grip at my chest. My wings have gone back into my body. “Just feel like I’ve gotten punched in the chest by a boulder.”
    Lusk clears his throat. “I performed CPR on you; you stopped breathing for a second.”
    I nod; I might’ve actually left my body then. I can’t believe he was the one to preform CPR on me. That’s the second time he has saved me in a week. “Thank you.” I touch my lips for a second, they tingle, like they did with Maverick and Dante, what could that mean? “I left my body. I saw Amr and Horace. Triton saved them; I think he was there with them. We should go get them and bring them to where they will be safe from the battle. They’re not too far away from the forest. I need to find Paden too. It won’t be long before an all-out battle happens.”
    “You need to stay here. We can’t let anything happen to you, Fire,” Dante says.
    I stand. “Like hell I’m staying here, you’ll need to kill me if you want me staying put. I’m not going to twiddle my thumbs like some housewife waiting for you three to come back home with a deer for dinner. I’m going with you, end of discussion.”
    Dante grinds his jaw and folds his arms. “Avalon.”
    “No, Dante.” I fold my arms over my chest also. “You should know by now I’m not going to sit around.”
    “This is