Page 3 of Fire Bird

“There was nothing left.” He looks up. When he catches Tanner’s gaze, Tanner sinks to the ground too, holding his chest as if he can feel what Kole saw. “Nothing but ashes. I tried to carry them, but they slipped through my fingers.” He holds out his hand and slowly unfurls his fist. “These were all I could bring.”

When I take my eyes from his face and look at his palm, a heavy, jagged breath rushes from my lungs. He’s holding her rings. Five wooden rings.

“They’re all that was left,” Kole says, brushing his large thumb over the small, charred bands. “Just these. I don’t know how they survived when she didn’t…”

There is silence for a moment. Snow is quiet, but his anguish throbs in my limbs. He felt this way when Layla died. I swore he’d never feel that pain again, but this time I couldn’t protect him. I couldn’t protect us. We fell too hard, too fast.

“You said she’d come back.” Luther strides over, picks his ring from Kole’s hand and clenches it tightly. “When? When does it happen?”

Kole shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Luther barks. “This was your plan. You told us she’d return. How? When there’s no body? How is she supposed to come back? What’s she supposed to come back to?”

“Don’t say that—” Sam interrupts him.

“Don’t say what?” Luther rounds on Sam instantly, eyes flashing with red-hot fury.

“Body—as if it’s separate from her. It’s Nova. We’re talking about Nova.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Luther squares up to Sam. He looks like he wants to slam his fist into Sam’s face. Not because he hates Sam or even because he hates what Sam just said to him, but because what the fuck else is he supposed to do with all the pain he’s feeling?

Springing to his feet, Tanner steps between them. “Stop,” he whispers. “Nova told us to look after each other. What would she say if she found you two fighting five minutes after she…” He stops before the word died crosses his lips.

I know I should be doing something. I know I should be playing the peacekeeper and stopping them from being at each other’s throats. I should persuade them to go back to the lake, wait like we promised, trust Kole, trust Nova. But my heart hurts so much I can barely see straight.

Kole stands then reaches out a hand and pulls me to my feet. He has pocketed the remaining four rings. Luther has slipped his onto the tip of his ring finger.

“We should return to the lake,” Kole says what I was thinking. “We told Nova that’s where we’d be. When she returns, we should be waiting.”

I look at Luther. Sweat has broken out on his forehead. His eyes are dark and full of fire at the same time. “We should keep watch over The Hollow. Take shifts.”

“We can’t,” Kole replies. “It’s too dangerous, Luther. If Eve releases the hounds, or if the wolves find us, Nova could come back and discover she’s a fated mate down.” He tries to offer Luther a wry smile but it doesn’t look right on his face. “And she’d be mighty pissed if that happened.”

Luther narrows his eyes then, without saying a word, turns and stalks back in the lake’s direction. Wisps of smoke drift up from his shoulders; he is quite literally burning with grief.

I let Tanner and Sam follow Luther, then step in line next to Kole. “Do you still believe she’s coming back?” I ask him, praying he smiles at me too. Convincingly this time. “After everything you just saw, do you still believe?”

Kole doesn’t answer.

3

TANNER

To me, the lake has always been the epitome of beauty and peace. Swimming here even in my darkest times, offered relief and solace. The fierceness of the falls juxtaposed with the silky-smooth water of the lake did something to my soul that no other place could.

When we return, however, a little before midnight with the moon hanging brightly in the sky, the lake looks different. She is darker and choppier. Instead of healing me, I feel like she wants to drown me—pull me down to her deepest depths and let me die among the weeds.

Luther doesn’t stop to look at the falls or remember our last moments here with Nova. Instead, he storms toward the caves and disappears inside. Kole and Mack go after him, but I need to be outside.

Slightly frantically, I take off my shoes and walk to the water’s edge. Please, release me. I let my gaze drift out toward the dark heart of the lake. Please, release me. It hurts too much without her. Make it stop.

I’m about to wade in and plunge beneath the surface of the water, allow the lake to swallow me up if that’s what she wants, when Sam steps up next to me. He’s barefoot too, his toes nestling into the sandy earth beneath the shallow water. “She’s coming back,” he says firmly. “I don’t feel like she’s gone. So, she has to be coming back.”

I exhale heavily and smile. He really does believe it; his faith shimmers around him. “You’re an optimist.”

Sam shakes his head. “No, I’m a realist. If I can be rescued from a hell dimension, then Nova can be brought back from wherever she is right now. We just have to be patient.”

“Kole’s rattled,” I tell him as we walk back to the beach and sit down.